A simple technique to increase web site traffic is using articles.
Just imagine… Hundreds, even thousands, of theme-related sites having one-way links to your site! What would that do for your web site? Would your page rank increase? How much of an increase in web site traffic do you think you would see?
I can tell you from experience that it will blow your mind away. It is truly an amazing and simple strategy for increasing web site traffic, but very few site owners are doing it! Quality articles are in big demand on the web from article directories, webmasters looking for great content, and e-zine publishers. Just one article can spread across the web like wildfire taking your website URL and name along with it!
I am going to provide you with a simple 4-step process that will show you how to use articles to increase web site traffic and explode your online sales. I know many of you are saying, "I can't write and really don't have the time". It is O.K., no one is asking you to become the next Ernest Hemingway, so don't worry, just relax and follow these simple steps.
If you do, I guarantee you will see results almost overnight. So let's get started!
RESEARCH
This is vital to writing articles that will be snatched up by all of those people looking for great content to put on their sites and in their e-zines.
It starts by finding keywords that are relevant to your site and searched for around 10,000-20,000 times per month. Keywords that have more searches than that tend to have too much competition from competing sites. Use Overture or another keyword research tool to find keywords and phrases that give us the results mentioned above.
Next, you want to go to Google and type those keywords in to see how many search results you find. Preferably, you want less than 100 million results. The reason for this is when you optimize your article and turn it into a webpage we will be able to get a high ranking to help with traffic. We will get to that later!
Now that you have found the keyword or phrase to build your article around it is time to put it to use.
WRITING THE ARTICLE
You will build the article around the one or two keywords that you have chosen. Do not try to use more than two keywords because it becomes too cumbersome to write the article and optimize it for your web site. Just follow this outline and you will produce attention grabbing articles that leave people wanting more.
1. TITLE - You need to have a catchy title that contains your main keyword. Some directories and webmasters will only display your article by the title. So it needs to grab the reader's attention and make them want to click on it.
2. INTRODUCTION - This opening sentence or paragraph must draw the reader in and entice them to read the rest of the article. If your opening sentence is weak you will loose their attention and the back button will be all you get!
3. BODY - You need to fill the body with relevant and helpful information that will be of use to the reader. Make the body easy to read. I like to use an outline, but you can use other styles. Just make sure that your paragraphs are not too long and that you keep your focus on the main point of the article.
4. CONCLUSION - Make sure that you close the article strong and let the reader know that the information you have provided is helpful. A strong closing is extremely important to a quality article.
5. RESOURCE BOX - For those of you that don't know, this is the little box at the end of the article that talks about the author. The resource box is the most important part of the article. This is where your link is, so you need to have a convincing call to action to get them to click. The resource box is the most overlooked part of writing effective articles. Make sure that you make your link live when you submit it to the directories; this is critical and too many people make that mistake.
As a good rule of thumb you need to make the article around 500-1200 words not including the resource box. I have written longer articles, but some directories will not allow you to submit if you go over a certain amount of words, so check with the submission site and make sure your article will work. If it is too long, just make some adjustments to meet the guidelines.
SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLE
In order to get the most use out of your article you will need to submit it to as many relevant article directories and announcement lists as you can. In my opinion, article directories are more important because they will keep your article in their archives for long periods of time. This will give you an incoming link from a high paged rank site. Article announcement lists will not give you the same kind of results because they are short lived. It is beneficial to submit to them, however, for the exposure. The downside to announcement lists is that they do not provide any long term benefits.
There are several article directories on the web but some of the ones I like to use because they are high traffic sites are:
http://www.goarticles.com/
http://www.ezinearticles.com/
http://www.articlecity.com/
There are several more quality directories that you can submit to but these will give you a great start.
UPLOAD YOUR ARTICLE TO YOUR WEB SITE AS A WEB PAGE.
The last thing that I would recommend is to optimize your article for the keyword that you have chosen and upload it to your web site as a web page. This will add quality content to your web site and give your site more search engine "bait". The ultimate goal is to get targeted traffic by utilizing articles.
There are a couple of things that I would like to recommend that you do when you optimize your article. First, make sure that your keyword density is about 1-3% in your article. If you go much higher than this you could get hit for spamming and that is the last thing you want to happen.
The second tip is to make sure that you build a site map for all of your articles and put it on one of your web sites. This will help lead the search engines to all of your articles and will help you with your rankings.
Using articles is a great way to increase web site traffic and build credibility. Articles will increase the number of incoming links to your site and beef up your profitability. If you follow the steps I laid out for you in this article you will be on your way to increasing your web site traffic. Articles are an inexpensive and very effective way to advertise your site and build credentials on the internet.
So take this guide and go increase your web site traffic!
Sunday, 18 December 2011
How to get free traffic
A new report “Why your site is not making sales” confirmed that to get traffic you need to recognize the failures to know the success. That is, know what works and why and what doesn’t and why before you move on.
Some people have done a lot online but failed. A man started his first site, it failed. He started the second site, then third, and fourth, and fifth—all failing. I looked at his failed sites and I knew from experience why they failed. Nothing is wrong with the products, he just couldn’t secure people to buy.
There are two things to online business success: product and people. That is, develop a product and find people to buy.
The product is easier to get. To get a product, simply become a consultant. That is, you have to research and teach others. It could be an affiliate product or one you created, let it be something you have passion for so that you can be able to teach. But because the average human being is too dumb to understand, they will want to know more, hence you help by selling them solution.
Getting people to buy the product is the difficult part. That is why so many sites fail. You see, no matter how awesome your product is, if people cannot find your site, it will fail. But if you have traffic, no matter how stupid your product is, people will buy.
Then how does one get targeted traffic? Listen to this: traffic is not a transaction, it is a process. Process simply means learning. If you cannot trade with the trend and learn traffic tricks, methods, and new techniques, you will never make money online.
The report “Why your site is not making sales” looks at the merit and demerit of traffic techniques like link exchange, submitting articles, pay-per-click, search engines, email marketing, autoresponders, forum posting, popups, offering freebies, classified ads, banner ads, blogs, targeted hits, plus others, and declared “Traffic generating is full of confusion, guesswork, and scam. It is not ridiculously simple.”
The report, which you can download free at http://superriches.com, made it clear that "You will not get traffic while sitting on your pajamas, feet up on your desk, sipping your coffee. You need to work very hard." It is not really hard work but smart work. Avoid traffic fraud like linking farms, automated link exchanges, and linking software. And instead chase cheap holistic traffic methods that will bring not just visitors but customers.
If the learning never stops, the traffic will never stop. You just have to be a student for life.
Some people have done a lot online but failed. A man started his first site, it failed. He started the second site, then third, and fourth, and fifth—all failing. I looked at his failed sites and I knew from experience why they failed. Nothing is wrong with the products, he just couldn’t secure people to buy.
There are two things to online business success: product and people. That is, develop a product and find people to buy.
The product is easier to get. To get a product, simply become a consultant. That is, you have to research and teach others. It could be an affiliate product or one you created, let it be something you have passion for so that you can be able to teach. But because the average human being is too dumb to understand, they will want to know more, hence you help by selling them solution.
Getting people to buy the product is the difficult part. That is why so many sites fail. You see, no matter how awesome your product is, if people cannot find your site, it will fail. But if you have traffic, no matter how stupid your product is, people will buy.
Then how does one get targeted traffic? Listen to this: traffic is not a transaction, it is a process. Process simply means learning. If you cannot trade with the trend and learn traffic tricks, methods, and new techniques, you will never make money online.
The report “Why your site is not making sales” looks at the merit and demerit of traffic techniques like link exchange, submitting articles, pay-per-click, search engines, email marketing, autoresponders, forum posting, popups, offering freebies, classified ads, banner ads, blogs, targeted hits, plus others, and declared “Traffic generating is full of confusion, guesswork, and scam. It is not ridiculously simple.”
The report, which you can download free at http://superriches.com, made it clear that "You will not get traffic while sitting on your pajamas, feet up on your desk, sipping your coffee. You need to work very hard." It is not really hard work but smart work. Avoid traffic fraud like linking farms, automated link exchanges, and linking software. And instead chase cheap holistic traffic methods that will bring not just visitors but customers.
If the learning never stops, the traffic will never stop. You just have to be a student for life.
42 Killer Domain Secrets Exposed!
Every website needs a domain name. Example "WebBootCamp.com" is a domain name. Your domain is your website address, a.k.a. URL (universal resource locator). Should you use your company name for your domain? Maybe, maybe not. Is it memorable? Easy to spell? Does it contain keywords that relate to your business? For more considerations on choosing a domain, I've put together the following checklist. Pick a memorable name. How catchy is it? Would the average person be able to remember just your website name, without looking through their bookmarks (if they have even bothered to bookmark it, that is)? Make it easy to spell! Face it, most people can't spell. Try to target for the masses when you pick your name. Think of everyone having a 7th grade education. Make it short, try for a two or three word domain. When possible, name your company the same as your domain name. Whether you actually add .com to your company's name makes little difference. Use keywords in your domain. Try services like http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/, https://adwords.google.com/select/tools.html, and wordtracker.com to see what people are searching for, in BIG NUMBERS, related to your subject. Don't use numbers or hyphens. These are easily overlooked or forgotten when people type in your domain. Unless you're using a stand out combination like 911alert or 123homerepair, don't go numeric. If you use hyphens, then every time you tell someone your domain, you have to say "it's blah-blah-blah.com - with the hyphens". This is not impressive, and you risk losing traffic to blahblahblah.com. You're asking your potential customers to work harder, to remember tedious details about your name. Simplicity is important, because you want them to find you. You're building a brand here. Don't buy any other extension except a ".com" This is the best branded domain extension, highly known and trusted. Any other extension is practically worthless, in my book. In addition to being first in the minds of the public, remember also that most people trying to find a company will put a com after that company's name in their browser. It's second nature to most of us. A .org can bring attention for non profits, but even most of those companies will try to purchase a .com as well. Avoid running names together that end in a vowel and begin in a vowel. EXAMPLE: freeebook.com Also try to avoid having the second word start with the same letter as the last letter of the last word. These combinations can look weird, and are often likely to be misread or simply forgotten. By avoiding these two combinations, along with numbers and hyphens, we make sure our words (and our brand) will stand out. EXAMPLE: WebmasterNow.com Good For Starting Sentences, Not Domains Avoid starting your name with THE, or A, if being used as the word A. EXAMPLE asimplehome.com - "a" is likely to be forgotten. While it is true that directory listings usually list alphabetically, search engines do not. If you can come up with a catchy name starting with "a", by all means, do so. You may find yourself first in the yellow page listings. Have a look there first, and see what the competition looks like. What are their names, how do they rank? Now, here's where it gets interesting. You'll see that names starting with numbers get displayed first (for non paid listings). So the big question becomes, is yours the type of product or service that will do well from yellow page traffic? You must carefully weigh this against overall branding of your company. You could of course, have more than one domain, and more than one brand for your company, but be careful about promoting the same sites with different names to the same search engines. You could find yourself banned from those search engines altogether. Brand New? Don't pick your name as your domain name, unless you're famous. Names aren't keywords (won't help your search engine rankings), and usually easily forgotten. Unless you've built a big brand around your name already, stick to a good key phrase! It is much easier to brand. Who's who, and is my name taken? To search available domains, and to find out who owns registered ones, use the whois function at http://www.internic.net. If you come across a registered domain, it will show you where it was registered. The next step to detecting the identity of the actual owner, is to visit the registrar (this is where the domain was registered) site listed, and use their whois search. This should provide you with name, address, phone number and email of the rightful owner. Unfortunately, this information is not always available, but it is most of the time. A Common Myth Equals Missed Opportunities All the great domains are taken. Hogwash! The dirty little secret is, thousands of great domains expire every day! Here's a handy resource for finding great expired and expiring domains - http://deleteddomains.com - I've found some real gems here, like webbootcamp.com, webmastertoolset.com, customoilpainting.com and customoilpaintings.com - all formerly owned and let go, just to name a few. When applicable, do try to get the singular and plural versions of your domain like we just saw with customoilpainting(s). When one could be easily be mistaken for the other, it helps to be covered this way. You're also protecting your brand. Another expiring domain service to check out is snapcheck.com. They have some interesting statistics for expiring domains, such as google page rank and yahoo and dmoz listed domains. Bear in mind that any "perceived value" on a domain put there by a search engine listing or page rank is inherently fleeting. That's because the content that was responsible for that listing is now gone, and it is simply a matter of time before the search engine's spiders crawl the site again, and re-evaluate it's content. In other words, the search engine ranking is very likely going to disappear soon, unless you quickly repopulate the site with compelling content, worthy of the rank the original site had. | |
Roads To Nowhere, No Stops Ahead One tasty bonus that accompanies a popular site is link popularity. This is how many other websites link to the domain in question. Think of a link as a road into your website. Quite often, webmasters do not update their links when the site they're linking to changes or disappears altogether. So if you find an expired (or soon to be expired) domain with high link popularity (many links to the domain), it may well stay that way for some time to come. Case in point: special-report-network.net was once a very successful ad network run by online marketing guru Allen Says. For reasons unknown, he shut down the site and let the domain expire. The domain had over 14,000 links pointing to it! The weird part is, it still does! Want proof? Go to alltheweb.com and search for "link:http://www.special-report-network.net", without the quotation marks. This will show all the sites linking to it. The domain got snatched up by Ultimate Search, a hong kong company that registers thousands of domains, and makes money from paid search results. The site has nothing to do with the original ad network site that Allen built and made successful, yet the links remain, and links equal traffic. Bear in mind not all links are created equal. Link farms (A.K.A. FFA or "free for all" links pages), and seldom visited by real people. Instead, automated programs add people's URLs when they submit to a mass submission service, hoping to generate big traffic. Instead, all they get is a bunch of spam, which they've agreed to receive, in order for using the service. | |
How can I snag that expiring hottie? When you find a name that is pending deletion (the owner hasn't renewed it), the next step is to try to secure it, the moment it becomes available. Strangely, domains do not fall back into the pool of availability the day they expire. It can take up to 60 days or more in some cases for them to "drop", and the times are not announced. Thankfully, there are automated services to perform this task for us, such as Namewinner.com, Snapnames.com, Expirefish.com, and Pool.com. Prices vary, and none can guarantee success. Namewinner lets users bid against each other for expiring domains and only the winner pays, while Snapnames and Expirefish are first come, first served, meaning only one user has a shot at grabbing a particular domain. Snapnames also has the most registrar partners, (including Network Solutions), which may give them an edge for securing expiring domains that are currently registered with their partners. They also have the highest price tag, and you pay whether or not they secure your name. Pool.com is a newcomer that seems to rival the services of Snapnames, with better prices. One more method you might try, is going directly to the current owner. Let's say your desired dropping domain is already "back ordered" on Snapnames.com, and Expirefish.com. Now you can still bid for it at Namewinner.com, and Pool.com, but you feel the odds are against you. If you're really hot on the name, and willing to pay a premium, you may be able to bypass the solutions above, simply by cutting a deal with the current owner. This can be a bit risky however, because once the owner realizes your interest, they may decide to ask for a unreasonable sum of money, or simply see value in the domain again (generated from your interest), and renew it as an investment. Assuming you can make a deal, you may want to suggest using escrow.com, which eliminates the possibility of fraud for both of you. The owner will need to renew the domain before they can transfer it to you. The Website Graveyard - Visit Those Spooky Remains! Once you've found a deleted or soon to be deleted domain you fancy, you might want to take a trip into the past, to see what that site used to be! Now bear in mind most domains that are registered are never developed, so there may be nothing at all to see. But for those domains with a tangible history, we can often peek at their ghost, courtesy of the wayback machine at http://www.archive.org. One Owner, Driven Only On Sundays Another way to check the history of a domain, is simply to search for it. Try searching google, and groups.google.com, to see what people may have said about the site. You may think twice about purchasing a domain with a sketchy history. Speculators Beware! Don't go overboard and buy every known extension for your brand - (.net, .org, .biz, .info, etc.). Big corporations like google can afford to buy all the country domains. When you're starting out, remember, domain fees are yearly, and you need to consider the lifelong cost of each domain. For most people, one domain is just fine. You may think snatching up good domains and reselling them would be a lucrative business. The problem is, finding a buyer is not easy. In fact, that's an understatement. Don't register domains containing trademarks. You will likely here from that company's legal department if you do, and will be forced to relinquish the name by The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), or a lawsuit, or both. Who's in charge? Icann (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) oversees the domain registration business. Their URL is http://www.icann.org. If you ever have trouble with your registrar, it may be worth reporting to Icann. Case in point: A client of mine tried to switch his domain to another registrar (at my suggestion), to get added free features (free URL forwarding), and save money. His current registrar denied the transfer, and tried to charge him a fee for leaving! Once we threatened to take up the matter with Icann, and publicly expose them at Icann's forum (http://forum.icann.org/regxfer), they immediately backed down, and released the domain. If you believe someone has registered a domain that infringes on your trademark (or has infringed on your intellectual property), the authority to see is The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), at http://wipo.org Brand Awareness Capitalize each word of your domain in your sig files and letterhead, and anywhere else you advertise your domain. It helps your brand stand out. EXAMPLE: http://www.WebBootCamp.com looks better than http://www.webbootcamp.com Also, only add in http://www. when you're creating links back to your site (i.e., email, websites, and online forms). In all your offline advertising, such as signs, business cards and letterhead, you should definitely skip http://www. and just use "YourDomain.com". You only have a second or two of people's attention when they see your URL, so make it count. Brand that name! Just make sure your web host has your site set up to show without WWW. Most sites are correctly set up to display when a person types in "YourDomain.com", or "www.YourDomain.com" but a handful, maybe 10% or so will show page not found, if you skip "www". That could be devastating, so check with your host, and demand that your site come up either way! Ready To Buy Your .com? Don't overpay! I'm still surprised that many people don't know they can buy domains for under $10 these days. Shop around. Currently I recommend http://www.TOSDomains.net. They offer a lot of extras like URL and email forwarding, free. Keep Your Registration Current! Don't let your domain expire! You cannot afford to be even a day late in payment. If it falls into the redemption period, you may find yourself high jacked by your registrar for an outrageous renewal fee. See this illuminating article for more about the redemption period - "Domain Redemption Period Farce Exposed!" here: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1034. If your expired domain falls back into the available pool, it may be registered by anyone, and you may have little recourse trying to recover it. The easiest way to ensure you are sent renewal notices for your domain is to keep your email contact current for your domain. Perhaps the most common reason for people losing their domains, is simply that they switch ISPs, and subsequently, their email address changes, and they forget to update that information with their domain registrar. If you own a lot of domains, keeping up with administration can be tedious. One trick I rely on, is to use one domain for my primary business email address, and on that registration "admin" contact, I use my ISP email. For all my other domain registrations, I use my primary business email address (based on my primary domain, which I will never let go). Now, if I should switch ISPs, all I need to concern myself with is changing that one domain record, to reflect my new ISP email. All my other domain records have that primary domain email as the admin contact, so as long as I keep the one record current (and keep the email account active), all will be current, and all domain renewal notices will be sent to me. In the end, it's not so much about the name, as it is what you make of it. Just look at all the big successful internet companies out there with strange names! Yahoo! | |
How to Quickly Gain Traffic to Your New Web Site
The problem with a new site is that it often takes a long time before it is indexed by the search engines. This means you are missing out on getting traffic and making sales. Google places new sites in the "sandbox" which means they are on "hold" for a period of time before they rank. Here are some ways to generate immediate traffic to your web site: 1. Start a PPC (pay per click) campaign – you can begin a Google Adwords campaign and start generating visitors the same day you set it up. Of course it is going to cost you some money but you can set a limit for how much you wish to spend. You will soon get a good idea what keywords produce the most clicks for your ads. You can incorporate these keywords in your site when you optimize it for the search engines. While you run your PPC campaign get busy with preparing your site for the main search engines. Once you have been indexed by the main ones such as Google, Yahoo and MSN and start moving up in rankings, you can scale back the amount you spend on Google Adwords. Your goal is to eventually rank high enough that you won’t have to use PPC anymore because you are getting enough visitors. | |
2. Optimize your site for the search engines – the keywords that generated the most clicks from your PPC campaign, should be included in your web pages. Research alternative keywords using utilities such as Wordtracker or the Overture Suggestion Tool. You can determine the popularity of those keywords by seeing how many Google Adword campaigns are running. You accomplish this by entering the keyword or keyword phrase in the Google search engine and see how many ads appear on the right hand side of the page. If there are a lot, that means the keyword you chose is very popular and in high demand. Integrate a few of your best keywords within the text on each of your web pages. The home page should contain the keywords which have the highest demand (most searches) with the least number of competing web sites. Then proceed with the other pages in descending order of keyword popularity. Make sure you also include these keywords in your meta tags, title, h1-h3 tags, links and file names. Don’t overdo it for you may get penalized for spamming the search engines. 3. Increase link popularity – this refers to how many external and internal links are pointing or linking to any particular page. External links include those that come from web sites other than your own whereas internal links are those that come from within the same domain name. Link popularity is not based on the "quantity" of links but the "quality" of those links as well. Therefore increasing link popularity does not necessarily require having a large number of links pointing to your site but rather a good number of quality links. | |
4. Submit to the top search engine directories – many of the top directories have good link popularity that can be passed on to your site. They also have specific category pages that are related to the nature of your site. The major directories include The Open Directory, Yahoo and Zeal. The Open Directory is one of the largest that is still free, however it can take months or even years to get listed. If you become an editor for Zeal you can get your site listed free. Yahoo costs $299.00/year to be included. It is worth it if you can afford it. Here’s a couple of articles on how to properly submit your site to the search engine directories: http://www.searchrank.com/resources/art007.htm http://www.searchrank.com/resources/art015.htm 5. Submit to specialty search engine directories – you may wonder why I haven’t mentioned submitting to the major search engines. When you work on building the link popularity of your site, it automatically places you in the main search engines. Once you have submitted your site to the main directories, find specialized directories related to your business. Here’s a good resource: http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156351 You can also research the link partners of your competitors’ sites by entering your favorite keyword in the search engines. Once you have found a number of top ranked sites, download the Google toolbar and check their back links. This can save you a lot of time researching other areas to find quality links. Once your site been indexed by the search engines and included in the directories, focus on adding more content and continue building your link popularity. This will help you to maintain and/or increase rankings with the result of gaining more traffic to your new web site. | |
10 Highly Effective Ways to Increase Website Traffic
There are many ways to promote your website for free online. Here are 10 highly effective strategies you can use right now. 1. Write articles or free reports for other webmasters to publish and put your website address in the by-line. If you write good content, your articles will be published and many readers who like your article will go on to visit your website. 2. Arrange a Joint Venture partnership with List owners and Webmasters. 3. Add your ad or website address to your email signature. This way, every time you send an email, you'll be promoting your website. | |
4. Exchange Links with Other Webmasters. This is another effective strategy for generating targeted traffic to your website for free. It involves contacting other webmasters for a possible link exchange partnership. 5. Add a blog to your site and Ping weblogs.com and other search engines. Pinging your blogs to the search engines is the fastest way to get the search engine robots to visit your blog and attract new visitors to your web site. 6. Submit your blog address to blog search sites and directories. You can submit your blog's URL to websites such as Technorati, Daypop, Blogdex and Popdex. For a complete list of websites where you can submit your URL, go to http://www.guidetorss.com/ 7. Create RSS feeds for your site and submit the feed URLs to the major RSS feed directories online. A good place to start is http://www.guidetorss.com/ which provides a list of the top RSS directories. | |
Great RSS Guide 8. Be an active commenter. Try to leave comments on the blogs that you regularly visit. Most comment systems also provide a way for you to leave a link back to your blog or website which begs a visit at the very least. 9. If you plan to have anything printed up, put your web address on it. You can print your URL on business cards, stickers, leaflets, etc. 10. Add your web address to your forum profile signature. Every time you post or respond to questions your ad will be displayed. If you post good content in forums, people who read your threads will also check out your website. | |
Saturday, 17 December 2011
12 Things you should Know about SEO
From the very beginning of the Internet, the number one challenge which all of us have faced is how to attract qualified visitors to our websites. Throughout the boom years, one of the most popular solutions was to get massive funding, relatively easy to get in those days, and "buy" traffic, by various means.
As an iconoclastic young developer, with ambitions of beating the "big boys" at their own game, more time than money or the connections to get it, I sought a less capital intensive methodology to achieve the same results. Years of study and rapt attention to the pertinent forums, trying everything that even seemed to make sense (making many mistakes along the way, and learning much from each one), then carefully monitoring the results, has lead to many highly workable tools in our SEO bag of tricks. The outcome of these trial and error methods, (lots of both) lays the foundation of our SEO services and the basis for the ongoing growth of traffic to your website and ours.
The simple fact of the matter is this: Expertise in any other form of writing in no way qualifies one for the type of writing required to optimize a website for the Internet. There are many sites which have less than correct punctuation, grammar, and even spelling which rank #1 in their optimized search phrases. This is not to say that I don't think these things are important, only that to be found in the search engines, they are not the most important consideration.
The flip side of this argument is equally true. Just because someone knows all the ins and outs of all of the search engines, can write algorithms in their sleep, has lunches with Dr. Eric Schmidt and is on a first name basis with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, does not, in any way, make them a writer. All of the writing on this site was done as a collaborative venture between Susan K. Thompson, a professional writer with strong academic credentials and real world experience, in both business and marketing, and myself. Was there a lot of editing and re-write? Yes. Were there disagreements? You bet! Was it worth it? Look at the record.
Emerald Coast Entrepreneur was launched on May 1, 2005 with most site optimization in place and submission to the directories just beginning. With a total monetary investment of less than $100.00, and a time investment, I'd rather not think about, but which approached 300 hours, the site was given a PR5 ranking by Google on it's first update, less than 2 months after our launch.
Studies show that over 90% of all online users use search engines to find what they are looking for, whether products/services, or just plain old information.
The following twelve points will, I hope, summarize a philosophy, approach and methodology to the SEO question which is both sound and effective, along with giving some helpful insight into the industry itself.
1. Content. Content. Content.
Effective, professional, optimized Copywriting is the single, most important factor in any SEO campaign. Search engines index websites based on the content found on each page of the site. With a thorough understanding of the language and grammatical conventions combined with intensive research, to find and exploit the market focus, one can move a website to the upper echelon of the "SERP's" (Search Engine Results Page) in a methodical as well as ethical manner.
2. Analyze Web Logs.
Measure everything, at least twice, and then check again. While I would be the first to say that many of the procedures that make up website optimization are more art than science, one needs to take a very scientific approach to the results of the effort. This is done by methodically keeping a record of, and making an analysis of the sites web logs. There are a number of specialized software which make the job easier but at the bare minimum, one needs to keep a close eye on the site visitors and their activity while on the site. No matter how well planned the strategy, it is largely theoretical until proven by the results, which can only be measured by the logs, and a thorough analysis of their content.
3. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, or any other search engine.
Those who promise such feats will either optimize for such vague search term phrases (such as, "green stunted widgets with purple Polka-dots and icing") that no one will ever likely look for, or they are making a false claim, which they have no intention of keeping, or they have an inside edge at Google, something which they will loose, quickly, when the honest folks at Google find out about it. The other option, that they will take the money and run, is worth mentioning here but I'll be polite.
4. Some things are just plain silly.
You don't need to submit your site to 50,000 search engines. Businesses which offer this service are suspect, at best. 85% of the search results on the Internet come from one search engine, which, if you have one link from an established website, or better yet, a directory, will find your site just fine, on it's own. Four (4) search engines account for over 90% of the traffic on the web. As for any supposed benefit which may accrue from being listed in an obscure search engine in Botswana which specializes in safaris to the Kalahari Desert and receives 7 hits per day; well, you figure it out.
5. SEO is not Pay-per-Click.
While no one would argue the effectiveness of getting increased traffic and sales, through a well planned, pay-per-click campaign, the fact remains that the conversion rates are generally low and they cease the moment the "pay" stops. With a well planned and executed SEO campaign, while results may take a bit longer, they continue to produce, and in fact grow, long after the work is done and paid for. Quite often we have found that after a thorough optimization of a site, only minor adjustments are needed on an ongoing basis, primarily related to new content and/or new items of sale or service.
6. SEO is not witchcraft, Druidism, shamanism.
Neither does it require any special chants, ceremonial fires, or vestments, though some of us do like to howl at the full moon, on occasion. There are no "Top Secret" practices which a reputable SEO can not tell a client, a judge, or his mother, for that matter. The very nature of the Internet has always been cooperative and there is nothing about SEO that can't be learned, with a heavy dose of time and money. A reputable SEO firm will give you an item per item breakdown of just where the money goes. Be wary if you sense a secretive atmosphere or any unwillingness to answer questions. While there are technical points which might take some background to fully understand, if one has a solid overview of the entire situation, a simple explanation should be easy enough to come up with.
7. Do-it-yourself SEO.
Yes, you can execute your own SEO campaign and find a reputable SEO firm to help plan and organize it for you. About one half of my own clientele do some part of the actual work themselves, or have their in-house dedicated personnel do it, after discussion of the goals and aims of the business/website, a thorough website analysis, comprehensive search phrase research, and focused instruction on the ways and means of achieving high SERPs. These preliminaries are followed up with a detailed program of suggestions and methods which the client can then implement themselves or hire others to perform. Average savings; 30-40%.
8. Phased Implementation.
While many companies spend thousands of dollars per month on Search Engine Optimization, an alternative is available which will pay dividends to you in increased sales and leads without the high initial investment. The most important consideration is to have a reputable firm handle the initial evaluation and suggested optimization planning first. The trial and error method will cost much more, in the long run, with or without the desired result. After studying the plan and establishing a workable budget you may implement the plan as finances allow.
9. Remember the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Never was this more true than in the realm of SEO. While concrete and measurable gains will always come from a well thought out and executed optimization strategy, the Internet is a competitive media and we all want to be number one. Accept that a steady upward movement, over time, will place you worlds ahead of a flash followed by a crash.
10. A thought to ponder.
At stake, in the race for the top, is the very existence of your website, your business, and quite possibly your reputation. Beware of any "shortcuts" or less than ethical schemes that anyone might suggest to further your business goals. When it's all said and done it is you, the business owner, who bears the responsibility for any company or individual you hire. Insist on knowing exactly what the strategy is and what steps are being performed to implement it. If it seems, in the least, suspicious, ask for and get an explanation. In this case, not only is Ignorance not bliss, it could very well be the beginning of the end for your business.
11. All incoming links are not created equal.
Both the relevance to your line of business and website subject matter and the PR value of the incoming link determine how valuable they are to your own PR ranking. With Google starting the trend, nothing new there, and most of the others following close behind, the days of grabbing all the inbound links, in any way possible, are gone. Not only will low ranked and/or irrelevant inbound links not help, they will, in fact, cause a penalty. Link farms, free-for-all link schemes, automated link accumulation software, or any other fad that doesn't carefully screen the links and websites they are coming from will, in the long run, do more harm than good.
12. It's more than just facts and figures.
The relationship between an online business and SEO is, perhaps, one of the closest of business relationships. In order to be effective, a SEO must know not only the facts and figures pertaining to the endeavor, but s/he must know something of the dreams and aspirations of the business principals. Things which don't normally come out in a prospectus are often invaluable information when searching for the "right fit" into the complex world of the Internet. My own clients sometimes ask, due to the frequency of my calls and email in the early phases, "Am I your only client?" I usually laugh and say something to the effect that until I know your business almost as well as you do, yes, you are the only one that counts.
As an iconoclastic young developer, with ambitions of beating the "big boys" at their own game, more time than money or the connections to get it, I sought a less capital intensive methodology to achieve the same results. Years of study and rapt attention to the pertinent forums, trying everything that even seemed to make sense (making many mistakes along the way, and learning much from each one), then carefully monitoring the results, has lead to many highly workable tools in our SEO bag of tricks. The outcome of these trial and error methods, (lots of both) lays the foundation of our SEO services and the basis for the ongoing growth of traffic to your website and ours.
The simple fact of the matter is this: Expertise in any other form of writing in no way qualifies one for the type of writing required to optimize a website for the Internet. There are many sites which have less than correct punctuation, grammar, and even spelling which rank #1 in their optimized search phrases. This is not to say that I don't think these things are important, only that to be found in the search engines, they are not the most important consideration.
The flip side of this argument is equally true. Just because someone knows all the ins and outs of all of the search engines, can write algorithms in their sleep, has lunches with Dr. Eric Schmidt and is on a first name basis with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, does not, in any way, make them a writer. All of the writing on this site was done as a collaborative venture between Susan K. Thompson, a professional writer with strong academic credentials and real world experience, in both business and marketing, and myself. Was there a lot of editing and re-write? Yes. Were there disagreements? You bet! Was it worth it? Look at the record.
Emerald Coast Entrepreneur was launched on May 1, 2005 with most site optimization in place and submission to the directories just beginning. With a total monetary investment of less than $100.00, and a time investment, I'd rather not think about, but which approached 300 hours, the site was given a PR5 ranking by Google on it's first update, less than 2 months after our launch.
Studies show that over 90% of all online users use search engines to find what they are looking for, whether products/services, or just plain old information.
The following twelve points will, I hope, summarize a philosophy, approach and methodology to the SEO question which is both sound and effective, along with giving some helpful insight into the industry itself.
1. Content. Content. Content.
Effective, professional, optimized Copywriting is the single, most important factor in any SEO campaign. Search engines index websites based on the content found on each page of the site. With a thorough understanding of the language and grammatical conventions combined with intensive research, to find and exploit the market focus, one can move a website to the upper echelon of the "SERP's" (Search Engine Results Page) in a methodical as well as ethical manner.
2. Analyze Web Logs.
Measure everything, at least twice, and then check again. While I would be the first to say that many of the procedures that make up website optimization are more art than science, one needs to take a very scientific approach to the results of the effort. This is done by methodically keeping a record of, and making an analysis of the sites web logs. There are a number of specialized software which make the job easier but at the bare minimum, one needs to keep a close eye on the site visitors and their activity while on the site. No matter how well planned the strategy, it is largely theoretical until proven by the results, which can only be measured by the logs, and a thorough analysis of their content.
3. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, or any other search engine.
Those who promise such feats will either optimize for such vague search term phrases (such as, "green stunted widgets with purple Polka-dots and icing") that no one will ever likely look for, or they are making a false claim, which they have no intention of keeping, or they have an inside edge at Google, something which they will loose, quickly, when the honest folks at Google find out about it. The other option, that they will take the money and run, is worth mentioning here but I'll be polite.
4. Some things are just plain silly.
You don't need to submit your site to 50,000 search engines. Businesses which offer this service are suspect, at best. 85% of the search results on the Internet come from one search engine, which, if you have one link from an established website, or better yet, a directory, will find your site just fine, on it's own. Four (4) search engines account for over 90% of the traffic on the web. As for any supposed benefit which may accrue from being listed in an obscure search engine in Botswana which specializes in safaris to the Kalahari Desert and receives 7 hits per day; well, you figure it out.
5. SEO is not Pay-per-Click.
While no one would argue the effectiveness of getting increased traffic and sales, through a well planned, pay-per-click campaign, the fact remains that the conversion rates are generally low and they cease the moment the "pay" stops. With a well planned and executed SEO campaign, while results may take a bit longer, they continue to produce, and in fact grow, long after the work is done and paid for. Quite often we have found that after a thorough optimization of a site, only minor adjustments are needed on an ongoing basis, primarily related to new content and/or new items of sale or service.
6. SEO is not witchcraft, Druidism, shamanism.
Neither does it require any special chants, ceremonial fires, or vestments, though some of us do like to howl at the full moon, on occasion. There are no "Top Secret" practices which a reputable SEO can not tell a client, a judge, or his mother, for that matter. The very nature of the Internet has always been cooperative and there is nothing about SEO that can't be learned, with a heavy dose of time and money. A reputable SEO firm will give you an item per item breakdown of just where the money goes. Be wary if you sense a secretive atmosphere or any unwillingness to answer questions. While there are technical points which might take some background to fully understand, if one has a solid overview of the entire situation, a simple explanation should be easy enough to come up with.
7. Do-it-yourself SEO.
Yes, you can execute your own SEO campaign and find a reputable SEO firm to help plan and organize it for you. About one half of my own clientele do some part of the actual work themselves, or have their in-house dedicated personnel do it, after discussion of the goals and aims of the business/website, a thorough website analysis, comprehensive search phrase research, and focused instruction on the ways and means of achieving high SERPs. These preliminaries are followed up with a detailed program of suggestions and methods which the client can then implement themselves or hire others to perform. Average savings; 30-40%.
8. Phased Implementation.
While many companies spend thousands of dollars per month on Search Engine Optimization, an alternative is available which will pay dividends to you in increased sales and leads without the high initial investment. The most important consideration is to have a reputable firm handle the initial evaluation and suggested optimization planning first. The trial and error method will cost much more, in the long run, with or without the desired result. After studying the plan and establishing a workable budget you may implement the plan as finances allow.
9. Remember the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Never was this more true than in the realm of SEO. While concrete and measurable gains will always come from a well thought out and executed optimization strategy, the Internet is a competitive media and we all want to be number one. Accept that a steady upward movement, over time, will place you worlds ahead of a flash followed by a crash.
10. A thought to ponder.
At stake, in the race for the top, is the very existence of your website, your business, and quite possibly your reputation. Beware of any "shortcuts" or less than ethical schemes that anyone might suggest to further your business goals. When it's all said and done it is you, the business owner, who bears the responsibility for any company or individual you hire. Insist on knowing exactly what the strategy is and what steps are being performed to implement it. If it seems, in the least, suspicious, ask for and get an explanation. In this case, not only is Ignorance not bliss, it could very well be the beginning of the end for your business.
11. All incoming links are not created equal.
Both the relevance to your line of business and website subject matter and the PR value of the incoming link determine how valuable they are to your own PR ranking. With Google starting the trend, nothing new there, and most of the others following close behind, the days of grabbing all the inbound links, in any way possible, are gone. Not only will low ranked and/or irrelevant inbound links not help, they will, in fact, cause a penalty. Link farms, free-for-all link schemes, automated link accumulation software, or any other fad that doesn't carefully screen the links and websites they are coming from will, in the long run, do more harm than good.
12. It's more than just facts and figures.
The relationship between an online business and SEO is, perhaps, one of the closest of business relationships. In order to be effective, a SEO must know not only the facts and figures pertaining to the endeavor, but s/he must know something of the dreams and aspirations of the business principals. Things which don't normally come out in a prospectus are often invaluable information when searching for the "right fit" into the complex world of the Internet. My own clients sometimes ask, due to the frequency of my calls and email in the early phases, "Am I your only client?" I usually laugh and say something to the effect that until I know your business almost as well as you do, yes, you are the only one that counts.
Build Your Own Software Empire Even You're Not A Programmer!
Have you been searching for a way to make money online? Do you have trouble finding products to promote that will allow you to rake in a hefty commission? This is one of the biggest obstacles that any budding Internet Marketer will face.
Calvin Woon and Jonathan Teng know all about the struggles that the Internet marketer faces and have decided to do something about it. These two guys have created dozens of products and software that can be a huge benefit to anyone who is trying to make money on the Internet.
IM Buzz Software
The IM Buzz Software Membership is another brainchild of Calvin and Jonathan. They have taken a membership site and loaded it with software that you can use and even re-brand and sell on your own for 100% commission.
The great thing about the IM Buzz Software is they are offering the Silver Membership plan to you for free. That’s right you will receive free lifetime access on the silver level. This will get you one quality piece of rebrandable software per month. You can use the software for yourself, and you can also re-brand the software with your own links and sell it to make a profit.
However, that’s not all you get with the Silver IM Buzz Software Membership. You will also have access to twelve of Calvin and Jonathan’s previously released software. Once again, you can use this software to make your own Internet business run more smoothly, or you can re-brand it and give it away to build your reputation or you could sell it to make immediate profits. It’s up to you.
IM Buzz Software
But that’s not all you receive when you sign up for this free membership site. You will gain access to video training. This training will take you from the basics to the more advanced methods of making money online. It shows you how to set up domain hosting and how to set up a squeeze page to build a list. There are tons of videos and training materials on this site.
In addition to all of this you will have access to tons of bonuses that are too many to list in this review. IM Buzz Software Membership is definitely a good place to start if you want to really make money on the Internet. Once you get rolling you can upgrade to the gold or platinum membership sites which are paid sites, but you will get access to even more powerful software products that can literally make you rich.
IM Buzz Software Membership site is highly recommended for anyone who is trying to make a living on the Internet. The price is free and you really have nothing to lose with this awesome viral software membership.
Click Here to Join Now!
Calvin Woon and Jonathan Teng know all about the struggles that the Internet marketer faces and have decided to do something about it. These two guys have created dozens of products and software that can be a huge benefit to anyone who is trying to make money on the Internet.
IM Buzz Software
The IM Buzz Software Membership is another brainchild of Calvin and Jonathan. They have taken a membership site and loaded it with software that you can use and even re-brand and sell on your own for 100% commission.
The great thing about the IM Buzz Software is they are offering the Silver Membership plan to you for free. That’s right you will receive free lifetime access on the silver level. This will get you one quality piece of rebrandable software per month. You can use the software for yourself, and you can also re-brand the software with your own links and sell it to make a profit.
However, that’s not all you get with the Silver IM Buzz Software Membership. You will also have access to twelve of Calvin and Jonathan’s previously released software. Once again, you can use this software to make your own Internet business run more smoothly, or you can re-brand it and give it away to build your reputation or you could sell it to make immediate profits. It’s up to you.
IM Buzz Software
But that’s not all you receive when you sign up for this free membership site. You will gain access to video training. This training will take you from the basics to the more advanced methods of making money online. It shows you how to set up domain hosting and how to set up a squeeze page to build a list. There are tons of videos and training materials on this site.
In addition to all of this you will have access to tons of bonuses that are too many to list in this review. IM Buzz Software Membership is definitely a good place to start if you want to really make money on the Internet. Once you get rolling you can upgrade to the gold or platinum membership sites which are paid sites, but you will get access to even more powerful software products that can literally make you rich.
IM Buzz Software Membership site is highly recommended for anyone who is trying to make a living on the Internet. The price is free and you really have nothing to lose with this awesome viral software membership.
Click Here to Join Now!
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