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| Wednesday, May 31, 2006 |
| A Hard Look at PPC,Clíck Fraud and the Alternatives |
With the creation of the Overture and Google Adwords systems, many webmasters believed they had finally hit the mother load. It was no longer necessary for small online businesses to invest large amounts of monëy into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to gain high search rankings in the natural search results.
Even webmasters committed to SEO campaigns began to realize its fleeting nature. Given frequent search engine algorithm changes, optimizing a website was no guarantëe that in 6 months or less it wouldn't be back to square one and page twenty of the search results.
Hiring a SEO company was no longer necessary to crack the top search engine results. A Page One placement could be purchased and often for far less than the cost of a SEO company's services.
Webmasters discovered that they could get traffïc to their website for as little as one cent per clíck.
Pay-per-click, however, has evolved over the last 5 years and not to the benefit of most webmasters. Although five cents is currently the average starting bid price at most major search engines, many sought after keyword terms can cost as much as $30 - $50 per clíck. Given the increasingly competitive nature of PPC advertising and spiralling costs, many small- to medium- sized businesses today might be better served hiring a good SEO company to search optimize their websites.
Who Is Clicking Your Pay-Per-Click Links?
There are four types of people who clíck on pay-per-click ads. Knowing who these people are helps explain why experts keep telling us that 20% to 25% of all clicks on PPC listings are "fraudulent clicks".
Personality Type #1: True-Blue Prospects
These are the people for whom you have placed your pay-per-click ads. They see your advertisement; they like what they see; and they clíck your link to see if you can actually serve their needs.
Personality Type #2: Accidental Clickers
Every once in a while, even my finger misfires, and I clíck an advertisement that I did not intend on clicking. My first thought is usually, "Oh no...", and my first action is to find the back button.
didn't mean to cost that person monëy by clicking his advertisement... but I did. It was an accident. Now, the advertiser has to pay for my mistake. That bites.
Personality Type #3: Jealous Competitors
I would like to think that all of my, and your, competitors are fine, upstanding people. And most of them are. But, there are some who are not, and they clíck on pay-per-click links just to be spiteful or just to cost their business rivals a few dollars.
Believe it or not, a good percentage of "fraudulent clicks" are believed to be clicks perpetrated by people against their competitors.
Personality Type #4: True-Blue Fraudsters
Not that long ago pay-per-click providers realized that there was tremendous opportuníty in offering small website owners a method for cashing in on their limited traffïc.
Today, a webmaster can go to any number of pay-per-click services, add a small piece of code to a webpage and start serving paid advertising the same day. Webmasters thus become revenue share partners with the PPC provider, splitting revenues with the PPC provider for each clíck.
Ethical webmasters, of course, put the needs of their advertisers first and focus on putting eyeballs on their website so that visitors can clíck on the advertising links.
But, the word "ethical" doesn't exist in the vocabulary of some webmasters. These are the "true-blue fraudsters" who believe in making "revenue at any cost... no matter who might be hurt by their actions." They devise schemes to have their own ads clicked in order to drive up their revenue share.
These webmasters, although a minority, are responsible for the vast majority of fraudulent clicks. And, they are the same people that should be taken out behind the barn, for a good old-fashioned flogging --- one lashing for each stolen dollar would be fine with me.
The Unseen Costs Of The Pay-Per-Click Search Game
If the experts are correct in estimating that 25% of all clicks are fraudulent, then you are paying out 33% more than you should have to pay to get your business.
If you are converting PPCSE clicks-to-sales at a rate of $20 per transaction, then you should be aware that your actual conversion rate for non-PPCSE advertising would cost you an average of $15 per transaction. By escaping the pay-per-click search engine model, you could in effect make an additional $5 per transaction by cutting the fraud out of your marketing budget.
Personally, I would rather not pay the pay-per-click mafia the $5 a transaction that they are exacting against pay-per-click advertisers.
Where My Advertising Money Works Best
I have always gained the best bang for my buck with pay-for-placement advertising. In a nutshell, I pay a monthly, quarterly or yearly fee to have my advertising seen on various websites. Banner advertising is always an option, but text links provide better click-through rates (CTR's).
At any one time, you can find links to my websites on dozens of other websites.
Here are a few examples of pay-for-placement, often referred to as "paid inclusion", advertising networks:
ISEDN.org Network:
The Independent Search Engine and Directory Network (powered by ExactSeek.com) is comprised of more than 200 specialty search engines, search directories and article directories. Through their system, you can buy quarterly or yearly top ten exposure for specific keyword phrases which are then shown through the ISEDN's 200 plus member websites. Their network claims to show paid inclusion ads 150 million times per month.
Pricing starts at $4 per month per keyword term (word or phrase) and goes down according to the number of keyword phrases purchased. Quarterly and yearly rates for one keyword phrase are $12 and $36 respectively.
BraveNet.com Home Page Featured Advertiser Listing:
BraveNet is the number one provider of frëe web tools in the world and through their AdBrite salës page you can purchase a 30 day text advertisement at the bottom of the Bravenet home page for $1500 or a 3 month advertisement for $3500. According to the Bravenet Media Kit, their network serves 500 million page views per month.
ColdFront Network:
ColdFront serves the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) communities. With 150,000 unique visits and 12 million page views per month, they provide real advertising value, if your target market happens to be in this area. Paid inclusion can be purchased for $250 to $350 per month.
Who Left The Barn Door Open?
We put locks and deadbolts on our doors. In some localities, we put bars on our windows. We keep our valuables in safes. We keep our cars locked when we are not in them. We are a nation obsessed with protecting our valuables.
And yet, when we advertise our online businesses, we seem to be willing to let PPCSE providers steal 25% of our advertising budget? It boggles the mind.
Personally, I am done with PPCSE companies until they can assure me that my advertising dollars are protected from clíck fraud.
I have always relied on my own search engine optimization skills to strengthen my natural search results. And frankly, I am pretty good at it.
And, to supplement my own SEO efforts and organic search result placement sucesses, or lack thereof, paid inclusion currently offers me the best value for my monëy.
About The Author
Bill Platt is the owner of http://thePhantomWriters.com Article Distribution Service. Through his system, you can have your Frëe Reprint Articles sent to thousands of publishers and webmasters looking for good quality content. If you need someone to write articles for you, Bill's writers can create interesting articles on most any topic. If you would like to talk to Bill personally about his services, you can reach him from 9:30am to 6pm CST at: (405) 780-7327. |
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posted by admin @ 4:01 AM  |
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| Tuesday, May 30, 2006 |
| Mobile ad Model Used attention as currency |
Virgin Mobile USA is breaking new ground in mobile advertising by announcing its plan to offer customers a way to earn free talk time on their phones by watching ads - and taking tests afterward. SugarMama, as the program is called, will debut on June 14.
Pre-paid customers, when running low on minutes, will be able to boost their time by up to 75 minutes, earning one minute of talk time per 30-second commercial message viewed. The customers then fill out a survey about the product advertised.
Microsoft's Xbox 360, PepsiCo's Diet Mountain Dew, and American legacy Foundation's anti-smoking "Truth" campaign are tapped to be the first sponsors participating in the program. Customers will also have the option of receiving SMS advertising with promotions and discounts.
"Virgin Mobile's SugarMama site brings the value of a viewer's engagement to a new and higher plateau," notes Rick Vandervoorn, Ultramercial's East Coast vice president of sales. "These commercials will be more content-rich and less ad-like, to make a perfect fit with Virgin Mobile's young user base. And talk about a goodwill bounce -- the sponsor buying airtime minutes? What could be more valuable?"
Virgin Mobile says that the advertising model can satisfy both sides of the channel as advertisers look for ways to integrate their messages into the mobile space while soothing mobile users who are wary of cell phone spam. SugarMama is permission-based and rewards customers for their time.
"Everyone is racing to shove ads into the mobile channel," Howard Handler, chief marketing officer at Virgin Mobile USA. "But the last thing young people want is spam on their phones. This service acknowledges the savvy and free will of our customer base. Our attitude, and that of our partners, is that these customers' time is valuable. They should get something for giving us something. And that's what SugarMama is all about."
American Legacy Foundation views the new program as a two-directional way to reach a younger audience and spread their anti-smoking message that centers on marketing tactics used by the tobacco industry.
"Since day one, our campaign has been focused around enabling young people to interact through peer-to-peer communication, then ask questions and make informed choices about tobacco use," said Joseph Martyak, executive vice president of marketing, communications and public policy, at the American Legacy Foundation. "So the two-way dialogue on which SugarMama is based will be another powerful way for us to engage teens with life-saving information."
Not everyone is so sure about the campaign's effectiveness, however. The New York Times quotes Ovum Research analyst Roger Entner to bring out concerns about the spendthrift nature of the market that would trade personal time for airtime.
"If you're too cheap to buy a minute of air time, how are you going to afford an Xbox?" Mr. Entner said. The people likely to earn minutes for free "are people who want to avoid costs at any cost."
But Microsoft representatives say its not all about selling Xboxes. It's about awareness and feedback.
"We're always seeking opportunities to learn from our customers how we can deliver the best gaming experiences possible on Xbox 360," said Director of Xbox marketing Chris Di Cesare. "Virgin Mobile's SugarMama program provides us with a new way to drive consumer awareness yet gain valuable insight from our customers that helps us continually deliver new breakthroughs in gaming entertainment."
Customers can earn minutes in three ways: by filling out online questionnaires, watching online video clips at the Virgin Mobile website, or receiving text messages on their phones. Receipt of free minutes is contingent, however, on demonstration by the customer that they were paying attention, like identifying the main idea of the message.
About the Author:
Jason is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. |
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| posted by admin @ 5:46 PM |
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| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 10 Worst AdWords Campaign |
On today's highly competitive Google AdWords pay-per-click (PPC) search engine, it is now more important than ever to ensure that your PPC campaigns are optimized to their utmost potential. You should be achieving maximum return on ínvestment (ROI) for the keywords or phrases that are most relevant to your business and are most likely to provide you with targeted traffïc to your website. With ever growing cost-per-click (CPC) prices throughout the various PPC search engines it is essential that you avoid certain mistakes that will undoubtedly result in poorly performing PPC campaigns
The Mistakes to Avoid
Long list of less than targeted keywords
Not identifying unique aspects of your product or service
Lack of keywords in your ad text
Directing users solely to your home page
Creation of single Ad Groups
Utilizing single campaigns
Using broad match only
Failure to optimize Ad Serving for your ads
Not tracking results
Entering the content network without modifying bids
Long List of Less Than Targeted Keywords
When you first set out to create your AdWords campaign it is of utmost importance that you do not go "keyword crazy". What this means is that you must not create long lists of irrelevant and generic keywords. For example, if you were an automotive dealership then it would not be in your best interest to target the keyword "truck". The reason being is that the cost-per-click (CPC) for such a generic keyword would be incredibly high when compared to a more descriptive relevant keyword such as "T-Z783 Extended Cab". An example of an irrelevant keyword which would not produce conversions if you strictly conducted automotive salës would be "tail light covers". The phrase may bring visitors to your website but, if they do not find what they are looking for when they get there, they will be gone just as quickly as they arrived.
Not Identifying Unique Aspects of Your Product or Service
Before implementing your AdWords campaign you must first understand exactly what it is that makes you stand out from your competition. By identifying your unique products or services you will have a lot more clarity on how to rise above your competitors and zone in on the keywords or phrases that are unique to your business. I would recommend that you perform an analysis of your competition, have a look and see what they are doing and which phrases they are using. After conducting a competition analysis and after understanding what makes your products or services unique you will be able to come up with a strategy that will topple your competitors.
Lack of Keywords in Your Ad Text
When creating your descriptive ad copy it is imperative that you find a means to inject your keywords into your title and description while maintaining the delicate balance of clarity and relevance. Your ad copy should be tailored in such a way that when read by a visitor they know exactly what they are getting into when they clíck on your ad, which brings me to my next point.
Directing Users Solely to Your Home Page
Not taking the time to decide which destination URL should be designated to which ad is an oversight that I come across far too often. When you finish compiling your list of relevant keywords that describe unique products or services of your business, why on earth would you then send everyone to your homepage and let them navigate through your site in hopes of finding what it is that they are looking for. Instead why not send them straight to the page that contains exactly what was described to them within your ad copy. As an example, if you are an automotive dealership and your ad contains the keyword "T-Z783 Extended Cab", instead of sending them to www.auto-motive-dealership.com send them to www.auto-motive-dealership.com/T-Z783_Extended_Cab.html.
Creation of Single Ad Groups
Categorizing ads that are targeting related keywords into a common ad-group will allow you to have a much higher level of control over your entire campaign. Let's say that you run a sporting goods store, start by grouping all ads targeted towards hockey skates into a single Ad Group. You would then create another ad-group which would be targeting hockey sticks and another containing hockey gloves and so on. Organizing your ad-group structure in this manner gives you the ability to create in-depth reports on the perförmance of each ad-group.
Utilizing Single Campaigns
Once you have your Ad Groups sorted out into easy to identify categories you may then move on to the next step of creating relevant campaigns. From the example above you have created Ad Groups containing separate products of hockey skates, sticks, gloves etc. Now it is time to create a container for all of the Ad Groups into one campaign entitled "hockey equipment". You would then repeat the process creating Ad Groups for tennis, one group for shoes, one for racquets etc. and then once again you drop them all into a single campaign entitled "tennis equipment". Having highly organized campaigns is the key to determining which ads are creating optimal conversions.
Using Broad Match Only
When you do not take advantage of the phrase matching options that are available to you, chances are you are missing out on potential customers and creating a higher CPC. Broad matches are usually less targeted than exact and phrase matching. Broad matching is the default option your ads will appear for expanded matches such as plurals or relevant keyword variations. When utilizing phrase match your ad will appear for search terms in the order that you specify and sometimes for other terms. Exact matching is by far the most targeted option to use. You will appear for the exact keyword specified. Negative keyword is also a fantastic option to utilize in order to specify which keywords you do not want to appear for.
Broad match
Default option: Blue widget
Phrase match
Surround the keyword in quotes: "blue widget"
Exact match
Surround the keyword in square brackets: [blue widget]
Negative match
Place a negative character before the keyword: -blue widget
Failure To Optimize Ad Serving For Your Ads
When you take advantage of the AdWords Ad Serving service basically what you will be doing is showing your most popular ads more often. The AdWords platform will give weïght to ads with the highest click-through rates (CTRs) and display them more often then keywords with lower (CTRs) within the same ad-group.
Not Tracking Results
In order to have any idea on your AdWords campaign perförmance you must be able to see the keywords that work as well as those that do not. Google AdWords supplies a vast array of very useful tracking tools. Google has also built into the user interface Google Analytics which is a marvellous web analytics tool that provides you with in-depth reporting on all aspects of your campaign perförmance. I cannot stress enough the importance of creating goals for your AdWords campaign to measure your success by.
Entering The Content Network Without Modifying Bids
Within the AdWords platform you have recently been given the ability to set different bids for the content network compared to that of the search network. If you do not set different bids on the content network for certain keywords, you will be paying more per clíck than you should be. After lowering the prices on certain keywords you will notice that the amount of click-throughs that you will be attaining will remain the same as they were at the higher bid.
Conclusion
The purpose for this article was to create awareness for common mistakes and to eliminate frustrations that may emerge when managing Google AdWords campaigns. The points mentioned above are compiled from management mistakes that I have stumbled upon time and time again in hopes to assist you in creating a marketing campaign that will generate dramatic increases to the profïts of your business.
About The Author
Tyler Huston is the founder and CEO of SearchStrategist.com, a search marketing firm that provides professional PPC Management, expert search engine optimization, SEO press release writing and blog optimization services. Tyler takes pride in ranking clients from all over the world at the top of the search engines. He can be reached at tyler@searchstrategist.com. |
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| posted by admin @ 6:39 PM |
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| Friday, May 26, 2006 |
| Finding Targeted Website Traffic Using Keyword Combinations |
Most people leave a fortune on the table when they build a new website because they make the mistake of only targeting the most generic, hard to rank well for keywords and then wonder why they don't have any traffic.
For maximum impact and long term traffic generation you need a combination of tightly focused, specific keywords and 'word combos' using the keywords that people are searching for right before they BUY a product as opposed to when they are researching the market for a product.
Let me explain...
Imagine you are thinking of buying a new golf club, let's say a driver, because you want to add extra length to your drives (all your mates can out-drive you by 20 yards or more and you want to make up for that using a little bit of the latest technology to help you out.
You start your research into the best drivers around by entering the keyword phrase golf drivers into your favorite search engine. Your search query comes up with 150 million pages loosely related to the phrase golf drivers. That's just too many listings to look through to make a buying decision, but you start your research there anyway.
OK, Let's Trim That Number Down A Little...
You look through the first few listings (golf.com, golfdivers.com, etc.) and find out that many people are recommending the Big Berth driver and it has some great reviews from leading golf pros.
You look at the competition in the golf driver market and you decide that one of the big bertha range is probably the club for you. Next, you do a search for big bertha divers and come up with 1.2 million pages of information to wade through.
You find three or four sites on the first couple of pages that look interesting so you do some more reading that confirms the Big Bertha is what you need.
Most of the sites you find are shopping sites with no real content, but a couple of them have useful articles related to Big Bertha drivers.
After reading and researching, you settle on the Big Bertha Titanium 454 driver.
Now you are ready to actually BUY your new golf club, so you enter the phrase buy big bertha titanium 454 driver into your search engine to find the best deal.
You now search for the best price and delivery conditions (hey you want it today now that it's so close and buy the driver from the merchant of your choice. Can you see the distinction between these keywords? T he keyword phrase golf drivers is a research keyword.
The keyword phrase big bertha divers defines the search further, but it still isn&apops;t specific enough for most people to make a buying decision. They are still often in 'research' mode at this stage.
The keyword phrase buy big bertha titanium 454 driver is a buying phrase.
These are the phrases you want to build your website's tier three or four pages around.
These are the 'money' pages where people will click through to your merchant or sales site after they have been PRE-sold on the benefits of buying the big bertha titanium 454 driver.
Your keywords for the pages in your golfing website's structure would be something like -
Tier two - golf drivers
Tier three - big bertha divers
Tier four - buy big bertha 454 driver or buy big bertha titanium 454 driver
You won't get many people arriving on the last two pages each month, but the visitors who do come will be ready to buy a big bertha titanium 454 driver!
And you'll be right there to recommend your merchant or sales page to them...and earn a commission!
But doesn't that mean you have to build lots of pages related to all of these products and services if you want your share of this free, highly targeted traffic? For example, there would be hundreds of different golf drivers on the market.
Well, yes, if you want to make the most money you will...
By having pages related to all the different golf drivers available you will gradually rank well for some keywords, then more of them over time.
Then your good rankings for these easy-to-rank-for pages will start to see your harder-to-rank-well-for keyword focused pages ranking well too.
Put great PRE selling copy on your pages, a picture of the product on the page if possible that is also a hyperlink to the specific product on your merchant's website or order page, and you're set.
Then do it for all of the products in your merchant's range that you want to promote.
You also need to build pages for the important research keywords too as you will start to rank well for these over time, but your focused product related pages will bring in a steady stream of highly targeted, ready-to-buy visitors who have done their research and are ready to take action right now.
How sweet is that?
I hope this article helps you to increase your website's revenue and puts you on the way to becoming a super affiliate or selling a lot more of your own products and services.
About the Author: Rocky Tapscott is the author a free 7 Part Mini Course "How To Build The Perfect Home Based Business Around Your Favorite Hobby, Pastime, Sport Or Skill" which uses 6 real life case studies to show how others have used a proven system to build profitable businesses around their favorite hobby. Drop by http://www.hobbyandlifestyle.com/ecourse.html to grab your free copy. |
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| posted by admin @ 10:48 PM |
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| Google Webmaster Guidelines |
Most webmasters have visited Google's Webmaster Help Center. Many of the suggestions are obvious: Don't use frames; Don't employ cloaking techniques or scripts designed to trick search engines; Create a search engine-friendly site map; Get incoming links from other quality web sites. But us webmasters can be a cocky bunch and will let our own pre-conceived notions get the better of us sometimes.
This refresher is for all you (ie. us) webmasters and search engine optimizers who have a set method of designing and/or promoting web sites and who consider yourselves experts in your field. Experts you may be, but it is nevër a bad idea to review the basics from time to time.
Make sure your pages have less than 100 links. This won't be too difficult unless you display product lists without breaking them up into separate pages (which should be done for your visitors let alone search engines!) or have a link partners page or a site map. If you have more than 100 outbound links, you may want to review your linking practices unless you have compiled a comprehensive list of high quality and relevant resources for your visitors.
Dynamically-generated content can create session IDs and URLs that contain a "?" character. Chëck your database administration settings to make sure that you aren't forcing search engine spiders to begin a new session each time they visit your site. Note: Preventing spiders from starting a session on your site may have negative effects if you use a third party for web site credít card processing. Always chëck with these services before making any changes of this nature.
Web designers still utilize images as a way of displaying headings or other important areas of text instead of simple HTML simply because they think the Book Antiqua font with a drop shadow improves the aesthetics of the site. While branding and clarity are always paramount, keep in mind that multiple fonts used on the same page can have a negative impact on readability. And the more text written in HTML that can be read by search engine spiders, the better. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) also provide a way of attaining the look you want while keeping the code clean and in search engine-readable format.
"Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate." Most webmasters assume that by using keywords in the page title that are relevant to the page's topic, that they are adhering to the rules. But that last word in quotes is the most important: Accuracy. It is standard practice for search engine optimizers to make sure that if a word is used in a page title, that it also shows up in the main body of the page as well. Not doing this means that Google may be interpreting your page titles as inaccurate or at worst, trying to manipulate its algorithm.
Use 301 redirects to let visitors know if a URL has changed. Many people still use the "meta refresh" command. This is an outdated command that has been utilized in the past for unethical purposes. While visitors can be directed to the new page the same way with either method, Google specifically mentions using a 301 redirect. More information on how to implement this redirect can be read at http://knowledge.freshpromo.ca/seo-tools/301-redirect.php.
Google suggests you submit your site to the Yahoo! directory. Why would Google urge its users to pay a direct competitor of theirs $299 USD a year? It is safe to say that web sites included in the Yahoo! directory are not trying black hat SEO techniques such as free-for-all link exchanges, cloaking, multiple domains showing duplicate content, and so on. Companies that spend monëy promoting their web site should receive a vote of legitimacy from search engines. As difficult as it might be for some small business owners to bite the bullet with Yahoo's yearly cost, having Google recognize that you have paid for directory listings will increase the chances that your site will rank well.
"You should nevër have to link to an SEO." If you are hiring a search engine optimizer to help you with your site's rankings, be careful they do not insist on linking your site to theirs. The only reason for this is to help the SEO's own link popularity. If anything, it will detract from the SEO efforts. Not the most brilliant suggestion from a company claiming to help you, is it?
It is recommended that you read Google's entire webmaster guidelines if you are developing a new site. The above points are ones that a lot of webmasters may have overlooked, and if you're included in that group don't worry: just fix the issues and remember them for next time you work on a web site.
About The Author
An expert at organic SEO, John Metzler has held executive positions in the search engine marketing industry since 2001. He is the President of FreshPromo, a Canadian-based SEO firm. |
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| posted by admin @ 2:14 AM |
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| The What, Why and How of Business Blogs |
Blog is short for Web Log or Weblog and the Blogosphere is the online blog world, some parts of which are hyperlinked extensively to each other.
This is the Wikipedia definition: Blog is short for weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site.
I recommend that you read lots of people's blogs to learn what blogs are. Go to your favorite search engine and type in the word 'blog' and the subject you're interested in. For example, 'web design blog', or 'blog music', or 'sports blog'. You'll find lots of blogs that way.
Blogs have become a way in which regular, non-technical people can post information to the Web as easily as they can access it.
Why Are Blogs So Important?
Well, they're not that important, yet. But they could be soon, and most likely will be. In fact, some would argue that they are already vital in today's Web business world. I am not ready to agree to that yet, but it is becoming more obvious to me over time that blogs can no longer be ignored in business.
Online businesses can benefit from blogging by taking advantage of a vehicle for easily posting new, original, and business-related content on a regular basis.
Here Are Some More Business Benefits Of Blogging:
Blogs help to position you and/or your company as experts and leaders in your industry.
They're interactive in nature. At the end of each blog entry is usually a link that allows anyone to add their own comments to your blog entries. This allows your customers and potential customers to make comments about your products or services or ask you questíons to help them in their buying process.
Blogs are marketed easily and quickly by their RSS feeds.
Blogs allow you to stress your choice of products, services, relevant news stories, quotes, pictures and more with your audience, customers and potential customers.
People are generous with adding links to your blog if the content is good, especially within their own blogs. More links means more traffïc and better search engine rankings.
Here Are Some Ways In Which You Can Make Revenue From Your Blog:
1. Selling advertisements. Whether you use banners or text links, if your site draws a regular audience interested in your blog topics or theme, try to offer ad space to organizations that are looking to market to your audience. In fact, if your blogs becomes really popular then advertisers will call you.
2. Offering Google's AdSense. Google's website explains, "Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads on their website's content pages and earn monëy." Learn more about AdSense.
3. Affíliate Programs. Affïliate programs allow Web sites that provide links to your site to receive payments or reciprocal advertising in exchange for promoting your Web site. In the case of blogging, this is reversed, where you post links within your blog, and collect monëy from the owners of those links when they result in a click-through and sale.
Here Are Some Websites Where You Can Get Your Blog Listed:
BlogWise
Blog Search Engine
Blog Hub
Blog Daisy
Get Blogs
LS Blogs
How To Blog For Business:
First you need to get blogging software. You can choose to create a blog that is housed on another site such as http://www.blogger.com (which is a blog service) or you can host it on your own Web server. I recommend the latter since the links that are developed by others pointing to your blog won't be counted in the search engines. This is because the links are attributed to domains, so a link to http://MyNewBlog.blogger.com gives a link credít to blogger.com and not your domain.
If your blog is a business blog, you really ought to host your own blog as opposed to using a blog service. You'll need the extra functionality and control.
If you plan on hostíng your own blog and if you plan to use a UNIX Web server platform, then you need to go with blogging software such as Movable Type, for example. If you have a Microsoft Web server platform for your site, then you'll need software such as BetaParticle blog. Find a great list of various blog software at: http://www.lights.com/weblogs/tools.html
Next you'll need a database to hook your blog up to. The database is what stores the blog entries, among other things. If you don't know if you have a database on or connected to your website server, or if you don't know how to hook up your blog to your database, contact your host company or Web server administrator for help.
Once you have the blog set up on your domain (for example http://www.MyWebsite.com/blog) and you've hooked it up to a live database, you can start blogging. Generally, each entry is also a day. So you can write a new entry every day, or whenever you want, and that entry will show up on the blog at the top, moving older entries below.
You ought to think of a theme for your blog. In other words, your blog could be about your personal experiences in the industry you're in. It could be about your company's product reviews, or new services. It could be about your thoughts and opinions about issues related to your industry. It could be a place where you regularly find and list new resources to help others in your industry. The list is endless. But be sure to stick to a theme and be original. You want to offer something of value to your website visitors.
Sticking to a theme helps you position yourself for future advertisers and also makes for better reading for your visitors. Furthermore, you want to give a good impression with your blog with each and every entry if you want it to augment your online business. Finally, sticking to a theme helps with the search engines since it's believed that engines determine website themes and use this information for ranking.
Of course your blog could be about personal things too. Many blogs are just that, an online journal. But since we're interested in Web business here, I am discussing business blogs only.
What's great is that blogs get indexed easily and quickly by search engines. Each entry is another "page" that can be potentially listed in Google for example, which will drive more traffïc to your site.
Another neat thing about running a blog once it's set up is that you do not need to be technical at all to make regular entries. This is helpful if you want to delegate the writing to someone else, since technical skills won't be a prerequisite. This allows you to have the most qualified person regarding the blog's theme and, hopefully the best writer, actually making the entries.
Be creative. Add images to your blog entries to spice things up a bit. Although blogging can be lonely, keep at it. Sometimes it seems like you're just writing new entries each day for yourself only. It may be a while before someone chooses to add a comment to one of your entries. You may not hear from anyone for a long time. But that doesn't mean people aren't reading it. In fact, chëck your website statistics to see just how many people are visiting your new blog. As you add more entries, get your blog listed on other sites and market your blog. It will build, and eventually you'll have a nice following of engaged readers.
Most importantly, be sure to pepper your entries with calls to action. For example, if your business blog is attached to your travel website and the blog's theme is traveling and finding great travel deals all over the world, make sure you add a link to an entry that points people to a travel special you're running on your website. What would be even better is a blog entry about the fantastic vacation you took to Hawaii and included at the end was a link to cheap Hawaii vacation deals on your website.
About The Author
Jason OConnor is President of Oak Web Works, LLC, an e-strategy firm and enjoys reading Sports, Music & Tickets blog. Reach him at: joconnor888@hotmail.com. |
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| posted by admin @ 2:08 AM |
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| Thursday, May 25, 2006 |
| The VoIP Insurgency |
There was a dreadful time in history when the telecom regime (local telephone companies) held consumers captive by charging high prices for telephone service. To make matters worse, this regime would nickel and dime consumers to death for additional features like voicemail, call waiting, caller ID, and call forwarding. Not to mention their customer service or lack thereof, was and still is a horrifying experience. This long history of monopolizing the telecommunication industry has finally come to an end. It's time for a regime change. Consumers now have an alternative � introducing VoIP.
VoIP, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol, is a technology that allows you to make telephone calls over an existing Internet connection instead of a regular (analog) telephone line. Some services that use VoIP only allow you to call other people using the same service, usually done when making PC to PC phone-calls. Other services allow you to call anyone, anywhere (as long as they have a telephone number) including: local & long dïstance, mobile, and international numbers. This type of VoIP service allows you to use a traditional telephone that plugs directly into a phöne adapter.
The great thing about VoIP is that all the additional features are included in the monthly fee. These features include: unlïmited local & long dïstance calls into the US & Canada, voicemail, call waiting, caller id, three-way, just to name a few. Most VoIP service providers typically charge between $20 and $25 dollars a month.
VoIP is a revolutionary technology that has the potential to completely redesign the entire world's communication infrastructure. VoIP providers have already been around for several years and growing at a tremendous rate. Currently, there are over 6 million users of VoIP worldwide and that number is growing exponentially.
FAQ About VoIP
1. Can You Provide Me With a Brief Explanation of VoIP?
VoIP allows you to make telephone calls over an existing Internet connection. VoIP converts a voice signal (analog) from your telephone into a digital signal that then travels over the Internet to the desired location. It then converts the digital signal back to analog so the person on the other end can hear what you are saying
2. How Do I Make a VoIP Phöne Call?
The first step of making a VoIP phöne call is to subscribe to a service. Once you sign up for service, the VoIP service provider will then send you a broadband phöne adapter, which plugs directly into your internet connection. You will then have to plug your existing telephone into the phöne adapter. Lastly, all you have to do is pick up the telephone and dial the number.
3. What Kind Of Equipment Do I Need to Use VoIP?
You need three things in order to use VoIP:
(a) A high-speed Internet connection (either cable or DSL);
(b) A broadband phöne adapter (provided by the VoIP service provider); and
(c) Any standard (analog or digital) telephone.
Is there a difference when placing a local or long dïstance call when using VoIP? Not really. VoIP phöne calls are made just the same way as traditional calls are made. When dialing local calls, all you have to do is dial 7 digits (555-1212) and when dialing long dïstance, all you have to do is dial 11 digits (1-408-555-1212).
4. Can I Call Anyone Using VoIP?
Yes. You can call anyone, anywhere as long as they have a valid telephone number. It can be a local call, long dïstance call, international call, cellphone, toll frëe, 911 (assuming they have E911 capability) and 411 directory assistance. Most VoIP providers will not allow calls to 900 or 976 telephone numbers, nor will they accept collect calls.
5. What are Some Advantages of Using VoIP?
(a) Cost - Most VoIP providers charge between $20 and $25 a month.
(b) Unlïmited calling in the U.S and Canada.
(c) All the features are included (voicemail, caller id, call waiting, 3-way, call forwarding and much more)
(d) VoIP is portable. You can take the phöne adapter anywhere where there is an existing Internet connection, plug it in and make calls as if you were at home.
(e) The ability to choose your own area code. You can live in New York and choose to have a California telephone number.
6. Are There Any Disadvantages of Using VoIP? Yes.
(a) If the power goes out in your home you will also löse your Internet connection, which means that your phöne service will also be down. Some VoIP service providers offer a feature that allows customers to designate a forwarding number if their Internet connection goes down for any reason.
(b) Not all VoIP Providers offer E911. This means that if you call 911 from your VoIP phöne, it may not go to the local public dispatcher. Rather, it will get routed to an answering service first.
(c) Call Quality. At certain times of the day, the call quality of phöne conversations will suffer. This could be due to bandwidth sharing, or slow Internet connection.
7. Do I Need a Computer to Use VoIP?
No. Although most VoIP customers do have a computer, one is not needed. The broadband phöne adapter simply plugs into a router (or modem) to get a connection.
8. Can I Use VoIP When I Travel?
Yes. You can use your VoIP service wherever you travel as long as you have a high speed Internet connection available and you bring your broadband phöne adapter and telephone with you.
9. How Will I Know if Someone is Calling Me from a VoIP Phöne?
You won't. The VoIP phöne works just like a traditional telephone. The quality and experience is that good.
Join the rebellion aimed at overthrowing the telecommunications industry by force. Switch to VoIP today and start saving tomorrow.
To learn more about VoIP, visit: http://www.packet8.net.
About The Author
Michael Brito is an internet marketing consultant for a variety of consumer products and services. Visit his website at: http://www.michaelbrito.com. |
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| posted by admin @ 2:34 AM |
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| Wednesday, May 24, 2006 |
| Link Popularity for the Unpopular,a Quick Primer for Today's Search Engine Landscape... |
So tell the truth, were you popular in high school? Did you have a lot of friends, and a wide social circle? Were you an athlete? Did your accomplishments extend far outside the halls of your alma mater to neighboring schools and counties? If so, then congratulations; you're probably in the minority of those reading this article.
What does this example have to do with link popularity you ask; more than you think. Just as in high school, on the World Wide Web, your website is known by the company it keeps. Link to the wrong site or "hang with the wrong crowd" and you could be ostracized by the search engine community before you even begin. Achieve quality inbound links from a wide range of popular kids on the internet, however, and watch your site's online profile soar. Sounds simple, and it is, if you know what to do to climb the online social ladder that is Link Popularity.
But before we get to that, what exactly is Link Popularity? Simply defined, Link Popularity is a measure of the quantity and quality of other web sites that link to your site on the internet at any given time. It is considered an off-the-page criteria that is greatly utilized by search engines to determine the overall importance and quality of your site to the online community. Because of its impartial nature, a site with a very high number of incoming links is usually viewed as highly relevant to the online community at large and thus highly visible within relevant search engine results. Whereas a content-poor site will attract fewer incoming links and thus hold little value to the same visitors.
What is the current link popularity of your site today? Take a moment to enter your site url at popular frëe link tool www.linkpopularity.com, then come back for the rest of this article.....
Still there, good! The results probably weren't what you had hoped for though, were they? Not to worry; probably the biggest threat to you obtaining a high link popularity score for your site is relying on old information. To that end, below is a quick 10-step CURRENT process that can be implemented immediately to increase your site's overall link popularity:
Step 1 - Submit Your Site to the Open Directory (Dmoz)
and Yahoo
Although neither of these sites are the 800 lb. gorillas they used to be, any link from these sites is going to increase your online profile immediately and very visibly. Find your appropriate category in both sites and submit for frëe with DMOZ and invest the $299 for a yearly indexing with Yahoo. Although DMOZ is still incredibly slow in adding new sites, keep at it, find the appropriate editor and send him cookies or flowers if necessary (couldn't hurt?) then be patient.
Step 2 - Add Your Keywords To The Linking Anchor Text
When at all possible, try to have an on-point relevant keyword phrase used as the linking text within any inbound link you seek for your site. If all you can manage is your site name or your url, that is certainly fine. But if you are selling toothbrushes to Eskimos, then "Eskimo toothbrushes for sale" as the linking keyword phrase from one site to yours is always the way to go.
Step 3 - Write Articles And Submit Press Releases
Hey, look what I am doing right nöw! I could be watching ESPN, but I am writing this article instead. Write articles and submit press releases when you have a personnel change, introduce or upgrade a service or product or when you have a topic of interest you wish to share with the online world web community. Don't have a blog? Get one! This is a simple way to get your articles and press releases out for indexing and review. Make sure to include links to your site where appropriate and watch your link popularity grow and grow.
Step 4 - Find Out Who Links To Your Competitors
Go to Google.com and enter this into this search query: link:www.yourcompetitor.com. Do the same for Yahoo by entering linkdomain:www.your-competitor.com and site:www.your-competitor.com into the search field. Seek out the sites linking to your competitors and convince them to link to you instead. You win TWICE with this approach. You gain a quality link and an increase in your overall popularity while your competitor LOSES a link and achieves a lower popularity score in return.
Step 5 - Create An Affïliate Program
Nothing generates quality, inbound links to your site faster than an established, commission-paying affïliate program. Whether your site is product or service-based, an affïliate program can be just the thing that takes your site and its link popularity to new heights. Visit www.CommissionJunction.com or www.LinkShare.com to set-up a new affïliate program of your design today and watch your online profile grow by leaps and bounds.
Step 6 - Deep Link Your Site
This step is vastly overlooked by even the most savvy of online marketers initiating a new link popularity campaign. Make sure that links you seek out or solicit don't just link to your home page, but ALL pages of your website. This process has numerous benefits, including expanding your overall online link profile as well as generating unique Google PageRank values for each and every one of your site's pages instead of just your home page.
Step 7 - Sign Up On Guestbooks And Forums
If you don't participate in forums on your site topic or remember to sign-in when visiting a new site for the first time, nöw is the time to make such actions a habit. Always post a message or participate in a forum thread whenever possible and include a link to your site in your signature where appropriate. These "sig" files do get indexed and really add up, especially if the site forum in question is something highly regarded in your specific industry.
Step 8 - Contact Reciprocal Links By Telephone Not Email
You would be shocked how successful this really is. More people are inclined to respond to your request when you introduce yourself by telephone and let them know that you were visiting their site. Tell the person you are linking to their site, asking permission of course, and then politely ask for a link back. Cement the request by following up by email; then wait for the links to roll-in (oh, and get rid of the förm letters; they don't work!).
Step 9 - Avoid Link Farms And Link Exchanges
Reputation on the web is more important than ever. Again, just like friendships in high school, it's better to have fewer higher-quality links to your site than hundreds of off-point, non-relevant links that do nothing to enhance the overall experience of the online community. Stay away, far away, from companies promising you hundreds of links to your site overnight. At best you don't need the links, and at worst, you could be banned by the major search engines altogether.
Step 10 - Download The Google Toolbar
This very simple technique allows you to view all potential link partners by the very important Google PageRank score (1-10) that is viewable in this browser. Use the toolbar to keep tabs on your own site's PageRank score, than seek out complimentary, highly relevant linking partners that have a Google PageRank score of 6 or higher whenever possible. Convince a handful of high Google PageRank sites to link back to you and watch your site take off.
Remember, just like in high school, you and your site will be known by the company kept. Follow the simple, ten step plan outlined above, and you will be well on your way to achieving real, measured, lasting success online. Be the popular site on the block today; it's easier than you think. Go ahead, be popular!
About The Author
Casey Markee is president of San Diego SEO firm Media Wyse. He has over 7 yrs. of experience within the online marketing arena and holds graduate degrees in Marketing & E-Commerce. Contact him today at http://www.MediaWyse.com with your SEO questions or help on your upcoming campaign. |
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| posted by admin @ 4:17 AM |
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| Tuesday, May 23, 2006 |
| Semel Shutters Windows Deal |
Yahoo is not going to sell its self in part or whole to Microsoft. Over the past two weeks, there have been rumblings of a potential merger or outright acquisition involving the two tech giants. In an interview with the Financial Times, "Yahoo rebuffs Microsoft offer", Yahoo CEO Terry Semel confirmed rumours regarding discussions between the two firms but stated unequivocally that Yahoo is not for sale.
"The search business has been formed", said Semel. "My impartial advice to Microsoft is that you have no chance."
Semel was speaking to a group of media executives at a conference organized by Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Journalism on Wednesday. In his session, he shed some light on the topic of talks between Yahoo and Microsoft. He also spoke about his views on the future of search noting social search as the next evolutionary step.
Microsoft and Yahoo had been in discussions for some time as part of a general exploration of plans to cope with Google's dominance of the search business. From the tone of Semel's comments, those talks did not lead to any deepening of relationships between Yahoo and Microsoft.
In fact, relationships between the two firms appear to be strained. Semel spoke specifically about Yahoo's wish to continue serving paid advertising results via Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM) to MSN search. Microsoft decided to allow that deal to expire in order to replace YSM with paid ads generated through its new internal paid advertising program AdCenter.
Microsoft was interested in buying a stake in Yahoo search however Semel says he was not willing to sell a portion of the company. Semel admitted Yahoo and Microsoft had discussed, "... Microsoft co-owning some of our search", but stated, "I will not sell a piece of search - it is like selling your right arm while keeping your left. It does not make any sense."
Semel also mentioned some of his ideas on the future of the search medium. The business of search and provision of search results is changing rapidly though Semel expects those changes to be manageable for largër firms like Yahoo.
"I do not expect search to decline but it may not be the way you do it two or three years later," he said. Semel said he sees a great deal of growth in social networking and online video, noting the growing availability of broadband access in the US and around the world is ushering in an era in which video becomes standard content on the web.
In 2004, Yahoo announced its intention to create video content for its users however Semel said many of those plans have been shelved because they were too similar to content already available on commercial television.
"Television does a very good job," Semel said. "This medium better look like something new. This medium better take advantage of its assets, take advantage of what it does well.... If what we do looks like television, then we're making a huge mistake."
Yahoo continues to make content provision a high priority however much of that content will likely be syndicated from other sources.
Semel mentioned social networking as a likely future model for search saying, "Knowledge search, as they call it in Korea, or social search, as we call it, has blown through the roof. There may be changing dynamics."
Meanwhile, over in Microsoft's camp, CEO Steve Ballmer appears to be in fighting trim playing point guard against Google's towering offensive while lobbing set-up passes regarding Microsoft's plans toward the press. In a wide-ranging article published in Cnet News.com, Ballmer responds to a number of comments directed at Microsoft in the past weeks.
Ballmer doesn't appear to be concerned about Yahoo but he is obviously burning over some of the comments Google co-founder Sergey Brin levelled at Microsoft during a press conference on Wednesday's Google Press Day.
Referring to the default settings of Microsoft's upgraded browser IE 7 and the pending release of the Microsoft Vista operating system, Brin was quoted saying, "We just see the history of that company behaving anti-competitively and not playing fair. So I think we want to...look at the areas where that power can be abused."
Suggesting Google expects special treatment from Microsoft, Ballmer couldn't resist the temptation to take a few pot shots at Google while comparing Microsoft products to Google's offerings.
"Can you imagine writing a letter to someone," he said, "'Hey, Mom, I am upset with the gun policy.' Then an ad pops up and says, 'Hey, do you want to buy a gun?'"
Ballmer stated that most Microsoft products will remain separate from advertising noting that, "...Even though Microsoft will have ad-supported applications, a lot of people will want a standard desktop Office."
Microsoft is a distant third behind Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing in terms of market share and revenues. It hopes to change that through the introduction and marketing of AdCenter, as well as by expanding into ad distribution in video games.
Earlier this month, Microsoft purchased Massive, a company that inserts advertisements into online video games. Imagine, if you will, a first-person strategy game that takes place in a city. Billboards, posters and other pieces of scenery can be instantly updated throughout MSNs gaming network.
"We want to make sure there is good, healthy competition in the advertising space," Ballmer said. "Everybody deserves good competition. People have been telling me that for years."
Based on notes taken by CNet news writer Michael Kanelloa, Ballmer is also interested in social networking, with a particular emphasis on FaceBook. He quotes Ballmer saying, "I've spent a lot of time studying FaceBook. I think there is a lot we can learn from the FaceBook concept." Remaining bearish on technologies that do not have clear revenue models such as YouTube and BitTorrent, Ballmer suggested that Microsoft would continue to look at acquiring start-up companies.
Yahoo CEO Terry Semel and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer are both concerned about Google. They appear interested in perusing similar technologies and both perceive virtually limitless futures.
Yahoo's strongest assets are in its network of branded information directories, its emerging Yahoo Publisher Network, and in its search marketing business YSM. Having one of the most well recognized global brand names, combined with the enormous amount of content it generates, Yahoo is capable of retaining its second place position in search advertising.
Putting aside its control of the basic operating system on most personal and corporate computers, Ballmer sees patience as Microsoft's greatest asset. "We have tenacity and a persistence and patience to stay after it and stay after it and stay after it. Patience is what distinguishes us from many technology companies that are important... ."
Patience has proven to be a key ingredient in the development of the Vista operating system. That makes sense given patience is a necessary virtue practiced by all Windows users.
Historically each of the major players, Google, Yahoo and MSN has competed by staking their own turfs and making minor, and in many cases major incursions into each other's turf. It often resembles a game of "follow the leader" in which 3 firms, based on their own merits are in a position to act as the leader. How it all works out will be part of our collective history but while it plays through, it is one of the most interesting games going.
About The Author
Jim Hedger is a writer, speaker and search engine marketing expert based in Victoria BC. Jim writes and edits full-time for StepForth and is also an editor for the Internet Search Engine Database. He has worked as an SEO for over 5 years and welcomes the opportuníty to share his experience through interviews, articles and speaking engagements. He can be reached at jimhedger@stepforth.com.
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| posted by admin @ 5:50 PM |
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| Thursday, May 18, 2006 |
| SEO With Google Sitemaps |
What is a Google Sitemap?
A Google Sitemap is a very simple XML document that lists all the pages in your website, but the Google Sitemaps program is actually much more important than that. In fact, the Sitemaps program provides a little peek inside Google's mind - and it can tell you a lot about what Google thinks of your website!
Why Should You Use Google Sitemaps?
Until Google Sitemaps was released in the summer of 2005, optimizing a site for Google was a guessing game at best. A website's page might be deleted from the index, and the Webmaster had no idea why. Alternatively, a site's content could be scanned, but because of the peculiarities of the algorithm, the only pages that would rank well might be the "About Us" page, or the company's press releases.
As webmasters we were at the whim of Googlebot, the seemingly arbitrary algorithmic kingmaker that could make or break a website overnight through shifts in search engine positioning. There was no way to communicate with Google about a website - either to understand what was wrong with it, or to tell Google when something had been updated.
That all changed about a year ago when Google released Sitemaps, but the program really became useful in February of 2006 when Google updated it with a couple new tools.
So, what exactly is the Google Sitemaps program, and how can you use it to improve the position of your website? Well, there are essentially two reasons to use Google Sitemaps:
1. Sitemaps provide you with a way to tell Google valuable information about your website.
2. You can use Sitemaps to learn what Google thinks about your website.
What You Can Tell Google About Your Site
Believe it or not, Google is concerned about making sure webmasters have a way of communicating information that is important about their sites. Although Googlebot does a pretty decent job of finding and cataloging web pages, it has very little ability to rate the relative importance of one page versus another. After all, many important pages on the Internet are not properly "optimized", and many of the people who couldn't care less about spending their time on linking campaigns create some of the best content.
Therefore, Google gives you the ability to tell them on a scale of 0.0 to 1.0 how important a given page is relative to all the others. Using this system, you might tell Google that your home page is a 1.0, each of your product sections is a 0.8, and each of your individual product pages is a 0.5. Pages like your company's address and contact information might only rate a 0.2.
You can also tell Google how often your pages are updated and the date that each page was last modified. For example your home page might be updated every day, while a particular product page might only be updated on an annual basis.
What Google Can Tell You About Your Site
Having the ability to tell Google all this information is important, but you don't even need to create a sitemap file in order to enjoy some of the perks of having a Google Sitemaps account.
That's because even without a Sitemap file, you can still learn about any errors that Googlebot has found on your website. As you probably know, your site doesn't have to be "broken" for a robot to have trouble crawling it's pages. Google Sitemaps will tell you about pages it was unable to crawl and links it was unable to follow. Therefore, you can see where these problems are and fix them before your pages get deleted from the index.
You can also get information on the types of searches people are using to find your website. Of course, most website analytics tools will give this information to you anyway, but if the tool you use doesn't have this feature, then it's always nice to get it for frëe from Google.
But the best part of the Sitemaps program is the Page analysis section that was added in February of 2006. This page gives you two lists of words. The first list contains the words that Googlebot associates with your website based on content on your site. The second list contains words that Googlebot has found linking to your site!
Unfortunately, Google limits the number of words in each list to 20. As a consequence, the inbound links column is partly wasted by words such as "http", "www", and "com" - terms that apply equally to all websites (hey Google, how about suppressing those terms from the report?). That said, this list does provide you with a way to judge the effectiveness of your offsite optimization efforts.
When you compare these two lists, you can get an understanding of what Google thinks your website is about. If the words on your Site Content column are not really what you want Googlebot to think about your site, then you know you need to tweak your website's copy to make it more focused on your core competency.
If, on the other hand your inbound links don't contain any keywords that you want to rank well for, then perhaps you should focus your efforts in that direction.
Above all else, you really want these two lists to agree. You want your inbound linked words to match up to the site content words. This means that Google has a clear understanding of the focus of your website.
Additional Benefits of the Sitemaps Program
Google has even started notifying Sitemaps-participating Webmasters if they are breaking any of Google's Webmaster Guidelines. This can be very valuable information if your site suddenly becomes de-listed on Google and you don't know why.
Only Sitemaps participants can get this information, and it is only provided at Google's discretion. In fact, Google will NOT notify you if you are creating worthless websites that offer no original content, or if you are creating thousands of doorway pages that are redirecting to other web sites. Google doesn't want to give the sp@ammers any clues as to how to improve their techniques.
How Do You Get Started with Google Site Maps?
The first thing you must do is obtain a Google Account. If you already have a Gmail, Adsense, or Adwords account, then you are all set. If not, you can register an account by visiting the Google Accounts page.
Building your sitemap file is pretty easy to do if you are familiar with XML, and if you aren't you can always use a third-party tool such as the ones that are listed on Google's website. Google also has a "Sitemap Generator" that you can download and install on your server, but unless you are fairly adept at managing Python scripts, you should probably stick to the third-party tools.
At any rate, once you have your Google Account and your Sitemap file built, the rest is very easy. All you have to do is:
1. Log into your account
2. Type your website's URL into the "Add Site" box and clíck on "OK"
3. Clíck on the Manage Sites link for the website you are adding, and add your sitemap file to your account. Google Sitemaps - An Excellent SEO Tool Google Sitemaps help Googlebot quickly find new content on your website. They allow you to tell Google what's important, what's new, and what changes often. The tools provided to webmasters through the program can play a vital role in helping you understand how the search engines (especially Google) view your website.
Using this information you can dramatically improve the position of your website and quickly clear up any issues Google finds. You can also use the tools provided by Google to gauge the effectiveness of your off-site optimization efforts so you can better focus \nyour time and energy on activities that bring you the most success.
About The AuthorMatthew Coers is an Internet marketing expert. His website, ProfitChoice.com contains online courses designed to teach entrepreneurs how to build a website and make monëy online. Download his FR-E-E Internet Marketing report, 7 Days to Website Success.
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| posted by admin @ 6:33 PM |
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| Wednesday, May 10, 2006 |
| Tips for Making Your Pages Search Engine Friendly |
Tips for Making Your Pages Search Engine Friendly:
As with many other things which are unseen, there is a lot of unnecessary mystery surrounding the use of meta-tags on web pages. The meta tags are information packets in the head portion of a web page.
Though there are several possible meta tags that may be included in the head of a web page, the ones which are most important for search engine optimization are the Title Tag, the Description tag and the Keywords tag.
The title tag is really one of the most important single things you can work on for improving your website's search engine results. Go to Google and make a search for any particular key word If you look at the top ten entries in that search you will see that all of them have this key word in the title, sometimes more than once. So when writing your title tag, it is helpful to have your keywords included in the title tag, and not only in the tag, near the beginning of the title.
Suppose that your company is the Acme Manufacturing Company and you are selling electric widgets and you are located in California. What should your title tag be? Most people would opt for the name of their company as the first word of the title. It makes sense, in that it looks good in the blue strip at the top of the browser, but it doesn't necessarily help you to get a good ranking in search results for your keywords "electric widgets, California".
The first few words of your title tag are very important. People may not be searching for Acme Manufacturing, unless it is a very important brand, but they are searching for electric widgets, and they may not want to purchase it from someone in New York, especially if it is not a mail-order type item.
In addition, if there are tons of widget companies, it will be difficult to get to the top of the heap in a search simply for the term "widgets". But if it is "widgets, California", then you will have a good chance of getting a high ranking if you put the keyword California prominently in the title. So, if you are in a very competitive category and your customers don't already know about you, then you might consider a title tag like this "Electric widgets from Acme Manufacturing of California" or even better "Electric Widgets in California produced by Acme Manufacturing."
Some guidelines for the title tag suggest that this tag be limited to 70-80 characters including spaces. I confess to have used more on several occasions.
The next tag that has to be done is the Description tag. Many search engines use the description tag as a way to tell the searchers what the page is about. On MSN, for example, the description of the site shown underneath the title is the description that has been placed in the description tag.
The description tag is thus important in two respects
: the search engine robot searches it for keywords to "get an idea" of what the page is about, and this tag will be seen by the surfers as they scroll down through the search results. If it is an interesting and well-written description then they may click through to visit the site. So this tag should be well written but also contain the important keywords that you wish to highlight.\nGoing back to our example of Acme Manufacturing. We could make a description tag that reads as follows: "Acme Manufacturing is the largest producer of electric widgets in California, providing round the clock service and warrantees on all products." This description contains the keywords again and also says something about the company.
Some guidelines for description length recommend a maximum length of 250 characters. Once again there is no precision about this, but it is good to be cautious until you are already entered into a search engine's index.The last of the important meta tags relevant to search engine optimization is the keywords tag. In this tag you have a chance to list your important keywords, but this time they do not have to be in a coherent phrase as in the Title and Description. Put your important keywords near the beginning. Make sure that all the keywords used in the title and the description tags are again listed. On top of that, add prominent keywords, especially those that appear in the actual text of the page you are optimizing. For the Acme Manufacturing company we could have these keywords: "widgets, widget, electric widgets, California, widgets in California, Acme Manufacturing, service, warrantee, warrantees".
Many pundits advise against excessive repetition of any single keyword even if they appear in different phrases separated by commas. Once again the guidelines vary and are not precise but it would be better to be conservative at first. How big should the keywords section be? 800-1000 is the estimate provided by some search engines and commentators alike. (Lately some of the main search engines have begun to disregard the keywords tag in their computations of rank, but some search engines continue to use it, so you can still include it in your metatags.)
The thing to remember about meta tags is that they are just one part of search engine optimization. If your text is keyword rich and your page structure allows the search engines to get to this text easily and if, on top of this, you have crafted your meta tags well, then you have an excellent chance of getting the search engine positioning results that you are aiming for.
About the Author:Akash Kumar is a search engine optimization expert and also the founder of vistadivine.com - an economical search engine optimization firm. |
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| posted by admin @ 11:02 PM |
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| Friday, May 05, 2006 |
| Search Engine Optimisation Pitfalls |
On page factors - Is your website search engine friendly?
So you have a website but where is it on Google? Have you fallen foul of a penalty or have you overlooked one of the many common search engine optimisation pitfalls when designing your site?
Understanding what works for the search engines and what doesn't when it comes to the content on your website can have a crucial impact on the relevance and
or page rank of your pages from a SEO perspective.
Here we highlight common mistakes that could affect your ranking on Google and other search engines.
Optimising for the correct keywordsBasically 'Get real' about what keywords you feel your website can be ranked for. If you have a ten page website in a highly competitive market then ranking naturally for the major terms will be close to impossible. Use the Overture keyword tool together with the number of results on Google to find out what keywords are searched for and how many other websites are targeting them. If you are lucky then you might even find a popular keyword that not many other websites are optimised for. Alternatively a good tool for this job is Wordtracker from Rivergold Associates Ltd.
Code validationIf your html code is not valid then this could make it very difficult or even impossible for a search engine to separate your page content from your code. If the search engine cannot see your content then your page will obviously have no relevance.FramesEven though most, if not all, major search engines now index frames and even with the use of the NOFRAMES tag you run the risk of your pages being displayed in the search engine results out of context. As each individual page is indexed separately, it is likely that your website visitors will not see your pages within your frame and will effectively be stuck on the page they arrive at.If you must use frames then create a 'Home' link on each of your individual content pages and point the link at your frameset index page.JavaScript navigationIf you use JavaScript to control your website navigation then search engine spiders may have problems crawling your site. If you must use JavaScript then there are two options available to you:Use the NOSCRIPT tag to replicate the JavaScript link in standard HTML. Replicate your JavaScript links as standard HTML links in the footer of your page.Flash contentCurrently only Google can index Macromedia Flash files, how much or how little content they see is open to debate. So until search engine technology is able to handle your .swf as standard then it would be advisable to avoid the use of these. Again if you must use Flash then offer a standard HTML alternative within NOEMBED tags.Dynamic URLsAlthough Google and Yahoo are able to crawl complicated URLs it is still advisable to keep your URLs simple and avoid the use of long query strings. Do not including session IDs in the URL as these can either create a 'spider trap' where the spider indexes the page over and over again or, at worst, your pages will not get indexed at all. If you do need to include parameters in the URL then limit them to two and the number of characters per parameter to ten or less.",
Code validationIf your html code is not valid then this could make it very difficult or even impossible for a search engine to separate your page content from your code. If the search engine cannot see your content then your page will obviously have no relevance.
FramesEven though most, if not all, major search engines now index frames and even with the use of the NOFRAMES tag you run the risk of your pages being displayed in the search engine results out of context. As each individual page is indexed separately, it is likely that your website visitors will not see your pages within your frame and will effectively be stuck on the page they arrive at.
If you must use frames then create a 'Home' link on each of your individual content pages and point the link at your frameset index page.
JavaScript navigationIf you use JavaScript to control your website navigation then search engine spiders may have problems crawling your site. If you must use JavaScript then there are two options available to you:
Use the NOSCRIPT tag to replicate the JavaScript link in standard HTML. Replicate your JavaScript links as standard HTML links in the footer of your page.
Flash contentCurrently only Google can index Macromedia Flash files, how much or how little content they see is open to debate. So until search engine technology is able to handle your .swf as standard then it would be advisable to avoid the use of these. Again if you must use Flash then offer a standard HTML alternative within NOEMBED tags.
Dynamic URLsAlthough Google and Yahoo are able to crawl complicated URLs it is still advisable to keep your URLs simple and avoid the use of long query strings. Do not including session IDs in the URL as these can either create a 'spider trap' where the spider indexes the page over and over again or, at worst, your pages will not get indexed at all. If you do need to include parameters in the URL then limit them to two and the number of characters per parameter to ten or less.
The best SEO solution for dynamic URLs is to use Mod-rewrite or Multiviews on Apache.No sitemapA sitemap is the search engine optimisation tool of choice to ensure every page within your website is indexed by all search engines. You should link to your site map from, at least, your homepage but preferably from every page on your website. If your website contains hundreds of pages then split the sitemap into several categorised maps and link these all together. Try and keep the number of links per page on a sitemap to less than 100.Want More Visitors?Some of the world's best meta search engines rely on Entireweb. Make sure your site is not left out!Be seen in a network with over 100 million searchesmonth!No pay-per-click fees, no keyword bidding, just targeted traffic!
The best SEO solution for dynamic URLs is to use Mod-rewrite or Multiviews on Apache.
No sitemapA sitemap is the search engine optimisation tool of choice to ensure every page within your website is indexed by all search engines. You should link to your site map from, at least, your homepage but preferably from every page on your website. If your website contains hundreds of pages then split the sitemap into several categorised maps and link these all together. Try and keep the number of links per page on a sitemap to less than 100.
Excessive linksExcessive links on a given page (Google recommends having no more than 100) can lower its relevance and, although it does not result in a ban, this does nothing for your search engine optimisation strategy.
Be careful who you link toAs you have no control over who links to your website, incoming links will not harm your rank. However outbound links from your website to 'bad neighbourhoods' like link farms will harm your ranking.
As a rule ensure as many of your outbound links as possible link to websites that are topical to your field of business.
About the Author: John Hill - Developer, Designer and SEO Professional with E-Gain New Media offering search engine optimisation and PPC management. |
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| posted by admin @ 6:00 PM |
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MARKETIVA
Marketiva is a financial services corporation specialized in providing traders with high quality online spot forex trading services.
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Add Me! - Search Engine Optimization
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