Blog Search Engine Optimisation

December 17, 2008

As mentioned in previous posts, using blogs to generate additional traffic for your primary site can pay huge dividends. Just “doing it” can mean significant increases in traffic, but what you really want to do here is – as in your main site – generate qualified traffic.

Post Writing – Content Creation Discipline

By that, I mean you want to draw in people who want exactly what you offer. That requires a disciplined approach to content creation;

- Research and consider carefully what your post is about, and know why you are writing it – the objective!

- Identify the keyword phrase/s that people are using to find information relevant to the topic you will write on.

- Ensure you place keywords in the post title, and early in the first paragraph, with some additional emphasis on the words, such as bold / italics.

- Include “exact match” keyword phrases throughout the body of the article.

- Add tags/slug i.e. a short list of specific relevant keywords – this may be used in the post page Keyword meta-tag.

- Write a concise Excerpt, loaded with keyword phrases – this may be used in the post page Description meta-tag.

- Use the Spell Checker!!! This article may be the first introduction a potential client has with your business.

Remember that “You NEVER get a second chance to create a first impression!”

Business Blogs Should Inform & Educate

In a business blog, which is there to inform & educate potential clients about aspects of your business, try to provide useful information, without a blatant sales pitch. By all means, encourage readers to “Inquire about Free Personal Advice” or “Contact us for More Information” but don’t overdo the sales pitch. Your goal is to convey your depth of knowledge and experience, and build credibility.

Blog Search Engine Optimisation

To maximise the penetration of your Blog posts, it is not sufficient to just write it and forget it. You need to ensure that your Business Blog is properly “optimised” to produce unique, accurately categorised, and clearly labelled content. This requires a SEO package implementation on your blog to ensure that your Posts, static Pages and Category pages are UNIQUE! We think WordPress is the fastest and easiest blog platform to customize. It also has a comprehensive array of free SEO options, and following comments are specific to WordPress.

This is best done dynamically, with installation of plugins that provide automation of;

- HTML Page URLs – using mod_rewrite to generate verbose, keyword-rich page file names.

- Page Title Tags – if you write good post titles, these can be used verbatim in the Title Tag.

- Page Description Meta-Tag – uses the post Excerpt, or the first 20 words of 1st paragraph.

- Page Keyword Meta-Tag – used the post Tag or Slug to generate keywords.

Accurate Content Cataloguing Pays Dividends

The combined impact of attention to detail in posting generation and publishing, plus Search Engine Optimisation finesse on the page production, will deliver dramatic improvements to blog traffic. At the same time, it wil ensure that visitors get exactly what they were seeking due to the resulting accuracy of your content cataloguing efforts.

That will encourage them to bookmark the site, or specific page, and to come back looking for additional details.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

SEO is Dead – if you Want Top Rankings in the Major Search Engines the Only Way to Get Them is by Implementing What’s in This Article

November 27, 2008

blog seo
Randy Zlobec asked:


1. Link Building

2. Article Writing & Distribution

3. Press Release Writing & Distribution

4. Pay Per Click Advertising

5. Social Networking

6. Blogging

SEO or Search Engine Optimization as a standalone methodology is dead as a doornail. Dead, kaput, deceased – wandering around waiting to be buried. Trying to accomplish high search engine ranking using SEO alone is a losing proposition at best and website suicide in most instances.

So, what’s a webmaster to do? The term “webmaster” means staying on top of what drives successful, targeted traffic to your website. It means staying up later than the average guy, reading, discovering and learning the cutting edge of what it takes to make your site successful.

In the beginning, you could throw up any kind of page and get people to visit. Quality webpages were few and far between, and it was just astounding that you could get type on a page that others could view. Then came the keyword, the meta tag, the phrase, the optimization, software considered downright primitive in today’s world that would tell you your page was a cut above the pack. These days are long gone.

In order to get around the dead horse of SEO standalone, you need to be ready to add links, backlinks and quality backlinks. You need to be able to do more than string three words together. Today’s readers are savvy. They want real information; don’t deliver junky, slapped together, non-researched splats of content and expect to maintain traffic and credibility. Today it is all about quality content, unique and different – that delivers a message that is both interesting and informative.

To basic optimization, you need to add things like blogging, dynamic updating, social networking that can be press release driven with a landing page that commands attention. Use the checklist below to smarten up your pages and make them more than SEO optimized. Knowing what makes them hum, what spiders love will make your pages more than just web-ready. They will become traffic magnets.

Let’s Talk Keywords

If you remember nothing else remember to put your keyword or keyword phrase in the PUT YOUR KEYWORD HERE. Many folks overlook this and just like that the spider glides on by – uninformed. If you are adding things like social bookmarking and blogging to your site and you forget this, you might as well be holding up a sign in a sandstorm.

Keywords in the URL do help. Remember if you are just redirecting a keyword URL to your website to use a 301 Redirect which is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage redirection. Anybody who tells you differently is not up on the latest trends. The search engines do take note of your keyword as part of your URL. For 8.95 or less, you can get that small edge on your keyword. Most people are using PHP or ASP these days on either an Apache or Windows server. Here’s the 301 redirect codes that will get your pages moving if you aren’t using someone like GoDaddy.com to register your domains and utilizing their convenient 301 redirect features.

Keywords in your anchor text from another side. Called an inbound link, this is like getting a vote from another site. Be sure and have your keyword or keyword phrase as part of that vote.

Keywords in your tags. Yes, it is your headline. It’s important. It’s rated by search engines and if your keyword is part of it, it’s rated higher. But be sure that it’s also part of your body text or you will probably upset the spiders. Never upset the spiders or you’ll be on page 11 million for your keyword.

Keywords in the tags. Alt tags are what your page displays when the pictures can’t be found or someone browses your page with pictures turned off. Spiders also read the tags so if you have your keyword in there then viola, more credit for your page.

Article Writing and Distribution

There are a number of article directories where you can distribute your articles with your resource box promoting you website. You will want to write relevant, short quality articles that build curiosity for your website. You do not want to write articles longer than 500-600 words for article directories.

Articles as Bait

On your website, you will want to have longer, informative articles on a specific subject related to your website’s topic. Called linkbait, these articles are designed to inform and educate your readership on relative topics. This is not what articles for article directories are all about. They are curiosity builders. You write 300-400 words on a topic to demonstrate your knowledge on that topic. You include a resource or author’s box back to your website where you can present a long, in-depth version of your material.

One important thing to remember when writing articles for directories. Each must be different and unique from each other and each one must be different than the one on your website. If you duplicate them for the various article directories and they all have inbound links to the same content on your main website, you will kill your page rank and credibility. If you can remember that article directories get you quickly indexed and offer a curiosity booster that acts as a portal to your main website, then you’ll write accordingly.

Most article directories require at least 400 words on a topic which is not that easy to produce, but you want to save your main features for your own website and not the article directory.

Through these directories, you’ll receive a ton of backlinks as other websites use your content on their website. However, none of it will match what’s on your own website, so it won’t be considered duplicate content just inbound links.

Press Releases Are An Overlooked, Great Process

If you can write news copy, you can write a decent press release which will get your website a ton of exposure. You will want to put out a website for the following reasons:

- To announce your new website and what it’s all about

- New products and services that you add to your website

- Reviews of various themed parts of your website

- Expansion and additions of note.

Using press releases in this fashion will always guarantee a steady stream of visitors in that a well-written press release will usually be picked up by other sites and rewritten and added to their new repository which increases the number of incoming links you’ll receive.

Pay Per Click Advertising

Using pay-per-click advertising is another way to get almost instant traffic to your website. Utilizing PPC giants like Google and Yahoo, you can pay for visitors to your website. You list small, contextually based advertising which is published across their network of websites and interested people click on your advertising and arrive at your site. This is one of the quickest ways to get traffic to arrive, but it can be costly to get started. Pay-Per-Click lets you advertise to the whole of the online community.

There are also text link advertising, classified advertising and pay-per-post advertising where you can get other bloggers to blog for money about your product or service on your website. It is a variation of PPC in that bloggers will write and review your site or service for a small fee and list you for a set period of time on their website. It adds content to their site and gives you more than just a link back to your site.

Social Networking and Social News sites

Web 2.0 and social networking is another whole article in itself, but it is the second fastest way to get traffic rolling into your site. To get the ball rolling and to give you some ideas on where to start, let’s look at the basics of social news networking. We want to separate this from social bookmarking which is for personal use. Social news networking is for when you want to advertising you business, home business or professional site. It’s about providing news to the world about who and what you are, the benefits you offer and why they should stop by.

Some of the better news sites where you can post your short articles include: Netscape, Newsvine, StumbleUpon, Digg and OnlyWire to name a few. These sites are news-hungry just waiting for information about your website. Whatever your site is about will be quickly and effectively disseminated by posting on these websites.

Considered the second generation in online marketing, social networking is all about building communities of like minded individuals who are looking for certain things. You website is taken into a group and depending on your service or product, people arrive at your website because of the tags and text you provide to the online community. There are as many social news and networking sites as there are interests, but the main ones to start with are listed but by no means complete.

Learn Everything you need to know in order to generate top 10 positions in the major search engines as quickly as possible by purchasing my search engine marketing book Sem Gorilla. Sem Gorilla is due to be released before the end of this year however, you may sign up at the site to be notified and actually receive the book much sooner than the rest of the world giving you a head start on your competitor.



If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Blogging for SEO Success

November 25, 2008

blog seo
John Hacking asked:


The rise and rise of blogging as part of the web 2.0 phenomenon has taken the Internet by storm. Savvy web marketers are now using blogs as an additional weapon to generate leads, add credibility and improve their search engine rankings. Here are six reasons why you should consider blogging.

Blogging is gret fun! Yes, blogging can be great fun. Just open you posting window and go for it without the restrictions of corporate style guides and other impediments to creativity. Got something to say? Just say it. The other fun aspect of blogging is that people can post comments about your blog posts. You posts plus reader comments all become valuable food for the search engines.

Blogging is dirt cheap. The most powerful blogging systems are free. WordPress seems to be the blogging standard and now comes standard with many cheap web hosting packages. For less than $100 per year anyone can get their own domain with blogging included.

I wouldn’t use one of the free blogging services unless you are really desperate. You can’t be sure if they will always remain free and your posts will be building up someone else’ asset rather than your own.

Blogging is fast and easy. If you can use notepad you can blog. The user interface is very intuitive and allows you to add and edit, text, pictures, videos, whatever you want. Want to change the look and layout of your blog? There’s literally hundreds of themes available that take less than a minute to upload and install.

It gives you products and services personality. People like to do business with people they like. By blogging you show your target market that there is a real person behind the company you represent. By reading you blog posts thet get an idea of what you’re all about – warts and all. The personal aspect of blogging is one of it’s most powerful characteristics.

Your blog becomes another Internet asset. Some blog sites get thousands and thousands of readers each day. This traffic can be converted to hard, cold cash through Google Adsense advertising, affiliate programs and straight advertising space sale. Once you blog increases it’s Google PageRank, you also get the benefit of linking out from your blog site to other web sites you want to promote.

Search engines just love blogs. It is said in many SEO forums that Google staff are great bloggers and subsequently Google spiders and indexes blogs more frequently that normal web sites. This may just be a rumour, but I have found it to be true in my case. If you blog every day there’s a good chance Google and the other major search engines will spider your blog every day looking for that new content.

Convinced? Give blogging a try. There’s stacks of free resources listed in article directories like this one that will help you get into blogging.



If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Traffic Assistants – Link Building

November 21, 2008

link building methods
Jockmark asked:


 

What is link building?

Link building is the process of increasing link popularity and search engine exposure through many channels including, Link Exchanges, Directory Submission and many more.There are three types of link building.

1. Link Exchanges

2. One Way Link Building

3. Three Way Link Building

The most popular and cost effective link building technique is exchanging links with different and theme related websites. One way link building is very costly which is usually obtained through paid inclusions. Three ways link building involves lots of work and is time consuming process in which there will be three domain names which will participate to get one way link to each other.Search Engine Rankings usually improves with one way links and it’s more effective than link exchanges as there won’t be links going out from the website and hence the credibility of website does not decrease. Link exchanges are not much effective when compared to one way but plays a vital role and usually they are permanent links, and cost effective because of that it’s more popular than any other link building techniques.

Why link building?

Link building is one of the hardest things to do when creating a successful website, on little or no budget. Link building is one of the most and crucial part of any search engine optimisation campaign. The basic concept of link building is to get as much links of your sites sprinkled all over the Worldwide Web. Link building is an important off-page optimization factor that helps boost natural search engine rankings. Link building is a process wherein there is a creation of inbound links to your own site. Link building is difficult, frustrating and time intensive. Link building is simple emailing sites and asking for links. Link building is a very specific field that comes under the term SEO.

Links to your site are not the most important factor in determining your ranking and you will have to have a well-optimized site to rank well, however, when all else is equal (i. Links that should count are still the key to rankings (in Google, at least — and MSN and Yahoo. Links are what make the World Wide Web go round. Links are the most objective and unbiased evaluation of a website’s worth…. Links are crucial in almost every SEO strategy to help improve your sites ability to rank high in the search indexes, draw traffic and ultimately generate revenue.

Link building is a tedious process, but one of the best for getting free (sometimes not), targeted hits from other websites. Link building is really “link buying” in whatever format it winds up being. Link building is an indispensable part of any effective search engine optimising strategy and is specially designed to establish and improve your website’s link popularity. The act of executing a link building campaign builds invaluable market knowledge Link building is self-fulfilling. In conclusion, link building is not only for increasing link partners and search engine rankings, its also used to create partnerships and establish profitable relationships with other webmasters.

Link Building Methods:

there are many link building techniques.

the most effective are…..

1)Social book marking

2)Directory Submission

3)Article submission

4)block Commenting

5)forum posting and many more..

Top Reasons To Hire A Link Building Company linke Traffic Assistants:

Link building has never been on the website owner’s list of favorite things to do. It is time-consuming, but then again, a website never gets to the top of search engine results without any links to it.What does a website owner do if he is not fond of doing it himself? Hire a link building company to do the link building. Outsourcing your link building may cost a lot of dollars, but there are reasons that tip the balance in favor of outsourcing.

Link Building Takes Time.

If you don’t have the time for link building, chances are, you’ll never have other websites linking to you, unless if other website owners find you first.

Don’t think that it only takes an email to get other website owners to link to you. The reason why link building takes time is because most website owners or web masters do not respond on the first try, or even on the second.Keep in mind, there are so many other websites trying to get as many links as they can. This floods the webmaster’s inbox. It definitely takes a strategy and a bit of creative thinking to get webmasters to notice you and make it impossible for them to refuse your request for a link.Link-building companies make your life easier because they’ve been at it long enough how to get the intended results right away.



It Can Be Frustrating


When you try link building, you are trying to sell your site to other website owners, which is not an easy thing to do if you are a new website.

Expect website owners to reject your sales pitch on the first attempt (sales is a field of rejection). This makes it very worth it to outsource link building; link building companies are used to the cycle of contacting webmasters or website owners, making a follow-up, and facing rejection.



Important In Search Engines


The triumvirates of Google, Yahoo! and MSN have factored in link popularity and link quality in their search engine algorithms. Thus, your website will not rank if you don’t have any links to your site.Link popularity is measured according to the number of inbound links to your website. Link quality, on the other hand, evaluates the quality of the links. Link building companies can get you those quality links since, in all likelihood, they already have a database of the websites related to your own.In choosing a website, check out their link building strategies, whether they really take the time to find the best sites that are related to your website or just generally harvest and link. There’s a very good reason for this.Google once penalized websites that scooped 200 to 300 sites in one month. Some websites even disappeared from Google’s index altogether due to a dampening filter. The overdone link building efforts were though to be the link-building version of spamming. Other content rich websites take one year to build 100 relevant links.

 



If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Top 10 Tips For Promoting Your Business Through Social Networks

October 1, 2008

social networking
Naz Daud asked:


Nowadays, many businesses are reaping the fruits of the internet, especially with the advertising opportunities that the internet offers. One of the ways to advertise or promote businesses is through the emerging online social networks.

You may not notice but quite a few businesses nowadays are advertising through several social networks such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn, Hi5, and Tagged among many similar sites. Some may be cynical or disbelieving when it comes to making use of social networking sites to promote their businesses, but that is only because they are not truly acquainted with the potential that these sites have.

If you need persuasion, think about the many people accessing such social networking sites on not only daily, but also on an hour to hour and even minute to minute basis. Imagine a stronger web presence for your business. Most competitors have already joined the trend so why don’t you join in the fun? You’ll have more potential clients and you’ll build more credibility.

Perhaps you might think that advertising on a social site may not be a good image for your business. Some social networking sites are mainly patronized by teenagers, so if your business is not something for the kids, then it might not be of much benefit for you to do so. However, word of mouth is still such a powerful tool to market and promote a business.

A teenager telling his or her mom or dad about what they saw in the Internet is just an example. This is the beginnings of the very powerful word of mouth marketing, and many buzzes now start on social networking sites. Here are ten tips that will help you in promoting your business through such social networks.

1. Try out several social networking sites.

To start with, don’t just focus on just one or two social networking websites. Begin with as many as possible: the opposite of what you might expect to do, but try it. It works with these sites. You can post a photograph of yourself, digital photographs of your company and of your products if you have them, or of your company logo. Write some blogs, make some quizzes or engage in activities until you get noticed.

After you’ve built your presence in multiple networking sites, it’s time to focus on one or two sites that generate positive results. By now you should have seen how people react to it and you’ll know which social networking websites are the most effective for you.

2. Share the company’s public profile.

Lay out your business expertise. Clearly state your credentials. At the same time, make sure that your profile is as attractive as possible. It has to be something that will catch other social networkers’ attention. Also, make sure that your profile is keyword-rich for people using the advanced search features.

3. Make use of applications and widgets.

Most of the social networking websites you’ll see now have their own widgets and applications. Some of these widgets were made for businesses. They have a business page or “About” page made specifically for companies. Make particular use of the Fan page, the News page, and the Events page.

4. Comment on posts or blogs online.

One way to maximize the opportunity of your web presence is by commenting or replying to posts, articles, and blogs you see online. You can leave your signature (with links to your website) after your username. This will help you get noticed even more.

5. Join forums or groups.

When you join forums, you get to engage with other like minded individuals and share your ideas with other people. Then hopefully, they might notice your expertise and may even ask for details of your products or services before you have to offer them.

6. Seek help from expert social networkers.

Social networking is just like traditional networking. The internet just made it easier. So if you want more networkers to notice you ask for help from the experts and find out how best to use this medium. Ask and answers will be forthcoming.

7. Select your friends.

Since you’re creating an account for your business, your friends will matter. Make sure that all your friends are legitimate, trust-worthy, and credible. It doesn’t matter if you only have a few friends. The quality of friends you add to your account is what matters most.

8. Write recommendations for valued clients.

Your clients don’t need to tell you to write them a recommendation. If you feel they are valuable, then recommend them. Not only are you being more credible to your readers by providing genuine information, your clients will be happy and may do the same for you.

9. Promote your blog or online resources.

Blogging or writing articles and providing resources to your readers or clients have proven to be an effective way to drive traffic to your website. So if you have a blog, make sure that you promote it through these networking sites.

10. Use privacy settings.

In order to avoid scam artists and identity theft, make sure that you adjust the privacy settings that can be found in social networking sites. Check what information can be seen by the public and by your friends and adjust accordingly.

Why not start to use social networking sites to the greatest advantage for your online business? Most traditional businesses have no idea how to use this new medium, and if you do then you can have a good and profitable lead on your competitors.



If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Is Social Networking Worth All the Hype?

August 23, 2008

social networking
Joan Finholt asked:


Social networking seems to be the new catch phrase for many internet marketers. Yet it leaves many busy business owners wondering if it is worth all the hype. Social networking takes time, time that many business owners just don’t feel they have.

So is Social Networking worth the hype?

Yes…and no. It largely depends on how it is approached. Social networking is the process of joining professional and social networking sites for the specific purpose of creating business and ultimately profits.

Social networking can result in:

- Powerful business partnerships – Customer relationships – Added value and benefit to the community – Improved credibility and expert status – Brand awareness – Increased reach and exposure – Gained knowledge and education

Social networking is a very powerful tool and it can result in tremendous profits however if approached with the sole purpose of generating profits, efforts may fall short. Here are a few guidelines to get the most from social networking:

1. Where to join? One mistake many business owners make is to join too many groups. To get real value from a forum, membership site, or chat room you have to have the time to contribute on a regular basis. Belonging to 10 social networking sites is great if you have the time to contribute to them every week, however it is recommended to start small. Dip your toe in so to speak. Join one or two groups that provide the most value at the time. As your business grows and your schedule allows, add more groups to your list.

2. Join groups that are specific to your industry. There is a forum or membership on just about every topic under the sun. Fitness, pet training, recycling, hiring, cleaning, software, coffee drinking, etc the list goes on and on. Additionally, there are professional forums and social networking sites that can provide tremendous value. LinkedIn is one of the growing professional networking sites, and WarriorForum is a very popular forum among internet marketers.

3. To find groups to research simply type your industry and the word forum or membership site into your search engine of choice and see what comes up. For example, “surfing” + “Forum” generated 579,000 results on Google. That’s a lot of surfing forums!

4. How often to contribute? In order to make your presence noted and to have any kind of effect on a networking site, business professionals have to make regular contributions to the site. Otherwise membership is nothing more than a business card stuffed in a pocket. No one will know you’re there.

So what is a regular contribution? Weekly visits to a membership site or networking site are a minimum requirement. Many networkers schedule social networking into their calendar. For example, on Wednesday nights they schedule two hours to visit their forums and social networking sites they belong to.

How to promote subtly:

1. When evaluating membership sites, forums and networking sites it is important to make sure a personalized signature is part of joining. Your signature is the one resource that fellow members have to find you online. Most sites do not allow blatant self promotion so that means a signature can be key. Be sure to include a link to your website and a quick USP that states what you do.

2. Two tools to help. Because forums and membership sites can contain thousands of posts, it takes a lot of time to read through posts and decide which are appropriate to respond to and which are not. http://www.botsurfer.com/ is a tool that can scan forums for you based on preset criteria and cut your social networking time in half.

3. Adding a social networking feature to your business website. A great way to get involved in social networking is to create your own forum right on your company’s website. Snitz forums, http://forum.snitz.com/, offers free ASP based forum software. It’s a solid product that’s been around for more than 10 years.



If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!