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janaeekook · 4 years

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Beret Boy || {kth}

kim taehyung in a beret; what more could you want?

pairing: writer!taehyung x barista!reader

word count: 4.65k

warnings: -implied smut-

𝗔/𝗻: yes I know it’s in first person— I didnt want to put a name:) enjoy!

Working at my parents cafe in downtown New York, I saw a lot of people. Some with happy eyes, some with sorrowful or stressed ones, the saddest was when their face held a smile but their eyes told a different story.

Every hour blurred together as the typical locals came in asking for their usual orders. Until he showed up. Beret boy; Or at least that’s what I called him, he wore a different color beret each day he came. He was a mysterious boy who had wandered into the cafe for the first time a week ago.

He never ordered anything, just sat in the far corner at a window seat. He showed up everyday nose stuck in a book, holding it with his left hand, a leather satchel bag slung around his body resting on his right hip. He only let his eyes fall from the book when he got to his usual seat and he pulled out a pad of paper and a pen.

I tilted my head at his strange routine, I had yet to see him actually write something on that pad, for his head was always in the book. Today, the cafe was empty besides him as most people where already at work by this time.

I had grown curious enough to approach him, so I went around the counter and walked over towards him. My heart almost stopped when his soft yet intimidating brown eyes locked to mine. His lips rested in an almost unnoticed pout.

“Can I help you?” I asked, he set the book face down on the small table before him to hold his place. He eyed me up and down.

“I’m good thank you.” I could hear a slight accent in his voice, “I’m just enjoying the view, looking for inspiration.” His resting frown turned up slightly. I raised an eyebrow to him.

“You’re not even facing the window.” He chuckled at my observation.

“The outdoors is such a basic place to look for inspiration, where’s a quaint, homely cafe like this; teeming with life and a story of its own, which shines through each imperfection. It’s at these places you find the most inspiration owing to its imperfections.”

I tilted my head to the side, “So you do this often?” He simply shrugged. I pulled the chair infront of him out resting my elbows on the table cupping my face, intrigued by his statements. “What do you gather from this place? I mean you’ve come everyday for a week and sat in that very spot.” He stared into my soul for a second before leaning back.

“Well, at first glance it’s just another little cafe in New York. But if you look closer you see the deeper truth, the love and care that’s poured into it. You’ve clearly grown up here knowing almost everyone that walks through those doors by name. Each age old things giving the place character and pulling it all together, each piece a part of a different story.”

He continued one explaining the distinctive characteristics of my family’s little shop. I just studied his face, his skin was crystalline; untouched, I noted three distinct beauty marks, one on his nose the other on his left cheek and the last on the lower lid of his right eye. This man was flawless. Marked by beauty.

What pulled me from my trance was his eyes meeting mine and I realized he was no longer talking. I cleared my throat and looked away.

“Sorry.” I mumbled, he chuckled causing me to look back up to his face.

“Don’t be, I love coming here to watch you work. What’s your name?” I was taken aback, 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦?

“Y/n, what about you Beret boy?” He flushed at the pet name.

“Taehyung.”

“So 𝘛𝘢𝘦𝘩𝘺𝘶𝘯𝘨, are you new to the area?” He nodded with a hum.

“Just moved into an apartment 2 buildings down. You?”

“Ah, I’ve lived here all my life with my parents. There’s a loft apartment above the cafe.” I explained, pointing to the ceiling.

“Do you live with your parents still?” His angular brows knitted together. I chuckled, shaking my head.

“No, no they moved out to a new place 4 years ago.” I swore I saw relief cross his face but I ignored it. He nodded his head.

The bell above the door then rang signifying that someone had entered. I looked over my shoulder and smiled. I stood from my seat across from Taehyung.

“Margret, how are you?” I asked with a warm smile on my face as I spoke to the middle aged lady and went behind the counter again. I typed in her usual order and began to put it together as I made small talk with her.

“Any new love interests?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me, I chuckled. Margret was the type of lady that loved those cheesy romantic movies on Netflix, and read Jane Austen novels at home alone on a Friday night.

“Not that I’m aware of.” She snapped her fingers in an upward motion as if to say ‘darn’. I handed over her order and bid her goodbye.

My eyes turned to Taehyung once Margret was out the door, only to meet eyes with him. I leaned my arms on the counter.

“Would you like something?

“There are a few things I’d like from you.” I blushed profusely at his comment, “I don’t know where that came from, I’m sorry.” His cheeks where rosie with embarrassment.

“You’re Fine.”

Taehyung pulled his phone from his pocket, presumably checking the time.

“I should get going, you have a good day y/n.” He gathered his things and pushed the door open.

“Hey!” I called out, and he turned to look at me, “See you tomorrow?”

A boxy smile pulled at his lips, “Wouldn’t miss it.” He waved before leaving me alone in the cafe, smiling like an idiot over a guy I just met.

᯽

Taehyung came in earlier then usual this morning, I waved to him as he went to the same spot. And today he didn’t wear a beret only a pair of wire glasses that complimented his outfit. Nor did he have his nose in that book. I turned back to finish the order I was preparing and continued to take others.

By the time the morning rush had calmed it was 9am, a few college students sat scattered at tables on their laptops studying. I looked to Taehyung who was scribbling on the pad of paper. An unconscious smile marking my face.

I turned and went to work making a drink.

I carried it over to him, and he looked up from the paper. A light smile gracing his face, I set the ceramic mug infront of him and he looked to it.

“What’s that?” He questioned cutely.

“A vanilla latte, it’s my favorite.” I informed him causing his smile to widen.

“Whatcha’ workin’ on?”

“A story.”

“About?”

“Don’t really know yet.” He looked into my eyes and I couldn’t help but fall into the inviting chocolate pools.

“Is that what you needed inspiration for? Your story?” I was intrigued and wondered what it could entail. He nodded. Verbally Taehyung was a man of few words, but his mind was a different story, the scribbles on the paper before him showed the contradictory sides of him.

᯽

As the days continued to pass by, Taehyung’s routine remained the same as it always had. He would scribble words as he was hit with inspiration time and time again, We would talk when the cafe stood empty and all that could be heard was the talking of two. Two that didn’t yet know that they were starting something; a relationship, one of passion, friendship, and love. One could say these two were soulmates, minutes turned to hours as they talked, losing track of time. But they didn’t care, not in eachothers presence.

It had already been four months since he first set foot in my family cafe. We had become good friends. The sky outside was grey and a cold gust of wind rushed in whenever the door was pulled open.

Today I was setting up a small Christmas tree in a corner and putting out our holiday menu. There was exactly 10 days to Christmas and the streets were abuzz ignoring the cold weather. The cafe was also busier this time of year, mainly with To go orders. As I placed an ornament on the tree the bell rang and I looked over my shoulder. It was Taehyung, my heart fluttered at the sight of his wind blown hair, his nose red from the cold.

“Your usual I presume?” He gave me a boxy smile and nodded before going to 𝙃𝙞𝙨 seat. I went behind the counter and began to make a vanilla latte, he claimed it was his favorite as well. As I waited for the coffee to brew I pulled out one of the undecorated Christmas cookies that was shaped as an ornament. I took the bag of green icing and wrote 'Tae’ in fancy letters.

Over these four months I’ve learned a lot about Tae even for not seeing him outside of work. I learned, for one, that his favorite color is green, he also has a dog named Yeontan, Taehyung is from Korea but the New York bustle had always called his name. He loves Kimchi, like a lot, he’d probably even name his kid after it if he ever had the chance. He wants to be a famous writer one day and he works very hard for his dream, which I admire very much.

There is so much to Taehyung, he is so complex and free spirited. To try and explain him in one paragraph just simply wouldn’t be possible.

I finished up the latte and grabbed the cookie I decorated for him. As I walked to bring them over I noticed He wasn’t writing like he usually was, he didn’t even have his note pad out. I quirked one eyebrow at this and set the items I held before him. He seemed amused by the cookie.

“You taking a break today?” I asked taking my usual seat across from him. He shrugged after taking a sip of the sweet coffee.

“I guess, I just also wanted to know when you’re available to uh, hangout?” His voice sounded nervous. I smiled at him.

“Well we close the cafe the week of Christmas, so I think Saturday.”

His shy boxy smile made an appearance again, it had become one of my favorite sights, “Ok well, we can get dinner?” He suggested. I playfully narrowed my eyes at him.

“Kim Taehyung, are you asking me out on a date?”

“Maybe, unless you don’t want it to be.” I couldn’t help but smile at him. I grabbed his hand with my own and squeezed it.

“I’d love to Taehyung.”

“Thank God.” He sighed in relief and I laughed. At the sound of the bell I stood back up and kissed his cheek before walking to the counter to help a new group of costumers. I felt his eyes on me the whole time while I helped the costumers. I may have held my composure on the outside but I was dying in on the inside.

It was now 11am and the cafe was completely empty. Well except for Taehyung of course. I looked to him and waved him over.

“Come help me with something.” He smiled.

“Anything for you.” I was greatful for the help. I led him into the back kitchen area where I baked all the pastries fresh daily. I opened a tall cabinet to reveal large bags of coffee beans, the smell was always nice. “You grab that one.” I pointed to a bag of dark roasted beans and I myself grabbed the light roast and lugged it back to the front to the two large coffee machines.

I struggled to set it on the counter and Tae chuckled.

“What?” I asked smiling at him.

“You’re cute.” He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world and I felt my face heat up. We stared into eachothers eyes for what felt like an eternity. His eyes glanced down to my lips and my breath hitched. Without even thinking we both began to lean in. Our lips just inches apart before the agonizing sound of the over head bell on the door. I stepped away and cleared my throat.

“Uh, ya just put those ones in this machine and the other ones in the other.” Taehyung chuckled making my heart jump, he was clearly amused by my flustered state.

“Hey sweetheart! How’s my special Girl?” My eyes finally looked to who had entered, a large smile on my face.

“Dad!” I ran around the counter and hugged him. When we pulled away my father looked past me to Taehyung.

“Whose this?” He asked with a smile.

“Oh, this is Taehyung, he comes everyday and I just needed help with the beans.” I informed him.

My father stuck his hand out to Taehyung over the counter, “Thank you Taehyung for helping my daughter.”

“Of course Sir.” They shook hands, my face grew hot again after what my father said next.

“So Taehyung, what are your intentions with my daughter?”

“Dad!” I scolded, yet he ignored me. Keeping his eyes trained on the boy whose heart had ever so cautiously began to love the girl in question. Taehyung laughed awkwardly.

“Actually, I like your daughter very much and I respect her and her work. I plan to take her out to dinner on Saturday, of course if that’s alright with you.”

The words that left his mouth stunned me as well as my father. In high school I had dated boys that didn’t have my best interest in mind. But what shocked me the most was the indirect confession, 𝙃𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚. A giddy smile forming on my lips.

“Fine by me.” My father said with a laugh.

᯽

I awoke in my warm bed, the sky outside was dreary and grey. It was Saturday, I was boiling over with excitement. The last 3 days Taehyung didn’t tell me anything, saying it was a surprise, the only thing he told me was to dress nice and that he was picking me up at 7.

I looked to see it was already ten o’clock. I guess I was pretty tired. I kicked the blankets off my body and went down into the cafe to make myself some coffee.

I carefully carried back up stairs, with a muffin as well. I plopped on my comfy couch and flicked on the TV.

𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙠𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙬𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨-

I went to Netflix and put on the office, cause what else would you do on a dreary day like this. I laughed at all the jokes though I had probably heard them 100 times seeing as I’ve rewatched it so many time.

That’s pretty much all I did until it was finally time to get ready. I had decided on a nice long sleeve dress that I could wear my peacoat over. The dress was forest green and tight and it wasn’t too short. I straightened my hair and did minimal makeup. Once I was done I checked the time, 6:45. He’ll be here soon. I headed into the cafe and sat on the counter as I waited.

A small knock pulled my thoughts towards the door. I saw Taehyung standing standing there through the glass with the biggest smile on his face and holding a bouquet. I went and opened the door letting him in.

“For you.” He handed me the bouquet and I smiled wide. I turned putting them in a vase that sat on the shop counter. I then grabbed my peacoat that I left on the counter and put it on. “You look beautiful y/n.” He said from behind me, I turned to him, my face red.

“Thank you.” I tucked my hair behind my ear looking to the ground. His finger tips lifted my chin so my eyes where looking into his, and he kissed me it was the feeling my lips had been longing for. His plump lips fit perfectly with mine. When he pulled away I had a giddy smile on my face.

“Well, I was going to wait until dinner but,” he took a deep breath before continuing, “Will you be my girlfriend?” My heart skipped with joy.

“I’d be crazy to say no.” I giggled.

“Then what do you say we continue this date?” He held out his elbow to link arms and I happily obliged. This goofy boy was now my boyfriend how lucky can I be? I stole a glance at his side profile as we walked, very lucky I guess.

We stopped in front of a fancy Italian restaurant 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙤’𝙨 and I smiled. It’s lights were out, 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙤’𝙨 was closed on weekends, something Taehyung hadn’t lived here long enough to know. I looked to him and his pouty look of confusion.

“They’re closed on weekends Tae.” I spoke with a smile. He looked to me clearly disappointed in himself, “You wouldn’t have known.” I rubbed his arm in comfort.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled through his deeply pouted lips while looking to the ground, he looked adorable.

“For what?”

“Ruining our first date.” He said kicking the ground.

“What? Tae you didn’t ruin our date, I’m just happy to be spending time with you outside of work.” I told him, “Plus it’s the thought that counts.” His eyes met mine.

“But now what do we do?” I thought about it for a second then spoke.

“There’s a delicious little Korean food shop near the cafe, we could get take out and go to my apartment and watch a movie?” I suggested, and his face lit up. He was probably thinking of the kimchi.

“That sounds great!”

We got back to the cafe, Tae held the To-go bag, I led him up the steps to my apartment after locking the door of the cafe.

We sat on the ground infront of the coffee table to eat. Our backs resting on the back of the couch as we watched a random romantic comedy on Netflix. When it was done I stood and went to the kitchen.

“I’m make cookies.” I said with a large smile on my face. I started to grab the ingredients from the pantry laying them out on the island. Then grabbing a mixing bowl and a whisk. Tae moved to a stool on the island and watched me make the cookies his head rested in his hand. A smile graced his perfect lips.

“Hmmm.” He hummed and I looked to him finding his eyes already on me.

“What?”

“I love- watching you work.”

He knew it was too soon to say what he meant to say, so he stopped himself. Though it was the truth; 𝙃𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧.

He was called from his thoughts by the sound of my voice.

“You ok?”

“Ya, just thinking.”

“About?” I pushed for a proper answer as I walked around the island to reach him after putting the cookie dough in the oven. I stood behind him wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head on his shoulder.

“It’s stupid.” He shook his head.

“Nothing you say is stupid.” I reassured him, he let out a cute sigh.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” I let go of him and moved to sit in the stool next to him so I could see his face.

“Well, when I first saw you I thought you were something special. And look at us now.” I gave him a smile and squeezed his hand. He seemed awe stricken, his eyes drifted up to mine.

“I thought the same thing when I saw you.” Relief was evident in his wide eyes.

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying, that I know it’s early, but I think I’m falling in love with you y/n. I think I have been since the first day I met you, or saw you.” His sudden exposer of thoughts caused my heart to race. My heart had told me since day one he was special and it was right. It didn’t feel wrong or ‘too quick’ not with Taehyung. All I could do was smile before pulling his face to mine brushing our lips.

“I think I’m falling in love with you too.” I whispered while looking into his eyes. He closed the small space between us, our lips meeting in a passionate kiss. Pulling away I giggled. I stepped away to my record player pulling out a 𝘽𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨 record and placing it on the turn table.

The first song that played was 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧. How convenient. I got Taehyung to stand and I danced to the song, completely off beat may I add, which caused him to laugh. It was the most beautiful sound, it held so much love. How a laugh could do that I had no idea. But your heart soared at its tune.

The hours slipped by, we spent those hours eating cookies and dancing horribly to any song that was played. I had lit candles around the kitchen and that was the only light that guided us in our unskillful dancing. Our hearts falling farther holding eachother in the pale light and laughing. It was perfect.

Well then I glanced at the clock on the oven. 12:25 am. I gasped and giggled.

“What?” Taehyung asked, I could hear his smile.

“It’s 12:25 Tae.” He looked at the clock.

“Time really does fly when you’re having fun.” He sighed as 𝙃𝙚𝙮 𝙅𝙪𝙙𝙚 slowly faded out. I hugged him.

“This was the best first date of my life.” Truthfully though it didn’t feel like a first date at all, it was as if we’d been together for years.

I walked him down through the cafe and to the door. He gave me one last kiss, and headed for the door. And he pushed it but the door didn’t budge. My brows were knit together in confusion before walking to the door. It was then I noticed the snow going almost halfway up the door.

“Holy shit.” I said to myself.

“Thats a lot of snow.” Taehyung finished your thought. I started giggling which turned into a full blown laugh, “Whats so funny?”

“We’re snowed in. Together.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him, “Cuddle time!”

“You’re not worried?” I shrugged

“Not really, it’s just snow.” His face looked worried though, “Hey we’re gonna be fine.”

“I’ve just never been through this.” He shyly spoke, I yawned.

“I know, let’s just, get some sleep for now ok?”

“Ok.”

We headed back up the stairs, I luckily had a spare tooth brush for Taehyung to use and I had some of my dads old clothes laying around in the spare room. I laid in my bed in a big sweatshirt. Taehyung came out of my bathroom sporting my fathers old baggy clothes as pajamas, I chuckled.

“Uh, should I sleep on the couch?” He asked clearly shy.

“No, you can sleep with me.” I patted the empty space next to me with a smile. He nodded before climbing in next to me. I leaned over and turned off the lamp on my bedside table. I then scooted closer to his form that radiated heat.

“Goodnight y/n.” He spoke quietly.

“Goodnight Tae.”

᯽

The next morning, I was confused feeling arms tightly wrapped around my body. Then my thoughts came back as I looked to the sleeping boy so desperately holding onto me. A smile found its way to my lips at his little pout. I ever so lightly kissed his lips as to not wake him, which ultimately failed. His eyes fluttered open.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” I whispered and he hummed. His sleepy eyes were studying me, “go back to sleep, I’ll go make breakfast.” His eyes shut again without a word and I crawled from his arms and off the bed.

I decided to make some pancakes and eggs. I mixed the batter and poured it into the familiar circular shape, I then placed them under tinfoil to keep them warm. I then began to cook the scrambled eggs as I did I felt arms around my waist and I smiled.

“You’re up, how’d you sleep?”

“Fantastic actually.” He squeezed his arms around me.

“Really?” I smiled as I turned off the stove heat.

“Mhm.” He nuzzled his head into my neck.

“Alright cuddle bug, let’s eat, preferably before it gets cold.” He finally let his arms fall from my body, but not before kissing my cheek. I smiled and then carried the food to the island where we ate.

“That was delicious.” Tae said rubbing his tummy, I smiled, “So what are we gonna do today?” My face lit up at his question, and you bounced on the stool.

“Movie fort!” He laughed at your childish behavior.

But by 12 we sat in our fort made of blankets stools and couch cushions. We decided on watching the 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙋𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 movies. We watched the first four all in a row before taking a break to ‘make dinner’ which was just a box of strawberry Mini Wheats and two bowls.

We finished all the movies by 8:30 now we just laid in the fort in a comfortable silence as I played with Taehyungs hands. Taehyung looked to me smiling widely.

“Stop that.” He said breaking the silence and I looked to him.

“Stop what?”

“Making me fall in love with you.” I flushed.

“I wasn’t even doing anything.”

“Exactly.” He whispered before placing his hand on my cheek. His other hand holding my waist. He kissed my lips softly. When he broke from the kiss his eyes staring into my own. My breath hitched at what fell from his mouth next, “Infact, why don’t I show you exactly how much I love you.”

And that’s exactly what Taehyung did that night.

He showed her how much he loved her as he kissed all over her body.

He showed her how much he loved her as her thighs closed around his head.

He showed her how much he loved her until his name was being screamed, echoing through the small apartment.

He showed her how he would love her all the days of her life without fail.

᯽ 2 years later ᯽

“Don’t over work yourself.” An older lady named Christine spoke, her eyes befalling my baby bump.

“I’ll be just fine, no need to worry.” I continued making her coffee, before handing it to her, “Have a nice day Christine.”

The ringing of the bell caught my attention, I was graced with the face of my wonderful husband. He had the biggest smile on his face, you tilted your head in wonder. He walked up to the counter before pulling something out of his bag, he handed it to me.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙖𝙛𝙚 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝘽𝙤𝙮 ;

𝙒𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙆𝙞𝙢 𝙏𝙖𝙚𝙝𝙮𝙪𝙣𝙜

My eyes lit up and I smiled up at him in shock.

“You got published?!”

“That’s right my 𝘾𝙖𝙛𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡.” He grabbed my face over the counter and kissed me sweetly, “God I love you so much.” He did a little victory dance in front of you.

I watched him, wondering how in the world I got this lucky? I had no idea, I ask myself that question everyday. But oh man did I love this man that never once gave up on his dream and never once stopped loving me. My 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝘽𝙤𝙮.

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curious-wildflower · 3 years

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Mothman The Seconded Most American Cryptid Of All

Straight up first is bigfoot.

Anyhow, not here for him so let’s talk Mothman: calamity and capitalism. Everyone who knows anything about cryptids knows Mothman, people are very thirsty for him, he has that statue with the fine steel ass, have a festival for him the 3rd weekend of September, all over Point Pleasant you can find capitalism at it’s finest marketing everything for shirts to pizzas about Mothman.

Below I will be listing the Mothman sightings I know of before sharing my own thought upon it all, also to note I will not be including those that are about large birds which supposedly had wide wings (of which there are many) because I feel like that’s creeping into Thunderbird territory and I’m not looking at. You can also see where it went from your average small-town UFO/Creature sightings into well what it is today.

1960- Shirley Hensley and her family lived on the outskirts of Huntington, West Virginia. Their house was located on Crotty street also known as 31st Street Hill. Shirley said that she and her family would often hear odd noises and see "two big, red eyes….. You could hear the grunting noise as it bumped up against the house and the leaves crackling - [as it walked.] We could also hear a gargling type of sound, and then a very loud scream would come out...and it was a blood-curdling scream like nothing I had ever heard before or since."

Growing up as a poor child of nine "[they] all took turns getting the water [from the well], and [they] had a rule that [they] had to get the water in before dark - that is when this thing always came around. [They] never saw it in the daylight, so everyone knew that they had to bring in the water before dark. It would come around one or two nights for about three weeks, and then it would go away. This went on for about three years."

Her father once attempted shooting it once when it was digging around in the neighbour’s coal pile out front, “he shot at it and it let out a loud scream and started running towards the hill.” Her "dad was a little angry, because he had told [her] sister Mary to stay in the house, but she had witnessed the whole thing while standing behind him. She said it was a big, tall black shiny thing with big red eyes. [The] dad described it as at least 7ft [(2.1m)] tall, and that it had very long arms that went down past its knees and that when it ran up the hillside the arms stayed down at its side…it ran in an awkward manner.” And that it’s eyes “looked like red bicycle reflectors”

1961- A woman and her elderly father was driving on Route 2 along the Ohio River on the West Virginia side. As they passed through Chief Cornstalk Hunting Grounds, in the middle of the road suddenly she slowed as “A big grey figure. It stood in the middle of the road. Then a pair of wings unfolded from its back and they practically filled the whole road. It almost looked like a small airplane. Then it took off straight up...disappearing out of sight in seconds.” Terrifeid she stepped on the gas, and got out of there, and decided once having spoken with her father about it not to share the encounter out of fear of reticule.

1965 - A woman living on the Ohio River, was amused when her seven-year-old son ran into the house one day and excitedly told her that he had seen "An angel . . . A man with wings". She assumed it was just his imagination and thought no more about it, until the next year.

1966- Early summer the wife of a doctor in the Ohio valley, was in her backyard when a 6ft (1.8m) long thing soared past her very rapidly. She thought it resembled a "giant butterfly" and she dared to mention the incident to only a few people.

August Sometime, Jefferson Avenue Point Pleasant WV, Lawrence Gray was coming home from church when he got the strange sense that something was in his house as he approached the steps at around 9:30PM. He lived in a small white house on Jefferson Avenue across from Wesleyan Church. As he entered his house, the feeling of dread grew stronger but he didn’t find anything when he searched around other than the hook-style lock on his basement door being unlatched. Lawrence and his wife went to sleep around 10:30 or 11:00PM. At around 3AM, he found himself awake and looking out the window by his bedside as a car pulled into the nearby church and the bright streetlight illuminated the street below.

Lawrence turned his head to see a 6ft (1.8m) tall glowing figure with deep eyes and large wings standing with its shoulders arched and its head tilted. The figure was described as “lunar” in coloration meaning dirty grey and white like the surface of the moon. When Lawrence saw the being, he was paralysed. He was convinced that it was “the devil”. The encounter went on for about 45 seconds. Lawrence said that when he focused on Bible verses, the creature vanished.

September 1st, Mrs. James Ikart of Scott Mississippi was astonished to see a man flying around above the Pine Land Plantation. She telephoned the Delta Democrat Times, Greenville, Mississippi and a reporter armed with cameras was rushed to the scene, once arrived he found several people staring at the sky, all claiming that they had seen an object shaped like man manoeuvring overhead. "It got down pretty low and then would go up," Mrs. Ikart told him. "I have never seen anything like this before."

November 1st, Armory near Camp Conley Road, Point Pleasant WV, a national guardsman at the armoury near Camp Conley road in Pt Pleasant WV claimed to have seen a large brown humanoid figure perched on the limb of a tree.

November 12th, Reamer Hill Cemetery near Clendenin WV, Kenneth Duncan Robert “Bob” Lovejoy, William “Bill” Poole, Andrew Godby and Emil Gibson were digging a grave for Kenneth’s father-in-law, Homer Smith, in a cemetery near Clendenin, West Virginia. Claimed to see a man-like figure that flew out from some nearby trees and glided low over their heads, the creature was brown and in sight for about a minute and that it didn’t look like any kind of bird but seemed to be humanoid, like a man with wings.

November 15th, Abandoned North Power Plant building, TNT Area, Mason County WV & Route 62, Point Pleasant WV. Two young married couples Linda Scarberry, Roger Scarberry, Steve Mallette and Mary Mallette were joyriding around in a black ’57 Chevy to a hangout spot north of Point Pleasant known as The TNT Area. When they suddenly saw two circular fiery red eyes next to the abandoned North Power Plant. They said the grey man-like figure was 6 to 7ft (1.8 -2.1m) tall with folded wings behind it’s back. They quickly drove off on Route 62. The couples then saw the creature on a hill by a large billboard. It spread it’s 10ft (3m) wings, went straight up into the air and began gliding over the car.

When they got to a straight stretch of road, they were going about 100mph but the thing was still able to follow them. They were only able to get away from the creature when they reached the edge of Point Pleasant. The monster disappeared, veering off into a field as they entered town.

After stopping at the local Dairyland to discuss what to do next, the teens decided to head back onto Route 62 to see if it was still there before they drove back into town, stopped at the local Tiny’s Diner and contacted the police.

Deputy Millard Halstead accompanied them back The TNT Area but found no clear sign of the creature. The witnesses however claimed to see red eyes, shadows and dust being kicked up nearby. They also reportedly heard a strange noise that sounded like a squeak or a record being sped up. The Mallettes accompanied Linda and Roger back to the Scarberry home where they stayed awake all night from fear.

The next day, Sheriff George Johnson held a press conference and newspaper reports began being written. By that night, the TNT area was filled with cars of people looking for the monster. While the locals simply called it “The Bird”, the newspapers named the creature “Mothman”.

November 16th, Point Pleasant WV – Housing within the TNT Area. 21-year-old Marcella Bennett, her 2-year-old daughter Tina, her 19-year-old brother Raymond Wamsley and his 18-year-old wife Cathy Wamsley went to visit their relatives. Raymond and Marcella’s sister Virginia Thomas lived within the TNT Area with her husband Ralph Thomas.

When the group arrived at the residence, they found that the only ones home at the time were the Thomas children, 15-year-old Rickie and his two sisters Vickie and Connie. After exchanging a few words, the Bennetts and Wamsleys headed back to their car. It was about 9pm now and that’s when they spotted some strange lights in the sky hovering above the trees. Raymond stopped at the bottom of the steps and tried to get Marcella’s attention. She ignored him and began walking to the car, carrying her daughter.

She said she saw creature out of the corner of her eye as she was unlocking the car door and that it stood up from behind her parked vehicle. She first saw men’s legs which looked to be covered with grey feathers. It had wings drawn in toward the body and its head was tilted sideways and sunken into the shoulder area. Marcella described the creature as over 6ft tall, like a giant bird yet also a man. Raymond and his wife Cathy were both very frightened and kept yelling for Marcella to run, but she was paralysed by fear. When Marcella finally managed to turn she took only a few steps towards the house before falling to the ground in a state of shock on top of her daughter. She was unable to get up as if in a trance.

Marcella heard the flapping of wings as she was trying to run. After pulling herself together, she picked up her child and ran into the house. The family locked themselves inside. Marcella’s hands and knees were badly scrapped and bruised. She had been burned from her lit cigarette and the side of her face was bleeding from where she had fallen. The children inside were all screaming and crying in panic. Raymond Wamsley frantically phoned the sheriff’s department. By this time Marcella was lying on the sofa and could hear him telling them to get to The TNT Area because they’d seen the monster. He said they were locked in the house but that it was still outside.

The bird creature is said to have shuffled onto the porch, pushed on the door and peered into the windows. It took the police about 15 to 20 minutes to arrive but the creature was gone by the time they got there. They came with guns drawn and searched all around the property. The front yard was soon full of police cars and curious people. Raymond talked to the police and filled out a report.

November 17th Route 7 near Cheshire Ohio, a teenage boy driving on Route 7 reportedly saw a grey man-shaped bird creature with red eyes and 10ft (3m) wingspan. The creature pursued the witness’s automobile for about a mile.

November 18th TNT Area – Point Pleasant WV, Point Pleasant volunteer firemen Benjamin Enochs and Captain Paul Yoder supposedly sighted a huge bird-like creature with large red eyes while in the TNT area unlike anything they’d seen before.

November 20th Dixie, Nicholas County WV, Howard Miller reportedly saw a 4ft (1.4m) tall bird with red half-moons under the eyes which landed on a school bus shelter in Dixie, Nicholas County WV.

Same day near Campbell’s Creek WV six teenagers claimed to see a grey red-eyed man-sized creature. On that night, Brenda Jones and four other teenagers driving along Campbell’s Creek saw a man-sized bird-creature standing beside a rock quarry by view of their car’s headlights. It turned and ran into the woods.

November 21st, Charleston WV, Richard West phoned Charleston police and talked with Patrolman D.L Tucker. He reported that a 6ft (1.8m) tall man with red eyes and a 6 to 8ft wingspan was sitting on a roof near his home. West said that it flew like a helicopter straight up into the air.

November 24th, Point Pleasant WV two adults and their two children reported a giant red-eyed flying creature.

November 27th Route 33, near New Haven WV, 18-year-old Connie Carpenter was driving home at 10:30 AM passed the old Mason County Golf Course outside of New Haven WV when she saw a large grey 7ft tall man-like figure with glowing red hypnotic eyes which caused her to almost run her car off the road. The 10ft(3m) wings unfolded from the creatures back and it rose straight up into the air then headed toward Connie’s windshield. When she accelerated forward, the creature flew over the top of the car and Connie raced home. She developed conjunctivitis for over two weeks afterwards supposedly caused by staring into creature’s glowing red eyes.

On the same evening at Route 60 near St. Albans WV, 13-year-old Sheila Cain and her younger sister were walking home from the store in St. Albans WV when they saw a large 7ft (2.1m) grey and white creature with big red eyes standing next to the local junk yard. Shelia screamed and they ran away stating that the creature flew up into the air and pursued them. They ran into a neighbour’s house who confirmed their sighting.

November Sometime in the TNT Area, North Power Plant, Mason County WV, Bob Bosworth and his friend Alan Coates were riding around Alan’s motorcycle towards the TNT Area along Camp Conley Road. When they arrived at the abandoned North Power Plant they saw what appeared to be two red eyes looking at them from the roof of the old building. They thought perhaps someone had nailed some reflectors to a board. The two men tried to turn and the lift the front of the motorcycle to shine it’s headlight at the roof but it was too heavy. They decided to go up into the building to check it out. As they began entering, the red lights seemed to turn to watch them.

Moonlight illuminated much of the power plant’s interior through the large industrial size windows. Within the shadowed section of the building, towards the back, a large 6’6″ to 7ft (1.8-2.1m) tall figure walked forward; stepping across the broken glass covered flooring. The figure in the dark had broad shoulders and its head appeared to be sitting on its shoulders with no visible neck like an upside down letter “U” which tapered to its body like a robin. It came within about 6 feet of Bob and Alan and just stood there. Bosworth, to see if it was a person, said aloud that he was going to shoot the creature. He put his hand in his coat as if to reach for something but the figure remained motionless and silent.

Eventually, the creature slowly turns it’s body towards the decaying metal grate catwalks within the power plant and began walking along them. Bosworth shouted out to the figure, still unsure if it was a person, saying not to go onto the catwalks because they were dangerous and led outside to a multiple story drop they then heard something that sounded like wings, frightened the two men took off and left on Alan’s motorcycle.

On a late fall evening in November, TNT Area, North Power Plant, Mason County at about 11PM, after seeing a movie in Ohio, Faye Dewitt’s 16-year-old brother Carlisle who went by Topper drove Faye (14) and her younger siblings Betty, Ray and Jack in his car to the TNT Area. He reportedly took them there to prove that the creature they’d heard about from the kids at school didn’t exist. As they drove at about 50mph, Faye turned to see something running beside the truck. It had a human-like head and was covered in feathers with large ruby red eyes that took up most of it’s face. The creature was described as over 5ft tall and white-ish and tan in coloration.

Her older brother Topper drove around a sharp turn in an attempt to try to lose the creature but it kept up with them and continued to follow. In a panic, Faye’s younger siblings were hiding by ducking down in the floor of the truck with Betty huddled over Ray and Jack. Topper went around another sharp turn and stopped his car sideways in the road by the abandoned North Power Plant. Faye said the creature got on the roof of the car and looked at them through the windshield. It then stood up, jumped down off the vehicle and ran towards the power plant, the creature then jumped up to the top of the old three-story-high power plant and crouched like a gargoyle. Faye’s brother got out and began throwing rocks and pieces of coal at the creature.

When he threw a larger chunk of coal that landed by it’s foot, the creature stood up, turned sideways to looked at him and jumped down from the roof. Topper rushed back to the vehicle and closed the door. The creature spread out a pair of 5 to 6ft (1.5-1.8m) wings and flew off into the darkness, they then drove to the Mason County courthouse and told the deputy what happened.

December 6th in the TNT Area, Mason County WV a couple spotted a huge man-like grey figure with glowing red eyes.

December 7th Route 33, Ohip, four women describe a man-shaped flying creature with glowing red eyes, brownish and silver in coloration. Same night in the TNT Area, Mason County WV author John Keel arrived in Point Pleasant WV. After talking to Deputy Millard Halstead at the Mason County courthouse, he met with Mabel McDaniel who was the mother of Mothman witness Linda Scarberry. Mabel made several phone calls and assembled the witnesses for Keel to talk to. This included Linda and Roger Scarberry, Steve and Mary Mallette as well as Connie Carpenter and her aunt Mary Hyre who was the local reporter. After recording statements from the witnesses with a tape-recorder, at about 9PM Keel and the group that consisted of John Keel, Mary Hyre, the Scarberry and Mallettes, Mabel McDaniel, Connie Carpenter and her boyfriend Keith Aeiker decided to go the sighting location at the TNT Area with a flashlight.

They went through the old gate at the abandoned North Power Plant where Keel, Connie and Keith went into the building. Keel climbed the steel ladders and walked along the catwalks. After not finding anything, the trio went for the exit. As they were leaving Connie suddenly saw two large red glowing eyes by the back wall and screamed. Connie and Keith left the building in a panic but Keel went back in, shining his flashlight around and searching for something that could’ve made the red lights she saw.

Finding nothing he walked out of the North Power Plant and saw Deputy Alva Sullivan had joined the group. Mary Hyre told Keel that they’d seen a tall running figure and asked if it was him but he told her that he’d been in the building the whole time. Mabel McDaniel added that while Keel was in there, they had heard a loud hollow metallic sound like something metal had fallen. The whole group, except for Keel, said they had heard this. Mary Mallette’s ear also began bleeding seemingly without reason. The group drove back to the McDaniel residence and Mary Mallete’s ear eventually stopped bleeding. Keel returned to The TNT Area alone at about midnight. There he found what he described as a “zone of fear”. It was a spot in the road that was mysteriously fear-inducing each time he passed it yet he couldn’t figure out why.

December 8th, Route 35, WV, two women sight a shadowy figure seen on hilltop with two glowing red eyes.

December 11th, TNT Area a man and his son spot a man-shaped grey figure which quickly flew overhead. Same day Kathryn Beaver on Route 35, WV, sees a very large grey creature with glowing red eyes, flew past her car.

December of 1966 13th Street in Point Pleasant WV, A month after the Linda Scaberry’s initial Mothman sighting, she had moved in with her parents, Linda reportedly looked out the window and saw the creature sitting on the roof of the house which slanted down from the upstairs bedroom window, the creature’s wings were folded around itself as if to keep warm in the cold weather. Its head was tilted, looking curiously through the window. Linda said she views the creature as lonely and thought it didn’t want to hurt her but to communicate.

1967- January 11th, Tiny’s Diner, Route 62 , Point Pleasant WV, Mabel McDaniel (mother os Lina Scarberry) was walking near Tiny’s Diner when she saw a large brown creature with a 10ft (3m) wingspan flying over Route 62. At first she thought it was an airplane but it was flying very low. The creature had “men’s legs” hanging down from it, she didn’t see a head or a neck. It glided silently without flapping it’s wings. It circled the restaurant and then flew away.

March 12th, Letart Falls, Ohio, a woman reports a large flying being with long white hair and a 10ft wingspan which passed directly in front of her car.

May 19th, Route 62 TNT Area Pt Pleasant WV at about 10:30PM, while driving past the area, Brenda Stone and another woman witnessed what looked like a winged creature fly up to meet a UFO. The women claimed that they had seen a shadowy form with bright red lights like glowing eyes in the top of a tree near the road. A large hovering red light which looked to be a luminous object then appeared and approached the tree. The shadowy figure flew towards the red glowing object and vanished the UFO then flew out of sight to the north.

November 2nd, TNT Area Igloos, Point Pleasant WV, Virginia Thomas (sister to Marcella Bennett) was in the kitchen of her house when she heard a loud squeaking sound, she said was similar to a bad fan belt. Virginia stepped out on her front porch to investigate the noise and saw a large shadow across the grass field and a tall grey man-shaped figure moving quickly among the TNT Area igloos. The figure walked upright like a man but was much larger and moved amazingly fast in a gliding motion. It then disappeared into some nearby trees. After that sighting, Mrs. Thomas had several nightmares. One of which featured strange people along the river and an invasion of some sort coming over The Silver Bridge in trucks and going into the TNT Area. In the dream, the Thomas’ grab the kids and run. She wasn’t sure what the dream meant.

November Sometime, Chief Cornstalk Park WV, four male Hunters encountered a large grey figure with red eyes they were so frightened that they didn’t think to use their rifles until after it was gone.

December 15- The Silver Bridge was built in 1928 and named for the colour of its aluminium paint. The bridge was meant to be built with suspension cables but wanting to cut costs was made with the cheaper ear-bar chain suspensions instead, it carried U.S. Route 35 over the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio.

December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed under the weight of rush-hour traffic, resulting in the deaths of 46 people. Analysis showed that the bridge was carrying much heavier loads than it had originally been designed for and had been poorly maintained.

Paranormal author Gray Baler made a Mothman theory especially popular in 1970 with his book ‘The Silver Bridge’ where he made links between the bridge collapse and the Mothman sights turning the Mothman into a harbour of death or an omen of bad things to come.

Mothman’s origin story are said to be with Chief Hokoleskwa (spelled Colesqua in some accounts) also known as Keigh-tugh-qua and Wynepuechsika, "Cornstalk" by Anglo-Americans. Who lived 1720 – 1777 and was a prominent leader of the Shawnee nation just prior to the American Revolution from 1775 to 1783. When he along with other leaders of the seven nations of Indians in the area (the Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot, Mingo, Miami, Ottawa and Illinois) formed a powerful confederacy to keep the white men from infringing on their territory opposed European settlement west of the Ohio river- where they wanted to take over 100,000 acres/156.25 square miles/4.05 square meters of Indian land, they attacked. Over the years of death in 1764, to assure that American Indians would sign a peace treaty ending the rebellion, they seized several hostages, including Hokolesqua. The Shawnee agreed not to take up arms against the English again.

During the next decade, fighting did occur between the British and the American Indians of the Ohio Country. Hokolesqua tried to peacefully ease the tensions, but the arrival of more white settlers placed him in the minority as to how to deal with the whites.

In August 1774, Pennsylvania militia entered the Ohio Country and quickly destroyed seven Ohio Seneca-Cayuga villages, which had been abandoned as the soldiers approached. At the same time, Lord Dunmore sent one thousand men to the Kanawha River in modern-day West Virginia to build a fort and attack the Shawnees. Cornstalk as the soldiers invaded the Ohio Country, dispatched nearly one thousand Shawnee warriors to drive Dunmore's force from the region. The forces met on October 10, 1774, at what became known as the Battle of Point Pleasant. After several hours of intense fighting, the English drove Hokolesqua's followers north of the Ohio River. Dunmore, with a separate force, followed the Shawnee across the river into the Ohio Country. Upon nearing the Shawnee villages on the Pickaway Plains, Dunmore stopped and asked that the Shawnee discuss a peace treaty with him. The Shawnee agreed, but while negotiations were under way, Colonel Andrew Lewis, and a detachment of Virginia militia that Dunmore had left behind at Point Pleasant, crossed the Ohio River and destroyed several Shawnee villages. Fearing that Dunmore intended to destroy them, the Shawnee immediately agreed to terms before more pointless blood was shed. They were forced to give up ownership to all lands east and south of the Ohio River. This was the first time that an American Indian group that lived in the Ohio Country were forced to relinquish their land. In addition, the Shawnees promised to return all white captives and to no longer attack English colonists traveling down the Ohio River.

Hokolesqua abided by this treaty of course angry most Shawnee did not. By 1777, the Shawnee Indians again planned to drive the white settlers from their region. This time they did so at the urging of British soldiers who sought assistance in defeating the colonists in the American Revolution. Hokolesqua and his son, Elinipsico seeking to maintain his faction's neutrality, went to Point Pleasant the site of an American fort, on a diplomatic visit to warn the whites of the impending attack and were taken hostage by them instead. Shortly thereafter, American militiaman stationed at the fort was killed by unknown Indians in the vicinity. Angry soldiers brutally murdered Cornstalk, his son Elinipsico, and two other Shawnees (Red Hawk and an unknown man) in American custody, even though the men had nothing to do with the crime, the Americans decided to execute the prisoners as revenge. Red Hawk and Elinipsico was shot where he had been sitting and the other unknown Indian was strangled to death. Hokolesqua was shot eight times upon his dying breath he was said to have pronounced his now legendary curse.

“I was the border man’s friend. Many times I have saved him and his people from harm. I never warred with you, but only to protect our wigwams and lands. I refused to join your paleface enemies with the red coats. I came to the fort as your friend and you murdered me. You have murdered by my side, my young son.... For this, may the curse of the Great Spirit rest upon this land. May it be blighted by nature. May it even be blighted in its hopes. May the strength of its peoples be paralysed by the stain of our blood.” And then he died.

The bodies of the other Indians and his son were then taken and dumped into the Kanawha River but Hokolesqua ‘s corpse was buried near the fort on Point Pleasant, overlooking the junction of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. The murderers were acquitted.

Local legends arose about his dying "curse" being the cause of misfortunes in the area. Any disaster that stuck the area was blamed upon this curse such as:

1880s: Fire destroyed an entire downtown city block.

1907: The worst coal mine disaster in American history took place in Monongah, West Virginia on December 6, when 310 miners were killed.

1913- 1937: Point Pleasant was almost obliterated in floods.

1944: In June of this year, 150 people were killed when a tornado ripped through the tri-state triangular area.

1953: Barge explosion killed six men from Point Pleasant just before Christmas.

1967: The devastating Silver Bridge disaster that sent 46 people hurtling to their death in the Ohio River on December 15. Many have also connected this tragedy to the eerie sightings of the Mothman, strange lights in the sky and odd paranormal happenings.

1968: August, A Piedmont Airlines plane crashed near the Kanawha Airport, killing 35 people on board.

1970: On November 14, a Southern Airways DC-10 crashed into a mountain near Huntington, West Virginia, killing 75 people on board.

1970 – 1984: The Minden-based Shaffer Equipment Company built electrical equipment for the coal industry from 1970 to 1984 and used the oil in transformers and other hardware, which was common at the time. The United States banned the manufacture of products containing oil with polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs in 1979, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies the group of chemicals as a “probable human carcinogen.”

1972: February 26, a sludge dam on the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek in Logan County gave way, loosening a torrent of thick, murky water that promptly wiped out the small community of Saunders, and sixteen more Buffalo Creek Valley communities--Pardee, Lorado, Craneco, Lundale, Stowe, Crites, Latrobe, Robinette, Amherstdale, Becco, Fanco, Riley, Braeholm, Accoville, Crown, and Kistler--were either partially or totally destroyed claimed at least 118 death with an additional 1000 injured, 507 houses were lost or demolished; 44 mobile homes were destroyed; another 273 houses were severely damaged; while nearly 663 more houses suffered damage to varying degrees and a total of 4000 people were thus left homeless by this flood.

1976: March 2, housed in the Mason County Jail was a woman named Harriet Sisk, who had been arrested for the murder of her infant daughter, her husband came to the jail with a suitcase full of explosives to kill himself and his wife and to destroy the building. Both of the Sisk’s were killed, along with three law enforcement officers.

1978: In January, a freight train derailed at Point Pleasant and dumped thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals. The chemicals contaminated the town’s water supply and the wells had to be abandoned.

1978: In April of that same year, the town of St. Mary’s (north of Point Pleasant) 51 men who were working on the Willow Island power plant were killed when their construction scaffolding collapsed.

1979 – 1989: Released in July by the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, due to past PCB dumping suggest that the rate of cancer deaths in Minden could have been twice as high as for the rest of Fayette County.

1990 – 1999: Due to PCB dumping the Minden cancer death-rate spiked to four times higher than that of the rest of the county before dipping in 2000 to a rate that was nearly equal to the rest of the county.

2010: Upper Big Branch Mine disaster occurred on April 5 in Raleigh County, West Virginia at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine blew up, twenty-nine out of thirty-one miners at the site were killed.

2016: A flood hit areas of the U.S. state of West Virginia and nearby parts of Virginia, resulting in 23 deaths.

Any and everything that could go wrong can get pointed back to this curse and Mothman who since the bridge collapse has been tied to it all as well. Amazing how Mothman’s popularity is based on American racism blaming a murdered man’s curse, capitalism being happier for people to blame that then any of their lax government regulations, economic pressure and cut corners, because in America who cares what’s risked for a small profit? And my now they can market and sell it all for more profit. The Mothman is a symbol of calamity and capitalism as American as can be.

For like newspaper clippings go look out at: https://themothman.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mothman_Timeline

Sources:

The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel 1975

Mothman and Other Curious Encounters by Loren L. Coleman (2002)

Strange Creatures From Time And Space by John Keel (1970)

Mothman- Behind the Red Eyes : the Complete Investigative Library by Jeff Wamsley (2005)

https://www.aaanativearts.com/shawnee-chief-cornstalk

http://www.wvculture.org/history/disasters/buffcreekgovreport.html

#Mothman #Cryptids #Long rant #mothman says fuck racism #cornstalk

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imaginingthebands · 4 years

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More Than You Know Chapter 2

PERSPHONE’S POV

We parked and got into the elevator. It was a twenty minute drive to the hotel, but we had stopped for food before hand so it was pretty late now. “Hey! Lets go swimming!” Rose said. As we walked down the hall to our room I was trying to figure out which swimsuit I wanted to wear. I dug through my bag and found the black and purple bikini I was looking for. It was very sexy, it looked like lingerie almost with the bits of lace on it. I was in the mood to feel good about myself. I hadn’t thought about a single bad thing all day and I wasn’t about to start now. We quickly changed and walked down to the elevator. “I love the detail in yours!” I said to rose who had an almost matching set, but red with slightly different lace. Just as the doors were about to close we heard a voice say, “Hey can you hold that?” We stopped the door from closing and as it opened I tried not to gawk. It was Chris, Ryan and Vinny. All wearing swim trunks. They grinned as they recognized us and Ryan whispered something to Chris, which made Chris shoot him a glare. They stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the main floor. Rose grinned at me then quickly turned to them, “Y’all are going swimming too?” she said smoothly. They nodded and Vinny and Ryan quickly struck a conversation with her. Chris and I stood near each other and I tried to think of something to say. Vinny elbowed Chris, who almost fell into me. “Aw, Chris, was it your turn to fall?” he said with a smile. Chris rolled his eyes and turned to me, “Sorry, they do this all the time.” I just smiled and said it was okay.

The doors opened and Ryan looked over his shoulder at us, “Last one in pays for dinner!” We all raced to the pool and laughed when Vinny slid and fell on his ass. Ryan jumped in first, Rose right behind. Chris and I stood there laughing. I stopped and pointed behind Chris, “Oh my God!” I cried. He turned around quickly and I jumped in the pool, leaving him the last one to jump in. He turned around and crossed his arms, playfully glaring at me, “That was cheating!” I giggled and said, “Hey Ryan didn’t say we couldn’t.” Ryan shrugged and took Rose’s hand, gently pulling her towards the deep end of the pool towards Vinny. It was becoming almost too weird that they kept leaving me and Chris to talk. I wasn’t going to complain though. I just hoped I didn’t make a fool of myself.

Chris pushed his wet hair out of his face that was now makeup free. God, I could get lost in those eyes forever… He smiled somewhat nervously and said, “So what are you guys doing after this?” “Heading back home tomorrow morning. It’s going to be a bit of a drive,” I said. He nodded, “Good call with the hotel then. Especially since our show ran late with the extra songs.” Chris ran a hand through his hair and looked over to where everyone else was. “Where’s Justin?” I asked, “He passed out almost right after we got back,” he chuckled. I nodded and bit my lip nervously.

It's not every day you can say you got to meet your idol, have him catch you and then go swimming with him.

The hotel was like a ghost town and we were the only ones in the pool area. Ryan splashed water at Rose who shrieked and splashed him back, laughing. Chris and I swam over and we decided to play a game. “Marco!” Vinny yelled, eyes shut and arms stretched out in front of him, trying to find us. “Polo!” we said quietly. I tried to quickly sneak away to the shallow end but bumped into Ryan who grinned and playfully shoved me right into Vinny. I groaned, “That’s cheating!” “No rules,” Chris smiled. I rolled my eyes at him before shutting them. I could hear Chris to my left and swam towards him. I reached out and felt somebodies smooth chest. I opened my eyes and it was Chris. He smiled down at me and whispered, “I suppose I’m it now?” My heart started to beat loudly. He reached out and touched my hand that was still on his chest. I pulled it back quickly, embarrassed for touching him for so long. He grinned and tackled me, “This counts right?” he yelled. I giggled and held on to him so that I wouldn’t go underwater. I could feel the muscles in Chris’ arms and I never wanted to let go. My legs were wrapped around him as he held me up. He carefully let me go so that I wouldn’t drop into the water. Looking down at me he smiled. This had to be the best dream I ever had. Any minute now I’d wake up in my hotel bed and have to leave. But the feeling of Chris grabbing my hand to led me to the others proved I was very much awake. I had to be the luckiest person alive.

After about an hour, we all got out of the pool and dried off. Chris walked to the bathroom with Ryan and Vinny stayed with Rose and I. “You guys are some of the coolest people we’ve met. Would it be weird if we got your numbers?” he asked. I was screaming inside and hoping that he couldn’t tell. I did not want to come off as some crazed fan. “Yeah that’d be awesome,” I said, trying to hide the shakiness of my voice. Vinny put his number in both of our phones and we put ours in his. Ryan and Chris came out and Vinny waved his phone, “I got their numbers. I figured next time we’re around we could try and hangout.” They grinned and we shared the elevator up to our floor. As soon as I shut the door to our room Rose grabbed my shoulders. “This was single handedly the best decision of our lives to come here! Oh my God this is crazy! They have our phone numbers!” she gushed. We flopped onto our beds in exhaustion and happiness.

The next morning, I woke up to Rose screaming happily. I quickly sat up and said, “What’s going on?” She showed me the text on her phone from Ryan. “HE SAID I’M CUTE BITCH!” She held her phone to her chest and closed her eyes grinning ear to ear. My phone went off and I could hear Chris’ voice. My heart stopped as I read the text.

Hey Persephone, it’s Chris. I hope it’s okay that I got your number from Vin. Have a safe drive back home!

“ROSE, I AM GOING TO LOSE IT,” I shouted. I threw my phone at her and she giggled, “We are the luckiest girls ever.”

I quickly text him back and thanked him, wishing him a safe drive to the next city. Putting my phone in the pocket of my pajama shorts, I stood up and began to pack with a smile on my face. We played music all morning while we packed and loaded Rose’s car. It was my turn to drive on the way back so I hopped into the drivers seat and put on Melanie Martinez. We sang along as Rose text Ryan happily.

Half way back with only an hour to go, Rose said, “Girl guess the fuck what!” “What?” I questioned, turning to look at her for a moment. “Ryan just said, ‘Chris thinks Persephone would think it’s weird to hang out when we’re off tour. Would she?’” She smiled at me as she quickly text him back reading it aloud, “No she wouldn’t, in fact she wants to have se-” “ROSE!” She rolled her eyes, “She’s driving right now, but said it wouldn’t be weird.” She hit send and turned towards me with a sassy look on her face, “Better?” I nodded. “Just trying to get you your goth daddy,” she shrugged. I about choked on my water and laughed. “Whatever, he wants to be friends and that is literally the best thing in the world. I could’ve never imagined this happening, like this only happens in those dumb stories I used to write in high school,” I said.

When we arrived at Josh’s house, we brought my suitcase in and all decided to hang out and have a game night.

We pulled two tvs out to the living room and all hopped on our playstations to play different games. I had choose Skyrim to play and sat down in the middle of Rose and Josh who were playing Grand theft Auto and Kingdom Hearts. Just as I left Belathor’s shop, my phone rang. Josh grabbed my phone and said, “Who is Chris?” I grabbed my phone back from him and said, “No one!” I quickly answered before it sent him to voicemail. “Hey,” I said with a smile, though he couldn’t see it. “Hey, we just got back from tonight’s show it was awesome! What are you up to?” he asked. “She’s hoarding cheese like that meme!” Rose yelled. I blushed and shoved her, “Shut up!” I hissed. She grinned and Chris said, “Hoarding cheese? What?” he chuckled. “You know that meme about that room of cheese in Skyrim? Yeah, well uh, I got really bored one night and started collecting a lot and just threw it in this room..” I trailed. He laughed, “That is awesome. You have to send me a picture when you’re done.” “THEY GAME?!” Ryan said in the background. “Ryan wants the gamertags,” Chris laughed. Rose’s phone rang and Josh threw his hands up. “Why do no boys call me?” “Because you’re lame?” I said. He feigned a hurt face.

After about twenty minutes, Chris had to go so we hung up. I went back to my game and threw all the cheese into my followers room as Rose laughed, “I still can’t believe you started this.”

Over the next two weeks, I had gotten to know Chris more, and he was so down to earth and sweet. We had a lot in common when it came to music, games and books. I was currently nose deep in a book he had suggested when he called. “Hey! How’s tour?” I said happily. “It’s going great! I’m so excited to get back to my own bed though. Only two more shows and we’ve finished a whole month of touring!” he said. We weren’t able to talk long since they had just arrived at the venue. “So when I come home, what do you think if I took a little road trip and you showed me around where you live?” I laughed, “Aren’t you tired of driving?” “True, well come to me then.” “I can do that,” I said with a grin. “Good, I’m excited to see you. We can even have a movie night and watch Sweeney Todd because I know that’s your favorite.” I couldn’t help but giggle, it was cute that he made a point to remember that. “I’ll text you later, I have to go, Vinny is yelling at me to hurry up,” he laughed.

When I set my phone down I looked up with a smile and saw Josh standing in my doorway with his arms crossed. “Seph,” he said. “Yes?” He came in and sat on my bed, “I know you have had a thing for him forever, but don’t forget to take time to actually feel and reflect what’s going on here.” I nodded and said, “Chris and I are just friends I swear. And I have been, it’s all finalized now and I’m pretty over it.” “Okay, well I hope you have fun when you go see him. Tell him I need a man if he knows anyone,” he said with a smile. I laughed as he walked out of my room and lay back down under my blankets. I couldn’t wait to spend more time with Chris. He really is such an amazing person and I couldn’t wait to get to know him more.

#band imagines #miw #fanfiction #imagingthebands #chris

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crackmyheart · 7 years

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Badlands: Chapter 3: New Americana (Kellic)

a/n: hey i’m a piece of shit when it comes to updating but if you’ve been following me for a while then you already know that. i want to finish this story as well as cataclysm and i miss writing a lot. i hate writing big long author’s note so yeah i’m not dead and i put my heart and soul into this chapter like i do with everything else so i hope you enjoy, the situation shown in this chapter was inspired by halsey’s “new americana” music video

—

MasterPost

By the time May rolls around, Kellin and Vic have rebuilt their relationship back to the “friendship” level, though neither of them dare to take it any farther. The memories of their long-ago fling are still there, of course, but they’ve started to fade in the wake of something new and different. They’ve started going on late-night outings together again like they used to, but there’s less of the thrill that they felt when they were younger. Both of them have hardened since those days, and now they walk the streets like seasoned veterans, wishing they were still blissfully unaware of just how much worse things could get.

Tonight, as they’re roaming side by side throughout the city, they pass by a familiar corner, one that everyone was talking about only days ago. It’s right at the edge of a particularly busy and cop-infested street, where a small group of people protested—and were, inevitably, shot down. Literally.

“This is where that protest was the other day,” Kellin says, “isn’t it?” It’s not even a question—they already know for a fact that this is exactly where those protesters stood.

“Yeah,” Vic replies, gritting his teeth, his face darkening. “It is.”

Though it’s far from the first protest in Badlands history, there’s been an increase in these sorts of events in the past few weeks—and, as a result, the amount of police brutality has also increased. It’s been a flurry of tear gas, shootings, and violent seizures of protesters who haven’t been seen since their arrests, and while Vic has mentioned it once or twice, Kellin hasn’t heard him properly speak on it. They can probably guess how he feels, though, if his disdain for the police remains intact.

Vic picks up his pace, turning suddenly and jaywalking across the street, headed in the opposite direction of the busier areas. Kellin follows him curiously, calling, “Vic, what...?”

Vic hops into a nearby alleyway, then sits down on the ground with his back against the wall. He gestures for Kellin to sit down next to him, and with questions on their lips, they do. “What’s wrong?” they ask softly.

Now that they’re alone and close together, Kellin can decipher Vic’s emotions more easily. He’s truly angry, and he’s not holding anything back.

“It just...it makes me so....” He shakes his head, scowling, eyebrows furrowing. “I can’t even begin to describe how upset it makes me. How angry. That to protest is to commit suicide, because no protester is ever seen alive afterward. I hate how the police have control over all of us, how the few in power have everything while the rest of us fight each other for scraps. Those protesters didn’t deserve to be treated the way they were. People like you and I don’t deserve to be beaten for having opinions, for daring to speak out against our situation. They just want us to sit down and shut up, to deal with our suffering alone and without complaint, and if we don’t, they’ll make us.” He glances back up at Kellin, his lip trembling, a gleam in his eyes the likes of which Kellin hasn’t seen in years.

“You’re right,” Kellin says, their voice cracking. He’s said everything that they’ve been thinking but that they were always too afraid to say.

“I try to hide it,” Vic continues, his voice staying about the same in volume but growing in intensity. “I try to just live my life. I get high to forget how angry I am. But you know I’ve never been one to ignore injustice, to turn a blind eye to cruelty, and I hope to God that I never will be. I can’t just deal with it, Kellin. I can’t. I won’t. Maybe that’s my fatal flaw, but I don’t fucking care. I’d rather die at the hands of some ruthless, power-hungry cop who shoots first and asks questions later than have to live the rest of my life like this.”

Kellin nods slowly, something exciting and terrifying starting to flow through their veins. “Me too,” Kellin says, hoping those few words convey to Vic just how much he’s moved them with just one rant. “Me fucking too.” Their heart has started pounding with fear and rage, breaking through the numbness that’s enveloped them since Justin’s death. All of a sudden, they feel rebellious and alive for the first time in a long time, and it feels so fucking good.

“Hey,” Vic says suddenly, seeming to partially shake off his anger. “So, I know this seems kinda random, but I’ve been meaning to introduce you to some of my friends, show you a little hangout of ours. Or, well, it’s mostly theirs, but I come around sometimes. It’s a good place to be if you wanna sorta let loose, and it’s not too far from here.”

“Okay,” Kellin says almost immediately, hopping to their feet. Right now, they’d let Vic take them anywhere. They’d follow him to the ends of the earth if it would mean that they’d get to feel this way. “Let’s go.”

Vic leads the way, into an area of Badlands with smaller, more run-down houses, as opposed to the skyscrapers with big neon signs and apartment complexes with hundreds of windows. He walks like he’s on a mission, not slowing down until he reaches the back entrance of a long, one-story building. Kellin can tell immediately, though, that while it may have been abandoned originally, it is nowhere near uninhabited. They can faintly hear the pounding bass of music playing from inside, and through the small window in the door, they can see flashes of light and moving silhouettes. Vic doesn’t bother knocking; it’s too loud in there to be heard, and besides, it’s not like the door is locked. The warehouse itself is in a kind of obscure place, an area Kellin doesn’t visit too often, so it’s not likely to be a particular hot spot for bored cops looking for people to arrest (though they could probably find some).

As soon as Vic opens the door, he and Kellin are greeted with blasting music, heat, and an odd smell that seems to be a mixture of sweat, smoke, and other substances. As Vic heads inside, Kellin closing the door behind them, they’re approached by a tall, skinny guy with a fair amount of tattoos, including an owl on his neck. “Hey, Vic!”

“Tony,” Vic replies with a grin. “Long time no see.”

Tony glances over at Kellin, raising an eyebrow suggestively. “Is this who you’ve been abandoning us for?” he says teasingly. “Have you officially become that person who leaves all their friends for the person they’re dating?”

“Hey!” Vic says indignantly, but he’s still smiling. “Don’t act like you and Mike didn’t leave us all to go fuck in the bathroom when you two first got together. Besides, I didn’t know when the right time was to introduce you. Also,” he adds, “we’re not dating.”

Part of Kellin had been hoping he wouldn’t comment on that.

“Hi,” they say. “I’m Kellin. Need any drugs? I’ve got loads. Vic can vouch for me.”

Tony laughs, briefly surveying the room that they’re in, which has no shortage of stoned or intoxicated people in it. “I think we’re good for now,” he says (an understatement). “But I’ll be sure to hit you up next time.”

Kellin takes a moment to fully take everything in. They’re in the back room (which makes sense, considering they entered through the back door), and the door is wide open to reveal a long hallway with people scattered around, some sitting down against the wall, others roaming from room to room. The music is coming from an old but still clearly functional stereo in one corner of the room, and a makeshift tinfoil disco ball hangs from the ceiling, creating occasional shards of white when the light hits it just right. It seems like it should have the vibe of a large party, but it feels more personal somehow. Everyone clearly knows each other, and the few people dancing around in the middle of the room are more messing around than anything Kellin would expect on the dance floor of a nightclub.

“This is our little home away from home,” Vic says. “As for the people who come here, it’s mostly a conglomeration of smaller friend groups that have just sort of converged into one big friend group.” He makes his way toward the hallway, beckoning for Kellin to come with him. “I can show you around.”

Kellin nods, still in too much awe to say much of anything. It feels as though everyone in this building is connected. In here, they don’t really feel like loners on the very fringes of society. They don’t feel like outsiders at all.

Vic nods to a few people hanging out in the hallway, passing a joint around. He explains to Kellin that usually the only reason doors are closed is if some people are using the room for sex. Some couples are still publicly making out, though, and according to Vic, sometimes there are casual lap dances or strip teases going on. But it’s not just intimacy, either; there are also people practicing their fighting skills with each other, as well as various games taking place, ranging from spin the bottle to card games to billiards (Jaime, another one of Vic’s friends, has a rich uncle who apparently gave him a pool table for his birthday).

The rest of the inside of the building is decorated similarly to the back room, filled with stolen things as well as handmade decorations like the disco ball. “Most of the stolen items are my handiwork,” Vic says with a proud half-smile.

Kellin rolls their eyes, laughing a little. “Oh, quit bragging, cat burglar.”

For as long as they’ve known him, Vic’s most prominent talent has been his ability to steal. It’s true that he sells most of the things he finds, but he also keeps his favorite items, either for his own home or, evidently, this place. Not only does he steal large, conspicuous items (such as the neon Miller Lite sign) with ease; he also has the stealth and agility of a cat burglar, often climbing through windows and across roofs to take things from apartments on the third story or higher. Kellin’s seen him in action before, and it’s pretty damn impressive.

“Aw, come on,” Vic says playfully as the two sit down on a mattress in one corner of the room with the Miller Lite sign in it. “You’ve gotta admit, it’s kinda awesome.”

Kellin nods, only milliseconds away from replying when all of a sudden, in the distance, they hear someone busting a door open, followed by screaming.

Kellin and Vic both stand up immediately, and everyone else around them stops whatever they were doing in confusion and alarm. The music in the back room shuts off abruptly, and then Kellin can hear very clearly the loud, harsh voices of men shouting: “Line ‘em all up!”

The cops.

Already people have started for the front entrance, but the police must have come in that way, too; they’re blocking every escape route, and hardly any of the rooms have windows in order to keep the inside hidden. Before anyone can even think of a plan, they’re all ushered into one of the windowless rooms, harshly shoved or prodded with guns. Most of them protest, Kellin and Vic included, but it’s no use—within half a minute, every single person in the building has been rounded up and shoved into the room, guarded by a multitude of hostile police officers.

“Which one of you was it?” one of them demands, pacing back and forth and glaring menacingly. “We got an anonymous tip from someone who overheard a couple of you freaks slandering us earlier tonight. Contacted us while following you from deeper in the city, and we found you at this place.” He zeroes in on Kellin, Vic, and a few other people that look kind of like them, namely Tony and Vic’s brother, Mike. “We’ve got an idea of what you look like, so don’t bother trying to hide.”

Kellin’s heart drops down into their stomach. Realistically, anyone hanging out in this building could’ve been talking shit on the police, but they’re pretty sure they know the exact conversation that this guy is referencing.

Fuck. They grit their teeth, taking a deep breath in an attempt at staying calm. We should’ve been more careful. We shouldn’t have said anything at all.

“You have no right to just round us up like this,” an indignant voice protests. Kellin, whose gaze has mostly been trained on the floor, looks up, only somewhat surprised when they realize that the speaker is none other than the person standing right next to them.

“Who do you think you are?” Vic says defiantly. Everyone’s eyes are on him now, but he doesn’t seem to care. “Even if one of us was ‘slandering’ you guys, you know what? You should be getting shit for the way you all treated those protesters, and for the way you’re treating us right now. Where did our right to free speech go, huh?”

“You never had it,” another officer snaps. “For as long as you are within the confines of this city—which will be forever—you have never had, nor will you ever have, the right to speak freely if you are going to encourage rebellion.”

“So what are you gonna do about it?” Vic snaps back, becoming more and more enraged by the second. “What if you can’t figure out which one of us said that shit? What if we all deny it? Are you gonna arrest all of us? Or are you just gonna pick one of us and say, ‘Yeah, let’s just say it was that one?’ In fact, why didn’t you bring your witness with you to pick us out—”

With that, the first officer to speak steps forward and grabs Vic by the collar of his shirt. “The person in question wished to remain anonymous.” He grins, showcasing a mouthful of too-perfect teeth. “Besides, with the way you’re talking, I think we’ve already found our culprit.”

“Wait!”

Kellin doesn’t even realize that the word is out of their mouth until the officer turns to look at them and narrows his eyes.

“Don’t hurt him. He’s innocent,” they lie, their heart pounding with fear as they try to keep their voice steady. “He’s just making a spectacle of himself so he can protect me.”

“Kellin—” Vic starts, eyes widening in shock.

“It was me,” they continue, shooting a glance at Vic that they hope says, Let me handle this. “And I’m not sorry.” Their voice grows stronger, making their claim sound more convincing.

“I think it’s true,” one of the other officers pipes up, gesturing to Kellin. “This kid looks familiar.”

Kellin looks the first officer straight in the eye, attempting to match the defiance that Vic demonstrates so effortlessly. “It was me alone. Arrest me, imprison me, I don’t care.”

The second officer to speak cracks a wicked smirk. “Who said anything about prison?”

Before anyone can react, Kellin feels rough hands grab them from behind, yanking them backward out of the lineup. They yelp as both their arms are twisted behind their back and they’re pulled out of the room, which soon erupts with protests. Vic’s voice is the loudest of them all, shouting nothing but Kellin’s name, as if he doesn’t know what else to say.

Kellin struggles in the officers’ iron grip, but it’s no use; before they know it, they’ve been escorted down the hall and shoved out the front door. Two cops hold onto them, one grabbing each arm and leading them down to the sidewalk, where one of the men harshly pushes them down onto the rough concrete, causing them to scrape their knees. Kellin curses themself for deciding to wear shorts in the warmer weather, but within a few seconds, they realize that scraped knees will soon be the least of their problems.

They’re no longer bound, but they barely have the time to even think about climbing to their feet before one of the cops smacks them hard in the back of the head with the barrel of his gun. Kellin lowers their head, instinctively covering it with their hands, but it doesn’t stop any of the cops from hitting them again, this time on the shoulder with a baton.

Kellin glances up briefly and notices that a crowd is gathering around, even though it’s late at night. From what they can see, it looks like most of them are members of the proletariat, all living a similar situation to Kellin’s. They’re not cheering or booing—they’re just standing there, watching with grave expressions on their faces. On the one hand, Kellin wishes that at least one of them would try to help, but on the other hand, they can understand why no one would want to, why no one would dare.

“This,” one of the cops says to the crowd as the baton slaps Kellin’s hands, “is what happens when you conspire against us.”

“I wasn’t—” Kellin’s sentence is cut off by another particularly hard smack to the back of the neck.

“This is what happens when you disobey!” the cop continues, raising his voice while Kellin sinks down further and further, feeling weak and helpless, knowing that even if they try to escape, they’ll just be caught and punished even more.

The hits of the baton stop for a short moment, but only so that another one of the cops can tackle Kellin, shoving them onto their stomach and then forcing them to lie on their back. And then he swings his baton again.

That’s around the time that Kellin tries to check out, tries to just endure the pain. The blows are fueled with the officer’s rage at being disrespected, as well as his hatred of Kellin’s “kind.” They can tell that their face is a mess of blood and swelling, but they don’t even care—they’ve already accepted that this is probably how it’s going to end, beaten to death slowly and painfully so that their mangled body can be used as propaganda to keep the rest of Badlands in line. It’s happened to so many others before.

And then: a flash of darkness, too quick to make out, tackling the cop with a short battle cry. The person jabs the cop in both eyes, then swipes the baton from out of his hand, tiny and nimble and quick. “Get up!” they say, reaching out to Kellin as someone else, someone bigger and stronger, keeps the cop pinned to the ground.

Kellin scrambles to their feet, all dizziness and pounding pain, and the person—a girl named Lynn, they realize now from a brief introduction earlier—guides them away from the action. As they take the scene in, it becomes clear that the people inside the building have led an attack on the cops—an attack to rescue Kellin.

“Oh my God,” Kellin gasps in awe as Lynn leads them down a quieter side street, where a car is parked on the side of the road and already running—and in the driver’s seat waits Vic.

“Go somewhere safe,” Lynn says as she opens the passenger side door for Kellin, who falls into the seat with a sigh. “We’ll take care of it. Don’t worry about us.”

“You be safe, too,” Vic replies softly. “Or, well, as safe as you can be.”

“It’ll be alright,” Lynn says, her eyes gleaming with determination, with an incredible will to live. “We’ll probably have to find a new hangout spot, but as long as we’re alive, we’ll be alright.” She closes the passenger side door and then rushes back to the scene, wielding the cop’s baton like a baseball bat. In the low light of the moon, she looks like a street warrior.

“I’ve got a place for us to go,” Vic says, immediately putting the car into drive and peeling out of their spot. “I hope you’re okay.”

Kellin shrugs, staring down at their hands. “I just feel so pathetic,” they admit. “I gave up so easily. I thought I was going to die. And you all...you’re risking your lives for me.”

“It’s easier when you’re in a large group,” Vic says. “Never forget: you’re the one who risked your life to protect me. It was only right that we do the same for you. Bravery will come back to you—I know it will.”

Kellin gazes over at Vic, their heart swelling with emotion. “Thank you,” they whisper, hoping that Vic will understand the magnitude of those two words.

“We stick together,” Vic says. “All of us.”

Back in January, Kellin wouldn’t have believed such a statement. But they’ve been wrong before.

#kellic #kellic fanfiction #update

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incensus-nix · 5 years

Text

.: tree house :.

❝ Hey Bethany. ❞

❝ Hey what? ❞

❝ Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? ❞

❝ Have you ever been punched so hard you had to stop talking for a week? ❞

He whines, leaning into his fist and pushing up his sunglasses with his other hand. ❝ Sheesh, what’s gotten into you? ❞

❝ Nothing, until you started talking nonsense. ❞

❝ I was being poetic — ❞

❝ Stick to spying, kid. ❞

There was a moment, then he laughed, picking his chin off his hand and setting them behind his head. ❝ Did you hear about that chef? ❞

❝ Huh? No? Wha — ❞

❝ He pasta away. ❞

She grumbled. ❝ I hope you pasta away. ❞

Shocked, he puts his hand over his chest, mouth agape. ❝ You are just fresh today. ❞

Rubbing her eyes, Bethany sighs, the stretches her arms across her legs, falling forwards almost comically. ❝ I have a headache. ❞

❝ Try some tea or something. ❞

❝ Not that kind of headache. ❞

❝ Ah — well, ❞ he wasn’t sure what to say for that. He’d been spending an extra amount of time with her as she cut herself off of chems. Usually she used booze and an excuse to ward any urges but lately she’d been cut off from that. Purified water and hubflower tea had become the norm. ❝ Just take a nap. ❞

❝ We just woke up. ❞

❝ Sometimes we need a nap after waking up? ❞

She looks up at him with a small grin, then just shrugs it off. ❝ Maybe later, c’mon. ❞ Standing up from where they were sitting, Bethany opens and closes her hands repeatedly for him to follow her and take her hand into his own so she could lean on.

He does as silently instructed with no protest, pushing himself up and slipping his hand into hers, then adjusting it so that their palms together turned to being fingers lacing and intertwining against the other’s.

❝ Where we off to? ❞ he asked, moving along with her nearing shoulder to shoulder now, looking over his own to make sure no one was creeping on them either. Not that they weren’t obviously an item at this point, but he didn’t want to invite the idea that people could snoop either. He wanted privacy, whereas Bethany didn’t seem to care if all of a sudden up was down.

❝ Treehouse, ❞ she answered back, her voice slightly aloof now. Though she was cut off from chems, sometimes she still had a distant air about her that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. What was going on up there? She promised to talk about certain topics, but they hadn’t exactly picked up on that yet. He figured for now they’d get on with figuring out the physical stuff but it was all still directly related in the end. The chems helped get her away from the chaos, but then created a whole new one. Off of them, she had a more clear sense of her surroundings, however, her mind would never really recover from the mental damage over the years.

Giving some of the cats pats on their heads, two of the many furry critters followed Bethany and Deacon up the winding stairway up into the house fixed upon branches. It was cozy, though slightly barren of furniture. Still of a bit of a work in progress, at least it was fixed with lighting and some decent seating. Empty bottles from someone else’s gathering still remained from the night before, Bethany separating herself from him to clean up the little mess left behind for them.

Assuming now this was their project for the time being, Deacon arranged some of the furniture and things, like books and magazines, back in order until the area seemed presentable enough for the two of them to hangout in.

Plopping himself on the couch, he grabbed a Grognak the Barbarian comic to flip through, still have amused by the content that he must’ve read over a hundred times at this point. Those prewar writers surely had the sense of imagination…

Leaving the bottles at the edge of the stairwell to take back down with them when they leave, Bethany turned her attention to Deacon relaxing on the sofa, tiptoeing her way over to him and kneeling down at his side.

Sensing she had joined his bubble, he slid his glasses down a bit, folding the comic back up and tossing it back onto the pile on the table, then placing his arms behind his head with a light smirk. ❝ What’s up? ❞ Pursing her lips forward, Bethany held back a girlish smile, then leaned in over the side of the couch to give him a soft peck on the lips. ❝ Oh, I see — ❞ He couldn’t help but let himself go with a grin.

With all the arguments and frustrations surrounding them both, it was undeniable that they had a magnetic attraction. Why he allowed himself to give into her charm was beyond him, but she had a way of pulling people in that wanted to business with dealing with her. The piercing steel eyes that almost looked like reflections of polished silver in the light would make anyone a believer of what she was preaching.

They both shrouded themselves in a type of mystery that neither one of them had completely uncracked. While somethings had played themselves to the surface, it was merely a tip of the iceberg of everything that happened between them. So when they bumped heads on methods and madness, there was an underlying respect they shared for the other. Beginning as a smoke and mirrors game, the truth eventually revealed itself. Sometimes they find themselves both still playing but they both have learned to believe in the lies and question the truth.

Rolling a loose hair from her ear, Bethany hugs her knees as she remains on the floor next to him. ❝ You leave tomorrow, right? ❞

He pushes his sunglasses up, turning from her to lean his head back into his hands. ❝ Yeah — ❞ he drags a bit on that note. ❝ Doc’s got lead on a synth that needs to be picked up. Figured I give Mina a helping hand on this one. Navigating those subways is a real pain in the ass. ❞

A light nod, she looks away onto the floorboard, then back up at him. ❝ Don’t die out there or I’m gunna kill you. ❞

He turns his head at her, pulling down his shades by the bridge and squints at her, smirking a few then letting out a small laugh. ❝ You’re gunna kill me if I die? ❞

Poking at his rib, she answers. ❝ Absolutely. ❞

❝ Yikes, this is a lose/lose scenario for me, huh? ❞

❝ Not unless you come back alive. ❞

❝ Woof, guess I’ve only got one choice. ❞

Affirming his answer, Bethany feels a sense of pride getting her message across and somehow not starting some type of bickering contest between them. It’s been calmer, at least, with her being able to slow down and rationally form some thoughts and not immediately jumping the gun.

Another bit of silence, Bethany couldn’t stand it, the deafening sounds of her own thoughts once again filling. A new level of anxiety now filled her, when Deacon left on Railroad business, instead of worrying about her own demise, she was thinking of two.

It was a quick moment, Deacon saw, the switch between calm and fear, himself quickly reaching a hand out towards her jaw and using it to pull her into a kiss, shifting more to his side to deepen it. The harsh breathes in they both took, holding into their breath as long as one could before parting lips to take in oxygen again.

❝ It’s alright. They never see me, ❞ he whispered in reassurance, Bethany now touching her forehead to his. ❝ Don’t worry about me. ❞

❝ Hard not to… ❞

He keeps her mind at ease, though, kissing her again and sitting up on the sofa and pulling her up onto his lap. He’d have to try and keep her focused on something else — something better.

Taking off his sunglasses, he tossed them onto the table with the comics, then pushed her closer into his torso, locking her into a fury of kisses now, giving her a distraction away from the thoughts that had crossed her mind earlier.

Her own hands crawled up underneath the fabric of his shirt, touching the ripples of his abdomen hidden beneath. She was aware of his attempts to calm her down, but it wasn’t exactly working. At least, it was turning into a different energy in the room now.

As soon as her fingertips reached his skin, Deacon reached around the sides of his shirt and pulled it from the bottom up over his head. In turn, he now had his hands over the buttons of her blouse, opening the closures quickly from top to bottom, revealing Bethany’s pale toned skin and bare chest.

Unlike the first time they had attempted fate, they found themselves awkward and unknowing of what the other wanted. Now, it was a different tune. Where they once had to brace themselves for glance or touch, they craved it from one another.

As each piece of clothing was tossed and fallen to the treehouse floor, the two loved now lay across the couch, barely enough space to fit the two of them horizontally. There were moments to which one of them nearly fell off the edge, unleashing a roar of giggles between them, then interrupted by gasps of air and quiet pleas.

With a trembling cry from her, Deacon placed his fingers softly over her lips, insisting she try to keep it quiet in a somewhat public place. Biting her bottom lip, she whined a bit more as he lasted only moments longer and doing his best to not completely collapse overtop of her.

Tiny beads of sweat pooled on them both, Deacon pushing hers off her forehead and pressing his lips against it, then forcing himself next to her and sharing the sofa space as best as possible.

Only a few quick comments, unrelated to even the passing actions, one on how the cats managed to flee the scene in time. Sharing more soft moments, a shiver was felt over Bethany’s skin and yet no blanket to fix the problem.

❝ Alright, time for clothes. Up, up — ❞ he popped up and leaned on one arm, waiting for her to try and make the next move, but she instead turned into him and buried herself into his bare skin.

❝ I’m not ready for you to leave, ❞ she said in protest, pressing herself more into him, in turn forcing him into the cushions.

Sighing, he played with a few stands of loose hair that had fallen into her face, then rested a hand on the crook between her neck and shoulder. ❝ I’m going to come back. ❞

She squeezed her eyes closed. ❝ You don’t know that. ❞

❝ Yes I do. ❞

❝ How? ❞

❝ I wanna do that again. ❞ She threw her head up at him, then glared, but he was without any sort of shame on the comment. ❝ What? I do. That was awesome. I’m totally legit coming back for some of that again. ❞

❝ I legitimate can’t stand you sometimes. ❞

A laugh, then he moved his hand down to her backside to give it a slight squeeze. ❝ Get dressed, and I’ll be back before you know it. ❞

With the lighter mood, she still groaned and rolled off the couch and lazily started putting on her clothes and tossing his back at him.

Once standing up and ready to go, the two faced each other checking to see if the other was on the same page. But hesitation followed, neither one of them taking the first steps. Rather, Deacon making the motion to her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders and speaking low into her ear. ❝ There’s a million more things in this world I want to do, and I want to do them with you. ❞

She pulls always for a second to get a better look on his face, Sneaking up a finger to pull down his sunglasses, Bethany finds a pair of smiling blue eyes staring back down at her, her own welling up slightly.

❝ I want to do them with you, too. ❞

Strangely enough, her headache had disappeared.

#*my writing #ch: bethany #ch: deacon

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domhovasse · 6 years

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South East Asia.

When I accepted my job in China, I was hoping I’d be able to travel, but to be frank, I wasn’t expecting to have the schedule that I got. Two entire months of paid vacation? I don’t know how I got so fortunate. I knew Alyssa was heading to Australia around the same time as my holidays and that we travel quite well together, so I threw at her the idea of travelling some of South East Asia with me on her way there, and she agreed without hesitation.

After a wonderful week spent in Cuba with my family, I met Alyssa at YVR airport to catch our flight to Bangkok, Thailand. My friends who had heard that I would be having an hour and a half layover in Vancouver, insisted on coming to the airport to see me, even though they knew it would be super rushed. (Talk about some good friends!) After getting my luggage, exiting arrivals and finding my check-in area, I was able to see them for all of about 5 minutes before needing to head to my gate, but it was so sweet nonetheless!

The flight went pretty smoothly, although we weren’t able to get seats together. I wasn’t able to get much sleep - I think all the travelling and switching of time zones was confusing my body a bit. We arrived in Bangkok in the afternoon, and were very generously picked up by Alyssa’s stepdad’s friend’s son, who lives in Bangkok. He drove us to a place close to our hostel to grab a bite to eat, and from there, walked us to our hostel. When we arrived, there was a huge mixup with our booking and the lady wanted to charge us for 8 people because when we selected 2 people on the website it reserved two 4-bed dorms. We argued back and forth for a while and even called the booking website to try and sort it out. We ended up finding another hostel just down the street, for even cheaper, so we checked-in, dropped our bags off and left to explore a little. We ended up walking around for a while and going for a little boat ride along the river after sunset, before ending our [long] day off at Khao San Road to wander around and get beers & Pad Thai for dinner!

The next day, we woke up at a decent hour to grab breakfast near our hostel before a full day of touring. We began at the Grand Palace, where we spent a few hours walking around, taking in all of its beauty, while trying to dodge the hoards of tourists. We then made our way towards the river, stopping to take a look at the newly completed Royal Crematorium on our way. The king had recently passed away, and we learned that in Thailand, when the king dies, the whole country spends an entire year mourning his death (and wearing only black clothing). After taking a boat bus across the river to Wat Arun, we spent some time walking around this much smaller temple, designed in a very different style than the Grand Palace. It was quiet, had way less tourists, and in my opinion, just a better temple overall. At this point, we were starving and pretty templed-out, so we took the boat back across the river and then stopped in a little restaurant for some life-changing tom yum soup & papaya salad, before taking a tuk-tuk back to our hostel so we could rest and freshen up. After a couple hours of hanging out, we walked to the train station to meet up with my friend Devan, who I had met in Europe years back, and was working as an English teacher in Bangkok. She was running behind schedule, so we found a restaurant with wifi and got a beer to kill some time. After meeting up with Devan, we got dinner at the street market in China Town, and then treated ourselves to some overpriced beverages and a beautiful view at a Skybar.

Our last day in Bangkok consisted of mostly walking around, and visiting the Siam Museum, which we had heard really good things about. It was a really interesting and interactive museum about ‘Thai-ness’ and how Thai culture has changed over the years because of tourism. We got back to our hostel with enough time to eat a little bit before catching an Uber to the bus station. We had heard that Bangkok highways were brutal (one way, elevated highways with infrequent exits), and that was the furthest thing from a lie. Turns out, we had typed the wrong bus station into our Uber app, and by the time we figured it out, we were stuck in a traffic jam, unable to exit or turn around for kilometres. We ended up arriving at the bus station 5 minutes after our bus was scheduled to depart. Even though we were convinced the bus had already left, we booked it up a flight of stairs, through the station, found our ticket desk, got our tickets, ran back through the station, down the stairs, found our platform and our bus, which had yet to leave. It was one of the most stressful hours of my life, but we had a good laugh about it once we actually sat down in our seats. We arrived in Krabi in the morning, made some last minute changes to our itinerary, and caught a shuttle to the pier, where from there, we took a boat to Koh Phi Phi.

Koh Phi Phi was wild. We were able to meet up with Alyssa’s friend who I also know from yeaaaaars ago (and is now the lead actor on a new NBC TV show, might I add). It was pretty cool to reconnect with her and get to hangout together in Thailand. We spent our time together mostly hanging out on the beach, sipping’ on cocktails or eating pad thai. Our hostel was right on the main beach, so we could lay and tan, while using our hostel’s free wifi - we were legit living the LIFE. On our first night, we met a group of guys at a bar, so naturally we ended up spending most of our time with them the following day, going kayaking through some caves, to a beach full of wild and ferocious monkeys. On our second day, after our kayaking adventure, we spent most of the evening at a pool party, and hanging out on the beach with some of our new friends. Things got pretty rowdy both nights, and I didn’t get much sleep at all.

From Koh Phi Phi, we made the long, long trip to Koh Tao. First by boat to Krabi, then by bus to Surat Thani, and finally a brutal 6-hour boat ride to Koh Tao. Neither Alyssa or I get motion sickness, but after an entire 4 hours of very bumpy waters, we were both feeling quite nauseous. We finally arrived at night, got dinner after checking into our hostel, and then went for a walk down to the beach. We went to bed quite early, and our good night’s sleep was very much needed. Our hostel was running a little excursion the following day, so we decided to partake in that. We spent the majority of the day snorkelling, tanning, and Alyssa learned that the worst sunburns can happen on the cloudiest of days. That afternoon, after the best meal of our entire trip in a little family-run restaurant, we went for a walk around town, and along the beach, before eventually getting dinner with a few of our roommates. Every night, there were fire shows on the beach, so we ended our day off by doing a bit of bar hopping and dancing along the beach. We made friends with a few guys from our hostel room, so we spent the following day with them, on scooters, exploring the island, snorkelling, and getting drinks on the beach at night. Late that night, we boarded a night ferry that would bring us back to the mainland, where we would then take a shuttle bus to Krabi. When we bought tickets, the man advised us that there were 2 different types of ferries, which alternated nights, and we had lucked-out, because we’d be travelling on the nice ship. Turns out he lied to us, because our ferry was very old, loud, and extremely crammed (matresses side by side on the floor), with no a/c. Hindsight 20/20, regardless of how awkward and uncomfortable that ferry was, we definitely should have taken one on the way there as well, just to save ourselves from wasting an entire day travelling.

We arrived in Krabi around breakfast time, and after a nice little meal at McDonald’s, we checked in to our hostel, quickly changed, got some wifi time in, and walked over to the beach. After a boat ride and a couple of hours spent at Railay beach, we decided to attempt a hike which we had read about in a few blogs. Honestly, it was one of, if not THE sketchiest hike of our lives, but it was one of the absolute highlights of our entire trip. Essentially, it led us up the side of a mountain, which we scaled, and then lowered ourselves down using ropes, ladders and roots of trees, eventually leading us to a secret lagoon in the middle of the mountain. Most people who attempted it, gave up around halfway, so when we actually made it to the end, we were almost alone, which made the whole thing that much better. When we finally got back to the hostel, we showered, dropped off a few bags of laundry at a laundromat, and got some convenience store ham & cheese taosties. That night, we hungout with our new friends we had made (an Aussie girl and 2 british boys), who were on both the same ferry and shuttle bus as us from Krabi. We spent some time at our hostel’s rooftop bar, then went to checkout a few other bars, and finished the night off with a nice little 3am swim. The following day we mostly took it easy, first sleeping in, then hanging out with the british boys, and walking around town before getting on our shuttle bus to the airport in the afternoon. When we got to our Air Asia check-in desk and gave the agent our passports, he couldn’t find our reservation in the system. After a few minutes of looking further into it, he figured out it was because our flight was for the exact same time, but the day before. GREAT.

As expected, we were pretty irritated when we got to Chiang Mai. After missing our flight and having to pay for a whole new one, to top it off, when we finally arrived at our hostel, it was so ghetto and had NO working wifi. As if things couldn’t get any worse. We both went out to find some much needed food and wifi, and spent some time booking a few busses and hostels before heading to bed. The next morning I woke up early to grab breakfast and find us a new hostel. After checking out of our horrible hostel and moving to a new one down the street, we went to visit an elephant sanctuary and spent the afternoon hanging out with some gentle giants. We met some of the local native people who introduced us to the sanctuary and the elephants, before spending a few hours feeding them, taking them for a walk and then helping clean them. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done and something I’ll remember for a long long time. When we got back to our hostel in the afternoon, we washed up and headed out to the biggest street market I’ve ever seen, to grab some food and do a bit of souvenir “window” shopping. We wanted to checkout a bit of the nightlife, so before heading to bed, we walked from our hostel to an area with a ton of bars, and did some people watching. The next morning we woke up before daylight to catch our bus to Pai. We were warned by friends that the road to Pai was extremely winding, and to prepare to feel sick, even if neither of us were prone to car sickness. Alyssa woke up feeling very sick as it is, so she had a bit of a rough ride to say the least, but we made it in one-piece.

Pai was so so wonderful. There is so much hype aroud this “hippie” town in the mountains, and to be quite honest, I can see why people love it, but it’s not somewhere I would have wanted to stay for weeks. Our days consisted entirely of scootering in the mountains, exploring waterfalls, visiting temples and taking in all of the beauty that is northern Thailand. At night we spent some time walking around town, going to the market and getting Thai massages, which was quite the experience. Alyssa was trying to get over her sickness, so she stayed pretty low key, only joining me on the second day of scootering.

The following morning, we woke up really early to catch the first bus back to Chiang Mai. Our bus to Laos wasn’t until night, so we decided to spend the day exploring as much of the city as we could, considering we didn’t see much of it at all before heading up to Pai. We locked up our belongings at the bus station, grabbed coffee and lunch, and then headed to Doi Suteph, a beautiful temple at the top of a mountain, overlooking the city. After spending some time there wandering around and taking pictures, we had the worst Uber experience of our lives and got into a full yelling match with the driver, who reluctantly agreed to drop us off at Nimmanhaemin, a sort of modern, hip area with tons of cute boutiques and cute restaurants, where we spent the rest of the evening before heading back to the bus station and catching our overnight bus to Nong Khai, a little town on the border with Laos.

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lawrenceseitz22 · 7 years

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 150 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

Announcement

Bradley: Hey everybody, this is Bradley Benner, with Semantic Mastery, and today is Hump Day Hangouts Episode number 150. A nice round number. Can you believe that, man?

Marco: It’s crazy. Six more.

Bradley: Yeah, six more. That’s what I was just about to say. The three year anniversary, the official three year anniversary will be 156. That’s quite a milestone, so very proud of that.

Marco: We always have goodies we give away on our anniversary specials, right? Look forward to that.

Bradley: Yeah. That’s just six short weeks away, so that’ll be coming very soon guys. We don’t have Adam here. He typically drives this train wreck. He usually is the one that has all the notes and announcements and stuff like that. He’s actually traveling, preparing for his wedding, which is this upcoming weekend. We’re all going to be meeting there, except for Marco unfortunately, in Portland. I know we’ve talked about that briefly.

That’s something we can talk about Marco. I don’t have the link for it though, shit. Do we have the link for that?

Marco: No. That’s Adam’s job.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: That damn Adam.

Bradley: That’s what I said, Adam is the glue that holds us together. When he’s not here, it truly is a train wreck. Anyways, if anybody’s interested in meeting with us in Portland next week for Hump Day Hangouts live, we’re going to be doing it at 6:00 PM Pacific time, which will be 9:00 PM Eastern time. The only reason why we’re doing it late is because, first of all, we’re on Pacific time. Second of all, anybody that does come out to hang out with us at the bar that we’ve rented, we wanted it to be in the evening so that it would be, I guess just better for everybody else. We’re going to be having Hump Day Hangouts live next week at 9:00 PM Eastern. It ought to be fun.

Basically it’ll be drinks with Semantic Mastery. If you guys want to come hang out with us, like we did last year when we were in Panama, and we’re just going to be drinking beer and chatting live, and all that. It’s going to be a lot of fun, so hopefully you guys can attend the Hump Day Hangout webinar if you can’t make it live. If you could make it actual out to Portland, just reach out to us at [email protected], and we’ll get you the link to sign up for that. I think we charge like $20. Was it $20, or $5?

Marco: I don’t even remember. It was nothing.

Bradley: It was nothing. That was just to make sure that you had a small commitment so that your ass shows up. Besides that, I don’t really have any other announcements, do you Marco?

Marco: Yeah. RYSR is killing it, man. People in RYS Reloaded are, I don’t know, it’s fun. The group is really fun. Got a bunch of go getters. I just got a PM from a guy who had been at number 15 for months, and he said he added a stack, went to number six or number five overnight, literally.

Bradley: That’s insane.

Marco: It’s crazy. Someone else said, again, they were stuck for months and months and months at number ten. One stack, number one. These aren’t, before we go any further, this is not to say that anyone who does this will have the same result. You have to follow the training to the letter. You have to do things exactly how we explain them, because if you miss anything, or if you omit it, you go, “This isn’t important.” You go on to the next part of the training, the training is set up so that you build power on power.

Forget anything and everything that you think you know about SEO. The only thing that we’re interested in is power. We don’t care about follow, or no follow. Only in that we do look for the do follow version of our files. We do look for that, because we want to pass the juice along, of course. You can use Google shortened links to kind of override that, but you still want the juice to flow nicely to whatever destination you’re throwing it to. The only way to do that is through a 301, or just a straight link. Either one works just fine.

People are just getting amazing results. They’re contacting me left and right. We have a breakaway group that I’m calling them the Holiday Jackers. They’re jacking holidays. I’m in there, I’m helping them along, because I love to see that. I love the incentive. I love that they said, “Okay, what can we do together?” If we can do all of this alone, if each one of us can rank alone, what can we do if we pool our resources and actually try to take down, let’s say Christmas, or Christmas specials, Christmas sales, whatever people are looking for at Christmas, let’s say, or Mother’s Day. If you plan now for Mother’s day, you’re just going to crush Mother’s Day. Ten people working together, each pushing stacks, all linking to other stacks. You’re just creating a mad house of power.

That’s what’s going on, and it really gets me excited to see people taking action. You know how I am. If you’re not going to do anything with it, why in the fuck would you spend so much money to just put something up on a shelf to review later, when you could be using it now, like everybody is, to rank. It makes absolutely no sense, but people actually do that.

Bradley: It’s crazy powerful. By the way guys, I do have one announcement I’ll add to your comment, Marco. We’ve got Syndication Academy Update Webinar number 15, I believe it is, immediately following Hump Day Hangouts. By the way, anybody that’s in the Syndication Academy, I really apologize for last month’s webinar not being posted in the members area. I just posted that today. I’m really sorry about that guys. That was my fault entirely, so I apologize.

I did mention it in the Facebook group to one of the people that had commented about it, that you should be able to access the replays from the events tab inside of the Facebook group. Because what happens is, I actually remove the replay from the Google event page when it gets added to the members area. If it’s not in the members area, go back and check the event page, and it should typically still be there. Anyways, I do apologize for that.

We’re going to be talking about, I’m going to be revealing on a conceptual level, I can’t get into the nitty gritty details, but I’m going to be revealing on a conceptual level, so kind of like a high level, of what the PR stack method is that I’ve been using for local ranking. It’s just fricking crushing it man. We’ve got a project, in the mastermind we’ve got what’s called a lead gen accountability group, where it’s about 10 or 12 of us that are in this group that are doing lead gen sites, and we’re using specifically this press release method to rank. We’re testing different configurations, and different number of press releases, and how soon, the volume or the frequency that we’re publishing them. That kind of stuff, and just testing, in various industries too, to see if we can duplicate the results with different types of configurations and that kind of stuff.

One of the projects I’m working on, it’s a JV project with somebody else, we’re doing some lead gen sites in a very specific industry. I’ve only published two press releases and we’re already in the 3-pack for some of the keywords, and right outside the 3-pack for many others. I’m going to be sharing some of those details today.

Building on what Marco was saying with the drive stacks, the stuff that we’re doing with the press releases for local ranking is not even including drive stacks. This is, right now it’s been specifically just testing straight press releases. If we mix in the Syndication Academy networks, so the syndication networks, which help to validate the entity. Create the little network of branded and interlinked sites, and then drive stacks as well, along with the press releases, I mean it’s a three punch combo that is just like nothing I’ve ever seen in SEO. It’s just absolutely incredible, and it builds the brand and the authority so much so that those rankings just stick.

I’m talking about ranking in the maps 3-pack guys, for some seriously competitive terms. Not only that, but without even doing any citations, which is crazy. Because you’d think that for local stuff, the traditional wisdom for years has been that you have to have citations. The press releases are acting as citations, but they’re not the traditional like directory style citations, and it’s working incredibly well. We’re going to be talking about that in the Syndication Academy webinar today a bit.

Just so you know, inside the mastermind we’ve been covering this stuff almost as it occurs. Not only the press release stuff, but also like the prospecting funnel and all the stuff that I’ve been building out for the new agency that we’re building, we at Semantic Mastery, are building a new local marketing agency. I’ve been working on it for about two months. Last mastermind webinar, which was two weeks ago, we broke down the prospecting funnel, which is producing anywhere between 10 to 15 inbound leads for be per day, which is absolutely insane. I’m talking about, I’m doing cold email outreach, but it’s producing inbound leads into our prospecting and sales funnels. In a very kind of tight niche, or industry, and it’s working really, really well. We broke that down two weeks ago.

Basically what I’m getting at is you guys should be in the Syndication Academy. If you’re not, you should join, because you’ll get some of this stuff there, or join the mastermind if you really want to get it in real time, as these products are being developed. Because eventually I’m going to produce a press release course that we’re going to sell under either Semantic Mastery or Mastery PR brand. Then as far as the local agency stuff that we’re developing, that’s not going to be sold until we’re ready to franchise or license it. Inside the mastermind, people are getting an inside look at how it’s being built and developed. That’s something that, again, we would encourage you to come join us so that you can experience all that stuff with us. Anything you want to add to that before we get into questions Marco?

Marco: No. I just think that co-citations are a really good way to push everything up, because you not only create the co-citation, you’re creating co-occurrence. I don’t want to get deep into what co-occurrence is. It’s just where the same word, or set of keywords appear, where they converge on the web. If you do that inside a Google property, the power that you generate literally overrides any other factor in the algorithm. It’s incredible how we not only trigger the algorithm, but you override a lot of the negative factors, or a lot of the stops, within the algorithm. You just push straight through them. One of those ways is like you said, press releases plus the RYS Reloaded, the drive stacks, with co-occurrence and co-citations. It’s just a powerful strategy man.

How Do You Formulate Anchor Text Diversity And Ratios Using SEO BattlePlan?

Bradley: Yeah. All right. Well we are going to get into questions. We’ve got quite a few already, so I’m going to go ahead and lock the screen and get it going. Okay, sweet. We’ve got several good questions already, so let’s get right into it guys. Sirian says, “First off, the SEO Battle Plan is great.” I’ll plus one that. “You guys did an awesome job. There was one part of the Battle Plan that I couldn’t find much information on. I couldn’t find much info on anchor text diversity, or anchor text ratios, for the different types of rankings you cover. I was wondering if you could either PM me with suggested anchor text suggestions, or post it here for the different types of rankings. Thanks.”

All right, we’ll I’ll cover it. I’m not going to type it out, but I’ll cover it right now. Sirian, typically what I focus on is naked URLs and brand anchors. Almost 100% now. I do naked URLs a lot, but I do brand terms quite a bit as well. It depends on where the links are coming from. Now, if you’re doing syndication through your blog, then you’re going to be creating contextual links within the blog post, the body of the blog post that you’re going to be syndicating out to your networks. Remember, they start off as internal links, because you’re posting on the blog, but it’s going to get syndicated out.

However, if you’re using a tier one branded network only, as your syndication network, instead of tiered networks and all that, then you can use keywords. Remember, when you do internal linking, a lot of the times you’re going to set keywords as anchor text anyways. That helps, it really does help. One of our partners in SerpSpace, Roman, he’s been crushing it with on page SEO. I mean, the stuff that this guy is doing is just like magic. He’s ranking for some serious crazy terms, like national terms, or even global terms, with just mainly on page stuff. It’s insane what he’s got going on.

What I’m getting at is, there’s a lot that can be done with just on page. If you’re using keywords, that’s fine, especially with just a single tier branded network, which is part of the reason why I always suggest just doing that, because it’s easier. It prevents potential issues with over optimization of your anchor text profile. Because if you think about it, when you syndicate a blog post to a single branded network, you’re really only getting three contextual links syndicated, because the rest are just a link back to the blog post. Does that make sense?

Like the bookmarks and the cloud storage sites, like Google Drive, those kind of things, social signals, the social media posts, all they do is link back to the post URL. There is no republishing of the text of the post itself. It’s just a link back to the post URL, so it doesn’t matter what your anchor text ratio is from, or the anchor text to the links in the body of the post.

For Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress, and if you happen to be using Medium and Weebly and stuff like that, which aren’t auto-posting anyways, but if you happen to be using those, you’ve got to take those into consideration. For a typical standard network, it’s going to be three contextual links that actually get syndicated out. Because of that, you don’t have to worry about over optimizing unless you continually publish blog posts to your blog using the same anchor text over and over again, as part of your internal link up to one of the pages of the site. Just keep that in mind.

If you’re doing external link building, so if you’re building inbound links from third party sites, not through syndication but through like PBNs for example, or through link building packages that you buy from either SerpSpace or from Black Cat forums or whatever else. Other link building services, if you’ve got your own tools, or whatever, then I highly recommend that you stick with naked URLs, very broad keywords instead of exact match, especially if you’re doing local and stuff. Then also generics, and in brand terms. That’s pretty much it.

As far as like the actual ratios, I gave up trying to figure out what the perfect ratio balance is. Because we just realized, probably two or three years ago now, that it’s really naked URLs and brand terms that’s all that’s required. If you’re on page is correct, if you have really good on page optimization done, then you can rank with strictly brand and naked URLs, because the keywords are all taken care throughout your on page.

I know there’s a lot of people out there, again traditional wisdom, conventional wisdom has been that everybody always says that, not everybody, but a lot of SEOs, a lot of conventional wisdom states that there should be 20% brand terms and only 5% exact match, and 10% broad match. Then 30% generics and 40% … All that. Okay. I get an ice cream headache just thinking about all that crap. I just stick with making sure on page is really good, and then I just use naked URLs and brand terms almost 100% of the time. What do you think, Marco?

Marco: Man, I agree totally with your answer. I don’t think I can add anything to it.

Bradley: All right. Perfect. Next is Shilbga. I’m going to screw that up. Sorry buddy.

Marco: He’s one of our Reloaded guys. Hey man.

How Did You Set Expectations To The Call Volume Of Clients For Remodeling Services?

Bradley: Awesome. “You had mentioned that, compared to your tree service niche, remodeling GMB listings do not get that much call volume.” No, they don’t. “How was your experience at expectation setting for your client for remodeling compared to tree service?” Well, if the remodeling clients have already been doing some sort of lead gen stuff, or SEO or whatever, they should already have a pretty, they should have an expectation. They should have like a benchmark, and idea of what their call volume is typically. Now, if you’re starting from scratch with a new contract, or somebody that doesn’t have an online presence at all, or hasn’t been doing any sort of lead gen, then yeah, you have to set their expectations. In which case, you’ve got to explain it to them.

Remember that a home remodeling, like home builders and home remodelers, and general contractors, it’s not a lot of call volume. Like tree services, like plumbing services and HVAC services, and any sort of repair services, is different. Because those a lot of times are smaller jobs, and there’s going to be more call volume. For tree service industry, guys, there’s seasons, certain seasons, especially like spring and summer, they get a ton of calls, but obviously during the winter it’s very, very low call volume. At least where I am, because the winters are pretty harsh and there’s not really a lot of tree activity.

When it comes to remodeling, you’ve got to remember to tell the client, or anybody that has really high ticket items, is that although the leads aren’t going to be coming through like dozens per week, and it depends, there’s certain areas where that could be true. In the areas that I’ve done lead gen, and/or SEO work for remodeling contractors and general contractors, it’s not usually a lot of call volume. For a decent sized city, maybe we’d get anywhere between eight to 15 calls per month, and that’s for a pretty good sized city. For some of the smaller like suburb areas that we target, sometimes we’ll go a month without any calls. Other months we’ll get five or six calls.

The idea here is, one of those leads … Here’s an example that I use for the last contractor that I pitched on a lead gen site for. I told him, I said, “Look, I’m going to charge you $100 per lead that comes in.” If you think about it, the average kitchen job, on the small end, an average kitchen remodel job is $20,000. If it takes us, if you close one out of every three leads that calls you. Remember, obviously it’s in their best interest to get better at closing. If it costs them $300 for three leads, and they close one of them and it’s a $20,000 kitchen job, which is actually the low end of a kitchen remodel average. Then was it worth spending $300 to get that lead? That cost per conversion, or cost per acquisition, CPA, cost per acquisition for that kitchen remodeling job was $300. Was that worth it? You better believe it was worth it, because that’s less than 1%, or is it one? 1% would be what, $200. What is it, like 1.5% of the job price? Like with my tree service clients, at least with my biggest client, I do a 10% of whatever the contract price is, the gross contract. Let’s say they get a $10,000 tree job. That’s not normal. We usually get tree jobs anywhere from $1500 to maybe $3000 is a typical tree removal contract. They pay 10% on that, and that’s on the gross side because there’s not a lot of materials involved, it’s mostly just all labor. I can get 10% for those, and they’ll pay me, for a $1500 tree removal job, I get $150. That’s great. They’re paying 10% for that lead. When you explain it that way to a contractor, like a remodeling contractor and say, “Look, if I’m charging you $100 per lead, and it takes you four leads to close the sale, and you get a $25,000 job out of it, then you’ve only paid $400.” Which is, again that’s like 1.5% or 2% of your contract price.

If you’re going to go with the revenue share model, which is where you get a percentage, which a lot of contractors like that. You have to have a specific, a trusting relationship with the contractor in order for you to even propose that. If you were to do that with remodeling contractors, then typically you’re going to ask for a percentage of the net contract price. Which means the total contract price, minus materials. Sometimes, depending on what you work out with the contractor, it may be minus materials and labor. A lot of the times I always try to strike an agreement where it’s contract price minus materials. Get paid on that. 10% for a remodeling type of lead is often a lot, even on the net side instead of the gross side. 5% is more of a number that is, they will agree to 5% of net proceeds of a lead more than they will on 10%, if that makes sense.

Anyways. Those are just a couple different ways. I don’t know if he … We should have some monetization model training in Syndication Academy, and I know we do in Local Kingpin. You should go through one of those webinars. If you don’t have access to either one of those, reach out to us at support and ask for the monetization models for lead gen webinar. Actually, you know what? I know where it is. It’s in our bonus site. You should have access to our bonus site, since you bought RYS Academy. Go into the Semantic Mastery bonus site and you’ll see that there is a webinar in there where I go very in depth into monetization models for lead gen stuff. If you have any problems accessing that site, just reach out to us, [email protected], and we’ll get you sorted out.

Can Google Sites Rank Well And Be Duplicated And Uploaded In Bulk?

Moving on. Taylor says, “I am in the process of building websites through Google Sites. Would like to know if they rank well, can be duplicated and uploaded in bulk.” Yes, they definitely rank well. I tried a software, GSG. That’s not Peter Drew’s software, is it? Google Site Generator. I thought his was called Google Site Builder.

Marco: I think it’s Google Site Building.

Bradley: Yeah, so I don’t know what GSG is. “I tried a software GSG, but had problems in getting it to operate properly. I viewed the tutorial for GSG, and I still had no success with it. I would like a mass page builder that would work. Do you have any suggestions? Also, want to thank you guys for your commitment to the community. Is appreciated.” I’ll plus one that.

I would say Peter Drew’s Google Site Builder is great for building unlimited Google sites, where you would target like one keyword per site. You can go in there and literally put in, I think 100 keywords at a time, or something like that. I may be incorrect on that, but it’s a lot. You can put a lot in there, or you can build a site with up to eight pages per site, if you want like inner pages targeting. You can build almost like a silo structure within a Google Site. That works really well.

I know Marco’s tested it quite a bit. I’ve played with it a little. I haven’t had a lot of time to play with software, but I know I’ve played with it. Anything from Peter Drew is always a good product. In our opinion, he’s one of the good developers. He keeps his software updated regularly. I would suggest that. Marco, do you have any comments on that since you’ve used it more than I have?

Marco: No. It’s good for what it does. It ranks for long tails, but you could do the same thing with just a manual build on a G Site, chasing a long tail. If you want the true power, and excuse me because I’m biased, and I’ll admit, is in RYS Reloaded. Because you can chase as many long tails as you want with what we do, and the way that we do it. I mean, automation is fine, but you can’t refine the process when you’re doing things en masse. It might be great for poking niches. It might be great for other things. When you want ranking that stick, you start with RYS Reloaded, and that G Site, if that’s what you’re trying to rank, is that G Site, or to push power wherever you want to push it.

I could take more. You have to remember that certain niches require more work. It’s not just, okay, I’ll do a half-assed stack like it’s done in other places, and I’m going to rank. Then when it doesn’t you come back and say, “Well this stuff doesn’t work.” Well no, it just wasn’t done right, or it needed more power. How do you add more power? We teach all that inside RYS Reloaded. I’m not going to start teaching it all here. There’s a big difference.

If you want to rank for 100 long tails, then yes, of course, get the Google Site Creator from Peter Drew, and target 100 long tail keywords. You’ll get traffic out of each one of those, but why do that when you could just build one and target just everything under the sun? You’re going to rank, I mean I’ve seen people ranking for hundreds and hundreds of keywords. Not just one, or a hundred, or whatever.

Bradley: Yeah. For what the specific question was about, building mass Google sites, I would suggest that tool. I agree with Marco 100%. As the specific tool for what you’re asking about Taylor, that is a good tool, there’s no doubt. I would give you the link, but typically Adam or Hernan are here dropping the links when I mention something, and I don’t have it. If you want to check that you, and you can’t find it on your own, just reach out to us, Support@SemanticMastery, or post in one of the Facebook groups or something like that, and we’ll find the link for you and get it to you.

How Do You Handle Client Expectations From A Branded Local Lead Gen Site?

All right. Kevin’s up. What’s up Kevin? He says, “Hey guys. Hope everyone is doing good. I have a lawn landscape lead gen site that is branded and is getting calls that I would like to sell to a local business. The problem is, how does the company answer the phone when the customer’s expecting my branded business to be answering the call? Also, what happens when a different company truck shows up?”

Okay, that’s a great question, Kevin. You do have Local Kingpin, that should be covered in there. To be honest, I can’t remember. I’m almost 100% certain I covered that in there, just because that is a common question. That comes up a lot.

The way that I’ve always solved that is, once I have a site ranking, which is always just like a pseudo-brand, and by the way, it’s getting more and more difficult, guys, to do that, just so you know. It’s getting more difficult to create a fake brand. Because Google is putting so much emphasis on branding and entity validation now, it’s getting more difficult to do that. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to get away with that, but I know that in some cities, or in some industries specifically, they’re actually making you jump through hoops now, to get a Google My Business listing verified.

It’s going to make it more and more difficult for us to set up these lead gen sites, which is part of the reason why I’ve started getting back into doing more client work again, and we started building a local agency. Because it’s getting to the point where it’s going to be too much of a headache to try to create lead gen sites. Now, because of some of the tools and processes that we have in place, like RYS Reloaded, and the press release services, and the syndication networks, and SerpSpace as our order fulfillment center. We have the ability to drive, and you guys do too, you guys have access to all this stuff too.

We have the ability to actually provide results for clients, instead of producing our own assets. Which I’ve recommended that for years, but as it becomes more difficult, you’ve got to evolve with the times. Let me get back to your question, Kevin.

Marco: Before you get there, let me just continue on what you started. They’re getting so anal that I verified, it was either yesterday or the day before, I verified, or helped a doctor verify a business, and they actually made us go on video. They wouldn’t accept the call. They made us go on video, and they made the doctor show his offices, his staff, and the wall with his degrees. It’s gotten to that point. It used to be, okay doctor, you went in, you sent the pin, it was verified. They made us go on video.

Bradley: That’s insane. I’ve heard of the same thing happening in some of the industries, like some various industries. I think locksmithing is one of them. In some cities they’re requiring it for certain industries and things like that. That’s why I’m saying, although I wanted to, for years I’ve been trying to get out of the client business, and just build my own lead gen properties, we’re kind of going back to more client services again, because of this very reason. Plus we’ve got methods, like with SerpSpace, which you guys have access to, so much of the fulfillment can be handled now, right from that dashboard. It’s really silly not to be able to provide services.

Let’s keep rolling. I’m going to get through this question. Kevin, this is something that happens often. what I’ve always done, was once I’ve got the site ranked, and I start generating calls, then I put, like if it’s a WordPress site, I just put a plugin. I use the InkThemes, what’s called the InfoBar plugin, but I’m sure there’s other ones as well. Let me just find it real quick. This is the plugin that I always use. I think that should be it. Yes, this is it. InfoBar plugin. I use this, because it’s really simple. What it does is it puts a nice like red banner type thing at the very top of the site, that has a scrolling text. I always just put whatever the pseudo brand name in, is now partnered with, and then I put the company name that’s actually servicing the leads. That’s all I do.

What I might do, is if I have a logo on the site, I will change the logo image out with the service provider. Whoever’s buying the leads from me, I’ll put their logo on there. I keep control of the domain, and the phone number, the email form, all of that stuff, so I can track everything. I’m not going to rebrand it. Let me rephrase. I’m not going to go update citations in all of that. I’m going to keep my phone number, my URL. I’m going to keep the web forms, at least if it’s a contact form that gets submitted, it gets sent to me as well as to the contractor. Then like I said, if you’re using a logo image, probably are, then I will swap out the logo image with the client’s logo image, or the service provider’s image, and I’ll put the notification bar on there. That’s all I do. That’s it. Period.

Now remember, I don’t have any calls going directly from my lead gen sites to the contractors, none of them do. All of my lead gen sites go through a call center. I use AnswerConnect.com. AnswerConnect has been my call center service since 2011, or actually probably 2012. Five years now I’ve been using AnswerConnect. It’s a great, great service. Whenever I have submitted the script to AnswerConnect, the call screening script that they read, and they ask questions of the caller, which is a great service, by the way guys.

Because as a local business, and any of you guys doing local services you already know this, or if you have your own website ranked for marketing services or whatever, in your local area. You already know you get hammered with spam calls all day long, solicitation calls. It’s typically from marketing agencies, or like Yelp. Yelp is notorious for calling 15 freaking times a week. I can’t stand Yelp because of that. They blow up my call center all the time with calls, because of all the different lead gen sites that we have being funneled into a call center. I literally burn up probably 300 or 400 minutes a month on spam calls, because of that.

What I’m getting at is, by having everything go through a call center, the call centers screen all the leads, so that it’s only true leads that get delivered to the contractor, which is good. Because if you’ve got the calls going directly to the contractor, first of all they’re probably going to get pissed off eventually, that they keep getting spam calls, which is just the nature of the game. Once you get ranked in Google, you start receiving calls, not just from customers, but also from marketing and advertising agencies trying to sell you more stuff.

The contractor will oftentimes get annoyed with how many spam calls they get, so having a call center really cuts down on that, almost 100%. Because now the only leads that get forwarded to the contractor are the ones that have been screened by the call center, and are valid, bonafide leads. The call center will send an email and a text, or however you got notifications set up.

The way that I have it set up is, it sends an email to the contractor plus me, and it sends a text to the contractor, with all the lead data in the text as well. The contractor can see the contact information, their name, phone number, address, the service that they’re interested, brief description of the job. All that kind of stuff, and they can call back.

Typically, what I do in that case is the call center will originally, while I’m getting the site ranked, it will have like, “Hello, Joe’s Plumbing, how may I help you?” Then as soon as I get a new service provider, I will have the script updated to the contractor’s name, or I will just have it go generic and say like, “Plumbing service, how may I help you?” Does that make sense? You take the brand name out of it. That way, if a customer calls, and they get, again you can either have the service provider’s name inserted in the script, or you can just make it very generic, like Plumbing Services, or in your case Landscape Services. Something like that. Landscaping, how may I help you? Something like that.

Then when the service provider shows up at the customer’s house, their branding should have been on the website already. If anybody ever asks questions, I always tell my contractors, don’t lie to the customer. You just tell the customer, “Yes, that’s a marketing website that was set up by a third party. I service all the leads through that website. This is my company.” It’s under their insurance. It’s under their license. All that kind of stuff, if that makes sense. Good question, Kevin.

Scott’s up. He says, “Hey guys, looking forward to the meetup in Portland. Do we have a location?” Yeah Scott, Adam would have it, but he’s not here. Yes, we have a location. If you’ve already signed up, you will definitely get notification. Just be looking out on your email. Adam’s real good about making sure the email goes out several times, so you’ll get notified.

What Are T1 And T2 Networks And When/Why To Use Them To Help Rank Money Sites Higher In The SERP?

George says, “Can you explain what T1 and T2 networks really mean?” Yeah, we actually covered this in depth in the mastermind, didn’t we? I think there was a pretty good thread in there. Rob answered a great answer for that, didn’t he?

Marco: Yeah, he did.

Bradley: Okay. George, I’m only going to skip your question because I know that it was covered extensively in the mastermind earlier today. If you have any additional, if you’d like us to cover this a little bit more in depth, I’m certainly happy to. We have a mastermind webinar tomorrow, so we can cover this more in detail for you. If we get into that right now, it’ll probably take up the rest of the Hump Day Hangout. I’m going to keep moving. Not that your question’s not important, George.

By the way, George is a newer mastermind member, and he’s been just soaking it up. It’s been awesome to see how engaged he is in the community. He’s always asking questions. Really good questions, and it’s been awesome George, to see that. I love it when new members come in and they’re as active as you are. We’re glad to have you.

What Is The Best Way To Silo Structure Attorney Offices From 4 Different Cities?

Jeff say, “Just landed a multi-location attorney. Offices in four different cities, separated geographically by 1500 miles or so. Would it be better to structure their new site using subdomains for each city, or would it be better to have a domain city /cityname type of structure? What would you have found worked better in the past? As always, any input is greatly appreciated.”

Jeff, I always, always, always recommend going with subdomains. Just use your root domain. What I’ve been doing recently, personally what I like to do is, on the root domain now … It depends. If I’m going to be doing a syndication network, and I’m going to be trying to syndicate from the root domain for all locations, which is perfectly fine to do, and I recommend doing that because you don’t need four syndication networks. Chances are, you don’t need four syndication networks. You said you’ve got four locations. A lot of people want to, right off the bat, create a separate syndication network for each location. It’s not necessary. A lot of the times it’s unnecessary to do that. You can get away with one branded syndication network that covers all four locations.

You basically do all your blogging from the root domain, in which case you would want WordPress installed, because you’re going to use the blog function for your content distribution engine. That’s how you’re going to be publishing content to your network. In that case, you’d want to put WordPress on that as kind of a, just a brand site. In other words, it’s not going to be location specific. Now of course, you could put a locations page on the site, and then you can link out to each one of the subdomains from that locations page.

Here’s the other thing. You would also create categories for each one of those subdomain locations. Let’s say you’ve got Dallas and Atlanta and Miami, let’s just say those are three. Then you would create a Dallas category. You’d have a Dallas subdomain, and maybe you’d even say Dallastx.whatever your domain is. You could have a Miami one and an Atlanta category. The idea is, every single time you go to publish a post from the root domain to your single tier one ring, branded network, then you would just make sure that the post that you’re using to promote the Dallas site, for example, has an internal link up to the Dallas category page, and also links out to, so the category on the root domain. Also, a contextual link that links out to the subdomain.

That way you can build links to each one of your subdomain sites, through just one blog. What happens is, after you’ve started publishing content consistently, you start boosting the branded network, link building, starting to get some traction. Remember, the more content you publish, the more themed it will become, the higher the authority will build. You’ll start seeing movement from your subdomain sites if you do it this way.

What happens is, after a period of time, and it depends on your frequency of publishing. How often are you publishing? That kind of thing. Once you’ve got some good volume there, you should be able to determine which particular subdomain sites, or locations, may need the extra boost. In which case you could, at that time, create a location specific network, which would be just the brand name plus the location modifier. You can do that, and then you can actually start publishing content from that specific subdomain to that location specific network.

Don’t go through all that trouble until you’ve created one branded syndication network and started pushing your content out to that, because there’s a good chance that you’re going to start gaining a lot of traction with just that alone. There’s no reason to go through all the extra hassle. I absolutely recommend using subdomains, because it reduces exposure or risk. Remember, if your domain gets penalized, and you’ve got all of your location stuff as pages or silos on the site, then you’re going to lose all of those sites. All those locations are going to go down if your domain gets penalized. If you have them on subdomains, and any one of the subdomains gets slapped, then it’s not going to affect the other subdomains. Does that make sense?

That’s part of the reason why, if you’re going to be using subdomains, you don’t want to be doing anything spammy to the root. Syndicating content from the root to your branded network is all you really need to do. Then you can always boost your tier one ring, and you can do like third party inbound linking to your individual subdomains. I wouldn’t do any kind of inbound linking to your root domain, because if you got that slapped, it would affect all your subdomains too. Does that make sense? You just want to be real careful any time you’re doing anything on a root domain, because once the domain gets slapped, then it’s tanked, and everything attached to it is.

Is It Possible To Add A Facebook And Google Tracking Pixel To A GStack?

Gabriel, he says, “Hey guys. Loving the content.” Plus one that.” He says, “Do you guys know if it’s possible to add a tracking pixel, Facebook and Google, to my GStack?” Marco, I know that probably can’t be answered here in public.

Marco: No.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: I can’t answer that, which means that there’s probably a way.

Bradley: Gabriel, if you’re in the RYS Academy group, then that would be a good place for that to possibly be covered. I know that’s coming up in an upcoming webinar, right?

Marco: Yeah. That’s coming. We’ve got so much stuff coming up. We just did one that was awesome, how to do the Google My Business entity, and how to optimize it. How to make it work in your favor. How to add it so that it’s part of the drive stack, it’s part of the entire entity. Once you’ve got all that going, it’s all about creating power guys. It’s no longer just about links, or just about keywords. We override all that. We override anything and everything in the Google algorithm with just sheer power. What did they say in that Rocky movie? Good old fashioned blunt force trauma. That’s what we’re after.

Bradley: Awesome. Gabriel, ask in that group. I know they’ve got kind of a hack to do some pretty cool stuff. I don’t know, because I haven’t done it myself, but I know that Marco will cover it in there in one of the upcoming webinars.

How Do You Handle Suspended Tier 1 Branded WordPress Site For Local Client?

Jay says, “Just had a tier one branded WordPress site for a client’s local business IFTTT ring suspended. First time that’s happened to me, and I’m struggling to understand what would be the reason. It’s branded, professional looking, just don’t recall doing anything different than previous WordPress channels that I’ve set up. Have you guys heard anything about WordPress making changes to their terms or standards that I should be mindful of?”

Jay, it happens from time to time. Now, first of all, it sucks when it happens, there’s no doubt, but it does happen. For example, our Semantic Mastery one got suspended, and I don’t think anybody’s ever rebuilt it. It’s kind of silly, because we don’t do anything spammy at all, other than publish snippets from the Hump Day Hangouts. Ours got suspended. It happens guys. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s not 100% all the time. As you know Jay, like you just mentioned, it’s the first time that’s ever happened to you, and I know you’ve been following us and using these methods for quite some time, probably a couple years. The fact that you’ve only had one just now goes to show you how well you’ve been building your networks, which is awesome. It’s going to happen from time to time.

Now, that said, I do know, from hearing some chatter in the group and stuff, that it seems like WordPress is becoming a lot more trigger happy at suspending sites. My suggestion would be that whenever you first create the account, the site, that remember to post seed content. I would suggest doing two or three posts over the course of a couple of weeks, that don’t link out to any external sources. The only thing that you would possibly want to link to is maybe another WordPress.com blog. Another WordPress.com site, not a self-hosted site, but an actual WordPress.com site that would be relevant to the seed content on your site.

The only reason why I say that is because you don’t want any external links because that can trigger, especially with new accounts, it can trigger, it can flag the account as being used for external link building, which is against their … They specifically, and they have for years, said that was against their terms of service. We’ve been getting away with it, but that’s part of the reason why we add seed content. I recommend that if it’s becoming more trigger happy, it’s more sensitive, then wait longer. Season the account longer, which means add more seed content without outbound links.

Remember, when you’re linking to another WordPress.com blog, that’s considered an internal link. If you link to other WordPress.com blogs, and you add some relevant, useful content, not spammy, spun bullshit. If you’ve got to go to a writer, or a content farm even, and buy a couple of articles to have posted, do it. If the WordPress.com site is that important to your network, which it is, in my opinion, then do it. It’s just, as things progress or change or evolve, guys, we have to as well. Does that make sense?

If you’ve got to get a couple of original articles posted on the site first, then do it. Just factor that into your costs for your client, or whatever, so that it’s covered on your end. You just order a couple pieces of content, publish them, and let the site sit for two weeks, three weeks, even 30 days, before you start automating syndication to that site. A little bit of a pain in the ass, but again guys, remember, all these sites and platforms are trying to crack down on spam. Even though syndicating valid content in our eyes isn’t spam, if it’s got external links, like pointing from the WordPress.com site back to the money site for your client, and it’s an automated post, then WordPress may very well consider it spam, even if it’s not really spam. Remember, it’s an automatic and algorithm type thing, that will suspend the account. Go ahead Marco.

Marco: Yeah. I’m shocked anyone would try to spam WordPress. I’m offended. Seriously.

Bradley: Shocked and appalled.

Marco: I’ve put the link for Jay, so that he could file for reinstatement. You could actually do that with free WordPress blogs. I’ve given him the link. You fill out the contact form, and see if you can get around it. Sometimes they just want to see that there’s a real person.

Bradley: I’ve never had that successful though, for me, for WordPress. For Tumblr, yes, but for WordPress.

Marco: I have. I’ve gotten a couple un-suspended that I did a bunch of nasty stuff to. You can. I mean, it’s worth a try.

Has Anyone Tried Submitting A Local Clients’ Coupons With Metadata To Any Coupon Sharing Sites?

Bradley: It’s worth a shot, yeah. Okay. Continuing. We’re going to run out of time here shortly. “Has anyone had any luck link building by submitting their local clients coupons with metadata? Any coupon sharing sites?” I have not. I have never, ever, ever attempted to do anything with coupons, or coupon sharing sites, because I just have absolutely no desire to do it. In fact, whenever a client has asked me about it, I’ve told them to contact someone else. I’m not kidding, because I’ve just never wanted to do it, so unfortunately Jay, I can’t answer that. Marco, have you had any experience with that?

Marco: No, because what we’re using, as you know, the Google My business verified listing for coupons and events. It works like crazy. Of course, it’s a Google property, and you’re doing what they want you to do. Rather than go out and share your coupons for services, you can do your own coupon. I’m not going to go through the whole strategy of what you do and how you get Google to crawl ad infinitum. I’m sorry, I keep mentioning it, it’s taught inside RYS Academy. We load it.

Bradley: Yeah, the Google My Business coupons are supposedly working really well. I still haven’t messed with that, because again, I’ve just never done any coupon stuff. I probably should, but I just have had no desire to do it. Check that out Jay, because I know that that is working real.

Does Using Zip Codes Better Than Radius To Avoid Overlapping Issues In Maps?

Mel, what’s up Mel? She says, “For maps our clients locations are overlapping instead of doing radius. If we do select zip codes, will it be better?” Yeah. Mel, I’ve always done zip codes, unless it was a really large service area, in which case it just wouldn’t make sense to input 300 zip codes or whatever. Usually when I’m doing, usually a service area for a company isn’t that large, and so I will actually generate a list of zip codes within the radius of their service area, and then add them individually. Add them to the Google My Business listing individually. I’ve always found that to be more effective.

Now, I haven’t split test that recently. Years ago I did, and it was absolutely more effective several years ago, so I’ve just always continued that, because it worked so much better years ago. I haven’t done any recent testing to determine if that’s still a better option or not, but as you mentioned, since there’s some overlap there, it may be better because you can be more specific in the service area boundaries, by using zip codes as opposed to doing just a blanket radius, if that makes sense.

Is There A Safe Way To Order RYS Stacks For Two Subdomains In A Legal Directory Site?

Doss says, “I have a legal directory with town named subdomains.” That’s perfect. “I would like to point a separate Google property stack at each subdomain, and further a few stacks at some of the more profitable practice areas within each of the subdomains. Personal injury, et cetera. If I order the stacks as I finish building out the content for the sections, will Google freak out because of all the different minion accounts feeding into the site? Is there a safe way to order RYS stacks to accomplish this?”

I’m going to let Marco answer, Doss. I can tell you, I haven’t seen like any velocity issues when it comes to Google properties. What do you say, Marco?

Marco: I’m looking at it. I don’t see why there would be any problem, as long as he’s on subdomains. Because each one is actually a different website, so you throw a stack at each different website, your minions, as you call them, that’s perfect. That’s what it’s all about. You can actually create the different stacks, create a company. You have a company and you have employees, and these employees are in charge of managing each of the different towns in that directory. It’s logical for each one of these employees to do what everyone else in the company does. That’s how you have to think about this.

If you do this, and you push all that power, it’s not only going to feed the root, it’s probably going to shoot back and feed all of the other subdomains, if you have it all tied together correctly. If you separated it, it’s till going to feed back and forth. Although, if you incur a penalty in any one of them, it won’t. That’s the great thing.

Bradley: Yup. That’s exactly why we do that. What I was saying about velocity is, you guys know, when you start link building, if you start building too many inbound links too quickly, you can catch a velocity penalty, which means like too many links being built too quickly. As far as from my experience, Google stacks don’t apply, because again, it’s a Google property. Now, what Marco said is true. I haven’t tested like on a mass level what I think Doss is explaining here, so there may be some velocity issues that can occur. I just haven’t seen it on the level that I’ve done it.

Now again, if you’re going to be pointing different stacks at different subdomains, those are each considered a separate web entity, so to speak. It might be part of an overall brand, but each one of those are separate assets, so to speak. They’re like sub-entities, so to speak. Anyways, my point is, I wouldn’t really worry about it. If you’re going to be building stacks to subdomains, just build away.

Marco: I mean, I saw someone build a stack for each city in a state, and then point each one of those folders to a page for that specific city, in that state. I saw everything ranking either in the map pack, or in the ranking. It just ranked all over the place. Again, power trumps anything and everything that you know about SEO.

Have You Done Any SEO Testing With Javascript Blog Commenting Systems Like FB Comments Or Disqus?

Bradley: Man, well we’re almost done, so let’s try to roll through these next couple. I’ve got to close it up guys, in about four minutes, because I’ve got to get the Syndication Academy webinar fired up. Shane says, “Have you done any SEO testing with JavaScript blog commenting systems, like Facebook comments, or Disqus worth posting on them or not.”

Shane, okay it’s my understanding with Disqus, because I’ve done some of that in the past. Disqus is a powerful property, but if I remember correctly, you have a, in your profile that you set up in Disqus, you can add a link to whatever website, it’s one link, and so typically you’re going to select your money site. Then any comments that you post out on the web through the Disqus app, which a lot of sites use that, it’s going to funnel juice back from that page to your profile in Disqus, which is where your link back to your money site is.

If it’s a relevant comment, like if it’s a comment on relevant content sources, especially with high authority, good metrics, that kind of stuff, then yeah. What it does is it funnels back all those kind of like comments aggregate back to your profile page, where it has a link to your money site. I haven’t done a lot of that recently, but I know it was very effective two or three years ago, because that was something that I had a VA manually doing for me, was going out and scraping blogs that were related, that had the Disqus app, and then they would basically post through the persona profile that was set up for that particular project. It was very helpful.

As far as like Facebook comments and stuff, I don’t know. As far as like posting links in the comment, a lot of times those will get moderated out. That’s why I liked that Disqus method, because you never had to post a link in the actual comment, and you would still benefit from it because it would funnel back to the profile page, which would have a link to your target URL. Does that make sense? Marco, do you have any comment on that?

Marco: Yes. JavaScript links rock. They don’t get counted against your link profile, so if you can get them, if you can do a nice post that’s related to whatever it is that you’re talking about, and it doesn’t get moderated out, that JavaScript link will be treated as a do follow link, but it won’t count against your link profile. That’s perfect.

How Do You Keep Your Affiliate Links From Being Hijacked?

Bradley: Yup. Paul, “How do you keep your affiliate links from being hijacked?” To be honest, I don’t know. Jason Quinlan would be the guy to talk to about that, who’s in all of our groups. Just reach out to him in whatever group you’re in, Paul. I’m sure he’d be happy, because he’s dealt with a lot of that shit. Jason Quinlan would be somebody really good to talk to about that.

We’re going to move on guys. I’ve got to wrap this up. Jeff, I hear your pain brother. I don’t have any source myself, of controlling this at all, as far as the phone verification stuff. That’s why we just buy them now. You’re right, it would be awesome if we had a way to be able to control that, like we used to. Again, it’s Google cracking down on spam, and so it makes sense for them to have made it so much more difficult. That’s why I just purchase them now, because I got tired of constantly trying to outrun, or outsmart Google when it came to that. I don’t even bother anymore.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any suggestion for you, other than using a bulk phone verified account provider, like Bulk PVA, for example. We’ve got another provider too. There’s two providers now that I’ll recommend. I’ve got another one. I don’t have time to grab the link right now, Jeff, but if you want to tag me in Syndication Academy group on that thread, and remind, I’ll come back and I’ll find the link and I’ll post it in there for you.

Fresh Weekly Content For Local SEO

Anthony says, “Is fresh weekly content the number one ranking factor to you for local SEO? I know some SEO’s believe that it is, but it’s just not true. Anyways, what do you say?” Well no, it’s not the number one ranking factor, but it is a ranking factor. We know that because over the last several years I’ve been able to rank dozens of sites by just using the Syndication Academy strategy. What I’m saying is, like with the testing that I’ve been doing now for what, three or four months now, with lead gen sites that I don’t even have syndication networks attached to most of them. I’ve just been doing press releases, which is not content marketing, not from the brand. It’s external content marketing, it’s inbound content marketing instead of outbound, like we do with syndication networks and stuff.

My point is, content marketing is important. It is freshness of content and frequency of publishing, whether it’s inbound or outbound, either way, is a ranking factor, there’s no doubt. We’ve proven over the years that … Hey look, Bulk PVA just reached out to me on Skype. I wonder, he might be on the webinar, that’s why. That’s awesome. Anyways, it is definitely a ranking factor, but we have proven time and time again that content marketing from the blog out, so outbound content marketing instead of inbound content marketing, works really, really well for ranking. In some cases, for lower competition stuff, that’s all we needed, was a syndication network and a few blog posts to rank. I wouldn’t say it’s the number one ranking factor, but it is definitely a ranking factor.

Marco: I would go as far as to say that it’s entity, and how much validity, trust, authority, and again I keep going back to power, how much power your entity is producing. Your relationships between keywords, between your location as far as your location. All you have to do is be in the state and you can actually rank for anything in that state, we’ve done it. I think that it is, because we blog and we can get things ranked, through time, by triggering that freshness algorithm. Eventually Google takes notice and they start ranking. Beyond that, for local, it’s the entity. It’s being transparent with Google. It’s being on file with them, and it’s being verified and validated, as far as I’m concerned.

Bradley: All right. I’ve got to cut you off dude, we’re already a minute late.

Marco: Yeah. We’re late. Sorry.

Bradley: All right guys. Thanks for being here. Syndication Academy webinar starts in about 30 seconds, we’ll see you over there. If not, by the way, mastermind webinar tomorrow. If we don’t see you guys in either one of those, we’ll see you all next week in Portland, at the Live Hump Day Hangout. It’ll be awesome. Thanks guys.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150 posted first on your-t1-blog-url from Blogger http://ift.tt/2xENDSr via IFTTT

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brendajhensonblog · 7 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 150 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

Bradley: Hey everybody, this is Bradley Benner, with Semantic Mastery, and today is Hump Day Hangouts Episode number 150. A nice round number. Can you believe that, man?

Marco: It’s crazy. Six more.

Bradley: Yeah, six more. That’s what I was just about to say. The three year anniversary, the official three year anniversary will be 156. That’s quite a milestone, so very proud of that.

Marco: We always have goodies we give away on our anniversary specials, right? Look forward to that.

That’s something we can talk about Marco. I don’t have the link for it though, shit. Do we have the link for that?

Marco: No. That’s Adam’s job.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: That damn Adam.

Marco: I don’t even remember. It was nothing.

Bradley: It was nothing. That was just to make sure that you had a small commitment so that your ass shows up. Besides that, I don’t really have any other announcements, do you Marco?

Bradley: That’s insane.

How Do You Formulate Anchor Text Diversity And Ratios Using SEO BattlePlan?

Marco: Man, I agree totally with your answer. I don’t think I can add anything to it.

Bradley: All right. Perfect. Next is Shilbga. I’m going to screw that up. Sorry buddy.

Marco: He’s one of our Reloaded guys. Hey man.

How Did You Set Expectations To The Call Volume Of Clients For Remodeling Services?

Can Google Sites Rank Well And Be Duplicated And Uploaded In Bulk?

Marco: I think it’s Google Site Building.

How Do You Handle Client Expectations From A Branded Local Lead Gen Site?

What Are T1 And T2 Networks And When/Why To Use Them To Help Rank Money Sites Higher In The SERP?

Marco: Yeah, he did.

What Is The Best Way To Silo Structure Attorney Offices From 4 Different Cities?

Is It Possible To Add A Facebook And Google Tracking Pixel To A GStack?

Marco: No.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: I can’t answer that, which means that there’s probably a way.

Bradley: Gabriel, if you’re in the RYS Academy group, then that would be a good place for that to possibly be covered. I know that’s coming up in an upcoming webinar, right?

How Do You Handle Suspended Tier 1 Branded WordPress Site For Local Client?

Marco: Yeah. I’m shocked anyone would try to spam WordPress. I’m offended. Seriously.

Bradley: Shocked and appalled.

Bradley: I’ve never had that successful though, for me, for WordPress. For Tumblr, yes, but for WordPress.

Marco: I have. I’ve gotten a couple un-suspended that I did a bunch of nasty stuff to. You can. I mean, it’s worth a try.

Has Anyone Tried Submitting A Local Clients’ Coupons With Metadata To Any Coupon Sharing Sites?

Does Using Zip Codes Better Than Radius To Avoid Overlapping Issues In Maps?

Is There A Safe Way To Order RYS Stacks For Two Subdomains In A Legal Directory Site?

I’m going to let Marco answer, Doss. I can tell you, I haven’t seen like any velocity issues when it comes to Google properties. What do you say, Marco?

Have You Done Any SEO Testing With Javascript Blog Commenting Systems Like FB Comments Or Disqus?

How Do You Keep Your Affiliate Links From Being Hijacked?

Fresh Weekly Content For Local SEO

Bradley: All right. I’ve got to cut you off dude, we’re already a minute late.

Marco: Yeah. We’re late. Sorry.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150 posted first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

beyondvapepage · 7 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 150 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

Announcement

Bradley: Hey everybody, this is Bradley Benner, with Semantic Mastery, and today is Hump Day Hangouts Episode number 150. A nice round number. Can you believe that, man?

Marco: It’s crazy. Six more.

Bradley: Yeah, six more. That’s what I was just about to say. The three year anniversary, the official three year anniversary will be 156. That’s quite a milestone, so very proud of that.

Marco: We always have goodies we give away on our anniversary specials, right? Look forward to that.

That’s something we can talk about Marco. I don’t have the link for it though, shit. Do we have the link for that?

Marco: No. That’s Adam’s job.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: That damn Adam.

Marco: I don’t even remember. It was nothing.

Bradley: It was nothing. That was just to make sure that you had a small commitment so that your ass shows up. Besides that, I don’t really have any other announcements, do you Marco?

Bradley: That’s insane.

How Do You Formulate Anchor Text Diversity And Ratios Using SEO BattlePlan?

Marco: Man, I agree totally with your answer. I don’t think I can add anything to it.

Bradley: All right. Perfect. Next is Shilbga. I’m going to screw that up. Sorry buddy.

Marco: He’s one of our Reloaded guys. Hey man.

How Did You Set Expectations To The Call Volume Of Clients For Remodeling Services?

Can Google Sites Rank Well And Be Duplicated And Uploaded In Bulk?

Marco: I think it’s Google Site Building.

How Do You Handle Client Expectations From A Branded Local Lead Gen Site?

What Are T1 And T2 Networks And When/Why To Use Them To Help Rank Money Sites Higher In The SERP?

Marco: Yeah, he did.

What Is The Best Way To Silo Structure Attorney Offices From 4 Different Cities?

Is It Possible To Add A Facebook And Google Tracking Pixel To A GStack?

Marco: No.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: I can’t answer that, which means that there’s probably a way.

Bradley: Gabriel, if you’re in the RYS Academy group, then that would be a good place for that to possibly be covered. I know that’s coming up in an upcoming webinar, right?

How Do You Handle Suspended Tier 1 Branded WordPress Site For Local Client?

Marco: Yeah. I’m shocked anyone would try to spam WordPress. I’m offended. Seriously.

Bradley: Shocked and appalled.

Bradley: I’ve never had that successful though, for me, for WordPress. For Tumblr, yes, but for WordPress.

Marco: I have. I’ve gotten a couple un-suspended that I did a bunch of nasty stuff to. You can. I mean, it’s worth a try.

Has Anyone Tried Submitting A Local Clients’ Coupons With Metadata To Any Coupon Sharing Sites?

Does Using Zip Codes Better Than Radius To Avoid Overlapping Issues In Maps?

Is There A Safe Way To Order RYS Stacks For Two Subdomains In A Legal Directory Site?

I’m going to let Marco answer, Doss. I can tell you, I haven’t seen like any velocity issues when it comes to Google properties. What do you say, Marco?

Have You Done Any SEO Testing With Javascript Blog Commenting Systems Like FB Comments Or Disqus?

How Do You Keep Your Affiliate Links From Being Hijacked?

Fresh Weekly Content For Local SEO

Bradley: All right. I’ve got to cut you off dude, we’re already a minute late.

Marco: Yeah. We’re late. Sorry.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150 posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnZU8p

0 notes

anchorsawaytat1 · 7 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 150 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

Announcement

Bradley: Hey everybody, this is Bradley Benner, with Semantic Mastery, and today is Hump Day Hangouts Episode number 150. A nice round number. Can you believe that, man?

Marco: It’s crazy. Six more.

Bradley: Yeah, six more. That’s what I was just about to say. The three year anniversary, the official three year anniversary will be 156. That’s quite a milestone, so very proud of that.

Marco: We always have goodies we give away on our anniversary specials, right? Look forward to that.

That’s something we can talk about Marco. I don’t have the link for it though, shit. Do we have the link for that?

Marco: No. That’s Adam’s job.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: That damn Adam.

Marco: I don’t even remember. It was nothing.

Bradley: It was nothing. That was just to make sure that you had a small commitment so that your ass shows up. Besides that, I don’t really have any other announcements, do you Marco?

Bradley: That’s insane.

How Do You Formulate Anchor Text Diversity And Ratios Using SEO BattlePlan?

Marco: Man, I agree totally with your answer. I don’t think I can add anything to it.

Bradley: All right. Perfect. Next is Shilbga. I’m going to screw that up. Sorry buddy.

Marco: He’s one of our Reloaded guys. Hey man.

How Did You Set Expectations To The Call Volume Of Clients For Remodeling Services?

Like with my tree service clients, at least with my biggest client, I do a 10% of whatever the contract price is, the gross contract. Let’s say they get a $10,000 tree job. That’s not normal. We usually get tree jobs anywhere from $1500 to maybe $3000 is a typical tree removal contract. They pay 10% on that, and that’s on the gross side because there’s not a lot of materials involved, it’s mostly just all labor. I can get 10% for those, and they’ll pay me, for a $1500 tree removal job, I get $150. That’s great. They’re paying 10% for that lead. When you explain it that way to a contractor, like a remodeling contractor and say, “Look, if I’m charging you $100 per lead, and it takes you four leads to close the sale, and you get a $25,000 job out of it, then you’ve only paid $400.” Which is, again that’s like 1.5% or 2% of your contract price.

Can Google Sites Rank Well And Be Duplicated And Uploaded In Bulk?

Marco: I think it’s Google Site Building.

How Do You Handle Client Expectations From A Branded Local Lead Gen Site?

What Are T1 And T2 Networks And When/Why To Use Them To Help Rank Money Sites Higher In The SERP?

Marco: Yeah, he did.

What Is The Best Way To Silo Structure Attorney Offices From 4 Different Cities?

Is It Possible To Add A Facebook And Google Tracking Pixel To A GStack?

Marco: No.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: I can’t answer that, which means that there’s probably a way.

Bradley: Gabriel, if you’re in the RYS Academy group, then that would be a good place for that to possibly be covered. I know that’s coming up in an upcoming webinar, right?

How Do You Handle Suspended Tier 1 Branded WordPress Site For Local Client?

Marco: Yeah. I’m shocked anyone would try to spam WordPress. I’m offended. Seriously.

Bradley: Shocked and appalled.

Bradley: I’ve never had that successful though, for me, for WordPress. For Tumblr, yes, but for WordPress.

Marco: I have. I’ve gotten a couple un-suspended that I did a bunch of nasty stuff to. You can. I mean, it’s worth a try.

Has Anyone Tried Submitting A Local Clients’ Coupons With Metadata To Any Coupon Sharing Sites?

Does Using Zip Codes Better Than Radius To Avoid Overlapping Issues In Maps?

Is There A Safe Way To Order RYS Stacks For Two Subdomains In A Legal Directory Site?

I’m going to let Marco answer, Doss. I can tell you, I haven’t seen like any velocity issues when it comes to Google properties. What do you say, Marco?

Have You Done Any SEO Testing With Javascript Blog Commenting Systems Like FB Comments Or Disqus?

How Do You Keep Your Affiliate Links From Being Hijacked?

Fresh Weekly Content For Local SEO

Bradley: All right. I’ve got to cut you off dude, we’re already a minute late.

Marco: Yeah. We’re late. Sorry.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

qxcel1 · 7 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 150 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

Announcement

Bradley: Hey everybody, this is Bradley Benner, with Semantic Mastery, and today is Hump Day Hangouts Episode number 150. A nice round number. Can you believe that, man?

Marco: It’s crazy. Six more.

Bradley: Yeah, six more. That’s what I was just about to say. The three year anniversary, the official three year anniversary will be 156. That’s quite a milestone, so very proud of that.

Marco: We always have goodies we give away on our anniversary specials, right? Look forward to that.

That’s something we can talk about Marco. I don’t have the link for it though, shit. Do we have the link for that?

Marco: No. That’s Adam’s job.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: That damn Adam.

Marco: I don’t even remember. It was nothing.

Bradley: It was nothing. That was just to make sure that you had a small commitment so that your ass shows up. Besides that, I don’t really have any other announcements, do you Marco?

Bradley: That’s insane.

How Do You Formulate Anchor Text Diversity And Ratios Using SEO BattlePlan?

Marco: Man, I agree totally with your answer. I don’t think I can add anything to it.

Bradley: All right. Perfect. Next is Shilbga. I’m going to screw that up. Sorry buddy.

Marco: He’s one of our Reloaded guys. Hey man.

How Did You Set Expectations To The Call Volume Of Clients For Remodeling Services?

Can Google Sites Rank Well And Be Duplicated And Uploaded In Bulk?

Marco: I think it’s Google Site Building.

How Do You Handle Client Expectations From A Branded Local Lead Gen Site?

What Are T1 And T2 Networks And When/Why To Use Them To Help Rank Money Sites Higher In The SERP?

Marco: Yeah, he did.

What Is The Best Way To Silo Structure Attorney Offices From 4 Different Cities?

Is It Possible To Add A Facebook And Google Tracking Pixel To A GStack?

Marco: No.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: I can’t answer that, which means that there’s probably a way.

Bradley: Gabriel, if you’re in the RYS Academy group, then that would be a good place for that to possibly be covered. I know that’s coming up in an upcoming webinar, right?

How Do You Handle Suspended Tier 1 Branded WordPress Site For Local Client?

Marco: Yeah. I’m shocked anyone would try to spam WordPress. I’m offended. Seriously.

Bradley: Shocked and appalled.

Bradley: I’ve never had that successful though, for me, for WordPress. For Tumblr, yes, but for WordPress.

Marco: I have. I’ve gotten a couple un-suspended that I did a bunch of nasty stuff to. You can. I mean, it’s worth a try.

Has Anyone Tried Submitting A Local Clients’ Coupons With Metadata To Any Coupon Sharing Sites?

Does Using Zip Codes Better Than Radius To Avoid Overlapping Issues In Maps?

Is There A Safe Way To Order RYS Stacks For Two Subdomains In A Legal Directory Site?

I’m going to let Marco answer, Doss. I can tell you, I haven’t seen like any velocity issues when it comes to Google properties. What do you say, Marco?

Have You Done Any SEO Testing With Javascript Blog Commenting Systems Like FB Comments Or Disqus?

How Do You Keep Your Affiliate Links From Being Hijacked?

Fresh Weekly Content For Local SEO

Bradley: All right. I’ve got to cut you off dude, we’re already a minute late.

Marco: Yeah. We’re late. Sorry.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

daynamartinez22 · 7 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 150 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

Announcement

Bradley: Hey everybody, this is Bradley Benner, with Semantic Mastery, and today is Hump Day Hangouts Episode number 150. A nice round number. Can you believe that, man?

Marco: It’s crazy. Six more.

Bradley: Yeah, six more. That’s what I was just about to say. The three year anniversary, the official three year anniversary will be 156. That’s quite a milestone, so very proud of that.

Marco: We always have goodies we give away on our anniversary specials, right? Look forward to that.

That’s something we can talk about Marco. I don’t have the link for it though, shit. Do we have the link for that?

Marco: No. That’s Adam’s job.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: That damn Adam.

Marco: I don’t even remember. It was nothing.

Bradley: It was nothing. That was just to make sure that you had a small commitment so that your ass shows up. Besides that, I don’t really have any other announcements, do you Marco?

Bradley: That’s insane.

How Do You Formulate Anchor Text Diversity And Ratios Using SEO BattlePlan?

Marco: Man, I agree totally with your answer. I don’t think I can add anything to it.

Bradley: All right. Perfect. Next is Shilbga. I’m going to screw that up. Sorry buddy.

Marco: He’s one of our Reloaded guys. Hey man.

How Did You Set Expectations To The Call Volume Of Clients For Remodeling Services?

Can Google Sites Rank Well And Be Duplicated And Uploaded In Bulk?

Marco: I think it’s Google Site Building.

How Do You Handle Client Expectations From A Branded Local Lead Gen Site?

What Are T1 And T2 Networks And When/Why To Use Them To Help Rank Money Sites Higher In The SERP?

Marco: Yeah, he did.

What Is The Best Way To Silo Structure Attorney Offices From 4 Different Cities?

Is It Possible To Add A Facebook And Google Tracking Pixel To A GStack?

Marco: No.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: I can’t answer that, which means that there’s probably a way.

Bradley: Gabriel, if you’re in the RYS Academy group, then that would be a good place for that to possibly be covered. I know that’s coming up in an upcoming webinar, right?

How Do You Handle Suspended Tier 1 Branded WordPress Site For Local Client?

Marco: Yeah. I’m shocked anyone would try to spam WordPress. I’m offended. Seriously.

Bradley: Shocked and appalled.

Bradley: I’ve never had that successful though, for me, for WordPress. For Tumblr, yes, but for WordPress.

Marco: I have. I’ve gotten a couple un-suspended that I did a bunch of nasty stuff to. You can. I mean, it’s worth a try.

Has Anyone Tried Submitting A Local Clients’ Coupons With Metadata To Any Coupon Sharing Sites?

Does Using Zip Codes Better Than Radius To Avoid Overlapping Issues In Maps?

Is There A Safe Way To Order RYS Stacks For Two Subdomains In A Legal Directory Site?

I’m going to let Marco answer, Doss. I can tell you, I haven’t seen like any velocity issues when it comes to Google properties. What do you say, Marco?

Have You Done Any SEO Testing With Javascript Blog Commenting Systems Like FB Comments Or Disqus?

How Do You Keep Your Affiliate Links From Being Hijacked?

Fresh Weekly Content For Local SEO

Bradley: All right. I’ve got to cut you off dude, we’re already a minute late.

Marco: Yeah. We’re late. Sorry.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

charlesswink19 · 7 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 150 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

Announcement

Bradley: Hey everybody, this is Bradley Benner, with Semantic Mastery, and today is Hump Day Hangouts Episode number 150. A nice round number. Can you believe that, man?

Marco: It’s crazy. Six more.

Bradley: Yeah, six more. That’s what I was just about to say. The three year anniversary, the official three year anniversary will be 156. That’s quite a milestone, so very proud of that.

Marco: We always have goodies we give away on our anniversary specials, right? Look forward to that.

That’s something we can talk about Marco. I don’t have the link for it though, shit. Do we have the link for that?

Marco: No. That’s Adam’s job.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: That damn Adam.

Marco: I don’t even remember. It was nothing.

Bradley: It was nothing. That was just to make sure that you had a small commitment so that your ass shows up. Besides that, I don’t really have any other announcements, do you Marco?

Bradley: That’s insane.

How Do You Formulate Anchor Text Diversity And Ratios Using SEO BattlePlan?

Marco: Man, I agree totally with your answer. I don’t think I can add anything to it.

Bradley: All right. Perfect. Next is Shilbga. I’m going to screw that up. Sorry buddy.

Marco: He’s one of our Reloaded guys. Hey man.

How Did You Set Expectations To The Call Volume Of Clients For Remodeling Services?

Can Google Sites Rank Well And Be Duplicated And Uploaded In Bulk?

Marco: I think it’s Google Site Building.

How Do You Handle Client Expectations From A Branded Local Lead Gen Site?

What Are T1 And T2 Networks And When/Why To Use Them To Help Rank Money Sites Higher In The SERP?

Marco: Yeah, he did.

What Is The Best Way To Silo Structure Attorney Offices From 4 Different Cities?

Is It Possible To Add A Facebook And Google Tracking Pixel To A GStack?

Marco: No.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: I can’t answer that, which means that there’s probably a way.

Bradley: Gabriel, if you’re in the RYS Academy group, then that would be a good place for that to possibly be covered. I know that’s coming up in an upcoming webinar, right?

How Do You Handle Suspended Tier 1 Branded WordPress Site For Local Client?

Marco: Yeah. I’m shocked anyone would try to spam WordPress. I’m offended. Seriously.

Bradley: Shocked and appalled.

Bradley: I’ve never had that successful though, for me, for WordPress. For Tumblr, yes, but for WordPress.

Marco: I have. I’ve gotten a couple un-suspended that I did a bunch of nasty stuff to. You can. I mean, it’s worth a try.

Has Anyone Tried Submitting A Local Clients’ Coupons With Metadata To Any Coupon Sharing Sites?

Does Using Zip Codes Better Than Radius To Avoid Overlapping Issues In Maps?

Is There A Safe Way To Order RYS Stacks For Two Subdomains In A Legal Directory Site?

I’m going to let Marco answer, Doss. I can tell you, I haven’t seen like any velocity issues when it comes to Google properties. What do you say, Marco?

Have You Done Any SEO Testing With Javascript Blog Commenting Systems Like FB Comments Or Disqus?

How Do You Keep Your Affiliate Links From Being Hijacked?

Fresh Weekly Content For Local SEO

Bradley: All right. I’ve got to cut you off dude, we’re already a minute late.

Marco: Yeah. We’re late. Sorry.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

teresaajones9 · 7 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 150 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

Bradley: Hey everybody, this is Bradley Benner, with Semantic Mastery, and today is Hump Day Hangouts Episode number 150. A nice round number. Can you believe that, man?

Marco: It’s crazy. Six more.

Bradley: Yeah, six more. That’s what I was just about to say. The three year anniversary, the official three year anniversary will be 156. That’s quite a milestone, so very proud of that.

Marco: We always have goodies we give away on our anniversary specials, right? Look forward to that.

That’s something we can talk about Marco. I don’t have the link for it though, shit. Do we have the link for that?

Marco: No. That’s Adam’s job.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: That damn Adam.

Marco: I don’t even remember. It was nothing.

Bradley: It was nothing. That was just to make sure that you had a small commitment so that your ass shows up. Besides that, I don’t really have any other announcements, do you Marco?

Bradley: That’s insane.

How Do You Formulate Anchor Text Diversity And Ratios Using SEO BattlePlan?

Marco: Man, I agree totally with your answer. I don’t think I can add anything to it.

Bradley: All right. Perfect. Next is Shilbga. I’m going to screw that up. Sorry buddy.

Marco: He’s one of our Reloaded guys. Hey man.

How Did You Set Expectations To The Call Volume Of Clients For Remodeling Services?

Can Google Sites Rank Well And Be Duplicated And Uploaded In Bulk?

Marco: I think it’s Google Site Building.

How Do You Handle Client Expectations From A Branded Local Lead Gen Site?

What Are T1 And T2 Networks And When/Why To Use Them To Help Rank Money Sites Higher In The SERP?

Marco: Yeah, he did.

What Is The Best Way To Silo Structure Attorney Offices From 4 Different Cities?

Is It Possible To Add A Facebook And Google Tracking Pixel To A GStack?

Marco: No.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: I can’t answer that, which means that there’s probably a way.

Bradley: Gabriel, if you’re in the RYS Academy group, then that would be a good place for that to possibly be covered. I know that’s coming up in an upcoming webinar, right?

How Do You Handle Suspended Tier 1 Branded WordPress Site For Local Client?

Marco: Yeah. I’m shocked anyone would try to spam WordPress. I’m offended. Seriously.

Bradley: Shocked and appalled.

Bradley: I’ve never had that successful though, for me, for WordPress. For Tumblr, yes, but for WordPress.

Marco: I have. I’ve gotten a couple un-suspended that I did a bunch of nasty stuff to. You can. I mean, it’s worth a try.

Has Anyone Tried Submitting A Local Clients’ Coupons With Metadata To Any Coupon Sharing Sites?

Does Using Zip Codes Better Than Radius To Avoid Overlapping Issues In Maps?

Is There A Safe Way To Order RYS Stacks For Two Subdomains In A Legal Directory Site?

I’m going to let Marco answer, Doss. I can tell you, I haven’t seen like any velocity issues when it comes to Google properties. What do you say, Marco?

Have You Done Any SEO Testing With Javascript Blog Commenting Systems Like FB Comments Or Disqus?

How Do You Keep Your Affiliate Links From Being Hijacked?

Fresh Weekly Content For Local SEO

Bradley: All right. I’ve got to cut you off dude, we’re already a minute late.

Marco: Yeah. We’re late. Sorry.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes

donaldmueller97 · 7 years

Text

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 150 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

Announcement

Bradley: Hey everybody, this is Bradley Benner, with Semantic Mastery, and today is Hump Day Hangouts Episode number 150. A nice round number. Can you believe that, man?

Marco: It’s crazy. Six more.

Bradley: Yeah, six more. That’s what I was just about to say. The three year anniversary, the official three year anniversary will be 156. That’s quite a milestone, so very proud of that.

Marco: We always have goodies we give away on our anniversary specials, right? Look forward to that.

That’s something we can talk about Marco. I don’t have the link for it though, shit. Do we have the link for that?

Marco: No. That’s Adam’s job.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: That damn Adam.

Marco: I don’t even remember. It was nothing.

Bradley: It was nothing. That was just to make sure that you had a small commitment so that your ass shows up. Besides that, I don’t really have any other announcements, do you Marco?

Bradley: That’s insane.

How Do You Formulate Anchor Text Diversity And Ratios Using SEO BattlePlan?

Marco: Man, I agree totally with your answer. I don’t think I can add anything to it.

Bradley: All right. Perfect. Next is Shilbga. I’m going to screw that up. Sorry buddy.

Marco: He’s one of our Reloaded guys. Hey man.

How Did You Set Expectations To The Call Volume Of Clients For Remodeling Services?

Can Google Sites Rank Well And Be Duplicated And Uploaded In Bulk?

Marco: I think it’s Google Site Building.

How Do You Handle Client Expectations From A Branded Local Lead Gen Site?

What Are T1 And T2 Networks And When/Why To Use Them To Help Rank Money Sites Higher In The SERP?

Marco: Yeah, he did.

What Is The Best Way To Silo Structure Attorney Offices From 4 Different Cities?

Is It Possible To Add A Facebook And Google Tracking Pixel To A GStack?

Marco: No.

Bradley: Okay.

Marco: I can’t answer that, which means that there’s probably a way.

Bradley: Gabriel, if you’re in the RYS Academy group, then that would be a good place for that to possibly be covered. I know that’s coming up in an upcoming webinar, right?

How Do You Handle Suspended Tier 1 Branded WordPress Site For Local Client?

Marco: Yeah. I’m shocked anyone would try to spam WordPress. I’m offended. Seriously.

Bradley: Shocked and appalled.

Bradley: I’ve never had that successful though, for me, for WordPress. For Tumblr, yes, but for WordPress.

Marco: I have. I’ve gotten a couple un-suspended that I did a bunch of nasty stuff to. You can. I mean, it’s worth a try.

Has Anyone Tried Submitting A Local Clients’ Coupons With Metadata To Any Coupon Sharing Sites?

Does Using Zip Codes Better Than Radius To Avoid Overlapping Issues In Maps?

Is There A Safe Way To Order RYS Stacks For Two Subdomains In A Legal Directory Site?

I’m going to let Marco answer, Doss. I can tell you, I haven’t seen like any velocity issues when it comes to Google properties. What do you say, Marco?

Have You Done Any SEO Testing With Javascript Blog Commenting Systems Like FB Comments Or Disqus?

How Do You Keep Your Affiliate Links From Being Hijacked?

Fresh Weekly Content For Local SEO

Bradley: All right. I’ve got to cut you off dude, we’re already a minute late.

Marco: Yeah. We’re late. Sorry.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 150 published first on your-t1-blog-url

0 notes