It has been said many times that the Internet has revolutionized how people live, play, and do business. With this advancement in communications technology, doing business has evolved in so many ways. Together with this evolution, the competition has also taken on a different twist. Advertising and marketing is still at the base of competition yet how businesses actually carry out their advertising and marketing campaigns have changed a lot.
In order to establish a business online, one needs to at least have a website to promote his business. With a website come many considerations, one of the most important being the level of traffic to the site. A high number of visits to the site means that people are aware of your existence and that your advertising campaign is actually working. Yet before you can achieve a certain level of traffic, there are countless measures that you have to implement. One of the best ways to achieve such a status would be to have your site up in the ranks when it comes to search engines. Here is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.
SEO techniques are among the top issues nowadays when it comes to online businesses. Every business owner wants to have his site (or sites) to be optimized so as to have more visibility in the online market. One of the things that search engines take into consideration when calculating the page rank is the number of links to the site. More than the quantity, however, search engines also look into the quality of the links.
There are reciprocal links and one way links. Reciprocal links are basically links to one website which also links back to your own site. In essence, reciprocal links show that there is trust between the two sites. It is as if they are both saying that the other site is trustworthy and worth a visit. One way links, on the other hand, are links from other sites to your own site. As the name implies, you do not link back to the site that links to you.
One way links are very important to search engines. Google for example, places such high importance in one way links. They essentially are a testimony to your site’s worth and popularity. So how do you get one way links?
The most obvious way would be to create other websites which are also useful and create links to your own site. That of course would entail a lot of resources as you would have more websites to set up and manage. Another way would be to submit your site to major directories such as Yahoo. You can also create articles for submission and have them link to your site. All these methods, and more, can be done on your own or you can hire the services of professionals to create one way links for you. This is perhaps the most cost effective way of doing it as it would free up your time for more pressing matters.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Landing-One-Way-Links-Ethically/33295
Friday, September 7, 2007
Submitting Your Website To Authority Directories
Search engines have come to dominate the internet as the ultimate portal for information retrieval. However, even before directories came to existence people used to rely on link directories to get them to the website they needed to view. When search engines first surged in popularity a lot of people thought that they would eventually fade into existence as they would no longer be relevant. Contrary to that expectation though link directories have been making a come back and are in fact gaining popularity again. The reason behind this, however, is ironically linked to search engines.
When people look for information using search engines the search engines actually use an algorithm to calculate or come up with a list of web pages most relevant to the search string the user has entered. Though the algorithm of each search engine is unknown to the general public, website designers or engineers still try to find ways to quantify the factors that affect the algorithm’s calculations. This is of course in hopes if being able to boost their website or their clients’ websites page rank. The techniques used by website designers to optimize the websites are called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
A common SEO practice is called link building. Link building is a process of creating relevant and quality inbound links to a website with the intention of increasing the website’s importance resulting to an increase in page rank and thus generating more traffic. However, those who have tried to build links the “organic” or natural way have found it a very difficult thing indeed. It does take much effort after all to create a very good site that people will want to link to much less get the people to notice your site if your page rank is still quite low. Although some websites have succeeded in link building using organic means it makes much more sense to employ SEO techniques to hasten one’s link building efforts.
A very common way to build links is by submitting in link directories. By being listed in a reputable link directory a website can be sure to gain a huge number of reciprocal and inbound links in a way faster time than you can ever hope to by trying to build links organically. Furthermore if you are part of a very good link directory then you can be sure that the other websites listed in that directory quality sites to and are bound to give you quality links. With the way link directories help in SEO efforts people are noticing directories again and this is the very reason why link directories are thriving.
The only down part in submitting to link directories is that some website owners fall for the more unsavory link directories, which are actually called link farms. Make sure that if you plan to do link building this way submit only to directories that accept quality websites like your own. Being listed in a link farm will only do your SEO efforts harm instead of good since search engines are biased against them.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Submitting-Your-Website-To-Authority-Directories/33312
When people look for information using search engines the search engines actually use an algorithm to calculate or come up with a list of web pages most relevant to the search string the user has entered. Though the algorithm of each search engine is unknown to the general public, website designers or engineers still try to find ways to quantify the factors that affect the algorithm’s calculations. This is of course in hopes if being able to boost their website or their clients’ websites page rank. The techniques used by website designers to optimize the websites are called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
A common SEO practice is called link building. Link building is a process of creating relevant and quality inbound links to a website with the intention of increasing the website’s importance resulting to an increase in page rank and thus generating more traffic. However, those who have tried to build links the “organic” or natural way have found it a very difficult thing indeed. It does take much effort after all to create a very good site that people will want to link to much less get the people to notice your site if your page rank is still quite low. Although some websites have succeeded in link building using organic means it makes much more sense to employ SEO techniques to hasten one’s link building efforts.
A very common way to build links is by submitting in link directories. By being listed in a reputable link directory a website can be sure to gain a huge number of reciprocal and inbound links in a way faster time than you can ever hope to by trying to build links organically. Furthermore if you are part of a very good link directory then you can be sure that the other websites listed in that directory quality sites to and are bound to give you quality links. With the way link directories help in SEO efforts people are noticing directories again and this is the very reason why link directories are thriving.
The only down part in submitting to link directories is that some website owners fall for the more unsavory link directories, which are actually called link farms. Make sure that if you plan to do link building this way submit only to directories that accept quality websites like your own. Being listed in a link farm will only do your SEO efforts harm instead of good since search engines are biased against them.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Submitting-Your-Website-To-Authority-Directories/33312
Using SEO To Make Your Mark On The Internet
Everyone is talking about SEO these days and the best ways to go about it. There are s may different theories that it can be pretty hard to sort through them all and still have time to use them.
These days if a site is to succeed SEO needs to be addressed. Search engine optimization is a powerful tool, one that can change the way your site is seen by others. In fact, without any there is a good chance that your site will never be seen at all.
Your best bet is to hire a professional to do your SEO for you. This is the easiest way by far to ensure that the job gets done right. This does not mean that you shouldn’t do a little bit of homework yourself though.
Even when you outsource this work, you still need to know the basics in order to make sure you are not throwing your money away. You need to see that you are not getting taken advantage of and the only way to do that is to make it clear to the professional that you are no dummy.
Let them know from the start that you know your stuff. Never tell them that you are new to the game of SEO, that is just opening the door to trouble. Instead you need to throw around some terms and make it look like you know even more than you do, it is always better to be safe than sorry!
If you want to save some money then you will need to do your best to learn what you can on your own. SEO is a complicated matter and it is vital that you take things slow. You can simply learn as you go, that is what I did and I am a seasoned pro now.
Start with the basics, put them to use and go from there. The internet is a fount of information and the vast majority of it is free. Why pay for something if you don’t have to. You may want to checkout the local library as well, you could find a ton of books there to read through. Just make sure you take notes.
One last tip: If you do choose to hire an SEO professional pick their brain as they work. Keep comprehensive notes on everything he or she tells you so that the next time you need to get this job done, you will be able to do it yourself. Ask all of the questions you can think of, it will save you thousands in the future.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Using-SEO-To-Make-Your-Mark-On-The-Internet/33686
These days if a site is to succeed SEO needs to be addressed. Search engine optimization is a powerful tool, one that can change the way your site is seen by others. In fact, without any there is a good chance that your site will never be seen at all.
Your best bet is to hire a professional to do your SEO for you. This is the easiest way by far to ensure that the job gets done right. This does not mean that you shouldn’t do a little bit of homework yourself though.
Even when you outsource this work, you still need to know the basics in order to make sure you are not throwing your money away. You need to see that you are not getting taken advantage of and the only way to do that is to make it clear to the professional that you are no dummy.
Let them know from the start that you know your stuff. Never tell them that you are new to the game of SEO, that is just opening the door to trouble. Instead you need to throw around some terms and make it look like you know even more than you do, it is always better to be safe than sorry!
If you want to save some money then you will need to do your best to learn what you can on your own. SEO is a complicated matter and it is vital that you take things slow. You can simply learn as you go, that is what I did and I am a seasoned pro now.
Start with the basics, put them to use and go from there. The internet is a fount of information and the vast majority of it is free. Why pay for something if you don’t have to. You may want to checkout the local library as well, you could find a ton of books there to read through. Just make sure you take notes.
One last tip: If you do choose to hire an SEO professional pick their brain as they work. Keep comprehensive notes on everything he or she tells you so that the next time you need to get this job done, you will be able to do it yourself. Ask all of the questions you can think of, it will save you thousands in the future.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Using-SEO-To-Make-Your-Mark-On-The-Internet/33686
Choosing an SEO - What to Ask
Choosing an SEO can be a painful experience, especially if you know little about search engine optimisation yourself. So how do you find an effective, trustworthy SEO? Here are a few questions you might like to ask:
How often will you resubmit my web site to the relevant search engines?
It’s no longer a requirement to resubmit a web site to the major search engines. In fact the truth is that excessive resubmission could be seen as spamming.
Search engines prefer to find a web site by following links. If a web site is quality resource on its topic then it will naturally acquire inbound links. Search engines will find these links without the need to prompt them.
So if an SEO advises that they will be regularly resubmitting your web site to the search engines, steer clear.
Can you guarantee me first position on Google?
No one, absolutely no one, can guarantee that they can place a web site in first place on Google. The Google search engine has a democratic model and the only way to be placed in the number-one slot is to be considered as the most relevant resource for a particular topic.
You cannot pay Google to appear in the number one slot. It is possible to estimate how much effort it will require to earn the first position podium, but this can only ever be an estimate.
Avoid anyone who claims they can get you the number one slot on Google, paid for or otherwise.
Exactly what services will I get if pay you a monthly retainer?
An honest SEO should happily tell you exactly what you will get for your money on a month by month basis. Reluctance to disclose this information should raise warning flags. Those that don’t appear transparent may well be using illegal techniques that could get your site de-listed.
Can you provide me with references and a proven track record of success using your strategies?
Any SEO worth their salt should have a readily available portfolio containing a proven track record of quality results in competitive markets.
Be prepared to accept that they may be not be able to disclose all details due to client confidentiality, especially if some of the work they have performed has been as an independent contractor.
However references should be sought and any SEO who cannot provide you with references should be given a wide berth.
How long will it take for my site to appear on the first page of Google?
While an estimate can be given, be very wary of anyone who claims they can guarantee a timescale for positioning of your web site. An SEO who specialises in your industry will be best placed to advise, but this can only ever be an educated guess.
How often will you optimise my META tags?
The meta description and keyword tags are no longer used by the major search engines for ranking a web site. The only remaining value is in the meta description tag, and this is not related to search engine optimisation.
The description tag, if worded correctly, will be used as the snippet in the search engine results pages (SERP’s). If a call to action is present then this can increase click through rate (CTR), driving more traffic to your site, but this is in no way related to a sites ranking position.
This is the only value found in meta tags and any SEO telling you otherwise is either trying to scam you, or extremely behind the times in their understanding of how search engines currently operate.
I’ve heard about doorway pages and how they can bring more traffic. Are you able to build some for me?
Doorway pages are used by unethical SEO’s to drive more traffic to a site. Targeted keywords are placed on the page with the intention of making the page appear more relevant to the search engine. Sometimes the page uses a hidden redirect to take the user to the actual page.
This is a form of spamming and any honest SEO will tell you that the results rarely work. They should also tell you that use of such tactics can result in de-listing from the search engines.
Avoid anyone who tells you otherwise.
What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect. Can 302 redirects be problematic, and why?
In short a 302 redirect means that a page has temporarily moved, whilst a 301 means that the page has moved permanently. Not using the appropriate redirect can cause loss of PageRank and rankings.
Any SEO who is not aware of the intricacies of redirecting and possible impacts of not doing so correctly should be avoided.
What is a canonical domain and what issues can it present?
An example of a canonical domain is one where the same page can be reached via multiple URL’s. A common instance is where the root domain is accessible via the non-www and the www version of the domain name. The problem is that the search engine will see the two URL’s as individual pages and can award a cross domain penalty for duplicate content.
If they can’t pronounce “Canonical” steer well clear!
Summary
Asking any of the above questions should help you in your quest for finding an effective and ethical SEO company or professional. The best way to choose an SEO is to get them to do a small piece of work for you first. Pay them and reiterate until you find someone you are happy with.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Choosing-an-SEO---What-to-Ask/33692
How often will you resubmit my web site to the relevant search engines?
It’s no longer a requirement to resubmit a web site to the major search engines. In fact the truth is that excessive resubmission could be seen as spamming.
Search engines prefer to find a web site by following links. If a web site is quality resource on its topic then it will naturally acquire inbound links. Search engines will find these links without the need to prompt them.
So if an SEO advises that they will be regularly resubmitting your web site to the search engines, steer clear.
Can you guarantee me first position on Google?
No one, absolutely no one, can guarantee that they can place a web site in first place on Google. The Google search engine has a democratic model and the only way to be placed in the number-one slot is to be considered as the most relevant resource for a particular topic.
You cannot pay Google to appear in the number one slot. It is possible to estimate how much effort it will require to earn the first position podium, but this can only ever be an estimate.
Avoid anyone who claims they can get you the number one slot on Google, paid for or otherwise.
Exactly what services will I get if pay you a monthly retainer?
An honest SEO should happily tell you exactly what you will get for your money on a month by month basis. Reluctance to disclose this information should raise warning flags. Those that don’t appear transparent may well be using illegal techniques that could get your site de-listed.
Can you provide me with references and a proven track record of success using your strategies?
Any SEO worth their salt should have a readily available portfolio containing a proven track record of quality results in competitive markets.
Be prepared to accept that they may be not be able to disclose all details due to client confidentiality, especially if some of the work they have performed has been as an independent contractor.
However references should be sought and any SEO who cannot provide you with references should be given a wide berth.
How long will it take for my site to appear on the first page of Google?
While an estimate can be given, be very wary of anyone who claims they can guarantee a timescale for positioning of your web site. An SEO who specialises in your industry will be best placed to advise, but this can only ever be an educated guess.
How often will you optimise my META tags?
The meta description and keyword tags are no longer used by the major search engines for ranking a web site. The only remaining value is in the meta description tag, and this is not related to search engine optimisation.
The description tag, if worded correctly, will be used as the snippet in the search engine results pages (SERP’s). If a call to action is present then this can increase click through rate (CTR), driving more traffic to your site, but this is in no way related to a sites ranking position.
This is the only value found in meta tags and any SEO telling you otherwise is either trying to scam you, or extremely behind the times in their understanding of how search engines currently operate.
I’ve heard about doorway pages and how they can bring more traffic. Are you able to build some for me?
Doorway pages are used by unethical SEO’s to drive more traffic to a site. Targeted keywords are placed on the page with the intention of making the page appear more relevant to the search engine. Sometimes the page uses a hidden redirect to take the user to the actual page.
This is a form of spamming and any honest SEO will tell you that the results rarely work. They should also tell you that use of such tactics can result in de-listing from the search engines.
Avoid anyone who tells you otherwise.
What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect. Can 302 redirects be problematic, and why?
In short a 302 redirect means that a page has temporarily moved, whilst a 301 means that the page has moved permanently. Not using the appropriate redirect can cause loss of PageRank and rankings.
Any SEO who is not aware of the intricacies of redirecting and possible impacts of not doing so correctly should be avoided.
What is a canonical domain and what issues can it present?
An example of a canonical domain is one where the same page can be reached via multiple URL’s. A common instance is where the root domain is accessible via the non-www and the www version of the domain name. The problem is that the search engine will see the two URL’s as individual pages and can award a cross domain penalty for duplicate content.
If they can’t pronounce “Canonical” steer well clear!
Summary
Asking any of the above questions should help you in your quest for finding an effective and ethical SEO company or professional. The best way to choose an SEO is to get them to do a small piece of work for you first. Pay them and reiterate until you find someone you are happy with.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Choosing-an-SEO---What-to-Ask/33692
Get Your Website To The Top Of Google And Stay There:
Your Website may be the slickest, most jaw-dropping beautiful creation known to man but its nothing if it isn't showing on the first page of google search results for your chosen speciality subject. Our starters for ten...
Keywords
An obvious first choice but still probably the most importantant element of a websites content. To the uninitiated a website isn't categorised by its graphical content but its words. It's therefore vitally important to make sure your website not only looks good visually but has enough content stuffed away in the outer margins to keep the search engines happy. An important point to make here is to not stuff too many keywords in arbitrarily as Google being the swine that he or she is will soon be pulling your pants down for that schoolboy trick.
Quality Incoming Links
Google devised the process of ranking a website by the ammount of other websites linking to it and supposedly therefore being the most popular and useful for those search terms. However the search engines are now moving away from this method of ranking now that every Tom, Dick and Harry is swapping links with one another. It's still a good idea to get as many incoming links as possible but don't bother with recipricol link schemes as its a waste of everyones time
Meta Tags
These are the bits of code that form part of the description of what it is exactly your website does or services you offer or sell. Again, these, in the internets infancy, were all you needed to worry about. Simply type a few suggestive words in your description and keyword meta tags and see your website rise above the filthy competitors. Nowadays a bit more effort needs to be done to keep your website high among the rankings though its still neccesary to use these meta tags
Useful content
The smart money for the forseeable future among hardened SEO's is to make your website useful. Provide some quality tutorials like this fine specimen or better still offer free downloads or something that people will find indispensible.
Try to keep abreast of what is going on in the world of technology and weep with despair
Podcasts are all the rage at the moment or at least they were until yesterday lunchtime, now they're probably met with incredulous derision among the cognescenti. Other things to try and understand are RSS feeds - your guess is as good as mine, Blogs - which seem to be like sad online diaries as far as I can make out and user powered content sites wherby geeks worldwide sit at their consoles and vote on things that interest them which pretty much rules out anything I can comprehend. Be sure to implement all this somehow and you'll see your website sitting pretty on that ever encroaching monster - google.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Get-Your-Website-To-The-Top-Of-Google-And-Stay-There-/34409
Keywords
An obvious first choice but still probably the most importantant element of a websites content. To the uninitiated a website isn't categorised by its graphical content but its words. It's therefore vitally important to make sure your website not only looks good visually but has enough content stuffed away in the outer margins to keep the search engines happy. An important point to make here is to not stuff too many keywords in arbitrarily as Google being the swine that he or she is will soon be pulling your pants down for that schoolboy trick.
Quality Incoming Links
Google devised the process of ranking a website by the ammount of other websites linking to it and supposedly therefore being the most popular and useful for those search terms. However the search engines are now moving away from this method of ranking now that every Tom, Dick and Harry is swapping links with one another. It's still a good idea to get as many incoming links as possible but don't bother with recipricol link schemes as its a waste of everyones time
Meta Tags
These are the bits of code that form part of the description of what it is exactly your website does or services you offer or sell. Again, these, in the internets infancy, were all you needed to worry about. Simply type a few suggestive words in your description and keyword meta tags and see your website rise above the filthy competitors. Nowadays a bit more effort needs to be done to keep your website high among the rankings though its still neccesary to use these meta tags
Useful content
The smart money for the forseeable future among hardened SEO's is to make your website useful. Provide some quality tutorials like this fine specimen or better still offer free downloads or something that people will find indispensible.
Try to keep abreast of what is going on in the world of technology and weep with despair
Podcasts are all the rage at the moment or at least they were until yesterday lunchtime, now they're probably met with incredulous derision among the cognescenti. Other things to try and understand are RSS feeds - your guess is as good as mine, Blogs - which seem to be like sad online diaries as far as I can make out and user powered content sites wherby geeks worldwide sit at their consoles and vote on things that interest them which pretty much rules out anything I can comprehend. Be sure to implement all this somehow and you'll see your website sitting pretty on that ever encroaching monster - google.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Get-Your-Website-To-The-Top-Of-Google-And-Stay-There-/34409
Organic SEO methods ensure your success on the web
Does the term sound confusing? Well don’t be, as this is nothing drastically different from the usual methods that are implemented by online business owners for search engine optimization of their site on the web. Organic SEO are the simple natural methods that are used for promoting a site on the web. The web is populated with numerous sites that provide different kinds of services to clients. Visitors always look out for information and if you manage to reach out to such visitors, you can surely do good business. After all, this is exactly what all online business owners aim to do through their online business sites.
To be successful on the web, you have to understand search engines really well. So understanding search engines is very crucial, if you want to be successful in this business. Search engines work very differently and they do not view and receive a site like we do. Search engines have certain criteria and guidelines, and if a site fulfills those requirements search engines receive those sites very favorably. It is very important for you to understand what search engines like to see and what they do not like to see on a site. Taking care of all these factors will ensure that the organic SEO methods that you use for your site will be successful.
Search engines change their algorithms very frequently. There are several reasons behind this, and the most obvious among them is the fact that they want to improve their results. The results are concluded after making a study of the users who are active on the web. Organic search engine optimization methods involve using all the legal and white hat methods for the optimization of a site on the web. If you make use of all the legal methods, it will ensure that you will never be tangled in any kind of legal mess.
It is not humanely possible for search engines to crawl the huge number of websites on the web. So it is not a person rather automated software called spiders or bots used to crawl the sites. The relevance and importance of a site is determined based on the results of the crawling done by the software. Since search engines keep on changing their algorithm and criteria for giving rankings to sites, you must be fully aware of what is needed to attract the attention of all the major search engines.
There are several methods and technique that can be used for optimizing your site on the web. The idea is to announce to everyone that you have entered the market and are interested in doing serious business on the web. Well if you do not tell anyone about you, how do you expect others to know and find out about your business? Ultimately, it is your call to determine what methods you feel will be the best for your site. However, it can be safely said that organic SEO are one of the best methods that can be used for the promotion of your online business site.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Organic-SEO-methods-ensure-your-success-on-the-web/35014
To be successful on the web, you have to understand search engines really well. So understanding search engines is very crucial, if you want to be successful in this business. Search engines work very differently and they do not view and receive a site like we do. Search engines have certain criteria and guidelines, and if a site fulfills those requirements search engines receive those sites very favorably. It is very important for you to understand what search engines like to see and what they do not like to see on a site. Taking care of all these factors will ensure that the organic SEO methods that you use for your site will be successful.
Search engines change their algorithms very frequently. There are several reasons behind this, and the most obvious among them is the fact that they want to improve their results. The results are concluded after making a study of the users who are active on the web. Organic search engine optimization methods involve using all the legal and white hat methods for the optimization of a site on the web. If you make use of all the legal methods, it will ensure that you will never be tangled in any kind of legal mess.
It is not humanely possible for search engines to crawl the huge number of websites on the web. So it is not a person rather automated software called spiders or bots used to crawl the sites. The relevance and importance of a site is determined based on the results of the crawling done by the software. Since search engines keep on changing their algorithm and criteria for giving rankings to sites, you must be fully aware of what is needed to attract the attention of all the major search engines.
There are several methods and technique that can be used for optimizing your site on the web. The idea is to announce to everyone that you have entered the market and are interested in doing serious business on the web. Well if you do not tell anyone about you, how do you expect others to know and find out about your business? Ultimately, it is your call to determine what methods you feel will be the best for your site. However, it can be safely said that organic SEO are one of the best methods that can be used for the promotion of your online business site.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Organic-SEO-methods-ensure-your-success-on-the-web/35014
SEO: Proving Your Keywords Are Worth Investing Search Engine Optimisation Time
One of the key skills you must develop when undertaking Search Engine Optimisation is the ability to identify and choose keywords that your clients are going to use, or I should say, most likely going to use to visit your website or to search for in a search engine. There are lots of great tools out there that will help you find the right keywords but be warned always test the results you get because there are anomalies in some of these tools that can cost you time and money. I want to examine a number of steps to follow to test that you have the right keywords.
There are a range of tools that you can use to work out what keywords are going to be most appropriate for your market, some of them are free, some of them you need to register and some you have to pay for. The tools include -
1. Wordtracker
2. Google Adwords
3. Overture
4. Free Keywords
5. Your Website Session Logs
6. Yahoo Advertising
7. Keyword Locator
8. Keyword Elite
9. Good Keywords
10. Competitors Websites
Before investing in the keywords you have found always check to see if the keyword is in fact as popular as the resources tell you in that search.
Why?
I recently had a situation recently where one keyword we found "advanced wealth planning techniques" was supposed to have 250 hits a day coming in from Google. We garnered this information from a range of different sources however what we found was that this was not the case, in fact those keywords prior to writing this article actually only get between 2 and 5 hits per day.
One of the most important lessons both I and my team learned from this was to ensure that you run a trial of the keywords in pay-per-click programs before you actually purchase any domains that use the keywords to ensure that the keywords really do get the traffic the keyword tools tell you. The way my team achieves this, is we will create the sales pages for the product or service that we want to sell and trial it on the key search engine we want to optimize the new website for using one of our existing websites.
For example, if we know that a certain keyword will get the most traffic on Google, then we will certainly use Adwords to prove that the traffic really is there. If we new that Yahoo was the major source of traffic for the keywords then we would use Overture.
Generally we will test the keywords for 2 to 3 days. Longer tests maybe necessary but two to three days is normally a good indicator. Once we are confident that the keywords get the volume of traffic we are looking for, we will then stop the advertising, secure the domain name and then implement our products onto that domain and optimize the webpages for that product or service. This ensures we are not caught in a situation, which we have been in the past, where we have domain name which contains keywords that are totally useless.
The best tool I have found for quick testing your keywords is Google Adwords. One of the core reasons I like using this resource is that you can immediately test your keywords rather than waiting anywhere up to 5 days for the other Pay-Per-Click engines like Overture.
One of the other ways that we look to see if the keywords we have chosen are in fact worthwhile is to look at what our competitors are doing. However, use this technique merely as a guide because they could be making the same mistakes as you. We know of a few people who copied what we were doing with the keywords mentioned before and they would have been achieving no traffic off those keywords just as we were.
The key to success in any business whether it be online or in the traditional world is to test and measure. The way we test to make sure that the keywords are being used is to check our logs and see who is actually referring traffic to our site. In ASP code there are a number of Session Values that will contain this information. We check our sites each day to ensure that the traffic is coming from our target keywords.
If they are not coming from the keywords we are targeting and the customers are buying our products we will then look at the keywords that are being used and find out how competitive they are and whether we should be optimizing our site for those keywords. Search Engine Optimisation and Internet marketing is really a science and like all science, you need facts and figures to make decisions so the better quality statistics you can collect the easier it is to make a direction change.
For example, we recently had a situation where we started getting a couple of hundred hits per day for a 5 word statement that was being used in both Google and Yahoo to find our site. Whilst a couple of hundred hits per day may not seem very many our conversion rate on that key statement was running around 70% which is huge for any Internet business. The bizarre part was that our website was actually place at number 97 in the search engine results for both Google and Yahoo.
What we did at this point was to simply write a number of articles on the keyword topics. Submit the articles to related sites, including article directories and then ensured in the Author Bio Section we included Hypertext that included the Key Word Statement back to the associated page. The result was that we increased our ranking from 97 to the top 5 and we gained a 70% conversion rate on all people who visited that webpage.
The key issue though is to make sure that the keywords you are using are what your buyers associate with. Sometimes I find that a client's perception of what keywords a person would use to search for a product is far more different to what their clients are actually using. Whenever we are looking at that issue, we simply go back to the client's logs for the last 6 months and troll through the data and find out how their clients are finding them.
The secret to search engine optimization for any website is in the logs because it will tell you very clearly what people are using to get to your site and more so which search engines they are using.
When you are looking at buying a new domain or building a new site, make sure that you really do your homework to identify the right keywords that people will use to find your products or services. Before committing to buying a new domain that contains your keywords always test to see that the keywords are actually being used and that there is sufficient volume to justify the purchase.
Remember, the reason why we test and measure is to ensure that you are making a sound investment. If you get it wrong, you are going to have to spend more money to correct your mistake and nobody likes having to spend their own hard earned money.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/SEO--Proving-Your-Keywords-Are-Worth-Investing-Search-Engine-Optimisation-Time/35030
There are a range of tools that you can use to work out what keywords are going to be most appropriate for your market, some of them are free, some of them you need to register and some you have to pay for. The tools include -
1. Wordtracker
2. Google Adwords
3. Overture
4. Free Keywords
5. Your Website Session Logs
6. Yahoo Advertising
7. Keyword Locator
8. Keyword Elite
9. Good Keywords
10. Competitors Websites
Before investing in the keywords you have found always check to see if the keyword is in fact as popular as the resources tell you in that search.
Why?
I recently had a situation recently where one keyword we found "advanced wealth planning techniques" was supposed to have 250 hits a day coming in from Google. We garnered this information from a range of different sources however what we found was that this was not the case, in fact those keywords prior to writing this article actually only get between 2 and 5 hits per day.
One of the most important lessons both I and my team learned from this was to ensure that you run a trial of the keywords in pay-per-click programs before you actually purchase any domains that use the keywords to ensure that the keywords really do get the traffic the keyword tools tell you. The way my team achieves this, is we will create the sales pages for the product or service that we want to sell and trial it on the key search engine we want to optimize the new website for using one of our existing websites.
For example, if we know that a certain keyword will get the most traffic on Google, then we will certainly use Adwords to prove that the traffic really is there. If we new that Yahoo was the major source of traffic for the keywords then we would use Overture.
Generally we will test the keywords for 2 to 3 days. Longer tests maybe necessary but two to three days is normally a good indicator. Once we are confident that the keywords get the volume of traffic we are looking for, we will then stop the advertising, secure the domain name and then implement our products onto that domain and optimize the webpages for that product or service. This ensures we are not caught in a situation, which we have been in the past, where we have domain name which contains keywords that are totally useless.
The best tool I have found for quick testing your keywords is Google Adwords. One of the core reasons I like using this resource is that you can immediately test your keywords rather than waiting anywhere up to 5 days for the other Pay-Per-Click engines like Overture.
One of the other ways that we look to see if the keywords we have chosen are in fact worthwhile is to look at what our competitors are doing. However, use this technique merely as a guide because they could be making the same mistakes as you. We know of a few people who copied what we were doing with the keywords mentioned before and they would have been achieving no traffic off those keywords just as we were.
The key to success in any business whether it be online or in the traditional world is to test and measure. The way we test to make sure that the keywords are being used is to check our logs and see who is actually referring traffic to our site. In ASP code there are a number of Session Values that will contain this information. We check our sites each day to ensure that the traffic is coming from our target keywords.
If they are not coming from the keywords we are targeting and the customers are buying our products we will then look at the keywords that are being used and find out how competitive they are and whether we should be optimizing our site for those keywords. Search Engine Optimisation and Internet marketing is really a science and like all science, you need facts and figures to make decisions so the better quality statistics you can collect the easier it is to make a direction change.
For example, we recently had a situation where we started getting a couple of hundred hits per day for a 5 word statement that was being used in both Google and Yahoo to find our site. Whilst a couple of hundred hits per day may not seem very many our conversion rate on that key statement was running around 70% which is huge for any Internet business. The bizarre part was that our website was actually place at number 97 in the search engine results for both Google and Yahoo.
What we did at this point was to simply write a number of articles on the keyword topics. Submit the articles to related sites, including article directories and then ensured in the Author Bio Section we included Hypertext that included the Key Word Statement back to the associated page. The result was that we increased our ranking from 97 to the top 5 and we gained a 70% conversion rate on all people who visited that webpage.
The key issue though is to make sure that the keywords you are using are what your buyers associate with. Sometimes I find that a client's perception of what keywords a person would use to search for a product is far more different to what their clients are actually using. Whenever we are looking at that issue, we simply go back to the client's logs for the last 6 months and troll through the data and find out how their clients are finding them.
The secret to search engine optimization for any website is in the logs because it will tell you very clearly what people are using to get to your site and more so which search engines they are using.
When you are looking at buying a new domain or building a new site, make sure that you really do your homework to identify the right keywords that people will use to find your products or services. Before committing to buying a new domain that contains your keywords always test to see that the keywords are actually being used and that there is sufficient volume to justify the purchase.
Remember, the reason why we test and measure is to ensure that you are making a sound investment. If you get it wrong, you are going to have to spend more money to correct your mistake and nobody likes having to spend their own hard earned money.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/SEO--Proving-Your-Keywords-Are-Worth-Investing-Search-Engine-Optimisation-Time/35030
SEO: Should You Use Dashes, Underscores or Neither in Domain Names
One of the biggest challenges we face as internet business owners is trying to secure domain names that have the keywords we need to help in the Search Engine Optimization process. Over the last few years the number of domains being registered is growing exponentially and Internet marketers are now reverting to domain names that use a combination of dashes and underscores, however you need to be careful using dashes and underscores in the domain names because you can in fact make it very difficult for a client to actually remember your website and come back to it if they did not add it to their favorites. In the long run, this can challenge the ability of your business to grow.
From a number of focus groups we have run in Australia and also in conversation with our customers, we have found that a domain using dashes is in fact harder for a customer to remember then one with underscores. One of the core reasons that people find using underscores easier to remember goes back to the bad old days of DOS. The DOS operating system did not allow for names to have spaces and the substitute for spaces was the underscore, consequently people remember underscores between names better than those that use dashes.
If you were choosing a Key Word Rich Name the best choice would be to have the domain with no dashes or underscores. For example if I was trying to setup a domain for a car detailing service in Los Angeles, the best non-company name specific domain for the location would be -
LosAngelesCarDetailingService.com
The key advantage of this name is that customers will easily remember the name and that there are no underscores or dashes. This domain is also far more easier for people to remember if they see the domain using off-line marketing techniques like bumper bar stickers. The domain name is also far more easier for you as the business owner to explain to the client to lookup on the web.
For example we could have rewritten this domain -
Los_Angeles_Car_Detailing_Service.com or
Los-Angeles-Car-Detailing-Service.com
If I had a choice between the two names above, from experience I would recommend the first one over the second. The reason for this is that your clients who are not extensively internet savvy will tend to interpret a dash, whether spoken or seen as an underscore. Once again this occurs because of the history people have with the DOS operating system.
The other issue you need to be very cautious of doing is using a combination of dashes and underscores. In a recent survey my company did of 200 keywords in the three major search engines, we found that more and more companies are registering domains with either dashes or underscores in the domain name and then use the alternative with the file names. Let me show you an example …
Los_Angeles_Car_Detailing_Service.com/Platinum-Car-Cleaning-Service.asp
You can see in the domain above that we have used a combination of dashes and underscores. Doing this is really poor practice because if a person visits your website and wants to get back to the page above, they will get mixed up as to whether they should be using underscores or dashes.
When using underscores or dashes in your domain, make sure that you stay consistent and only use either all dashes or all underscores. It is unwise to use a combination of these elements as shown above.
Look the bottom line is this; from a client user perspective the best domain to register is one without spaces. If that domain is not available then the next best one is one that uses underscores and finally the dashes option should only be used in the worst case scenario.
One of the other issues you need to be cautious about when registering a domain is to not make the domain name to long. In online advertising sites like Google Adwords the domain name display allows only a maximum of 35 characters. If your domain name is longer than 35 characters you will not be able to type it into the Display URL box the domain which will mean if you do not display the right URL then Google will ban your Adwords campaign. In the examples I used above I would not be able to run an Adwords campaign because the number of characters in the domain exceeds the Display URL's capability and as such limits your advertising options for pay-per-click advertising.
Choosing the right domain is an important step and if you get it wrong it can limit your abilities to market your website and cost you money.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/SEO--Should-You-Use-Dashes--Underscores-or-Neither-in-Domain-Names/35060
From a number of focus groups we have run in Australia and also in conversation with our customers, we have found that a domain using dashes is in fact harder for a customer to remember then one with underscores. One of the core reasons that people find using underscores easier to remember goes back to the bad old days of DOS. The DOS operating system did not allow for names to have spaces and the substitute for spaces was the underscore, consequently people remember underscores between names better than those that use dashes.
If you were choosing a Key Word Rich Name the best choice would be to have the domain with no dashes or underscores. For example if I was trying to setup a domain for a car detailing service in Los Angeles, the best non-company name specific domain for the location would be -
LosAngelesCarDetailingService.com
The key advantage of this name is that customers will easily remember the name and that there are no underscores or dashes. This domain is also far more easier for people to remember if they see the domain using off-line marketing techniques like bumper bar stickers. The domain name is also far more easier for you as the business owner to explain to the client to lookup on the web.
For example we could have rewritten this domain -
Los_Angeles_Car_Detailing_Service.com or
Los-Angeles-Car-Detailing-Service.com
If I had a choice between the two names above, from experience I would recommend the first one over the second. The reason for this is that your clients who are not extensively internet savvy will tend to interpret a dash, whether spoken or seen as an underscore. Once again this occurs because of the history people have with the DOS operating system.
The other issue you need to be very cautious of doing is using a combination of dashes and underscores. In a recent survey my company did of 200 keywords in the three major search engines, we found that more and more companies are registering domains with either dashes or underscores in the domain name and then use the alternative with the file names. Let me show you an example …
Los_Angeles_Car_Detailing_Service.com/Platinum-Car-Cleaning-Service.asp
You can see in the domain above that we have used a combination of dashes and underscores. Doing this is really poor practice because if a person visits your website and wants to get back to the page above, they will get mixed up as to whether they should be using underscores or dashes.
When using underscores or dashes in your domain, make sure that you stay consistent and only use either all dashes or all underscores. It is unwise to use a combination of these elements as shown above.
Look the bottom line is this; from a client user perspective the best domain to register is one without spaces. If that domain is not available then the next best one is one that uses underscores and finally the dashes option should only be used in the worst case scenario.
One of the other issues you need to be cautious about when registering a domain is to not make the domain name to long. In online advertising sites like Google Adwords the domain name display allows only a maximum of 35 characters. If your domain name is longer than 35 characters you will not be able to type it into the Display URL box the domain which will mean if you do not display the right URL then Google will ban your Adwords campaign. In the examples I used above I would not be able to run an Adwords campaign because the number of characters in the domain exceeds the Display URL's capability and as such limits your advertising options for pay-per-click advertising.
Choosing the right domain is an important step and if you get it wrong it can limit your abilities to market your website and cost you money.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/SEO--Should-You-Use-Dashes--Underscores-or-Neither-in-Domain-Names/35060
SE optimization
Web optimization has as a main purpose the attraction of a number as big as possible of visitors and their conversion into clients. The conversion rate of the visitors that entered your site through a search engine is much bigger than the conversion rate of users who come from CPC and CPM campaigns. So, as a result of web optimization, a certain page of a site will be ‘found’ in search engines with the help of some expressions called keywords or key phrases. These are the target words for which a web page is optimized. Generally it is recommended that every page should be optimized for 1 or 3 keywords or key phrases.
The web optimization process can imply radical transformations in the structure and the content of your site. Web optimization is realized in the same time with the site, because every aspect of the website and every step in its realization is very important and it is connected to the optimization process.
Also, web optimization implies the processation of the listed information (this process is called web copy writing) which has as a purpose to increase the relevance level of a text from a page, related to the keywords for which it is optimized.
The results of this process are influenced by a lot of variables. In the first place it is very important how much is optimized the category of web sites in which are included the words for which you want to optimize the page.
The optimization process begins with a careful evaluation of the site for which the optimization is made and of the sites from the same category. These sites help very much a specialist during the optimization process. Also these sites could be sites that offer the same type of services or products. After these sites are examined the key words for which optimization are done can be established.
The next step is the reorganization of the site structure and the content, according to your necessities. In order to make an optimization of a site, its content has to be unique and full of key words. To maximize the effects of the optimization make sure that you optimize the words that can bring you a large number of visitors
Web optimization can bring fantastic results which can increase even ten times your number of visitors and clients but also can ‘destroy’ your business because it can affect the visibility of your site on the internet. In most cases, a gradually web optimization brings you results and stability. Through unorthodox techniques some companies or ‘professionals’ in web optimization can give in a short period of time a good position of your site in search engines, but also this site will be immediately eliminated from the data bases of the search engines because of the optimization techniques used. The most frequent method of forced optimization is to introduce a huge amount of hidden text in web pages, most often with small relevance or without any relevance regarding the content of the page. This technique is called SEO spam and it can make a site to be banned in the searches of search engines.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/SE-optimization/34124
The web optimization process can imply radical transformations in the structure and the content of your site. Web optimization is realized in the same time with the site, because every aspect of the website and every step in its realization is very important and it is connected to the optimization process.
Also, web optimization implies the processation of the listed information (this process is called web copy writing) which has as a purpose to increase the relevance level of a text from a page, related to the keywords for which it is optimized.
The results of this process are influenced by a lot of variables. In the first place it is very important how much is optimized the category of web sites in which are included the words for which you want to optimize the page.
The optimization process begins with a careful evaluation of the site for which the optimization is made and of the sites from the same category. These sites help very much a specialist during the optimization process. Also these sites could be sites that offer the same type of services or products. After these sites are examined the key words for which optimization are done can be established.
The next step is the reorganization of the site structure and the content, according to your necessities. In order to make an optimization of a site, its content has to be unique and full of key words. To maximize the effects of the optimization make sure that you optimize the words that can bring you a large number of visitors
Web optimization can bring fantastic results which can increase even ten times your number of visitors and clients but also can ‘destroy’ your business because it can affect the visibility of your site on the internet. In most cases, a gradually web optimization brings you results and stability. Through unorthodox techniques some companies or ‘professionals’ in web optimization can give in a short period of time a good position of your site in search engines, but also this site will be immediately eliminated from the data bases of the search engines because of the optimization techniques used. The most frequent method of forced optimization is to introduce a huge amount of hidden text in web pages, most often with small relevance or without any relevance regarding the content of the page. This technique is called SEO spam and it can make a site to be banned in the searches of search engines.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/SE-optimization/34124
I Lost My Rankings – SEO Nightmare?
If you are ethical, search engine optimization efforts can take a long time and a lot of effort. So what happens when you find your rankings have disappeared one day?
I Lost My Rankings – SEO Nightmare?
It was a Monday morning. It had been a “lively” weekend. I had not touched the computer and was glad for the break. Staggering out of bed around the crack of noon, I nuked some coffee and sat down at computer. As it made horrible grinding noises while booting up, I wondered if a particular client would be ranked two or three today on Google. I flipped open my browser, searched for the term and spit coffee on my screen. Egad, I wasn’t in the top 10! Holy… I scrolled through page after page or results and was not in the top 100. I wasn’t even in the top 200. Damn, this client had paid a sizeable fee over the year.
What did I do? I went back to bed. It was going to be one of those Mondays.
Admittedly, going back to bed was only an option after I had gone through this experience a number of times over the years. The first time, I nearly had a seizure. After that, my reaction slowly evolved from sheer panic to a yawn. Why? For the same reason you should not panic.
Search engines are dynamic beasts. They do strange things and they do them often. Whether it was the panic caused by the old Google Dance or some new algorithm development or just a day’s variation, most rankings do not go from top 10 to infinity in one day unless a site has undertaken something very unethical. Instead, the rankings bounce around and then pop back. In the situation above, the rankings were back on Tuesday morning. Yes, I breathed a sigh of relief, but I knew they would come back. It might take a day or even a few weeks, but they will come back.
The point you should take from this is that panicking is not going to help anything. If you are playing the game straight, you should not run into a sudden catastrophe. Yes, you may drop 20 or 30 spots because of some new tweak from Google, but you can deal with it.
If you drop, don’t rush off to do something. Like fine wine, give the rankings a couple days to rebound. More often than not, they will.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/I-Lost-My-Rankings---SEO-Nightmare-/25894
I Lost My Rankings – SEO Nightmare?
It was a Monday morning. It had been a “lively” weekend. I had not touched the computer and was glad for the break. Staggering out of bed around the crack of noon, I nuked some coffee and sat down at computer. As it made horrible grinding noises while booting up, I wondered if a particular client would be ranked two or three today on Google. I flipped open my browser, searched for the term and spit coffee on my screen. Egad, I wasn’t in the top 10! Holy… I scrolled through page after page or results and was not in the top 100. I wasn’t even in the top 200. Damn, this client had paid a sizeable fee over the year.
What did I do? I went back to bed. It was going to be one of those Mondays.
Admittedly, going back to bed was only an option after I had gone through this experience a number of times over the years. The first time, I nearly had a seizure. After that, my reaction slowly evolved from sheer panic to a yawn. Why? For the same reason you should not panic.
Search engines are dynamic beasts. They do strange things and they do them often. Whether it was the panic caused by the old Google Dance or some new algorithm development or just a day’s variation, most rankings do not go from top 10 to infinity in one day unless a site has undertaken something very unethical. Instead, the rankings bounce around and then pop back. In the situation above, the rankings were back on Tuesday morning. Yes, I breathed a sigh of relief, but I knew they would come back. It might take a day or even a few weeks, but they will come back.
The point you should take from this is that panicking is not going to help anything. If you are playing the game straight, you should not run into a sudden catastrophe. Yes, you may drop 20 or 30 spots because of some new tweak from Google, but you can deal with it.
If you drop, don’t rush off to do something. Like fine wine, give the rankings a couple days to rebound. More often than not, they will.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/I-Lost-My-Rankings---SEO-Nightmare-/25894
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