Search engine optimization should always be considered long before your website structure, colors, layout, and overall site design. But, the majority of people usually get caught up "in the moment"... thinking of riches instead of "how" they're going to attract more website visitors. This article is meant to get you back on track, and provide you with 5 winning search engine optimization tactics.
Identify Keywords
1. The single biggest mistake that most business owners make is trying to think of a "cool name" for their website, when they should have chosen a keyword-rich site name like 'prevent-corporate-bankruptcy.com' instead of SmithLawOffice.com' (as an example). Your potential customers search for keyword phrases... not business names... unless you're already a household name like Wal-Mart, eBay or Apple. Facing reality, many business owners gave up on websites ever helping their business a long time ago... usually because of a poor website name choice. And, it doesn't have to be this way.
Simply, discover what terms people are searching for. Identify the "action" keywords and phrases that people are actually using when they are searching Google, Yahoo, MSN or any of the other major search engines. I highly recommend looking for keyword phrases that incorporate the following keywords: buy, want, need, order, download, etc. I'm sure you're getting the idea now. Then, you need to purchase website names that are centered around the most popular keyword phrases. And, redirect these visitors to your current website. And, I promise that you can setup a website redirect in less than one minute... even if computers scare you. You just need to have access to your website hosting interface, with cPanel being the most popular choice.
Optimizing Your Web Page
2. After identifying a minimum of 10 keyword phrases, I recommend optimizing your current website pages' title tags, meta tags, image "alt" tags. You need to start using these keywords within your webpage content in bold text, underlined text, and as text links. Do not overuse these keywords though. These keywords should only comprise 4-6% of each page. So, if you have 500 words on a webpage, limit your keyword usage to 20-30 words. Most of the major search engines index every word of your page and compare them to your title META description and META keywords. So, you should never hide or add non-related keywords to your webpages: like Anna Kournakova, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, etc. This is a "black hat" tactic and should never be used, unless your want your website to be permanently banned by the search engine directories.
Most of the major search engines don't even consider the META keywords anymore, which is why the actual content of your webpages is becoming more and more important. Excessive repeating of keywords is considered as spamming, which will get your website penalized with a lower ranking. And, be sure mix your keywords in different combinations throughout the page and in your ALT tags, instead of using the same phrase over and over again.
Link Popularity
3. One of the most important factors to achieve a high ranking in the search engines is link popularity. The overall number of links to your web site is important, but the quality of the links are even more important. All the search engines are very fond of "on topic" links. Links from sites that contain your same keyword content and are focusing on the same topic as your site, are known as "on topic" links. Three of the best ways to get "on topic" quality backlinks are to comment on other industry-related blogs, make comments in industry-related forums, and to submit articles to article directories. Just make sure that you're adding comments or articles to high pagerank sites, avoiding low page rank sites.
Misspellings
4. Adding misspelled keywords within your META tags can also boost your website traffic, because many people are likely to misspell your keywords when browsing the search engine directories. As an example, here are several popular misspellings I found people making when they searched for a site submission service, as follows: "free search engine submision", "sumit", "subit", "search egnine submission", "submition", and "saerchengines".
Add Fresh Content
5. Adding fresh content to your website on a regular basis is another key factor that plays a critical role in your search engine rankings. Adding new content regularly gives your visitors a reason to come back. Search engine robots will also visit your website more often, once they notice that you update regularly. This is one of the main reasons why WordPress blogs are so popular right now. When visitors leave comments about blog posts you have made, the search engine bots see this as new content. And, it really helps your site rankings when a visitor makes a comment with a permalink back to their high pagerank site. This helps website owners save time, by allowing website visitors to create content for them.
Don't Kill the Search Engine Crawlers
Avoid using flash intro pages where it says "Click Here to Enter Site", because the search engines have a very difficult time indexing (seeing) anything beyond the intro page... unless you've submitted every webpage of your site to the search engine directories manually, which is very time consuming. Even if you use the alt attribute to specify alternate text for flash images, that text will not be anywhere near as important as real text on a main index page.
Provide Relevant Title Tags
7. Making your page titles simple, descriptive, relevant and "keyword rich" makes it easier for search engines to know what each page is about. Keyword rich titles help the search engine directories provide consumers with more relevant search results, helping them determine whether your website contains what they are trying to find. The title description is the most important element of your website design, after you have chosen your website domain name.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
The Act Of Interdependence
The best role of business online is that of interdependency. We’ve all heard the old saying, “No man is an island.” When it comes to online business this is especially true.
If a business owner who takes their business into the online world determines they will be self reliant and never accept the help of anyone then that individual will not be in business long enough to change their minds.
It is accepted fact that the greatest tool for long-term exposure to your website is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Without it potential customers can’t find you. It is unreasonable to expect that you can adequately develop a website without optimizing your website for the best possible search engine ranking.
Search engines also place a high value on sites that have links placed on existing sites. These ‘backlinks’ demonstrate to search engines that others trust your site. By placing your link on their website these other businesses indicate a trust and recommendation for your site.
In effect the two strategies listed above rely exclusively on what others can do for you when it comes to your online business.
Shirley Temple once proclaimed in her movie Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, “I’m very self-reliant.” American westerns are filled with lines dealing with pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and holding down the fort. Many of us have grown up to believe if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves.
This thinking is in opposition to the rules associated with an online business.
The online world can only exist because people share. Individuals share technology, but the also share links, reviews, blogs, forums and a wide range of other marketing strategies that find a commingling of interdependency.
In online business you are as dependent on others as they may be on you. Unlike the word ‘dependent’, the term interdependent indicates a mutual dependency. In other words you are depending on others to help provide links back to your site while they are equally dependent on you (or others) for the success of their business.
Have you really taken a proactive approach to networking? It’s possible you are reading this today and you’ve never considered asking someone else to place a link to your site on his or her online business site.
It can feel awkward depending on others to achieve online success especially if you’ve been lead to believe reliance on others is also a sign of imposing on their otherwise brilliant generosity.
I suppose it could be a deep-seated sense of pride that makes it hard to consider the need to ask others for help. However, the truth is depending on others is really what has made the Internet possible. The growth of this online world is comprised of a link of computers, networks and servers that are connected in a way that provides the maximum benefit for all.
Building an online business can feel a bit like trying to build a house of cards. Without the ability to rely on the other ‘cards’ around you it is virtually impossible to build.
Interdependence. This is the essence of online business.
If a business owner who takes their business into the online world determines they will be self reliant and never accept the help of anyone then that individual will not be in business long enough to change their minds.
It is accepted fact that the greatest tool for long-term exposure to your website is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Without it potential customers can’t find you. It is unreasonable to expect that you can adequately develop a website without optimizing your website for the best possible search engine ranking.
Search engines also place a high value on sites that have links placed on existing sites. These ‘backlinks’ demonstrate to search engines that others trust your site. By placing your link on their website these other businesses indicate a trust and recommendation for your site.
In effect the two strategies listed above rely exclusively on what others can do for you when it comes to your online business.
Shirley Temple once proclaimed in her movie Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, “I’m very self-reliant.” American westerns are filled with lines dealing with pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and holding down the fort. Many of us have grown up to believe if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves.
This thinking is in opposition to the rules associated with an online business.
The online world can only exist because people share. Individuals share technology, but the also share links, reviews, blogs, forums and a wide range of other marketing strategies that find a commingling of interdependency.
In online business you are as dependent on others as they may be on you. Unlike the word ‘dependent’, the term interdependent indicates a mutual dependency. In other words you are depending on others to help provide links back to your site while they are equally dependent on you (or others) for the success of their business.
Have you really taken a proactive approach to networking? It’s possible you are reading this today and you’ve never considered asking someone else to place a link to your site on his or her online business site.
It can feel awkward depending on others to achieve online success especially if you’ve been lead to believe reliance on others is also a sign of imposing on their otherwise brilliant generosity.
I suppose it could be a deep-seated sense of pride that makes it hard to consider the need to ask others for help. However, the truth is depending on others is really what has made the Internet possible. The growth of this online world is comprised of a link of computers, networks and servers that are connected in a way that provides the maximum benefit for all.
Building an online business can feel a bit like trying to build a house of cards. Without the ability to rely on the other ‘cards’ around you it is virtually impossible to build.
Interdependence. This is the essence of online business.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Internet And Business Online
Let’s face it; the web is filled with entitlement issues. For a few dollars a month we gain access to the world via an Internet connection. We want sports scores and we don’t want to wait for the sports networks on television to scroll their list, so we log on and get the score. We missed a portion of a television show we like so we log on and often find the program available to watch on demand.
We gain free access to online encyclopedias and dictionaries.
We play along with game shows and sit at the computer to find the answers before the contestant does.
We want to know more about the weather and a few clicks later we know.
We want the ratings on a car we’re thinking about buying and we find it online.
There is often one underlying prerequisite to our online perusal. We do not want to have to pay to get the information. This information is typically thought to come at no cost when we pay to log onto the Internet.
The entitlement issues have largely been managed by websites competing with other forms of media for your attention. If a site is brokering knowledge they will typically offset the expense by infusing Google AdSense Ads or other PPC or banner ads into the site thus allowing the visitor to have access to the information without the concern of payment.
Even fee-based sites generally have a free tier of service for anyone. A perk-filled membership is generally available at a modest price. If a visitor gains significant value from the free tier they may be inclined to purchase a membership if they feel the extended value is worth it.
Interestingly many sites that are entirely fee-based may struggle more than those with at least a most basic free tier of service.
Whether the mentality is correct or not the Internet has accommodated those who may have a feeling that the world owes them something. Obviously businesses online can’t give product away, but they can and are infusing their sites with information and free downloads that add incredible value at no cost to consumers. This strategy has become a primary component to improving trust between online business and potential consumer.
Websites are filled with free podcasts, video streams, game downloads, teaching materials, recipes, home improvement tips, garden development plans and information on virtually any subject you can think of.
To online businesses it may seem unfair to have to find alternative ways to fund free information and advice, especially when you may be used to being paid for the information you can provide.
In most cases the information provided is designed to work as part of a marketing strategy pointing visitors to products and services you make available. The knowledge-based content provides information that coincides with something you can offer the customer.
Since face-to-face connections are not easily managed online this strategy not only tackles the entitlement issue, but it is useful in developing a trusting relationship with those who do not easily pass on their trust.
We gain free access to online encyclopedias and dictionaries.
We play along with game shows and sit at the computer to find the answers before the contestant does.
We want to know more about the weather and a few clicks later we know.
We want the ratings on a car we’re thinking about buying and we find it online.
There is often one underlying prerequisite to our online perusal. We do not want to have to pay to get the information. This information is typically thought to come at no cost when we pay to log onto the Internet.
The entitlement issues have largely been managed by websites competing with other forms of media for your attention. If a site is brokering knowledge they will typically offset the expense by infusing Google AdSense Ads or other PPC or banner ads into the site thus allowing the visitor to have access to the information without the concern of payment.
Even fee-based sites generally have a free tier of service for anyone. A perk-filled membership is generally available at a modest price. If a visitor gains significant value from the free tier they may be inclined to purchase a membership if they feel the extended value is worth it.
Interestingly many sites that are entirely fee-based may struggle more than those with at least a most basic free tier of service.
Whether the mentality is correct or not the Internet has accommodated those who may have a feeling that the world owes them something. Obviously businesses online can’t give product away, but they can and are infusing their sites with information and free downloads that add incredible value at no cost to consumers. This strategy has become a primary component to improving trust between online business and potential consumer.
Websites are filled with free podcasts, video streams, game downloads, teaching materials, recipes, home improvement tips, garden development plans and information on virtually any subject you can think of.
To online businesses it may seem unfair to have to find alternative ways to fund free information and advice, especially when you may be used to being paid for the information you can provide.
In most cases the information provided is designed to work as part of a marketing strategy pointing visitors to products and services you make available. The knowledge-based content provides information that coincides with something you can offer the customer.
Since face-to-face connections are not easily managed online this strategy not only tackles the entitlement issue, but it is useful in developing a trusting relationship with those who do not easily pass on their trust.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Cashing in by Blogging
Believe it or not, but it’s actually possible to make money from blogging. One teenager has, in fact, earned $5,000 a month just from making posts on his blog! Of course, not every blogger is this lucky. It does take some skill, and some luck to make money from blogging. What it also takes is some knowledge of how exactly to generate income just by posting blogs. In this newsletter, we will go over three specific methods of making money on your blog: Adsense, Pay Per Lead, and Affiliate Links.
So how exactly do I make money on my blog?
You do it by working with another company that wants to use your blog as a form of advertising. It sounds like selling out, right? Not exactly. The advertising can be as in your face or subtle as you want. And it can still make you money, provided you have enough visitors to your blog.
What is Adsense?
Adsense is a program offered by Google. The program, if installed, will display ads provided by Google.
How do I get Adsense?
You’ll need to go to Google.com, first. At the bottom of the screen is a link for “Advertising Programs”. Click on that. Then click on the link for “Adsense”. Scroll down on the page that comes up and click “Click Here To Apply!” You then fill out the form with information about yourself. After 12-48 hours, Google will notify you via email whether or not your site has been accepted. When you’ve been accepted, set up your ads by doing either of the following:
1. If your blog is hosted on Blogger.com, you can set up your AdSense ads by going to your profile, selecting settings>template>add an element. Then select AdSense and login with your account info. Next, you’ll configure your ads and save the template. That’s it.
2. If you are self-hosting your blog, you’ll have to set up AdSense in more of a manual way. You’ll create your ads(which can be as small or as tall as you want) and then copy the HTML/Javascript code Google gives you. Then you’ll paste it into your blog(on the left, right, or top of the screen).
For the first few days, the ads displayed by Google will be Public Service Announcements. After the ads have been up a few days, though, the ads will switch to ads that are relevant to your blog.
How does Adsense work?
Every time a visitor clicks an Adsense ad, you get a little bit of money(usually around 30-60 cents). The amount you get for each ad clicked depends on the number of unique visitors you receive on your blog. The more visitors, the more money that can be earned.
Google will then send a check or pay you through Paypal once you’ve made at least $100 from the ads.
It is important to remember that Google will penalize you if you click your own ads, or if you ask visitors specifically to click ads. So don’t do that!
Pay Per Click
Pay Per Click is basically just like AdSense, except you don’t just work with Google—you work with multiple companies. BidVertiser is one such company you can sign up with to do Pay Per Click advertising.
How do I get Pay Per Click
You sign up with a site like Bidvertiser and then follow their instructions to set up the Pay Per Click ads on your site.
How does Pay Per Click work?
It works by paying you money each time someone clicks an ad that you display. You won’t get paid for multiple clicks from the same user in the same visitor, nor will you get paid for someone simply visiting your site. You only get paid for legitimate clicks.
Affiliate Links
Affiliate links are basically links which people pay you for. Companies will actually pay owners of popular blogs to post links on their blog. You can do as much Affiliate linking as you want.
How do I get Affiliate Links?
You can get Affiliate links by searching for “Affiliate Link Programs” on the internet. Once you find an Affiliate link program that looks good to you, sign up for it. Then you can follow their instructions for putting the link(s) on your blog.
How do Affiliate Links work?
Like the other two methods mentioned above, Affiliate links work by paying you money each time they are clicked. You get paid for each click per unique visitor.
So that’s it. There’s three legitimate ways to make money from blogging. It is important to keep in mind that the amount of money you are able to make depends on how many visitors your blog draws. If you draw a lot, you’ll make a lot. If not, the money you earn will be modest. But it’s still extra money, so why not do it?
Making money using Adsense, Pay Per Click or Affiliate Link programs is easy and effective. Start monetizing your blog today!
So how exactly do I make money on my blog?
You do it by working with another company that wants to use your blog as a form of advertising. It sounds like selling out, right? Not exactly. The advertising can be as in your face or subtle as you want. And it can still make you money, provided you have enough visitors to your blog.
What is Adsense?
Adsense is a program offered by Google. The program, if installed, will display ads provided by Google.
How do I get Adsense?
You’ll need to go to Google.com, first. At the bottom of the screen is a link for “Advertising Programs”. Click on that. Then click on the link for “Adsense”. Scroll down on the page that comes up and click “Click Here To Apply!” You then fill out the form with information about yourself. After 12-48 hours, Google will notify you via email whether or not your site has been accepted. When you’ve been accepted, set up your ads by doing either of the following:
1. If your blog is hosted on Blogger.com, you can set up your AdSense ads by going to your profile, selecting settings>template>add an element. Then select AdSense and login with your account info. Next, you’ll configure your ads and save the template. That’s it.
2. If you are self-hosting your blog, you’ll have to set up AdSense in more of a manual way. You’ll create your ads(which can be as small or as tall as you want) and then copy the HTML/Javascript code Google gives you. Then you’ll paste it into your blog(on the left, right, or top of the screen).
For the first few days, the ads displayed by Google will be Public Service Announcements. After the ads have been up a few days, though, the ads will switch to ads that are relevant to your blog.
How does Adsense work?
Every time a visitor clicks an Adsense ad, you get a little bit of money(usually around 30-60 cents). The amount you get for each ad clicked depends on the number of unique visitors you receive on your blog. The more visitors, the more money that can be earned.
Google will then send a check or pay you through Paypal once you’ve made at least $100 from the ads.
It is important to remember that Google will penalize you if you click your own ads, or if you ask visitors specifically to click ads. So don’t do that!
Pay Per Click
Pay Per Click is basically just like AdSense, except you don’t just work with Google—you work with multiple companies. BidVertiser is one such company you can sign up with to do Pay Per Click advertising.
How do I get Pay Per Click
You sign up with a site like Bidvertiser and then follow their instructions to set up the Pay Per Click ads on your site.
How does Pay Per Click work?
It works by paying you money each time someone clicks an ad that you display. You won’t get paid for multiple clicks from the same user in the same visitor, nor will you get paid for someone simply visiting your site. You only get paid for legitimate clicks.
Affiliate Links
Affiliate links are basically links which people pay you for. Companies will actually pay owners of popular blogs to post links on their blog. You can do as much Affiliate linking as you want.
How do I get Affiliate Links?
You can get Affiliate links by searching for “Affiliate Link Programs” on the internet. Once you find an Affiliate link program that looks good to you, sign up for it. Then you can follow their instructions for putting the link(s) on your blog.
How do Affiliate Links work?
Like the other two methods mentioned above, Affiliate links work by paying you money each time they are clicked. You get paid for each click per unique visitor.
So that’s it. There’s three legitimate ways to make money from blogging. It is important to keep in mind that the amount of money you are able to make depends on how many visitors your blog draws. If you draw a lot, you’ll make a lot. If not, the money you earn will be modest. But it’s still extra money, so why not do it?
Making money using Adsense, Pay Per Click or Affiliate Link programs is easy and effective. Start monetizing your blog today!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Stop Blog Spammers
Blogs are now an extremely popular and important part of the internet. Millions of people blog every day. As blogs have evolved over the years, so has the commenting system. Now anyone can make comments on a particular blog posting. As blog commenting has grown more popular, so has spam commenting. In this newsletter, we’ll go over why comments are a great form of feedback for your blog, how they help the credibility of your content, what spam comments are and how to prevent them from happening.
Comments – A great form of feedback
When blogs first came around, they were simply online journals. No one could post comments on a blog posting. That all changed in 1998 with OpenDiary, a site which allowed people to comment on blog postings. Now every blog, whether it is remotely or self-hosted, includes this option to comment.
Commenting is great because it allows real people to tell you what they think about your form. It gives you feedback on what you are doing right and what you may need to improve. Comments can be encouraging to you and motivate you to post more quality blog messages. Or they can be constructive criticism to make you work harder to get better at writing content.
Whatever the style of comment is, it is still very useful to your blog. High numbers of comments have the ability to make a blog look credible because they show that the blog is being read by a lot of people. That’s something that every blog owner wants, and comments help to let them know just how many people enjoy their content.
Bad comments
Unfortunately, spammers have now started to use comments as a way to spam. How do you know what a spam comment is? Well, a spam comment is a comment that only advertises another site or product. If the comment seems bland/generic with a cheap link thrown in, then it’s definitely a spam comment.
Here is an example of a typical spam comment:
“Hey, this site is really cool. Check out my really cool site at spamsite.com.”
Of course not all spam comments will be this blatant, but you get the point.
Fortunately for bloggers, as spam comments have grown, so has the ways to prevent it. Here are a couple ways that you can prevent spam comments from even being posted on your blog.
#1: Close off commenting on older blog posts
There are options for you to stop comments from being posted on any particular blog post. Lots of times, spammers will post comments in weeks or months old posts. So take away this opportunity from them to keep it from happening. Most blog hosters now offer this as a standard option in the tool panel. If one of your posts has been up for a couple weeks, close it up.
#2: Take advantage of software offered to prevent comment spam
If you host your own blog using WordPress, you can use an option in that software to prevent spam. Even if you aren’t using WordPress, you can still use other Spam comment blocking software like Spam Karma, Akismet, and Bad Behavior. While these aren’t 100% effective, they have proven to be quite effective in preventing spam from happening.
#3: Take a look at your settings and see what can be tweaked to toughen your protection
Lots of blogs now have settings to help prevent spam. If you already have a spam blocker on in your blog and are still experiencing spam, take a closer look at the settings to see if there’s anything that can be tweaked to make your protection stronger. However, if you do this, you should closely monitor your posts to make sure legit comments aren’t being blocked out. If they are, you might have to lighten up a bit.
#4: Regularly read your blog comments
Be sure to keep an eye on your comments. Even the best software or setting can’t prevent everything, so you will have to occasionally manually remove comments on your own.
By applying the above principles, you can ensure that your blog is full of only good, quality comments, which will help your credibility tremendously.
Comments are a great form of communication between yourself and your readers. They help the credibility of your blog!
Comments – A great form of feedback
When blogs first came around, they were simply online journals. No one could post comments on a blog posting. That all changed in 1998 with OpenDiary, a site which allowed people to comment on blog postings. Now every blog, whether it is remotely or self-hosted, includes this option to comment.
Commenting is great because it allows real people to tell you what they think about your form. It gives you feedback on what you are doing right and what you may need to improve. Comments can be encouraging to you and motivate you to post more quality blog messages. Or they can be constructive criticism to make you work harder to get better at writing content.
Whatever the style of comment is, it is still very useful to your blog. High numbers of comments have the ability to make a blog look credible because they show that the blog is being read by a lot of people. That’s something that every blog owner wants, and comments help to let them know just how many people enjoy their content.
Bad comments
Unfortunately, spammers have now started to use comments as a way to spam. How do you know what a spam comment is? Well, a spam comment is a comment that only advertises another site or product. If the comment seems bland/generic with a cheap link thrown in, then it’s definitely a spam comment.
Here is an example of a typical spam comment:
“Hey, this site is really cool. Check out my really cool site at spamsite.com.”
Of course not all spam comments will be this blatant, but you get the point.
Fortunately for bloggers, as spam comments have grown, so has the ways to prevent it. Here are a couple ways that you can prevent spam comments from even being posted on your blog.
#1: Close off commenting on older blog posts
There are options for you to stop comments from being posted on any particular blog post. Lots of times, spammers will post comments in weeks or months old posts. So take away this opportunity from them to keep it from happening. Most blog hosters now offer this as a standard option in the tool panel. If one of your posts has been up for a couple weeks, close it up.
#2: Take advantage of software offered to prevent comment spam
If you host your own blog using WordPress, you can use an option in that software to prevent spam. Even if you aren’t using WordPress, you can still use other Spam comment blocking software like Spam Karma, Akismet, and Bad Behavior. While these aren’t 100% effective, they have proven to be quite effective in preventing spam from happening.
#3: Take a look at your settings and see what can be tweaked to toughen your protection
Lots of blogs now have settings to help prevent spam. If you already have a spam blocker on in your blog and are still experiencing spam, take a closer look at the settings to see if there’s anything that can be tweaked to make your protection stronger. However, if you do this, you should closely monitor your posts to make sure legit comments aren’t being blocked out. If they are, you might have to lighten up a bit.
#4: Regularly read your blog comments
Be sure to keep an eye on your comments. Even the best software or setting can’t prevent everything, so you will have to occasionally manually remove comments on your own.
By applying the above principles, you can ensure that your blog is full of only good, quality comments, which will help your credibility tremendously.
Comments are a great form of communication between yourself and your readers. They help the credibility of your blog!
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