Why should you pay to get web site traffic, isn't SEO enough?
It's a fair question - after all most businesses on and offline have tight budgets to play with and need to make each and every penny count.
So why should you as a business pay good money to drive targeted traffic to your site?
Perhaps there's a clue in the last question.
What other options are there?
You have 3 basic choices to get traffic to your website:
1. You pay - using PPC, ezine ads, banners etc...
2. You borrow - constructing Joint Ventures and endorsed offers with partners
3. You grow your own - with natural search engine optimisation
So which is the best?
---------------------
Well they all do a different job and have different characteristics, perhaps the best information source you could hope to find on the subject is found here:
http://www.trackingandtesting.com/dystatic/TrafficGeneration.php
But why PPC?
You need PPC because you can:
* Control the flow of traffic to your website
* Target buying customers and those most likely to buy through correct keyword targeting
* Test different offers
The last benefit above is perhaps the most important. Remember a page on a website doesn't have to stay recorded online forever...
Just because you've completed your site in terms of the pages you want to add (although in truth you'll never be finished as you can continually add more related content), this does not preclude you from testing other pages...
The value of testing
--------------------
Simple scenario: You want to test 2 price points for a product/service. (Yes you can do this and people don't have to know about it so don't be worried).
With a PPC campaign you can have your normal web page (Page A) sitting as normal at the well known web address with all of your normal links pointing to it.
You 2 price point test pages (Page B & C) are a different kettle of fish - they sit off to the side and you push traffic to them using PPC to quickly determine which is the winner.
You can do this for any test you dream up, the bottom line is you can quickly determine what is working and what is not in your marketing.
Knowing what's not working is more important than what is (particularly if you are sailing close to the wind) because you SAVE money you would otherwise have thrown away.
The Affiliate Advantage
-----------------------
When you have a website that is converting well, you will be able to attract many affiliates (and even super affiliates if you are doing a good enough job and providing a good enough incentive package).
Affiliates can make your business explode overnight if you have done your homework and have the site converting well.
If you have not you may attract them, they may pump some traffic and then they will disappear to pastures new when they see you are not doing a good job.
In summary
----------
If I could give you one reason why you should use PPC and in particular Google Adwords as part of your internet marketing campaign it would be this:
"Feedback fast, feedback cheap"
Yes you may spend a little money up front, but you can save yourself a whole lot of heartache on the back end.
About the author:
Tom O'Brien turns Adwords PPC management problems into profitable advertising campaigns. For more free tips on Adwords Campaign Management visit: http://www.pdqprospects.com/benefits/PayPerPerformanceWebTraffic.html
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The 3 Essential Components of a Search Engine Optimization Campaign
Everyday, the Search Engines average 300 MILLION searches. In a recent Forrester Research report 81% of consumers on the Internet find products and services by using the Search Engines. Search Engine Optimization allows you to achieve
top search engine placement and a tap into a new source of qualified visitors who are actively searching for products and services on the Internet.
Unfortunately, only 7% of all websites are visible by the search engines according to a recent StatMarket.com study. The reason for this phenomenon is because most web sites are not properly optimized and promoted to achieve high
search engine rankings.
The Top 3 Components Of Optimizing Your
Web Site for Top Search Engine Rankings:
To achieve the best overall, long-term search engine positioning, three components must be present on your web site:
1. Content component (Your web page text.)
2. Link component (How you link your pages together.)
3. Link Popularity component (The in-bound links to your site.)
1) The Content Component
The most important part of the content component (of a search engine algorithm) is keyword selection and where you place keywords on your web pages. In order for your target audience to find your site on the search engines, your web
pages must contain keyword phrases that match the phrases your target audience is typing into search queries. Finding these keywords that your target audience uses to find your product is accomplished by conducting keyword research.
2) The Link Component - Internal Linking
The strategy of placing keyword-rich text on your web pages is useless if the search engine spiders have no way of finding that text. The way your web pages are linked to each other has huge impact on your site's search engine positioning. Be sure to link your pages together with your keywords within your links.
3) The Link Popularity Component - Acquiring In-Bound Links
The "Link Popularity" or Google "Page Rank" (PR) component of a search engine algorithm analyzes how many web sites link to your website.
95% of the battle of getting high rankings at the search engine is acquiring quality and relevant links pointing to your web site. Ever since Google entered the search engine market, all the major Search Engines have started using links
as the primary way they rank web sites. This is known as your web site's "Link Popularity" or in Google's case it's called "PageRank" or "PR."
For example, the heart of Google's algorithm is PageRank, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University. Here is what Google says about their "PageRank" web site ranking
algorithm at their web site http://www.google.com/technology/...
"PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."
As Google explains, Links and PageRank are critical to ranking high in the search engines. In fact, inbound links and the text within those inbound links account for 95% of effective search engine optimization.
Relevant Links:
But, attaining optimal link popularity is not as easy as simply obtaining as many links as possible to your website. The quality and relevancy of the sites linking to your site holds more "weight" than the quantity of sites linking to
your site. Since Yahoo is the most frequently visited site on the web, a link from Yahoo to your website carries far more "weight" than a link from a smaller, less visited site.
Here's what Google Developer Matt Cutts has to say about links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Thematic incoming links from authority sites
carry more weight than on-page optimization."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Top 4 Strategies for Acquiring Links to Your Web Site:
Below are the four critical steps for achieving high rankings by acquiring text links to your web site...
1) Get a higher Google PageRank score than your competition For any given keyword, there is a minimum PageRank required to rank at Google. In order to see what this minimum PageRank number is, search Google for your keyword and look at the PageRank of your competition's web sites that are ranked in the top 10 of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). An easy way to view the PageRank scores of your competition is to use Google Toolbar http://toolbar.google.com or the SEOChat PageRank Search tool.
http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/pagerank-search/
2) Get more relevant links than your competition All links are not created equal. The best links are "relevant" links from web pages related to your keyword.
3) Get more links on more different web sites than your competition Getting links on a variety of different web sites on different networks is crucial for high rankings.
4) Use the keywords you want to high rankings in the search engines as the anchor text of your in-bound links. "Anchor text" is the visible text within a hyperlink. Text links and anchor text are the two most important criteria for how Google and other top Search Engines rank web sites.
Here is an example of a link containing the keyword phrase "ERP Software" within the anchor text...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
F*R*E*E [ERP Software] white paper shows how
to increase profitability and reduce inventory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Relevant Links and PageRank are critical to achieving high search engine rankings. Want proof? Do a search at Google for the highly competitive keyword "computers" and you'll find Apple and Dell computers rank numbers 1 and 2 in the
Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Now, click through to the Apple and Dell web pages and look for the word "computers" in their web page text. What did you find? Neither www.apple.com or www.dell.com have the word "computers" in their text, yet they're ranking #1 and #2 at Google.
Relevant Links and PageRank Win!
The sites with the most relevant links and highest Google PageRank win every time and rank the highest at the top search engines. There are many methods you can use to acquire text links including buying links from a broker, Internet directories, reciprocal linking, Internet publicity, and others.
About the author:
Matt Hockin is President of Interactive Marketing, Inc., an Internet marketing consulting company providing web site optimization and search engine marketing services that "tune up" web sites for increased conversion rates, traffic, qualified leads, and profitability. For more information, visit http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com
top search engine placement and a tap into a new source of qualified visitors who are actively searching for products and services on the Internet.
Unfortunately, only 7% of all websites are visible by the search engines according to a recent StatMarket.com study. The reason for this phenomenon is because most web sites are not properly optimized and promoted to achieve high
search engine rankings.
The Top 3 Components Of Optimizing Your
Web Site for Top Search Engine Rankings:
To achieve the best overall, long-term search engine positioning, three components must be present on your web site:
1. Content component (Your web page text.)
2. Link component (How you link your pages together.)
3. Link Popularity component (The in-bound links to your site.)
1) The Content Component
The most important part of the content component (of a search engine algorithm) is keyword selection and where you place keywords on your web pages. In order for your target audience to find your site on the search engines, your web
pages must contain keyword phrases that match the phrases your target audience is typing into search queries. Finding these keywords that your target audience uses to find your product is accomplished by conducting keyword research.
2) The Link Component - Internal Linking
The strategy of placing keyword-rich text on your web pages is useless if the search engine spiders have no way of finding that text. The way your web pages are linked to each other has huge impact on your site's search engine positioning. Be sure to link your pages together with your keywords within your links.
3) The Link Popularity Component - Acquiring In-Bound Links
The "Link Popularity" or Google "Page Rank" (PR) component of a search engine algorithm analyzes how many web sites link to your website.
95% of the battle of getting high rankings at the search engine is acquiring quality and relevant links pointing to your web site. Ever since Google entered the search engine market, all the major Search Engines have started using links
as the primary way they rank web sites. This is known as your web site's "Link Popularity" or in Google's case it's called "PageRank" or "PR."
For example, the heart of Google's algorithm is PageRank, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University. Here is what Google says about their "PageRank" web site ranking
algorithm at their web site http://www.google.com/technology/...
"PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."
As Google explains, Links and PageRank are critical to ranking high in the search engines. In fact, inbound links and the text within those inbound links account for 95% of effective search engine optimization.
Relevant Links:
But, attaining optimal link popularity is not as easy as simply obtaining as many links as possible to your website. The quality and relevancy of the sites linking to your site holds more "weight" than the quantity of sites linking to
your site. Since Yahoo is the most frequently visited site on the web, a link from Yahoo to your website carries far more "weight" than a link from a smaller, less visited site.
Here's what Google Developer Matt Cutts has to say about links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Thematic incoming links from authority sites
carry more weight than on-page optimization."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Top 4 Strategies for Acquiring Links to Your Web Site:
Below are the four critical steps for achieving high rankings by acquiring text links to your web site...
1) Get a higher Google PageRank score than your competition For any given keyword, there is a minimum PageRank required to rank at Google. In order to see what this minimum PageRank number is, search Google for your keyword and look at the PageRank of your competition's web sites that are ranked in the top 10 of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). An easy way to view the PageRank scores of your competition is to use Google Toolbar http://toolbar.google.com or the SEOChat PageRank Search tool.
http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/pagerank-search/
2) Get more relevant links than your competition All links are not created equal. The best links are "relevant" links from web pages related to your keyword.
3) Get more links on more different web sites than your competition Getting links on a variety of different web sites on different networks is crucial for high rankings.
4) Use the keywords you want to high rankings in the search engines as the anchor text of your in-bound links. "Anchor text" is the visible text within a hyperlink. Text links and anchor text are the two most important criteria for how Google and other top Search Engines rank web sites.
Here is an example of a link containing the keyword phrase "ERP Software" within the anchor text...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
F*R*E*E [ERP Software] white paper shows how
to increase profitability and reduce inventory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Relevant Links and PageRank are critical to achieving high search engine rankings. Want proof? Do a search at Google for the highly competitive keyword "computers" and you'll find Apple and Dell computers rank numbers 1 and 2 in the
Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Now, click through to the Apple and Dell web pages and look for the word "computers" in their web page text. What did you find? Neither www.apple.com or www.dell.com have the word "computers" in their text, yet they're ranking #1 and #2 at Google.
Relevant Links and PageRank Win!
The sites with the most relevant links and highest Google PageRank win every time and rank the highest at the top search engines. There are many methods you can use to acquire text links including buying links from a broker, Internet directories, reciprocal linking, Internet publicity, and others.
About the author:
Matt Hockin is President of Interactive Marketing, Inc., an Internet marketing consulting company providing web site optimization and search engine marketing services that "tune up" web sites for increased conversion rates, traffic, qualified leads, and profitability. For more information, visit http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com
Get a top 10 ranking without paying a cent
If there's one thing that Google loves, it's content. Done right, a content rich website is almost guaranteed to rank highly. But how to get that content? You can write it yourself, but that takes a lot of time. You can pay an SEO copywriter to write it for you, but that takes a lot of money. If only there was another option...
What if you could get your content for free? And not just a little bit of content; a lot! What if you could get an almost unlimited supply of keyword rich, expertly written content, specific to your subject matter, absolutely free of charge? Would you snap it up and upload to your site in an instant? Of course you would! Well here's the good news: you can! Read on to find out how you can get a top ten ranking in the search engines without paying a single cent...
Yes, content gives you a great ranking
Content is king. This is widely acknowledged as fact, but if you need further convincing, consider the following two points:
Point 1 - In Google's own words, one of the keys to a high ranking is to "create a useful, information-rich site" (from “Google Information for Webmasters” - http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html).
Point 2 - Google insider, codenamed 'Google Guy', advocates a list 26 steps to building a high ranking site. Step 5 of the list says, "build one page of content and put online per day at 200-500 words" (from Brett Tabke's "26 steps to 15k a Day" - http://www.searchengineworld.com/misc/guide.htm, advocated by Google Guy in a WebMasterWorld QA session - http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum30/29727-6-10.htm).
But why does content give you a great ranking?
I won't go into any further detail about IF Google loves content. I will, however, briefly explain WHY. Google's love affair with content is based on two key attractions:
1) Google loves sites with a lot of content because it assumes they provide a lot of useful information. And remember, that's the whole reason Google exists - to help people find useful information. The more helpful Google's results, the more traffic (and revenue) it gets.
2) Google loves sites that have a lot of links pointing to them because this means other webmasters hold your site in high regard, and Google assumes this means the content is useful. And naturally, if you create a useful site, other webmasters will link to it because this makes them useful to their visitors (thereby developing site loyalty), and they gain credibility and authority because they're associated with you.
So how can you get free content for your website?
Three words: 'free reprint articles'. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there writing high quality, helpful, informative articles on virtually every topic imaginable, then giving these article away to any webmaster who wants to publish them on a website. In exchange for the article, the author asks only that you retain the author bio at the end, complete with all links (e.g. "Glenn Murray is an SEO Copywriter and Article Submission Specialist...).
To find free content for your website, simply visit any one of hundreds of 'article banks' on the Internet such as http://www.ezinearticles.com, http://www.goarticles.com, or http://www.articleblast.com. Browse or search for the subject you're interested in, then take the article(s) for free. There is absolutely no charge. Some of these sites will even send a regular stream of articles direct to your website (using RSS).
Alternatively, you can sign up to any number of article distribution lists and get articles delivered direct to your email inbox. Again, it's absolutely free! Some of the better known distribution lists include http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce, http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Content, and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Reprint-Articles.
TIP: The article banks and distribution lists mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds more - just do a search for "free reprint articles", "article submission", "article submission site", "submit article", "article submit site", "free articles", or "free content". You may even find a site or list which only deals in articles relating to your particular subject matter.
Why is it free?
Why are these authors giving their articles away? Because it helps the author's own search engine ranking. It's a promotional activity known as 'article PR'. As explained above, Google loves sites with lots of links pointing to them. Every time their article submission is published, the author gets another link to their website. In fact, if the article is really good, it may be published hundreds of times. And each time, it's another link to the author's website. Put simply, article submission is a writer's free pass to the top of the search engines. (In this sense, the "PR" in article PR stands for PageRank.)
Furthermore, like traditional public relations, article PR also conveys a sense of authority because your articles are widely published. And because you're proving your expertise and freely dispensing knowledge, your readers will trust you and will be more likely to remain loyal to you. (In this sense, the "PR" in article PR stands for Public Relations.)
How do I know if the quality is good?
It's a process of natural selection. The better the article submission, the more often it will be published, so it's in the author's interest to write and submit articles of the highest quality. Of course, this doesn't always happen, but in most cases, you'll be reviewing the articles before you post them anyway, so if you discover one that's not up to scratch, don't use it.
In time, you'll become familiar with the authors who consistently put out good quality content - you may even find enough of them that you don't need to go looking for content from anyone else...
Where do I put the free content?
Most people put the articles in an 'Articles' or 'Resources' section on their website, but you can put them anywhere you like.
How much free content should I use?
As much as you want or as little as you want. It all depends on your needs and the needs of your audience. If your audience expects that at least some of your site is original content, then give it to them.
But what about the duplicate content issue?
It's not an issue!
There's a lot of a talk about how Google penalizes duplicate content. The theory is that when the majority of the content on two separate webpages (on different sites) is the same, the one with the higher PR will be shown and the other one will not.
Whether or not this theory is true is still a hot topic in search engine circles, but regardless, it doesn't affect people publishing free-reprint articles. When you publish the article, just make sure you have unique content around it. Generally, it's enough to have your own unique introduction to the page (which may be common to all pages), and your own navigation elements, headers, footers, sidebars, logos, images, etc.
Conclusion
Free reprint articles are a great way for you to achieve a high ranking. And you don't have to pay a cent! So what are you waiting for?
Happy reprinting!
About the author:
* Glenn Murray is a website copywriter, SEO copywriter, and article submission and article PR specialist. He owns article submission service Article PR and copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com Visit http://www.DivineWrite.com or http://www.ArticlePR.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to download his FREE SEO e-book.
What if you could get your content for free? And not just a little bit of content; a lot! What if you could get an almost unlimited supply of keyword rich, expertly written content, specific to your subject matter, absolutely free of charge? Would you snap it up and upload to your site in an instant? Of course you would! Well here's the good news: you can! Read on to find out how you can get a top ten ranking in the search engines without paying a single cent...
Yes, content gives you a great ranking
Content is king. This is widely acknowledged as fact, but if you need further convincing, consider the following two points:
Point 1 - In Google's own words, one of the keys to a high ranking is to "create a useful, information-rich site" (from “Google Information for Webmasters” - http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html).
Point 2 - Google insider, codenamed 'Google Guy', advocates a list 26 steps to building a high ranking site. Step 5 of the list says, "build one page of content and put online per day at 200-500 words" (from Brett Tabke's "26 steps to 15k a Day" - http://www.searchengineworld.com/misc/guide.htm, advocated by Google Guy in a WebMasterWorld QA session - http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum30/29727-6-10.htm).
But why does content give you a great ranking?
I won't go into any further detail about IF Google loves content. I will, however, briefly explain WHY. Google's love affair with content is based on two key attractions:
1) Google loves sites with a lot of content because it assumes they provide a lot of useful information. And remember, that's the whole reason Google exists - to help people find useful information. The more helpful Google's results, the more traffic (and revenue) it gets.
2) Google loves sites that have a lot of links pointing to them because this means other webmasters hold your site in high regard, and Google assumes this means the content is useful. And naturally, if you create a useful site, other webmasters will link to it because this makes them useful to their visitors (thereby developing site loyalty), and they gain credibility and authority because they're associated with you.
So how can you get free content for your website?
Three words: 'free reprint articles'. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there writing high quality, helpful, informative articles on virtually every topic imaginable, then giving these article away to any webmaster who wants to publish them on a website. In exchange for the article, the author asks only that you retain the author bio at the end, complete with all links (e.g. "Glenn Murray is an SEO Copywriter and Article Submission Specialist...).
To find free content for your website, simply visit any one of hundreds of 'article banks' on the Internet such as http://www.ezinearticles.com, http://www.goarticles.com, or http://www.articleblast.com. Browse or search for the subject you're interested in, then take the article(s) for free. There is absolutely no charge. Some of these sites will even send a regular stream of articles direct to your website (using RSS).
Alternatively, you can sign up to any number of article distribution lists and get articles delivered direct to your email inbox. Again, it's absolutely free! Some of the better known distribution lists include http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce, http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Content, and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Reprint-Articles.
TIP: The article banks and distribution lists mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds more - just do a search for "free reprint articles", "article submission", "article submission site", "submit article", "article submit site", "free articles", or "free content". You may even find a site or list which only deals in articles relating to your particular subject matter.
Why is it free?
Why are these authors giving their articles away? Because it helps the author's own search engine ranking. It's a promotional activity known as 'article PR'. As explained above, Google loves sites with lots of links pointing to them. Every time their article submission is published, the author gets another link to their website. In fact, if the article is really good, it may be published hundreds of times. And each time, it's another link to the author's website. Put simply, article submission is a writer's free pass to the top of the search engines. (In this sense, the "PR" in article PR stands for PageRank.)
Furthermore, like traditional public relations, article PR also conveys a sense of authority because your articles are widely published. And because you're proving your expertise and freely dispensing knowledge, your readers will trust you and will be more likely to remain loyal to you. (In this sense, the "PR" in article PR stands for Public Relations.)
How do I know if the quality is good?
It's a process of natural selection. The better the article submission, the more often it will be published, so it's in the author's interest to write and submit articles of the highest quality. Of course, this doesn't always happen, but in most cases, you'll be reviewing the articles before you post them anyway, so if you discover one that's not up to scratch, don't use it.
In time, you'll become familiar with the authors who consistently put out good quality content - you may even find enough of them that you don't need to go looking for content from anyone else...
Where do I put the free content?
Most people put the articles in an 'Articles' or 'Resources' section on their website, but you can put them anywhere you like.
How much free content should I use?
As much as you want or as little as you want. It all depends on your needs and the needs of your audience. If your audience expects that at least some of your site is original content, then give it to them.
But what about the duplicate content issue?
It's not an issue!
There's a lot of a talk about how Google penalizes duplicate content. The theory is that when the majority of the content on two separate webpages (on different sites) is the same, the one with the higher PR will be shown and the other one will not.
Whether or not this theory is true is still a hot topic in search engine circles, but regardless, it doesn't affect people publishing free-reprint articles. When you publish the article, just make sure you have unique content around it. Generally, it's enough to have your own unique introduction to the page (which may be common to all pages), and your own navigation elements, headers, footers, sidebars, logos, images, etc.
Conclusion
Free reprint articles are a great way for you to achieve a high ranking. And you don't have to pay a cent! So what are you waiting for?
Happy reprinting!
About the author:
* Glenn Murray is a website copywriter, SEO copywriter, and article submission and article PR specialist. He owns article submission service Article PR and copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com Visit http://www.DivineWrite.com or http://www.ArticlePR.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to download his FREE SEO e-book.
SEO - Natural Linking Strategies
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be the difference between a small, barely profitable or visible website and a traffic magnet website. There are a lot of ways, both good and bad, to influence the search engines. Some search engines react to certain strategies better than others. Some even have conflicting strategies that they react to. To document all of these things would require a significant number of pages and research that goes beyond the scope of this article.
However, there are a number of things that can be documented that will work for most if not all search engines. And let's face it; there are really only 3 that make a difference between a successful and an unsuccessful SEO strategy. They are the big three: Google, Yahoo and MSN. These three search engines in any given month are responsible for over 90% of all internet searches.
So, what is this article about? It's about what you can do as a website owner that will influence the search engines using commonly accepted practices of linking to other websites (outbound) and getting website links (inbound) back to you. There are basically 4 strategies that a website owner usually will employ to increase their website value in the eyes of the search engine. They are reciprocal linking, one-way linking, multi-site linking and directory linking. A website owner should not think that using just a single strategy is the right answer - sure it will help your SEO but it won't be the Best answer. The Best answer is to employ all 4 techniques and to do it naturally.
Each of the four linking strategies has specific descriptions that can be summed up as:
1. Reciprocal Linking = Site A links to Site B, Site B links back to Site A
2. One-Way Linking = Site B links to Site A
3. Multi-Site Linking = Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, Site C links to Site D, and Site D links back to Site A. Could be 3..N number of sites involved.
4. Directory Linking = Site Directory A links to Site A
That seems simple enough but it takes time and effort to perform all 4 strategies and most website owners aren't willing to spend the time or don't have the time to spend on it. As a website owner, SEO needs to be one of the highest priority tasks that you need to address, just after Order Processing and Fulfillment and Customer Service. Without free traffic from the search engines, other traffic generation strategies that usually require payment must be engaged.
Now doing the 4 strategies above is great, but it gets even harder because you have to do it in a way that doesn't trigger the search engines to enforce a penalty upon your website. No one except the search engine engineers know all of the exact penalties but we have some good theories for some of them.
The first is the rate at which links are created. There is a certain threshold for creating links that is too fast. It's possible that the threshold is a sliding scale and is related to the age of the website according to the engine. For example, a young low-traffic website should not normally be getting 1000 links a month whereas an older website that gets a lot of traffic could be OK to get 1000 links a month. As you progress in your linking strategies make sure you keep this in mind, especially if you are thinking about buying links.
The second is that having a link to every site that links to you will likely reduce the value of the links. In other words, if all you ever get is Reciprocal Linking, you will likely move up the SERP's (Search Engine Results Page's) but you won't reach your sites full potential. Having a mixture of all 4 strategies will appear more natural to the engines.
The third is having all inbound links to your site on "linking" pages will make those links less valuable than having a natural link on a contextually relative page for a percentage of the inbound links. The higher you can drive this context percentage, the better your website will rank. These types of links are often some of the most difficult links to generate an exchange for because it requires more time and effort for both website owners.
The fourth is to have links inbound from all different ranking sites. If all you have linking to you is page rank 6 and 7 sites then you are likely to be sending the message that you purchased your links and that is not natural to the engines. Some would argue that purchasing links for driving traffic is just fine and it is. However, you should not expect the search engines to give those inbound links very much weight when calculating your SERP positions. It is significantly more natural for you to have a large number of rank 1 and 2 inbound links and a decreasing number of inbound links as you move up the page rank scale (0 - 10).
The fifth is to have the text of you inbound links varied. It isn't natural to have every website that links to you to have the same text on the link description. The natural tendency would be to have a certain percent be the sites name, but after that it should be a wide variety of description. Your link text description is a key factor for how your site/page will rank, so make sure that you keep that in mind as you specify your preferred link text description on your website.
Finally, it would be best for a good percentage of your inbound links to appear within the text of a page that appears natural for the reader of that site. And for those links to not all point back to the home page of your website. It's most natural for a good high quality link to appear in the text of a page and have it point internally within your site.
So, when you begin or continue your SEO activities keep all of these things in mind and don't be impatient. Impatience could incur penalties or worse. Your website could end up in the "sandbox". It is rumored and becoming more concrete that Google supposedly uses a sandbox that questionable sites are put in until they have aged to a point that Google no longer feels that they are being manipulated. Many of the search engines use similar protection schemes to eliminate spam sites and manipulation sites to keep their SERP's from being cluttered.
About the Author
Chet Holcomb of http://www.internetpromotions.biz is a successful marketing expert providing advice for web marketers and webmasters on how to promote your website, or product using marketing tools that work.
However, there are a number of things that can be documented that will work for most if not all search engines. And let's face it; there are really only 3 that make a difference between a successful and an unsuccessful SEO strategy. They are the big three: Google, Yahoo and MSN. These three search engines in any given month are responsible for over 90% of all internet searches.
So, what is this article about? It's about what you can do as a website owner that will influence the search engines using commonly accepted practices of linking to other websites (outbound) and getting website links (inbound) back to you. There are basically 4 strategies that a website owner usually will employ to increase their website value in the eyes of the search engine. They are reciprocal linking, one-way linking, multi-site linking and directory linking. A website owner should not think that using just a single strategy is the right answer - sure it will help your SEO but it won't be the Best answer. The Best answer is to employ all 4 techniques and to do it naturally.
Each of the four linking strategies has specific descriptions that can be summed up as:
1. Reciprocal Linking = Site A links to Site B, Site B links back to Site A
2. One-Way Linking = Site B links to Site A
3. Multi-Site Linking = Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, Site C links to Site D, and Site D links back to Site A. Could be 3..N number of sites involved.
4. Directory Linking = Site Directory A links to Site A
That seems simple enough but it takes time and effort to perform all 4 strategies and most website owners aren't willing to spend the time or don't have the time to spend on it. As a website owner, SEO needs to be one of the highest priority tasks that you need to address, just after Order Processing and Fulfillment and Customer Service. Without free traffic from the search engines, other traffic generation strategies that usually require payment must be engaged.
Now doing the 4 strategies above is great, but it gets even harder because you have to do it in a way that doesn't trigger the search engines to enforce a penalty upon your website. No one except the search engine engineers know all of the exact penalties but we have some good theories for some of them.
The first is the rate at which links are created. There is a certain threshold for creating links that is too fast. It's possible that the threshold is a sliding scale and is related to the age of the website according to the engine. For example, a young low-traffic website should not normally be getting 1000 links a month whereas an older website that gets a lot of traffic could be OK to get 1000 links a month. As you progress in your linking strategies make sure you keep this in mind, especially if you are thinking about buying links.
The second is that having a link to every site that links to you will likely reduce the value of the links. In other words, if all you ever get is Reciprocal Linking, you will likely move up the SERP's (Search Engine Results Page's) but you won't reach your sites full potential. Having a mixture of all 4 strategies will appear more natural to the engines.
The third is having all inbound links to your site on "linking" pages will make those links less valuable than having a natural link on a contextually relative page for a percentage of the inbound links. The higher you can drive this context percentage, the better your website will rank. These types of links are often some of the most difficult links to generate an exchange for because it requires more time and effort for both website owners.
The fourth is to have links inbound from all different ranking sites. If all you have linking to you is page rank 6 and 7 sites then you are likely to be sending the message that you purchased your links and that is not natural to the engines. Some would argue that purchasing links for driving traffic is just fine and it is. However, you should not expect the search engines to give those inbound links very much weight when calculating your SERP positions. It is significantly more natural for you to have a large number of rank 1 and 2 inbound links and a decreasing number of inbound links as you move up the page rank scale (0 - 10).
The fifth is to have the text of you inbound links varied. It isn't natural to have every website that links to you to have the same text on the link description. The natural tendency would be to have a certain percent be the sites name, but after that it should be a wide variety of description. Your link text description is a key factor for how your site/page will rank, so make sure that you keep that in mind as you specify your preferred link text description on your website.
Finally, it would be best for a good percentage of your inbound links to appear within the text of a page that appears natural for the reader of that site. And for those links to not all point back to the home page of your website. It's most natural for a good high quality link to appear in the text of a page and have it point internally within your site.
So, when you begin or continue your SEO activities keep all of these things in mind and don't be impatient. Impatience could incur penalties or worse. Your website could end up in the "sandbox". It is rumored and becoming more concrete that Google supposedly uses a sandbox that questionable sites are put in until they have aged to a point that Google no longer feels that they are being manipulated. Many of the search engines use similar protection schemes to eliminate spam sites and manipulation sites to keep their SERP's from being cluttered.
About the Author
Chet Holcomb of http://www.internetpromotions.biz is a successful marketing expert providing advice for web marketers and webmasters on how to promote your website, or product using marketing tools that work.
An SEO Glossary - Common SEO Terms Defined
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become an essential weapon in the arsenal of every online business. Unfortunately, for most business owners and marketing managers (and even many webmasters), it's also somewhat of an enigma. This is partly due to the fact that it's such a new and rapidly changing field, and partly due to the fact that SEO practitioners tend to speak in a language all of their own which, without translation, is virtually impenetrable to the layperson. This glossary seeks to remedy that situation, explaining specialist SEO terms in plain English...
AdWords
See ‘Sponsored Links’.
algorithm
A complex mathematical formula used by search engines to assess the relevance and importance of websites and rank them accordingly in their search results. These algorithms are kept tightly under wraps as they are the key to the objectivity of search engines (i.e. the algorithm ensures relevant results, and relevant results bring more users, which in turn brings more advertising revenue).
article PR
The submitting of free reprint articles to many article submission sites and article distribution lists in order to increase your website's search engine ranking and Google PageRank. (In this sense, the "PR" stands for PageRank.) Like traditional public relations, article PR also conveys a sense of authority because your articles are widely published. And because you're proving your expertise and freely dispensing knowledge, your readers will trust you and will be more likely to remain loyal to you. (In this sense, the "PR" stands for Public Relations.)
article distribution lists
User groups (e.g. Yahoo, MSN, Google, Smartgroups, and Topica groups) which accept email submissions of articles in text format, and then distribute these articles via email to all of the members of the group. See also 'article PR'.
article submission sites
Websites which act as repositories of free reprint articles. Authors visit these sites to submit their articles free of charge, and webmasters visit to find articles to use on their websites free of charge. Article submission sites generate revenue by selling advertising space on their websites. See also 'article PR'.
backlink
A text link to your website from another website. See also ‘link’.
copy
The words used on your website.
copywriter
A professional writer who specializes in the writing of advertising copy (compelling, engaging words promoting a particular product or service). See also ‘SEO copywriter’ and ‘web copywriter’.
crawl
Google finds pages on the World Wide Web and records their details in its index by sending out ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’. These spiders make their way from page to page and site to site by following text links. To a spider, a text link is like a door.
domain name
The virtual address of your website (normally in the form www.yourbusinessname.com). This is what people will type when they want to visit your site. It is also what you will use as the address in any text links back to your site.
ezine
An electronic magazine. Most publishers of ezines are desperate for content and gladly publish well written, helpful articles and give you full credit as author, including a link to your website.
Flash
A technology used to create animated web pages (and page elements).
free reprint article
An article written by you and made freely available to other webmasters to publish on their websites. See also 'article PR'.
Google
The search engine with the greatest coverage of the World Wide Web, and which is responsible for most search engine-referred traffic. Of approximately 11.5 billion pages on the World Wide Web, it is estimated that Google has indexed around 8.8 billion. This is one reason why it takes so long to increase your ranking!
Google AdWords
See ‘Sponsored Links’.
Google PageRank
How Google scores a website’s importance. It gives all sites a mark out of 10. By downloading the Google Toolbar (from http://toolbar.google.com), you can view the PR of any site you visit.
Google Toolbar
A free tool you can download. It becomes part of your browser toolbar. It’s most useful features are it’s PageRank display (which allows you to view the PR of any site you visit) and it’s AutoFill function (when you’re filling out an online form, you can click AutoFill, and it enters all the standard information automatically, including Name, Address, Zip code/Postcode, Phone Number, Email Address, Business Name, Credit Card Number (password protected), etc.) Once you’ve downloaded and installed the toolbar, you may need to set up how you’d like it to look and work by clicking Options (setup is very easy). NOTE: Google does record some information (mostly regarding sites visited).
HTML
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the coding language used to create much of the information on the World Wide Web. Web browsers read the HTML code and display the page that code describes.
Internet
An interconnected network of computers around the world.
JavaScript
A programming language used to create dynamic website pages (e.g. interactivity).
keyword
A word which your customers search for and which you use frequently on your site in order to be relevant to those searches. This use known as targeting a keyword. Most websites actually target ‘keyword phrases’ because single keywords are too generic and it is very difficult to rank highly for them.
keyword density
A measure of the frequency of your keyword in relation to the total wordcount of the page. So if your page has 200 words, and your keyword phrase appears 10 times, its density is 5%.
keyword phrase
A phrase which your customers search for and which you use frequently on your site in order to be relevant to those searches.
link
A word or image on a web page which the reader can click to visit another page. There are normally visual cues to indicate to the reader that the word or image is a link.
link path
Using text links to connect a series of page (i.e. page 1 connects to page 2, page 2 connects to page 3, page 3 connects to page 4, and so on). Search engine ‘spiders’ and ‘robots’ use text links to jump from page to page as they gather information about it, so it’s a good idea to allow them traverse your entire site via text links. (See ‘Link paths’ on p.21. for further information.)
link partner
A webmaster who is willing to put a link to your website on their website. Quite often link partners engage in reciprocal linking.
link popularity
The number of links to your website. Link popularity is the single most important factor in a high search engine ranking. Webmasters use a number of methods to increase their site's link popularity including article PR, link exchange (link partners / reciprocal linking), link buying, and link directories.
link text
The part of a text link that is visible to the reader. When generating links to your own site, they are most effective (in terms of ranking) if they include your keyword.
meta tag
A short note within the header of the HTML of your web page which describes some aspect of that page. These meta tags are read by the search engines and used to help assess the relevance of a site to a particular search.
natural search results
The ‘real’ search results. The results that most users are looking for and which take up most of the window. For most searches, the search engine displays a long list of links to sites with content which is related to the word you searched for. These results are ranked according to how relevant and important they are.
organic search results
See ‘natural search results’.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click advertising)
See ‘Sponsored Links’.
PageRank
See ‘Google PageRank’.
rank
Your position in the search results that display when someone searches for a particular word at a search engine.
reciprocal link
A mutual agreement between two webmasters to exchange links (i.e. they both add a link to the other’s website on their own website). Most search engines (certainly Google) are sophisticated enough to detect reciprocal linking and they don’t view it very favorably because it is clearly a manufactured method of generating links. Websites with reciprocal links risk being penalized.
robot
See ‘Spider’.
robots.txt file
A file which is used to inform the search engine spider which pages on a site should not be indexed. This file sits in your site’s root directory on the web server. (Alternatively, you can do a similar thing by placing tags in the header section of your HTML for search engine robots/spiders to read. See ‘Optimizing your web ’ on p.22. for more information.)
Sandbox
Many SEO experts believe that Google ‘sandboxes’ new websites. Whenever it detects a new website, it withholds its rightful ranking for a period while it determines whether your site is a genuine, credible, long term site. It does this to discourage the creation of SPAM websites (sites which serve no useful purpose other than to boost the ranking of some other site). Likewise, if Google detects a sudden increase (i.e. many hundreds or thousands) in the number of links back to your site, it may sandbox them for a period (or in fact penalize you by lowering your ranking or blacklisting your site altogether).
SEO
Search Engine Optimization. The art of making your website relevant and important so that it ranks high in the search results for a particular word.
SEO copywriter
A ‘copywriter’ who is not only proficient at web copy, but also experienced in writing copy which is optimized for search engines (and will therefore help you achieve a better search engine ranking for your website).
search engine
A search engine is an online tool which allows you to search for websites which contain a particular word or phrase. The most well known search engines are Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
site map
A single page which contains a list of text links to every page in the site (and every page contains a text link back to the site map). Think of your site map as being at the center of a spider-web.
SPAM
Generally refers to unwanted and unrequested email sent en-masse to private email addresses. Also used to refer to websites which appear high in search results without having any useful content. The creators of these sites set them up simply to cash in on their high ranking by selling advertising space, links to other sites, or by linking to other sites of their own and thereby increasing the ranking of those sites. The search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and already have very efficient ways to detect SPAM websites and penalize them.
spider
Google finds pages on the World Wide Web and records their details in its index by sending out ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’. These spiders make their way from page to page and site to site by following text links.
Sponsored Links
Paid advertising which displays next to the natural search results. Customers can click on the ad to visit the advertiser’s website. This is how the search engines make their money. Advertisers set their ads up to display whenever someone searches for a word which is related to their product or service. These ads look similar to the natural search results, but are normally labeled “Sponsored Links”, and normally take up a smaller portion of the window. These ads work on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) basis (i.e. the advertiser only pays when someone clicks on their ad).
submit
You can submit your domain name to the search engines so that their ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ will crawl your site. You can also submit articles to ‘article submission sites’ in order to have them published on the Internet.
text link
A word on a web page which the reader can click to visit another page. Text links are normally blue and underlined. Text links are what ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ use to jump from page to page and website to website.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a particular page published on the Internet. Normally in the form http://www.yourbusinessname.com/AWebPage.htm.
web copy
See ‘copy’.
web copywriter
A ‘copywriter’ who understands the unique requirements of writing for an online medium.
webmaster
A person responsible for the management of a particular website.
wordcount
The number of words on a particular web page.
World Wide Web (WWW)
The vast array of documents published on the Internet. It is estimated that the World Wide Web now consists of approximately 11.5 billion pages.
About the author:
* Glenn Murray is a website copywriter, SEO copywriter, and article submission and article PR specialist. He owns article submission service Article PR and copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com Visit http://www.DivineWrite.com or http://www.ArticlePR.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to download his FREE SEO e-book.
AdWords
See ‘Sponsored Links’.
algorithm
A complex mathematical formula used by search engines to assess the relevance and importance of websites and rank them accordingly in their search results. These algorithms are kept tightly under wraps as they are the key to the objectivity of search engines (i.e. the algorithm ensures relevant results, and relevant results bring more users, which in turn brings more advertising revenue).
article PR
The submitting of free reprint articles to many article submission sites and article distribution lists in order to increase your website's search engine ranking and Google PageRank. (In this sense, the "PR" stands for PageRank.) Like traditional public relations, article PR also conveys a sense of authority because your articles are widely published. And because you're proving your expertise and freely dispensing knowledge, your readers will trust you and will be more likely to remain loyal to you. (In this sense, the "PR" stands for Public Relations.)
article distribution lists
User groups (e.g. Yahoo, MSN, Google, Smartgroups, and Topica groups) which accept email submissions of articles in text format, and then distribute these articles via email to all of the members of the group. See also 'article PR'.
article submission sites
Websites which act as repositories of free reprint articles. Authors visit these sites to submit their articles free of charge, and webmasters visit to find articles to use on their websites free of charge. Article submission sites generate revenue by selling advertising space on their websites. See also 'article PR'.
backlink
A text link to your website from another website. See also ‘link’.
copy
The words used on your website.
copywriter
A professional writer who specializes in the writing of advertising copy (compelling, engaging words promoting a particular product or service). See also ‘SEO copywriter’ and ‘web copywriter’.
crawl
Google finds pages on the World Wide Web and records their details in its index by sending out ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’. These spiders make their way from page to page and site to site by following text links. To a spider, a text link is like a door.
domain name
The virtual address of your website (normally in the form www.yourbusinessname.com). This is what people will type when they want to visit your site. It is also what you will use as the address in any text links back to your site.
ezine
An electronic magazine. Most publishers of ezines are desperate for content and gladly publish well written, helpful articles and give you full credit as author, including a link to your website.
Flash
A technology used to create animated web pages (and page elements).
free reprint article
An article written by you and made freely available to other webmasters to publish on their websites. See also 'article PR'.
The search engine with the greatest coverage of the World Wide Web, and which is responsible for most search engine-referred traffic. Of approximately 11.5 billion pages on the World Wide Web, it is estimated that Google has indexed around 8.8 billion. This is one reason why it takes so long to increase your ranking!
Google AdWords
See ‘Sponsored Links’.
Google PageRank
How Google scores a website’s importance. It gives all sites a mark out of 10. By downloading the Google Toolbar (from http://toolbar.google.com), you can view the PR of any site you visit.
Google Toolbar
A free tool you can download. It becomes part of your browser toolbar. It’s most useful features are it’s PageRank display (which allows you to view the PR of any site you visit) and it’s AutoFill function (when you’re filling out an online form, you can click AutoFill, and it enters all the standard information automatically, including Name, Address, Zip code/Postcode, Phone Number, Email Address, Business Name, Credit Card Number (password protected), etc.) Once you’ve downloaded and installed the toolbar, you may need to set up how you’d like it to look and work by clicking Options (setup is very easy). NOTE: Google does record some information (mostly regarding sites visited).
HTML
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the coding language used to create much of the information on the World Wide Web. Web browsers read the HTML code and display the page that code describes.
Internet
An interconnected network of computers around the world.
JavaScript
A programming language used to create dynamic website pages (e.g. interactivity).
keyword
A word which your customers search for and which you use frequently on your site in order to be relevant to those searches. This use known as targeting a keyword. Most websites actually target ‘keyword phrases’ because single keywords are too generic and it is very difficult to rank highly for them.
keyword density
A measure of the frequency of your keyword in relation to the total wordcount of the page. So if your page has 200 words, and your keyword phrase appears 10 times, its density is 5%.
keyword phrase
A phrase which your customers search for and which you use frequently on your site in order to be relevant to those searches.
link
A word or image on a web page which the reader can click to visit another page. There are normally visual cues to indicate to the reader that the word or image is a link.
link path
Using text links to connect a series of page (i.e. page 1 connects to page 2, page 2 connects to page 3, page 3 connects to page 4, and so on). Search engine ‘spiders’ and ‘robots’ use text links to jump from page to page as they gather information about it, so it’s a good idea to allow them traverse your entire site via text links. (See ‘Link paths’ on p.21. for further information.)
link partner
A webmaster who is willing to put a link to your website on their website. Quite often link partners engage in reciprocal linking.
link popularity
The number of links to your website. Link popularity is the single most important factor in a high search engine ranking. Webmasters use a number of methods to increase their site's link popularity including article PR, link exchange (link partners / reciprocal linking), link buying, and link directories.
link text
The part of a text link that is visible to the reader. When generating links to your own site, they are most effective (in terms of ranking) if they include your keyword.
meta tag
A short note within the header of the HTML of your web page which describes some aspect of that page. These meta tags are read by the search engines and used to help assess the relevance of a site to a particular search.
natural search results
The ‘real’ search results. The results that most users are looking for and which take up most of the window. For most searches, the search engine displays a long list of links to sites with content which is related to the word you searched for. These results are ranked according to how relevant and important they are.
organic search results
See ‘natural search results’.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click advertising)
See ‘Sponsored Links’.
PageRank
See ‘Google PageRank’.
rank
Your position in the search results that display when someone searches for a particular word at a search engine.
reciprocal link
A mutual agreement between two webmasters to exchange links (i.e. they both add a link to the other’s website on their own website). Most search engines (certainly Google) are sophisticated enough to detect reciprocal linking and they don’t view it very favorably because it is clearly a manufactured method of generating links. Websites with reciprocal links risk being penalized.
robot
See ‘Spider’.
robots.txt file
A file which is used to inform the search engine spider which pages on a site should not be indexed. This file sits in your site’s root directory on the web server. (Alternatively, you can do a similar thing by placing tags in the header section of your HTML for search engine robots/spiders to read. See ‘Optimizing your web ’ on p.22. for more information.)
Sandbox
Many SEO experts believe that Google ‘sandboxes’ new websites. Whenever it detects a new website, it withholds its rightful ranking for a period while it determines whether your site is a genuine, credible, long term site. It does this to discourage the creation of SPAM websites (sites which serve no useful purpose other than to boost the ranking of some other site). Likewise, if Google detects a sudden increase (i.e. many hundreds or thousands) in the number of links back to your site, it may sandbox them for a period (or in fact penalize you by lowering your ranking or blacklisting your site altogether).
SEO
Search Engine Optimization. The art of making your website relevant and important so that it ranks high in the search results for a particular word.
SEO copywriter
A ‘copywriter’ who is not only proficient at web copy, but also experienced in writing copy which is optimized for search engines (and will therefore help you achieve a better search engine ranking for your website).
search engine
A search engine is an online tool which allows you to search for websites which contain a particular word or phrase. The most well known search engines are Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
site map
A single page which contains a list of text links to every page in the site (and every page contains a text link back to the site map). Think of your site map as being at the center of a spider-web.
SPAM
Generally refers to unwanted and unrequested email sent en-masse to private email addresses. Also used to refer to websites which appear high in search results without having any useful content. The creators of these sites set them up simply to cash in on their high ranking by selling advertising space, links to other sites, or by linking to other sites of their own and thereby increasing the ranking of those sites. The search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and already have very efficient ways to detect SPAM websites and penalize them.
spider
Google finds pages on the World Wide Web and records their details in its index by sending out ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’. These spiders make their way from page to page and site to site by following text links.
Sponsored Links
Paid advertising which displays next to the natural search results. Customers can click on the ad to visit the advertiser’s website. This is how the search engines make their money. Advertisers set their ads up to display whenever someone searches for a word which is related to their product or service. These ads look similar to the natural search results, but are normally labeled “Sponsored Links”, and normally take up a smaller portion of the window. These ads work on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) basis (i.e. the advertiser only pays when someone clicks on their ad).
submit
You can submit your domain name to the search engines so that their ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ will crawl your site. You can also submit articles to ‘article submission sites’ in order to have them published on the Internet.
text link
A word on a web page which the reader can click to visit another page. Text links are normally blue and underlined. Text links are what ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ use to jump from page to page and website to website.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a particular page published on the Internet. Normally in the form http://www.yourbusinessname.com/AWebPage.htm.
web copy
See ‘copy’.
web copywriter
A ‘copywriter’ who understands the unique requirements of writing for an online medium.
webmaster
A person responsible for the management of a particular website.
wordcount
The number of words on a particular web page.
World Wide Web (WWW)
The vast array of documents published on the Internet. It is estimated that the World Wide Web now consists of approximately 11.5 billion pages.
About the author:
* Glenn Murray is a website copywriter, SEO copywriter, and article submission and article PR specialist. He owns article submission service Article PR and copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com Visit http://www.DivineWrite.com or http://www.ArticlePR.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to download his FREE SEO e-book.
SEO Made Easy - Winning Tactics For Internet Business Success
Search engines are very difficult to completely understand. There are no complete explanations of how their ranking algorithms work. But the very fact that the average person does not intuitively know how to crack the search engine algorithms leads to all sorts of the same questions, usually variations of: "How do I get my website to the top of the search engine results pile?"
Search engine optimization is not magic or something equally difficult to understand. Instead, it is a step-by-step process and you should look at it that way. It can be summarized in the following points:
* An understanding of how search engines think.
* Knowing what search engines want
* Learning proven optimization techniques
* Applying your knowledge time and time again (experience - commonly known as trial and error!).
Of course, SEO is not completely explained by these four sentences. An automated software solution can give you the knowledge and tools to learn and implement SEO on your website with exceptional results. Success on the internet all boils down knowing how to implement Search Engine Optimization better than your competitors and getting it right the first time. If you do this, you will give your internet business that competitive edge.
However, if you have implemented SEO strategies correctly, and if you are still not seeing your website rank anywhere near where it should be on a particular keyword, then you may have one of the following problems:
* Your website may have been sandboxed (specific only to Google).
* Your website might be penalized or even removed from the index by a search engine for going against a stated guideline.
* A search engine might think that you are spamming them.
In the first case, you will have to "wait it out" with Google, while consolidating on your positions in the other search engines by continuously building links and adding content. You will not encounter the second case if you use and implement a very good automated SEO tool and understand exactly what the search engines will and won't permit.
However, like I said in the beginning, search engines are notoriously difficult to understand - their algorithms change by the second - and sometimes it is possible to all the right things and still not be ranked correctly. Search engines don't always get this part right. Called over-optimization by the major search engines, there is actually a lot of debate over this issue.
I know that optimizing your website and getting it listed is one of the hardest things to do. Believe me, I've been there. But now that you're armed with the information to get started, why not look for that automated SEO tool that will make your life easier and start you on the road to getting your site listed and ranked!
About the author:
Joe Borges makes it easy to get your website optimized and listed in all the major search engines. Learn the essential steps to online business success. Visit http://www.tekretail.com/bestseo_free-ebook.html to get your free ebook.
Joe Borges is an experienced internet marketer with 10+years experience in website design, development and implementation. He specializes in Search Engine Optimization to help internet businesses increase their web presence, boost website traffic and drive more sales. To learn how to increase your internet business presence, web traffic and boost your income now, visit: www.tekretail.com/bestseo_free-ebook.html .
Search engine optimization is not magic or something equally difficult to understand. Instead, it is a step-by-step process and you should look at it that way. It can be summarized in the following points:
* An understanding of how search engines think.
* Knowing what search engines want
* Learning proven optimization techniques
* Applying your knowledge time and time again (experience - commonly known as trial and error!).
Of course, SEO is not completely explained by these four sentences. An automated software solution can give you the knowledge and tools to learn and implement SEO on your website with exceptional results. Success on the internet all boils down knowing how to implement Search Engine Optimization better than your competitors and getting it right the first time. If you do this, you will give your internet business that competitive edge.
However, if you have implemented SEO strategies correctly, and if you are still not seeing your website rank anywhere near where it should be on a particular keyword, then you may have one of the following problems:
* Your website may have been sandboxed (specific only to Google).
* Your website might be penalized or even removed from the index by a search engine for going against a stated guideline.
* A search engine might think that you are spamming them.
In the first case, you will have to "wait it out" with Google, while consolidating on your positions in the other search engines by continuously building links and adding content. You will not encounter the second case if you use and implement a very good automated SEO tool and understand exactly what the search engines will and won't permit.
However, like I said in the beginning, search engines are notoriously difficult to understand - their algorithms change by the second - and sometimes it is possible to all the right things and still not be ranked correctly. Search engines don't always get this part right. Called over-optimization by the major search engines, there is actually a lot of debate over this issue.
I know that optimizing your website and getting it listed is one of the hardest things to do. Believe me, I've been there. But now that you're armed with the information to get started, why not look for that automated SEO tool that will make your life easier and start you on the road to getting your site listed and ranked!
About the author:
Joe Borges makes it easy to get your website optimized and listed in all the major search engines. Learn the essential steps to online business success. Visit http://www.tekretail.com/bestseo_free-ebook.html to get your free ebook.
Joe Borges is an experienced internet marketer with 10+years experience in website design, development and implementation. He specializes in Search Engine Optimization to help internet businesses increase their web presence, boost website traffic and drive more sales. To learn how to increase your internet business presence, web traffic and boost your income now, visit: www.tekretail.com/bestseo_free-ebook.html .
12 Things You Really Should Know About SEO
From the very beginning of the Internet, the number one challenge which all of us have faced is how to attract qualified visitors to our websites. Throughout the boom years, one of the most popular solutions was to get massive funding, relatively easy to get in those days, and "buy" traffic, by various means.
As an iconoclastic young developer, with ambitions of beating the "big boys" at their own game, more time than money or the connections to get it, I sought a less capital intensive methodology to achieve the same results. Years of study and rapt attention to the pertinent forums, trying everything that even seemed to make sense (making many mistakes along the way, and learning much from each one), then carefully monitoring the results, has lead to many highly workable tools in our SEO bag of tricks. The outcome of these trial and error methods, (lots of both) lays the foundation of our SEO services and the basis for the ongoing growth of traffic to your website and ours.
The simple fact of the matter is this: Expertise in any other form of writing in no way qualifies one for the type of writing required to optimize a website for the Internet. There are many sites which have less than correct punctuation, grammar, and even spelling which rank #1 in their optimized search phrases. This is not to say that I don't think these things are important, only that to be found in the search engines, they are not the most important consideration.
The flip side of this argument is equally true. Just because someone knows all the ins and outs of all of the search engines, can write algorithms in their sleep, has lunches with Dr. Eric Schmidt and is on a first name basis with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, does not, in any way, make them a writer. All of the writing on this site was done as a collaborative venture between Susan K. Thompson, a professional writer with strong academic credentials and real world experience, in both business and marketing, and myself. Was there a lot of editing and re-write? Yes. Were there disagreements? You bet! Was it worth it? Look at the record.
Emerald Coast Entrepreneur was launched on May 1, 2005 with most site optimization in place and submission to the directories just beginning. With a total monetary investment of less than $100.00, and a time investment, I'd rather not think about, but which approached 300 hours, the site was given a PR5 ranking by Google on it's first update, less than 2 months after our launch.
Studies show that over 90% of all online users use search engines to find what they are looking for, whether products/services, or just plain old information.
The following twelve points will, I hope, summarize a philosophy, approach and methodology to the SEO question which is both sound and effective, along with giving some helpful insight into the industry itself.
1. Content. Content. Content.
Effective, professional, optimized Copywriting is the single, most important factor in any SEO campaign. Search engines index websites based on the content found on each page of the site. With a thorough understanding of the language and grammatical conventions combined with intensive research, to find and exploit the market focus, one can move a website to the upper echelon of the "SERP's" (Search Engine Results Page) in a methodical as well as ethical manner.
2. Analyze Web Logs.
Measure everything, at least twice, and then check again. While I would be the first to say that many of the procedures that make up website optimization are more art than science, one needs to take a very scientific approach to the results of the effort. This is done by methodically keeping a record of, and making an analysis of the sites web logs. There are a number of specialized software which make the job easier but at the bare minimum, one needs to keep a close eye on the site visitors and their activity while on the site. No matter how well planned the strategy, it is largely theoretical until proven by the results, which can only be measured by the logs, and a thorough analysis of their content.
3. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, or any other search engine.
Those who promise such feats will either optimize for such vague search term phrases (such as, "green stunted widgets with purple Polka-dots and icing") that no one will ever likely look for, or they are making a false claim, which they have no intention of keeping, or they have an inside edge at Google, something which they will loose, quickly, when the honest folks at Google find out about it. The other option, that they will take the money and run, is worth mentioning here but I'll be polite.
4. Some things are just plain silly.
You don't need to submit your site to 50,000 search engines. Businesses which offer this service are suspect, at best. 85% of the search results on the Internet come from one search engine, which, if you have one link from an established website, or better yet, a directory, will find your site just fine, on it's own. Four (4) search engines account for over 90% of the traffic on the web. As for any supposed benefit which may accrue from being listed in an obscure search engine in Botswana which specializes in safaris to the Kalahari Desert and receives 7 hits per day; well, you figure it out.
5. SEO is not Pay-per-Click.
While no one would argue the effectiveness of getting increased traffic and sales, through a well planned, pay-per-click campaign, the fact remains that the conversion rates are generally low and they cease the moment the "pay" stops. With a well planned and executed SEO campaign, while results may take a bit longer, they continue to produce, and in fact grow, long after the work is done and paid for. Quite often we have found that after a thorough optimization of a site, only minor adjustments are needed on an ongoing basis, primarily related to new content and/or new items of sale or service.
6. SEO is not witchcraft, Druidism, shamanism.
Neither does it require any special chants, ceremonial fires, or vestments, though some of us do like to howl at the full moon, on occasion. There are no "Top Secret" practices which a reputable SEO can not tell a client, a judge, or his mother, for that matter. The very nature of the Internet has always been cooperative and there is nothing about SEO that can't be learned, with a heavy dose of time and money. A reputable SEO firm will give you an item per item breakdown of just where the money goes. Be wary if you sense a secretive atmosphere or any unwillingness to answer questions. While there are technical points which might take some background to fully understand, if one has a solid overview of the entire situation, a simple explanation should be easy enough to come up with.
7. Do-it-yourself SEO.
Yes, you can execute your own SEO campaign and find a reputable SEO firm to help plan and organize it for you. About one half of my own clientele do some part of the actual work themselves, or have their in-house dedicated personnel do it, after discussion of the goals and aims of the business/website, a thorough website analysis, comprehensive search phrase research, and focused instruction on the ways and means of achieving high SERPs. These preliminaries are followed up with a detailed program of suggestions and methods which the client can then implement themselves or hire others to perform. Average savings; 30-40%.
8. Phased Implementation.
While many companies spend thousands of dollars per month on Search Engine Optimization, an alternative is available which will pay dividends to you in increased sales and leads without the high initial investment. The most important consideration is to have a reputable firm handle the initial evaluation and suggested optimization planning first. The trial and error method will cost much more, in the long run, with or without the desired result. After studying the plan and establishing a workable budget you may implement the plan as finances allow.
9. Remember the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Never was this more true than in the realm of SEO. While concrete and measurable gains will always come from a well thought out and executed optimization strategy, the Internet is a competitive media and we all want to be number one. Accept that a steady upward movement, over time, will place you worlds ahead of a flash followed by a crash.
10. A thought to ponder.
At stake, in the race for the top, is the very existence of your website, your business, and quite possibly your reputation. Beware of any "shortcuts" or less than ethical schemes that anyone might suggest to further your business goals. When it's all said and done it is you, the business owner, who bears the responsibility for any company or individual you hire. Insist on knowing exactly what the strategy is and what steps are being performed to implement it. If it seems, in the least, suspicious, ask for and get an explanation. In this case, not only is Ignorance not bliss, it could very well be the beginning of the end for your business.
11. All incoming links are not created equal.
Both the relevance to your line of business and website subject matter and the PR value of the incoming link determine how valuable they are to your own PR ranking. With Google starting the trend, nothing new there, and most of the others following close behind, the days of grabbing all the inbound links, in any way possible, are gone. Not only will low ranked and/or irrelevant inbound links not help, they will, in fact, cause a penalty. Link farms, free-for-all link schemes, automated link accumulation software, or any other fad that doesn't carefully screen the links and websites they are coming from will, in the long run, do more harm than good.
12. It's more than just facts and figures.
The relationship between an online business and SEO is, perhaps, one of the closest of business relationships. In order to be effective, a SEO must know not only the facts and figures pertaining to the endeavor, but s/he must know something of the dreams and aspirations of the business principals. Things which don't normally come out in a prospectus are often invaluable information when searching for the "right fit" into the complex world of the Internet. My own clients sometimes ask, due to the frequency of my calls and email in the early phases, "Am I your only client?" I usually laugh and say something to the effect that until I know your business almost as well as you do, yes, you are the only one that counts.
About the author:
James 'Doc' Lewis spends much of his professional time as SEO for http://www.emeraldcoastentrepreneur.com /Emerald Coast Entrepreneur. Doc started practicing his magic long before the term SEO was even coined and continues to study and perfect methods of workable and cost effective SEO and SEM, devising unique solutions to diverse marketing challenges.
As an iconoclastic young developer, with ambitions of beating the "big boys" at their own game, more time than money or the connections to get it, I sought a less capital intensive methodology to achieve the same results. Years of study and rapt attention to the pertinent forums, trying everything that even seemed to make sense (making many mistakes along the way, and learning much from each one), then carefully monitoring the results, has lead to many highly workable tools in our SEO bag of tricks. The outcome of these trial and error methods, (lots of both) lays the foundation of our SEO services and the basis for the ongoing growth of traffic to your website and ours.
The simple fact of the matter is this: Expertise in any other form of writing in no way qualifies one for the type of writing required to optimize a website for the Internet. There are many sites which have less than correct punctuation, grammar, and even spelling which rank #1 in their optimized search phrases. This is not to say that I don't think these things are important, only that to be found in the search engines, they are not the most important consideration.
The flip side of this argument is equally true. Just because someone knows all the ins and outs of all of the search engines, can write algorithms in their sleep, has lunches with Dr. Eric Schmidt and is on a first name basis with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, does not, in any way, make them a writer. All of the writing on this site was done as a collaborative venture between Susan K. Thompson, a professional writer with strong academic credentials and real world experience, in both business and marketing, and myself. Was there a lot of editing and re-write? Yes. Were there disagreements? You bet! Was it worth it? Look at the record.
Emerald Coast Entrepreneur was launched on May 1, 2005 with most site optimization in place and submission to the directories just beginning. With a total monetary investment of less than $100.00, and a time investment, I'd rather not think about, but which approached 300 hours, the site was given a PR5 ranking by Google on it's first update, less than 2 months after our launch.
Studies show that over 90% of all online users use search engines to find what they are looking for, whether products/services, or just plain old information.
The following twelve points will, I hope, summarize a philosophy, approach and methodology to the SEO question which is both sound and effective, along with giving some helpful insight into the industry itself.
1. Content. Content. Content.
Effective, professional, optimized Copywriting is the single, most important factor in any SEO campaign. Search engines index websites based on the content found on each page of the site. With a thorough understanding of the language and grammatical conventions combined with intensive research, to find and exploit the market focus, one can move a website to the upper echelon of the "SERP's" (Search Engine Results Page) in a methodical as well as ethical manner.
2. Analyze Web Logs.
Measure everything, at least twice, and then check again. While I would be the first to say that many of the procedures that make up website optimization are more art than science, one needs to take a very scientific approach to the results of the effort. This is done by methodically keeping a record of, and making an analysis of the sites web logs. There are a number of specialized software which make the job easier but at the bare minimum, one needs to keep a close eye on the site visitors and their activity while on the site. No matter how well planned the strategy, it is largely theoretical until proven by the results, which can only be measured by the logs, and a thorough analysis of their content.
3. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, or any other search engine.
Those who promise such feats will either optimize for such vague search term phrases (such as, "green stunted widgets with purple Polka-dots and icing") that no one will ever likely look for, or they are making a false claim, which they have no intention of keeping, or they have an inside edge at Google, something which they will loose, quickly, when the honest folks at Google find out about it. The other option, that they will take the money and run, is worth mentioning here but I'll be polite.
4. Some things are just plain silly.
You don't need to submit your site to 50,000 search engines. Businesses which offer this service are suspect, at best. 85% of the search results on the Internet come from one search engine, which, if you have one link from an established website, or better yet, a directory, will find your site just fine, on it's own. Four (4) search engines account for over 90% of the traffic on the web. As for any supposed benefit which may accrue from being listed in an obscure search engine in Botswana which specializes in safaris to the Kalahari Desert and receives 7 hits per day; well, you figure it out.
5. SEO is not Pay-per-Click.
While no one would argue the effectiveness of getting increased traffic and sales, through a well planned, pay-per-click campaign, the fact remains that the conversion rates are generally low and they cease the moment the "pay" stops. With a well planned and executed SEO campaign, while results may take a bit longer, they continue to produce, and in fact grow, long after the work is done and paid for. Quite often we have found that after a thorough optimization of a site, only minor adjustments are needed on an ongoing basis, primarily related to new content and/or new items of sale or service.
6. SEO is not witchcraft, Druidism, shamanism.
Neither does it require any special chants, ceremonial fires, or vestments, though some of us do like to howl at the full moon, on occasion. There are no "Top Secret" practices which a reputable SEO can not tell a client, a judge, or his mother, for that matter. The very nature of the Internet has always been cooperative and there is nothing about SEO that can't be learned, with a heavy dose of time and money. A reputable SEO firm will give you an item per item breakdown of just where the money goes. Be wary if you sense a secretive atmosphere or any unwillingness to answer questions. While there are technical points which might take some background to fully understand, if one has a solid overview of the entire situation, a simple explanation should be easy enough to come up with.
7. Do-it-yourself SEO.
Yes, you can execute your own SEO campaign and find a reputable SEO firm to help plan and organize it for you. About one half of my own clientele do some part of the actual work themselves, or have their in-house dedicated personnel do it, after discussion of the goals and aims of the business/website, a thorough website analysis, comprehensive search phrase research, and focused instruction on the ways and means of achieving high SERPs. These preliminaries are followed up with a detailed program of suggestions and methods which the client can then implement themselves or hire others to perform. Average savings; 30-40%.
8. Phased Implementation.
While many companies spend thousands of dollars per month on Search Engine Optimization, an alternative is available which will pay dividends to you in increased sales and leads without the high initial investment. The most important consideration is to have a reputable firm handle the initial evaluation and suggested optimization planning first. The trial and error method will cost much more, in the long run, with or without the desired result. After studying the plan and establishing a workable budget you may implement the plan as finances allow.
9. Remember the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Never was this more true than in the realm of SEO. While concrete and measurable gains will always come from a well thought out and executed optimization strategy, the Internet is a competitive media and we all want to be number one. Accept that a steady upward movement, over time, will place you worlds ahead of a flash followed by a crash.
10. A thought to ponder.
At stake, in the race for the top, is the very existence of your website, your business, and quite possibly your reputation. Beware of any "shortcuts" or less than ethical schemes that anyone might suggest to further your business goals. When it's all said and done it is you, the business owner, who bears the responsibility for any company or individual you hire. Insist on knowing exactly what the strategy is and what steps are being performed to implement it. If it seems, in the least, suspicious, ask for and get an explanation. In this case, not only is Ignorance not bliss, it could very well be the beginning of the end for your business.
11. All incoming links are not created equal.
Both the relevance to your line of business and website subject matter and the PR value of the incoming link determine how valuable they are to your own PR ranking. With Google starting the trend, nothing new there, and most of the others following close behind, the days of grabbing all the inbound links, in any way possible, are gone. Not only will low ranked and/or irrelevant inbound links not help, they will, in fact, cause a penalty. Link farms, free-for-all link schemes, automated link accumulation software, or any other fad that doesn't carefully screen the links and websites they are coming from will, in the long run, do more harm than good.
12. It's more than just facts and figures.
The relationship between an online business and SEO is, perhaps, one of the closest of business relationships. In order to be effective, a SEO must know not only the facts and figures pertaining to the endeavor, but s/he must know something of the dreams and aspirations of the business principals. Things which don't normally come out in a prospectus are often invaluable information when searching for the "right fit" into the complex world of the Internet. My own clients sometimes ask, due to the frequency of my calls and email in the early phases, "Am I your only client?" I usually laugh and say something to the effect that until I know your business almost as well as you do, yes, you are the only one that counts.
About the author:
James 'Doc' Lewis spends much of his professional time as SEO for http://www.emeraldcoastentrepreneur.com /Emerald Coast Entrepreneur. Doc started practicing his magic long before the term SEO was even coined and continues to study and perfect methods of workable and cost effective SEO and SEM, devising unique solutions to diverse marketing challenges.
The Importance of Web Analytics: Using Your Analytics Properly
Analytics are very important to your web marketing campaign. If you do not use analytics properly you may not understand how effective your search engine marketing is.
In this article I look at some practical examples of when to use analytics and some things you need to identify in order to get the most out of your analytics.
I came across a situation today that I thought I’d share. It has to do with a client’s analytics.
Many times, as a search engine marketer, it is up to us to tell the client what they should be looking for in their analytics. Right away this seems odd to me. It’s like me telling my client what their business model is, or how they should be selling their product online.
But this does seem to be a common thread among some site owners. They had an idea for a product or service and they wanted to promote it online. So they had a website built, and may have initially had it optimized. But that is as far as their experience goes.
They have no idea on how to track progress or improvements. All to often the numbers they do look at are not the best results to view.
two perspectives on analytics – SEO and client
With my client today, we were trying to nail down what should have been important numbers. And it was a very similar case – they had invested in this super-duper analytics package that was collecting and displaying data upteen different ways, yet they had no idea how to interpret the numbers.
They thought their traffic was increasing, but they had on idea why, really, nor did they have any idea what their customers were doing once they hit the website.
And, as sometimes happens, we fell into the trap of telling them what they should be looking for.
“You want to see search engine referrals going up. That means it’s working” or “increased page views is a good thing.”
But this really isn’t solving their problem is it?
Sometimes as search marketers, we need to step back and say “I know what I need for numbers, but what does my client need to see.”
So this was the approach we took today – let’s have a discussion with the client and focus on what they want to see, not what we need to show them to prove our value as search engine marketers.
When we were done, we had not only shortened their monthly analytics report to a few key metrics (down from pages and pages of statistical analysis) but we had also decreased the time required to complete this analysis.
Sure we still will do some of the analysis for our own purposes, but does the client really care how many backlinks or pages indexed they have? Not likely.
Nope, more often than not, the client wants to know that they are making money. Pure and simple.
So, if you can show them that they are making money, that’s all they really care about. You can add value as a search engine marketer by showing areas of improvement (“did you know that your Google referrals went up by 15% this month? That proves the value of our services, yada yada yada...”)
As long as you can illustrate the bottom line to the client in terms they understand, at that it is improving, then you as a search marketer have done your job.
Keep the pages indexed, backlinks, referrals by keyword and other non-client related data to yourself and present a concise simple report that even the CEO (who has 25 hours per day of work) can look at and understand that the SEO program is paying for itself.
Now let’s look at analytics from the client’s perspective.
If you are a client of an SEO firm, or just want to get a better idea of just how your site is doing online, first you must decide what it is you want to see. Do you want to see sales figures? Or would you rather just look at the aggregate numbers like total visitors and search engine referrals?
What has more value to you – reams and reams of data, or a simple, one page summary of overall performance?
As a recommendation, I’d say you only need enough data to make your business decisions.
In other words, if your website is e-commerce based, all you really need initially are the sales numbers over time. You should also understand how the sales cycle works, and perhaps look at your conversion funnel to see where people are dropping off. Most good analytics packages offer some sort of funnel analysis.
Understanding your sales funnel can also help you improve your sales. Sometimes an analysis of the sales funnel can help you determine where the drop offs occur. By modifying the funnel you can improve your drop off rate, increasing your sales. And really, this has less to do with SEO and more to do with traditional business marketing.
For example, let’s say your site gets 2000 visitors per month. Let’s also assume your site has a 3 step sales process, and your average sale is $11 per item.
If half of your site’s visitors start down the sales path, that means 1000 start (a 50% drop off rate at the first step – this could be due by a requirement to sign up to browse your site). If 40% of that total drop off at the second step, and 30% of that group complete the sale, that equates to $495 in sales, about a 2.25% conversion rate as only 45 of the original 2000 people purchased.
Now let’s experiment with the sales funnel:
If you can improve the final step of the sale by just 10% - that equates to an additional $165 in sales, a 3% conversion rate. However if you can improve the first step of the conversion, reducing that 50% bounce rate to 25%, you can increase your sales by $247.50 – a 3.38% conversion rate.
Further, if you shorten the conversion funnel by 1 step – making a 2 step sale, rather than a 3 step sale, you can increase your sales by over $330 – a 3.75% conversion rate. That’s still assuming the same number of monthly visitors start down the conversion path.
However, if you don’t or can’t find this data in your analytics package you wouldn’t be able to perform such analysis.
And this is where, if you are dealing with an SEO firm, you must get the data you need.
Simply knowing how many referrals you got from Google or Yahoo! won’t help you make the business decisions you need to make.
So whether you are an SEO firm or professional, or employ one, be sure that the metrics you see are the ones you need to make your decisions.
As a client, don’t be afraid to ask – what does this do for me? Because unless you’ve discussed your needs with your SEO, they will likely provide you with the numbers they deem as the best. That is, the ones that illustrate their value to you.
That’s not to say that those numbers are invalid, its just that they don’t do you as much good as those you need to make your business decisions.
Similarly, as an SEO, if you don’t know what your client needs to see, in terms of numbers, how can you justify your income from them. If search engine referrals have gone up, but conversion haven’t then there is no immediate value to the client.
Sure you can say “but we got you all these top rankings” but unless they are turning into sales, your contract with that client won’t last that long.
So be sure as you work with your SEO firm or client that you nail those metrics early, so there is no misunderstanding, and everyone knows what successes are measured by.
About the author:
About the author:
Rob Sullivan - SEO Specialist and Internet Marketing Consultant. Any reproduction of this article needs to have an html link pointing to http://www.textlinkbrokers.com
In this article I look at some practical examples of when to use analytics and some things you need to identify in order to get the most out of your analytics.
I came across a situation today that I thought I’d share. It has to do with a client’s analytics.
Many times, as a search engine marketer, it is up to us to tell the client what they should be looking for in their analytics. Right away this seems odd to me. It’s like me telling my client what their business model is, or how they should be selling their product online.
But this does seem to be a common thread among some site owners. They had an idea for a product or service and they wanted to promote it online. So they had a website built, and may have initially had it optimized. But that is as far as their experience goes.
They have no idea on how to track progress or improvements. All to often the numbers they do look at are not the best results to view.
two perspectives on analytics – SEO and client
With my client today, we were trying to nail down what should have been important numbers. And it was a very similar case – they had invested in this super-duper analytics package that was collecting and displaying data upteen different ways, yet they had no idea how to interpret the numbers.
They thought their traffic was increasing, but they had on idea why, really, nor did they have any idea what their customers were doing once they hit the website.
And, as sometimes happens, we fell into the trap of telling them what they should be looking for.
“You want to see search engine referrals going up. That means it’s working” or “increased page views is a good thing.”
But this really isn’t solving their problem is it?
Sometimes as search marketers, we need to step back and say “I know what I need for numbers, but what does my client need to see.”
So this was the approach we took today – let’s have a discussion with the client and focus on what they want to see, not what we need to show them to prove our value as search engine marketers.
When we were done, we had not only shortened their monthly analytics report to a few key metrics (down from pages and pages of statistical analysis) but we had also decreased the time required to complete this analysis.
Sure we still will do some of the analysis for our own purposes, but does the client really care how many backlinks or pages indexed they have? Not likely.
Nope, more often than not, the client wants to know that they are making money. Pure and simple.
So, if you can show them that they are making money, that’s all they really care about. You can add value as a search engine marketer by showing areas of improvement (“did you know that your Google referrals went up by 15% this month? That proves the value of our services, yada yada yada...”)
As long as you can illustrate the bottom line to the client in terms they understand, at that it is improving, then you as a search marketer have done your job.
Keep the pages indexed, backlinks, referrals by keyword and other non-client related data to yourself and present a concise simple report that even the CEO (who has 25 hours per day of work) can look at and understand that the SEO program is paying for itself.
Now let’s look at analytics from the client’s perspective.
If you are a client of an SEO firm, or just want to get a better idea of just how your site is doing online, first you must decide what it is you want to see. Do you want to see sales figures? Or would you rather just look at the aggregate numbers like total visitors and search engine referrals?
What has more value to you – reams and reams of data, or a simple, one page summary of overall performance?
As a recommendation, I’d say you only need enough data to make your business decisions.
In other words, if your website is e-commerce based, all you really need initially are the sales numbers over time. You should also understand how the sales cycle works, and perhaps look at your conversion funnel to see where people are dropping off. Most good analytics packages offer some sort of funnel analysis.
Understanding your sales funnel can also help you improve your sales. Sometimes an analysis of the sales funnel can help you determine where the drop offs occur. By modifying the funnel you can improve your drop off rate, increasing your sales. And really, this has less to do with SEO and more to do with traditional business marketing.
For example, let’s say your site gets 2000 visitors per month. Let’s also assume your site has a 3 step sales process, and your average sale is $11 per item.
If half of your site’s visitors start down the sales path, that means 1000 start (a 50% drop off rate at the first step – this could be due by a requirement to sign up to browse your site). If 40% of that total drop off at the second step, and 30% of that group complete the sale, that equates to $495 in sales, about a 2.25% conversion rate as only 45 of the original 2000 people purchased.
Now let’s experiment with the sales funnel:
If you can improve the final step of the sale by just 10% - that equates to an additional $165 in sales, a 3% conversion rate. However if you can improve the first step of the conversion, reducing that 50% bounce rate to 25%, you can increase your sales by $247.50 – a 3.38% conversion rate.
Further, if you shorten the conversion funnel by 1 step – making a 2 step sale, rather than a 3 step sale, you can increase your sales by over $330 – a 3.75% conversion rate. That’s still assuming the same number of monthly visitors start down the conversion path.
However, if you don’t or can’t find this data in your analytics package you wouldn’t be able to perform such analysis.
And this is where, if you are dealing with an SEO firm, you must get the data you need.
Simply knowing how many referrals you got from Google or Yahoo! won’t help you make the business decisions you need to make.
So whether you are an SEO firm or professional, or employ one, be sure that the metrics you see are the ones you need to make your decisions.
As a client, don’t be afraid to ask – what does this do for me? Because unless you’ve discussed your needs with your SEO, they will likely provide you with the numbers they deem as the best. That is, the ones that illustrate their value to you.
That’s not to say that those numbers are invalid, its just that they don’t do you as much good as those you need to make your business decisions.
Similarly, as an SEO, if you don’t know what your client needs to see, in terms of numbers, how can you justify your income from them. If search engine referrals have gone up, but conversion haven’t then there is no immediate value to the client.
Sure you can say “but we got you all these top rankings” but unless they are turning into sales, your contract with that client won’t last that long.
So be sure as you work with your SEO firm or client that you nail those metrics early, so there is no misunderstanding, and everyone knows what successes are measured by.
About the author:
About the author:
Rob Sullivan - SEO Specialist and Internet Marketing Consultant. Any reproduction of this article needs to have an html link pointing to http://www.textlinkbrokers.com
Search Engine Optimization - Site map Optimization Technique
Site Maps can be a great tool for making search engines crawl through your web site in a much more effective manner, thereby helping you get more pages indexed, and ultimately getting you more visitors. Most people know what site maps are, as they can be seen on many of the major websites, although for those who don¡¦t, ¡§a site map is a page which contains a list of all the links within a website, under different categories and headings, just like a table of contents of a book¡¨. Now when a search engine hits the site map page, it gets to see all the links within that website and this enables it to crawl through those pages. It¡¦s just like guiding search engines with the help of a map, in this large universe of internet.
Site maps also help visitors to get an overview of the entire web site, and hence act as a great navigational tool. It helps visitors find specific pages through a single page, for which they might have had to follow several links to reach the desired page. Here are some examples of well designed site maps.
http://www.google.com/sitemap.html
http://www.lycos.com/sitemap.asp
This leads us to the next question, i.e. how should site maps be designed. Designing a site map can be as simple as designing any other static pages without any pictures, graphics, etc. But all effort should be made to keep the structure logical and simple. Its best to browse through the web, and check out a variety of site maps before you decide on what kind of structure you want to follow.
Here are some things you should keep in mind, before designing a site map.
Homepage Link: It is important to give a prominent link from the homepage to the sitemap page, so that visitors and search bots can easily hit the site map page. In fact, preferably there should be a link to the site map page from every page of your website.
Text Links: Plain text links should be used for all the links, as some search bots can have problems crawling through ¡§JavaScript¡¨.
Categories: It is important to organise the contents into well defined categories, and even sub-categories for easy navigation of the user. Although this doesn¡¦t have direct SEO implications, it makes more sense to the user.
Descriptive Content: It is ideal to add some content describing the links, as search engines tend to ignore pages, full of links. It is also important to use your targeted keywords in your descriptive content as well as in your anchor text.
Anchor Text Link: It is important to use page titles as your anchor text, so that you can increase your anchor text back links. This is helpful for search engine optimization as it increases your link popularity.
About the author:
Daniel Chow
SEOAssistance.com
Site maps also help visitors to get an overview of the entire web site, and hence act as a great navigational tool. It helps visitors find specific pages through a single page, for which they might have had to follow several links to reach the desired page. Here are some examples of well designed site maps.
http://www.google.com/sitemap.html
http://www.lycos.com/sitemap.asp
This leads us to the next question, i.e. how should site maps be designed. Designing a site map can be as simple as designing any other static pages without any pictures, graphics, etc. But all effort should be made to keep the structure logical and simple. Its best to browse through the web, and check out a variety of site maps before you decide on what kind of structure you want to follow.
Here are some things you should keep in mind, before designing a site map.
Homepage Link: It is important to give a prominent link from the homepage to the sitemap page, so that visitors and search bots can easily hit the site map page. In fact, preferably there should be a link to the site map page from every page of your website.
Text Links: Plain text links should be used for all the links, as some search bots can have problems crawling through ¡§JavaScript¡¨.
Categories: It is important to organise the contents into well defined categories, and even sub-categories for easy navigation of the user. Although this doesn¡¦t have direct SEO implications, it makes more sense to the user.
Descriptive Content: It is ideal to add some content describing the links, as search engines tend to ignore pages, full of links. It is also important to use your targeted keywords in your descriptive content as well as in your anchor text.
Anchor Text Link: It is important to use page titles as your anchor text, so that you can increase your anchor text back links. This is helpful for search engine optimization as it increases your link popularity.
About the author:
Daniel Chow
SEOAssistance.com
Do It Yourself Search Engine Optimization: How to Generate Free, High Pagerank Links Quickly and Easily
Here's a quick and easy search engine optimization (SEO) technique that anyone can use to generate free, high Google pagerank links to their site.
SEO in a nutshell: get quality links to your site; the higher the pagerank, the better.
The problem is that if you submit your site to a high pagerank directory or search engine, it can take months for your site to appear. Moreover, many high PR directories and search engines charge big bucks for the privilege of getting listed with them. For example, the Open Directory Project (DMOZ) directory takes several months or more to list a site. And Yahoo charges $299 per year for a commercial site to be listed in their directory.
While it's great to be listed in these directories and search engines, many will automatically find and list your site free if you have good quality links to your site. High pagerank links to your site indicate to many search engines that other sites that they rate highly link to you. Therefore, they conclude, your site will probably be useful to their users. So you deserve a higher pagerank, according to Google. And the higher your pagerank, the better your search engine visibility. It's part of the SEO game and you can learn how to play.
Now here's my secret to getting some high pagerank sites to link to you immediately and at no charge.
First you need to create a web page on your site with a list of links. You will be adding links to other sites on your links page in exchange for these sites adding your link to their link pages. So let's call this page a reciprocal links page. You don't just add any site to your reciprocal links page, however. You will be looking for high pagerank links to add to your links page. It's better if you include links to sites that are related to your products or services. To make search engines happy, limit each of your reciprocal links pages to about 50 links.
Many sites maintain their reciprocal link pages using the free LinkMan script from PHPJunkYard. If you wish, you could do the same, but it is not necessary. You can download this php script from http://phpjunkyard.com
The LinkMan script allows a site's visitors to add their links immediately after they add links to the site on their pages. So all you have to do is to find sites using this LinkMan script, add their link to your reciprocal links page, and you can immediately add your link to theirs.
Because the LinkMan script is free, the developer requires the following notice on the links page: "Powered by Link manager LinkMan 1.02 from PHPJunkYard - free php scripts."
You can find sites using LinkMan then by searching for the exact phrase "Powered by Link manager LinkMan 1.02 from PHPJunkYard" on Google, for example. Note that there are other scripts named Linkman, so you should not just search for "LinkMan". Play around with your search phrase to find also sites using earlier versions of LinkMan.
Visit some PHPJunkYard LinkMan link pages with a browser showing the Google pagerank. You will very soon come across a site using LinkMan that has a high Google pagerank. Bingo! Add their link to your reciprocal links page and then add your link to theirs. You immediately have a free link on a high pagerank site. Free instant SEO!
And that's a quick and easy search engine optimization technique you can use to generate free, high pagerank links.
About the author:
Kempton Smith is an article ghostwriter who writes interesting, useful, keyword-rich articles for internet businesses to use to promote their products or services online. Contact him at kempton at kemptonsmith.com for details. Visit http://www.kemptonsmith.com for a free report on how to use articles to promote your web site online.
SEO in a nutshell: get quality links to your site; the higher the pagerank, the better.
The problem is that if you submit your site to a high pagerank directory or search engine, it can take months for your site to appear. Moreover, many high PR directories and search engines charge big bucks for the privilege of getting listed with them. For example, the Open Directory Project (DMOZ) directory takes several months or more to list a site. And Yahoo charges $299 per year for a commercial site to be listed in their directory.
While it's great to be listed in these directories and search engines, many will automatically find and list your site free if you have good quality links to your site. High pagerank links to your site indicate to many search engines that other sites that they rate highly link to you. Therefore, they conclude, your site will probably be useful to their users. So you deserve a higher pagerank, according to Google. And the higher your pagerank, the better your search engine visibility. It's part of the SEO game and you can learn how to play.
Now here's my secret to getting some high pagerank sites to link to you immediately and at no charge.
First you need to create a web page on your site with a list of links. You will be adding links to other sites on your links page in exchange for these sites adding your link to their link pages. So let's call this page a reciprocal links page. You don't just add any site to your reciprocal links page, however. You will be looking for high pagerank links to add to your links page. It's better if you include links to sites that are related to your products or services. To make search engines happy, limit each of your reciprocal links pages to about 50 links.
Many sites maintain their reciprocal link pages using the free LinkMan script from PHPJunkYard. If you wish, you could do the same, but it is not necessary. You can download this php script from http://phpjunkyard.com
The LinkMan script allows a site's visitors to add their links immediately after they add links to the site on their pages. So all you have to do is to find sites using this LinkMan script, add their link to your reciprocal links page, and you can immediately add your link to theirs.
Because the LinkMan script is free, the developer requires the following notice on the links page: "Powered by Link manager LinkMan 1.02 from PHPJunkYard - free php scripts."
You can find sites using LinkMan then by searching for the exact phrase "Powered by Link manager LinkMan 1.02 from PHPJunkYard" on Google, for example. Note that there are other scripts named Linkman, so you should not just search for "LinkMan". Play around with your search phrase to find also sites using earlier versions of LinkMan.
Visit some PHPJunkYard LinkMan link pages with a browser showing the Google pagerank. You will very soon come across a site using LinkMan that has a high Google pagerank. Bingo! Add their link to your reciprocal links page and then add your link to theirs. You immediately have a free link on a high pagerank site. Free instant SEO!
And that's a quick and easy search engine optimization technique you can use to generate free, high pagerank links.
About the author:
Kempton Smith is an article ghostwriter who writes interesting, useful, keyword-rich articles for internet businesses to use to promote their products or services online. Contact him at kempton at kemptonsmith.com for details. Visit http://www.kemptonsmith.com for a free report on how to use articles to promote your web site online.
The Ten Commandments of Search Engine Optimization
Most of the time when we pitch to a new client we are asked for SEO guarantees. “Your competition has guaranteed top results and submission to 100,000 Search Engines and Directories”. We go all out educating clients that Search Engine Optimization is all about smart work and not just adding random keywords and submitting to every directory possible. I’m writing this article to reach out to the SEO buyers and help them distinguish the crooks from the genuine SEO. I’ve compiled my Search marketing experience over the years in this article. I hope this helps you in selecting your Search Marketing initiative.
Commandment 1: There are no Rank Guarantees. (Period)
Search Engines alone control their indexing and ranking algorithm. Do not try to trick Search Engines. The only way to improve your Search Engine Ranks is by playing by the rules. And the rule is very simple: make it logical. Web content is primarily for the site visitor and not crawlers.
If your Search Engine Optimizer sold you magic “Top rank on google in 10 days flat”. Forget it. There are no short cuts. Top ranking in Search Engines Natural Results will take time. Hard work is imperative especially for the content on your website and the links to your site.
Commandment 2: Ranking is not the end, it’s the means.
Ask yourself what will Top Search Engine Ranks get you? Most businesses are interested in increasing sales on the website or in the least driving qualified traffic. Ranking for the right keywords (keywords used by your target audience) is important. There are SEOs who would try to show case results for keywords that occur only on your website. Beware such gimmicks.
Commandment 3: Know your competition.
“Rank” is relative position and more so in the Search Engine’s natural results. How well you do in the Search Engine Results is a function of how much hard work you have put over competition. Analyze competition’s keywords, links, keyword density and spread. But be sure to never copy your competition.
Commandment 4: Use Search Engine Friendly design.
A search and visitor friendly design is must for any successful website. Your website should be compelling enough for repeat visits by search engines and potential customers. Make sure you have Search Engine friendly urls and avoid those long URLs with query strings (http://mywebsite.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=5&a=z&f=g). You should also make sure that your web designer follows global coding standards like w3c (http://www.w3.org).
Commandment 5: Select Keywords that are worth.
You must research the keywords before targeting. There are tools that give you good idea of keyword’s search potential for example (http://www.wordtracker.com/, http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/, https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox ). It is important to know the number of searches for a keyword in the last month, last 6 months and last year. You should also find out the number of web pages that are targeting the keyword. It is advisable to start a campaign with keywords with moderate competition and high number of search.
Commandment 6: Write Great content.
Even if your website site is technically perfect for search engine robots, it won’t do you any good unless you also fill it with Great content. Great is contextual and has editorial value. Great content brings repeat visits and increases the chance of conversion. Great content is factual and appeals to the target audience. The web page should have desired action embedded in the content.
You must ensure that the content is fresh. Keep adding and editing the content regularly.
Commandment 7: Use good hyper linking strategy.
Hyperlinks make the content accessible and contextual. You must hyperlink in the right context within the website and to the other websites. Good links are appreciated by the Search Engines and by the visitors. No one likes to be taken to a mall selling “Macintosh” when shopping for “apples”.
Commandment 8: Write relevant and original Meta content.
Meta content is like business cards. Just as your business card tells who you are and what you do Meta content tells the Search Engines the relevance and context of a web page. Resist the temptation to include everything in the Meta content, but make it detailed. Confused? The idea is to include only what is relevant to the page in the Meta Content but include everything that is relevant.
Commandment 9: Acquire Relevant Links.
The Links you acquire are the roads to your web page for Search Engine Bots and visitors. Good links increase your webpage’s equity on the World Wide Web and bad link make a dent to the equity and credibility. Be selective in reciprocal linking. Both reciprocal and one way links work, if you are prudent in selecting the links. Submit your website to the relevant sections in relevant directories.
Commandment 10: Consult experts, if you need to.
If you have the competence there are two ways to learn. Learning from one’s own mistakes and learning form other’s experience. You could choose either. If you have the time and can wait for the online dollars do it yourself. If you want to get started now it may be useful to consult the experts.
About the author:
The author is an expert in Search Marketing with over 10 years Online Marketing experience. He heads www.rankuno.com ,the specialist in online marketing and Search Engine Optimization. RankUno empowers its clients around the world with high ROI online marketing programs. He may be reached at bhaskar@rankuno.com
Commandment 1: There are no Rank Guarantees. (Period)
Search Engines alone control their indexing and ranking algorithm. Do not try to trick Search Engines. The only way to improve your Search Engine Ranks is by playing by the rules. And the rule is very simple: make it logical. Web content is primarily for the site visitor and not crawlers.
If your Search Engine Optimizer sold you magic “Top rank on google in 10 days flat”. Forget it. There are no short cuts. Top ranking in Search Engines Natural Results will take time. Hard work is imperative especially for the content on your website and the links to your site.
Commandment 2: Ranking is not the end, it’s the means.
Ask yourself what will Top Search Engine Ranks get you? Most businesses are interested in increasing sales on the website or in the least driving qualified traffic. Ranking for the right keywords (keywords used by your target audience) is important. There are SEOs who would try to show case results for keywords that occur only on your website. Beware such gimmicks.
Commandment 3: Know your competition.
“Rank” is relative position and more so in the Search Engine’s natural results. How well you do in the Search Engine Results is a function of how much hard work you have put over competition. Analyze competition’s keywords, links, keyword density and spread. But be sure to never copy your competition.
Commandment 4: Use Search Engine Friendly design.
A search and visitor friendly design is must for any successful website. Your website should be compelling enough for repeat visits by search engines and potential customers. Make sure you have Search Engine friendly urls and avoid those long URLs with query strings (http://mywebsite.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=5&a=z&f=g). You should also make sure that your web designer follows global coding standards like w3c (http://www.w3.org).
Commandment 5: Select Keywords that are worth.
You must research the keywords before targeting. There are tools that give you good idea of keyword’s search potential for example (http://www.wordtracker.com/, http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/, https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox ). It is important to know the number of searches for a keyword in the last month, last 6 months and last year. You should also find out the number of web pages that are targeting the keyword. It is advisable to start a campaign with keywords with moderate competition and high number of search.
Commandment 6: Write Great content.
Even if your website site is technically perfect for search engine robots, it won’t do you any good unless you also fill it with Great content. Great is contextual and has editorial value. Great content brings repeat visits and increases the chance of conversion. Great content is factual and appeals to the target audience. The web page should have desired action embedded in the content.
You must ensure that the content is fresh. Keep adding and editing the content regularly.
Commandment 7: Use good hyper linking strategy.
Hyperlinks make the content accessible and contextual. You must hyperlink in the right context within the website and to the other websites. Good links are appreciated by the Search Engines and by the visitors. No one likes to be taken to a mall selling “Macintosh” when shopping for “apples”.
Commandment 8: Write relevant and original Meta content.
Meta content is like business cards. Just as your business card tells who you are and what you do Meta content tells the Search Engines the relevance and context of a web page. Resist the temptation to include everything in the Meta content, but make it detailed. Confused? The idea is to include only what is relevant to the page in the Meta Content but include everything that is relevant.
Commandment 9: Acquire Relevant Links.
The Links you acquire are the roads to your web page for Search Engine Bots and visitors. Good links increase your webpage’s equity on the World Wide Web and bad link make a dent to the equity and credibility. Be selective in reciprocal linking. Both reciprocal and one way links work, if you are prudent in selecting the links. Submit your website to the relevant sections in relevant directories.
Commandment 10: Consult experts, if you need to.
If you have the competence there are two ways to learn. Learning from one’s own mistakes and learning form other’s experience. You could choose either. If you have the time and can wait for the online dollars do it yourself. If you want to get started now it may be useful to consult the experts.
About the author:
The author is an expert in Search Marketing with over 10 years Online Marketing experience. He heads www.rankuno.com ,the specialist in online marketing and Search Engine Optimization. RankUno empowers its clients around the world with high ROI online marketing programs. He may be reached at bhaskar@rankuno.com
Web promotion
The main methods of online marketing are the following
Web Optimization
The professional SEO services are the first the and in most efficient method of online marketing. It would be ideal that the site should be realized from the begging after the principles of web optimization, in this way you save time and money.
Increasing link popularity
The popularity of a link is given by the number and the quality of the links who lead to your site. The links are a determinant force for search engines. A quality sustainable link it will not help you only in the ranking of search engines but also will bring you targeted traffic.
The registration in main search engines
The registration in search engines is achieved manually only by human operators. The sites who pledge the automatic registration in search engines are not accepted by Google.
Not only that this method will not help you in any way but it is considerate spam by the search engines and you risk to be penalized.
Registration in web directories
Another method is the manually registration in web directories, depending on your target market and the languages in which your site is realized.
Oana is the head of marketing department at BODRAG. Visit our website: http://www.bodrag.com
The beginning of a promotion campaign Pay Per Click.
This type of campaign will bring immediate visitors, but with certain costs. If the results of web optimization give results on a long period of time, the Pay Per Click campaigns have results as long as they last.
Developmental systems for affiliation networks
Besides direct sales that come from direct requests from your site, your products, services can be sold through your affiliates’ sites.
Online marketing through advertising banners
Advertising banners are another method of online promotion. Our company makes advertising banners at promotional prices.
Oana is the head of marketing department at BODRAG. Visit our website: http://www.bodrag.com
Web Optimization
The professional SEO services are the first the and in most efficient method of online marketing. It would be ideal that the site should be realized from the begging after the principles of web optimization, in this way you save time and money.
Increasing link popularity
The popularity of a link is given by the number and the quality of the links who lead to your site. The links are a determinant force for search engines. A quality sustainable link it will not help you only in the ranking of search engines but also will bring you targeted traffic.
The registration in main search engines
The registration in search engines is achieved manually only by human operators. The sites who pledge the automatic registration in search engines are not accepted by Google.
Not only that this method will not help you in any way but it is considerate spam by the search engines and you risk to be penalized.
Registration in web directories
Another method is the manually registration in web directories, depending on your target market and the languages in which your site is realized.
Oana is the head of marketing department at BODRAG. Visit our website: http://www.bodrag.com
The beginning of a promotion campaign Pay Per Click.
This type of campaign will bring immediate visitors, but with certain costs. If the results of web optimization give results on a long period of time, the Pay Per Click campaigns have results as long as they last.
Developmental systems for affiliation networks
Besides direct sales that come from direct requests from your site, your products, services can be sold through your affiliates’ sites.
Online marketing through advertising banners
Advertising banners are another method of online promotion. Our company makes advertising banners at promotional prices.
Oana is the head of marketing department at BODRAG. Visit our website: http://www.bodrag.com
Frequent errors in the optimization for search engines
The most usual errors in web optimization refer to the following aspects
Ignore of ‘Title’ tags
It is one of the most frequent errors committed, with a direct negative effect upon the positioning of your site in a search engine. Most of search engines consider the ‘title’ tag very important because the information entered here is the one that is presented. Therefore try to enter in the title the keywords which you consider to have the biggest relevance for your site.
Irrelevant keywords
A certain category of webmasters use irrelevant keywords which are meant to increase the traffic on site. If you want to develop an on-line business, the key words that you use must be representative for the domain of of your activity.
Spamming
This is a method deprived of ethics through which the same keywords are repeatedly used in the “title” tag, the meta tags and in the content. This method is used in order to improve the position of a site in an artificial way, but the search engines detect these techniques and diminish the ranking of those sites. Therefore, do not use too many keywords.
Text and invisible links
This is a method through which it is tried the misleading of the search engines. Web pages are loaded by links and keywords which are hidden to the user but visible for search engines. The problem is that these have now the capacity to detect this technique and its utilization leads without any exception to the exclusion of your site.
Links to and from useless sites
It is known the fact that a high number of links that lead to your site increase its importance for search engines. Though, not every link that leads to your site helps you. Try always to obtain links only from sites that have a good ranking.
Errors as a part of the HTML code
If your site presents errors in the html code it will not be well ranked by the search engines even if it has an optimized content .The loading speed will be small and there will be incompatibilities with certain internet browsers. The best way to avoid this situation is the html code validation before subscribing the site in search engines.
The utilization of un-canonical URLs
During the optimization process make sure that every URL of the page that follows is canonic. This will have a positive influence upon the visibility of your site in a search engine.
The excessive graphic in a page
The way through which search engines are reading your site resembles with that of a text browser. A huge amount of graphic does not lead to a good site positioning. It will negatively influence the download speed of the site and will not attract the visitors. Try to use content with many key words instead of a great number of images. Also, use ALT text in order to describe the used images.
Oana is the head of marketing department at BODRAG. Visit our website: http://www.bodrag.com
Ignore of ‘Title’ tags
It is one of the most frequent errors committed, with a direct negative effect upon the positioning of your site in a search engine. Most of search engines consider the ‘title’ tag very important because the information entered here is the one that is presented. Therefore try to enter in the title the keywords which you consider to have the biggest relevance for your site.
Irrelevant keywords
A certain category of webmasters use irrelevant keywords which are meant to increase the traffic on site. If you want to develop an on-line business, the key words that you use must be representative for the domain of of your activity.
Spamming
This is a method deprived of ethics through which the same keywords are repeatedly used in the “title” tag, the meta tags and in the content. This method is used in order to improve the position of a site in an artificial way, but the search engines detect these techniques and diminish the ranking of those sites. Therefore, do not use too many keywords.
Text and invisible links
This is a method through which it is tried the misleading of the search engines. Web pages are loaded by links and keywords which are hidden to the user but visible for search engines. The problem is that these have now the capacity to detect this technique and its utilization leads without any exception to the exclusion of your site.
Links to and from useless sites
It is known the fact that a high number of links that lead to your site increase its importance for search engines. Though, not every link that leads to your site helps you. Try always to obtain links only from sites that have a good ranking.
Errors as a part of the HTML code
If your site presents errors in the html code it will not be well ranked by the search engines even if it has an optimized content .The loading speed will be small and there will be incompatibilities with certain internet browsers. The best way to avoid this situation is the html code validation before subscribing the site in search engines.
The utilization of un-canonical URLs
During the optimization process make sure that every URL of the page that follows is canonic. This will have a positive influence upon the visibility of your site in a search engine.
The excessive graphic in a page
The way through which search engines are reading your site resembles with that of a text browser. A huge amount of graphic does not lead to a good site positioning. It will negatively influence the download speed of the site and will not attract the visitors. Try to use content with many key words instead of a great number of images. Also, use ALT text in order to describe the used images.
Oana is the head of marketing department at BODRAG. Visit our website: http://www.bodrag.com
Factors That Do Not Affect Your Rank in Search Engines by Pamela Upshur
Search engine spiders are simple creatures.
While they will visit your Web site and capture every element, there are many page elements they they cannot interpret. Therefore, if your targeted keyword phrases are contained in any of these elements, you should consider moving them into other parts of the HTML so that they will have a chance to be read by the search engine's spider and ultimately returned by the search engines in response to a keyword query. In general, if you cannot highlight it on the page, the search engine cannot read it.
Flash is a particular problem, as are most "gee whiz" new technologies. However, the most insidious barriers to attain rankings are often the most obvious.
The following are page elements that will not be read by or considered by the search engines. That is not to say that these page elements can be used with reckless abandon...these are to be considered in general sense, not specifically. For every rule, there is an exception, and exceptions abound.
The Size or Content of Your Graphics
Search engines cannot optically recognize text. If your keywords are contained in a graphic, they will not be read or considered by the search engines. Keyword contained in a graphic are fine for directories whose human editors will read and consider them. Search engine spiders see only the file-name of the graphic, not its textual content, if any.
Your Web Sites's Overall Layout or Design
This will only matter so far as keyword prominence may be affected if a graphic appears before the body copy on your site. Most Web site marketers support the use of text before graphics as some search engines assign density to the first 25 words on a page. Frames are problematic, as are nested tables, but page design mostly impacts keyword prominence. When your page design includes Flash and other cutting-edge design elements, it can impact your site's ability to be index by search engines.
The bottom line. Search engines can only index HTML text and follow hyperlinks between Web pages, and there are only so many places where keywords can be included within a Web site. Where, how often, and how early your keywords are placed will determine your ranking. Remember these variables when you are analyzing other Web sites that have ranked higher than yours. Look at it like a puzzle, not some magic bullet or immeasurable force.
Pamela Upshur is the owner of Upshur Creative.
Upshur Creative combines fresh, contemporary, fully functional turnkey websites with the best PHP scripts and databases to create the largest and most comprehensive turnkey collection for entrepreneurs.
Visit her site at: Turnkey Web sites
While they will visit your Web site and capture every element, there are many page elements they they cannot interpret. Therefore, if your targeted keyword phrases are contained in any of these elements, you should consider moving them into other parts of the HTML so that they will have a chance to be read by the search engine's spider and ultimately returned by the search engines in response to a keyword query. In general, if you cannot highlight it on the page, the search engine cannot read it.
Flash is a particular problem, as are most "gee whiz" new technologies. However, the most insidious barriers to attain rankings are often the most obvious.
The following are page elements that will not be read by or considered by the search engines. That is not to say that these page elements can be used with reckless abandon...these are to be considered in general sense, not specifically. For every rule, there is an exception, and exceptions abound.
The Size or Content of Your Graphics
Search engines cannot optically recognize text. If your keywords are contained in a graphic, they will not be read or considered by the search engines. Keyword contained in a graphic are fine for directories whose human editors will read and consider them. Search engine spiders see only the file-name of the graphic, not its textual content, if any.
Your Web Sites's Overall Layout or Design
This will only matter so far as keyword prominence may be affected if a graphic appears before the body copy on your site. Most Web site marketers support the use of text before graphics as some search engines assign density to the first 25 words on a page. Frames are problematic, as are nested tables, but page design mostly impacts keyword prominence. When your page design includes Flash and other cutting-edge design elements, it can impact your site's ability to be index by search engines.
The bottom line. Search engines can only index HTML text and follow hyperlinks between Web pages, and there are only so many places where keywords can be included within a Web site. Where, how often, and how early your keywords are placed will determine your ranking. Remember these variables when you are analyzing other Web sites that have ranked higher than yours. Look at it like a puzzle, not some magic bullet or immeasurable force.
Pamela Upshur is the owner of Upshur Creative.
Upshur Creative combines fresh, contemporary, fully functional turnkey websites with the best PHP scripts and databases to create the largest and most comprehensive turnkey collection for entrepreneurs.
Visit her site at: Turnkey Web sites
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