So how did I get here?
In mid-2008 I started a pet project related to affiliate marketing and SEO techniques for link building. I called it LinkScience. It was exploratory… to see what would really happen instead of just reading about it in the latest guru publication (as I am an admitted information junkie). Essentially, it became my internet laboratory.
As I collected more and more information, research sites, directory URLs, link building tools, techniques, and people worth following, I continually found myself going in circles trying to remember the whats, hows, whos, and wheres of what I learned so that I could systematically apply it. The more I tried to go paperless, the more paper I saved in case something happened to my computer (which eventually did happen). I needed to take it to the next level, for the sake of my own sanity.
So, I decided to create a ‘living document’ so I wouldn’t have to go hunting for anything once I made it part of my personal tool box. It took me 6 hours just to document one process. And yes, I expect the amount of time I have to put into this living document will be substantial, and sometimes will feel like a diversion from more productive work, but I believe it will help me steward my work better once it’s done.
When I first registered linkscience.com (cool name, huh?) I wanted to do something with it. At first I was going to launch it as an ecommerce consulting site, but then I realized I am too busy doing my own projects, and I only take a few clients at any one time, so LinkScience then evolved conceptually into my online repository of information that I use to do my work, mainly affiliate marketing.
In the process of distilling this information down into usable content I wanted one core focal point. Ecommerce, SEO, and the myriad of other things that come with online marketing are in a constant flux with new technologies, new algorithms, new players, and new, new, new… it will never stop and it will only increase in complexity.
The one thing that connects the internet together is links, and I don’t see how that can change. Until it does, link building is the second most important component to online success after content.
As I have time to get things posted on this site, eventually I won’t have to go looking for information that I’ve already learned and misplaced twice by the time I find it again. And, if you find this information useful, neither will you… hopefully.