Your Website Title Could Be Costing You Money

seo June 24th, 2008

Nothing could be simpler than the title you give to your web pages right? Unfortunately, the vast majority of the websites I visit these days have absolutely terrible titles that hurt their online business. The title of your website is a very important part of getting good rankings on most of the major search engines. A good title also goes a long way towards getting your prospects to click on your listings.

If you go to Google right now, and type any search phrase you want, you get back a listing of web sites that match the keywords you entered in. If you look closely, you’ll notice that each search listing’ hyperlink is also the title of that website. The title you choose needs to describe to your prospects what your website is all about. It needs to be able to entice your prospects to click on your listing over any other listing. If your title is simply your company name, you are most likely loosing lots of traffic. You will also find it difficult to rank highly on relevant keywords to your site.

Here are some things to consider:

1. Make sure you use relevant keywords

Keywords are simply search terms that your web site prospects will type into a search engine in order to find you. The keywords you are targeting need to be included in your title. Your keywords also need to be as close to the beginning of the title as it makes sense to do. For example, if you were selling shoes online and you were targeting the keyword “children shoes”, you could have a title like “Children’s shoes for hard to fit children.” Notice how the targeted keywords were at the beginning of the title. Putting your keywords at the front of your title speaks to keyword prominence. Prominence refers to the importance of your keyword in the title. If your main keywords are at the very beginning of the title, it is said to have a prominence of 100%. If they are at the very end of the title, they have a prominence of 0%. As much as possible, you want to have your main keywords appear towards the beginning of your title.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Budget Webmaster?s 6 Step Guide to Improving Existing Rankings in Google

Uncategorized June 23rd, 2008

You know the scenario. You get an occasional click from Google for a certain keyword. You go to find out why you aren’t getting more clicks, and you find out that you’re ranked in the 30’s, 50’s, or heaven forbid, the 300’s. “Great”, you think, “I finally get ranked for a good keyword and it’s a worthless ranking”.

Not necessarily.

If you got ranked for a keyword you wanted At All, the game’s not over yet. If your site’s content is geared towards that subject, you can get your ranking in search engines increased, at no cost. How?

The first thing you want to do is find out how well you are ranked for this keyword. For Google in particular, this used to be a difficult chore. In the old days of 2003, you’d spend your valuable time doing a search on your desired keyword, then a sub-search for your site, and crawling through pages of listings to find out exactly where you stood.

Now there is hope in the form of the following website. Direct your browser to:

http://www.googlerankings.com/index.php

You can use this site to find out what number you come up for in the Google listings, which can be very powerful information if used correctly. If you’re ranked in the top 1000, you have a shot at raising your listing for that page by tweaking the page to be a little more relevant.

So, secondly, you have to know how good a shot you have at getting a better listing. Go to:

http://www.searchguild.com/difficulty/

I posted a tip about this a month ago, and it’s also in the free optimization Guide I released the week of March 7th. It tells you how hard it is to rank well for certain keywords in Google. You’ll need a free Google API key to use it.

Now that you know your chances, the third piece of information you need to know is how much traffic you can expect. Digital Point has a free tool that gives an approximation of how many hits per day a good ranking gets. Access it here:

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

Okay, let’s say everything checks out so far. You rank in the top 1000. The term you want won’t be that hard to get, and will get you enough traffic per month to justify your efforts.

Our fifth step is to take the term you chose and optimize your page.

This site does periodic reports on the search engines, and their February report gives their analysis of what the best ranking pages in Google have in common. And as a free bonus, it will also tell you what Yahoo wants. Follow the following link for details-http://www.gorank.com

Now that you know what to shoot for, you need to know how the page you want will measure up- you need to calculate your keyword density. You can also do the sixth step at gorank.com - it has a free tool that will calculate it for you. Prepare your page with that in mind, re-upload, and you’re almost done.

Great, you’re all set. Now you should submit your site to Google, right?

Wrong. Absolutely not. If you can help it, you should never, ever submit any page of your site to Google. Let it find you. HOW it finds you can affect your page rank. I don’t mean that there is a standard penalty for submitting. There’s been speculation on that for a while but I have yet to prove it matters.

What I DO know from personal experience and testing on my member’s sites, is that getting the Googlebot search engine spider to happen upon your site shaves up to 6 weeks off the standard time it takes for indexing. You can show up in Google in as little as 4 days.

Which site links to you can also affect your Google Page Rank. While this is not as important as it once was, it still carries significant weight? my site didn’t start getting spidered on a daily basis until my Page Rank increased to 5.

So even if the spider comes to your site on a Monthly basis, you’re better off waiting for the spider to come back by. That’s the seventh step, let your page be re-discovered with it’s great new changes.

And yes, there’s an even faster, better way to get Google.com’s search engine spider to re-index that page, but that’s another article, isn’t it?

If Content is King, then surely Relevance is Queen!

Uncategorized June 22nd, 2008

There has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in the search engine world of late and there are lots of conspiracy theories as to why these things happen. It is easy as a webmaster to get caught up in these webs of intrigue. You get email notes about them, you view so-called experts’ thoughts on bulletin Boards - hey you probably even read things in newsletter articles!

Well I hope so anyway….

The big driver for webmasters currently appears to be content and link building. While link building is important I don’t believe it makes Queen. Maybe a Prince. Content and links DO go hand in hand but, without relevance, the Kingdom is doomed. Sorry I will stop the analogy now! :-)

If your site is about finance, then finance content is best supported by finance link exchanges. Relevance! If your site is about finance, then finance content supported by casino link exchanges from a PR8 site while in the short term may help,?but all the signs are saying this is not a long term strategy.

Okay,so what is the best strategy?

Keep EVERYTHING relevant. It is that simple. Make sure that you only swap or link to sites that are relevant to the content on your pages. Yes I am suggesting link exchanging on pages of your site not a links page. Links pages seem to be being abused. There are rumours that pages called links, resources or partners are not passing page rank. You could be wasting your time building links that are not giving you any benefits! Delivering relevant links from relevant content is the future. Look at sites such as www.bbc.co.uk or www.independent.co.uk. News sites have the right idea. They have 2 or 3 relevant internal links to other articles on the same topic or links to internal tools that are related. These usually can be found at the right hand side of the article. They also then have weblinks or external links to sites of interest that are related to the topic. These are relevant! Another benefit of this is that with a content rich site you can add hundreds of links quite legitimately and really add some value both to your Rankings and your users. With a content-poor site it is difficult, you have to add link pages or create a links directory. A five page site will need to add 10 or 12 good link pages to compete and even then with algorithm changes, this may not be prudent. Having a site with 400 pages means you can easily add 3 links per page, so you have 1200 link options straight away.

Hopefully this explains that relevance runs a close second to content.Always bear in mind when writing content that relevant  links will not only boost your search engine rankings, but you will also add a service to your visitors.

Get Better Search Engine Rankings with RSS

seo June 20th, 2008

RSS is the latest craze in online publishing. But what exactly is RSS?

RSS or Rich Site Syndication is a file format similar to XML, and is used by publishers to make their content available to others in a format that can be universally understood. RSS allows publishers to “syndicate” their content through the distribution of lists of hyperlinks. It has actually been around for a while, but with the advent of spam filters and online blogging, it is fast becoming the choice of ezine publishers who want to get their message across to their subscribers. However, not much attention has been given to the advantages RSS provides for search engine optimization.

Why Search Engines Love RSS

Many SEO experts believe that sites optimized around themes,or niches, where all pages correspond to a particular subject or set of keywords, rank better in the search engines.For example, if your website is designed to sell tennis rackets, your entire site content would be focused around tennis and tennis rackets.
Search engines like Google seem to prefer tightly-themed pages.

But where does RSS figure in all this?

RSS feeds, usually sourced from newsfeeds or blogs, often correspond to a particular theme or niche.
By using highly targeted RSS feeds, you can enhance your site’s content without having to write a single line on your own.It’s like having your own content writer - writing theme-based articles for you - for free!

How can RSS improve my Search Engine Rankings?

There are three powerful reasons why content from RSS Feeds is irresistible bait for search engine spiders.

1. RSS Feeds Provide Instant Themed Content

There are several publishers of RSS feeds that are specific to a particular theme. Since the feed is highly targeted, it could contain several keywords that you want to rank highly for. Adding these keywords to your pages helps Google tag your site as one with relevant content.

2. RSS Feeds Provide Fresh, Updated Content

RSS feeds from large publishers are updated at specific intervals. When the publisher adds a new article to the feed, the oldest article is dropped.These changes are immediately effected on your pages with the RSS feed as well. So you have fresh relevant content for your visitors every hour or day.
3. RSS Feeds Result in More Frequent Spidering

One thing I never anticipated would happen as a result of adding an RSS feed to my site was that the Googlebot visited my site almost daily. 
To the Googlebot, my page that had the RSS feed incorporated into it was as good as a page that was being updated daily, and in its judgement, was a page that was worth visiting daily.

What this means to you, is that you will have your site being indexed more frequently by the Googlebot and so any new pages that you add to your site will be picked up much faster than your competitors.

How does this benefit you as a marketer?

Well, for example, let’s says a top Internet Marketer comes out with a new product that you review and write up a little article on, and that your competitors do the same. Google generally tends to index pages at the start of the month and if you miss that update, you will probably need to wait till the next month to even see your entry in. But, since your site has RSS feeds, it now gets indexed more frequently. So the chances of getting your page indexed quickly are much higher. This gives you an advantage over the competition, as your review will show up sooner in the search results than theirs. Imagine what an entire month’s advantage could do to your affiliate sales!

Why Javascript Feeds Are Not Effective

Some sites offer javascript code that generates content sourced from RSS feeds for your site. These are of absolutely no value in terms of search engine rankings, as the googlebot cannot read javascript and the content is not interpreted as part of your page. What you need is code that parses the RSS feed and renders the feed as html content that’s part of your page. This is achieved using server side scripting languages like PHP or ASP.

A good free ASP script is available from Kattanweb
http://www.kattanweb.com/webdev/proje cts/index.asp?ID=7

An equally good PHP script is CARP
http://www.geckotribe.com/rss/carp/

So in conclusion, besides optimizing on page and off page factors, adding RSS feeds to your pages should be an important part of your strategy to boost your search engine rankings.

 

Choosing a good domain name isnt always so simple.

Domain June 20th, 2008

So you need a domain name for your brand new internet business. You may even have some cool ideas for a new domain name combination that will really impress your friends. Question is, is your new domain name going to help your business or hurt it?

What could be simpler than choosing a domain name right? Wrong. There are a number of things you need to consider and research before you register your favorite domain name.
First off, what is a domain name and why would I want one?

A domain name makes our lives much easier when surfing the internet. You see, all computers on the internet are actually referenced with what is called IP addresses. On the internet, IP addresses are four sets of numbers that serve like street addresses allowing two computers to talk over a network. An example of an IP address is the one for Google.com. It is 216.239.39.99. If you enter this IP address into the address bar of your browser it will bring you to Google’s home page in that very same way that typing www.google.com would get you there. Unfortunately, we humans have difficulty remembering our phone numbers let alone so many digits for all kinds of sites. That’s one of the main reasons domain names were invented.
Read the rest of this entry »

Time Management Mastery

Time Management June 17th, 2008

From Potential to Performance

One of the great things about life is that we can realistically be or do anything we choose to. This includes being a good time manager! We must believe that we can be a good time manager - that we have the potential. Unfortunately, many people say, “Well, I am just a poor time manager,” as if it was ingrained in their DNA. The truth is that anyone can be a great time manager, if they choose to go from potential to performance.

So, how do we do this? Here is a simple 7 part process:

1. Believe that you can become a good time manager

2. Inventory where your time is currently being spent

3. Determine what your life values are - what do you view as important, what do you want to accomplish?

4. Set time priorities that will move you toward living out your values

5. Develop a system of scheduling that works best for you, not a time management conglomerate

6. Learn to say “no” to things that are not part of your priorities moving you toward your values - exercise your power to choose

7. Do what is in your new schedule

These simple steps, if you apply them, will take you from having the potential to be a good time manager to true time management mastery and performance!

About The Author:

Chris Widener is a popular speaker and writer as well as the President of Made for Success, a company helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams.

Link Building Strategies

Business Strategy June 17th, 2008

Well, an effective link building strategy is not building some 50-100 back links with sites with ‘X’ PR. It is more of getting links from the informative websites that is visited often by the people who could be your future customers. In broad sense the websites related to your focus industry.

Link popularity refers to the number of links pointing to and from related sites and is an extremely important method of improving your site’s relevancy in search engines.

There are three types of links that will increase the link popularity of your site; internal, incoming and, to a lesser extent, outgoing links.

Let’s take a look at each one in more detail.

Internal links

Internal links are amount of links to and from pages in a site. Cross-linking your important related pages is recommended for a better search engine visibility. This assists search engine spiders to find and index your most key pages faster, particularly if some pages are hidden deep within your site.
Read the rest of this entry »

Referral Traffic

Traffic June 16th, 2008

The subject of referral traffic may be a bit elementary to many folks who have been networking for a while. However, a few recent discussions with new marketers have led me to the conclusion that a brief commentary on the subject might be well received.

Referral traffic is web traffic you receive when you refer other people to the viral traffic programs (traffic exchanges, ad replicators, and similar systems) you are a member of. For the sake of simplicity, I will use traffic exchanges as my primary example in this article.

While there are a few exceptions, the huge majority of exchanges operate a referral traffic system. When you register a new account with a traffic exchange, you will be given a special affiliate URL for the purpose of building your downline in that program. Many exchanges will award you with an instant bonus of free traffic credits each time you refer a new member, and nearly all exchanges grant you an amount of referral traffic that is equal to a percentage of the traffic your downline generates while they surf.

If you are a member of Traffic Roundup, for instance, you will get an amount of free, referral traffic equal to 10% of the traffic your personal referrals generate when they surf. This means if you refer one person who earns 100 credits per week, you will get 10 free traffic credits each week from this referral. Take a moment to estimate the amount of free, ongoing traffic you could receive if you built a downline of 10, 20, or 30 personal referrals at Traffic Roundup.

Also, consider the fact that you will receive referral traffic from all active surfers recruited by your downline. Many exchanges award referral traffic benefits on five or more levels.

As you can see, the benefits of building strong downlines in your favorite traffic programs are considerable. It would be well worth a little effort on your part to lay the foundations of a solid referral traffic network.
Read the rest of this entry »

10 Highly Effective Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website

Traffic June 15th, 2008

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

How to Booost Your Affiliate Commissions by almost 30%

Affiliate June 14th, 2008

Affiliate marketing is one tough business. Everyone online today is looking to make or save money in any way they can.

In the good old days when internet marketing was in its infancy, most of the people who clicked on your affiliate links used to purchase without a second thought… but, now as times are getting tougher, and visitors getting more cynical, you’ll be amazed at the number who won’t!

Just one flaw in a system and you will find dozens of unscrupulous people waiting to exploit it. Same goes for affiliate commission tracker systems. People who know how to manipulate the system will replace your affiliate ID with theirs and “hijack” your commissions.

Most affiliate links are some form or the other of http://www.thesite.com/?YOURID

Where your affiliate id is passed as a parameter. A thief has to simply change the “YOURID” part to “HISID” to put your money in his pocket.

In other cases, there are visitors to your site who simply can’t stand the thought of you “making money off them” so they bypass you by simply chopping off the end of your affiliate link that contains your ID.
Read the rest of this entry »