SEO-Search Engine Optimization: August 2006

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Do I Need A Long-Term Strategy For SEO?

Author: David Mclauchlan

One of the biggest mistakes that newbie web marketers make is they make a website and then just sit back and not wait but hope that the money starts coming in. Like any other business, things around you change. The competition changes, more competition comes around. The market changes, the demand for the product changes. Has an online business owner you not only really need to have long term strategies but you also need to be able to adapt to the ever changing world of the internet. Some experts call it ""Business and the speed of thought"". There are a lot of very sharp people out there that will snag every dollar they can. Don't expect all of us marketers to be nice guys that will share the piece of the pie because most of us don't.

Unfortunately or fortunately, search engines change their algorithms from time to time. If today's rule, for example, is that just the right combination of text in the title tag will make or break a site, and you know this is true, and then all you have to do is to tweak the title tag to fit within that rule, and you will automatically rank very high...today.

Suppose that tomorrow, however, that rule is changed. Suppose that now the most important factor that the search engines use to rank a site is the content of the META Description tag. All the work you went through yesterday to fix the title is now useless. All of your attention is now focused on fixing that description tag.... and then there's the next day when Google decides that all website must have title bars that state that they are God...

Clearly, over time the focus of the search engines will vary. The best way to deal with this is to not deal with it! This means that rather than tweaking a site one way today and another way tomorrow, the best way to approach optimizing a page or a whole site is to not try to beat the system. Instead of trying to ""psych-out"" the search engines, why not add value to the site? A ""common sense"" approach to search engine optimization, looking for long-term results, is the way to go. When you try to help a site rank better by making it the best it can be, everybody wins. In other words Good Content is and will always be King.

About the author: David McLauchlan has this outstanding e-book titled ""Article Cash Creator""

This ebook is making a lot of people very rich

http://www.article-cas h-creator.com/

How to know which SEO software suits your search engine optimization needs?

Author: Andy Jones

Search engine optimization has become the most crucial element of ranking high in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, Dogpile etc. There are several websites on the internet which boast about SEO techniques & tips and guarantee top placement in days. How do you believe and invest your hard earned money in a company who does not have a background in search engine optimization believing their claims?

The question is ""are you ready to play a gamble with your site?"" Honestly the answer would be a big NO .

No one would like to waste their money. So, what is the way out? How about doing your own search engine optimization? It is a very long drawn and tedious process if you do it manually. So, how to go about it?

Are there any softwares available to do the SEO?

Yes! there are several SEO softwares available in the market. But, how do you know which SEO software is reliable and meet your search engine optimization needs and most importantly, whether they would live up to their claims?

The answer is did you do enough research?

SEO software is the answer to implement the major SEO techniques. What are they? SEO is primarily divided into two parts.

On page optimization Off page optimization On page optimization

On page optimization involves:

Title Tags Meta Tags like meta keywords (lost its importance now due to keywords abuse) & meta description. Alt-Image tags H1, H2 tags High keyword density Quality content Ease of navigation Internal Linking and more.....

Off page optimization

Off page optimization involves:

Link Building to improve Link popularity Reciprocal Linking - Two way links Non-reciprocal linking - In-bound links Use of keyword rich anchor text in linking text Improving Google page rank PPC advertisements Directory submissions

It is a well known fact that off page optimization has more value than on page optimization. It does not mean that on page optimization has no value and requires no optimization. On page optimization has its value and should not be ignored.

There are several SEO softwares available to implement the off page optimization by improving link popularity by building both reciprocal and non-reciprocal links. There are websites which offer monthly membership accounts to use their Link Popularity software and some other websites have their software available for one time fee. For a beginner it is always better to go with one time fee software to keep the fixed expenses low. You are here to do business so you need to think and plan every dime you spend towards business success.

So, what to expect from a SEO software selling website?

Not a one time seller without any future upgrades A website with good technical support A website with a proven track record A website with a forum with quality user feedback Most importantly these website's SEO software should have good product reviews.

We see many SEO software companies doing their own product reviews and it looks more like self propaganda than an honest product review. We need websites who test and verify the claims made by the SEO software companies and publish their honest feedback. This would help the newbie website owners to make an educated decision after reading the detailed unbiased analysis published on a third party website.

There are very few websites that do this and should be encouraged to test and verify more of these SEO softwares and help the website owners to learn and implement the off page optimization techniques. This would save time and money of the online entrepreneurs to improve their link popularity and increase their search engine rankings. Higher search engine rankings bring more traffic to the websites and hence more sales. It is a known fact that we can drive visitors to websites but converting them into buyers totally relies on how effective is the content and ease of website's navigation.

We should develop effective content in the form of relevant articles linking to your website. Writing an effective article is a skill which needs to be developed by reading other articles and other e-books focusing on writing best articles. Now we should know the list of quality article directories to submit to in the right category. This would be another tedious and time consuming process and this demands an SEO software whose sole aim is article submission to various article directories.

Submitting to SEO friendly directories is another tedious process but the rewards worth the effort involved. The list of SEO friendly directories and the article directories is available at SEO Softwares-Resources

Another way of getting traffic to the website is thru PPC i.e Pay Per Click. There are several PPC programs available like Google Adwords, Overture PPC, FindWhat etc. Now the question is choosing the right keyword relevant to the content of your website is very important. You might choose the right keyword which is highly competitive and may have to pay a high bid price to get the higher placement in the sponsored links. We need an SEO software to optimize the adwords campaign to choose the right keyword combo to choose for the PPC. This would save money and time and helps beat the competition.

There are several other effective methods to do the off page optimization and there are several SEO softwares available in the market. So, in conclusion read the product reviews, and see the important features of the selling website as mentioned above for the final decision as which SEO software you should get your hands on.

I hope this SEO software information is of good help and to learn more about SEO softwares click on SEO Softwares .

Wishing you all success in your website's search engine optimization.

About the author: Andy Jones - Media Relations

SEO Softwares - SEO Software Reviews Ezine articles expert author

7 Steps Organic Search Sngine Optimization in 2006.

Author: Arun Tibrewal

Last month Google wrap-up its Jagger updates and we have seen changes in rankings of many sites. Basically this is one indication before the beginning of New Year that crawlers are getting smarter and smarter and have much better filters for producing relevant search results.

Search results are the most important thing for any search engine. Giants like Google, Yahoo, MSN are working more on producing the filtered results, so that results match the queries. I still feel organic SEO will have edge over others. Sites which are well structured and have balanced contents will improve there rankings. Soon SE's will filter out maximum sites which have duplicate contents or involved in content spamming. Below are the few things which should be the focus areas for a website owner:

1. Ranking mostly depends upon the maturity of the site. Older sites will have better rankings and will have more indexed pages.

2. Site structure is the most important factor in producing higher rankings. I am not debating the theme based sites or a journalized site, but talking about structuring the contents of the site in a proper manner. SE's should know where your home page is located.

3. Relevancy of contents. This is another important aspect and site owners need to work on it. Meta tags are irrelevant to some extent, but important is relevant contents on site. Each section of the site should contain unique contents, to obtain desired results.

4. Design the site for humans not for crawlers. Usability factor should be analyzed properly and more and more focus should be given towards human visitors so that they can easily navigate your site.

5. Say no to invisible texts. This is unacceptable practice. I still believe larger texts which can be read clearly by human eyes. Invisible text or contents may lead your site to delete permanently from search index.

6. I am a strong opponent of Text link trade. This is my personal view. Few good incoming links from major directories can help your site's performance in search engines. Even after you go for a link exchange or a buy a link from a broker, you need to find links from the sites which are higher rank than yours, legitimate site offering few outbound links and should be relevant to your site theme. Please stay away from sites which are made only for link exchange.

7. Review and updates for your sites. Your designer must focus on designing clean codes. A monthly updates in your site will help a lot. Each month or biweekly you must review your site's performance and act according to that.

Above are few quick shots for obtaining better results in SE's in the year 2006. Please read More article on Search Engine Optimizations 2006 and Online Marketing Promotions here. Please took your time and read my

Marketing Blog

About the author: Arun Tibrewal is an online marketing expert with 14 years of experience. Presently he is the CEO of an outsourcing company at www.kpoweb.com. More articles of him can be find at his Free online marketing guide here .

SEO For MSN

Author: Dave Davies

This is article one of a four part series on optimizing your website for the ""Big Three"". Part two will focus on Yahoo!, Part three will focus on Google and part four of this series will explain how to perform SEO on your website to attain high rankings across all three major engines. We are beginning with MSN as rankings are generally faster attained on this engine and thus it is a good place to begin, especially if you have a new site that is likely still in the sandbox on Google or are just at the beginning stages of link building.

Like all of the major search engines, MSN builds their index of sites using spiders to crawl the web finding new and changed information. This information is then processed by the MSN servers using complex algorithms to determine which sites are most relevant to the search query entered. This may seem like an extraordinarily complex process and it is however the resulting environment is simple: all search engine algorithms are mathematical and thus, there is a fixed set of rules and factors which, if addressed correctly, will result in a high ranking. In short, because it's math we have the benefit of knowing that if we take action x and action y we will get result z.

The Rules For MSN

Assuming that you are following the right rules, the results you can achieve on MSN can be fast and solid. MSN does not apply the same types of aging delays that the other two engines do and thus, when you change your content the change in results can be realized as quickly as they reindex your site and as quickly as your incoming links get picked. This differs greatly from Google and Yahoo! in that those two engines age both domains and links requiring a longer period of time before the full effects of your efforts are realized.

As an additional note on MSN, users of MSN are 48% more likely to purchase a product or service online than the average Internet user according to a comScore Media report.

So what are the rules for MSN that can help us get top rankings? As with all the major engines, there are two fundamental areas that need to be addressed to attain top rankings. The first is the onsite factors, the second is the offsite. Because they are fundamentally different we will address them separately.

Onsite SEO Factors

The problem with writing an article about the onsite factors is that by the time many of you read this some of the weight these factors hold and the optimal levels noted may well be out-of-date. Thus, rather than listing overly-specific-and-sure-to-change factors we will focus on how to know what the factors are, how to get a handle on what you need to adjust and by how much, and how to predict what will be coming down the road. And so we'll begin:

How To Know What The Factors Are:

Unfortunately there's no one over at MSN Search calling us up weekly to let us know what the specifics of their algorithm are, we have to figure it out for ourselves with research, reading and playing with test sites. From all of this there is only one conclusion that an SEO can make: the details matter. When we're discussing onsite factors this includes: the content of the page including keyword density the internal linking structure of the site (how the pages of your site are linked together) the number of pages in your site and the relevancy of those pages to your main topic and phrases the use of titles, heading tags and special formats

There are a number of lower weight factors however the ones noted above, if addressed correctly, will have very significant results on your rankings if the offsite factors noted below are also addressed.

Page Content:

The content of your page must be perfect. What I mean by this is that the content must appeal to both the search engines and the algorithms. In order to write properly for the visitors you must be able to write clearly and in language that is both appealing and understandable to your target market. While there is much debate about whether the keyword density of your page is important I am certainly one who believes that it is. It only makes sense that a part of the algorithm takes into account the use of the keywords on your page. Unfortunately the optimal keyword density changes slightly with each algorithm update and also by site type and field. For this reason it would be virtually impossible for me to give you a density that will work today and forevermore. For this reason you will need a keyword density analysis tool which you will want to run on your own site as well as the sites in the top 10 to assess what the optimal density is at this time. You may notice a variation in the densities of the top 10. This is due to the other factors including offsite which can give extra weight to even a poorly optimized site. I recommend getting your site to a keyword density close to the higher-end of the top 10 but not excessive. Traditionally this percentage will fall somewhere near 3.5 to 4% for MSN.

Internal Linking Structure:

The way your pages link together tells the search engines what the page is about and also allows them to easily (or not-so-easily) work their way to your internal pages. If your site has an image or script-based navigation it is important to also use text links either in your content, in a footer, or both. The text links are easy to follow for a spider and perhaps more importantly, the text links allow you the opportunity to tell the spiders what a specific page is about though the anchor text and, in the case of footers, allows you to add in more instances of the targeted phrases outside of your general content area.

The Number Of Pages & Their Relevancy:

MSN wants to please their visitors. For this reason they want to insure that highest likelihood that a searcher will find what they need once they get to your site. For this reason a larger site with unified content will rank higher that a smaller site or a site with varying content topics. (note: this assumes that all else is equal in regards to the other ranking factors)

When you are optimizing your site for MSN be sure to take some time to built quality content. Do a search on your major competitors to see how large their sites are, over time you will want to build yours to the same range through general content creation or the addition of a blog or forum to your site.

Titles, Heading Tags & Special Formats:

Titles are the single most important piece of code our your entire web page for two reasons. The first is that it holds a very high level of weight in the algorithm. the second reason is that it is your window to the world. When someone runs a search the results will generally show your page title in the search results. This means that a human visitor has to be drawn to click on your title or rankings your site is a futile effort (this isn't about bragging rights, it's about return on investment).

Heading tags are used to specify significant portions of content. The most commonly used is the H1 tag though there are obviously others (or they wouldn't bother numbering them would they). The H1 tag is given a significant amount of weight in the algorithm provided that it is not abused though overuse (it should only be used once per page). Try to keep your headings short-and-sweet. They're there to tell your visitor what the page is about, not your whole site.

Special formats are, for the purpose of this article, and text formatting that distinguishes a set of characters or words apart from the others. This includes such things as, anchor text, bold, italic, different font colors, etc. When you set content apart using special formats MSN will read this as a part of your content that you want to draw attention to and which you obviously want your visitors to see. This will increase the weight of that content. Now don't go making all your keyword bold or the such, simply make sure to use special formats properly. Inline text links (links in the body content of your page) is a great way to increase the weight of specific text while actually helping your visitor by providing easy paths to pages they may be interested in.

Offsite SEO Factors

With MSN, the offsite factors are much simpler to deal with than either Google or Yahoo! MSN will give you full credit for a link the day they pick it up so link building, while time consuming, is reworded much quicker on MSN. When dealing with MSN and offsite SEO there are two main factors we must consider when finding links: Relevancy. The site must be relevant to yours to hold any real weight. Quality is better than quantity. Because PageRank is Google-specific we can't use it as the grading tool for MSN however upon visiting a website it's generally fairly clear whether we're visiting a good site or not. Spending extra time to find quality is well rewarded. Also, finding one-way links as opposed to reciprocal links is becoming increasingly important and I'd recommend utilizing both in your link building strategies.

You will have to begin your offsite optimization by running link checks on your competitors to see what you're up against. This is also a good place to start for potential link partners though those of you using a tool such as Total Optimizer Pro or PR Prowler will find it far faster and more effective to use these tools.

Conclusion

This entire article may seem fairly simplistic and there's a reason for that, what we've noted above is a list of the more important areas however to save you frustration and me from receiving hundreds of emails a few months from now noting that the keyword densities don't work, etc. I've tried to keep it general. Below you'll find a list of recommended resources. These are tools and SEO resources to help keep you updated and on top of the rankings.

Next week we will be covering Yahoo!

Resources

Total Optimizer Pro - A keyword density and backlink analysis tool. This tool breaks down a variety of onsite and offsite factors giving you a full snapshot of how the top 10 got their positions.

Microsoft Press Room - Read the latest press releases from Microsoft. This may not give you the algorithm but it will tell you the direction they're going. Understand this and you'll be better equipped to deal with changes down the road.

S earchEngineWatch's MSN Forums - Read the latest news, feedback and discussions on the SearchEngineWatch forums. A great way to keep updated but beware, not everyone in there is a qualified opinion.

About the author: Dave Davies is the CEO of the SEO services firm Beanstalk Search Engine Positioning, Inc. Beanstalk provides guaranteed search engine positioning and SEO consulting services to clients from around the world. If you're more interested in doing it yourself please visit our

8 magical SEO techniques!(submit your articles now!)

Author: Clyde Barry

I know most of you will be surprised to read the title of this article. Actually this is what search engine optimization is all about. There are a few points which every search engine optimization engineer should remember. Going through this will not only get you a better SERP's ranking but also will increase your Google PR.

1. Submit to as many quality directories, article sites and Press Releases as possible like this site http://www.submityourarticlesnow.com. While doing so the most important factor to remember is that all these should have a unique content and anchor text. As this is what I am using for several years successfully and which I am promoting as ""The Magician's Wand SEO Technique"".

2. Many people do submit articles to various sites and think there job is over. But if you really want your article to make headlines, you should make it as unique as possible like the title above which is ""8 magical SEO techniques!"". So now you know what this technique means.

3. Getting Linkbacks: Most SEO's think the more the linkbacks the better the PR and SERP's which is one of the most biggest rumours going around in the world of SEO.

4. Don't place common anchor text on hundred's and thousands of sites as these can be identified by Search engines as link spam or a Black hat technique.

5. Avoid Link Farms: Avoid sites which offer thousands of links instantly by placing a folder on your site. This is one of the worst methods of getting linkbacks. While submitting to directories, have a close look at the PR and the quality of the backlink.

6. Make use of all tags in your pages like title, description, keywords, header 1, header 2, alt of images by focusing on 10 main keywords for optimization.

7. Install a sitemap script for your website if it has thousands of pages and set a cron to update it daily if you wish search engine's to crawl your site regualarly. You can find many such scripts on the internet today.

8. The more your websites content is unique the more chances are that it will rank at the top. So place your website content with some unbelivable words like for example - thought provoking content.

So start Submitting your articles now!

Here's a huge list that you can submit your articles:

http://www.1st-in-articles.com http://www.a1articles.com http://www.aardvarkarticles.net/login.php http://www.submityourarticlesnow.com http://www.activeauthors.com/private/index.php http://www.addme.com http://www.adswise.com/submit_articles.shtml http://www.advisor.com/ http://www.allfreelancework.com/submitarticles.php http://www.allthewebsites.org/ http://www.allthewebsites.org/articles/article_editor.php http://www.alternative-finance.org.uk/en/ http://www.alumbo.com/submitcontent.html http://www.Amazines.com/ http://www.article99.com/ http://www.articleagency.com/ http://www.articlealley.com/ http://www.articleavenue.com/ http://www.articlecentral.com/ http://www.article-content-king.com/ http://www.articledashboard.com/ http://www.articledepot.co.uk/ http://www.article-emporium.com/ http://www.articlefever.com/ http://www.articlefinders.com/ http://www.articlehub.com/add.html http://www.ArticleJoe.com http://www.Article-Marketer.com http://www.articlepoint.com http://www.articleresponder.com/addarticle.php http://www.articles4content.com http://www.ArticlesBase.com http://www.articlesfactory.com http://www.articleshow.com/ http://www.articles-online.biz/ http://www.articles-submit.com http://www.ArticleSubmissions.com http://www.ArticleToGo.com http://www.articlewarehouse.com http://www.articleway.com http://www.articleworld.net http://www.articlez.com http://www.authorconnection.com http://www.barvin.com http://www.bestparentingresources.com http://www.bigarticles.com http://www.biz-ewomen.com http://www.biz-whiz.com http://www.blogwidow.com/submit_article.shtml http://www.boazepublishing.biz http://www.boconline.com/articlesubmit.asp http://www.bpubs.com/cgi/add.cgi http://www.bullmarketer.com/modules.php?name=Submit_News http://www.businessclique.com/ http://www.businessknowhow.com http://www.business-opportunity.biz/addarticle.php http://www.businessseek.biz http://www.BusinessToolchest.com http://www.buyincomeproperties.com http://www.buzzle.com http://www.choosetoprosper.com http://www.clickforcontent.com/ http://www.commonconnections.com http://www.Connectionteam.com http://www.constant-content.com http://www.Createonlinebusiness.com http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/post.html http://www.dime-co.com/articlesub.html http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/articles/submit.shtml http://www.ebusinessbasics.com/articles/submit.htm http://www.ecomallbiz.com/marketingworld/informationform12/ http://www.ezadsuccess.com http://www.ezau.com http://www.allfreelancework.com/submitarticles.php http://www.allmerchants.com/submit-article.php http://www.allthewebsites.org/articles/article_editor.php http://www.ezilon.com http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.ezinefactory.co.za http://www.ezineplug.com http://www.e-zinez.com http://www.cyberprosper.com http://www.fabaroo.com http://www.Family-Content.com http://www.financial-authors.com http://www.certificate.net/wwio http://www.free-articles-zone.com http://www.freetraffictip.com http://www.freezine-articles.com http://www.FreeZineSite.com http://www.fresh-articles.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/admin.cgi http://www.getyourarticles.com/submit http://www.globalnetone.com http://www.GoArticles.com http://www.holisticjunction.com/ http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com http://www.home-business-directory.com http://www.home-business-income.net http://www.howtoadvice.com http://www.advisor.com http://www.article_depot.50megs.com http://www.blogtelecast.com http://www.freetraffictip.com http://www.hercommunity.com http://www.marketing-of-training.com http://www.mega-success.com http://www.OpportunityUpdate.com http://www.smallbusinesshowto.com http://www.superpublisher.com http://www.theezine.net http://www.submityourarticlesnow.com http://www.thewhir.com http://www.uniterra.com/submit-article.htm http://www.upublish.info/submitarticles.php http://www.1st-in-articles.com http://www.365articles.com/modules.php?name=Your_Account http://www.a1articles.com/submit_article.php http://www.accessify.com/contact-us/submit-an-article.asp http://www.add-article.com/newarticle.php http://www.advertisingknowhow.com/members/articlesubmit.php http://www.advisor.com/wtips.nsf/submitarticle http://www.allbusiness.com/article_submit/submit.asp

Tell me if theres a broken links.

About the author: Article author in www.submityourarticlesnow.com

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

What exactly is a SEO selling?

Author: Haze Westerlund

Some clients have problems to understand why a site optimizing is needed on their brand new website. Why put more time and money in a site they just developed together with us, a site that looks and works just like they wanted it to be.

All websites we build nowadays has a basic optimizing build in from start, without using frames and other things that will hurt the chances to get a high ranking. You can say it's like building a new house. You have to preinstall all water pipes and electrical wiring long before you add wallpaper, painting and finishing up. But to get the kitchen and bathroom working you have to do a few more installations after the paint is dry and the house seems ready to move in to. You also have to install lights, heating etc.

That is easy to understand for most of us, and the same way all wiring and water pipes are invisible inside the walls and floor, the same is the pre-SEO works invisible behind your websites final design and functions. But to get the site ready for the wide world, we need to add a few more working hours.

So what ARE we selling except for the design and functions? Today we always use organic optimization techniques when we start a new website production. We build the site with clean validated code so the engines will find the page easy to read. Sometimes a websites first design has to be changed so an optimizing can be done, and this is a decision our client has to take together with us.

Most common is that the client will put all information about their business on one single page. And the text he has chosen is far from the main subject and chosen keywords. That's mainly because he think a website only has one front page to the world, the index or default page, as it was before when the search engines worked in a totally different way.

The index page is the one you will find if you already know the www-address (URL) you want to visit and write that address in the browsers address field. That's super, and it works every time, if you write it correct. But if you DON'T know the exact www-address you will probably never find the page if you do a search in Google, MSN or Yahoo.

Only five years ago it was very common that a web site was build on an index page all visitors was linked in to when they visited a website. On that page was a menu with links to all other pages inside the site. It was like a door to the big world and Internet all visitors had to pass to se your website. Like a small drugstore door you will find somewhere out in the bush, with the door and walls full of signs saying, in here you can find anything you need.

Nowadays ALL pages are open doors, depending on subject, and all representing them self and nothing else. Like a new super mall. On the shirt department you only find shirts, nothing else. I think a customer will be quite confused if they found harmonicas and car tires in the shirt section. And they would probably never find the shirts they were looking for.

The same way works a web site, each new page (department) you are producing shall only have one subject, like High Quality T-shirts. Or if you have more models of shirts, High Quality red T-shirts or High Quality blue T-shirts long sleeve. And each one shall be optimized with names, meta, keywords and text that stay with the same subjects.

All chosen pages have been built for best ranking possibilities, a work with about ten different parts from finding keywords to submit articles. These pages will then be found by someone, searching the web for any of your keywords related to your products, and not only by people who knew your company's web address from before.

So far it's just an organic optimizing we have done, but 90% of our optimized web-productions in 2003-2006, have been number one, or on page one, on Google, MSN and Yahoo. And that with keywords a searcher really would use, and not a fake phrase that will put anything on the top. ( I mention that because there is a lot of ""top-ten-salesmen"" on Costa del Sol offering SEO works with keywords no one ever will use in an actual search, but it looks good at the presentation, and the site owner pay for it.)

Some other clients use Google click ads as a complement on the most common keywords they just HAVE to use. Spanish mortgage is one of them. Spain Property is another.

Other's who don't want to spend any money on SEO works is choosing magazine ads to advertise the web address. That's ok but they will miss a lot of clients, as the ad is - a one time - local or country spread - to some x00.000 readers, Value?

What they don't think of, is that optimizing a normal sized website in Spain doesn't cost more than one single A4-ad in a monthly magazine, if they deliver the copy, around 800 -1.200 . And that is a long time investment with billions of possible clients, growing bigger every day, if they have the keywords.

About the author: By HazeWesterlund Graphic Designer/Art Director Active Consulting SL in Spain www.activemarbella.com ( Swedish graphic designer living in southern Spain. Any complains about bad written English can be sent in correct written Swedish to

haze@activemarbella.com )

SEO versus Marketing: The Fine Art of Copywriting

Author: Frederick Townes

Forget everything you've ever read, heard or seen about web marketing. Forget the marketing gurus and poo-bahs who tout the need for SEO (search engine optimized) text. The information upon which you've based your on-line marketing strategy is outdated. It is soooo last millennium.

SEO text is an aberration - a nasty bump on the digital road to real, Internet marketing. Marketing to humans. Traditional SEO text is an outgrowth of the earlier, primitive search engines. Remember, SEs as we know them today have only been around since '94 and, initially, they were as dumb as a box of rocks.

The Curse of Keyword Density

To rank individual sites by their relevance to a user's query, early search engines relied heavily on keywords - words that appeared in headings and within the site's corpus (body of text).

These early spiders didn't do much except count the number of times keywords appeared within the corpus. The higher the frequency, the more relevant the site. And thus was born SEO text.

Murphy's Olde Time Canoes are all hand made. You won't find a better hand-made canoe than a Murphy's Olde Time Canoe. When it comes to hand-made canoes, Murphy's Old Time Canoes deliver more canoe bang for your canoe buck.

Gibberish. Garbage text. Words written for a machine, not for humans. An SE bot that spidered Murphy's website would have no trouble determining what the company sold. Unfortunately, to any literate carbon-based life form, this was hardly the stuff of which sales were made.

The Quality of SERPs

Search engines live or die based on the quality of their search results. That's the whole raison d'etre for a search engine - to find the search engine results pages (SERPs) that list the most useful sites.

Google, Yahoo and the hundreds of other SEs spend a bundle tweaking the rating mechanisms used to assess and rank a site. These complex, algorithmic formulas are top secret, eyes only information. In fact, Google's search algorithm is its most valuable asset. It's the product it sells to all of us who use it everyday.

SE algorithms are constantly being tweaked. Weighting factors are added, deleted, increased or decreased with one goal in mind - to deliver the highest quality SERPs possible.

That means that sites providing useful, helpful information and other on-line amenities, like relevant links, are more valuable to SE users and, therefore, should rank higher than sites that don't provide helpful data.

So What Do Search Engines Want Today?

With each tweak of the algorithm, spiders became more sophisticated at determining the usefulness and helpfulness of a given site. Oh sure, keyword counts still matters. So does the placement of keywords. But SEs are smart enough to detect SEO-keyword-stuffed-text. And they don't much like it.

Instead, the sophisticated algorithms employed by Google and Yahoo (the two biggies) want more than keyword density. A lot more.

Keep It Fresh

Google spiders at least once every two weeks. Yahoo makes the rounds every 48 hours. When a spider visits, it takes a snapshot of the site. When you do a Google search, simply click on 'cache' to see the site as it was when last indexed.

Now, when that spider comes back a few days or weeks later, it compares the cache with the current site looking for new content. Search engines like new content. No new content, you may lose a few points in the PR race.

Now this doesn't mean you have to update your site daily or weekly to maintain a nice PR. But update it now and then and you'll keep your rank and maybe even move up a few pages.

Keep It Informational

SEs want to deliver quality results. Part of that means delivering good, useful information. Not sales hype. Quality content that visitors can read and use. Of course, because it's your site, a good copywriter can provide text that's informational, with just a pinch of sales thrown in.

Is It Helpful?

Keep thinking - quality SE results. Quality.

Is your site helpful to the visitor? Does it offer useful outbound links? Does it offer resources, alternatives and, again, useful information? Will visitors feel that this is a site worth a bookmark? Helpful sites will be. And that return traffic is gold.

Review your site from outside in. Does it contain helpful, useful, accessible information? Or, is it page after page of hard sell. A mixture of the two will help your visitors and help you improve your PR.

How To Make Your Site Attractive to SEs and Humans

There are two layers to your site: the 'presentation layer' and the 'behind the curtain' layer. The new key to truly successful on-line marketing is to use both layers in a solid, licit, unified marketing strategy.

The Presentation Layer

You can write (or have written) motivational, inspirational, informational or educational copy. This differs from the hard sell you see on the home pages of too many sites. Do You Want to Earn $1 Million In Just 21 Days???!!!!!* (*Note the extraneous punctuation intended to convey a sense of urgency.)

No hard sell. It's insulting and smacks of Dr. Whizbang's Traveling Medicine Show. Snake oil. Hogwash.

Assume some intelligence on the part of the visitor. Sure, push the goods. They're the 'best, cheapest, greatest, lightest, biggest' in the world. No problem selling. Just be sure to include some informational content about the product.

Use a two- or three-column layout on your site's home page. This allows for numerous headlines ""above the fold"" where spiders will easily pick them up.

Break text up into small blocks.

Write like you talk.

Add pictures and graphics for eye appeal. (Note: SEs don't spider graphics, so this is for humans only.)

Behind the Curtain

If you don't know a Meta Tag from a dog tag, call a designer or SEO expert. There are numerous 'black hat' tactics that can be employed to 'fool' search engines. Pure, 100% SE poison.

Example? Invisible text. Display white text on a white background and voila - it's disappeared ! Well, maybe to your eyes, but spiders read this text. So, while you're reading about gift baskets on the home page, the company is also selling marijuana grow lights out the back door. SEs hate black (or gray) hat tactics. Because it's deceitful, it diminishes the quality of the SERPs.

So, if you don't know how to maximize your 'behind the curtain' marketing, talk to a site design pro. And if you've forgotten your 8 th grade rules of grammar, punctuation and spelling, hire a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool, Internet copywriter.

These professionals more than pay for themselves by designing sites that appeal to human sensibilities and SE bots alike.

The cyber landscape has changed and for the better. As site owners, we can develop site copy that appeals to humans - their wants, needs and desires. Real marketing and sales copy that compels human action. We've been liberated from keyword counts.

It's quality that counts today.

About the author: Frederick Townes is the owner of W3 EDGE, a business web design company out of Boston, MA. W3 EDGE provides

SEO copywriting services as a key compliament to their design and web hosting offerings. If you have any questions about web design, SEO copywriting, hosting or online marketing feel free to contact F

SEO is Obsolete - A Better Way To Get Traffic!

Author: Larry Scott

Let's face it - search engines suck!

How can anyone possibly build a business on the quicksand known as ""search engine results""?

How many man-hours have been wasted ""optimizing for search engines""?

If you're like me, you've about had it with Google, Yahoo and MSN search engines.

I've been trying, in vain, to get good search engine rankings for several years now. Every time I start to get good rankings, and therefore some good website traffic, the search engine algorithms change and I lose the bulk of my traffic. Now I start to re-optimize for the latest changes and the viscious cycle repeats itself.

I currently operate about 200 websites - over 100 are ""black hat"" sites produced using a high-end cloaking service and the remaining sites are a mixture of complete ""white hat"" sites and many sites developed purely for adsense.

How I built my sites:

My ""white hat"" sites were produced using SEO Website Builder, optimized templates and hundreds of keyword-focussed, 100% original, articles (contracted from elance.com). I found link partners that were 100% related to my site and were not ""spammy"" in nature. These sites are mostly PR 3 sites that have been fully indexed, over a year old and have many pages listed as supplemental results - though I have absolutely no understanding of why.

My ""black hat"" sites were mostly produced using a very high-end cloaking service. This service allows me to build an optimized keyword site in less than an hour. These sites are also over a year old and have a PR of 5 with no backlinks!

My ""adsense"" sites were produced using XSitepro. They have a combination of private label articles and republished public articles from sites like goarticles.com. These sites are a few months old and currenlty show a PR of 0 - I guess Google hasn't updated the PR yet.

My results:

With the latest Google ""upgrade"", I have found that the vast majority of my income comes from my ""black hat"" sites and my ""adsense"" sites. All my ""white hat"" sites have pretty much dropped off the face of the planet.

So what's the message that Google's sending us?

Stop creating valuable websites and start producing volumes of non-sensical, garbage sites!

I don't want to build a business based on garbage - I want to build a quality business. To do that, it looks like I need to dump the search engines in order to build a respectable business.

The Solution:

Harvey Segal understands this problem and has produced ""

The Ultimate SuperTip "" (a FREE downloadable ebook) that sheds light on how to get traffic without relying on the search engines.

About the author: Larry Scott has years of experience developing Internet income. The FREE Ultimate SuperTip ebook (http://not-sold-in-stores.com/free-tips) has reinforced his belief that producing quality materials should be what the Internet is all about.

SEO Content Writing - Converting Artificial Keywords Into Natural Keywords.

Author: Ed Rodriguez

The Role Of Keywords Within SEO.

One of the major aspects of search engine optimization (SEO) is the use of keywords both in the Meta tags of a site and throughout the website content. In particular, the density, the placement and the actual keywords themselves are hotly debated topics. It is certainly no secret that keywords play a vital part to any good SEO program, but because search engines like Google and many others change their algorithms on such a regular basis it may seem difficult to keep up with the current best practice. However, there are some good general guidelines to follow that should always ring true regardless of how you personally approach SEO.

Keeping Abreast Of SEO Times.

It can be difficult to say at any given time what the keyword rules are when it comes to SEO content writing, but there are always common worst-practice factors that should be avoided completely. That is, search engines like Google will not only ignore your website content but they will actively penalize you for certain things.

Spam - The Big NO!

Search engines do not take spam, or the sites that contain it, lightly. This is the most important thing you should remember. It used to be 'acceptable' in the eyes of search engine robots for your content to be 100% keywords with absolutely no meaningful text. However, this practice of keyword cramming or keyword stuffing is now something that does not go unnoticed and you will face a penalty for using this technique. Yes, keywords are important but you also have to provide solid and informational text for your visitors.

So, What Is The 'Correct' Keyword Density Then?

Of course, this leads to the question of how to determine what is considered spam and what is considered an acceptable level of keywords within your text and again this is a topic that leads to debate between SEO experts, webmasters and content writers alike. The general belief was that including a keyword within your text with a range of 5% to 10% was best practice. It certainly wouldn't get you penalized and it made it blatantly obvious that your site was relevant to that topic. However, some believed the figure could legitimately be taken as high as 20% without any negative search engine effects.

Err On The Side Of Caution.

While these high densities of around 20% may not have got you penalized at one time it is increasingly likely that they will be regarded as being geared primarily towards search engines. Search engines do not want to display sites that are created for this purpose; their aim is to display websites that are geared towards visitors. As such, sticking to a lower percentage is likely to produce better results for you.

Playing It By The Rules.

Keeping the keywords to this sort of level is an art, but it is not one that should elude most people. The art, of course, is to combine search engine optimization with informative content that will appeal to your visitors as well. In order to do this it is important that you use natural keywords.

What Are Natural Keywords And Artificial Keywords?

A natural keyword is one that you would use in everyday conversation relating to a given topic. In the case of your website, if you were to sit down and write 500 words of informative content you would find that certain words naturally creep into the article and appear several times. These are your natural keywords, but unfortunately natural keywords may not provide you with the results you require. For example, a little keyword research may prove that a natural keyword of ""divorce attorney"" is a very well searched phrase but there are also 2 million websites geared towards this key phrase. Further research may turn up the fact that ""Find Divorce Attorneys"" may be a little less popular with regards to searches but there are only 10,000 sites aiming for this keyword. This instantly improves your chances of being closer to the top of the search results and that coveted top spot.

Replacing Natural Keywords With Artificial Keywords.

So, you now need to go back over the content you have already written and see if the term ""Find Divorce Attorneys"" appears within your content. In all honesty, it is quite unlikely that it would appear more than once, if at all. You have to make it fit into your content and you have to make it appear to do so naturally. Find the areas where you specifically used the keyword ""Divorce Attorney"" and see if you can swap the phrases with just a little alteration of the surrounding text.

Start From Scratch With Your Artificial Natural Keywords.

Another method is to look for your artificial keywords before you begin and make sure you have them in the back (or the front) of your mind when you sit down to write your website content. Because you are already thinking of the phrase you want to use you will naturally include it within the content of your site. It's not a trick, although you may want to consider it a subliminal tactic if you wish, but it will work.

The Result Of Keyword Conversion.

By converting your artificial keywords into natural keywords you should be able to effectively optimize pages towards both search engines and your visitors and this will mean improved search engine rankings as well as improved conversion rates. Even a small increase in visitors combined with a small increase in conversion rates will show a good level of increase in your income so you should not overlook this technique.

About the author: Ed Rodriguez is the owner of Mysearcharoo a metasearch engine part of the ISEDN network providing website owners affordable and effective search engine & directory advertising

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The Trials And Importance Of SEO

Author: Mark Flanighan

For affiliate marketers or webmasters who started a few years ago, pay per click marketing was the thing. Pay your price per click (PPC), measure this against how many clicks it would take to create a purchase and then calculate your relevant profit. But as time moved on, more and more entrepreneurs and corporations saw the benefits of PPC, pushed the price of clicks up to the extent, that is it no longer cost affective in certain industries to use, unless you have a high margin of return.

In many cases the only way forward now, is to try and get some free traffic from normal listings. So search engine optimisation (SEO) has now become more important than ever to balance out the costs of advertising.

You would think all you had to do was buy a book, learn the skills and apply to your website, but it isn't that easy. First of all, the search engines do not tell you what the recipe is for a top place. They will tell you some rules what not to do, but all this does is guaranteed you will listed, probably somewhere down at number 789 or so.

SEO is a skill that can only be learned by trial and error. Find someone who has made the errors and find someone who has been successful and learn from them. I say this because search engines like Google tend to change their algorithm every now and again, without any warning or knowledge of what they will be doing. It is not uncommon for a regular first page web page being taking down many pages in one swoop. The only way to keep abreast is to join some of the many SEO forums and hear it as it happens. It is almost like watching the news sometimes.

I have spent probably the last 18 months or so reading, learning and then adapting, making mistakes, getting successes then, falling lower in the rankings and staying there, then regaining again. The bottom line is, SEO can be a roller coaster ride and no-one should assume that once you have got the desired slot, you will stay there forever or even more than a day.

SEO requires continuous effort and time, study, training and much patience. It is no wonder, that respectable SEO companies charge a small fortune to keep your site high in the rankings, because of the time, up to date knowledge that is required. Anyone who does SEO on the cheap, either works for love or does not know the size of the challenge.

If you want to know how competitive SEO, the next time you do a search on any search engine, just look at how many websites or pages are competing for 10 places on the first page. Take the word SEO for instance. 175m, yes that is 175 million pages fighting for one of 10 slots on Google, granted multiple pages may be from one site and may be related to more specific search terms, but you get my point.

SEO is a rich get richer and the poor get poorer scenario. There are 10 rich people in the world and just fewer than 75 million poor ones. However it has to be said that SEO is here to stay and until the internet is replaced with something else, this will probably be the deciding factor whether you business will make a profit or not.

About the author: Mark is webmaster for SEO Training North East and Business Consultancy Cleveland and ICS

SEO for Beginners Part 1: SEPOV isn't a Russian Hacker

Author: Ross Lambert

SEPOV is an acronym for ""Search Engine Point of View""; it is usually used in the context of search engine optimization (SEO) discussions. If you really want to approach SEO with confidence, you need to learn to look at your web site from the search engine spider's perspective and consider its motivation (if you'll forgive a little anthropomorphism).

Fortunately, search engine spiders are actually rather simple creatures.

""What's My Motivation?""

There is, in fact, one simple, central, and obvious search engine truth from which everything else is derived: A search engine's popularity is directly related to the quality of its results.

Never forget this truth. Do not minimize its importance or allow yourself to think of it as simplistic. There is much hand-wringing and money-spending by those who try to predict what Google is going to do next. The simple fact is that all the search engines will do what they've always done and always will do, namely try to improve the quality of their results.

Google rose to prominence because its results were the best. Their primary user interface was (and remains) ridiculously simple. Their results were just better than everyone else's. And they still are--although Yahoo and Microsoft are gradually closing the technical gap.

The search engine spider's motivation is therefore that of its creators: Find valuable, easily categorizable information so that the rest of the search engine software can match it to search queries and thereby provide good results.

All of the major search engines apply advanced contextual analysis to return links to pages that have the greatest amount of high quality information about specific search terms. Think about that statement again for a moment, ""...return links to pages that have the greatest amount of high quality information about specific search terms.""

There are profound implications to that simple statement that the vast majority of web site designers just flat-out miss.

""Go Deep""

For a given web page, depth is more important than breadth. A lot of information about one subject is far, far better than a little information about a lot of subjects. When the Google spider is examining one of your web pages, you have to convince it of two things:

1. Your page has a lot of information about the search terms. That is, it is relevant to the search query.

2. Your page has good information about the search terms (do you have high quality or authoritativeness)

Of those sites that are relevant and authoritative, Google makes one last value judgment: Freshness. The site with the most recently updated content wins.

""Playing Favorites""

Research has also proven that search engines in general and Google in particular tend to favor web sites that have one or more keywords in their URL. For example, one reason I liked the ""web-marketing-advisor.com"" domain name is that it contained some of my top keywords right in the name itself.

If your web site has the keyword in the URL, it also implies that depth is more important than breadth for an entire web site, too, since you'd want all the pages on the site to be highly relevant to the keywords in the title.

In other words, in my opinion, it is better to have several sites, each of which is focused on a narrowly defined subject matter than one site that has a shot-gun approach to many subjects.

And a word from the ""Do as I Say, Not as I Do"" department: Unfortunately, chopping up portals into individual sites that each tackle a tiny subset of a larger subject is at odds with how people want to actually use a portal. But there is a way... And we'll talk about it in part two.

Coming up in the next installment: Spiders are more human than you think!

About the author: To learn more about SEO, visit Midnight Marketer . Ross Lambert founded Midnight Marketer and authored Sonic Page Blaster and Ross's Guide to the Masters of Marketing .

SEO Tips: Link Building

Author: Will Spencer

This article is a follow-up to an article I wrote about

On-Page Optimization . On-Page optimization enables each of your web pages to make the most out of the mojo that they have -- but you need i nbound links to create that mojo in the first place.

I use the term ""mojo"" as a generic descriptor for the importance given to a web page or a web site based upon inbound links. Similar terms include page rank, site rank, trust rank, and authority. Those terms tend to carry too much linguistic baggage, so I use the term ""mojo"" for simplicity unless another term is specifically required.

Mojo is created by getting inbound links to your web site and to your web pages.

Getting inbound links is one of the most important, and time consuming, tasks involved in SEO.

Here are a few tips to generate inbound links. Each of these tips are appropriate for some web sites, but none are appropriate for all web sites. Select the link building strategies which are most appropriate for your specific web site.

Submit to Web Directories

Start with big slow directories like the Yahoo Directory and the DMOZ Open Directory Project, but don't stop there.

Search out the small directories which are dedicated to topics relevant to your web site.

For more suggestions on finding directories to submit to, read

How can I find web directories ?

Reciprocal Linking

Write individual e-mails to specific webmasters whose web pages compliment your own and tell them that you would like to trade links with them.

Make sure to personalize each e-mail, or your e-mails will be quickly deleted as spam.

To achieve the best results from your e-mail, include the following in your initial e-mail:

* Mention two positive items about their web site, so that they know that your e-mail is not a generic spam. * Include directions to the specific web page where you have added the link to their web site. * Mention the

Page Rank of the page where you have added a link to their web site.

These web sites exist to help you search for reciprocal link partners in the same market niche' as your web site:

* Find Link Partners * Link Partner Finder * Themes Reciprocal Link Finder

Write Articles for Other Web Sites

One method for getting inbound links is to write quality articles and submit them to other web sites for publication.

Each article should include a link back to your web site.

These links are better than links from link pages, because there tend to be very few outbound links on the article page.

Write a brief article on some topic related to the topic of your web site. Do not write an article about your web site, but write an article that would be interesting to people who would also be interested in your web site.

Send this article to webmasters who maintain web sites on topics similar to the topic of your article. Explain to them that they can post your article for free on their web sites, in return for a link to your web site.

To find web sites to submit articles for publication, visit

Where can I submit an article for publication?

Create and Submit Press Releases

Write press releases about your web site and submit them to press release distribution services.

To find places to submit press releases for publication, visit Where can I submit my press release?

Join a Reciprocal Link Program

Reciprocal linking programs exist to help webmasters share links with similar web sites.

Some of the reciprocal link programs are:

* Link Market * Info Wizards * LinkExchanged * Link Partners * Links-Pal * Linkateer * Webmaster Link Exchange * GoTop Link Exchange ($19.95 fee to join) * LinkLeads * Link Traders * LinkExchangeIt * SiteSell * 123ExchangeLinks * Ads4Links * Spocka * Links For You

If you have a blog, try blogLinker, the automatic link swapper for blogs.

These link networks can generate a lot of e-mail. You will probably want to create a new e-mail account just for these networks.

Join the DigitalPoint Ad Network

The DigitalPoint Coop Advertising Network enables you to automatically trade links with thousands of web sites across the Internet.

Join a Reciprocal Linking Forum

Several web forums exist for the purpose of sharing and trading reciprocal links. These linking forums include:

LinkRequests Link Trade Forum

Start a Reciprocal Linking Program on Your Web Site

You can also setup a reciprocal linking program on your own web site.

For more information on setting up a reciprocal linking program on your site, read

How can I add a reciprocal link manager to my web site?

Start or Join a Web Ring

You can use an existing web ring service such as WebRing, or you can create your own web ring using the PHP-Ring webring script.

Join or Create a Top Site List

Search for top site lists which are relevant to your web site.

Add yourself to the existing lists. If no relevant top site lists exist, create one.

Provide a Useful Service

Create dynamic content on your web site which other web masters can include on their web sites by linking to it.

Every webmaster who uses your content automatically adds a link to your site.

Firearm News is an excellent example of this. If you add a small bit of JavaScript to your web page, your users will receive up-to-date news on firearms.

Of course, you will also have to contact other webmasters to let them know about your service -- perhaps even with a press release.

Buy Links

If all else fails, you can always

buy links to your web site.

About the author: Will Spencer is the webmaster of The Internet Search Engines FAQ , SAN Security , and Enterprise Storage Management .

10 SEO Tricks to Attract More Traffic to Your Blog

Author: David Cowgill

As fancy as the term ""blog"" sounds, it's actually just a website that uses a content management system. While most blog software is more search engine friendly out of the box than many web sites, the opportunities for blog optimization are readily available.

Here are 10 tricks that will increase your visibility in search engines and eventually drive more traffic to your blog.

1) Use keywords in your blog post titles - This is a given for SEO. Most blogging software uses the post title as the url so take advantage of it.

Example: ""10 SEO Tricks to Attract More Traffic to your Blog - Search Engine Journal"" Search Engine Journal is included on every blog post title tag automatically.

2) Optimize your blog categories - When you create categories for your blog, be sure to use keywords in the titles. When you post, be sure to default to a general category that is relevant no matter what the post is about. Choose multiple categories on each post when appropriate. This will create a ""SEO-friendly"" url for each post you make.

3) Syndicate your blog - Make it easy for people to subscribe to your blog. Sign-up with a free service like Feedburner and then create a ""syndication"" area on your site.

4) Offer RSS to email. Anywhere from 10% to 40% of your blog traffic can come from individuals that perfer to read blog posts via email. RSS readers and aggregators can be confusing. Adding email services to your blog isn't. There are several free services available for this including: FeedBlitz, Squeet, and Zookoda.

5) Ping blog search engines - This can be configured with blog software such as Movable Type or WordPress to work automatically. If you're using Blogger.com, then you can do this manually with Pingomatic.com or Pingoat.com.

6) Make comments on other blogs. Your name will be linked to the blog url that you enter. Don't make comments that offer no value to the blog post. Don't use keywords in the field for your name, use your name or blog name.

7) Submit your blog directories. Also submit the blog to regular directories such as (DMOZ, JoeAnt, GoGuides, Google Blog Search, etc) that have categories for blogs.

8) Targeted advertising - Now this doesn't really drive traffic to your site but will make you money. It's possible by using Google AdSense to display highly targeted ads on your blog. Once you've setup an account and placed the ads on your site, just sit back and watch the cash come in. Cha-ching.

9) Snatch up hot keywords - Now before you place ads on your blog, be sure your keyword density is good for the right terms. A great tool to improve your traffic for high-paying keywords is to use a product called Keyword Elite (http://www.seojuice.com).

10) Use track backs - If there is a blog that you refer to or quote and it is highly relevant to your subject, leave a track back. It increases your link popularity and may even score a few interested readers from the linked site. A TrackBack is a mechanism used in a blog to show, around an entry, a list of other blogs that refer to it.

Summary The important thing to remember is that no matter how many optimization tactics you employ with a blog, there is no substitute for quality content. Blog optimization is only as effective as the quality and usefulness of the content you're optimizing. So do not limit yourself to tips and lists. Use your imagination and you will come up with thousands of ways to drive traffic to your blog!

About the author: David Cowgill is a SEO enthusiast who manages several informational blogs.

Author: David Cowgill iStock Blog Founder

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Dreamweaver too complicated?, Go Live and Frontpage too steep a learning curve?

Author: Paul Lewis

I think that some web design packages have too steep a learning curve. That's why I want to tell you about a product that I've just reviewed called XSitePro. Here is a brief summary, and you can see the full review by using the link indicated at the end of this article.

I was looking for something more versatile than a lot of the lower end website building software such as Web Easy Pro, and Web Plus, yet with a good deal of the functionality of the higher end products such as Dreamweaver and Frontpage. As I needed to start quickly I didn't want the steep learning curve that these higher end products demanded.

Quite by accident I came across XSitePro. At first I was nearly dissuaded from taking it further, because I was presented with a one-page sales website which the software authors put out. Personally, having spent a great deal of time, recently, researching web products, the one page sales letters deter me from going any further, as I have subscribed to several, and always been disappointed. I also dislike parting with money before I 'touch and feel' a product, and particularly like to download a fifteen or thirty day demo, which was just not available.

Erring on the side of caution I posted a request on the Warrior forum, and asked for advice as to which website development software I should opt for. More replies were positive about XSitePro than any other, so I subscribed and downloaded the software, putting faith in the promise of a 365 day refund.

I was certainly not disappointed and initially completed the tutorial, where I constructed a ten page website in around 11/2 hours. You can view the website completed in the tutorial by going to the web page indicated at the end of this article.

XSitePro is feature rich and I have picked out my 12 favorits.

XSitePro optimizes each page to rank well with the search engines and gives suggestions as to what tasks you need to carry out, to bring this about.

The 'Help' functionality is very good with on-screen pages supported by 'Index' and 'Search' facilities. There is 'Context Sensitive Help' throughout providing immediate help relating to the function you are currently performing. 'Online Help' accesses a 'Knowledgebase' of frequently asked questions with the ability to 'Submit a Ticket' if the answer is not found.

Using a 'Template' principle it is possible to make amendment to all pages by making alterations to the template. Therefore if you want to change text, site colours, logos etc. on all pages, this is easily achieved.

The Multi-Page Creation Wizard provides a quick and easy way of creating the infrastructure of a new site, or adding whole new branches to the infrastructure of an existing site.

You can simplify your web creation tasks using the valuable To Do Report automatically produced by XSitePro. The software produces a checklist of suggested actions still needed for each page so you never forget to carry out essential tasks.

Two mouse clicks will introduce Google Adsense ads to your web pages bringing about another income stream.

Powerful functionality immediately available which includes pop-ups, pop-ins, link pages, automatic sitemap, page import, scripts, redirect pages and much more.

The software comes with 163 website templates included, making website creation even faster and easier.

Built-in Article and Product pages which are of considerable benefit to internet marketers.

No knowledge of HTML needed, making it also a beginners tool. If you can use Microsoft Word, or similar then XSitePro is for you.

Print out an incredibly detailed report that tells you exactly what you need to do to each of your pages, which means you can make sure that all your pages are exactly right before you publish them to the Internet.

Easily add a links page to your site that looks great and is easy to update, which means you can benefit from a reciprocal linking campaign (i.e. exchanging links with other sites).

In summary we found it to be easy to learn, intuitive and we were able to produce results fast.

About the author: © Paul Lewis 2006. All rights reserved. Reprints welcomed with article and resource box unedited. See our completed web pages using the XSitePro web page tutorial. You can see detailed functionality, screen movies, tutorial samples, free e-books and much more by visiting our XSitePro full review

Monday, August 28, 2006

How To Become An SEO Ninja

Author: Anton Cheranev

Every website listed in the search engines has a position, or 'ranking', and each one of these rankings can change very quickly, in some cases as often as weekly or even daily. One day your website's in a good position, then the next you're wondering what happened to it. Staying on top of this situation is a must for any SEO professional - you need to become a search engine ninja. If that's what you want to do, then you need to keep these things in mind at all times:

1. Good SEO requires frequent updates and ranking checks.

You might have a good spot today, but all it takes is for a few new sites to open, and before you know it you're back down at the bottom. If you pay attention to your rankings, then you have a shot at fixing things that go wrong before your rankings fall too far.

2. You should check all your links weekly to make sure they work.

Maintain high-quality, relevant reciprocal links and check them weekly to make sure they're working. Remove any dead links, as search engine crawlers may mark you down if they find them on your site.

3. Tweak and assess your website on a daily basis.

You need to continually assess and tweak your listing to keep your site in its proper place - that is, at the top. This ensures that your site is in the best position possible, and helps you keep your competitive edge.

4. Maintain the content on your website.

Update your content weekly at the very least, to make sure that search engine crawlers come back frequently. Even the smallest changes will be picked up on by the search engines and will help to maintain your ranking. If you can't write, find someone who can: you need content.

5. Keep up-to-date with the latest developments in SEO.

If you can't decide what you should be doing or you don't want to keep up with SEO on your own, you could consider hiring a specialist. Consulting with an SEO specialist will still allow you to make your own changes to your website and learn which things work best, but you'll have someone to answer your questions if you need them.

You should review your SEO techniques at least every few months, to see how the algorithms have changed and to devise new plans and strategies for increasing your rankings based on those changes. Any SEO ninja will tell you that there are only really two major search engines that you need to worry about: Google and Yahoo. You can do well even if you only have the time or energy to focus on these two engines. Being an SEO ninja is hard work, but it can be very rewarding if you've got the dedication for it.

About the author: Do You Want Your Own Digital Detective That Investigate Your Competitors' Websites And Reveal All Necessary Information To Dominate Over Them? If Yes, Check Out Here => http://www.TheSeoDetective. com

How To Know Which SEO Software Tool Suits Your Search Engine Optimization Needs?

Author: Andy Jones

The question is ""are you ready to play a gamble with your site?"" Honestly the answer would be a big NO.

Are there any softwares available to do the SEO?

SEO software is the answer to implement the major SEO techniques. What are they? SEO is primarily divided into two parts.

* On page optimization * Off page optimization

On page optimization

On page optimization involves:

* Title Tags * Meta Tags like meta keywords (lost its importance now due to keywords abuse) & meta description. * Alt-Image tags * H1, H2 tags * High keyword density * Quality content * Ease of navigation * Internal Linking and more.....

Off page optimization

Off page optimization involves:

* Link Building to improve Link popularity * Reciprocal Linking - Two way links * Non-reciprocal linking - In-bound links * Use of keyword rich anchor text in linking text * Improving Google page rank * PPC advertisements * Directory submissions

So, what to expect from a SEO software selling website?

* Not a one time seller without any future upgrades * A website with good technical support * A website with a proven track record * A website with a forum with quality user feedback * Most importantly these website's SEO software should have good product reviews.

Wishing you all success in your website's search engine optimization.

3 Easy, but CRUCIAL SEO Tips

Author: Pj Germain

Today I wanted to share with you a couple important tips for any reciprocal linking campaign in order to get the maximum results in your search engine rankings. These may seem obvious to some people, but I see far too many websites that don't understand the following points.

Tip #1: Optimize the wrong keywords and you will likely never see results. Keyword research is very important to building traffic. A great resource for building keywords and finding niche phrases is located here: http://inventory.overture.com . Type in your main keyword and it will give you a list of related keywords and how many searches were performed on those keywords in the previous month. Generally, you don't want to start off by going after the keywords that get hundreds of thousands of searches as you will be facing some pretty stiff competition. Instead go after the niche phrases that get 5,000-30,000 searches per month or so. And, these are far cheaper in the PPC campaigns such as Google Adwords.

Tip #2: Include those keywords in your anchor text. The anchor text is the text that is hyperlinked to your site, but actually shows on the webpage. I can show you how you can get thousands of incoming links almost instantly, plus earn $10 per month per referral.

The anchor text used should be the keywords that I want to be found when surfers run searches in the search engines.

Tip #3: Include your keywords in the title tag of your website. Use only your main keywords, don't use filler words. Having a title such as Welcome To My Website will do you no good at all. Try separating key words with the ""pipe"" symbol, such as:

Affiliate Marketing | Tools | Coaching | Training

Losing the conjunctions and article words makes for a much stronger ranking for the search engines.

Offpage optimization is THE most important aspect of ranking well in ANY search engine, period. It's critical you know this. For offpage optimization...

*You must have links pointing to your website. *These links must include your main keywords in the ""anchor text"". *Try to get links from as many different IP Addresses as possible. Subdomains coming from the same IP are frowned upon and could to more harm than good!

You do not need to pay big bucks to get good search engine ranking. Just be patient though, it doesn't happen overnight. Your efforts will be rewarded within a few months. And, remember, Content is King!

To your success!

About the author: Pj Germain is a webmaster, trainer and online marketer. Visit our sites and learn the secrets for explosive sales & magnetic marketing!

http://www.affiliate-success.org

http://www.knowyourpc.net

FREE System Earns Recurring Monthly Income for Life!

5 Methods For Self-SEO. If You Have The Time.

Author: Conrad Sear

So you want to Search Engine Optimize (SEO) your website.

Well, despite what you may hear it's easy & fun.

The caveat is time. In such a ""fast food"" ""I want it now"" mode, the web gives us just that. So why does SEO take TIME? The answer is the millions of others out there fighting for the top spots has created a niche industry by the search engines. They want to thwart the unethical scammers out there. So, we have to follow their requirements so that millions can see my website. Sure you can pay to be in the very first position. But that costs money. Capitalism at is finest.

The early days are long gone. Laws are in place now. Laws made by Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

So the simple advice is, know the laws. Ignorance will not get your site seen by anyone but you.

Follow the slow steady path & you'll be richer for it.

5 sure methods:

1. Your reading it now. ARTICLES! Write articles about your field of interest. Relate it to your website. Set these articles across the internet. Content is KING.

2. Content. You must add some relevant content to your site. It keeps the search engines & people coming back for more.

3. Links. Links are not a dead art form. Links from other sites will always help you. They help bring people to your site & help search engines see that you are popular. However, find related industry linkage. It is highly sought by Google.

When linking find high ranked sites willing to add your link. Try not to buy if you can help it. If you must, okay. But this is the only Quick Fix I recommend.

4. Another domain. Set up another domain with lots & lots of content & links. Keep the them & info related to your main site. Add your main site links. There, you've created your own network!

5. Patience. You don't get to the top overnight. (unless you pay) Submit (manually) to as many search engines & directories as possible. Do this every 30 days.

So, this works. Caveat: Do you have the time? Expect 30-40 days until your in the top 5-10 pages.

Have patience & good luck.

About the author: Conrad Sear has been a web developer for 14 years. He now manages a startup SEO company called http://TrafficXTC.com. Their growing list of clients are all making to the top with his guidance. Samples-(http://KataraCattery.com #1, http://AirOnSale.com(new), http://MyHomeTrainer.com #5, http://Ebooks.easyincomeinfo.com #1, http://Christineboccio.com

The Ultimate Keyword Optimization Guide for Search Engine Positioning

Author: David Gikandi

We all know it and we all do it. Whenever the typical web user needs to find something on the web, he or she will almost always instinctively go to one of the top search engines and run a search. Then, he or she will have a look at the first 30 search results returned (usually the first three pages of results), hardly ever looking beyond that. If nothing looks appealing, they will run another search using a variation of the keywords they used on the first search. Again, they will look at the first 30 results. If they still find nothing of interest, they may switch to a different search engine and repeat the process. This, believe it or not, is the typical web navigation behavior of at least 86% of the 110 million all web users out there. The question is, does your web site capitalize on this behavior?

If the answer is yes for you, then no matter what a user searches for that has any relation at all to your products, they should find you even if they hadn't thought of finding you! That translates to a very high amount of daily traffic to your site. Is this what is happening for you?

I bet the answer is no. Very few web sites really capitalize on this behavior. However, you can learn how to do so. For this tutorial, we shall assume that you are in the business of selling wedding gowns. You have a web site that does a good job of displaying your wedding gowns, but like most other web site owners, your web traffic is really low and clients are simply not finding you. You have done everything you can think of, but your pages hardly come up on the search engines. What next? Well, get ready to learn one of the most effective online marketing strategies.

We know that the web user will think of a keyword or phrase and type that into a search form on an engine. That is his or her first step, and so it should be ours. This is a very important step! Get a piece of paper or open up your text editor and keep writing all the keywords and phrases that you think of as you go through the steps outlined below. Selecting the right keywords or keyword phrases will skyrocket your traffic. Research has shown that most people use phrases of 2 to 3 keywords when searching. People have come to learn that just typing in one keyword in a search will get them thousands of records that they just do not need. Therefore, they combine two or three keywords in their searches.

Your list should end up having about 50 or more keywords and phrases. You must write down every word that a person might use to look for your site PLUS words they may use to look for other related information or products. This is no easy task. It involves some research and a fair bit of thought. Remember, thousands of people out there looking for wedding gowns may not all think alike, look for wedding gowns directly, or even realize at the time that they can get wedding gowns on the net! To get a good list, here are the steps that you should go through. Keep your pen and paper handy so that you keep writing as you go along each step.

1. Think! Brainstorm! Sit down for several minutes and think! Write down whatever keywords or phrases come to mind. Then look at your list and see what other word combinations you can make out from the keywords you have already written down.

2. Look at your products and services and see what words relating to them will pop up in your mind. Write the names of each product or service that you deal in. These product names will also be part of your keyword list.

3. Ask your family, associates, clients, and friends what words and phrases they would most likely use to search for products or services like yours.

4. See what keywords your competitors use. See what keywords are featured on their pages and in their meta tags.

5. Be specific AND general in scope. Think of words that also describe things related to what your site is about. For example, if you sell wedding gowns, also think about other things and words related to weddings, such as honeymoon, bridal registry, wedding rings, engagements, and other wedding accessories and services. The idea here is to capture people who may be looking for other things related to weddings, whether they are directly looking for wedding gowns or not at the time. Chances are that someone looking for any wedding related information will also be interested in knowing about wedding gowns. Get the idea? This is a very powerful way of getting more targeted traffic to your site.

6. Do not forget misspelled words. People often misspell words when they enter their search terms. Include commonly misspelled words or phrases as part of your list.

7. If your site deals with a particular region, remember to include that in your keyword list. E.g. 'Los Angeles wedding gowns' if you deal in wedding gowns within Los Angeles. A lot of people will search for wedding gowns, get a big list of returned search results, and decide to add the words ""Los Angeles"" (or wherever else they may be interested in) to get more specific search results.

8. Use the long and short form of words, e.g. consult, consulting, and consultants.

9. DO NOT SPAM! Do not use keywords that have nothing to do with your web site. Do not list the keyword ""sex"" or ""free pics"" just because they are frequently searched for if they do not have anything to do with your web site. You will only get traffic that is of no use to you anyway because surfers will come to your site and leave angrily when they realize you just cheated them. Also, search engines are on the look out for such deceitful practices and can sometimes ban your pages for spamming. As long as you stick with keywords related to your core business, you will be fine, but do not go way out of line.

10. Now its time for some research. You now need to look at what people are actually searching for on the various engines and get more phrases for your list. Here is a list of sites that will help you out with that. When doing your research at these sites, remember steps number 5, 6, and 8 above - people often misspell words, they use different word forms, and they may be looking for a whole lot of different stuff all related to your products.

(a) GoTo.com Keywords Inventory Search (http://inventory.go2.com/inventory/searchInventory.mp) - search for your keywords here and see how popular they were on GoTo.com. The service will also tell you what other related keywords and phrases were searched for. This is perfect for finding related keywords that you may not have thought of. For example, a search here for wedding gowns returns the following information:

Suggestions for: wedding gown Searches done in March 1999 Count Search Term 2590 wedding gown 53 wedding gown designer 43 discount wedding gown 33 wedding gown rental 33 designer wedding gown 29 plus size wedding gown 27 low priced wedding gown 24 lazaro wedding gown 21 informal wedding gown 21 wedding gown pattern 17 vintage wedding gown 14 custom wedding gown 13 used wedding gown 13 wholesale wedding gown 13 victorian wedding gown 12 vera wang wedding gown 11 wedding gown online 11 demetrios wedding gown 10 amsale wedding gown 10 alfred angelo wedding gown 10 paloma blanca wedding gown 10 mon cheri wedding gown 10 los angeles wedding gown 9 wedding gown and supplies 9 wedding gown ivory 9 sweetheart wedding gown 9 galina wedding gown 9 eve of milady wedding gown 8 african wedding gown 8 western wedding gown 8 wedding gown at discount price 8 mori lee wedding gown 7 wedding gown restoration 7 full figured wedding gown 7 diamond collection wedding gown 7 christos wedding gown 7 casablanca wedding gown 6 emanuelle wedding gown 6 badgley mischka wedding gown 6 wedding gown in metro detroit michigan 6 wedding gown dress 6 venus wedding gown 6 prviate label by g wedding gown 6 wedding gown catalog 6 wedding gown bargins 6 wedding gown outlet 6 used wedding gown for sale 6 princess wedding gown 6 moonlight wedding gown 6 medieval wedding gown 6 romantic and sexy bridal or wedding gown 6 lazarus wedding gown 6 jasmine wedding gown 5 guzzo wedding gown 5 mature bride wedding gown 5 jessica mcclintock wedding gown 5 how to make wedding gown 5 wedding gown in rome 5 wedding gown consignment 5 wedding gown texas 5 wedding gown for second marriage 5 wedding gown discount 5 wedding gown and veil 5 wedding gown maine 5 renaissance wedding gown 5 used wedding gown in southern california 5 wedding gown wholesale canada 5 wedding gown prom 5 wedding gown preservation 5 california wedding gown 5 bride wedding gown 5 discount wedding gown and supplies 5 dimetrios wedding gown 4 bargain wedding gown 4 carolina herrera+wedding gown 4 carmela sutera wedding gown 4 bianchi wedding gown 4 consignment wedding gown 4 cinderella wedding gown 4 dicounted wedding gown 4 amy lee wedding gown 4 jacquelin wedding gown 4 picture of wedding gown 4 michaelangelo wedding gown 4 hawaiian wedding gown 4 wedding gown in paris 4 wedding gown by galina 4 wedding gown search 4 uk wedding gown 4 used wedding gown for sale tampa 4 wedding gown used 4 wedding gown marys 4 wedding gown in emma style 4 short wedding gown 4 wedding gown preservation in edinburgh scotland 4 wedding gown pics 4 wedding gown history 4 wedding gown with bow 4 wedding gown under $300 4 wedding gown by alfred sung

(b) SearchTerms.com (http://www.searchterms.com) - See what the top 100 search terms worldwide were. Remember that it is not advisable to use terms that are not related to your web site's content, but this service can still prove useful.

(c) SearchSpy (http://www.searchspy.com) - SearchSpy is a database of search terms captured from the top search engines. Use this to find even more words and phrases for your list.

Now that you are armed with your big list, what you do with it next is what will get you all the traffic you need. The next process is long and complicated if done manually, but there are ways of making this automatic, easy, and fast, saving you the agony of doing it yourself. This article is too short for the technical details on search engine optimization techniques, so I will just give you a quick explanation and a link to where you can get all this done for you automatically and easily.

Basically, there are 8 major search engines today - AltaVista, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, HotBot, AOL Netfind, WebCrawler, and Northern Light. Yahoo is a directory so this technique will not work with it. What you need to do is figure out what kind of pages rank well with each of these engines. Search engines use a mathematical formula to rank all the pages in their index. It is hard, but not impossible to come really close to knowing exactly what kind of a page will rank well on a particular engine. Basically, the text statistics on a page are what are considered most by the engine's ranking formulas. Now, for each keyword or phrase on your list, you need to create a web page that focuses on just that one keyword or phrase and ranks it highly on a particular engine. Because each engine ranks pages differently, you will need to create a different page optimized for each engine.

Stop and think about this strategy for a second. You have a list of virtually every phrase that someone interested in your products and other related products can ever use in a search. Then, you have pages that make sure they rank highly for all those searches. No matter what people search for that has any relation to your products, they will find you even if they had not thought of finding you! Do you now see how much qualified traffic you can get? It is amazing!

The only set back is the amount of work you would have to put into figuring out what kind of text statistics on a page will rank it well on an engine, then creating these optimized pages for your entire list of keywords for each major engine. That means creating about 300 or more finely tuned web pages! But do not worry! As long as you have compiled your list of keywords and phrases, there is an online service that will automatically create the optimized pages for you in a couple of minutes. SearchPositioning.com (www.searchpositioning.com) uses a set of online scripts to cleverly generate web pages optimized for the major search engines. All you need to do is give it your list of keywords and phrases, a short piece of text describing your site or business or products, and your email address (the pages are emailed to you as attached HTML files). To my knowledge, this is the only service on the web that works in this way.

Once you have your pages, upload them to your web server and either submit them to the engines if they aren't too many, or have the engines crawl over them and index them by only submitting a page that links to all of them. That's it! Now simply step back and watch your traffic skyrocket!

Granted, there are many other ways that people use to find new sites, such as following links on other sites, reading about sites on magazine, hearing from friends, etc. But no matter what other methods they use, they almost always use them in addition to using the search engines, especially when actively trying to locate new information. By knowing how to use the search engines to your advantage, you will become an empowered Internet marketer. No other method of marketing is so powerful, effective, and affordable (virtually free)!

About the author: David Gikandi support@searchpositioning.com SearchPositioning.com http://www.searchpositioning.com

SEO-Search Engine Optimization