Welcome!

Thanks for becoming a member/reader of The Ward Report. It took me a while (13+ years) to warm to the idea of publishing a subscription based report/newsletter, but now is the time.

Many of you know me from working with me as clients; others may not know me much or at all. A quick history: I started helping Web sites attract publicity (and links) back in late 1993. I started my own company to do the same in 1994. By chance I happened to be a member of the Web's first emarketing discussion list, run by Glenn Fleishman. One day I mentioned to the list members that I ran an online publicity service called NetPOST, and that night Jeff Bezos, who also was a member of the discussion list, called me and asked for a proposal to help him generate publicity and links for the launch of a brand new online bookstore. You know it today as Amazon.com. From that success I went on to work with hundreds of web sites as a publicist, link builder, and promoter. In late 1994 I founded URLwire, a content announcement and linking wire service that today has several million readers and thousands of links from nearly every country in the world. I also train, teach, coach and speak on these same topics.

My expertise is in site publicity and link building – from planning to strategy to execution. I have been called a "Content Publicist" as well. I'm a 100% white-hat, ethical practitioner. I speak at the major Web conferences, and Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch calls me the world's authority on link building. There's irony in that because I haven't focused on search rankings very much. I do, however, accept the fact search rank is a key metric for many of you. If a group/company/organization considers themselves an expert on a given topic, then it's really a confidence booster if they rank well for the term that defines that topic. So then, how do I stack up for the term link-building expert?

• 1st at Google
• 1st at Yahoo
• 1st at MSN

These rankings are due to an approach I've used called "holistic linking" that produces a natural inbound link signature (more on that later). I can also use my site's inbound link signature as my laboratory to better understand what the engines are looking for from links, since I apparently have what they want right now. As an aside, I wrote about the concept I call "holistic linking" all the way back in 2001. Have a look.

Note that I don't claim expertise at link-building purely for SE rank. On my site, I go out of my way to tell people I don't build links with the sole intent of improving rank. However, my approach to building publicity and links will improve rank along the way because my approach is based on what my own site's inbound links tell me the engines want.

The key to all this is that my approach will only work for a certain type of content. I can't mimic my site's link signature for every site because not every site can earn links and attract publicity from universities, public libraries, government sites, and 20 other countries the way ericward.com has. And the harsh truth is that I don't think search rank is so important that it should drive your linking and publicity strategy. If Google went away tomorrow, I could care less. I have thousands of links that collectively send me more traffic than Google, Yahoo and MSN combined.

In this monthly report/newsletter, I will discuss what really works, what doesn't, and why, from a link-building and publicity perspective. I won't talk in theory – I'll talk from experience. I work in this field every day. I build links and publicity for clients including discovery.com, PBS.org, NationalGeographic.com, and also for smaller sites you undoubtedly have never heard of but that are known and linked where they need to be to succeed in their respective niches.

Staying Current

As I mentioned, I'm not a theorist, I'm a practioner. For my clients I have to stay current and keep my own skills sharp. I read close to 100 different online publications, RSS feeds, blogs, forums, etc. about publicity, link building, online marketing, etc. I use several tools to help scan for topics I know I need to follow, and use my own proprietary tools for link analysis. You benefit from my efforts to stay current, because in The Ward Report I can distill what I read and practice into what you need to know most in order to succeed.

My primary motivation in starting this newsletter is that too many sites are wasting time and money pursuing linking and publicity tactics that do nothing. So called "linking experts" and link-building companies are popping up everywhere, and they are selling services based on disinformation and fear. How many of you have been told things that you later found out were wrong? I'm tired of hearing about people blowing thousands of dollars for an online publicity and link-building campaign that does little more than get them a few links that nobody ever sees or clicks, and no search engine gives credit for.

My other motivation is more personal. I have 13+ years of experience in this field, and nobody else can say that. Yet, I have never written a book, ebook, course, or any other fee-based product. Never. I work alone. No employees. I don't outsource. My knowledge is in my head and in the few articles I have written for Ad Age Magazine, ClickZ, Marketingprofs, and on my own site.

It's time for me to share everything. There are hundreds of linking-related topics to cover, and I plan on getting to them all. Nine years ago, Websight Magazine named me one of the 100 most influential people on the Internet. Rodney Dangerfield was on the cover of that issue, and he was a client of mine. Both Rodney and that magazine are no longer with us. Time flies.

Thanks again for your patience and trust. I hope you stay a Ward Report member/reader for many years.

Eric Ward