Ratings, Links, & Some Thoughts

There appears to be two schools of thought with regard to website popularity:

1. those that believe Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the best promotion tool and
   
2. those that believe linking with other sites is the best promotion technique.

Those who are not really interested in their site's ranking -- but interested in selling goods and services are more concerned with keywords and Search Engine Optimization.

The other group is more concerned with their ranking and how many links they have. Does it necessarily mean they have a larger audience? NO -- nevertheless it is an important factor to those that subscribe to this school of thought. This group is often offering advertising space. How do advertisers really look at this rating methodology?

I offer services [software consultant], I am a blogger, I have forums. I am concerned with putting my company's name out there and finding an audience for my blogs and forums. I also offer advertising space.

I recently left a comment on a blog about Java. I wondered at the popularity of Java applications over C++ applications for desktop environments. Today, I found a reference to the comment on Technorati. Yes I did leave my blog link, but does anyone ever click on commenters' links or are they simply noted by organizations like Technorati? I never click on links in blog comments. I rarely read blog comments. Do you?

I garner a lot of readership with posts in forums using my signature. I rarely leave comments on blogs -- but when I do, I leave a link. Does this count in my ranking/popularity factor?

What made me think of this -- (1) I just checked DMOZ.org -- and no "QiSoftware" is listed yet... and (2) I was perusing SitePoint and saw a lot of references to SEO. I am also inundated with e-mail each day about the importance of SEO. Why are Alexa, Technorati, and similar organizations not more concerned with SEO and keywords? I have a good keyword (term) -- "Blogger Calendar". Where is my audience? [I believe it's being undercounted.]

HOW DOES ALL OF THIS WORK?

Reference Posts: Alexa - Links In, Alexa's Response, DMOZ Listed -- Important?

Technorati Tags: Technorati, QiSoftware, Blogger Calendar, Links In, DMOZ, SEO