Thomas,

There is one thing that will help a magazine type site IMO more than anything else: Original quality content that people are looking for. We build sites, do SEM/SEO, etc. and I never cease to be amazed at what happens when one of our copywriters seems to write the "perfect" piece for one of our clients. It does not matter that the on page SEO was not perfect, etc. All of a sudden we are seeing the piece on different sites and in news feeds and we did not use some press release or other mechanism. One person picked it up after another and all of a sudden it was out there.

If you concentrate on this and then provide a way to stimulate/tickle the reader along the lines of say a highly known sports site (ESPN, Sports Illustrated, one I have just begun to marvel at is The Bleacher Report) people will have more reason to stay on and go through your site. Just go to one of these and look how often a given story teaser appears on a single page. Have teasers that attract attention: If on the NBA page, see what is there about specific teams, on a team page specific players, etc.

Lastly, a client of ours has probably taught me more about the value of an image than anyone ever. He was unbelievably strong in how many, where, quality control, etc. on his site. As the result, he has a site with a ton of traffic much because of the images (not a mag type site though). So, look at successful magazine to web sites and learn from them.

The one concern is "they make their money primarily through advertisements...," make sure the good is not the enemy of the best. Many business people fall prey to the "if we take that off, we won't have the revenue..." line of thinking. Too much advertising will cost you in bounce rate and time on site. It must be advertising that fits the visitor and it must not be so obtrusive as to be annoying. I once let my online subscription to a major newspaper that I truly enjoyed because the way the began doing ads kept interrupting any chance of finishing an article.

Later they dropped that mechanism; I never went back.

Good luck,

Dana

You make a great point around the various facets of SEO and how long term some may be affected. However, I think there will be a need for SEO going forward just as there was after keyword meta tags and seeing how many times you could get the keyword in faded. I remember about ten years ago a gentleman came and presented to our company about eZines and how they were going to revolutionize the web, etc. Obviously, they did have an effect just as the PRWebs/newsline, etc. (web trash I affectionately call it now) have an effect today. But, will they still be here tomorrow? Don't think so, IMO.

There seems to be a continuum that goes one side to the next. This is driven not in a small part by those who think of the search "system" as something to beat. So, black hat says use a link wheel, hide links in periods and colons, etc. But, my belief is that people who search will ultimately determine what is Optimum or not. 5 years ago I was looking for a water pump for a small fountain for my home in Houston. I searched on Fountain pumps etc. + Houston and could not find anyone with a fountain pump in Houston. tons in Ohio, etc. I have now watched as the web has become more and more localized. That was driven not by the engines, but by their customers.

Remember that with Panda or Penguin, many perceive it as Google spanking a bad child and I see that as not being thought through. Google understands that when I search for water pump Houston and someone or two or 5 have gamed the system in order to show up high on page one, but none are in Houston. That is not a good result for GOOGLE. There customer does not like it because they were clear about what they wanted. So, the technical SEO will be there as it is very important. But, good content that is not stolen, spun, or rehashed by a "PR" vomit machine is what people want and what they will come back to over and over. If I know I can search on any engine and consitently get what I was looking for, that is where I am going.

Remember, this is a change but one that will allow the early adopters and true believers to gain a lot of real estate if they are diligent.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful responses,

Robert

Chait

I think there are really two questions you should ask: the one re SEO effect, Google/Bong, etc. and, how they are perceived.

As to Google others have stated correctly there is no penalty. I am not sure that using a .ca/.in is wise even if you are US based, use US server, and make correct geotarget selections in GWMT.  The reason is not Google/SEO per se, but perception. 
It is a given that in some countries, having a cc tld that is different is not wise due to bias. A documented one is the French bias in Europe (no hate mail please, my son was born in Paris - yes France, not Texas). In the US, as open minded as half of us seem to be, there will always be a bias if someone knows the .in is India and there may well be one with .ca especially if you are in more northern states that are more likely to see it.

So, you have to factor all in and then ask: "Why am I going this way?" Is whatever domain name so critical that you are willing to sacrifice for it? Have you considered using hyphens?

We do a lot with EMD's using hyphens and without. At the same time, I believe many over emphasize EMD and could spend time and energy better elsewhere. Is there a second best EMD and then spend all the energy on something else SEO?

I cannot imagine, short of a known and, likely, very well known brand where I would risk a .ca or .in in the US for that EMD.

Good Luck, let us know what direction you take and how it works,

Robert

Dana,

Really great to see a response from someone who went through and graduated. And with a DMA, I am impressed.

I completely disagree that writing skills are the mostimportant for SEOs. This is probably an oversimplification of where EGOL was going and my followup. I am hiring an SEO now who is not an English major (Journalism Summa Cum Laude) and got her SEO training on the job where she was hired as a blogger/writer to work with the marketing firm they were using.

What EGOL said, was: "great content can defeat SEO over time and crappy KW research is a waste of good SEO.." So, the content is king. Not English majors are kings.

There are gaps in the SEO/SEM she has, but she does write well and understand what SEO is and the basics and more. She will be a superstar in a year most likely. Yes, technical SEO is very important for her to learn.

My issue with the Full Sail candidate was that he really did not know anything about SEO and (he may not have gone there at all) when I asked about how long the curriculum was he said 6 months. (Maybe including his internship.) I do have copywriters who knkow more about SEO in two months than he knew.

I am curious as to why you think someone who was taught SEO would leave? I don't see it that way at all, but I also do as much as I can to insure they are constantly learning and to insure their pay is ahead of others at other firms. Plus, they get to work with me!

Last, I can't imagine outsourcing my SEO/SEM. That's why I built my firm, to do those things

Thanks a lot, hope to see you here a lot.

Best

As to:

Here is to the day that we don't have to make a domain registrar rich!

As an old Marine, we have a saying in that proud group that really applies:

COPY THAT! (A Big I agree) especially with regard to a certain daddy that sucks rocks in Arizona, USA and has girls as his spokes persons...

Fo me, when you say, "GA for a website with multiple languages on multiple domains", then I inherently look at this as I am going to have one GA account for this website with three different properties. I do a lot by intuition, so that is just what comes naturally for me.

You account is Example Account or Example Analytics, but it is about the Analytics for this specific content group for lack of a better descriptor: Yes, different languages on different domains, but same site - correct?

The biggest pro for me is unless I am running three browsers open at once, I do not have to log in and out of analytics for each account to see whatever I want. (Seems simplistic, but I find it a pain). So, I can now navigate between the three domains easily, copy a filter from one to another easily, etc.

You could have a different profile for each domain, but I really do not see a massive reason for this and by having them all under one, again it seems intuitive and to communicate they are together which could loosely help with any dupe content issue down the road. (Yes, I understand how duped content is looked at across multi languages. I just like being able to have a track back of some type that shows the sites together.)

Hope this gives a bit of insight for you Frederik,

Best.

Thanks Stephen,

Actually, that is well put.

I think it kind of hangs with the English majors. Enough questioning to make them open minded in SEO and, if you can read that stuff with any level of comprehension, you can probably write!

Well put.

EGOL - This is truly great. We have 9 copywriters of which 8 are either in journalism, English, or political science or have graduated, and done well in school. They come in and take to this and the fact that they are really learning like crazy.

I still wish there was an organization that actually had some clout with SEO that did a test or cert. for same.

We do use Craig's list, but our copywriters also go after others in advertising org on campus, etc. They make great recruiters! Your suggestion for ad is excellent and I will try immediately.

As usual, you are spot on with your answer. Thanks,

We are actively looking for a couple of positions. A qualified SEM (for PPC, etc) pro that has experience with Google but also others including BING and Yahoo. And a good SEO person who gets it is about delivering a result and not blowing sunshine up someone's skirt or pant leg. 
That said I got a resume the other day from a guy and he stated he had a Master's Certificate in Internet Marketing from Full Sail University. I looked them up and they offer a Bachelors Degree and a Masters Degree in Internet Marketing. They also offer a certificate in Internet marketing they call a Master's certificate. So, I set a time for him to call me as I was mildly skeptical. 
When I started asking about the certificate (His LinkedIn page had Masters Degree in IM) he said he had taken the certificate and I did not pursue the LinkedIn. I asked how long he was in school for the certificate and he stated 6 months (curriculum is 4 months and is fairly t h i n.
I asked what he had done and he had completed an Internship with a Texas company and helped a construction firm move to page one. When I asked how he started telling me about inserting keywords in the meta tag field in the CMS..... He did not know what a title tag was, knew nothing of content, H1, H2, Local Optimization and then wanted to tell me how when you put their Domain name in google they are number two on page One.  So you get it, I believe.

I am just really frustrated with the whole "certification" etc. thing and believe we do need it. Market Motive is as close to good as I can see, but I would love to hear from you. (Note on MM- I do not like the if you pay monthly you get Provider or whatever but it you shell out $3500 you are a Master. Just doesn't feel right to me. And, I did speak with someone a while back with a masters from them and again, I scratched my head).

Would just like to hear of your experience and if anyone has hired from these schools with success.