A recent study showing the power-law effect on Google search ranking traffic is enough to underscore what we already know: the Zipfian distribution (aka Power-Law, Pareto Principle, or 80-20 Rule) of the information economics, nicely formulated in the book Information Rules. (Disclaimer: Hal Varian was the dean of the UC Berkeley Information School when I attended for my Masters degree.)

We at SEO Chiangmai agree with the general advice to largely ignore the Google algorithm factors for specific targeting based on the fact that Google makes more than one change per day to the search algorithm. However, as has been recently announced, some algorithm changes will make an impact on search traffic. Therefore for business, it is important to understand and to have a strategy to deal with such a dynamic system.

The Concept of Relevance for SEO

Back in my I-School days, we learned that relevance is a human, not a computer concept. That is, what is relevant is measured by humans. In particular, Information Science early days and even now in the various TREC competitions, measures relevance with use of retired Information professionals, that is: retired CIA officers. What is relevant is what experts agree upon as relevant (there is heavy use of inter-rater reliability statistics in the social sciences). Google has merely produced a computer-based system for returning relevant results based on 200+ clues of human behavior with computers, the same clues that are accessible to computers and can be used to approximate human judgement of relevance.

For SEO -- from a strategic perspective -- this means creating one's own dynamical system based on relevance to perform against that of the Google juggernaut. This does not mean re-inventing PageRank, but rather designing a checklist that can be used effectively.

SEO Chiangmai Internet Marketing Factors

We at SEO Chiangmai are the leading SEO and SEM, Internet Marketing and Ecommerce consultant in Thailand and serving Mainland Southeast Asia, the Greater Mekong Subregion. Our set of factors are part and parcel of our content+social media consulting services offering which provides excellent, measurable and affordable business results. We will present a significant number of our factors in upcoming articles on SEO Chiangmai and elsewhere on the web.

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It's been over 3 months since the last (December 31, 2009) PageRank update. This time, there were changes in slightly over 25% of our tracked domains.

Sensible Changes to PageRank

The changes mostly made sense. Two domains lost a page rank (both went from 4 to 3), but with obvious causes as one has been blocking traffic from three countries and another effectively lost all of its content. Another 9 domains increased by 1 PageRank, some from 3 to 4 and some from 2 to 3.

Another successful quarter for our clients and internal sites. Most of the sites which increased in PageRank had been growing content and developing links. A few had not, which always makes one wonder how much random noise there is in PageRank to try and keep it, um, sub-optimized.

Success for SEO Chiangmai and its Clients

With these PageRank increases, our current set of tactics and the underlying strategy has been vindicated again.

Content and Linkbuilding - Good

Still, it is a bit disconcerting to deal with clients who simply want to procrastinate on content and link-building, our two-part strategy.

Traffic Shaping - Bad

Another item which bothers us is playing games with content, blocking Internet traffic based on some criteria. This usually hurts the customers and therefore the business itself a lot more than it ever would help withhold information from a rival. It is best to simply be up front. Much simpler and less confusing that way.

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Cost of Web Content and Pay for Freelance Writers

How much should we pay for content? There is quite a range out there. How much should writers get paid? In-house, outsource or partnerships? These are strategic as well as tactical questions.

For those of us who want or need to buy content, it is paid for up front, either under exclusive or non-exclusive agreements. It is also possible to find articles to purchase which are ready to go, or propose new articles and wait for writers to bid or submit writing which is then paid for.

Going Rates

The excellent Freelance Writing Gigs blog is a good resource on paid writing (from the freelance writer side) and has a recently updated (2010-01) overview of the market demand and pricing for Freelance writing. See also the Paid2Write blog which provides brief reviews of freelance writing sites.

Associated Content

Associated Content is the freelance writing opportunity most people start with. They along with Demand Studios are two of the largest freelance writing companies

Freelance Writing at Associated Content

Associated content has a few options for writers in terms of pay. One can retain the copyright and earn less, but have flexibility in republishing. Or one can assign full rights to AC and get some up-front pay as well.

One great thing about AC is that people are paid to write articles about AC. A quick search using the terms "Associate Content Paid" on AC reveals quite a few articles of interest.

Content Buying at Associated Content

AC provides a form to fill out and an email came back within 2 days with prices averaging $65 for original articles, as well as a long-term agreement with some level of volume. Simply too expensive, though apparently they do have some editorial quality control, and a large stable of freelance writers as well as the option of buying existing content.

Constant Content

Constant Content offers a writing opportunities directly and through buyer requests.

Freelance Writing at Constant Content

Writers can submit to Constant Content. In addition they have image, video, and illustrations. However, perusing some of the items is a bit disappointing as there are inflated prices and low quality.

Content Buying at Constant Content

Prices for content depend upon rights (use, unique or full rights), and article requests can have price ranges in them (along with length and content requirements).

One nice feature is the ability to see the author profiles, writing and sales volume and contact them directly. Also one can make offers to bid on content which authors have enabled for bidding as opposed to fixed prices.

Demand Media and Demand Studios

Demand Media is the parent company of Demand Studios, which is the writer-facing part of the organization.

Freelance Writing at Demand Studios

Through Demand Studios, writers can apply for and secure writing assignments and get paid directly and/or over time for content. They pay twice a week and they appear to be hiring writers, copy editors and filmmakers. Demand owns the copyright on the material paid for.

Content Buying at Demand Studios

Sadly, the only information on buying content is an online email address which we have yet to hear a reply from. We sent an email a few weeks ago.

Elance

Elance is not a content provider per se, but does have a large number of freelance writers. $10 USD / hr is a popular minimum rate and they have individuals and teams for hire.

Helium

Helium unfortunately was down at the time of publication, but they'll likely be back soon. I have some old links so those will go in the description below.

Freelance Writing at Helium

Helium has some advantages and disadvantages when compared with Associated Content. There may be more freedom with Helium in terms of editorial review.

Content Buying at Helium

Helium has a marketplace that makes it easy to post writing opportunities. However, it did look a little sparse in the market, though prices were not bad (for the content buyer) in terms of writing offers.

HubPages and Bright Hub

HubPages and Bright Hub have many similarities beyond the "Hub" component in their names. Both provide tools to create pages and groups of pages, add images, social bookmarks, etc.

Freelance Writing at HubPages and Bright Hub

HubPages allows for affiliate access to Amazon, Adsense, etc. and gets a percentage of views for their own Amazon, Adsense links, etc.

Bright Hub also pays directly for content, as well as supporting own-content creation under a community or as an individual.

• Bright Hub writing opportunities
• Hub Pages freelance writing overview

Content Buying at HubPages and Bright Hub

There does not appear to be any content buying opportunities at HubPages or Bright Hub at the present time. They are both destination sites, but it is possible they would put content up for sale or give access to writers in the future.

Travelfish Travel Writing

TravelFish is an up-and-coming Southeast Asia independent travel guide which focuses on ebooks and now has an iPhone application.

Freelance Writing at Travelfish

Travelfish Jobs actually pay well for writing, but the research time and costs can be considerable. As with most things, success lies in organization.

Content Buying at Travelfish

There does not appear to be any content buying opportunities at TravelFish at the present time.

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