Introduction

Since 2004, when Google began to have annual reports, Larry and I have taken turns writing an annual letter. I never imagined I would be writing one in the midst of an economic crisis unlike any we have seen in decades. As I write this, search queries are reflecting economic hardship, the major market indexes are one half of what they were less than 18 months ago, and unemployment is at record levels.

Nonetheless, I am optimistic about the future, because I believe scarcity breeds clarity: it focuses minds, forcing people to think creatively and rise to the challenge. While much smaller in scale than today’s global collapse, the dot-com bust of 2000-2002 pushed Google and others in the industry to take some tough decisions – and we all emerged stronger as a result.

This new crisis punctuates the end of our first decade as a company, a decade that has brought great change to Google, the web and the Internet as a whole. As I reflect on this short time period, our accomplishments and our shortcomings, I am very excited about what the next ten years may bring.

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1. Link bait.
2. Post link on forums in signature.
3. Do something groundbreaking that gets picked up by a news site.
4. Give freebies away.
5. Link to others and they might link to you.
6. Post your link as a source in Yahoo Answers or other questions sites.
7. Link exchange.
8. Insult another site.  Example: NoDaddy
9. Promote another site.
10. Make an eBook.
11. Produce great content.
12. Start an affiliate program.
13. Link from your other sites.
14. Go to a dofollow blog and become a top commentator.
15. Guest post and make sure your link is on the author bio.
16. Form some sort of partnership with other webmasters.
17. Submit an article to article sites.
18. Submit and article to sites that need an article and make sure your link is on it.
19. Provide a great service.
20. Offer your service or product for free.(at least at first)
21. Ask to have your site reviewed.
22. Become Dofollow and get submitted to Dofollow directories.
23. Submit to free directories.
24. Submit to paid directories.
25. Review sites.  If you give a good review the site might link to you or there is a chance for other sites to link to you if you give a bad one.
26. Get Stumbled, Dugg e.t.c.
27. Build list pages.  These seem to work the best in getting links.
28. Make surveys.
29. Create a page about your site or blog on Wikipedia and put a link back to it.
30. If you are have a website(not a blog) start a blog.
31. Sponsor a site.
32. Start a charity or other non-profit cause. 
33. Post great videos or pictures.
34. Get sued.  If it a company everyone hates or everyone loves your in.
35. Hold a contest.
36. Build a website/blog about a service everyone loves.
37. Release a free extension,component, or plug-in.
38. Have an interview.  It needs to be someone who is famous.  No one cares about the interview with your mom.
39. Take a unique picture, and allow people to post it on their website if they link back.
40. Create a theme or template.  Make sure you put a Dofollow link in it.
41. Use trackbacks.
42. Ask your readers for link love.
43. Trade articles of posts.
44. Create new articles/posts.  Everyone loves to link to them.
45. Start a dofollow directory.
46. Use Craigslist.
47. Create a Squidoo lens and link back to your site.
48. Link to your site on Twitter.
49. Tell readers to tweet posts.
50. Ask organizations to link to you.
51. Sponsor a WordPress theme.

The online world is a virtual one that’s changing the real world in which we live. A growing number of services and outlets are going exclusively online and it’s starting to make huge waves. What’s even more interesting about the future of advertising is that many businesses and companies have yet to utilize the many benefits of online advertising. It’s the way the ad business is going, and we’re going to see the web change business in a substantial way through various types of social media and online sales.

In the years to come, the majority of sales and business will shift to a predominantly online focus. The cost savings passed onto businesses, shareholders, and owners is substantial enough that it’s starting to take the human element out of the equation. Facebook, for example, only employs roughly two thousand employees yet it nets profits in the billions. Some call this a disparity in business and others say that it’s only streamlined the process. Whether you’re for it or against it, this is the way things are going.

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1. Write and submit your articles to the article directories.

2. Leave comments on other people’s blogs with a backlink to your site.

3. Answer people’s questions on Yahoo! Answers’ homepage.

4. Post in forums and have a link to your site in your signature.

5. Write a press release and submit it to PRWeb (The Online Visibility Company)

6. Advertise your website in the appropriate category websites’ Free Ads.

7. Give an unbiased testimonial on a product/service that you have used in exchange for a backlink to your site.

8. Start a blog and submit it to the 100′s of free blog directories.

9. Manually submit your website to the major search engines.

10. Optimize each page of your website for a particular keyword or search phrase.

11. Add a link in your email signature to your website. It’s a free and easy way to get a little more traffic.

12. Make a custom 404 error page for your website redirecting people to your home page.

13. Use PPC search engine advertising.

14. Add a “bookmark this site” link to your webpages.

15. Have a tell-a-friend form on your site.

16. Send articles to ezine publishers that includes a link to your website.

17. Hold a crazy content and make it go viral.

18. Give away a freebie (ebook, report, e-course) to keep people coming back to your site.

19. Add an RSS feed to your blog.

20. Submit your site to any related niche directories on the net

Millward Brown, a subsidiary of the WPP, has come out with its annual list and report, BrandZ, that ranks the most valuable brands in the world. Unsurprisingly, Google tops the list for the third year in a row, with the Google brand valued at $100 billion, rising 16% in value over the past year from $86 billion. Microsoft comes in second, with its brand valued at $76.2 billion, only rising 8% in value over the past year. Last summer, Google had the no. 2 reputation in the world, according to The Reputation Index, and Microsoft didn’t even break into the top 40 (the company was ranked #43 in terms of reputation). In last year’s BrandZ rankings, Microsoft was third on the list behind General Electric, so the company has inched a little closer to Google.

Other notable tech companies that made the top 10 in this years most valuable brands list were IBM (no. 4, valuation: $66.6B), Apple (no. 6, Valuation: $63.1B), China Mobile (no. 7, Valuation: $61.2B), and Vodafone (no. 9, valuation: $53.7B). Ten of the top 25 brands are technology brands. Amazon is no. 26, AT&T is no. 28, Cisco is no. 30, eBay is no. 54 and Yahoo is no. 81, falling from no. 62 last year. Yahoo’s brand value went from $11.5B to $7.9B.

Here’s Top 20:

1. Google ($100 B)
2. Microsoft ($76.2 B)
3. Coca-Cola ($67.6 B)
4. IBM ($66.6 B)
5. McDonalds ($66.5 B)
6. Apple ($66.1 B)
7. China Mobile ($61.2 B)
8. GE ($59.7 B)
9. Vodafone ($53.7 B)
10. Marlboro ($49.4 B)
11. Walmart ($41 B)
12. ICBC ($35 B)
13. Nokia ($35.1 B)
14. Toyota ($29.9 B)
15. UPS ($27.8 B)
16. Blackberry ($27.4 B)
17. HP ($26.7 B)
18. BMW ($23.9 B)
19. SAP ($23.6 B)
20. Disney ($23.1 B)
21. Tesco ($22.9 B)
22. Gillete ($22.9 B)
23. Intel ($22.8 B)
24. China Construction Bank ($22.8 B)
25. Oracle ($21.4 B)

Source: TechCrunch

The domain Ad.com sold for $1.4 million yesterday at domain name registration company Moniker’s TRAFFIC conference in Silicon Valley. The winning bidder was Divyank Turakhia of Directi.com and CEO of Skenzo, a domain parking company.

Moniker made more than $2 million in domain names at the TRAFFIC auction, with Ad.com taking the highest bid. Bottledwater.com took the no. 2 spot at $45,000 and Athletic.com received the third highest amount, selling for $40,000.

$1.4 million may sound like a lot to spend on a domain, especially given the current state of the economy. But Ad.com is a two-letter domain that is easily pronouncable and actually means something, so it’s definitely valuable in the domain market. And a recession doesn’t seem to be stopping companies from spending the big bucks for desirable domain names so Turakhia may be able to flip Ad.com for a profit. Travelzoo bought Fly.com for $1.8 million in January. Vibrators.com was sold for $1 million a back in November and A&T’s YellowPages.com paid $3.85 million for YP.com in December.

Source: TechCrunch