SEO NEW's

topix worries about google trafic

2007-03-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

After paying $1 million to purchase the rights to the Topix.com domain, Topix.net CEO Rich Skrenta now has to deal with a couple of daily realities in the search world: changing domains could cause a dropoff in search engine-driven traffic, and Google isn't exactly Nordstrom or L.L. Bean when it comes to customer service.

Several top level domains have come along in recent years to complement the .com, .net, and .org that have been available to the public. Dot com started life as the domain for commercial organizations, and over the years has become the must-have domain for one's business name.

Topix has been Topix.net for quite some time. Skrenta wants the dot com credibility, not to mention making it easier for people to find the news aggregator site. When it comes to the Web, people tend to think in terms of dot com.

Skrenta told the Wall Street Journal about the concerns he has with the change. Sites that make name changes without accounting for the ways search engines look for them could make a website invisible to searchers.

Redirection, particularly the issues with using 302 redirects, has been an issue of contention between webmasters and Google in particular. As the dominant search engine, Google can determine a website's success. Skrenta fears what a mishap with redirecting people from Topix.net to Topix.com could do for the site:
Even if traffic to Topix, which gets about 10 million visitors a month, dropped just 10%, that would essentially be a 10% loss in ad revenue, Mr. Skrenta says. "Because of this little mechanical issue, it could be a catastrophe for us," he says.
Skrenta also experienced the palpable frustration shared by many site publishers when dealing with Google:
Further frustrating him is that Google's response to Topix's plea for help was an email recommending that, if the switchover were to go badly, the company should post a message on an online user-support forum; a Google engineer might come along to help out. "This can't be the process," Mr. Skrenta says. "You're cast into this amusing, Kafkaesque world to run your business."
Amusing, maybe, but no one at Topix will be laughing if Topix vanishes from the Google realm. In the same article, Google's Matt Cutts said the post-and-wait support strategy 'is more reliable than it sounds.'

Fortunately, the issue of pleasing the search engines with a redirect can be addressed. Search engines like 301 redirects, which unlike the 302 redirect tells the search engine crawler that the redirect is permanent.

WebProNews Blog Talk contributor Eric Enge discussed 301 redirects in a recent article. In Google, a site Enge moved managed to be recognized properly within two to three weeks.

Skrenta probably will choke on a Pop Tart at the prospect of two to three weeks of uneven traffic. But we see no reason to think Matt isn't giving Topix good advice, so perhaps Skrenta should just drop in on the relevant Google Group and send out the SOS.

Google adding adsense for audio

2006-11-02T23:44:00.000-08:00

It's funny how a whisper can sometimes push a hurricane; expect one to swirl up by Monday. The rumor, as was whispered into the ear of a DM News reporter, is that Google is about to undergo a major corporate restructuring just as they prepare to release AdSense for Audio.

Giselle Abramovich floated out a rumor post on Tuesday, the steady crescendo of which has expanded to discussion on at least five other well-known blogs.

According to Abramovich, Google "is a bout to set up an IBM-like structure. What this means is that there would be one global account director per account, that pulls in resources to sell as needed - PPC, Print, Radio, Video, Display, etc."

And the blogosphere went flashback-squiggly, hearkening back to Google's acquisitions of dMarc and YouTube. That was a dawning for some, but for the others, it became a cat's-out-of-the bag situation. Abramovich's little leak became a spilling of guts, moving bloggers to tell what they know.

ThoughtShapers.com's Jeff Molander was quick to quote three credible sources as the benefactor of what appear to be planned Google leaks. As David Utter reported, these leaks have been more prevalent in the past week, an apparent new Google strategy to gauge reaction before official release. Molander then expounds on the audio component of Google's master plan.

AdSense for Audio would place contextual ads alongside podcasts, and perhaps other streaming media (like that found on YouTube), all the way…perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…to radio and television. MTV is already on board.

Just to add to the speculation, I'm submitting Google has a killer audio-recognition technology that won't rely on spidered transcripts. Remember the application that can listen to your television and serve up advertising?

Molander uncovers also, the well-turned phrase of the week, courtesy of Revenews's Wayne Porter:

As Google turns you can feel the fabric of the media tear beneath your feet.

eWeek's Steve Bryant says he's been holding out for months, but in light of Molander's post, felt he needed to come clean.

Earlier this year, Google contracted with several podcast engineers to help them develop Google AdSense for Audio. According to one source the product was originally slated for a 3Q release, but apparently it slipped behind a month or so.

There may also be an mp3 player in the works, but that could be the most speculative of all. But Bryant's thoughts that this podcast search and ad technology could be integrated into mobile services, Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Desktop is probably right on the money.

About the Author:
Jason Lee Miller is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

The Future of web vidio

2006-11-02T23:37:00.000-08:00

Just what direction web video is going raises a challenging question. While Youtube has been an obvious success for the short video clip format, will there be a sustainable market for longer form web video?

The possibility of web video doing to cable TV, what cable did to network programming is the larger issue. Will people be willing to break from the comfort of their couch to watch longer form web video content instead of tuning into Dancing with the Stars?

In a blog posted by Wendy Davis for blogs.mediapost.com, this question is raised. Kevin Shiveley from TVWorldwide.com commenting on a mediapost blog said, "Internet TV has the potential to do to cable broadcasting what cable did to network TV, which is to expand the range of content (topically) and depth of that content on subjects that could never be feasible on network or cable broadcasting."

The quality of the content in the longer video form becomes another issue. To attract viewers, it would have to be something well written and extremely compelling to generate a large audience along with advertising dollars.

Some in the industry see it another way. In an interview with Justin Kownacki, creator of the web based comedy Something To Be Desired, I asked him his thoughts on longer web video content. Kownacki stated, "I see "longer-format" web video continuing to grow in proportion to both the audience and the market. As the viewers and the web economy adapt to support web video from 10 to 60 minutes in length, the quantity and quality of shows offered will continue to expand" On competing with traditional TV and cable he said, "Competing with cable / traditional TV programming is only a matter of time, not quality."

The technology is currently being developed by several companies to allow users to view web video from the comforts of their own living room. AT&T is one company that has developed Homezone, which uses broadband Internet along with satellite TV through a home networking system. This allows the viewer the ability to watch web video as well as regular TV.

As the technology improves, people will no longer have to sit in front of their monitors to view the latest rage in the web video world. They will have the luxury of watching web video on their flat screens while kicking back on their couch.

The shift to longer format video seems to be promising and will most likely continue to grow to the point it will become "old hat". Maybe in the near future the next innovative programming will not come from the traditional TV, but from the cutting edge of the web video world. Stay tuned.

About the Author:
Michael Sachoff is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Untapped Advertising Hot Spots

2006-09-01T23:37:00.000-07:00

Online advertising is exploding. By 2007, online advertising spending is expected to reach over 20 billion. With such growth, a multitude of opportunities have opened up for the online marketer. Unfortunately, not all of these are worth your time or your ínvestment. That's why I would like to show you some of the untapped advertising hot spots that are currently available to you.
As an online entrepreneur, it's not enough to have a great website with quality information. You must also position yourself in front of a qualified audience of people who are hungry for what you have to offer.

So, let's explore 4 of the most lucrative online advertising spots that are currently available to you. They include CPA programs, blog ads, comparison shopping engines, and the ISEDN.

CPA Programs

Cost per action is an online advertising model that is highly undervalued. In this model, you only pay when a qualified visitor converts to a sale, registration, or other action. Because of this, CPA (cost per action) is often much less risky and often more profitable (in terms of ROI) than cost-per-clíck.

To begin your own CPA marketing campaign, you can choose from a variety of companies. AzoogleAds is the top CPA network. Within their network, you can advertise on sites like True.com, Stamps, NetFlix, BlockBuster, and a number of Fortune 500 companies.

You may also choose ClickBooth. Within the ClickBooth network, you will have access to over 25,000 of the biggest publishers in the industry.

Hydra Network, another leading advertising network, reaches over 100 million Internet users. Find out how you can tap into this traffíc at HydraMedia.com.

Each one of these companies can help you devise a successful CPA campaign that only requires you to pay when you acquire a new customer.

BlogAds

In recent years the popular belief has been that most blog readers are comprised of nerdy teenagers who live in their parent's basement.

However, this simply isn't true. Blog readers have quite a lot of buying power. In fact, according to the 2006 blogger reader surveys from BlogAds, 75% of blog readers make more than $45,000 per year. Blog readers are journalists, opinion makers, and powerful online citizens.

The blogosphere is becoming very influential on the Internet. This demographic is a hot spot online that many advertisers are missing out on.

So, how do you tap into this kind of audience? Well, there are a number of options.

One of the most popular blog advertising agencies is BlogAds. With BlogAds, you can sign up to advertise on sites like SearchEngineJournal.com, Lockergnome.com, PFBlog.com, and BlogShares.com.

Another great source of blogger advertising is the Creative Weblogging network of blogs. They power 70+ blog sites in categories ranging from personal finance and social entrepreneurship to social networking and Web 2.0. In fact, they have recently joined forces with the Washington Post, which links to some of their blogs on the homepage.

The Creative Weblogging network delivers 5 million page views per month. To find out more about their different advertising options, go to Creative Weblogging.

Wherever you choose to advertise, please keep blogs in mind. Through blog advertising, you can tap into a very targeted group of individuals.

Comparison Shopping Engines

If you're selling products online, then one of your main advertising sources should be the comparison shopping engines. Unfortunately, many online sellers do not take advantage of this potential goldmine.

Yahoo! Shopping, Google's Froogle, Bizrate.com, Become.com and other comparison sites make it much easier for you to get the online exposure you need to be successful in a very crowded online marketplace. These sites allow you to get listed by all the big names like Best Buy and Circuit City.

One of the biggest benefits of this advertising option is that visitors from comparison shopping engines are buyers. They are there for a reason. They are looking to compare prices, evaluate different companies, and buy their desired products. Because of this, the return on ínvestment from this type of traffíc is much higher; a stark contrast from the general search engines which can send you visitors who aren't truly interested in your products.

Much like traditional search engines, comparison shopping engines position your product based on a number of factors. Some of these include bid price, product price, user rating, relevance, and CTR (clíck-through rate). Each of the shopping engines has a different ranking algorithm and uses different factors to position your products.

If you would like to start experimenting with this advertising medium, I would suggest you start with Froogle, which is free. However, don't underestimate Froogle's power. Just because it's free doesn't mean that it can't send you lots of qualified visitors when used correctly.

I urge you to start taking advantage of these lucrative advertising spots for your own website. Remember, comparison shopping engines send you buyers, not browsers.

You only pay for perförmance.

ISEDN

Another untapped marketing hotspot is the ISEDN. This paid inclusion program is a cross between the older paid inclusion models and the current pay-per-clíck model.

Purchased ads are displayed in a similar manner to the PPC ads shown by Google, but advertisers are charged on a flat fee basis, not on a per clíck basis. You can buy top 10 exposure across the network for $3 to $4 per month. Your ad will then be shown across a network of 230+ members.

Through the power of the collective community, ISEDN paid inclusion ads are displayed over 150 million times per month. This equates to 150 million potential advertisng opportunities.

For more information on this advertising model visit ISEDN founding member ExactSeek.com.

About The Author
Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews and SEO-News newsletters. You can also find additional tips and news on webmaster and SEO topics by Kim at the SiteProNews blog. Kim's email is: kim @ seo-news.com

Google Launches Enterprise Software Solution

2006-09-01T23:33:00.000-07:00

Google launched a frëe packaged business solution for enterprises today including online chat, email, calendars, and hostíng. Called "Gmail for Your Domain " (a ghastly name that is only slightly better referred to as "Google Apps" within the actual admin area) this application package will allow a business owner or administrator to create a separate account per employee.
Each Google Apps account comes complete with the following Google applications:

Gmail: Google's email program is the central offering of this set of applications; it acts as the main portal where the Talk and Calendar functions are provided. Each user has 2 gigabytes of email storage complete with some robust email management tools that allow automatic email filtering, POP email access, SP@M management, and contact management.

Required Setup Procedure: Requires that you shift all email protocol from your domain (i.e. www.stepforth.com) to Google so that email can be sent and received using your domain (so that your email correctly displays it came from your domain

Google Calendar: Probably the most feature rich application within this entire package, Google Calendar provides users with the ability to share appointments or entire calendars. It also has a basic event management option that allows you to manage RSVP lists and invite associates to meetings. Chëck out the full Google Calendar feature list here.
Required Setup Procedure for Google Calendar and Google Talk: The only requirement is that you prove you are the legitímate owner of the domain you setup your account with. The activation process is simple; just upload a specific html file to your website for Google to verify and voila, both Calendar and Talk are enabled.
Google Talk: An ínstant messaging and voice chat application, Google Talk automatically allows access to the contact list within Gmail making connections to business associates and employees simpler. Here is the official description on Talk from Google: "a downloadable Windows application from Google that enables Gmail users to quickly and easily talk or IM with their friends for frëe. Google is focused on developing innovative technologies that enhance people's lives, and Google Talk encourages and simplifies ínstant communication across the web." Google Web Publishing: This is a frëe hostíng and page creation system (Page Creator) that allows you to create and publish your enterprise site. The site is hosted on Google servers and can only be a maximum of 100 pages in size.
Required Setup Procedure: You must add a CNAME to your domain management configuration (usually by asking your hostíng provider) which will setup a subdomain (i.e. http://site.yoursite.com) that you can upload and administer through Google Apps.

Account Administration
The account administrator using a central online Dashboard can administer all Google accounts. Within the Dashboard, the administrator can do the following:
setup domain aliases,
setup email catch-all addresses,
create internal email lists (i.e. staff@yoursite.com would go to... list all in-house recipients)
make minor cosmetic (color) customizations to the company sign in page,
customize your Google Apps system with your company logo,
enable or disable contact sharing; which when enabled provides a central contact list that all users will have access to.,
create and update multiple user accounts at once by uploading a spreadsheet with username and password information,
centrally configure individual user privileges, alternate email addresses and passwörds,
view access, and email quota statistics for each user.
My Take on Google Apps
I setup an account to see how this new offering works and I think it has some real potential as long as the needs of an organization are basic. I say this because the majority of companies that I know of would not be comfortable switching their vital communication and scheduling systems to an online model that is not under their control. After all, I do not expect there will be anyone to bark at if Google Apps experiences problems; one of the significant minuses of using a frëe system (never mind one in beta).

Additionally, a couple of the applications are definitely in their infancy. For example, Google Calendar does not offer any synchronization capabilities for handhelds or PC's, so if you make the switch there is no way (currently) to update your handheld with your Google Calendar schedule. This chink alone is enough to keep me from making the switch. Oh and I must not forget Google Page Creator and the frëe hostíng service; it is, well, pointless in its current state. After all, there is no way to upload a website other than using Page Creator, which is a website-publishing tool in its extreme infancy. I can only assume that the web-publishing facet of Google Apps was included as a frill.

Will Websites Hosted on Google Have an Advantage?
Perhaps but the advantage is minimal; Google states in the Google Apps help area that new sites within their system can expect to be indexed within "a few hours of publication"; an impressive turnaround. Hostíng on Google will also likely lead to faster indexing of updated content. After all, faster updating would be a considerable tease if (make that 'when') Google wants to make a bolder step into the web hostíng industry and provide more advanced hostíng packages. It is truly a brilliant plan, I mean, how could other search engines compete with a rival search engine that merely has to look to its own network to index a sizable portion of the Internet. At any rate, this basic hosted solution has been around for a while so I don't want to waste your time with information you may already know (here is more info on Page Creator).

How Long Will Google Apps Be Free?
If you signup during the Beta test of this program you will get use of Google Apps for frëe indefinitely according to the Google Apps Terms & Conditions but after the Beta Period you "may not" get the benefit of newly added technologies without paying. The following is relevant snippet from the T&C:

No Fees. Provided that Google continues to offer the Google Hosted Services to Customer, Google will provide a version of the Google Hosted Services (with substantially the same services as those provided as of the Effective Date) frëe of charge to Customer indefinitely; provided that such commitment (i) applies only to End User Accounts created during the period \ when the Google Hosted Services are considered a beta service (the "Beta Period") by Google (such Beta Period determination at Google's sole discretion) and (ii) may not apply to new opt-ín services added by Google to the Google Hosted Services in the future.
Will There Be a More Advanced Version Soon?
"For sake of clarity, Google reserves the right to offer a premium version of the Google Hosted Services for a fee." (Excerpt from Google Apps Terms & Conditions). In fact, the answer appears to be a resounding yes since Google wants you to notify them if you are interested in a premium version so that they can let you know when it comes available.
What Else May Be Coming to Google Apps?
I fully expect that following apps will be included in the near future, just clíck on them to see their formal description at Google:

Google Notepad (more info)
Share important notes with your staff and allow them to search notes company-wide.
Personalized Home Page
Okay, I cheated here, Google has already posted that this will be coming and they even have a help menu setup for this already. Essentially this option will allow you to customize the home search page for your employees to a limited degree locking certain areas of their Google start page.
Google Reader (more info)
This is a frëe RSS viewer that allows you to subscribe to and label RSS feeds such as The SEO Blog. I believe this application will be added to Google Apps, or at least should, so that Administrators can keep their employees up to date on their own company's blog as well as their competitors'. In addition, RSS feeds are a great venue for continued education for anyone in a company; I constantly use them to keep up to date on the latest website analytics tutorials and upcoming web technologies. Ultimately, it would be great to enforce the viewing of certain RSS feeds for employees; much like locking areas of their personalized Google home page.
Google Spreadsheets (more info)
Create your spreadsheets online and share them across your enterprise.
Google's Writely (more info)
Create documents online, share them and publish them to your website.
So You Have More Questíons About Google Apps? Well!
I tried to cover a lot in this article but I likely missed something so here is a direct link to Google's help/FAQ area for this new service.

About The Author
Ross Dunn is the founder and CEO of StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc. Based in Victoria, BC, Canada, StepForth has provided professional search engine placement and management services since 1997. Ross is a search engine optimization and placement expert with over 9 years of marketing experience and is a Certified Internet Marketing and Business Strategist (CIMBS). Blending his experience in the art of web design and search engine optimization, Ross offers a unique and informed perspective on obtaining top search engine placements. Ross can be reached at ross@stepforth.com.

Recent Changes at Google,Yahoo and MSN

2006-08-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

There are many changes taking place in the top search engines. Google, Yahoo, and MSN are all adapting to the many transformations occuring within the search industry. Because of these changes, I thought I would take the time to give you an overview of what's taking place within the market and how it affects you as a webmaster. To begin, let's start with Google.
Back in 2003, Google would index and crawl the web about once a month and everything would change all in one shot. WebMasterWorld would actually name these updates with names like Brandy, Florida, and Bourbon.

Google has moved away from these monthly updates to an ever-changing process. You can now see daily changes within the SERPS with the biggest changes occuring during algorithm updates.

Late June and July of this year saw some major changes within the Google algorithm. If your site was hurt from this algorithm change, you should re-examine your site and be sure to follow the guidelines below:

1. Pursue a continuous linking campaign with other quality sites. This can be achieved through article syndication, exchanging RSS feeds, submitting to directories or syndicating a press release.
2. Create a Google sitemap to increase the coverage of your webpages.

3. Make sure your site has a clear navigation system. Every page should be reachable from at least one static link.

4. Avoid all deceptive or manipulative behavior. Don't get involved in linking schemes. Avoid all forms of cloaking and avoid hidden text or hidden links.

Besides the changes taking place within organic search results, there have also been recent changes within Google Adwords. In July of 2006, Google updated their landing page algorithm. These changes have harmed a number of online marketers. Many advertisers who had been paying five or ten cents a clíck are now required to bid at least 50 cents to a dolloar or more. There are also other advertisers who kept their bid prices, but those bids are now buying only 3rd or 4th page positions when they used to buy first page positions.

Some advertisers have even been effectively shutdown.

However, keep in mind that not all advertisers have been affected. There are four main types of sites that have been hit the hardest. These include:

one page salës letter websites
squeeze pages
adsense sites (particularly those involved in Adsense arbitrage)
affíliate sites
The new landing page algorithm gives a quality score to every landing page. Fortunately for us, Google has left some clues as to how they are ranking these pages.

Below are 3 general guidelines that will help those who have been hurt by the recent updates.

1. Provide relevant and substantial content.
2. Link to the page on your site that provides the most useful and accurate information related to the product or service in your ad.
3. Distinguish sponsored links from the rest of your site's content.
To stay in accördance with the new quality score guidelines, you may want to remove all Adsense ads from your landing pages, create or find more original content for your sites, ensure that your landing page has at least 500 words, and chëck to make sure that your ad relates perfectly with the content of your landing page.

There are many changes taking place in the top search engines. Google, Yahoo, and MSN are all adapting to the many transformations occuring within the search industry. Because of these changes, I thought I would take the time to give you an overview of what's taking place within the market and how it affects you as a webmaster. To begin, let's start with Google.
Back in 2003, Google would index and crawl the web about once a month and everything would change all in one shot. WebMasterWorld would actually name these updates with names like Brandy, Florida, and Bourbon.

Google has moved away from these monthly updates to an ever-changing process. You can now see daily changes within the SERPS with the biggest changes occuring during algorithm updates.

Late June and July of this year saw some major changes within the Google algorithm. If your site was hurt from this algorithm change, you should re-examine your site and be sure to follow the guidelines below:

1. Pursue a continuous linking campaign with other quality sites. This can be achieved through article syndication, exchanging RSS feeds, submitting to directories or syndicating a press release.
2. Create a Google sitemap to increase the coverage of your webpages.

3. Make sure your site has a clear navigation system. Every page should be reachable from at least one static link.

4. Avoid all deceptive or manipulative behavior. Don't get involved in linking schemes. Avoid all forms of cloaking and avoid hidden text or hidden links.

Besides the changes taking place within organic search results, there have also been recent changes within Google Adwords. In July of 2006, Google updated their landing page algorithm. These changes have harmed a number of online marketers. Many advertisers who had been paying five or ten cents a clíck are now required to bid at least 50 cents to a dolloar or more. There are also other advertisers who kept their bid prices, but those bids are now buying only 3rd or 4th page positions when they used to buy first page positions.

Some advertisers have even been effectively shutdown.

However, keep in mind that not all advertisers have been affected. There are four main types of sites that have been hit the hardest. These include:

one page salës letter websites
squeeze pages
adsense sites (particularly those involved in Adsense arbitrage)
affíliate sites
The new landing page algorithm gives a quality score to every landing page. Fortunately for us, Google has left some clues as to how they are ranking these pages.

Below are 3 general guidelines that will help those who have been hurt by the recent updates.

1. Provide relevant and substantial content.
2. Link to the page on your site that provides the most useful and accurate information related to the product or service in your ad.
3. Distinguish sponsored links from the rest of your site's content.
To stay in accördance with the new quality score guidelines, you may want to remove all Adsense ads from your landing pages, create or find more original content for your sites, ensure that your landing page has at least 500 words, and chëck to make sure that your ad relates perfectly with the content of your landing page.

Google is getting smarter everyday. Our job is not to trick the search engines but to deliver truly valuable information to our visitors. By doing this along with some basic on-page and off-page optimization techniques, you should perform very well in the search engines over the long-haul.

There have also been some recent changes at MSN.

They have changed the name of their search engine spiders. Before the changes, they were all called "msnbot,". Fortunately, they are now starting to group their spiders into separate categories.

The MSN Shopping bot is msnbot-products.
The MSN News bot is msnbot-news.
The MSN Image Search bot is msnbot-media.
The MSN search bot is still called msnbot.

It should now be much easier for webmasters to decipher what's really going on in their web logs. In addition, webmasters can also block specific bots if they need to, without blocking MSN Search.

Last, but not least, there is Yahoo. This company has experienced some very exciting changes within the past few months.

One of these is the launch of a new Yahoo Search Crawler. The new crawler is faster and more efficient at visiting websites. As a result, website owners should notice as much as a 25% reduction in the number of requests and bandwidth consumed by the Yahoo crawler.

Yahoo also released an index update in mid-July. You can read all about it at http://www.ysearchblog.com.

In addition, there are a number of other, smaller-based search engines who are leading the way in the future of search engine technology. One of the best examples I have seen is Eurekster.com. They have developed a social search engine powered by the wisdom of crowds.

Eurekster makes use of its own SearchMemory technology, which remembers the sites a user finds useful and presents them higher in the results the next time they search. Then, Eurekster lets a user share their searches and sites with friends. For example, if you do a search on "internet marketing", you'll see sites related to "internet marketing" that your friends also found useful. These results are marked with an icon.

This personalization helps to increase relevancy in a way that no algorithm can match.

I expect to see many changes within Google, Yahoo, and MSN in upcoming years as they merge search engine technology with social search in order to make search results more relevant as well as personalized. One thing is clear, the future evolution of search is sure to be exciting to watch.

About The Author
Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews and SEO-News newsletters. You can contact Kim at: kim @ seo-news.com .

The School of link bait

2006-08-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Creating link bait, or Web content so compelling it spreads faster than a stomach flu on a cruise ship, is a lot like developing a sense of humor - or like figuring out when its okay to use a metaphor and a simile in the same sentence. Good link bait is not really something that can be taught, but that doesn't keep online marketers from trying to stuff the concepts into neat little boxes for analysis.

SearchEngineWatch's Danny Sullivan brings in heavy hitters Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz.org, Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide, and Cameron Olthuis of Advantage Consulting Services to help spread the gospel of viral marketing.

Fishkin begins the presentation with a baker's dozen of link bait steps (the entirety of which will be provided at the bottom of this article). As discussed before, Fishkin emphasizes the power of social networks, like Digg.com, Del.icio.us, and Slashdot, to overload your servers if just the right content tickles (or enrages) their respective fancies. Fishkin's overall message is akin to the Boy Scout motto: be prepared. Research, target, shoot, and wait.

Part of that social targeting may (and probably should) include setting up a blog. That doesn't mean just throwing it out there into the nebulous that is Blogspot, however. Fishkin advises to host the blog on your site instead.

When brainstorming about how to set up a viral campaign, he told the crowd to look at examples of "brilliant" ideas. Last year's round-and-round of the notorious GPS-enabled panties, which fooled even the Associated Press, comes to mind, as does the campaign's competitor CryingWhileEating.com.

Cameron Olthuis follows with a bit of reputation and buzz monitoring advice, as viral doesn't necessarily mean completely uncontrolled. Keep an eye on your brand through the blog search engines. Employ conversation tracking and message boards to track buzz about your campaign. He recommends Yahoo! Site Explorer, Google Trends, and Opinmind.

Whether what people are saying is good or bad, says Olthuis, "it's important to join the conversation."

Olthuis mentions the recent Mentos/Diet Coke ghettofied volcano demonstrations that made it from the Web to the Today Show and David Letterman. While Mentos, perhaps a bit hipper company, understood that the viral component of the event was a boon for the brand, Coca-Cola didn't like it one bit.

"It doesn't matter if it's good, bad, ugly, whatever," said Olthuis. "You've got to embrace [the buzz].

Laycock joins the conversation, warning that just "any [link bait or viral marketing] idea isn't going to do. It really has to be something worth talking about." It's also important to remember that it isn't always about sales. It's about brand awareness.

Whether or not Burger King's "Subservient Chicken," a webcam broadcast of a guy in a chicken suit and lingerie that responds to audience commands, sold more chicken is irrelevant, says Laycock. The site received hundreds of millions of visits.

A viral campaign can backfire. Depending on the nature of your business, the lack of brand control can come back to haunt you. General Motors knows from experience that giving free range to visitors to create online video ads for SUVs was a bad idea. Anti-SUV activists had a field day creating environmental promos.

The success of a viral campaign, says Laycock, is always in the hands of the consumer. Because of that, giving away products and services can be a good way to get started.

"Humor is probably the easiest way to get something to spread," she said.

Fishkin interjects to poop the party. "Humor can backfire," he said, "and so can controversy. I would stick to content if you're worried about safety."

So if you've made it this far, you may ask, "is there a right way to virally market?" Well, no. And yes. Well, there's definitely a wrong way anyway. Just to cover our bases, here's Fishkin's Guide to Link Baiting:

Step 1: Researching a Sector's Link-Worthiness

Step 2: Discovery of Big' Players in Your Field -- do a search at Technorati with your keywords.

Step 3: Targeting YDDS (Yahoo!, Digg, Del.icio.us/Popular, Slashdot

Step 4: Targeting Offline Media

Step 5: Selecting a Content Focus

Step 6: Melding Branding & Viral Elements

Step 7: Targeting Keywords/Search Traffic

Step 8: Look at Examples of Brilliants Ideas'

Step 9: The Value of a Web 2.0' Look & Feel - "The look and feel oftentimes is critical."

Step 10: Elements that Encourage Linking

Step 11: Pre-Launch Public Relations

Step 12: Managing Launch Traffic - "Be careful not to be suckered into a debate you don't really need to be part of."

Step 13: Continuing to Get Value from Linkbait -"Update it with timely information."

About the Author:
Jason is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Organic SEO What Does it Really Mean?

2006-07-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

When people refer to "organic SEO" (search engine optimization), they almost always use it as a blanket term to describe the unpaid, algorithm-driven results of any particular engine. However, a sophisticated search engine optimization company will often take the meaning of "organic" one step further. To such companies, the description of "organic SEO" is not limited to what shows up in the "natural" search engine results - it includes the methodologies used to achieve such rankings.

There's more than one way to skin a cat (although I must admit that I don't know the one way that everyone else presumably knows), and the same is true for achieving natural search engine results. A search engine optimization company usually falls into one of two camps. A "White Hat" search engine optimization company will use a largely content-based approach and will not violate the terms of service of the major search engines. A "Black Hat" search engine optimization company will use a largely technology driven approach and often ignore the terms of service. Neither approach is invalid (as I have said many times before, there is nothing illegal about violating a search engine's terms of service), and both can achieve high rankings. But a search engine optimization company that takes the word "organic" literally believes that the "Black Hat" approach is anything but "organic SEO."

Merriam Webster defines organic, in part, as "having the characteristics of an organism: developing in the manner of a living plant or animal." To a search engine optimization company, this definition accurately describes the approach taken to achieve long-lasting results in the "natural" section of search engines.

Below are just a few comparisons of the different approaches taken by the two types of SEO firms. I refer to the two approaches as "organic SEO" and "artificial SEO" for the sake of clarity.

Content vs. Technical Loopholes

There's an "old" saying in the SEO industry that "content is king." This is not necessarily true. In my experience, good content is king. Study after study has shown that when people use search engines, they are primarily seeking one thing: information. They are not seeking to be impressed by fancy flash sites. They are not looking for a virtual piece of art. A search engine optimization company that is truly practicing "organic SEO" recognizes this fact and will refuse SEO work when prospects insist that content addition is not an option. "Artificial SEO" firms, which embrace a technical loophole philosophy, will allow a company to leave its website exactly as it is, because the work that such firms do is by and large technical and is designed to trick the engine into showing content that it would not otherwise. Certainly, there are acceptable (from the engine's standpoint) technical aspects that any good search engine optimization company will use, such as relevant page titles and meta tags. But there are many more unacceptable technical methodologies than acceptable ones, including cloaking, redirects, multiple sites, keyphrase stuffing, hidden links, and numerous others. A company practicing "organic SEO" will avoid these.

Attracting Links vs. Linking Schemes

As any search engine optimization company knows, inbound links are critical to the success of an "organic SEO" campaign. But there are different ways to go about it. Firms that practice true "organic SEO" will look at the website itself and say "how can we make this site something that other sites would want to link to?" A search engine optimization company using "artificial SEO" will ask "how can I get links pointing to this site without adding anything of value to it?" The latter approach usually leads to reciprocal linking schemes, link farms, the purchase of text links, and more - anything save for making changes to the website that entice others to link to the site without the link being reciprocated, without paying the website owner, or without asking "pretty please."

There is a stark contrast between "organic SEO" and "artificial SEO." Of course, any decent search engine optimization company will make certain that a site is listed in all the popular directories, such as the Yahoo Directory, the Open Directory Project, and Business.com. A good search engine optimization company will also continually seek any industry specific directories where your site should be listed. But truly using "organic SEO" means evolving your site into something that holds actual value to your prospects. In my opinion, this is much more beneficial in the long run than the artificial methodology of trying to garner incoming links that the site does not truly deserve.

Creating a Valuable Resource vs. Algorithm Chasing

Search engines change algorithms frequently, and for two reasons. One is, of course, to improve their results based upon their most recent user studies. The other, which is obviously related, is to remove sites that are ranked artificially high. Such updates raise panic in the SEO community - particularly among "artificial SEO" practitioners who have just discovered that their most recent and cherished trick no longer works (and may have gotten their clients' sites removed from the engines altogether). It is not uncommon on the search engine forums to see the owner of such a search engine optimization company threatening to "sue Google" over a recent update. Not uncommon, but always amusing.

There is, with only a few exceptions, a common denominator in the websites that remain highly ranked throughout these algorithm shifts. They offer something of value to their visitors and are considered a resource for their industry. "Organic SEO" practitioners generally do not have to worry about going back and redoing work because of an algorithm shift. While an "artificial" search engine optimization company desperately tries to re-attain the rankings it lost for its clients (or to get the sites re-included in the search engine at all) because it was dependent on technical loopholes that have now been closed, "organic SEO" firms continue adding valuable content to a site, strengthening its value and bolstering its rankings.

A common argument from companies when advised by "organic SEO" practitioners to take this approach is "we aren't trying to provide a resource for our industry - we are trying to sell products or services." This is, in my opinion, shortsighted. Remember, you are trying to reach prospects in all stages of the buying cycle, not just the low hanging fruit ready to buy now. Let your website be their resource to learn about your industry, rather than your overpaid salesperson. Prospects are very likely to call you when they are ready to buy - after all, you've done so much for them already!

In addition, taking advantage of "organic SEO" to make your website an industry resource provides a tremendous natural boost to your rankings for your individual product or service pages. This means that with "organic SEO", you'll get the best of both worlds. You'll reach people early in the buying cycle, educate them, and steer them toward your solution by using your website instead of your salës personnel. You will also reach the low hanging fruit because your individual product or service pages, which are intended for people who are ready to buy now, will get a significant rankings boost.

Learning from Engines vs. Learning How to Exploit Them

As I have said many times before, search engines conduct very expensive and frequent studies on what their users want to see when they enter search queries. Obviously, no company has a more vested interest in serving up the type of results that their users want than the engines themselves. "Organic SEO" firms will take the "piggyback" approach. A search engine optimization company that uses "organic SEO" will try to learn what the results of these studies were by examining the sites that figure prominently in search engine results over long periods of time. In this way, the search engine optimization company is using "organic SEO" to make the website not only better for search engines, but also for the user- presumably, the engine's internal research has shown that these sites have what their users have consistently desired, study after study. "Artificial SEO" practitioners have no real interest in these studies- they are instead expending a great deal of energy finding the next technical loophole to exploit after their most recent one has failed.

The latter approach can make results erratic, but it also raises a largër issue - the goal of the campaign. If an "artificial" search engine optimization company finds a temporary loophole in an algorithm that brings your site to the top, but does not take the time to delve into the user experience once a user gets to the site, it will defeat the original purpose. You may get plenty of visitors, but a large percentage of these will be short-term visitors who do not find what they want on your site and back out without a second thought. The search engine optimization company did not "piggyback" on the engines' research to learn what type of content users wanted to see when they entered their query.

"Organic" Revisited (AKA "one step too far")

A search engine optimization company that takes a true "organic SEO" approach will actually take the Merriam Webster definition literally. A good website does have the characteristics of an organism and does develop in the manner of a living plant or animal. It builds upon itself. It learns how it should behave for its own benefit. Most importantly, it establishes its territory at the top of the search engine results. And as the organism thrives, artificial machine after machine fades into obsolescence.

About The Author
Scott Buresh is managing partner of Medium Blue Search Engine Marketing, an Atlanta-based company that works with clients all over North America. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including SiteProNews, ZDNet, WebProNews, MarketingProfs, DarwinMag, PromotionData, Search Engine Guide, and SEO Today

Search Engine Promotion:No Strategy. No Success.

2006-07-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

Whether you're planning the launch of your first site, or wondering why your site counter is actually moving backward, stop. You need a strategy to promote your site to search engines and to visitors. A plan of action based on five key factors, all of which should be weighed carefully before you take another step. Here are the five, most important considerations in the development of any search engine promotion.
1. The Site's Objectives

What are your expectations for the website? These will usually point you to the site's objectives. In the case of commercial sites, the broad objective is straightforward � to sell enough goods and/or services to become profitable.

However, you might also want to educate, motivate, persuade and inform in addition to, or instead of, selling. A top-down analysis of your site's objectives is the place to start the development of your action plan.

Once you've determined the site's objectives, keep them front and center during the entire development of an SE promo strategy. It's important that any search engine understand your site's objectives on the very first spider visit.

2. Market Analytics

Essential. Who are you trying to reach � your salës demographic? What do the members of your demographic need? How do they make purchase decisions? Are they computer savvy? Critical to the design and implementation of a search engine promo strategy is to know your market.

And the best place to learn is from the competition. Pull a Google on the competition to see how the successful sites do it. Perfectly ethical and a measurable, absolute guide to what works and what doesn't.

But you can't stop there. Market metrics are also a part of a successful promo strategy. The development of multi-dimensional metrics will be useful in virtually every step of the design, development and SE optimization phases. There are plenty of metrics software packs on the market. Some are even free.

The problem with these number crunchers is simple: all they do is provide the raw data. Number of hits. Average number of pages viewed. Ratio of visitors to buyers. Just stats, not strategy

Analytics gathered using a variety of apps and tools must be properly correlated and analyzed to develop an effective search engine promotion. It's not enough to have the data. You must interpret the numbers in order to take actionable steps.

3. Techno-Factors

An over-achieving website doesn't just happen. It must be crafted. It requires highly-specialized knowledge of everything from HTML, SEO and CSS to human nature and purchase motivators.

Search engines spider sites in a variety of ways. The simpler and clearer your site is to an SE spider, the greater the likelihood that your site will be assessed and ranked properly. Conversely, if the technical design of your site isn't dead on for search engine spiders, a site may be mis-indexed or even banned from SEs altogether for what spiders perceive as black hat tactics, though it's simply inept (and therefore costly) programming. You might as well hang out the 'Going Out Of Business' sign.

Techno-factors come into play during the design phase, the development and testing phases and after the site's launch when refinement, optimization, content updates and routine site maintenance are undertaken.

Any well-considered strategy must provide the means to design (or redesign) the site, develop it, promote it to the SEs and optimize it over time. Search engine promotion and site optimization aren't goals. They're part of the process.

4. Plan Your Presentation Layer

Once the technical aspects of the site have been incorporated into your promo strategy, turn your attention to the presentation layer. The presentation layer can make or break a site, regardless of how well-designed the technical structure supporting the site's skin.

Navigation should be simple. Buttons and links clearly labeled. The user should always be able to go 'Home' from any page. Check-out should be clear, uncluttered and instill buyer confidence. A site map is useful to visitors and SE spiders. Anything less will hurt the bottom line.

The site skin also presents the look, feel and tone of your on-line enterprise. Stately and dignified, WiLd & KraZy, helpful and concerned � all determined by the look of the site. Color combinations, type font and size, type placement and the tone of the content make up your public persona.

And the skin is spidered right along with the back office so it should appeal to eyeballs and make spiders happy, as well. Header placement, number of headers above the fold, keyword density and other SE search parameters must be fine-tuned for successful search engine promotion.

5. Promotion and Optimization

Once you've gone live with your site, you've only just begun. The world of ecommerce is fast-paced and cutthroat. And if you don't promote your site to search engines and to potential buyers your chances for success diminish accordingly.

Today, site success depends on promotion - search engine promotion and eyeball promotion. You can promote on a shoestring or you can launch a pedal-to-the-metal campaign with banner ads, Google Adwords, links building and opt-ín cultivation. If you aren't SEO-experienced, you'll be best served by professionals who can track site activity, develop useful metrics and devise and implement a strategy for improved site perförmance.

The same goes for the process of optimization. Sites must be search engine optimized and conversion optimized � two very different things. Much of SEO takes place behind the scenes. That's why it's essential that you use SEO pros to actually build your site. This is not where you can cut a few corners.

Then there's conversion optimization � converting visitors to buyers. Most of this takes place at the presentation level. Does the site meet or exceed the visitor's expectations? You have 6.4 seconds to convince a visitor to explore your site. That's how much time web users devote to site evaluation.

DYI or Go With The Pros?

94% of all ecommerce ventures tank. Down in flames. Many of these failures are based on poor business models, but just as many are due to poor site design, lack of SE recognition, an off-putting presentation layer or a home page that looks like a carnival midway.

If you're a start-up and you don't know much about SEO and SE promotion, do not let your teen-aged nephew design your site. And if you're the owner of an underperforming site and you can't figure out why, don't waste your time tweaking. You're losing salës every day.

If you know ecommerce, develop a strategy that encompasses all five of these critical facets. If you don't know ecommerce, hire somebody to do it for you.

It's the best monëy you'll ever spend.

About The Author
Frederick Townes is the owner of W3 EDGE Web Design. W3 EDGE is a Boston web design and Internet Marketing company that provides bleeding-edge web development solutions and marketing services to help you make the most of your online presence. You can contact him at their Boston office at 1-617-375-6134 or via email at ftownes@w3-edge.com.

Grand Slam SEO! Can My Site Rank Well on all Four Major Engines?

2006-07-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

One of the most frequently asked questiôns readers and clients ask, revolves around how websites can be best optimized to meet the algorithmic needs of each of the major 4 search engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Though there have been wide sweeping changes in the organic search engine landscape over the past six months, the fundamental ways search engines operate remains the same.

This question, or variants on it, reflects a shared notion among some webmasters that SEO driven placements at one search engine might come at the expense of high rankings across the other search engines. As the thinking goes, the techniques used to make a well optimized website rank well at Google might somehow prevent that same site from achieving high rankings at Yahoo, MSN and/or Ask. Alternately, webmasters and advertisers who already have great placements at Google but not at the others appear wary of sacrificing their Google rankings in pursuit of higher placements on Yahoo, MSN or Ask.

The differences between how each engine works appears to be causing a bit of confusion among webmasters and search marketers, especially regarding how to optimize well for all four at the same time.

Techniques that work on one engine might not work as well on another. In some extreme cases, techniques that work brilliantly with old school engines like MSN and Ask, and even with the invigorated Yahoo, are a kin to a kiss of death on Google.

There is one search engine friendly site design and optimization philosophy that works, almost every time, without fail. Good content, smart networking, and persistence over time. A well constructed website, or one that has been treated by a good search engine optimizer, should be able to rank well on all major search engines, provided that site has useful, relevant information to express.

Questiôns about ranking well on all four engines brings up some of the basic differences between the major search engines and, in light of so much change in the sector over the past few months, a look at what search engines look at, and how they do it seems in order.

There are a lot of differences between the major search engines but, by and large, they all gather information the same way. Each major search engine uses unique spider agents known as Googlebot, Slurp (Yahoo/Inktomi), Ask.com/Teoma, and MSNbot, (updated l¡st @ Wikipedia ), that find information by following links from document to document across the web. Spiders are designed to revisit sites on a semi-regular basis as well, though they often hit the index (or home) page more often than other pages. Spiders do tend to dig deeper looking for changes to internal documents based on changes to the index (or home) page. This allows the engines to maintain rapidly updating versions of the web, or parts of the web, in separate proprietary databases.

Each search database has its own characteristics and most importantly, each engine has its own algorithms for sorting and ranking web documents.

Getting information into those databases is the first stage of SEO. The site needs to be constructed (or reconstructed) in such a way as to allow search spiders to easily read and absorb the information and content contained on them.

Assuming realistic expectations and goal setting are already part of the equation, the success or failure of any multi-engine optimization campaign is dependent on the type of site being marketed, as much as it depends on methods and techniques used to market it. If the ultimate goal is strong search engine placements across all major search engines, a few compromises in style might be a temporary necessity in order to expose the great content and reap the rewards of multiple rankings.

Before beginning the building or construction of a site, having a working knowledge of the major on and off-site elements each search engine looks at when examining and evaluating a site and its contents is a key starting point.

There are two overarching areas all search engines examines when ranking a web document or site known as "on-page? and "off-page". As their names indicate, search engines examine factors and elements that occur on the document or site in question as well as factors and elements occurring on other documents and sites related by links or by topical theme.

While the search algorithms of each engine might differ in the number of factors found on or off page and the overall importance of those factors, they all examine generally similar sets of data when deciding which should rank where in relation to whatever search-queries are entered.

For example, Google loves links, as does Yahoo, MSN and to a lesser degree, Ask. MSN and Ask are considered to be old school search engines, allowing simpler SEO techniques to work quite well, as they still do with Yahoo.

On-page factors are generally found in one of four areas, Titles, Tags, Text and Structure, while off-page elements tend to involve links, locality, search-user behaviours and the performänce of competing sites.

Here is a thumbnail breakdown the most important factors each search engine considers, roughly laid-out in order of importance

Google: Incoming Links, On-page SEO, Site Design Spiderability, User analytics, Outgoing links, Inclusion in other Google indexes, Document Histories

Yahoo: On-page SEO, Links and Link Patterns, Site Design, User analytics, Inclusion in other Yahoo indexes, Document Footprints

MSN: On-page SEO, Site Design and Structure and Sipderability

Ask: On-page SEO, Site Design, Site Structure and Spiderability

Because Google drives approximately 50% of all organic search träffic, SEOs, webmasters, and search advertisers tend to be most concerned with Google placements. When planning a search optimization campaign, whether for a new site or in the redevelopment of an existing site, building around Google's needs is obviously the most logical path. It is also a smart way to find your way into the other search engines. Though each of the rival engines want to present the best possible results, Google's algorithms account for quality scoring to a deeper degree than the others do. In other words, if your site meets Google's various tests, it will likely meet those of the other engines.
Google puts an enormous wëight on its evaluation of the network of links leading to and out from every web document in its index. Most, if not all, documents found in Google's index got there because Google's spider Googlebot found it by following an inbound link. Because its ranking algorithm is so heavily link dependent, Google is frequently forced to tinker with how it evaluates links, a process that generates a score known as PageRank. The basic wisdom on links says that incoming links from topically relevant sites are beneficial while those placed in order to get a better ranking at Google are not. Google also examines links on a document or site that are directed towards other sites in order to gauge if a webmaster is trying to game it or not by participating in link-networking schemes. To one degree or another, the three other major search engines do this as well, though MSN and Ask are not known for using link analysis as a wëighty measure of site or document relevancy. Yahoo most certainly does. Link analysis is used to determine the seriousness and credibility of a web document by comparing it with other documents it is associated with.

Once a document exists in a search engine database, several on-page factors are examined. The engines tend to examine several elements of any particular document and the sites they are associated with including title, meta tags (in some cases), body text and other content, and internal site structure.

The key to providing search spiders with a strong on-page experience lies in presenting search spiders with a well designed, topically focused site. Again, remember the four basic on-page areas; titles, tags, text and site structure, creating documents that are friendly to all four search engines is not terribly difficult.

There are a few easy tips that should be kept in mind though. New websites should always introduce themselves to the search engines with very focused content expressed on a very basic site structure. Adding content as time goes forward is a much better way to feed search spiders than giving them a site that is already full of information. Search engines, especially Yahoo and Google, appreciate fresh content and can be "invited" back to a site again and again when new material is added.

Webmasters with pre-existing websites enjoying great rankings in one place but seeing sub-standard rankings in others should take a step back and re-evaluate the overall theme presented by the documents that make up their sites. In a technically perfect world, the most relevant and topical documents would reach the top of the rankings. As the search engines really are striving for a measure of technical perfection, ensuring your documents are tightly and topically focused is essential.

For those who have lost position at Google but not at the other search engines recently, chêck your link networks for undesirable connections. Good placement at MSN, Ask and Yahoo but sub-standard placement at Google is almost always a signal that some links going to or coming from your site have raised questiôns at Google. You should also chêck the content your site carries to be sure it is (as much as possible), original and not simply a copy of content found on other sites.

In the end, the best practices tend to wìn with the major search engines. A good website or document should be able to place well across all four engines at the same time, provided the webmaster or SEO specialist takes time to follow SEO best practices.

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 oppörtunity to share his experience through interviews, articles and speaking engagements. He can be reached at jimhedger@stepforth.com.

Are Made for AdSense Sites Ruining Search Results?

2006-07-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

It's happened to you. You've searched for something on Google and several promising results appear. You clíck on a link, but when you get to the site all you see are a few ads and nothing even remotely close to what you searched for. So you go back to the search results and try again, only it happens again and again until you finally find a page with some decent content...or frustration sets in and you give up all together.
Why does this happen? How come in this day and age Google can't give you the results you're looking for? A large part of the answer is the growing number of made for AdSense (MFA) sites on the web today. MFA sites are designed for the sole purpose of getting you to clíck on a Google AdSense advertisement.

Define Made for AdSense

A site is made for AdSense if its sole purpose is to get users to clíck on AdSense ads. Its owners don't intend that users will learn from its content or participate in a community. All that they want is for them to clíck on an ad.

A site is NOT made for AdSense if its primary purpose is to provide unique content and the site owner decides to keep their content free by displaying advertisements, AdSense or other. This has been going on for years - television, newspapers, and magazines all generate revenue with advertisements. The difference is that the advertisements supplement the content of the show or article. The same applies for the web. If you have a news site or a forum, placing ads on your site does not make it a made for AdSense site.

Why Do People Make MFA Sites?

The thing with MFA sites is that they work. The overwhelming majority of the population has no clue what Google AdSense is and doesn't understand that Google and the site owner make monëy when they clíck on an ad. By placing these ads in locations that people tend to focus on (Google gives you examples of locations that result in the highest click-through), it's inevitable that a certain percentage of visitors will click on the ads - either intentionally or unintentionally.

Site owners make anywhere from five cents to several dollars per clíck (revenue is split between them and Google) depending on the industry. Big deal right? If you convert 5% of users into clicks and you make 10 cents a clíck, you're only making 50 cents for every hundred visitors to your site. Well if you make a thousand MFA sites and each gets two hundred visitors a day, you are making a cool $1,000/day

Smart MFA site owners design sites with keywords that advertisers pay more than the standard 20 cents or 30 cents. They design sites with "content" about lawyers and car companies that purchase AdWords advertisements that cost several dollars a clíck. Re-do that calculation with five dollars a clíck instead of 10 cents and your jaw will drop.

How do they get their traffïc? In addition to using conventional white hat SEO methods (like unique content and link building), many of these sites shamelessly also take advantage of keyword stuffing and cloaking - tactics that are considered unethical and are against Google's terms of service. Many also get their clicks in unethical ways - either by clicking on ads themselves or by employing bots to automatically clíck. This is called clíck fraud and is also against Google's terms of service.

Who Gets Hurt?

Some would argue that no one is getting hurt by "tricking" people into clicking. Hey they're not getting charged anything. No, but some advertiser is. Some business that's pouring their hard earned monëy into Google AdWords to attract targeted visitors to their site. Instead they end up paying for accidental clicks.

You (the searcher) also get hurt by getting less than optimal results. Imagine an internet where these sites didn't exist. You might actually have a chance at finding what you're looking for on the first try. That would save you some time that I'm sure you'd be glad to have.

Should Google Do Something About It?

Everyone's first thought is "Google could stop it if they tried." In reality, probably not. Regardless of the talent they recruit, there are literally hundreds of thousands of people trying to figure out a work around. As Seth Jayson recently said in his article about the same topic entitled "How Google is Killing the Internet" "I think when you pit a few hundred Google Smarty Pantses -- who are getting fat on stöck options and gourmet meals at the Big Goo campus -- against many thousand enterprising schemers on the Internet, the battle will go to those hungry schemers every time."

Google does have a system in place to reduce clíck fraud and are always improving their algorithm to rid their results of sites that practice cloaking, keyword stuffing, and other black hat SEO techniques. Unfortunately, it's probably not enough.

The largër (and much scarier) question is whether or not Google wants to do something about it. For the time being, they stand to make a ton of monëy off of MFA sites. Until Google starts to see a negative impact from MFA sites there's really no reason for them to rush to do anything about it. Say Yahoo! all of a sudden came up with a way to identify and block MFA sites and provided better search results because of it, Google may be threatened by the potential (or actual) loss of search percentage. But until that happens I wouldn't expect Google to do much more than they are right now.

What Can You Do?

There's no doubt that MFA sites have clogged up the web with thousands of worthless pages. The best way to reduce the number of made for AdSense sites is probably to do something about it yourself. If you advertise on Google AdWords, don't allow Google to display your ads on their content network (AdSense sites). As an internet user, you can educate others about MFA sites and encourage them not to clíck on ads. It may not seem like much, but all of those clicks add up - just ask someone who owns a made for AdSense site.

About The Author
Adam McFarland owns iPrioritize - the efficient way to get organized. iPrioritize is the next evolution of líst making. We take your pen and paper líst and turn it into a live líst that can be edited at any time from any place in the world. We make it easy for you to email and print your líst, subscribe to your líst via RSS, share your líst with others, and chëck your líst on your mobile phone.

10 Essential Blogging Tools

2006-06-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

So, you finally decided to take the blog leap. You've heard all about the marketing and search benefits so you stepped up to the plate and signed up for a TypePad, MovableType or WordPress blog software package and now you're a blogger.

Okay, now what? Add the ten essential blogging tools listed below and you will also be well on your way to creating and promoting a blog that is a powerful marketing tool. I'll explain the use of the tool and offer some suggestions, including the tools I use on my own blogs including the DuctTapeMarketing blog.

Feed Reader

The best way to learn about blogs and blogging is to read, or at least scan, lots of blogs. One of the wonders of blogs is that you can have every new post from every blog you want to read delivered to your desktop or to online location via RSS, so you can easily read and scan the posts of many blogs in a very short time. Newsgator is a good online choice for feed reading and also has a version that integrates with Outlook. I use a frëe online service known as Bloglines.

Subscriber Center

You need to make it easy for your blog visitors to subscribe to your blog's RSS feed � so they can read your blog in their favorite feed reader. The best way to do this is to go to FeedBurner and burn your own RSS feed there and use the tools they provide to set up automatic subscriber links so people who want to use Bloglines, Google Reader, MyYahoo or Pluck, for instance, can clíck on one button to subscribe. Tech types can figure this out without the buttons but why not make it easy for anyone to figure out.

Side note: Subscribe to each of these yourself and you will force some blog spiders to visit your site.

Email Subscription Option

A lot of people will nevër get the whole feed thing, but everyone gets email. Create an option for people to subscribe by giving you their email address � they will simply receive your blog posts like an email message. FeedBurner offers this service for frëe. FeedBlitz is another option or, if you already have an autoresponder email list service they may offer this service. AWeber offers this and helps me integrate these blog email subscribers into my other mailing lists.
Blog and RSS directories

There are hundreds of blog and RSS directories and getting listed in many can be a good thing. I use a piece of software called RSS Submit , but you can also visit Robin Goode's frequently updated list and submit your blog and feed by hand.

Hint: Subscribe to the RSS feed he offers and you will be notified when new directories are added.

Ping Service

Pinging is a term used for letting the various blog and RSS directories know when you have posted new content. Again, FeedBurner offers this as an automatic option called PingShot and you should activate it. PingGoat and Ping O Matic are other options but they require that you visit and update your record each time you post new content. Bookmark Manager

As you surf around the web or hop from blog to blog you may find sites that you want to point out to your readers. Online bookmark managers allow you to bookmark and categorize web and blog pages as you collect them and are a great tool for managing all of the stuff you find on the web. I use del.icio.us but BlinkList does a fine job as well.

Blog Stats

I like to track a few key stats in real time because it shows what other blogs might be linking to you or posting about your blog. A lot of people just like to track this kind of thing for fun and frequently visit sites like Technorati. I like to track it for networking opportunities. I use a tool called MyBlogLog because it allows me to see where traffïc is coming from but also tracks what links on my blog visitors are clicking on. It's amazing how this data can help you write more effectively. (MyBlogLog also ranks your links so visitors can see which links on your site are the most popular.)

Desktop Posting

With most blog software you must go online and post using a set of tools provided by the blog software. Many bloggers like to use a desktop application to create and submit their posts as it gives them some extra tools and allows them to more easily integrate content and files on their computer.

I use w.blogger but also like Performancing, Qumana and ecto (apple folks) (w.blogger also doubles as a really simple HTML editor.)

Tell A Friend Script

My blog software (pMachine) has a feature that allows a reader to clíck a link and send the post to a friend. This tactic brings me lots of readers. You might try looking here for some simple scripts that do that same: http://www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/tellafriend.shtml
http://www.stadtaus.com/en/php_scripts/tell_a_friend_script/

Republish Your Feed Headlines

The ability to republish your blog posts on other web pages, sites you own or sites of strategic partners is a great way to expose folks to your blog content. One more time we turn to FeedBurner for a painless way to republish your blog post to any web page you choose with something they call BuzzBoost.

About The Author
John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson - due out in the fall of 2006. He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com.

Organic SEO - The New Messiah For Webmasters

2006-06-15T06:34:00.000-07:00

Organic SEO seems to be the catch phrase of the moment. However, unlike many other linking tactics and strategies, this one actually works.
What is Organic SEO or Organic Search Engine Optimization?

Explained simply, it's where all your linking structures originate from the content up - in other words, you let all your content created for your sites, blogs and articles do your link building for you.

Actually, the answer is as simple as this article. You're probably experiencing one of the best examples of Organic SEO right this moment by reading this article. Article marketing is pure Organic SEO. You let your article and your author's resource box build one-way links from related niche sites back to your site.

But the keyword is content. You must create high quality original content for this system to really develop and flourish. The better the content, the faster your rankings and traffïc will grow. By producing valuable content in articles, sites and blogs, you are building real traffïc and real links that the search engines salivate over. And they will reward your site with higher rankings and even more traffïc.

Try Article Writing...

Frankly, I was rather surprised at the effectiveness of article writing. It seems like such a benevolent little creature. You write about your own experiences on the subject of your site or blog, keeping your articles short, around 500 to 800 words, although some of my best performing articles have been longer, about 900 to 1200 words.

I have only written about 60 articles. But the benefits have been enormous; spreading my content all over the web and building one-way links back to my sites and blogs. Some of these articles like the ones in Addme.com or Webpronews.com get archived and will provide good deep PR links for years to come.
There are a few techniques I use to extend the effectiveness of my articles. First, I always start with a keyword or keyword phrase that I want to target with a particular article. I do major, major, major research on my article's keywords, using sites like nichebot.com, overture.com, and a few others.

I chëck how much competition there is for the keywords. Combining a new keyword with ones you already have positioned high for in the search engines works well. For example, I have optimized my site for the keyword 'Frëe', it appears throughout my site. When I introduce a new keyword phrase I sometimes combine it with Frëe. Pick the right keyword combination and you will gain an edge over your competition more quickly.

Always put your keyword phrase into the title of your article. I also make it a habit of not picking the top keywords in a niche, I go for middle ranked keywords - I am better assured that I will rank on the first page SERPs for these lower keywords. Why waste valuable time shooting for the stars when you can easily land on the moon!

I submit my articles mainly to a short list of online article directories ( ezinearticles.com, buzzle.com, isnare.com, goarticles.com, ideamarketers.com, and articlealley.com ) these work the best for me. These sites rank well in the search engines and even though the surfer may go to another site to read your article first, it then delivers a much more warmed up and targeted visitor to your own site.

Other webmasters from your niche will pick up your high quality articles and place them on their sites. Organically growing more related one-way links to your site. Google looks very favorably on these one-way links and will reward your site for having them.

Article marketing is one Organic SEO tactic every website should be using. Instead of paying high prices for seo services, why not write or hire someone to create keyword rich articles for your site. The benefits will surprise you.

Try Blogging...

Blogs are another förm of Organic SEO. It also builds links and traffïc to your site the natural way - by providing valuable content.

For those marketers and webmasters who practice Organic SEO, the frëe blogging systems are a godsend. A skilled marketer can legitimately use these online blogging programs to boost their site's rankings, traffïc and income. What more can any online marketer or webmaster ask for?

I use numerous blogs to complement my sites. I base these blogs on the major keywords of my sites. For example, one section on my main Internet Marketing site examines laptop computers, I created a blog with Bloglines.com covering the same topic. Although all the content is different from what you will find on my main site.

I also use Blogger.com because it's owned by Google and is very simple to use. I find posting my weekly ezine on Blogger adds another way I can get my message out to my subscribers. Not to mention, all the linking and pinging a blog brings into play.

I also use the open source software and system, WordPress for another of my blogs on marketing. This is a php database supported program that was a lot less easier to set up on my site than I first expected. It's one of the best blogging systems I have worked with and is highly favored by the search engines. If you're not using it - try it.

In addition, I have just started using LiveJournal for another blog and that system is also very easy to use. I usually post to my blogs once or twice a week, just short helpful tips or links that a visitor or search engine would be interested in. Keep in mind, all these frëe blogging sites are PR9 or PR10, which has to count for something.

Sp@m has become a problem with many of these blogging systems, I now usually block all comments or moderate them. All this sp@m just goes to show how effective getting links in related blogs can bolster your rankings for competitive keywords.

I have found blogging to be a very effective tool for getting your keywords indexed and ranked very quickly. I also like to use blogs for those golden double-header listings in the SERPs, preferably at the number 1 and 2 spots! That's where you get two listings from your site for a certain keyword on the first page, this I find, brings in a lot more traffïc than a single listing.

In art there is something called the Golden Section, a perfect proportion that works magic into any painting or picture. It is an organic and natural effect that appears everywhere in our world. For webmasters, having your site listed 1 and 2 for your keywords has to be another förm of the Golden Section, made especially for us.

In that same light, Organic SEO is a natural and effective way for webmasters to grow their links and rankings. Articles and blogs are two special tools we can use to further that natural growth. Create your own Golden Section and give the search engines something to talk about by trying Organic SEO. Build your links and rankings the natural way.

Your site's salvation is only a keystroke away!

About The Author
Titus Hoskins owns and runs numerous sites on the web. To receive more useful marketing tips to promote your site and to increase your salës Clíck Here: http://www.bizwaremagic.com. Or grab his popular List Building eCourse at: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/opt-in.htm.
� 2006. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Internet Marketing

2006-06-08T04:16:00.000-07:00

This change is permanent: Marketing your website without taking advantage of RSS feeds will be the biggest mistake you can make in 2006 and beyond.

Microsoft is unleashing a new OS (Vista) that will plug into the web via RSS in a very profound way. If you haven't been keeping up on Vista (formerly Longhorn) developments because you thought it was of no consequence to you as a marketer, think twice.

Vista will revolutionize the way everyone syndicates their content and markets their websites forever.

RSS is fast becoming the backbone of the web. Sites are organically syndicating content around the web through RSS search engines like this one: http://rssfeeds.contentdesk.com.

Feeds in RSS directories then get picked up by publishers looking for good headline content for their sites.

The major search engines also pick up those feed listings and often discover new sites and spider them faster than any other förm of content syndication including articles and press releases!

How To Create A Feed For Your Site

First off, if you are not blogging, you need to. Every type of site imaginable can produce a relevant blog with topics related to your main content.

It doesn't matter if you simply sell furniture on your site - you need a blog!

Imagination is all that is required to create a blog featuring the almighty promotion power of an RSS feed. In the furniture example you can blog about interior design and any number of topics.

Notice that the big sites (that were formerly simple shopping cart sites with little content) are now putting up articles and blogging about the topics surrounding their products.

They are not stupid. They know that creating content and feeding it around the web is a major traffïc source and they've been switching to richer content models for well over a year en masse.

Most any major shopping site you land on nowadays has rich content somewhere on the site. And they have a feed their visitors can subscribe to and that they can market with.

For the smaller mom and pop shop, a Wordpress blog is all you need to plug into the RSS world and fill your site with rich content (not just product descriptions and salës letters) that the engines are looking for, as well as the major part of your market who want more information before making purchases.

A review site is a very popular model. Lots of surfers want to read about 3rd party experiences with products before deciding on purchases.

Again, this model is not new and it is not an afterthought marketing ploy. It is major business to the sites who have mastered the art of filling direct salës sites and shopping cart-run sites with deep content.

With Microsoft Vista, all PC users are going to be able to detect feeds on every site they visit and subscribe to those feeds.

Very soon the days of "Give me your email address and other private information" will be a thing of the past.

Smart marketers are going to adopt the RSS information delivery model because surfers will quickly begin to ignore email subscription forms while looking for the simple and completely anonymous RSS subscription model.

So if you haven't started planning a marketing campaign utilizing RSS delivery of newsletters and updates over email, you had better get started understanding RSS and its eventual replacement of the traditional email list.

Critical mass tolerance of sp@m and giving out email addresses has been reached in all markets. Only in very tight niches in special circumstances where there is instant trust and credibility conveyed by a site will you find decent optín rates.

Everywhere else the optín rate for any kind of email notification list is at rock bottom. Add to that a dismal delivery ratio of emails due to overzealous, catch-all sp@m filters from the ISP to the user level, and the writing is on the wall: email is on its way out as a viable tool for a successful marketing campaign.

The change is happening now and it will be permanent. RSS will eclipse email lists and it will be the new defacto method of content syndication around the web by the end of 2006.

Tracking what your RSS subscribers clíck on and do through your RSS feeds is the problem many geeks are working on now. We will soon have more accurate and more in-depth tracking available through RSS subscription and syndication than we currently have with email marketing.

Once marketers feel comfortable that they haven't lost any tracking ability that we currently enjoy with email, the game will quickly accelerate into a whole new type of competition for eyeballs. Watch also for a whole slew of new marketing courses and materials that teach how to dominate a niche with RSS marketing rather than email marketing.

"Growing Your List" and "Syndicating Your Content" is going to be done by RSS more and more by regular website owners as this year progresses. That includes your competition! Vista will be a massive feed detector/reader available to all PC users very soon.

This means that you can have a feed on your site for visitors to subscribe to, or you can see for yoursëlf how many of your visitors choose to ignore your email subscription förm and your content because you are not Web 2.0 enough for them.

So, are you set to take advantage of RSS as the impending dominant tool in your marketing campaign?

About The Author
Jack Humphrey is a professional website promotion consultant and writes for The Friday Traffïc Report on marketing with RSS and other internet marketing topics, available at http://fridaytrafficreport.jackhumphrey.com.

Google spread sheet no excel killer

2006-06-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

News stories and blog posts have begun to fill with the carillon of funeral bells for Microsoft as Google readies its minimalist spreadsheet program for public debut.

Here is a selection of eye-catching headlines seen online about the pending debut of Google Spreadsheet from the search engine company:

Google adds web-based spreadsheet to Microsoft woes

Google Spreadsheets takes aim at Excel

Google unveiling Excel competitor

Coming soon: Google Spreadsheet. @SUM(trouble) for Microsoft's bottom line?

Microsoft has been having plenty of trouble on its own, between delays in releasing the Vista operating system and being forced to change some unpopular policies with its human resources processes. Now we have the image of a Google monster stalking the P&L statements of Microsoft while wearing a bladed glove and a red-and-black sweater.

"Mr. Ballmer, your 9 am with Mr. Englund from Google is here."

While the threat that is Google Spreadsheets does have some stylish good looks, as far as we can tell from the limited screenshots that appear in its sneak peek, there's one thing that the product definitely isn't, and that's Excel.

What Google Spreadsheets presents is a way to craft a multi-columned list of information, and a way to easily share that list with others. The service has not been activated yet to allow for a closer look at its formulas, though a link to them appears at the top of a spreadsheet.

A tabbed interface will let the user switch between formatting the spreadsheet, sorting the information, and accessing those formulas. Google also included the ability to invite other people to view a created spreadsheet or to edit it in real time with an accompanying chat window running.

The service supports Microsoft IE 6 as well as Firefox 1.07 and up on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. Browser-based access over the web enables the ability to edit a spreadsheet created on Google's service from multiple computers.

That remote accessibility probably precludes the service from being used on an enterprise level. The ever-present threat of Sarbanes-Oxley regulations would be cause for lots of uncomfortable audit questions should someone decide that storing information at Google doesn't satisfy SOX requirements.

Google Spreadsheets looks interesting, and we're looking forward to playing with it when Google starts inviting people into the controlled beta. But without advanced features like macros or pivot tables, Google's newest Lab experiment just isn't close to Microsoft Excel.

About the Author:
David is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

How to Choose Colors for Your Web Site

2006-06-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

Color can have a profound impact on your prospective buyers. The wrong colors can negatively impact your sales, while the right colors can trigger positive emotions motivating your visitors to buy from you.

Color can affect how we feel and influence what we think. In general, bright bold colors tend to stir us up, while the softer pastel colors calm and relax us. Responses to colors can vary by age, gender and cultural background.

Colors will affect how a potential buyer reacts to your web site. Carefully select your color scheme for your web site, web header, and ebook cover. Here are some guidelines to help you make good color choices. Bear in mind that these are guidelines, and that there are no hard and fast rules. Just use common sense. * Consider your audience. For example, if your web site primarily targets men, then you will want to use strong, bold colors. If your target audience is women, then choose soft, pastel colors. If your focus is on children, choose bright, vibrant colors.

* Choose colors that are appropriate for your web site's topic. For example, green may work well for web sites about starting a home business, making money, and reducing debt.

* Keep the number of colors down to two or three, and no more. This does not include photographs which can have a whole range of colors.

* Make sure that all of the colors you use work well together and do not clash.

* Communicate your message with easy-to-read text. Use colors for your text that contrast with the background color so your text is readable. For example, a dark font on a light background is easy to read.

* Consider the mood you want to create. Remember that emotions trigger sales. People buy what they want - not what they need. The list below will show you how colors can affect us in different ways.

Red - Action, energy, strength, passion, fire, heat, power, attention-getting. Can also mean love and romance. A strong masculine color. Red is a good color for a call-to-action. Red is cheerfulness, excitement, and warmth. Pink is a soft version of red. It is most associated with romance, calming affect; a feminine color.

Blue - Confidence, travel, freedom, truth, professionalism, wealth and power. Also tranquility, dependable, acceptance, patience, understanding, cooperation, comfort, loyalty and security. It is one of the most calming colors and is associated with the sky and the sea, intelligence, reassurance, and trust. Blue has also been known to be an appetite suppressant, so it would not be good for cookbooks or recipes but you can consider it for diet books.

Green - Money, wealth, prosperity, calm, health, food, nature, hope, growth, freshness, soothing, sharing, and responsiveness. Green symbolizes spring, renewal, and fertility.

Orange - Health and vitality, autumn, youthfulness, fire, steadfastness, courage, confidence, friendliness, cheerfulness, warmth, excitement and energy. Has been known to stimulate the appetite. Vibrant and warm, orange is associated with autumn and the earth.

Yellow - Light, purity, understanding, caution, brightness, intelligence, joy, organization, Spring. Yellow often represents sunshine, warmth, light, energy and happiness.

Purple - Dignity, sophistication, creativity, spirituality and mystery. Deep purple is associated with royalty and richness, while lavender is associated with romance and nostalgia.

Brown - Credibility, stability, the hearth, home, the earth, wood, comfort and strength. Brown can be used as a neutral or a warm color.

Black - Space, night, authority, dramatic, classy, committed, serious, power, elegance, and sophistication.

White - Purity, peace, perfection, fresh, easy, cleanliness, goodness, and spirituality. Worth noting here, white represents life and marriage in Western cultures, but it represents death and sorrow in Eastern cultures.

Grey - A conservative color, symbolizing security, maturity and reliability.

Take advantage of the impact color can have on your online sales and choose colors that will create positive responses.

About the Author: Leva Duell - Boost your ebook sales with quality 3D ebook covers! FREE 34+ clipart and photo resources. Quality custom design of Web graphics http://www.QualityEbookCovers.com.

A Hard Look at PPC,Clíck Fraud and the Alternatives

2006-05-31T04:01:00.000-07:00

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.

Mobile ad Model Used attention as currency

2006-05-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

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.

10 Worst AdWords Campaign

2006-05-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

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.

Finding Targeted Website Traffic Using Keyword Combinations

2006-05-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Google Webmaster Guidelines

2006-05-26T02:14:00.000-07:00

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.

The What, Why and How of Business Blogs

2006-05-26T02:08:00.000-07:00

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.

The VoIP Insurgency

2006-05-25T02:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Link Popularity for the Unpopular,a Quick Primer for Today's Search Engine Landscape...

2006-05-24T04:17:00.000-07:00

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.

Semel Shutters Windows Deal

2006-05-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

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.

SEO With Google Sitemaps

2006-05-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Tips for Making Your Pages Search Engine Friendly

2006-05-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Search Engine Optimisation Pitfalls

2006-05-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

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.

louncing

2006-05-05T04:04:00.000-07:00

louncing