It seems like for every legit way to build a backlink profile, somebody will find a way to exploit it and give it a bad rap. I’d like to send out a challenge that I’m sure will fall upon deaf ears: When doing SEO, please don’t give honest techniques a bad name.

If you’re going to do SEO, be a link ninja, not a link clown.

I spoke with a friend with an SEO company based in Utah recently and asked for a few tips when considering which company one should choose:

1. Visit your SEO’s office - talk to the different employees and get an idea for what they each specialize in. Freelance SEO’s can be good but tend to get to bogged down with work. If you are going to use a freelancer try to get a commitment for how much time will be dedicated to your account.
2. Have a proposal prepared - most SEO’s will prepare a proposal for you free of charge detailing their plan of action should you move forward with a contract. Read through the proposal and be sure you understand what will be done on your account.
3. Check their rankings - never trust a skinny chef! Do a few searches and make sure that your SEO can be found in the engines. If they can’t promote their site on competitive keywords there is no reason to think they’ll do a better job on yours.
4. Get some references - many SEO’s are slick-talking, low-performing bottom-feeders who know you will only be a client for a couple of months. Ask for some documented success stories and talk to the companies provided. Get at least 2-3 - anybody could get lucky on one contract

In conclusion, finding the right SEO can be difficult, but do your homework. Don’t choose a firm because the owner is friends with your brother! You will be glad that you did.

Well, you probably wouldn’t lose everything - just the files that you haven’t had a chance to push live yet. But still - downloading all the client files and losing any work that hasn’t been published yet… not an attractive option.

Mozy, an online backup utility offering 2GB for free and unlimited backup for $4.95 may be the way to go - just set it and forget it. This is probably the cheapest insurance plan you’ll ever buy.

I did, however, run into an interesting concept recently - apparently when somebody cancels their MySpace account another person can go register it (after a waiting period, of course).

What does this mean to SEO? It’s a pretty cool opportunity to take advantage of all the link juice some 18-year old who has outgrown MySpace (probably for FaceBook) has built up over the years. Go grab the name, throw some links and you’re money, right?

Well, not quite - the links all show up as encoded msplinks - apparently to cut down on spam. No problem, take out the http: (leave in the //) and you’re good to go. Nice, SEO-friendly PageRanked links for free (unless you value you’re time at all ).