Here’s a random list of cliches along with some thoughts on how they apply to the poker SEO and poker link building life. There might be something useful hidden in here. But some of this is just pure observation.

1. Good things come to those who wait. This isn’t true in poker SEO. When doing search engine optimization on a poker site, good things come to those who create great poker content on a regular basis. In fact, good things even come to those who create mediocre poker content on a regular basis. But a lot of poker webmasters have trouble with creating the poker content “on a regular basis” part.
2. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. This applies to poker web spam, doesn’t it? If you’re launching large volumes of useless pages just to try to make money, then you’re part of the poker web spam problem. If you’re buying dozens of links to compete for competitive phrases, you’re part of the poker web spam problem. If you’re refusing to link to good content unless there’s something in it for you, you’re part of the poker web spam problem. Want to be part of the solution? Start launching useful pages of content. Stop buying links. Start linking to good content. Good link neighborhoods are rare in the poker industry, but you can help build a good neighborhood if you’re willing to be part of the solution. And everyone benefits from good neighborhoods.
3. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. If you can’t get a poker link from the Yahoo directory, there are plenty of other directories you CAN get poker links from. If you can’t rank well in for a poker phrase in Google, there are plenty of other search engines you CAN rank well for that poker phrase in. If you can’t get poker traffic for a particular keyword phrase, there are plenty of other keyword phrases you can get poker traffic for.
4. Even a broke clock is right twice a day. I’ve met a few poker webmasters who think they’ve achieved poker SEO success. They  make money or get traffic and think they’ve done everything right, when in reality they’ve done everything wrong. They’re making money and/or getting traffic in spite of their efforts, not because of them. They’ve achieved minor poker SEO success in spite of their mistakes, and it’s limiting their future poker SEO success because they’re unwilling to learn anything new. Oh, well.
5. It’s not what you know; it’s who you know. Knowing people who can help you become part of a good poker link neighborhood is a good thing. Bad poker link neighborhoods will let anyone in. Do you want your site to be in a good poker link neighborhood or a bad poker link neighborhood? (I have more thoughts about poker link neighborhoods that I’ll share in a future post.)
6. Can’t find his way out of a paper bag. I’ve known a few poker and gambling SEO “experts” I could say this about. I’ve also had a lot of bosses and supervisors in various corporations that this description fit. (Some of them thought they were poker and gambling SEO experts, too.) As luck would have it, I’ve made enough money doing search engine optimization and link building for myself that I no longer have to deal with people who can’t find their way out of paper bags. That’s one of the luxuries of doing this for a living; you no longer have to deal with clueless poker and gambling SEO experts.
7. That’s the pot calling the kettle black. This happens sometimes in the online poker industry, but not as much as you might think. Poker webmasters who call the kettle black are poker SEO hypocrites.  The industry has its share of poker SEO fools and poker SEO crooks, but I haven’t noticed too many poker SEO hypocrites.
8. Just between you and me. 99% of the time or more, anything you discuss with someone else in the poker affiliate business is not “just between you and me”–no matter how many times you mention this cliche in the conversation. So be reluctant to reveal of your poker SEO secrets or your poker link building secrets to other people in the poker affiliate business. Today’s poker  SEO secrets and poker link building secrets that are “just between you and me” are tomorrow’s useless and used up strategies.
9. This is a no-win situation. I haven’t dealt with many no-win situations in the poker and gambling niche. I had a great poker and gambling niche domain once that I added about 200 pages of content to, and I thought it might become a no-win situation. After months of working on the site, only 10 pages were indexed in Google. This had never happened to me before. It turns out that this particular no-win situation was just a penalty left over from years ago when someone else owned the domain and used it to host spammy blackhat nonsense. I filed a reinclusion request, and the no-win situation became a profitable and happy poker and gambling niche situation right away.
10. This is a win-win situation. There are lots of win-win situations in poker SEO. The first one that comes to my mind is when someone contributes high quality poker content to my site in exchange for a link. I get high quality poker content, and you get a link. And if I contribute high quality poker content to your site, and you link back to me, then that situation becomes an even better win-win situation. But it’s only a win-win situation with high quality poker content. Low quality poker content is a lose-lose situation.
11. It never rains but it pours. Isn’t it funny how when one of your sites gets a search engine penalty, your other sites get a search engine penalty too?
12. Every cloud has a silver lining. This is one of those Pollyanna cliches that I really hate. I suppose you could apply this to the poker webmaster industry in some way, but I’m not sure you could do so without being trite. (I guess that’s why it’s a cliche.) At any rate, I’m not even going to try to apply it to the poker webmaster industry. Feel free to write your own comments about clouds with silver linings at they apply to the poker webmaster industry in the comments below.
13. Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are. Tell me what kind of poker sites you link to, and I’ll tell you what kind of poker sites you operate. Tell me who your poker webmaster friends are, and I’ll tell you what kind of poker webmaster you are. Tell me what kind of poker content your friends publish, and I’ll tell you what kind of poker content you publish.
14. Birds of a feather flock together. Similar poker sites link to each other too. Similar poker sites participate (or refuse to participate) in the same kinds of poker link schemes. Poker sites with similar quality poker content link to (and get links from) other poker sites with similar quality poker content.
15. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. This seems like a great excuse to go on a poker linkbuying frenzy, but a poker linkbuying frenzy can have a devastating effect on your business in the long term. If you can’t beat ‘em, don’t join ‘em.  Don’t go on a poker linkbuying frenzy. Improve your content. Keep trying to get good, editorially chosen, merit based links. Work harder. It will pay off.
16. You made your bed, now sleep in it. Ever get a big search engine penalty for doing something dumb like getting your site in the wrong neighborhood? I have. Wish I hadn’t slept in that bed. Luckily, once you wake up, you can buy a new bed and remake it into someplace you’d like to sleep.
17. Read the handwriting on the wall. If you’ve done something naughty, admit it and make amends sooner rather than later. Don’t think that once people catch on to your evil tricks that the whole mess will just go away if you wait long enough or fight hard enough. You know who you are.
18. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. I’ve seen so many poker affiliates attack poker affiliate programs in public that my head spins. Poker affiliates get mad at poker affiliate programs for changes in terms and conditions. Poker affiliates get mad at poker affiliate programs for following up with them too slowly. Poker affiliates get mad at poker affiliate programs for protecting their trademarks. All of those situations can be dealt with in private via negotiations by mature businesspeople. You don’t like a poker affiliate program’s terms and conditions? Negotiate new terms and conditions that apply to your situation, or refuse to deal with them until they’re willing to negotiate. A poker affiliate program is following up with you too slowly? Tell them you’re going to stop sending them traffic unless they start providing you with the kind of response time you deserve. Want to use a poker affiliate program’s trademark in some way when marketing your site? Negotiate an agreement with them where you have permission to do so. All of those solutions presuppose two things. One is that you have a good business relationship with the poker affiliate program in question. Cutting off your nose by attacking them in a public forum is a great way to destroy that good business relationship. The second is that you have enough traffic to negotiate from a position of power. If you’re spending inordinate amounts of time on poker affiliate forums attacking the latest mistake that a poker affiliate program has made, you’re taking time away from producing and publicizing the kind of content that’s going to enable you to negotiate from a position of power.
19. As nervous as a whore in church. This describes how a lot of poker webmasters conduct their poker link building campaigns. They’re nervous about using reciprocal links as part of their poker link building campaigns because they can’t figure out what the word “excessive” means in Google’s webmaster guidelines. They’re nervous about which sites to link out during their poker link building campaigns because they do so much stuff with the SOLE intention of manipulating the search results that they feel guilty. Here’s a hint. Just run your site well. Run your poker link building campaigns like someone who takes pride in her websites.
20. The show must go on. Have you made any of the poker webmaster mistakes I mentioned above? Don’t worry about it, because I’ve probably made all the same poker webmaster mistakes at some point in my career too, and I’m still alive and well in spite of them.  No poker webmaster mistakes should end your career. Just learn from your mistakes and move on. At the same time, if you’re doing things right, pat yourself on the back and get to work. You’re not done yet.

Bonus poker SEO tip: Could you take a random list of cliches like this and use it to create content aimed at a site geared toward poker players?

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 9:49 am and is filed under Branding, Google, Mistakes, Monetization, Poker Blog SEO, Poker Content, Poker Keyword Research, Poker Link Building . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.