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What is Web Analytics and How it Helps a Website Owner?

2007-12-08T20:42:00.001+05:30

One of My clients was asking that how to read an analytical report and what is this and what is that? From these questions, I thought to have written few notes about the analytical reports which would be beneficial for my clients and the readers of this blog.

Definition:

A web analytics is a series of reports of quantitative indicator of the behavior of the visitors of the website. It tracks the movement of visitor and the reason of his/her visit. In other words, it provides the clear report of the performance of your website and the trends. From these reports and trends the website owner creates and implements more effective program to increase sales.

Web Analytics are based:

1. Collection of visitor's data from logfiles, and 2. by tagging each webpage with a Javascript.

A third web analytics method is a combination of the two whereby more relevant data can be produced than what is possible with either of the two methods.

Web Analytics Terms:

Number of visits means that how many visitors landed on any page of your website from any source. In the case of log files of server, it will log several files for each visit, while the page-tagging script will only consider the page as a whole seen by the visitor. In either case, each web analytics data will clearly identify if the visitor is new or has come before.

Page Views means different for the two web analytics methods. While tagging script considers the whole page as one request, the logfile on the other hand will record multiple hits (one for each file, including images, .js and .css) within a single page-view.

Hits denotes requests for files from server and is recorded only in logfile.

Unique visitors means new visitors, it is noticed by logfiles as well.

The length of time a visitor spends in seeing a website.

The keyword phrase used to arrive at the website.

The unique IP address and therefore the country from where the visits generated

Visits duration

Files type etc

Data transfer to and from the server is always recorded in server's logfile with clockwork precision. And these files can be easily viewed in web analytics programs such as Webalizer, Awstats, etc. which analyze raw logfile data and portray valuable visitor information in easy-to-follow graphics.

What is difference between Logfile and Page Tagging:

1. Logfile analysis is usually already available in the server. Page tagging is an outsourced option, which means that visitors' data is captured by provider's remote server. 2. Logfile analysis can be viewed only in provider's website, while Google Analytics and Click Tracks are examples of page-tagging web analytics. 3. Since page tagging requires javascript to be installed on every webpage, there is always a possibility that some visitors' browsers do not allow the script to run. Whilw logfiles have no such issue. 4. Logfiles enter transfer of all files, including images and scripts, and therefore certain parameters like hits and page views are not as accurate as with page-tagging web analytics. 5. While logfiles record visits by search engines, page tagging does not. 6. Logfile web analytics record failed visits too. Page tagging takes a request into account only when a webpage is successfully displayed.

Web analytics is a type of feedback from visitor which is available all times. These reports are a great source by which you can analyze relative strength and weakness of your website. From these, you can find which pages are most visited and which keywords are more related to your web site.

Please remember, no one can give guarantee of position one on any search engine as far as Search engine optimization is concened. However, professionally experts do their best and follow the procedures and maintain quality and required quantity, than there is no doubt that we can bring your website on the top position of any search engine. For More information visit our quality search engine optimization blog.

About the author
"Nawaz Lakho is the owner of LakhoSoft, An IT Intelligence and quality on-line web service. He is web designer and developer. LakhoSoft has build a worldwide reputation in web design and development, graphic design and presentations, search engine optimization, link exchanges, data management, data entry and sourcing, virtual administration service to clients in North America. They are also offering freelance services for our offshore clients

Source : seoarticles4u.com

Increase Return Traffic to Strengthen SEO Services

2007-12-08T20:41:00.000+05:30

When businesses get into search engine marketing, their main objective is driving new visitors to their website. Almost all optimisation strategies devised by webmasters are centered around the same objective, and this is possibly the greatest mistake they can make. It is true that new visitors pep up the traffic influx of a website; but is it wise to neglect the importance of old visitors?

Apart from catering to new users, webmasters have to formulate strategies to bring back old users in the form of return traffic. All web users have certain favourite websites, that they access frequently for daily doses of information and entertainment related to their fields of interest. If webmasters can get their sites to this level, it'll definitely spell success for their SEO campaigns.

Web analytics is one service that can be extremely useful in driving return users to your site. It'll help you analyse prevalent online trends and customer behaviour. The log files of your website will also provide a good insight into visitor reactions, thus helping you identify pages that are retaining or repelling users.

People who bookmark your pages are quite likely to come back once in a while. Buyers - prospective or otherwise â€" will, in all likelihood, visit your site more than once. Return traffic also fosters viral marketing - when users buy something from you, they talk about it to their family, friends and peers, thus publicising your business by word of mouth.

Retaining users is not as easy a task as it sounds to be. Your website should have appealing content matter; something that users have not read elsewhere, something that interests them enough to make a return visit, and above all, something that benefits them. You also need to upgrade your site constantly, catering to latest SEO service guidelines and design techniques. By doing so, you can ensure that users will not find your site boring or static.

It is also imperative that you do away with elements that irk visitors. Things like drop-down menus, scrollers, dragable objects, colours, fonts, etc. have to be dealt with smartly. Review the content of your site periodically. This will help effective Search engine optimizationredirects as much as possible.

When people come back to your website, they would definitely not like to see the same mistakes on your pages. Let your users feel refreshed after every visit to your site. This return traffic will ultimately go on to benefit your campaign in a major way. Use it to your advantage!

About the author
Lalita Negi works with ePurple Media, an SEO Company dealing with various services of effective Search engine optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Pay Per Click, web development etc.

Source : seoarticles4u.com

SEO Tips- How to Write a Press Release for Optimal Web Marketing

2007-12-08T20:40:00.000+05:30

What is a Press Release? Press releases are among the most effective ways - if not the most effective way - to get one-way links from high traffic news sites, but you must follow a certain set of guidelines or it will be nothing more than wasted time and your press release will never be published. A press release is a statement of announcement used for publishing and distributing company information or business news throughout the Internet via web media distribution channels. General news releases, event announcements, business news, new product release announcements, and social media news all qualify as valid content for a press release.

How Press Releases can help your SEO and Web Marketing Press releases play a very important role in SEO and web site marketing. Currently, one-way links are more valuable to your search e rankings than ever before. This is due to the fact that two-way links - most often referred to as "reciprocal links" - have decreased in value with regard to Google's "Page rank" system, with most others soon to follow if they have not already. With that in mind, playing an active role in generating news for PR web can serve as your best resource for getting one-way links and generating new traffic to your site without paying a dime. Be aware however, that credible PR web sites have strict criteria for the content that they publish. For example, it absolutely must be newsworthy, grammatically correct, without spelling errors, it must sound professional, and it must give the impression that a decent amount of time was put into it.

The benefit to you is that you may publish your company details including the services you offer, your web address and contact details along with your press release. Be careful not to make your press release sound like an advertisement though, or it will not be considered for publishing. The key here is to go into it with the objective of creating something valuable and informative for the reader.

There are a lot of news websites available that provide free services for publishing your news releases. The real advantage though, is that these websites provide services for distributing that news to subscribers of their news feeds. What this means, is that while you may publish your release to five PR web sites, it will likely end up on twenty or thirty different sites if it follows the criteria stated above. The important thing to remember is that the more valuable and informative that you make your content, the more it will be picked up by additional web sites. Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing your press release:

Tips for writing an effective press release:

* The press release headline should be short, clear and to the point. Treat press release headlines and sub-heads as the ultra-compact version of your entire press release content.
* Your press release summary should be informative. Try to avoid the use long sentences and lengthy paragraphs.
* Start your press release with the "5 Ws" - who, what, when, where, why, and sometimes how. This will make your press release more enlightening and attractive to the editors of the sites you are publishing to.
* Don't forget to include your company information below the press release content. Prepare a brief summary of your company services with the contact details, your website name, and email id for communicating. Most PR sites offer a "company bio" section, which appears under the published release.

About the author
Vision Media Corporation is a Phoenix & Las Vegas based website design and Search Engine Optimization, software, and ecommerce development firm specializing in new approaches to information technology and its relationship to mark

Source : seoarticles4u.com

The importance of SEO

2007-12-08T20:38:00.000+05:30

Search engine optimisation, SEO, is one of the vital aspects of any website, but it is often overlooked or neglected. A website may look beautiful, the systems may be flawless, but with no visitors, it is a waste. SEO is the process of getting visitors, traffic and ultimately business to your website, primarily through achieving high rankings for your web site on search terms with high volume.

Studies have shown that Internet searchers are a notoriously impatient bunch. Almost 82% of all searchers do not go beyond the first 30 results. More than 60% don't go beyond the first 10 results. If your website is not in the top ten, you are missing out on over 60% of your potential clients. This can prove to be a very costly exercise. Even if you are happy with the traffic you get to your website, and let's say it's 40%. You can get an extra one and a half times that quantity of visitors and business or more as the result of an effective SEO campaign.

There is always advertising available as an option, but that is substantially less effective and more costly. On Google, 70% of searchers prefer the natural results to advertisements. Say the term your site is optimised for has 100 searches a day, and you are in position 12. You'll only get 40% of your potential visitors. If you're in position 21, you'll get about 25%. Position 31 and you'll get less than 19%. If you are number 1, you'll get 100 of them. If you buy an advertisement, you'll get 30% and you pay for each visitor. The moment you stop paying, you stop getting visitors. An SEO campaign on the other hand lasts for years. Once you are at the top, it takes a lot to move you down the results. As such, SEO is the most cost-effective and efficient method of marketing your website.

You also need your site to rank well for the correct keyword or search phrase. One of my favourite examples comes from research I have conducted into the job industry as part of an SEO campaign. The term â€œsearch jobsâ€ has 21 searches a day. The term â€œjob searchâ€ has over 6000. Number 1 for â€œsearch jobsâ€ will give you 21 visitors. Number 1 for â€œjob searchâ€ though will give you 6000. Choosing the right keywords is an important part of any SEO campaign.

How do you target the site towards a specific search phrase or keyword? By having the keyword in the title tag, the description and in the content. It should also be in the anchor text of links pointing to that site. If you are in a reciprocal link exchange, and the link to your job site is the name of your company, that is far less effective at promoting your website than a link saying â€œjob search ï¿½" company name.â€ It's a simple step and seemingly obvious, but many website owners do not do that and their site suffers in it's ranking as a result.

With the right proportion of the key word in relation to your content and sufficient inbound links with the right anchor text, your website can become the number 1 site for that term. There is more to SEO than just that, but those are the 2 essential factors. Without good content, or links, your website will never rank well and will never bring in all the business it could. For more info, check out SEO - Sigil Online

About the author
Russell Qually is a practicing SEO specialist in South Africa. SEO - Sigil Online

Source : seoarticles4u.com

Tips to Select the Best SEO Company

2007-12-08T20:37:00.000+05:30

A good looking website is not enough to give your online business a boost. Instead a website that attracts potential customers is what all online firms are looking for. The competition is fierce and every website wants to earn high search engine rankings and maximize website traffic. Making it SEO-friendly is the only way to attain high-rankings. Undeniably, the selection of the right Search Engine Optimization company can be a strenuous task looking at the numerous SEO companies all claiming to help you achieve business goals. Here are a few guidelines and tips to help you select the right SEO company:

Get a thorough knowledge about Search Engine Optimization Before you find out about the SEO company, do your own SEO research and get a basic understanding about the SEO process. SEO is not rocket science and you can easily understand how it should be done by reading loads of informative websites. This knowledge will help you find and hire a good SEO company and spot the ones that are fake and use blackhat methods. By gaining SEO knowledge, you can also help the SEO company you hire in making decisions regarding SEO implementation.

Get Price Quotes & Find out how good the SEO Company is Get price quotes from multiple SEO companies, and select the best among those. But do remember, high price quotes does not make an SEO Company the best. Go for a company that offers realistic prices. Check the websites of the SEO firms to find out how good they are at their job. Do see the Google PageRank -- a good SEO Company's website must have not less than PR 5. Check out their web design, content, navigation structure, sitemap, etc. Check out if the content is well written and has relevant keywords and hyper linking. The navigation structure must be neat and web design must be well-laid out and striking.

Check if the SEO Company promises you No.1 ranking in various search engines It is next to impossible to attain No. 1 ranking, so if an SEO company guarantees you no.1 ranking, then you should perhaps look for another company that is honest in its marketing approach. According to Google SEO selection tips, no one can guarantee no.1 ranking in a search engine like Google.

Get references for first hand information about the company's SEO work Ask your SEO company to give you the references of a few clients they have worked for. If the SEO company gives you keywords and rankings details, you must verify those once by entering them in Google. You can even call the website owner and get a feedback about the company's SEO services.

Services provided by the SEO Company Comprehensive SEO involves on-page and off-page optimization. Ask the SEO company about the on-page and off-page optimization that they will implement. The SEO company must be an expert in providing various search engine optimization services like website analysis, online competitor analysis, keyword analysis, directory submissions, site map addition, ranking reports, SEO content writing, website development, and overall effective online marketing solutions.

Ask specifically if Link Building, which comes under off-page optimization, is part of the SEO package. Linking is radical to make any website a success. If the SEO company can provide you back links from relevant sites with high PR, then this can be extremely beneficial to make your website an instant hit. Make sure that they have a streamlined link building process in place.

Go for Monthly SEO Campaigns As search engines constantly changes their algorithms, so it becomes important to make modifications in your website continuously as per the latest trends. SEO is an ongoing process and the SEO company that you choose should stay current with the SEO trends in the market to beat help you beat the competition. The SEO company should also be able to provide you with the monthly search engine maintenance plan that will help you maintain and enhance your rankings.

All the above tips will help you select the right SEO company for your website and will definitely help you achieve the desired results. Cybernet Media is an SEO company that enables websites get high rankings, higher conversion and business profits. Please visit http://www.search-engine-promotion.eu.com/ for more information.

About the author
Y Hussain is a professional author who has written many articles on various topics & this time writing article on Tips to Select the Best SEO Company. For more details about Tips to Select the Best SEO Company visit: http://www.search-engine-promotion.eu.com/

Source : seoarticles4u.com

Google Poisoning Giving SEO a Bad Name

2007-12-08T20:20:00.000+05:30

Red Tape, the technology blog at MSNBC.com, has an interesting article discussing a new term to me called "Google Poisoning". Google Poisoning is when a group of sites organize a sophisticated attack to take over top spots in search results. The poisoners then use their top positions to redirect users to a maze of redirected sites in order to infect vulnerable computers with spyware and whatever else they care to install. You can see an example from the most recent Google poisoning attack in the picture provided by Sunbelt Software, the Security firm who first discovered the attack..

Sunbelt Software found that a simple search for something like "funny dog picture" on Google directed searchers to Web sites hosted on Chinese domains. People who visited those sites were asked to install "Spy-Shredder" a rogue anti-spyware program.

Alex Eckelberry, the CEO of Sunbelt Software, says he was amazed at the scale and sophistication of the attack by people he calls "SEO Gods". In the most recent attack, Eckelberry says the criminals coordinated a large scale attack that put 40,000 to 50,000 of these malicious pages online at the same time and caused users "bad infections" if they visited those pages.

Google promptly took these pages out of their index when they were notified of the problem but Eckelberry state these criminals can "take any site and get it on the first page of the Google results." If that is the case, I'm not sure why these attackers are wasting their time with spyware, rather than getting some sites ranked for "viagra", "web-hosting", "insurance settlement" or any other of the high payout affiliate terms.

I dug through the Sunbelt blog's posts on the topic, which are here, here, here and here. But to summarize the attackers used a maze of sophisticated 302 redirects, fancy javascript, and operating system vulnerabilities to trick Google and its users.

When it gets down to it, 40k-50k is a relatively small number of sites but I hope Google is proactive in preventing this in the future before it gets out of hand and if any of you criminals are reading this, care to share your 'SEO God' tactics?

Last week alone, criminals posted 40,000 to 50,000 of these malicious pages in a single, coordinated attack, said Alex Eckelberry, CEO of Sunbelt.

Posted By Evan Roberts

Source : marketingshift.com

Quick SEO Tips

2007-12-08T20:17:00.000+05:30

Submitted by Richard Burckhardt

One of the features on my blog, The Web Optimist, is a tip box that shows a different random search engine optimization tip each time a page is loaded. As I come across little pearls of wisdom, I add it to the collection.

For the first time published anywhere, here are the first twenty of my Quick SEO Tips in no particular order and with on-site and off-site tips all together. More to come in Part Two.

1. If you absolutely MUST use Java script drop down menus, image maps or image links, be sure to put text links somewhere on the page for the spiders to follow.

2. Content is king, so be sure to have good, well-written and unique content that will focus on your primary keyword or keyword phrase.

3. If content is king, then links are queen. Build a network of quality backlinks using your keyword phrase as the link. Remember, if there is no good, logical reason for that site to link to you, you don't want the link.

4. Don't be obsessed with PageRank. It is just one isty bitsy part of the ranking algorithm. A site with lower PR can actually outrank one with a higher PR.

5. Be sure you have a unique, keyword focused Title tag on every page of your site. And, if you MUST have the name of your company in it, put it at the end. Unless you are a major brand name that is a household name, your business name will probably get few searches.

6. Fresh content can help improve your rankings. Add new, useful content to your pages on a regular basis. Content freshness adds relevancy to your site in the eyes of the search engines.

7. Be sure links to your site and within your site use your keyword phrase. In other words, if your target is "blue widgets" then link to "blue widgets" instead of a "Click here" link.

8. Focus on search phrases, not single keywords, and put your location in your text (“our Palm Springs store” not “our store”) to help you get found in local searches.

9. Don't design your web site without considering SEO. Make sure your web designer understands your expectations for organic SEO. Doing a retrofit on your shiny new Flash-based site after it is built won't cut it. Spiders can crawl text, not Flash or images.

10. Use keywords and keyword phrases appropriately in text links, image ALT attributes and even your domain name.

11. Check for canonicalization issues - www and non-www domains. Decide which you want to use and 301 redirect the other to it. In other words, if http://www.domain.com is your preference, then http://domain.com should redirect to it.

12. Check the link to your home page throughout your site. Is index.html appended to your domain name? If so, you're splitting your links. Outside links go to http://www.domain.com and internal links go to http://www.domain.com/index.html. Ditch the index.html or default.php or whatever the page is and always link back to your domain.

13. Frames, Flash and AJAX all share a common problem - you can't link to a single page. It's either all or nothing. Don't use Frames at all and use Flash and AJAX sparingly for best SEO results.

14. Your URL file extension doesn't matter. You can use .html, .htm, .asp, .php, etc. and it won't make a difference as far as your SEO is concerned.

15. Got a new web site you want spidered? Submitting through Google's regular submission form can take weeks. The quickest way to get your site spidered is by getting a link to it through another quality site.

16. If your site content doesn't change often, your site needs a blog because search spiders like fresh text. Blog at least three time a week with good, fresh content to feed those little crawlers.

17. When link building, think quality, not quantity. One single, good, authoritative link can do a lot more for you than a dozen poor quality links, which can actually hurt you.

18. Search engines want natural language content. Don't try to stuff your text with keywords. It won't work. Search engines look at how many times a term is in your content and if it is abnormally high, will count this against you rather than for you.

19. Not only should your links use keyword anchor text, but the text around the links should also be related to your keywords. In other words, surround the link with descriptive text.

20. If you are on a shared server, do a blacklist check to be sure you're not on a proxy with a spammer or banned site. Their negative notoriety could affect your own rankings.

Whew. OK, try to digest these first 20 tips for a while. I'll be following up with the rest in 40 Quick S E O Tips, Part 2 once you've had a chance to absorb these thoroughly.

Source : webpronews.com

SEO.edu: Can You Learn SEO From a Book?

2007-12-08T20:12:00.000+05:30

By Ron Jones, Search Engine Watch

Have you ever wondered how the rock stars in SEO (define) became so great? How did they learn all that information about SEO? We'll explore the education of search marketers here in SEM.edu.

Experience or Knowledge

There wasn't much information available about search marketing in the early days of the Internet. So, some smart people decided to experiment. Look what happened.

Over time, a set of search marketing best practices emerged as some of these experiments worked out. This information was shared with friends for the most part, but there was no real formal body of knowledge.

After a while, some of this information was found in books. The majority, however, was surfacing through word of mouth and networking in forums to solve problems. As more search marketers tried out these new tips, they learned what worked and what didn't.

It's challenging to learn search marketing. The rules are made by the search engines and their algorithms (define). All we can do is try the tactics we learn from others and learn for ourselves what works and what doesn't.

We often find that what works for one Web site doesn't necessarily work for another. Once we go through this process and learn for ourselves what works, then we can start to be called an expert.

Once you read or are taught about search, you have some knowledge. Experience will make all the difference. You'll also need to a network of resources to tap when you hit a roadblock.

Staying Up To Date

A prospective client recently asked me to look at redesigning his Web site. I asked if he was planning to implement a search campaign.

"Oh," he said. "All I plan to do is fill out the meta tags on the home page. That should do it."

People often hear a single tip or trick that worked in the past, but those won't necessarily work today. While meta data still has a place today, it doesn't carry nearly the same amount of weight as it did in the late '90s.

The search engines are continuing to update and change their algorithms in an effort to deliver their users to the right pages. We, as search practitioners, need to continue learning what's working and what's not.

Where to Learn SEO Today

One of the most common questions prospects ask me is, "Where do you go to learn about search marketing?" Many sources have risen to the top in the past few years.

There are events, like Search Engine Strategies conferences, that provide opportunities to learn from the experts. There are Web sites dedicated to search. There are also formal courses, like SEMPO Institute, that offer a certificate of completion.

These are all great places to establish a foundation of knowledge on search marketing and help you stay up to date. Remember: this knowledge is as only good as your hands-on experience.

So, if you own a domain or a small business, go out there and join the ranks of SEO practitioners and start optimizing and marketing the sites you have influence over. Learn what works for you and maybe you'll find a niche that will make you the next SEO expert.

Source : searchenginewatch.com

20 Things You Need to Know Before Optimizing Your Site

2007-11-09T22:38:00.000+05:30

By Kalena Jordan

20 Things You Need to Know Before Optimizing Your Site

One of the most important aspects of a search engine optimization project is also one of the most overlooked – preparation! There are some important steps to take in advance of optimizing your site that will make sure your SEO is successful.

Before You Start

Before you start any search engine optimization campaign, whether it's for your own site or that belonging to a client, you need to answer the following questions:

)What is the overall motivation for optimizing this site? What do I/they hope to achieve? e.g. more sales, more subscribers, more traffic, more publicity etc.

2)What is the time-frame for this project?

3)What is the budget for this project?

4)Who will be responsible for this project? Will it be a joint or solo effort? Will it be run entirely in-house or outsourced?

Answering these questions will help you to build a framework for your SEO project and establish limitations for the size and scope of the campaign.

Get Ready: How Search Engine-Compatible is the Site Currently?

Something I find very useful before quoting on any SEO project is to produce what I call a Search Engine Compatibility Review. This is where I carry out a detailed overview and analysis of a site's search engine compatibility in terms of HTML design, page extensions, link popularity, title and META tags, body text, target keywords, ALT IMG tags, page load time and other design elements that can impact search engine indexing.

I then provide a detailed report to potential clients with recommendations based on my findings. It just helps sort out in my mind what design elements need tweaking to make the site as search engine-friendly as possible. It also helps marketing staff prove to an often stubborn programming department (or vice versa!) that SEO is necessary. You might consider preparing something similar for your own site or clients.

Get Set: Requirements Gathering

Next, you need to establish the project requirements, so you can tailor the SEO campaign to you or your client's exact needs. For those of you servicing clients, this information is often required before you are able to quote accurately.

To determine your project requirements, you need to have the following questions answered:

1)What technology was used to build the site? (i.e. Flash, PHP, frames, Cold Fusion, JavaScript, Flat HTML etc)

2)What are the file extensions of the pages? (i.e. .htm, .php, .cfm etc)

3)Does the site contain database driven content? If so, will the URLs contain query strings? e.g. www.site.com/longpagename?source=123444fgge3212, (containing "?" symbols), or does the site use parameter workarounds to remove the query strings? (the latter is more search engine friendly).

4)Are there at least 250 words of text on the home page and other pages to be optimized?

5)How does the navigation work? Does it use text links or graphical links or JavaScript drop-down menus?

6)Approximately how many pages does the site contain? How many of these will be optimized?

7)Does the site have a site map or will it require one? Does the site have an XML sitemap submitted to Google Sitemaps?

8)What is the current link popularity of the site?

9)What is the approximate Google PageRank of the site? Would it benefit from link building?

10)Do I have the ability to edit the source code directly? Or will I need to hand-over the optimized code to programmers for integration?

11)Do I have permission to alter the visible content of the site?

12)What are the products/services that the site promotes? (e.g. widgets, mobile phones, hire cars etc.)

13)What are the site's geographical target markets? Are they global? Country specific? State specific? Town specific?

14)What are the site's demographic target markets? (e.g. young urban females, working mothers, single parents etc.)

15)What are 20 search keywords or phrases that I think my/my client's target markets will use to find the site in the search engines?

16)Who are my/my client's major competitors online? What are their URLs? What keywords are they targeting?

17)Who are the stake-holders of this site? How will I report to them?

18)Do I have access to site traffic logs or statistics to enable me to track visitor activity during the campaign? Specifically, what visitor activity will I be tracking?

19)How do I plan on tracking my or my client's conversion trends and increased rankings in the search engines?

20)What are my/my client's expectations for the optimization project? Are they realistic?

Answers to the first 10 questions above will determine the complexity of optimization required. For example, if the site pages currently have little text on them, you know you'll need to integrate more text to make the site compatible with search engines and include adequate target keywords. If the site currently uses frames, you will need to rebuild the pages without frames or create special No-Frames tags to make sure the site can be indexed, and so on.

This initial analysis will help you to scope the time and costs involved in advance. For those of you optimizing client sites, obtaining accurate answers to these questions BEFORE quoting is absolutely crucial. Otherwise you can find yourself in the middle of a project that you have severely under-quoted for.

The remainder of questions are to establish in advance the who, what, where, when, why and how of the optimization project. This will help you determine the most logical keywords and phrases to target, as well as which search engines to submit the site to.

For those of you optimizing web sites for a living, you might consider developing a questionnaire that you can give clients to complete to ensure you tailor the web site optimization to their exact needs.

Go!

So now you are clear about your motivations for optimizing the site, you know more about the target markets, you know how compatible the existing site is with search engines and how much work is involved in the search engine optimization process. You're ready to tackle the job!

Source : isedb.com

Blogworld Session Summaries: New Media, SEO for Blogs

2007-11-09T22:35:00.000+05:30

Andy Beal

The opening day for Blogworld was a great success. While aimed mostly at corporate attendees–the real geeks get here today–there was still enough of a buzz surrounding the inaugural conference.

I spoke on two different panels.

The first looked at SEO for blogs, and I was joined by Vanessa Fox, Stephen Spencer, and Aaron Wall. WebProNews was there filming the session and they put together a video summary for you to enjoy.

Source : marketingpilgrim.com

Corporate America Can Learn a Lot from Bloggers

2007-11-09T22:31:00.000+05:30

If you're in charge of a B2B (business to business) corporate Web site, you may have wrestled with the decision of whether or not your company should create a blog. If you'd rather not engage in blogging, there are alternatives that can still help you drive qualified traffic and leads to your corporate Web site, as a blog might, and to get the search engine ranking benefits a blog might bring.

You don't have to be a blogger to take advantage of the latest blogging techniques. In fact, you can learn a lot about promoting your company's products and services online by "doing what the bloggers do."

The corporate world has traditionally been very slow to adopt blogging. After all, adding a blog to a corporate Web site is a big decision – and could have an impact on the company's brand, as well as how the brand is perceived. Additionally, there are a lot of maintenance requirements of a blog. For example, who in the company will be responsible for the writing and posting on the blog? How often will it be updated? Will the traditional blog "comments" be added as a feature? If so, whose job would it be to "moderate" those comments?

The United States Government recently launched their "GovGab" blog, in an effort to reach out to more citizens. Several managers are assigned a day of the week when they're responsible for posting on the blog. Each manager is charged with posting something on his or her designated day, and with moderating any comments left by the blog's readers, which could quickly become a full-time job in itself. A few other managers serve as backup bloggers.

If you decide not to implement a blog on your corporate site, there are still several ways that you can benefit from using the techniques of successful bloggers. Let's take a look at the many techniques they are using today to become popular, and apply them to the online promotion of a corporate Web site.

Embrace Networking
Probably the biggest, most important "technique" that successful bloggers use today is networking. Networking with other bloggers, linking to and commenting on each other's blogs, and even "guest blogging" for others' blogs is common.

Sure, corporate America does a lot of networking. After all, that's how a lot of partnerships are made and how a lot of deals get done. But there's not enough "networking" going on amongst corporations' Web sites and those responsible for maintaining the corporate Web site, including those in the marketing department.

Bloggers link to each other and recommend each others' blogs; why not link to your corporate partners and ask that they link back to your corporate Web site? If one company is an official "partner" with another company and will work together to provide solutions to their customers, why not continue this partnership on the internet level by linking both corporate Web sites together and recommending each others' solutions?

The same goes for industry trade groups. Corporations should help promote trade groups and associations to which they belong. Likewise, it's helpful if the trade group or association lists its member companies, providing links to the corporate Web sites.

Besides your existing partners, it's important to reach out to new partners as well. Why not start networking with the bloggers themselves?

In most industries there are at least a few popular bloggers who keep a close watch on the industry as a whole – and constantly write about what's really going on. When your company issues a press release, keep these bloggers in your outreach plans. Making your news and access to company executives available to the top bloggers in your industry can pay off tenfold in backlinks and blogger goodwill.

If a blogger receives a press release directly from a company in their industry, most likely they will pay attention to it. After all, bloggers are always looking for something to write about. And it's the bloggers who have the power to link directly to the corporate Web site, which will ultimately help your site's search engine rankings.

Additionally, the publicity your company will receive is wonderful: many tech industry bloggers have thousands of regular readers and subscribers who will instantly receive notification of the company's news.

Use Technology to Get Your News Out There
Another technique bloggers can teach corporate marketers is to make technology your friend. Corporate Web sites could use the latest blog publishing platforms, such as WordPress, TypePad, or BlogSmith, to publish content to the Web site.

Besides being easy for marketers to use and update the site without IT intervention, blog software has the added benefit of automatically creating an RSS feed from the content. RSS feeds allow customers to keep track of your site's content. Additionally, the blog software sends out a "ping" to search engines and other sources, alerting them that the content of the site has been updated.

A corporate news and press release section, or a company newsletter are appropriate places to provide the content in RSS format. By doing this, journalists, industry bloggers, company employees, and anyone else interested in the company's information and news could subscribe to the RSS feed and be notified instantly whenever there's news to announce.

Adding an RSS feed and the latest blogging technology to a corporate Web site doesn't mean that the company has to have a blog on the Web site. In fact, the site's visitors don't have to know what technology is being used behind the scenes. The "look and feel" of the page is still up to the site's Web designers. Pages created with blogging technology can be made to look exactly like the rest of the Web site.

By embracing online networking and adopting the latest technology that bloggers are using, a corporate Web site doesn't have to be static anymore. You can gain valuable traffic and visibility with the search engines, and build a sense of community with others in your space by applying those techniques to your corporate site.

Bill Hartzer is a search engine marketing, social media, and website marketing consultant. His primary focus is on the optimization of business to business Web sites. He is the founder of the Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM), and a frequent speaker at the Search Engine Strategies conferences.

Source : searchenginewatch.com

Should SEOs Work For Commission?

2007-11-04T17:47:00.000+05:30

By: Steven Bradley

Would you offer your seo services for commission only? As a small business owner would you request someone to market your site based only on how many sales you make? The question of commission based seo services arose in a thread on the Small Business Forum where the original poster was hoping to get just that.

He wanted to get in the top 10 in Google or Yahoo offering 10% of sales generated from search engine optimization in return. Would you take the deal?

Why Working For Commission Is A Bad Deal For SEOs

I wouldnt and said as much in the thread. My rationale is that too much of the sales process would be out of my control. An SEO could drive plenty of traffic to a site that wont convert or has a poor business model. The request is essentially asking the SEO to take on the risk of another business. In this specific case the thread starters business is easily duplicated. Why work for 10% of the sales when you could duplicate the site and work for 100%?

Even if you are willing to take on some of the risk would 10% be enough? It depends on how much the 100% is I suppose, but is seo only 10% of the success? Again it depends, but I would suggest that for a two month old business a successful seo campaign is worth a lot more.

In my last This Week In SEO post I linked to an article by Stoney deGeyter asking where does the responsibility of the seo end and that of the client begin? A successful seo campaign needs both SEO and client to do their part. While its not automatically the case my general sense is clients asking for commission based seo are looking to avoid their share of the responsibility. Read More...

Expert Strategies for SEO

2007-11-04T17:43:00.000+05:30

By Mike McDonald

Optimizing your site for search engines can be challenging and time consuming. It's a game where the rules are always changing and there is no shortage of outdated and just flat out bad advice readily available. So, what should you be doing? How should you be approaching the whole search engine optimization mess?

When creating your SEO strategy, due diligence mandates that you not just take the word of the first self-styled SEO expert that just 'shows up' in your inbox one day. Beyond that it's an even better idea to look for consensus viewpoints among established and recognized experts in the field.

So, where would an SEO expert start with a site? That's what we wanted to know. What are some of the common themes, concepts, ideas and practices all of these guys would agree on? We put these questions to four leading SEO guys. Read More..

Source : webpronews.com

How To Survive the Google Pagerank Breakup

2007-10-31T22:55:00.000+05:30

Google just broke up with you- after a yearlong pagerank 7 relationship. It's just temporary of course. You'll have her chasing you back with some of these search engine flirtation tips.

Go bold. Just as women love bold suitors, so do search engines. Start highlighting keywords on each page with the tag to increase search relevance. Search engines are attracted to words contained in the H1 and B tags. Just don't go wild- two bold words per page is enough.

Go Deeper. Having other sites drill deep into your web at various locations tells google that 'hey, this guy has varied useful content'. It's poor SEO strategy to acquire links just to link to the homepage. The search engines may ultimately discount those links

Go foreign. Why focus on North America? You can take your business to India, Pakistan, UK and Hongkong! Start creating pages for lucrative markets and submit to their local directories. This ensures multiple streams of revenue

Fire Up Newsletters. Provide articles to publishers like ezinearticles. The links breathe for many years in their archives and funnel backlinks to your site.

Go Bi. Image links are good, but text links are more appreciated. If your site is full of image links, have your webmaster place the text links first because that's what google looks for. Subsequent links are often discounted.

Multiple Partners. Create different domains on varying IPs that talk about similar subjects. The reason is that Google only lists one domain page per search result. Imagine if you owned ten domains that came up for the same search result? You'll be seducing more curious searchers. Another tip: search engine consulting firms recommend varying the keywords used on these domains just to minimize looking spammy

Article Exchanges. You've heard of reciprocal link exchanges. Text link purchases. One way backlink purchases. Try them, and it's like getting herpes on the net. Google blacklists you and your worth is downgraded. But article exchages are different. Whip up an article, upload to Ezinearcticles and before you know it- wham! Dozens of sites publish your article and bring fawning admirers to your door.

Shun Unvaried Anchor Text. If 1000 sites links to you with the appellation "Gimme Money", Google starts to squint and dig deeper, "Smells like automated filthy spam, methinks." Avoid the search engine ban by varying the anchor text. Dance under different names and you'll flirt more grandly with search engines.

Expose Your Glory With a Site map. Your visitors reach the honeypot more rapidly when you have a structured sitemap that links to every major page. Keep the map on a location easily accessible so you keep the action flowing. Google bots flirt with sitemaps too and often births detailed search results. So keep it search engine friendly.

Source : seoarticles4u.com

SEO or PPC - Choose the right option for your business web site marketing

2007-10-31T22:54:00.000+05:30

When businesses start web site marketing or promotion, two main options help to achieve the goal, SEO (also referred as "organic optimization") and PPC (also referred as "inorganic optimization"). Selecting the best option of these two is the first mile stone of any Internet Marketing Campaign.

PPC (Pay Per Click):

Pay Per Click involves online advertising on web sites, search engines and their related advertising networks, by bidding highly searched and product relevant keywords and appropriate creating ads. These ads are called "sponsored links" or "sponsored ads", which generally appear to the right or on top of organic (natural) results of search engines. Advertiser needs to pay whenever user clicks on the ad in accordance with his bidding amount.PPC is the ideal option for highly funded adversting campaigns aiming to achieve visitors and targeted traffic within short duration, however involves more cost and risk involvement.

Edge of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) over PPC :

* Guaranteed Clicks: Many Researches revealed that visitors in general prefer natural organic search links in comparison to PPC sponsored links.

* Long Term Traffic and ROI Benefit: Web site once ranked top in search engine's organic results brings steady, long term traffic and in return ROI in contrast to short term traffic and ROI based ppc campaign.

* Less Risk and Cost Involvement: "Click Fraud" is the most concerned, risky and costlier affair for any PPC Campaign. SEO, in comparison involves zero or less risk and cost involvement.

* More Keyword Targeting: PPC facilitates bidding and ranking for limited set of keywords. SEO offers no such limitations on keyword targeting and ranking

* More Exposure and Wider Space Promotion: PPC Campaign is confined to pay-per-click search engines and its advertising networks. SEO promotion gives more exposure and wider space with RSS, Blogs, Social Search, News Articles, in addition to Search Engine placements.

In general ,SEO has major gains in comparison to PPC. However PPC can be considered for short duration in combination with long term and result -oriented seo promotion strategy.

Source : seoarticles4u.com

What do 16,000 people 'do' at Google?

2007-10-28T21:31:00.001+05:30

I'm beginning to think that besides search advertising, hiring is the thing Google does best.

On Thursday, the company reported gains of 50 percent or so in quarterly profit and revenue from a year ago, beating analyst expectations. It wasn't a stellar quarter, but it was pretty darn good.

The notable thing was the hiring. The company added 2,130 workers to its roster, bringing the head count to 15,916. What do nearly 16,000 people do at a company that doesn't make widgets (at least in the hardware manufacturing sense of the word)?

That's an average of about 35 people showing up for their first day of work each business day during the past three months. Granted, that is in offices around the world, but still, that's impressive. By comparison, Yahoo has 13,600 employees, after hiring 1,200 during the past quarter. (Actually, when you think about it, that's even more crazy given the need for Yahoo to retrench right now.)

Those numbers may seem surprising given the fact that Google attributed last quarter's 3-cent earnings miss to overspending on hiring, and promised to curb that impulse. However, during the conference call with analysts Thursday afternoon, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said many of the people hired during the quarter had been given offers before the previous quarter had closed.

The fast pace of hiring at the search giant is the one concern Jordan Rohan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, mentioned in an interview with CNET News.com after the Google earnings call.

"Half the company has been hired in the last 12 months. That's chaotic," he says. "The new employees find it difficult to figure out how to get things done. It's not a normal company."

I can only guess that the new hires are working on the much-anticipated "Google phone," which is probably going to be a Google operating system for mobile devices, and on the new copyright content filtering technology deployed at YouTube this week. They're also probably tasked with taking over the advertising world with the company's lucrative online automated ad platform.

"They have possibly the best core business in the history of the Internet," Rohan says. "That is supporting them as they attempt to find an Act II. I don't know if it will be media, display, mobile or what."

Source: news.com

'Google bowling' and negative SEO: All fair in love and war?

2007-10-28T21:28:00.000+05:30

The term "Google bowling" has been floating around the Internet for a while now. The practice is one of many that can be put under the heading of negative SEO, and while I'm not a proponent of these methods, they are worth noting:

Google bowling: As Google attempted to curb link-popularity exploitation by penalizing Web sites that purchase link ads across the entire site, it also created the environment in which Google bowling came to be. As a form of negative SEO (search engine optimization), certain unscrupulous entities began buying sitewide links for competitor sites, thus causing them to incur the Google penalty. Simple, evil and a very real practice.

Spam in another's name: This form of negative SEO is even more simple. If spam gets Web sites in trouble with search engines, then creating spam on behalf of a competitor might lower their search engine results. In addition, a Web site's URL can be used for spamming in online forums, social-network sites and blog comments. It's hard to prove that the victim is innocent, and social-network sites might ban that Web site regardless. This can have a negative effect on the link neighborhood of a site.

Tattletaling: Did you buy links on other Web sites to improve your search engine rankings? Google doesn't like that at all. If your competitor finds out that you use paid links, he might tell Google and your rankings might drop! Of course, you can tell on your competitor, too.

Faux copyright complaint: If a search engine is notified that a copyright infringement exists (or might exist) on a Web site, then the search engine must remove the reported page from its index for 10 days. Snarky, but effective if someone wants a page out of the search engine results page (SERP) system for a spell.

Faux duplicate content: If someone creates duplicates of a competitor's Web pages, these duplicate pages will split rankings with those of the original site. Again, this isn't theory. This is something that is done in practice regularly.

To be clear, I am NOT promoting these tactics, and some of them will put you in legal hot water. But it is good to be aware of them so you can protect yourself against such practices, or at least identify these attacks when they are occurring. And, if someone is pulling one of these stunts on you--well, all's fair in love and war.

Source : news.com

Empty Google News

2007-10-28T21:16:00.000+05:30

Imagine a day without any news headline. Well, that’s what’s happening to Google News today... it’s showing empty fields for all the topics, across various country versions (including the US one at news.google.com). Some test searches I tried didn’t yield any results either. People had been reporting problems since some days already, but this scope seems to be new.

Source: blogoscoped.com

Official Google Blog: Get your iGoogle in 42 languages

2007-10-28T21:13:00.000+05:30

Official Google Blog: Get your iGoogle in 42 languages

Get your iGoogle in 42 languages

2007-10-28T21:05:00.000+05:30

Earlier this week, iGoogle launched in 13 new languages, bringing the total number of supported languages to 42 and the total number of country domains supported to over 70. For those of you who don't know, iGoogle is a personalized version of the Google homepage that lets you select the content that matters to you most from across the web and arrange it in a way that you find useful and fun. People rely on iGoogle to save time by putting all the information and services they need in one place. They also use it to discover new content through the iGoogle gadget directory.

With this launch, more than 99% of Internet users can take advantage of these features in their native language, which is really exciting for us. We're particularly curious to see what iGoogle ends up looking like in these new languages. For example, who would have guessed that 'Tu Nombre en Japonés' (Your name in Japanese) would be among the top 20 gadgets in Chile and Spain? (Mine is Jえすしか, by the way.) Because users and developers ultimately decide what iGoogle will look like in each of these new domains, we can't be sure what will be popular, which is part of the fun.

If you're a developer who speaks one of the languages below, now is a great opportunity to get your cool gadget idea out to a fresh audience. For more information, visit our Gadget APIs page. Who knows, maybe it'll be the next 'Tu Nombre en Japonés.'

Here's a list of the new languages available:

* Arabic
* Bulgarian
* Catalan
* Croatian
* Icelandic
* Indonesian
* Latvian
* Lithuanian
* Malay
* Serbian
* Slovak
* Slovenian
* Tagalog

Source: googleblog.blogspot.com

China accused of rerouting search traffic to Baidu

2007-10-28T21:01:00.000+05:30

Reports have surfaced that China is redirecting traffic from foreign search engines operated by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to homegrown Baidu.com.

According to various reports online, some online users in China attempting to access Google.com, Microsoft's Live.com and Yahoo.com search sites have been redirected to China-based Baidu.com.

Blog site TechCrunch reported that Chinese traffic to Google's blog search engine was being rerouted to Baidu. TechCrunch later published another article saying a similar situation was observed with the other two search giants.

Vivian Wong, a manager at CB Richard Ellis in Shanghai, said visits to the three search engines showed Baidu's home page instead.

Beijing-based David Feng wrote in his blog on Thursday that he was able to gain access to both Google and Yahoo, but not Microsoft's Live.com or Yahoo-owned search engine AltaVista.

However, Ori Elraviv, chief executive of Dragon Ports in Beijing, said he had no problems getting through to the sites. "I find such an occurrence really hard to believe. Blocking a service is one thing; diverting it to a competitor is a completely different story." Dragon Ports is a developer of mobile applications.

Google has, however, confirmed the traffic-rerouting episodes. In response to queries, Google sent similar statements to The Register and search engine blogger Danny Sullivan, noting: "While this is clearly unfortunate, we've seen this happen before and are confident that service will be restored to our users in the very near future."

China has been involved in previous allegations of Internet censorship, though the government has denied such claims.

Incidentally, Google sold its minority stake in Baidu last year, explaining that it was doing so to focus on building the Chinese version of its search engine, Google.cn.

Source: news.com

Google's PageRank Update Goes After Paid Links?

2007-10-28T20:26:00.000+05:30

Seems like there is a PageRank update taking place now that seems to be impacting sites that sell links. Can't say that we were not warned about this. Danny Sullivan wrote Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings On Google over two weeks ago, and now it appears many sites are getting hit with a drop in PageRank.

Here is a list of some sites, including major publishers, who seem to have taken a hit overnight:

* http://www.washingtonpost.com ==> / PR7 to PR5
* http://www.forbes.com/ ==> PR7 to PR5
* http://www.suntimes.com/ ==> PR7 to PR5
* http://www.sfgate.com/ ==> PR7 to PR5
* http://www.statcounter.com/ ==> PR10 to PR6
* http://www.masternewmedia.org/ ==> PR7 to PR4
* http://www.autoblog.com/ ==> PR6 to PR4
* http://www.engadget.com/ ==> PR7 to PR5
* http://www.problogger.net/ ==> PR6 to PR4
* http://www.copyblogger.com/ ==> PR6 to PR4
* http://www.joystiq.com/ ==> PR6 to PR4
* http://www.tuaw.com/ ==> PR6 to PR4
* http://www.searchengineguide.com/ ==> PR7 to PR4
* http://www.searchenginejournal.com/ ==> PR7 to PR4
* http://www.johnchow.com/ ==> PR6 to PR4
* http://www.quickonlinetips.com/ ==> PR6 to PR3
* http://weblogtoolscollection.com/ ==> PR6 to PR4
* http://andybeard.eu/ ==> PR5 to PR3
* http://www.seroundtable.com/ ==> PR7 to PR4
* http://www.blogherald.com/ ==> PR6 to PR4

For more information please visit: searchengineland.com

Google October 2007 Page Rank Update

2007-10-28T20:25:00.000+05:30

Looks like the toolbar PR updated today, with many sites losing lots of greenbars I have received message from friends in international and alerted me to it, since i have notice that some website PR went decrese to a 4, However, I’ve still got great rankings and traffic for things I track, so there’s no direct reflection there.

The toolbar data is months out of date, so the changes in SERP (if there were any) likely already happened weeks or months ago.

Seems like there is a PageRank update taking place now that seems to be impacting sites that sell links. Danny Sullivan wrote Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings On Google over …

Let see, wait and watch for upcoming happenings.

Source: Topseo.org

How long does it take until a new site ranks in Google, Yahoo and MSN?

2007-10-28T20:19:00.000+05:30

As explained in one of your previous newsletters, Google has some filters for new websites. How long does it take exactly until search engines list a new site in the top 10 rankings?

How long does it take until Google, Yahoo and MSN list a new site?

In a recent test, a webmaster optimized his site for a four word keyword. After about three weeks, Yahoo and MSN showed the website in the top 10 results. Even after several weeks, the same website was nowhere to be seen in Google's top 10 results. The highest result that the website could obtain on Google was position 30.

What does this mean for you?

It looks like Yahoo and MSN are much faster to list new websites in their result pages. The test confirmed that Google has filters for new websites.

For webmasters, the results of this test mean that they have to overcome Google's filters for new sites if they want to have top 10 rankings.

It's difficult for new websites to get high rankings on Google but it is possible. You have to make sure that Google trusts your site.

For searchers, the results of this little test mean that Google might not always have the best search resaults, particularly when it's a search for new content. Yahoo and MSN might be the better choice for some searches.

Is your website still not listed in Google's top 10 for your keyword?

Is your website still not listed in Google's top 10 results although your site is several months old?

Your keywords might be the reason for the problem. If you target very competitive keywords, then it will take much longer until your website is listed in the top 10 rankings.

If you want to get high rankings for competitive keywords, then you need very many good inbound links that contain your keyword in the anchor text.

If you target keywords that consist of one or two words then you might want to reconsider them. One word keywords usually don't lead to sales because these keywords are too general.

Keywords that consist of four words are much more likely to convert to sales than shorter keywords.

Keys To Improve Search Engine Ranking

2007-10-08T23:57:00.000+05:30

Search engine optimization is the hottest thing to hit the internet since the arrival of the social networks. What is search engine optimization and what does it do? There are many different types of search engine optimization techniques but they all focus on the same goal. That goal is to get your websites higher ranking on the search engines, attract more traffic to your website so that your website gains enough exposure to actually show up in the top 10 spots of the search engines when people search for certain keywords. The reason why this is such a hot topic is because once your website gets ranked on the first page of the search engines, you will see a dramatic increase in your monthly profits.

Once a website is created it is very weak and although it looks good there is no way for the search engines to find your site among the other billion websites on the internet. To tell you the truth it truly is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Over a period of time, the search engines will eventually find and send their robots to crawl your website so that they can add this to their index. This is how the search engines not only find your site but also rate your site and see where it should be placed in the search engine rankings. If you can wait a year or so and let your website grow without any help from search engine optimization then that's fine. The truth is even when the website is mature it most likely will not receive the exposure that you are looking for. I know some people that have had their websites for over 5 years and they have a page rank of one and they are still not ranking anywhere for the most common keywords for their business. By the way, page rank is how the search engines value your website. Although it is very hard to achieve page rank, the more page rank you have the better ranking you will see. Most people with disagree with the page ranking but supposedly that may change in the very near future.

How can I Improve search engine rankings you may ask? There are many different ways to improve search engine rank and to improve the exposure of your website but you have to start out with a good structure first then move on to the more technical techniques. If you are ready to take that next step and learn two of the most important techniques of search engine optimization, then keep reading and enjoy.

The first way to improve search engine placement and in my opinion are the most important technique to focus on are onsite search engine optimization. This technique is very powerful. I will give you a few hints on how this technique works.

First, we are going to talk about onsite optimization. This is one of my favorite techniques because it does wonders to your website. This is one of the most important tasks you must do to help the search engines find your web pages. You have to make your pages stick out like a lighthouse on a foggy night so the search engines can see them easier. Make sure that all pages in your website have good title tags. These are located at the top of each website you arrive on and they describe what the page is about. Make sure that you don't have just your business name as the title because if no one knows about your business then how are they going to know what the name of your business is when they do a search for it. If you are going to be branding you business name and you think the business name will send you the traffic you want the by all means do it. Just like Nike, everyone knows what Nike is so people will use the keyword Nike to search for shoes and sports apparel.

Place some good keywords in the title tags that you think people will use to search for your business. This is a very powerful tool to help get your site more exposure. Next, make sure your "meta tags" description has a good compelling content for people to view and come to your site. Make the description about two sentences in length. This next step is very important. Make sure your "Meta Tag" keywords have all the good keywords that will help the search engines and people find your website pages. Now whatever keywords you place in this area, you need to also place these keywords all over inside the content of your website pages.

The content of your website has to be very compelling and you should also add these keywords here and there inside the content. Make sure the keywords you are using are related to your product you are selling on your website. If the content is not good and is just spammed with key words then you risk the chance of having the search engines boot your website. If this happens you will have a very slim chance of getting back into the search engine index. It's not worth it to spam keywords, if you get caught you may have to start a whole new website over and loose any leads or income you have worked so hard to get.

This is one of the key tools to help improve search engine ranking. If you follow this tool and implement this on your website you will see a great change in the traffic to your website. It is not going to happen overnight but if you do it correctly I promise you it will happen over time. Remember, your website is a long term investment that will only get better with age. If you can be patient and use these tools I have shown you, you will see the difference.

Source: Articlebase.com

Google officially launches AdSense for mobile

2007-09-30T20:45:00.000+05:30

Google has just launched AdSense for mobile, which can help you expand your online content to new platforms. If you have a website optimized for mobile browsers, or are interested in creating one, you can start monetizing your mobile site by accessing a growing number of our mobile advertisers.

When you add the new AdSense for mobile code to your site, we'll display relevant ads using the same targeting technology that you are familiar with for existing AdSense products.

To get started:
1) Sign in to your account.
2) Select the AdSense Setup tab and click on AdSense for mobile.
3) Follow the instructions to customize your ad unit for AdSense for mobile.

We've just launched AdSense for mobile, which can help you expand your online content to new platforms. If you have a website optimized for mobile browsers, or are interested in creating one, you can start monetizing your mobile site by accessing a growing number of our mobile advertisers.

When you add the new AdSense for mobile code to your site, we'll display relevant ads using the same targeting technology that you are familiar with for existing AdSense products.

To get started:
1) Sign in to your account.
2) Select the AdSense Setup tab and click on AdSense for mobile.
3) Follow the instructions to customize your ad unit for AdSense for mobile : https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=11951&sourceid=aso&subid=ww-en-et-asblog_2007-09-19&medium=link

Source: adsense.blogspot.com

Google introduces Google Presentations

2007-09-30T20:29:00.000+05:30

Google Inc. has expanded its online suite of office software to include a business presentation tool similar to Microsoft Corp.'s popular PowerPoint, adding the latest twist in a high-stakes rivalry.

The Mountain View-based company planned to unveil the presentation software late Monday, about five months after Chief Executive Eric Schmidt announced Google would add the application to its software arsenal.

The new program will be included in Google's free software bundle, called "Docs," which users must be online to employ. And the company will sell a souped-up version to businesses, universities and government agencies for $50 a year per user.

As PowerPoint does, Google's presentation software enables users to create a series of slides with a mixture of text and graphics on each. PowerPoint is widely used in business meetings.

Google's software suite already included word processing, spreadsheet and calendar management programs. Microsoft has been reaping huge profits from similar applications for years. Unlike Google's applications, Microsoft's programs are usually installed directly on the hard drives of computers.

Google executives have consistently depicted the company's software applications as counterparts to Microsoft's products.

Source: smh.com.au/

Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool Seems Dead

2007-09-30T19:48:00.000+05:30

A DigitalPoint Forums member reports that the Yahoo! Overture Keyword Tool is no longer providing results.

It looks like the Overture tool is finally gone unless this is a bug. YahooSarah said in January that Overture would be offline until an updated product was released. Does this mean the product is ready? After all, in May, Yahoo stopped updating the Overture tool. It has been four months so hopefully a new tool will be announced shortly.

Since so many tools use the Overture API, I certainly hope that this is the case. DigitalPoint Forums members agree.

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums : http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=476913

Source: seroundtable.com

Tips Of Driving Search Engine Traffic To Your Site

2007-09-30T15:44:00.000+05:30

Search engine traffic to your website can be improved by measuring certain aspects and resolving the changes undertaken in your site. These aspects depend on the nature of your site. Each site is built up with some specific site goals. The best way to find out how well your site attracts and retains visitors to meet these goals is to categorize all possible reasons why a user would visit your Web site. The reasons may be as followed:

* To get detail information on products/services * For an email or phone contacts to ask questions about products/services * Purchase products/services * Compare pricing of products/services * Check status of pending order for products/services * Get more information or tips on using purchased products * To get customer service aid * Report a failure of online forms or shopping cart * Register for newsletters, product updates, marketing brochures, white papers, etc. * Discover new products/servces * Join an online community * Read updated news regarding the business, industry, etc. * Study information on accessories for purchased products/services * Sort out problems related to purchased products/service

Once you make out the reason of the visitors visiting to your website, you can assign desired actions to visitor clusters and track their movements within your site to determine how successfully you are receiving valuable Search engine traffic.

For instant increase in Search Engine Traffic

* Write better, specific, relevant and unique content. * Give People reasons to link to you. * Provide what your visitors want. * Get quality external inbound links. * Traffic Analysis Data * Evaluating SEM Campaign Performance.

Search engine traffic depends upon the study of the above data, checking visitor behaviors to test the marketing message on your site, the efficiency of your offer, the choice of various SEM marketing procedures (site/content optimization, linking strategy, paid inclusion, paid placement, etc.), the choice of search engines (MSN, AOL, Yahoo!, Google, Lycos, AskJeeves, AltaVista, etc.), and many other elements of your marketing campaign. Change in your campaign will likely result in increased Search engine traffic - conversions, lower acquisition costs, and improved ROI.

Source: seoarticles4u.com

How to Get More Pages into Google's Index

2007-08-08T22:37:00.000+05:30

Many people obsess about every word Matt Cutts says, but there are plenty of other Googlers that can teach us a thing or two about Google's inner workings. At Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2006 I was on a panel with one of them: Dan Crow, who is part of Google's search quality group and is the Product Manager for the crawl infrastructure group.

When Jill Whalen and Pauline Kerbici of High Rankings started a local organization called Search Engine Marketing New England (SEMNE), I suggested that they invite Dan to speak. Besides his charming British accent, Dan's a great speaker because he knows everything about Googlebots and indexing.

Last month in Providence, nearly 100 SEMNE members and guests showed up to meet Dan. To learn about the official presentation, you can read Jill's summary, "Getting into Google," and Rand Fishkin's post, "Dan Crow of Google on Crawling, Indexing & Ranking." Instead of yet another summary, here I will cover the unofficial story, the conversations I had with Dan before and after the main event.

Dan Crow's Advice to Webmasters

Dan started our conversation by saying that the World Wide Web is very large, and Google is not even sure how large. They can only index a fraction of it. Google has plenty of capital to buy more computers, but there just isn't enough bandwidth and electricity available in the world to index the entire Internet. Google's crawling and indexing programs are believed to be the largest computations ever.

Googlebots fetch pages, and then an indexing program analyzes the pages and stores a representation of the page into Google's index. The index is an incomplete model of the Web. From there, PageRank is calculated and secret algorithms generate the search results. The only pages that can show up in Google's search results are pages included in the index. If your page isn't indexed, it will never rank for any keywords.

Because the Web is so much larger than the index, Google has to make decisions about what to spider and what to index. Dan told me that Google doesn't spider every page they know about, nor do they add every spidered page to the index. Two thoughts flashed through my mind at that moment: (1) I need to buy Dan a drink, (2) What can I do to make sure my pages get indexed?

Bandwidth and electricity are the constraining resources at Google. On some level they have to allocate those resources among all the different Web sites: Google isn't going to index Web sites A – G and then ignore H-Z. Dan suggested that each day Google has a large but limited number of URLs it can spider, so for large sites it's in the site owners' interests to help the indexing process run more efficiently, because that may lead to more pages being indexed.

How much effort Google decides to put into spidering a site is a secret, but it's influenced by PageRank. If your site has relatively few pages with high PageRank, they'll all get into the index no problem, but if you have a large number of pages with low PageRank, you may find that some of them don't make it into Google's index.

Clean Code Matters

What can we do to get more pages indexed? I've always suspected that streamlining HTML code is a good way to facilitate indexing. Reducing code bloat helps pages load faster and use less bandwidth. I asked if it would help to move JavaScript and CSS definitions to external files, and clean up tag soup. Dan's answer was refreshingly clear. "Those would be very good ideas," he said.

SEOs pay a lot of attention to issues like duplicate content, link building to increase PageRank, and link structure to move PageRank throughout the site. However, I haven't seen many SEO articles about the importance of proper Web development methodology. All too often when I look at a new site, I am appalled at the sloppy coding. The typical site could be streamlined significantly.

Yes, you should try to increase the PageRank of your pages, and you should design your link structure so that PageRank is distributed throughout your site in a way that makes sense. You should provide unique and valuable content. Those tactics will help your indexing, but you also need to pay attention to the dirty details of how your pages are put together. If everybody served clean code, Google would be able to index significantly more pages.

Why doesn't Google do more to educate webmasters about the efficient use of bandwidth and computing power? Perhaps it would look bad for Google to ask webmasters to recode their sites to make Google's job easier. Nonetheless, if Google can tell me how to get more of my pages into the index, I'm ready to listen and cooperate.

Clean HTML is good not just for getting indexed, but also because it means more people can read your site. The cleaner and more compatible your code, the wider a range of browsers it will work with, and this is especially important for users with screen readers and those using mobile devices such as cell phones.

Source: searchenginewatch.com

Online Web Marketing Tips

2007-07-26T22:31:00.000+05:30

Here is a list of a few of my favorite marketing tips and ideas. They all proved to be effective in my business, use them them for yours as well!

1. Seek out link sites. Linking up with other sites and linking other sites to your webpage is a great marketing idea. I've generated a lot of traffic hits, linking up with other sites alone. Make sure to be in touch with people whom have sites similar to yours or fit your genre.

2. HTML META. Meta tags are for your search engines. Using meta tags are effective when you want to be sprouting up on search pages, use your keywords.

3. Search Engines. Blast your site out into outerspace. Search engines drive TRAFFIC. And to increase your popularity of your site, utilize some common search engine sites like AltaVista.com, Google and Yahoo.

4. Your Website Headers are important! Make your titles strong. The titles are very important because it shows how your page shows up in the search engine. Make sure it has a great title or else your pages will show up very weak.

5. Updating your site. Keep your site updated regualarly and keep your surfers coming back for more. Everyone loves new refreshed content. That is key.

6. Newsletters. Offer updates, free newsletters, sms messages to your browsers. They will be updated personally on your site and be provided with regular infoformation.

7. Branding your web page. Branding your site is used to make a long lasting effect. Keep your logo, main title on every page. This will be sure to follow through in terms of getting the message down to your browsers.

8. Build more sites. The more the merrier, the more sites the more traffic. Its also great marketing if you are a newbie company trying to get your name well known.

9. Emails. Emails, we get emails every second, every hour, every day. Don't let them sit in your mailbox. That's a no no! Be proficient and answer them right away. No one likes to wait, especially online users. They have the least patience of them all.

10. Get Involved. Your surfers are important for if you don't have them then what do you have? Cutomoze your content and make it personal. If you involve them, interact with them they will naturally want to be involved as well. Add polls, offer them to bookmark your site, use your site as a homepage, place a forum, chat room, voting contest, etc.

There are many many more ways to effectively market your online site. Do some research on the web, look at some of the other sites and observe there strategies. They are all very different but we all have the same message we want to get through. We want to win our customers trust and loyalty to our sites. With a properly executed marketing plan and given time, your site should be getting the results you want in no time.

About the Author:
Jennifer Lynn is an ecommerce entrepreneur, artist, writer, and musician based in New York-Chicago.

She has written and contributed numerous articles online about adult entertainment, entrepreneurship, ecommerce, technology, pop culture, generation x, quarter life and city trends & news.

A highly creative entrepreneur with focus in web marketing, business development and ecommerce. Presently, she is involved in JMR, an online referral biz for artists in the entertainment industry. She also runs other ecommerce sites including an interactive entertainment hub and her own personal site.

Before startin' JMR, Jennifer Lynn was a tech recruiter with a Chicago based start-up company. She's also a professional pianist. Jennifer Lynn received her degree from De Paul University in liberal arts.

When she's not workin' away, you can find her lofting on a beach, into travel, and dabbling in new creative ventures with artists & entrepreneurs around town.

Jennifer Lynn believes passion in doing what ever it is you love to do is the key to one's personal success.

Source: internet-marketing-sites.info

Words To The Wise: Creative Methods for Adding Text Content to Your Website

2007-07-26T21:01:00.000+05:30

There are two strategies you can use to develop content for your site. One is to create your own and the other is to acquire content.

If you were to open a store on Main St, the necessary ingredients for success are clearly established. It's been said that if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door. But when your door is a file on a server, it takes more than a road sign to direct traffic. What it takes, in a word is… words.

In regards to website traffic, always be aware that the words on your site are sifted through increasingly sophisticated software programs. These programs send out an army of virtual site reviewers, known as "spiders". Words are the food those spider bots love to gobble. It is impossible to over estimate the importance of relevant textual content in getting highly ranked. Without words, you cannot achieve rankings.

So how do you develop your own word-based site content? The most important thing to remember is that the words must be relevant to your site. It's not so hard really, just a mental exercise. A little creativity can yield a lot of good words.

Strategy 1: Creating Your Own Content

Exercise a: Write an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page.

This one is easy. Review the questions you get from your site visitors over and over. What are the same things they are asking you about in 90% of the emails you receive? Do yourself, your customers, and your site a favor. Make a list, and answer each question. And use this opportunity to provide descriptive responses peppered with your key phrases. Let's say you often receive emails asking how long it takes for your special ordered doorknockers to ship. One question in your FAQ might read:

Q: How long does it take for your custom doorknockers to ship?

A: Our personalized, engraved doorknockers ship within 3 weeks of order.

Make the page look good… neat, orderly, and professional. Go ahead and add a few of your product photos in a column along the text.

Exercise b: Getting into the psyche of your site's visitors

Take a little time to think about your customer's related needs. The best way to illustrate this strategy is with an example. Let's say you're an independent realtor. If your site visitors are looking for available houses and prices in your area, they might also want be interested in a layman's breakdown of the various neighborhoods, suburbs or towns in the area. How close are they to the highway and downtown? What are the local public schools like? On another page, you could discuss how to price your home for sale, as well as tips on selling a home quickly. Even a simple glossary of real estate terms provides not only relevant, useful information, but also food for those hungry, hungry spiders.

Strategy 2: Acquiring Your Content

Exercise a: Pillage your wholesalers

If you have a product-based site, your suppliers can be a terrific source of content. One e-tailer who sold hand woven rugs received permission reprint promotional material provided by the rug maker on the details of weaving and hooking the rugs. This content was beautiful written by a professional copywriter and was naturally loaded with pertinent keywords. Additionally, it was supplied in digital format so adding to the site was a snap. A few product photos were placed along side the content, and it didn't take long before the site was ranking highly for handmade rugs, hand woven rugs braided rugs, rag rugs, and hooked rugs.

Exercise b: Lazy SEO method for adding more words to your site

The reason this is a great "secret" is because everyone wins. And that's my favorite method of doing business. Bear in mind, authorities and experts in a given field are often seeking collateral exposure, which you can provide them. The exercise is to find an article published online that contains content related to your industry and ask for permission to "reprint" it on your site. The trick is to identify complimentary, not competing materials. And it's out there.

Let's go back to the realtor example. There are numerous associated trades that go hand in hand with selling homes (i.e. home appraisals, financing, etc.). So get on the web and do your homework. Find a really good article that has something useful to say about the associated subject. If you are a regionally based business, it would be even better if you can find something from the site of another local business. When you find it, send a gracious email requesting permission to reprint their article on your site. Mention how helpful and informative their article is and how valuable it will be to your site's visitors. Naturally you will give appropriate credit to the author as well as a link back to their site. This provides them with additional credibility and exposure, as well as a nice reciprocal link. So… what if they ignore your request, or even say no? Just keep looking. The beauty of this process is that the information is readily available. Trust me, it won't take long before someone says yes. And voila… you have content. Juicy, relevant, wordy content. And all you had to do was a little surfing and a little sweet-talking.

Creating or finding content for your site is not rocket science. Think about it. Every product or service solves a problem for the consumer. Identify that problem, and in theory, you're an expert on it. So, write about what you know, or find related content that someone else has already written. Just get those words on your site. By doing your homework, providing pertinent content, and supplying your customers with a wealth of resources, you are building not only business, but also relationships. And there's only one word for that -- success!

Source: seonews.net

Get 10,000 "unique" visitors a month!

2007-07-09T17:58:00.000+05:30

Get 10,000 unique visitors to your website - now

Are you using "social Media" sites correctly?

For the last 3 months I've gotten 10,000 plus "unique" visitors to my small site using "Social Media tips"

Can you "DIGG" it, can you - Digg it ????

One of my all time favorite movies is "Warriors", it's about a gang that is framed for the murder of an influential gang leader [ Cirus ] who only wanted to unite all the gangs of NY - sort of like organized crime today. It's a wonderful movie to watch.

But I bring it up only because I am curious if you are using "DIGG" and the other like kind social media's?If used correctly you can build your ranking, your website's traffic and even make money - Can you "DIGG" it.. can you digg it...

While people are talking about little things like : is myspace losing to Facebook? Or things like: Will Yahoo buy XYZ company? People like you and me are losing the opportunity to make good use of social media sites like "Myspace", "you tube", "face book", even "Blink"....I want you to think about it, a good catchy title and good content can get you hundreds if not thousands of visitors to your site - In one day.... I did a small experiment, just to test it out. I used "Digg" and linked a page from one of my sites [ can not divulge source ] and with a good catchy title had 3,560 visitors go to my site in one day.

You say so what, others do it all the time..... But for a new site that has yet to be index on any search engine. No ranking, no SEO, nothing - just - DIGG.......... ????

No this is not a replacement for good old fashion "SEO" or providing good content. But it can help a struggling beginner and a small website compete with the big boys.

Source : seoarticles4u.com

Top 3 Steps to Generate Traffic

2007-06-23T14:02:00.000+05:30

There are 3 steps that will basically Guarantee traffic to your website, blog, etc.
First: Pay-Per-Click ads A Pay-Per-Click ad is an advertising campaign that is set up with one or more of the major Search Engines.(Google, Yahoo, etc.) You set up your account and pick the keywords that you feel will be the most relevant to your needs. Next, you design the look and feel of your ads. You try to "word it" in such a manner as to evoke a need to find out what your site has to offer. The ads are usually 4 lines tall with each line not exceeding 35 characters. You will find them placed on the search pages of the search engines and on other people's web sites. With Google... it's with Google Adsense and look like:

Title Goes Here Come See What's Here You'll Find What You Need www.YourDomainHere.com

You can monitor how many clicks are generated by your ads and what ads work or don't work. You can also see which keywords are working for you.

Second: Submit Articles You can writing as many articles as you can think of and submit them to Article Directory sites. This is something that you can do on your own and do it for free. Some people hire others to write articles for them and pay someone else to submit the articles to the article directories. Now, if you are just starting out and don't have a huge budget to work with... I would suggest doing it yourself. You don't have to be an award winning writer and submitting articles is one of the easiest things you to do on the Internet. By submitting as many articles as you can, you start to improve your "search engine" rankings. As people use the keywords you chose in your P-P-C campaign, your articles will come up in the search results. Also, you can include a link to your website at the bottom of your article which creates what is called a "back link". The more "back links" that are pointind back to your website, the better chance you have to rank higher on the search engines.

Third: Forums and Press Releases There are so many forums on the Net right now. Forums for anything you can think of. All you have to do is "Join the Forum" and let everyone there know about your website and what you have to offer. You can also submit "press releases". There are a number of press release avenues that you can pursue. Just type "press release" into your favorite search engine and go from there.

In conclusion, these three steps will almost guarantee traffic to your website. It just depends on how diligent you are and how much work you put into it.

About the author
T.J. Brian writes articles on a number of topics including, traffic generation, achieving, self-belief, internet scams, business, internet marketing, success , mortgages, credit repair, and real estate. For more information on succeeding on the Internet visit http://www.AlphaWealthProducts.com

http://seoarticles4u.com

Google Spam Team Targets Real Estate Websites

2007-06-23T14:00:00.000+05:30

I have been debating the last half hour on whether I should even write this article/blog post. I have recently made a few comments over at Matt Cutts' blog about what Google has recently done and a few of my real estate peers thought it was a bit brave or stupid for being outspoken. I will take my chances and write about what is happening. Hopefully, someone can learn from this in the future. Will Google keep me in the penalty box longer? Hopefully not.
If you have any experience or background in SEO (search engine optimization) you know that Google likes website that have links pointing to it. A part of their search algorithm involves the popularity of the site determined by the number of other sites pointing to it via a link. With all else being equal Google will rank a website with quality links pointing to it higher than another website with no links. If you read Google's Webmaster Guidelines the very first bit of advice they give you is:

* have other relevant sites link to yours.

Google loves links and they admit it. Webmasters figured this out and came up with all kinds of different techniques for getting links to their sites - link baiting, reciprocal links, ninja links, 3 way links, one way links, contextual links etc. The problem is a lot of the techniques are frowned upon by Google. They want you to get links the natural way and not to try to cheat the system. Their guidelines say:

* Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.

* Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?

In one breath Google tells you to get links to your site and then in the other breath tells you not to participate in any link scheme designed to increase your site's ranking. How do you know what a link scheme is? What is acceptable? What is not acceptable? I guess you have to ask yourself "Does this help my users?" It definitely is not a black and white situation and has plenty for room for interpretation.

Google has a web spam team headed by Matt Cutts. Their job is to enforce these Google Webmaster Guidelines and crack down on link spam. When he talks people listen. He frequently speaks at search engine conferences around the world.

I could not find it anywhere (didn't really look long) but heard that Matt Cutts in the past has mentioned that he does not like the reciprocal linking that Realtors engage in. Supposedly, he had mentioned this several times over the last few years but has not done anything about it.

Real estate agents trade links with other agents around the country and world with the argument that we refer business to each other so therefore it is a legitimate link exchange and not done for the sole purpose of pumping up our rankings. This may be true in some instances but for the most part it is bologna. I would venture to say that 95% of the agents who trade links do so to achieve higher rankings in the results. That was the only reason I did it. What was the likelihood that a visitor to my Sarasota, Florida website was there to find an agent in Albuquerque, New Mexico? The only reason I ever traded a link with an agent outside Florida was to get to number 1 in Google.

In the beginning, when I knew absolutely nothing, I was told to trade links with anyone and everyone. I did that for awhile. Then someone told me to only trade with people in the real estate industry. So, I changed it up and did that. The link exchanging worked. I wasn't number 1 but was on the first page for a couple key phrases.

Fast forward a little bit, I changed to a more search engine friendly website, traded links sporadically, added plenty of original content, included and updated a blog frequently. My overall goal was to become an authority site and build a valuable, useful website to people looking for anything real estate related in Sarasota, Florida. I simply wanted to make a website better than my competitors. Eventually, I became number 1 for the most sought after key phrases in my market and was on the first page for hundreds of phrases. I got there by having a better website than most. That is a great thing about the Google search engine. It generally does the best job of providing relevant results.

It dawned on me that reciprocal linking with hundreds of agents around the country was pretty useless to my visitors so I stopped doing it about a year or so ago. I did a couple contextual link exchanges with other agents in Florida. I figured that would be useful to someone looking for real estate in Florida but was not sure in what part of the state to look.

I had stopped paying attention to what was going on in the SEO world for awhile as I get paid to service buyers and sellers of real estate, not updating my website. I continued to post in my blog but that was the extent of it. So, I was out of the loop for 6 months or so.

A shot across the bow

Advanced Access is an enormous real estate website provider with around 30,000 Realtor websites. I am not up to speed on the details but apparently many or all of the Advanced Access users were penalized by Yahoo. Many of the AA users would trade links with each other and it was possibly viewed by Yahoo as one big incestuous link farm.

Advanced Access hired Greg Boser, a search engine guru, to solve their problems with Yahoo. His recommendation to AA users was to erase all state pages containing excessive reciprocal links. He viewed them as useless spam. Not all of the AA users took his advice. Many of the customers resisted because of the hundreds of man hours they put into accumulating all of the links. Others were probably ranking well and did not want to rock the boat.

In April of 2007 many high ranking Advanced Access websites were suddenly missing from the Google search results. Was it an algorithm change? Probably not since the AA website were the only ones affected. Ultimately, the consensus was that the AA websites were manually given a penalty by Google. Of course, no one was 100% sure because you can't call Google on the phone or email them to get a definitive answer. Why would Google focus on only one website provider? Why the largest provider of real estate websites? Were they penalized for excessive reciprocal links? Probably. Evidently, Matt Cutts previously made warnings about it. Did the well connected internet guru, Greg Boser, have anything to do with the penalty? I don't know. Some people believe that. He supposedly knows Matt Cutts.

In the Advanced Access forums one participant noticed that some AA websites were penalized while others were not. Almost all of the sites had state pages and excessive reciprocal links. Why were some chosen and other spared? How did Google determine which websites to hit and why? The forum participant noticed that just about everyone who voiced their opinions, beliefs and thoughts in the forums were hit with the penalties while the site owners who were not active went penalty free. Did Google hand pick the loudest website owners?

In May, just over 30 days later, most of the AA sites had their penalties dropped and were found again in Google.

Real Estate Webmasters is another large and very visible real estate website provider. Many of their customer sites rank exceptionally well in Google. They also host a very active forum for webmasters. If someone (or Google) wanted to send a message through the real estate community this is a great place to do it. I found it interesting that Greg Boser, the well connected internet guru, became very active in the Real Estate Webmasters forum on April 27th. Just a few weeks prior to many of their websites getting hit with a penalty.

On May 9th, a number of high ranking Real Estate Webmaster websites were suddenly missing from the Google search results. Sites from all over country had been hit with a Google penalty. I own one of those sites and was probably penalized for state pages and reciprocal linking. The damn thing is that I deleted all of my state pages and links on the 4th of May. Google most likely pinpointed me as a violator before the 4th and it took until the 9th to employ the penalty.

It is interesting that Google would hit customers of another large and potentially loud real estate website provider with an active forum. Is Google trying to send a message to the real estate community about excessive reciprocal links? Maybe. Probably. Greg Boser became active in the forums a couple of weeks prior to the penalty. Did he have something to do with it? I don't know. Possibly.

Here we are 44 days later and almost all of the Real Estate Webmasters sites are still penalized. We all have deleted our state pages, reciprocal links, removed the URL's through the Google webmaster tools and have asked forgiveness via a re-inclusion request.

Is Google waiting for us to spread the word throughout the Realtor community about the no-no's of reciprocal linking? I don't know. Is it fair that a small group of us were targeted while others continue to fill their websites with spammy reciprocal links? No, but life is not fair.

Rand Fishkind at www.seomoz.org recently interviewed Matt Cutts. You can watch the interview here http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-smx-diaries-iv-the-matt-cutts-interview. Watch the 2nd video and fast forward it to around the 5:30 mark. Matt acknowledges the Real Estate Webmaster thread discussing the recent penalties. He also mentions "a shot across the bow" technique of policing.

Isn't everyone employed by Google a genius? Couldn't they have come up with a better system to policing the real estate industry other than hurting a few mom and pop Realtors?

Lessons Learned:

* Don't try to game the Google search engine. They will eventually figure you out.

* Don't trade links with hundreds of Realtors around the country. Build links only for the benefit of your users, not your search engine rankings.

* Build a site with tons of unique content, provide lots of value to visitors and eventually links will come with time. I have received several one way links from the Sarasota Herald Tribune (my local newspaper) from articles they wrote about my website and blog. I imagine this is the way Google likes to see links built.

* Google isn't perfect.

* If you rely on Google search results to feed you and your family you better have some money stashed away in the event you get penalized. Fortunately, I did this.

* If you do make money off the web keep at least one eye on what is happening in the search engine world to stay competitive.

* I rank fairly well in MSN and really don't get that much traffic from it.

* Ranking very well in Google will bring tons of traffic to your website.

* Being penalized by Google sucks.

Marc Rasmussen www.TheSarasotaMLS.com

About the author
Realtor in Sarasota, Florida

http://seoarticles4u.com

SEO: The Answer to your Online Marketing Problem

2007-06-23T13:58:00.000+05:30

When I was a child, people around me has many source of informations. For instance, they use the television, radio and newspaper for consumer information, which are called infomercials nowadays, and news for current events. Magazines and journals are for articles that illuminate people on a specific or several topics. I also remember my mom, when my sister is already entering her high school years, buying encyclopedias for reference purposes.

Now, there is a one-stop shop for all informations needed by anyone. Internet is the information hi way of the new age. There is a site for almost each and every need for information. Most consumers prefer this because almost all their concerns are met through the internet.

With this, online marketing is a phenomena. Promoting online of products of the smallest size and amount up to the biggest deals and services, is always a hit.

But it is not that easy promoting marketing online. Because most people use search engine before they enter a web site, it is necessary to have a high ranking on search engines. People frequently view only the first two pages of the search result. Given this fact, companies and even sole proprietors still often neglect this aspect or part of their business because they do not like to lose their focus on their business core objectives.

Search Engine Optimization plays a big role on this part. It helps the entities keep a high ranking in major search engines or help improve their rankings on some matter. It works significantly on boosting their client's web visibility on search engines. In this way more consumers will enter your site, therefore, giving more chances of increasing sales.

Some entities waste the thousands or hundred thousands of dollars they invested on web site design after which they will discover that their site is not visible to major search engines. Because of this, some companies reinvest in redesigning their web site and some just accept the awful limited result they are achieving with their site.

For the premium and most coherent results in online marketing campaign, have the best search engine optimization services. Use your website as your strategic weapon against your competitors and this will accordingly increase your return of investment.

About the author
RESOURCE: Methyl Vizcarra writes articles and press releases for WickedInnovations - a web site design company that offers affordable web site design and maintenance services, search engine optimization and other advance multimedia services for low prices

http://seoarticles4u.com

5 Search Engine Optimization Myths

2007-06-23T13:52:00.000+05:30

Have ever heard about myths or rumors in your life ? Well, we hear it everyday, don't we ? It's purely understood that myths are not true, but then people still keep believing in it.
In this article, Ngadutrafik 2007 would love to share with you some of the SEO myths. Hope you find it useful.

Here are the myths :

1 - Optimizing META TAGS will boost my website ranking

This is true if and ONLY if your website has good and quality contents to visitors, and have a frequent and fresh updated. Some people asked me why they don't rank well in search engine even if they have optimized the meta tags and front page ?

Well, I figured out that the websites has only 2 content (1 considered as index.html and other is About Us page, and never got updated), so that's the main reason.Currently, due to some bad implementation in altering META TAGS (especially the keyword tags, known also as Keyword Stuffing, read Day 9 - Black Hat Techniques : Something You Should Know, but You Shouln't Do), Google has ignored the meta tags in their search algorithm, while Yahoo and others still use it but in a very little percentage of the search placement.

So bear in my mind that optimizing META TAGS will only work if you also have some quality contents in your website.

2 - Multiple domain names will multiply my rankings in Google

Multiple domain names with exactly the same contents (duplicate contents), will probably get your website penalized by search engine in rankings. Some webmasters go smarter : creating 15 or more websites exactly in the same niche, provide 1-2 contents for each website, and doing aggressive linking among those 15 websites to the targeted website.

Is it gonna work ?

It COULD be. But remember, 15 websites means 15 work and 15 more allocated time you should spend to those websites. If you just wanna give a shot to a website in specific niche, then build one with appropriate keywords, off page and on page optimization, and you save a lot of time. This is gonna work well and much better.

3 - SEO experts aren't cheap ?

Compare to other advertising media campaign, SEO experts that offer they services is still considered affordable. The benefit for you is : your website will get exposed in 24x7 basis, around the world, anytime, anywhere.

A well-optimized website nowadays will get more benefits in terms of business practice rather than any other advertising media (e.g. TV ads, radio, or paper).

4 - Submit website again and again will make my site better.

O rilly ? Now if you do this action, I bet you will get penalized by Google and others, ASAP. Do it just ONCE, and after your website get listed in the search engine, don't ever think about submitting again. Not only your website would get penalized, but the rankings will go lower and lower.

Ever seen supplemental result in Google? I bet you don't want that happened to your websites. Especially, if youre promoting an SEO websites like NgaduTrafik 2007 :)

5 - Search Engine is bad. TV is better

If you're an old school guy, this may be correct. Why put US$2,000 paying that Search Engine Optimization guy, we can use that for a low budget TV ads instead ?

The answer : How many spot you could have for US$2,000 TV ads ? Say 10 spot that cost 200 each. 10 spot of your TV ads can't guarantee anything related to your business. Yes, I am talking now, in the Internet era.

While search engine, placement with good position will get your website visited by millions people around the world in 24x7 basis. As more and more internet users join every day, this will be a huge benefit.

What kind of TV ads that are able you to have 24x7 spot ads everyday ?

OK, so you know the myths now. As it's very popular myths and false facts related to search engine optimization, please read it carefully and take some notes of action.

Believe it or Not ?

Read Full HTML story at : http://ngadutrafik2007.pakarseo.com/ngadutrafik-2007-articles/day-13-5-search-engine-optimization-myths-believe-it-or.html

Related source : http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2005/09/29/the-top-seo-myths-all-of-it-hearsay http://www.rankforsales.com/seo-myths.html

About the author Graduated from Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS, Surabaya), majoring Informatics, I have been in deep with SEO and Internet Marketing in the last two years. Originally from a system development background, the first time I was so focus learning SEO tricks is when I was asked to 'put' certain search results regarding Newmont issues on tailing in 2004 in Google first page, and I did it succesfully.

http://seoarticles4u.com/

11 Tips for Pay-Per-Click Success

2007-06-15T18:55:00.000+05:30

This list details some very important points to keep in mind when creating or managing any pay-per-click campaign. Is this all there is to know about pay-per-click advertising? Absolutely not, but for those new to PPC it should serve as good place to start. Additionally, pay-per-click veterans or at least the moderately-seasoned will want to touch upon these points now and then to brush up on their fundamentals.

1) Do your keyword homework.

Use Google's free Keyword Tool or sign up for a WordTracker account to find out which keywords are the most competitive. The more competitive the keyword, the more expensive your clicks will be. While you're finding out which keywords are too expensive you'll come across some that aren't being targeted heavily by advertisers. Take a good look at these - they may be your keys to a successful niche campaign.

2) Don't bunch your ad groups.

You should be striving to separate your ad groups by keyword. Whatever your target, separate your keyword lists into closely related groups containing the same target words and write ads geared specifically to those words. Your ads will show up higher in results based on their quality, and search terms show up bold in results - a click-through rate booster.

3) Drive home your selling point.

What's your offer? Why are you better than the others? Remember that your ads are going to display with your competitors. The difference between a user clicking your ad and clicking a competitor ad is about 100 pixels on the screen - or a millisecond of time. You need to convince them that you are the one they want. You are better. Grab them.

4) Don't send users to your home page.

This is perhaps one of the worst things you can do to your Pay-Per-Click campaign. Internet users are notoriously impatient. Send them to your home page when they were searching for a specific product or service and see how fast they leave. Don't waste your advertising budget - send them to optimized landing pages.

5) Optimize your landing pages.

Your landing pages need to drive something home immediately for your users: "you have landed in the right place." They need to know that, yes, this is what they were looking for, here it is, here is why it is better than the rest and here's the easy thing they need to do to get it. In most cases you'll need to create multiple landing pages based on your different ad groups and keywords, but look at it this way - if your users aren't landing at pages geared exactly to their search phrases they'll leave and take your advertising budget with them.

6) Don't lie in your ads.

People aren't dumb. If you promise something in your ads you had better well deliver. Otherwise you'll not only waste advertising dollars but damage your brand. Be honest, and focus on points that make you stand out from the competition. Grandiose ad text might bring in clicks, but if it isn't the truth it won't bring in conversions.

7) Your domain name counts.

In most cases you can display a domain name that you own as the "display domain" but point the ads to a page on a different domain. Why does this matter? If you own a domain name that contains the keyword text it will show up bold and increase conversions. Enter the optimized domain as the displayed domain, point the ads to your landing pages and you can expect higher CTRs in most cases.

8) Utilize negative keywords.

Google has a new Negative Keyword Tool that will allow you to find negative keywords that you should specify for your ads. Negative keywords are those that you don't want your ads to display for. For example, if you're selling "blue widgets" you don't want to display your ads to those users searching for "free blue widgets." If you don't use negative keywords you are missing out on a chance to get more targeted traffic to your landing pages, and this can really hurt your conversion rates.

9) Test, test, and test some more.

The greatest thing about internet advertising is the ability it grants you to measure your success. It's easy to create A/B split tests with Pay-Per-Click advertising. Change one word, add a comma, include a value proposition. . .just make sure you only change one thing for each split or you won't know which variable it was that made the difference! You'll find out right away that this is a great way to optimize your click-through rates - just don't forget that clicks aren't everything!

10) Don't focus too heavily on CTRs.

Getting tons of clicks isn't always the name of the game. In fact, if you aren't using proper techniques to ensure that you're getting targeted traffic and sending it to well-optimized landing pages you can blow through your advertising budget in no time flat. Remember that the success of any advertisement is getting back more than you put in. It's an investment, not a cost - so do all that you can to better your rate of return!

11) Don't pigeonhole yourself.

We all know that Google AdWords is the most popular Pay-Per-Click service out there. Your competitors know it, your users know it - even your grandma might know it. It would be foolish to ignore Google as a venue for advertising, but don't forget that there are other search engines out there who offer similar services. Yahoo!'s new Panama search system is catching on, and Microsoft's adCenter is nothing to sneeze at either. Both companies are currently offering sweet promotional deals to new Pay-Per-Click advertisers to stay competitive so take advantage and diversify!
________________________

About the Author: Mike Tekula handles SEO, SEM, usability and standards-compliance for NewSunGraphics, a Long Island, New York firm offering Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, W3C-Compliant web design using full CSS layouts and all things web design/development.

Microsoft Adds Copyrighted Works to Search Engine

2007-06-04T12:35:00.000+05:30

Microsoft Adds Copyrighted Works to Search Engine
By Sari N. Kent
Staff Writer: ToTheCenter.com

Microsoft has expanded its book search engine by including copyrighted works for the first time, beginning Thursday evening.According to InfoWorld’s web site, “Microsoft has obtained permission for all the copyrighted books included in the Live Search Books service, said Danielle Tiedt, general manager of the Live Search selection team."...... For More Click Here : http://tothecenter.com

Source : tothecenter.com

A search engine for open-source code

2007-06-04T12:34:00.000+05:30

Robert Mullins, IDG News Service

Krugle aspires to be the Google of software code search, even referring to itself as a verb. And recently, Krugle has started to become the go-to search site for open-source developers, partnering with key websites, including SourceForge.net, the leading repository for open-source software projects, to embed Krugle search. Krugle also announced a similar partnership with CollabNet, a community of 1 million developers.... For More Click Here : www.linuxworld.com.au

Source : www.linuxworld.com.au

Google keeps tweaking its search engine

2007-06-04T12:31:00.000+05:30

By Saul Hansell

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--These days, Google seems to be doing everything, everywhere.
It takes pictures of your house from outer space, copies rare Sanskrit books in India, charms its way onto Madison Avenue, picks fights with Hollywood and tries to undercut Microsoft's software dominance.

But at its core, Google remains a search engine. And its search pages, blue hyperlinks set against a bland, white background, have made it the most visited, most profitable and arguably the most powerful company on the Internet. Google is the homework helper, navigator and yellow pages for half a billion users, able to find the most improbable needles in the world's largest haystack of information in just the blink of an eye.... For More Click Here : news.com.com

Source : news.com.com

Tracking the Success of Your Website - Google Analytics

2007-06-03T19:47:00.000+05:30

How successful is your website? Do you really know how well it is performing for your business?

Many website owners make the mistake of thinking that the more traffic they get to their website the better, and they work towards this end. It is better to focus efforts on bringing in targeted traffic that will convert to sales or enquiries. To understand more correctly how well a website is performing, and who is visiting the website, a good website statistics package is required, as well as an understanding of the data these website reports produce.

With many website hosting packages free, website statistics are available. However, the information is not always easy to understand or doesn't always give you the information in a way that is easy to understand.

Google Analytics:
Google Analytics is a great application that Google provides absolutely free. It tracks all activity on your website, not just visits through Google. All you need is a Google Account, and FTP access to your website to insert a small amount of code in your website, and away you go. If you don't already have a Google account, I encourage you to set one up as soon as possible! You can do so at: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount . Not only will you have access to Google Analytics, but having a Google account gives you a whole host of other tools.

Visitors:
As a start, it is a good idea to find out how many visitors are coming to your website. Visitors are broken down into new and returning visitors. While it is great to attract new visitors to your site, you should aim to see a decent percentage of returning visitors as well, as this gives a good indication that people find your site interesting enough to come back to.

Depth of Visit:
How many pages are viewed during a visit to your website?

Length of Visit:
How much time do visitors spend on your website? If they are spending very little time on your site when you have an information-rich site, then you need to start looking at the navigational report to find out where you are losing them.

Keywords:
The Keywords that people are finding your website through, are a good indication of what keywords are performing well for you in the search engines. Are the keywords that are displaying for you truly reflective of what you offer? If not, then it is time to revamp the content on your website.

Referrals:
Which referrals drive the highest quality traffic? This report lists activity coming via referrals from other websites. This is useful for tracking links that you cannot control. You can gauge the overall effectiveness and importance of PR activities, partnerships, etc. The referrals are compared to the number of visits, page views per visit, conversion rates and average value per visit.

Navigation:
Which navigation paths resulted in conversions during the visit? For each navigation path, this report shows conversion rates and the value per visit.

Exit Pages:
From which pages do visitors commonly exit your site? This report shows the number of exits from pages on your site. If you notice a high number of exits for specific pages, it is time to seriously analyze these pages and try to improve them, because it is very likely that people are not getting the information they expect or want.

Conversion data:
Arguably this is one of the most important pieces of information. Conversion data gives you a true understanding of how successful your site really is.

Conversional goals can be set up through your Analytics settings. Take time to think about what goals you want to track. These may be sales or web enquiries you are receiving, or specific pages in your website that you want to focus on. Keep in mind that if your visitor contacts you by phone or fax, this will not be reflected in the goal conversions. However, you can set your contact page as being a goal to get a feel for how many people are looking for your contact details.

By monitoring the changes in conversion rates for your primary goals, you can monitor the overall effectiveness of website changes, marketing roll-outs and other events.

Source: seo-news.com

Search Engine People Launches $1,000 SEO/SEM Lyric Contest - searchenginepeople.com

2007-05-28T12:53:00.001+05:30

Search Engine People, a Canadian search engine marketing industry leader, today announced the launch of a $1,000 (US) SEO/SEM Lyric Contest.

Search Engine People (http://www.searchenginepeople.com), a Canadian search engine marketing industry leader, today announced the launch of a $1,000 (US) SEO/SEM Lyric Contest.

"Think of it as a cross between the Google Dance and American Idol, where blessedly, for the most part, no one actually has to sing," states Jeff Quipp, president and CEO of Search Engine People. "Put simply, we invite all creative types, talentless hacks, singers of shower diddies, Google, YAHOO, MSN or any paid ad copywriters to put quill to parchment, pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard to come up with the best darn lyric they can. And it would help if it rhymed. Even just a little bit."

"We have judges," states Quipp. "One's as pretty as Paula Abdul. One's as authoritative as Randy Jackson (II). And one's just as… well, one looks just like Simon Cowell. We don't know their names as we've left the judging, much like they do on American Idol up to the wisdom of the crowd. So the most popular will win."

"We have rules. They are official. And they are posted on the contest web site at http://www.searchenginepeople.com/contest/seo-related-lyric-contest/," Quipp adds.

"Most importantly, we have a prize," Quipp states. "$1,000 U.S. $1,000 for a set of SEO or SEM related lyrics set to your favorite song. And it doesn't have to be strictly SEO or SEM related, we'll settle for analytics, though rhyming Omniture would be a challenge even for the minds at Google. Web Side Story, well that's another tune altogether."

"So, if your search initiatives have you singing the blues, it's time to put pen to paper, you could win $1,000, links to your web site, free publicity and who knows, you might even come up with an algorithm worthy of your own dance and to the beat of your own drummer."

About Search Engine People
Search Engine People (http://www.searchenginepeople.com), Canada's search solution company began operations as QIMS in 2001 and has evolved into a full service Search Engine Optimization and Marketing firm. With demonstrated expertise in both competitive natural Search Engine Optimization or organic search results and Search Engine Marketing or pay per click, the company's mission is to provide search marketing solutions that increased traffic and prospect quality. Search Engine People offers a full range of services and solutions including SEO/SEM; Social Media Strategies; Content Development; Conversion Strategies; Reputation Management; and Analytics & Reporting. The organization was among the first in Canada to become a Google Adwords Qualified Company.

Jeff Quipp
President & CEO
SearchEnginePeople.com
1-877-486-7875
info @ searchenginepeople.com

Source : emediawire.com

Search Engine Optimization Vital for Successful Dental Web Marketing - Sinai Marketing, Inc

2007-05-28T12:50:00.000+05:30

Research shows that search engine users rarely scan beyond the first page of a major-search-engine for the information they seek. This quirk of human nature makes high page placement even more vital for commercial sites.

Once upon a time, a dental practice could just throw together a website, toss it up on the Internet and wait for clients to flock to their site.

With the exponential growth of Internet sites, however, this outdated strategy ensures Google™, Yahoo!® and MSN® search engines will relegate such websites to their bargain-basement pages.

It wasn’t long before a new specialty emerged: Search Engine Optimization. This complex process employs a variety of tactics to ensure the site appears on the first pages of the major search engines. When combined with dental website design and development, SEO is a sure-fire method of improving the volume and quality of traffic for a website.

A 2006 study by Jupiter Research corroborated what had already become common knowledge: “62 percent of search engine users click on a search result within the first page of results, and a full 90 percent of users click on a result within the first three pages of search results.”

The study also found 88 percent of surfers unable to find the desired information in the first three pages are more likely to change their search engine terms than to look through additional results pages.

Is it any wonder page ranking became a vital aspect of Internet dental marketing?
Burying “keywords” into a websites code and content is the primary key to optimization. Keywords are the words or phrases surfers use to find the information they seek.
Sinai Marketing CEO Ali Husayni offered an example of how this dental website marketing process can move a site to those highly desirable first pages.

“The cosmetic dentists at Smile South Florida came to us because they weren’t getting the desired traffic to their site,” said Husayni. “When we first began working in January with Dr. (Charles) Nottingham and his team, they appeared just twice on the first pages of Google and nine times on Yahoo!® for their 212 primary keywords. They were practically non-existent on MSN®.”

By implementing a variety of SEO techniques, including link building (creating inbound links to a website) and regularly updating site content, the Fort Collins, Colo.-based Sinai Marketing blew Smile South Florida’s competitors out of the water.

“By April, they were appearing on the first pages of Google for 208 of their 212 keywords,” said Husayni. “They were amazed to see such fast results.”

The numbers for Yahoo and MSN were equally impressive. For the same 212 keywords, Yahoo posted 176 and MSN posted 514 first-page appearances. (MSN indexes for duplicate appearances.)

First page placement proved just the ticket to attract pre-qualified, potential patients, saving Smile South Florida an enormous amount of time, energy and money.
“In my 30 years of dentistry, I have never seen so many new patient consultations,” said Dr. Nottingham.

SEO expert John Reese perhaps put it best: “The key to dominating any market online (now or in the future) is simple. It comes down to who has the highest average visitor value and who has the most traffic.”

©2007 Sinai Marketing, Inc. Authorization to post is granted, with the stipulation that Sinai Marketing is credited as sole source. Linking to other sites from this press release is strictly prohibited, with the exception of herein imbedded links.

Agency / Source: Sinai Marketing

Source : newswiretoday.com

SEO Copywriting Expert Reveals Secrets to First Page Results

2007-05-15T14:07:00.000+05:30

SEO Copywriting expert and owner of SEO Content Solutions Christine OKelly reveals a little-known secret that has helped her clients instantly achieve first page search engine visibility.

Christine OKelly, SEO Copywriting Expert and owner of SEO Content Solutions reveals a secret that she says has been bringing first page search engine results to her clients for more than two years. According to OKelly, this little-known secret lies in the distribution of search engine optimized press releases.

“Our press releases consistently land our client’s names on the first page of Google and Yahoo news for their target keywords. It’s a formula that I’ve been developing for more than two years and it works every time,” says OKelly.

Not only do her press releases result in first page visibility on news engines, OKelly says that her SEO press releases often bump competitors out of the top ten slots on Google’s main search page as well. “I’ve had press releases that have held as many as five of the ten organic slots on the Google homepage. This is not typical, but it does happen.”

After more than 2 years of strategically analyzing various press release distribution points, OKelly says that she has developed a formula for gaining visibility, traffic, and generating important backlinks.

“There are so many more benefits to press releases than just first page visibility. Unlike articles, press releases offer a platform upon which a company can blatantly tout their benefits to really peak reader’s interest and encourage them to click through and buy. Not only that, but the backlinks generated through distribution help the main site climb in the search engine rankings.”

Although press releases do offer companies a chance to boast about their successes, O’Kelly warns against the tendency to leave the reader’s interest out of the equation. “For a press release to truly be successful, it’s critical that it be focused around providing useful information for human readers. Distributing press releases that don’t offer a real value to your target audience is a waste money and effort.”

As the tagline of the SEO Content Solutions website indicates, O’Kelly is passionate about “optimizing for search engines and humans” with every piece of content the team produces.

SEO Content Solutions works directly with businesses and also as a value-added partner with SEO companies who are looking for ways to increase their client’s visibility. The company’s press release service includes consultation to determine effective PR topics, an exclusive interview with a company representative, writing and optimizing of the release, and distributing the release through a variety of strategic distribution points.

“Where and how a press release is distributed makes all the difference. A company can spend hundreds of dollars distributing a press release and get no SEO value whatsoever. During my research, I asked a salesperson at one of the largest traditional PR firms if they offered anchor text. His reply was ‘What’s anchor text?’”

Anchor text is a hyperlinked target keyword that leads to the target website and obtaining this type of link is an important part of an SEO strategy. “Some of the distribution points I use include anchor text, some offer thumbnail images the make the listing stand out in the results page, and all offer live links on reputable sites that are regularly indexed by search engines. Together, the distribution system I’ve use offers maximum online exposure.” explains OKelly.

To encourage businesses and SEO companies to experience how optimized press releases can aid in their search engine optimization plan, SEO Content has offering a $20 discount to all new press release clients.

About SEO Content Solutions:

SEO Content Solutions is a leading provider of SEO copywriting and content for several of today’s top SEO firms. The company is passionate about producing quality content that is optimized for both search engines and humans.

Press Contact:
Christine OKelly
PO Box 561
Westmorland, CA 92281
760-344-7334

Source : losangeles.dbusinessnews.com

Upcoming Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Seminar in Cleveland, Ohio

2007-05-01T13:34:00.000+05:30

Join us for an SEO seminar in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, May 24, 2007, and learn how SEO can boost your bottom line. Network with other business owners too.

Date Released: 05/01/2007
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION SEMINAR
Learn the techniques to get HIGH rankings on the most popular search engines, including Google, MSN and Yahoo.

Two seats have been reserved FOR YOU at this No-Nonsense SEO Training Seminar in Cleveland, Ohio!

How do potential customers find your Web site currently? Simply having a Web site doesn't mean anything anymore with over 1 million sites out there.

So I repeat, how do potential customers find YOUR site?

FACT # 1: People use the top 3 search engines (Google, MSN and Yahoo!) over 94% of the time when searching for a product, service or information online.

FACT # 2: Companies - your very competitors - that appear higher in search engine rankings for keywords have a significantly higher chance of selling to YOUR customers.

People do not have time to keep searching online. They will go with the first Web sites they find that meets their needs.

Your site can be among the first ones your customers find by using Search Engine Optimization (SEO)!

Learn how you can MULTIPLY the amount of traffic TO YOUR Web site by attending our Executive Search Engine Optimization Training Conference near you.

Two seats have been reserved for you at this affordable seminar. You only pay 1 small registration fee, and your colleague may attend free of charge.

Receive HUGE DISCOUNTS AND SAVINGS off SEO programs and other online marketing programs ONLY by attending this SEMINAR.

To attend, you must RSVP no later than May 18th by emailing us at tiffini(at)searchcircus.com or by calling 440-372-5658 today.

You will learn techniques you can take back and implement immediately. Plus, you will take away a valuable resource book and CD filled with additional SEO and marketing tips and tricks.

What you will get from this Internet marketing Training Seminar: • The top SEO techniques used by leading SEO firms • An understanding of the difference between organic SEO (the most effective), pay-per-click (PPC), and other methods • Proven do's and don'ts that lead to success • Training from a professional SEO trainer

What you will NOT get from this SEO Training Seminar: • A 3-hour sales pitch or infomercial • Useless information • Illegal or unethical techniques

Plus, each attendee will receive free gifts, like a CD full of additional SEO and marketing tips. We will also raffle off prizes.

To attend, you must RSVP no later than May 18th by emailing us at tiffini(at)searchcircus.com or by calling 440-372-5658 today.

You may attend one of these sessions. Thursday, May 24, 2007 AM Seminar: 9- 12 am PM Seminar: 1 - 4 pm

*Location details will be provided upon registration

We look forward to seeing you there and helping your company's Web site achieve dramatically better results than ever before! Don't delay; this seminar is expected to fill up quickly!

About Search Circus
At Search Circus, Inc., an ethical SEO firm, we specialize in making you and your company put its best forward. Our firm delivers services for all of your online advertising needs and aims for your company to effectively stand apart from your competition. We are a full-service firm that utilizes the strategy of a business consultant, the creativity of an ad agency and the technical wizardry of an information technology company. We offer organic search engine optimization, corporate blogging, link popularity building, Website copywriting, article

Submitted by Search Circus

Source : fastpitchnetworking.com

A Spam Free Blog Search Engine Prepares for Full Launch

2007-04-18T14:03:00.000+05:30

As the Internet continues to grow, users no longer face the problem of having access to nearly any type of information they could need. Now they must deal with the problem of finding the relevant information among the millions of sites, blogs, and multimedia files available online. Using a traditional search engine provides access to only a limited number of web sites, today's users require a more versatile tool. Strategicboard.com is a tool which may meet that need.

As the Internet continues to grow, users no longer face the problem of having access to nearly any type of information they could need. Now they must deal with the problem of finding the relevant information among the millions of sites, blogs, and multimedia files available online. Using a traditional search engine provides access to only a limited number of web sites, today's users require a more versatile tool. Strategicboard.com is a tool which may meet that need.

Strategicboard.com is a search engine specifically designed for the blogosphere. The engine is as easy to use as any traditional search engine and provides detailed results for search term. From the main page, users can explore top posts and blogs or explore discussions of hot topics with a single mouse click. Additionally, Strategicboard.com's search results are available as RSS or OPML feed and one-click bookmarking so they save their favorite blogs right from the results.

Strategicboard's seeks to provide the highest quality blogs and feeds for its users. One of the company's motto's is "real blogs by real people for real people." To achieve that goal, Strategicboard has in place editorial techniques and automated processes that exclude spammers from the search engine. Strategicboard also invites users to report suspicious blogs using the "Spam Free" report tool.

Of course, Strategicboard.com does not only benefit web users. Bloggers can add their blogs to Strategicboard.com's growing index for free. Doing so will give them access to an expanding group of users who would have little chance of finding them through traditional search engines.

Strategicboard.com is owned and operated by aggreg ltd., a web holding company operating a half dozen other sites, including King Ping which provide additional services for bloggers. In January 2006, Strategicboard was launched in a beta version and has been successfully tested for more than a year and is now being fully launched. The search engine not only provides blog results, but also images, videos, and podcasts within posts. With more than 300,000 quality feeds being tracked constantly and more than 2 million page views a month, Stategicboard.com is fulfilling a need for both Internet users and the blogging community.

Source : www.prweb.com

Leading SEO Training School Expands Into New Mexico and Arizona Search Engine Academy

2007-04-18T14:00:00.000+05:30

Leading SEO industry educators Robin Nobles and John Alexander expand their SEO skill-building training schools to include New Mexico and Arizona State as they welcome new associate SEO educator, Emily Leach to their Search Engine Academy network.

SEO industry educators Robin Nobles and John Alexander recently announced more new localized Search Engine Academy classes are soon to be available in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Arizona in the ever expanding North American network of http://www.searchengineacademy.com training schools.

John Alexander, Director of the Search Engine Academy officially welcomed Emily Leach of http://www.WhiteHatWorkshops.com this month stating, "Robin Nobles and I are delighted to have Emily joining our network of licensed educators. Emily is an advanced SEO graduate who brings a strong SEO technical background to the Search Engine Academy. We anticipate hearing some wonderful SEO student success stories out of New Mexico and Arizona in the near future."

Alexander asked Emily if she would mind sharing a few her views on SEO and give people a brief overview on her SEO training plans for New Mexico and Arizona.

The interview followed with a question and answer period on SEO certification:

Q: "Emily, can you please describe what is unique or special about your workshops?

A: Absolutely! There is more than one aspect that makes this seminar unique. First is the fact that they are truly hands-on! The student brings their project to the class, instead of providing a canned project that works perfectly and then leaves the student having to translate what they learned when they get back to their office. Secondly, I do not teach anything that has not been tested and proven by the Search Engine Academy. And Third, the seminar is followed up with 6 months of mentoring.

Q: How would you identify the value of structured, SEO training in a personalized, hands-on workshop?

A: Personalized, hands-on SEO training is invaluable …this workshop takes the participant right into the actual tasks of SEO on the same project they will be working on after class. The opportunity for questions is far greater because of the students' interaction with the process, those types of questions usually don't come up until after the lecture and then they never get answered. But here, every question does get answered."

Q: Do you have any advice for those who would be interested in starting a successful SEO business?

A: I do! This is a field screaming for attention, and a person with the skill set, ethics and ability to communicate with clients can make a very good living and feel great when they go to sleep at night knowing they are helping companies grow.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about the importance of SEO certification?

A: SEO has received a bad reputation over the years with submissions services, and all the changes in meta-tags. Certification creates a bar that the public can relate to and allow them to disseminate which optimizers know the latest information and which ones may be using strategies from 3 or 4 years ago. Until now anyone could say they are a search engine optimizer without any training, I am very happy to be offering a solution for companies to know they are getting what is being advertised if the SEO they are hiring is certified.

Q: Emily, how long have you been practicing search engine optimization or SEO?

A: Almost 6 years; I found the power of Search Engine Optimization in the fall of 2001.

Q: Do you offer any "industry specific" SEO courses for business owners that are in a highly competitive industry (for example like real estate?)

A: I am working with Search Engine Academy on defining specific industries that would benefit from a more directed training as well as working with the Department of Labor to offer certification classes through their program. There is a large need in the Real Estate industry to not just understand their options when it comes to Search Engine Optimization but also to teach them how to handle the process themselves.

Q: Tell us about the name of "White Hat" Workshops?

A: I chose the name WhiteHat Workshops because I feel it represents the tactics I agree to always adhere to, in my SEO Consulting and training; there is no need to attempt to 'trick' the search engines - there are far more benficial methods that have been proven to work over and over again.

Q: Well spoken! In one final question, do you have any last minute SEO tips or advice for us?

A: I provide a free Introduction to SEO workshop on the second Friday of every month, this is a great place to have your questions answered and get your toes wet. To expand your knowledge in SEO you can sign up online at http://www.whitehatworkshops.com for a free SEO Tip of the Day. I will send you a fresh SEO tip each and every day to keep you informed of updates, free tools and ideas you may not think of on your own.

Source : www.prweb.com

SEO of blog feeds powerful, easy: SES panel

2007-04-14T12:54:00.000+05:30

By Daniel McMahon

As more companies add blogs to their marketing mix to get greater traction in the search engines and more traffic to their Web sites, it seems only natural that the search engine optimization pros would soon focus more closely on optimizing these blogs.

While not a new technology, RSS feeds have increasingly become subject to extensive optimization, according to panelists in a session titled “SEO Through Blogs and Feeds” here at the Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo at the Hilton New York.

Many companies have adopted blogs to generate excitement about a product or service or to add clout or authority to their reputation or brands. Whether companies are looking start a new blog or to enhance an existing blog, optimizing them does not have to be an expensive or difficult endeavor.

“How easy is it?” asked Stephan Spencer, founder and president of interactive agency Netconcepts LLC, Madison, WI . “It’s pretty darn easy. My 15-year-old daughter, within two weeks, got her blog in the No. 10 position [on Google] and now she’s No. 3.”

There are many things bloggers can do to boost their prominence, the most important of which has to do with the way RSS feeds are customized.

To do that effectively, Mr. Spencer explained the importance on focusing on title tags and specifically mentioning the blog name at the end of the title and not at the beginning.

He said it also helps to put the tag name in the title on a tag page and to customize it with additional keywords for display on a home page. Overriding title tags with custom tags, also known as a title tag plugins, is also beneficial.

“There are things you can do to control how the search engines do or don’t access your feeds,” said Rick Klau, vice president of publisher services at FeedBurner, who spoke about the benefits of optimizing blog feeds.

“Redirects [from feeds] are increasingly important because search engines are paying more and more attention to feeds specifically,” Mr. Klau said. “Anecdotally, we’re hearing from a lot of publishers who are saying that their content is being discovered more quickly because of RSS feeds.”

Another important technical consideration has to do with URLs, according to Mr. Spencer, who told bloggers to rewrite URLs so they contain keywords, to use hyphens, not underscores, and maintain “legacy URLs” even after switching blog platforms to add traction to blogs in the search engines.

Beyond these optimization techniques, blogs can be enhanced with anchor text optimization. For instance, making the post’s title a link to a permalink page and looking for opportunities to request revisions to anchor texts on inbound links create greater prominence for a blog.

Mr. Spencer also suggested internally linking back to old, relevant posts within the body of a blog post and to avoid using the nondescript terms “here” or “previously” as the anchor text.

Additionally, heading tags were subject to optimization. Adding specific category names on category pages for post titles — not for dates — would improve a blog’s performance as well.

Source : www.dmnews.com

Google dominates the US search engine market with 64% market share

2007-04-14T12:52:00.000+05:30

Google dominates the US search engine market with 64% market share

Internet giant Google continues to dominate in the search engine market in the United States. The latest reports would disappoint Microsoft massively considering the launch of Vista has not shown any improvement in the market share of their Live search engine.

Internet metrics firm Hitwise claims that Google powered just around 64% of U.S. searches. This is up from 58% in March 2006.

In comparison Yahoo, Microsoft, and Ask.com had a disappointing market share of 22%, 9%, and 3% in the US market. Incidentally, all of these players have lost the market share compared to the results from last year.

Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise added in the report: “Google’s growth shows no signs of slowing. Despite capturing the majority of searches in the U.S., and in light of competitor’s improvements, Google’s market share of executed searches continues to grow, exceeding 10 percent growth year-over-year.”

The report further claimed that Google is growing faster as a source of revenue for sites in categories like shopping and classifieds.

Source : news.techwhack.com

Bookmark strategies for search engine optimization

2007-04-14T12:47:00.000+05:30

Social bookmarking is getting to be an important part of search engine optimization strategies. Sites like del.icio.us impact search ranking. Read on to find out why and how you can benefit.

With broadband Internet access, the proliferation of laptop computers and mobile telephones turning into real computers, ubiquitous computing is a reality. And people surfing the web from any number of devices are going to need online bookmarks that are stored, not in your home PCs bookmark menu, but online.

Why bookmarking for search engine optimization?

Todd Malicoat aka Stuntdubl was one of three panelists to explain about social bookmarking and search engine optimization at Search Engine Strategies in New Yourk 2007.

His main focus was on del.icio.us, a Yahoo! property and the most popular social bookmarking site out there. He made clear that it’s all about links: If your site makes it to the Popular page, your link will be syndicated to a lot of services like PopURLs and OriginalSignal.

Even if you don’t hit the Popular page, there are still good reasons to pursue links from del.icio.us. Del.icio.us users are early adopters – smart, savvy people. And the links are real bookmarks which will get you repeat traffic.

Here are Malicoat’s tips for a del.icio.us campaign:

Remember a good title – it will be the anchor text
Coordinate the launch – 30-50 bookmarks within 24 hours is what it takes to make the Popular page
Place an “Add” button after the article
Concider adding a del.icio.us badge
Use Feedburner to add a del.icio.us button to your RSS feed

See also: Stuntdubl’s recommended del.icio.us tools.

Where and how to bookmark

Lee Odden of TopRankResults recommended these services for bookmarking as a part of a link building strategy:

Del.icio.us: High traffic opportunity, quite high syndication opportunity.

Furl: Medium traffic opportunity, low syndication opportunity. Will cash the pages.

Ma.gnolia: Meduim traffic opportunity, low syndication, robust API, group oriented.

Google Bookmarks: Medium to low traffic, medium syndication, affects Google’s personalized search results.

To find out which service to choose for your campaign, become a user and get a feel for the community. Match tool to the audience.

There are different ways to display “add bookmark” links. If your audience will recognize the icons, go with them. Otherwise, use text or a combination of text and icons.

There are also plug-ins available that will display a drop down or fold out menu of bookmark services.

Share This is a WordPress plug-in that adds a customizable pop-up menu of bookmark services to your blog posts.

Add This lets you add a simple, customizable button to help your visitors save and promote your website or blog to the social bookmarking services.

More tips for link building with bookmark services:

It’s hard: Do your research to know what works. And use it for your very best articles, not all of them.

Use social bookmarking to get traffic to news stories, tools etc, but not to the home page.

Don’t create a voting block on Stumbleupon. If you have 30 people who are voted for you time and time again, you will be penalized

More of Pandia’s Search Engine Strategies coverage.

Source : www.pandia.com

New Search Engine Adds Fresh Idea To Existing Format

2007-04-14T12:42:00.000+05:30

A hot new web personality is showing up on a new search engine. Her name is Ms. Dewey and she's the star of a new search engine launched by Microsoft.

The site is being promoted through viral marketing, word of mouth, forwarded e-mails, and media stories rather than outright advertising. Ms. Dewey, in reality actress Janina Gavankar, has over 600 video interactions that took three days to shoot.

She gets impatient when you take too long entering your search info and sometimes offers her own response to your searches like this one: "What is the meaning of life?"

She's so hot that sites are cropping up online about her.

And on YouTube, she's so popular that followers are swapping their favorite Ms. Dewey moments.

The search engine isn't as functional as the industry leaders, but many people go there just to see Ms. Dewey.

Source : www.wcsh6.com

AOL launches program to target Google search ads on AOL sites

2007-04-11T18:40:00.000+05:30

By ANICK JESDANUN

NEW YORK (AP) _ Companies will be able to use Google's advertising system to purchase ads targeted to only AOL sites such as MapQuest, Moviefone and the AOL.com portal under a program AOL launched Monday.

Google Inc., which paid Time Warner Inc. $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in AOL LLC, powers AOL's search engine and provides the keyword ads that run alongside search results, targeted to a user's search terms.

Now AOL's new Search Marketplace will give marketers the ability to customize search ads to the AOL audience. Those ads could run alone or be part of broader campaigns with video and display ads throughout AOL sites.

The program stems from AOL's December 2005 agreement with Google, in which the search leader expanded its partnership with AOL and agreed to invest in the company.

It's the first time Google is offering the ability to target search ads on specific sites, and advertisers will be able to buy ads directly from AOL rather than through Google. Google would not say whether it would offer similar targeting for other companies upon request.

Mike Kelly, president of the AOL unit in charge of advertising sales, said many advertisers had been requesting the ability to target AOL users. AOL and other portals tend to get more repeat visitors than the typical Web site because they offer e-mail and others services people continually check.

Google has ''got an incredible list of publishers in their network, but they've got a lot of them,'' Kelly said. ''Whenever you focus on one targeted group or another, you're going to get better results.''

Until now, Google has made the same set of ads available to all third-party search sites that participate in Google's AdSense program. Marketers already have been able to specify the sites on which they don't want their ads to appear; the new program adds the ability to select the specific sites where ads would appear, in this case AOL's.

(A separate program, in which keyword ads are targeted to a site's content rather than a user's search terms, does allow advertisers to both select or reject specific sites.)

AOL is one of Google's largest ad partners, accounting for 7 percent of the search company's revenues last year.

AOL, which is increasingly relying on advertising revenues to make up for declines in its Internet access business, said it has been testing the service with about 30 advertisers over the past five months.

AOL's search service is roughly even with IAC/InteractiveCorp's Ask.com in usage in the United States, but far behind Google, Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, according to comScore Media Metrix. Google has nearly half of the search market.

AOL also trails Google, Yahoo and Microsoft in monthly visitors, with 109 million U.S. users landing on an AOL site at least once in February, compared with more than 114 million each for Google and Microsoft and 129 million for Yahoo.

Source : www.freenewmexican.com

Yahoo Launches Alpha, Do It Yourself Metasearch Engine

2007-04-07T14:05:00.000+05:30

Yahoo has quietly launched on Thursday a new search engine, called “Alpha”. Still in its Beta phase and currently hosted on its Yahoo Australian domain, the Metasearch engine allows users to customize their search engine results pulled from multiple websites via RSS, like Flickr Photos, Wikipedia, and YouTube. You can take it for a test drive by clicking here.

Alpha also displays all the web searched results onto one page using Ajax. For readers who are not familiar with the Ajax-Web 2.0 hype, click here to read all about it.

Under the hood

With its simple interface featuring only two tabs, the “change my layout” tab includes a feature that allows users the ability to rearrange search results box locations, using a simple drag-and-drop user interface.

The second tab “add custom info source”, includes three text boxes that allows users to enter the name of the website, RSS feed URL, and a query feature to filter the website searched source for specific keywords. This is a useful feature for anyone who is only interested, for example, in Bungee Jumping from a particular website that supports RSS.

Also on the second tab, it displays two privacy options, which asks users to choose whether they want their customized search engine to be shared with others, with two options public or private. Users can also choose how their web results should be displayed, choosing from web listing or image only display. Although unimpressed with its lack of new concepts and foresight, Yahoo still deserves a bronze medal for its effort.

However it’s slow in reacting to Google’s recently launched similar website, oh yes, you guessed it, another custom search engine called “Co-op”, which allows users to also customize their search results using the same method as Yahoo’s Alpha. Another social custom search engine that’s also worth mentioning, a website called Rollyo, also uses a very similar method.

Somehow Yahoo’s past successful ideas usually prevailed in competing with Google through acquisitions and not through innovations. With that said, the internet search engine giant is clearly aiming and trying very hard to capitalize on the latest craze of social networks, and custom search engines.

“Whilst aggregating feeds on one page is nothing new, we wanted to take a federated search concept one step further. With this beta, we have introduced personalisation elements that not only allow users to customise their view, but also to add their favourite search service”, said Brett Poole, Alpha Lead Developer and Member of Yahoo7 Search Team, Yahoo Australia.

Alpha uses search results presentation method, called OpenSearch format, a method that allows search engines to aggregate RSS and Atom, Metadata feeds into search results from any website that supports RSS as a minimum requirement for results to be pulled and filtered.

Trackback-URL

Source : caribjournal.com

Kes Phelps Launches Back Link Building Service

2007-04-07T14:03:00.000+05:30

Kes Phelps, 33, from Norwich UK, adds Back Link Building to the range of SEO services provided by his consultancy - Kes Phelps SEO & SEM Services. The service is designed for businesses seeking to outsource all, or part of their off-page optimisation strategy.

In the words of Kes Phelps - "I always included link building as part of any search engine optimisation strategy, but have found recently that many clients just need help with this aspect of SEO."

Specifically the service includes content syndication, directory submissions, community participation, link partner procurement, asking for links, competitor link analysis and creation of link-worthy content.

As an increasing number of online businesses realise the importance and power of effective link building, Kes Phelps found he was being asked more and more about this kind of service. "The problem most online businesses face is that whilst link building is essential to build and maintain traffic and rankings, it's also one of the most time consuming and laborious disciplines in SEO."

It was this demand that prompted Kes Phelps to offer link building as a stand alone service to his clients in addition to his existing services. The service focuses on using ethical strategies and the latest link building techniques to increase traffic, search engine rankings and the return on his clients' investment. Clients can either hire Kes Phelps to handle their entire link building strategy, or use the service as a resource to compliment their existing campaign.

Additional services include SEO strategy management, code optimisation, content optimisation, analytics and reporting and consultancy.

Source : prweb.com

Search Mania: Search Engine Strategies (SES) to Offer Search Engine Marketing Training Workshops Throughout 2007 Conference Series

2007-04-07T13:59:00.001+05:30

Incisive Media, parent company of the Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference and expo series (http://www.searchenginestratgies.com/), today announced that it has expanded the content and focus of each SES event by offering an additional day dedicated to intensive training on search engine marketing and search engine optimization. Next up is SES New York, which runs April 10-13, 2007, at the Hilton New York, where six half–day classes will be conducted on Monday, April 9.

Incisive’s decision to expand search training and offer sessions with most every event comes after overwhelming response to the first ever search training classes at the San Jose and Chicago 2006 conferences. Created to provide attendees with guided, hands-on exposure that puts theory into practice in a highly interactive environment, the training sessions became an immediate hit with attendees, gaining Incisive a completely new source of revenue. Attendees — ranging from consultants, site designers, website owners, executive management and in-house marketing professionals ─ often realize that they cannot afford to miss the chance to work with experts in the field and experience firsthand the latest developments in search engine strategy.
During the New York training, search experts including Shari Thurow, Matt Bailey, Jennifer Laycock, Debra Mastaler, Amanda Watlington, Greg Jarboe, Nan Dawkins and Rob Key will demystify such topics as link building tactics, viral marketing and the use of analytics to increase search effectiveness, among others.

“We’ve truly tapped into a pent-up demand with our search training classes at SES events,” said Matt McGowan, VP Marketing with Incisive Media. “Marketers want to do more than get their feet wet. They want to — and in fact need to with the growing importance of search — get into the trenches with one-on-one advice and hands-on demonstration.”

The training classes can be taken in addition to the SES NY conference or independently. Visit http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/sew/ny07/training.html to view the training class schedule. Full–day registration cost: $1,345. Half–day registration cost: $745. Seats are limited in order to provide personal training. To register or with questions, email the SES Registration Department at registration@incisivemedia.com, or call (203) 295-0050.

To learn more and to sign up for email alerts or RSS feed for Search Engine Strategies New York and other upcoming conferences in the series, visit http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/.

Source : businesswire.com

Boost Your SEM IQ: Advanced Search Engine Marketing Webinar Series and White Paper

2007-04-04T16:53:00.000+05:30

Corvent LLC teams with Anvil Media, Inc. to host a free webinar series on Advanced PPC, SEO and Online Reputation Management Tactics.
Corvent, LLC, a premier provider of web conferencing services and event registration and reporting tools, today announced a series of marketing interest events entitled "Boost Your SEM IQ: Advanced Search Engine Marketing." Conducted jointly with Anvil Media, Inc., these three free webinars will feature the latest in SEO and PPC techniques, introduce the fundamentals of SMO and ORM, and give real-world insight via insightful customer case studies.

Learn More and Register at:
Boost Your SEM IQ: Advanced Search Engine Marketing

Kent Lewis, SEM expert and Anvil Media President, will present and take questions at each of these interactive 'mini-classes,' including:

Increase Online Awareness and Supercharge Sales with Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
April 18, 1PM Eastern / 10AM Pacific
Think you know SEO? Attend this web seminar to learn what keyword research tools work, find out about competitive benchmarking, local search and SEO PR, and hear specific challenges companies face in gaining search engine visibility.

Lower CPCs, Raise CTRs and Boost ROI with Advanced Pay-per-Click (PPC) Techniques
May 16, 1PM Eastern / 10AM Pacific
Learn to enhance the performance of your Google™, MSN or Yahoo PPC campaigns with tips on geographic and demographic targeting, custom ad text, multivariate testing and more.

Empower Your Marketing Efforts with Social Media Optimization & Online Reputation Management
June 13, 1PM Eastern / 10AM Pacific
Hear foundational SMO and ORM strategies, find out about tools and techniques for monitoring your online presence, and learn key tactics from actual case studies for effectively engaging in online communities.

As a thank you, all registrants will receive a complimentary copy of Anvil Media's "The Marketer's Guide to Optimizing Your Web Content for Search Engines," which offers tips for everything from the coding, to the writing, to the design of company websites.

"Corvent is happy to welcome back Kent Lewis for this very valuable collection of events. Kent's presentations have always been extremely engaging, well received and filled with exactly the type of relevant and timely information that online marketers need to stay ahead of the competition," said Robb Cason, Corvent CEO.

These events will be held on the Microsoft Live Meeting web conferencing platform and will include a Q&A session and interactive polling questions. On-demand recordings will be available to those who are unable to attend the live events. For more information call 503.594.1979.

About Corvent, LLC
Corvent delivers customized solutions to companies seeking to communicate more efficiently and more effectively through web conferencing technologies. Corvent specializes in producing top notch seminars on multiple web conferencing platforms while providing comprehensive event registration and reporting tools that supply aggregate attendee data and presentation-worthy reports. For more information on Corvent, LLC, please visit http://www.corventllc.com/ or call 877.217.5656.

About Anvil MediaHeadquartered in Portland, Oregon, Anvil Media, Inc. is a search engine marketing (SEM) company specializing in search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) management and online reputation management (ORM) services. Anvil helps clients, ranging from startups to Fortune 500s, generate a return-on-investment (ROI) on their online marketing programs by generating qualified leads or sales. Current clients include Attensa, Buena Vista Custom Homes, CreditReport.com, InFocus, Oregon State University, PC World Magazine, Pearson, Planar Systems and ReliableRemodeler.com

Source : emediawire.com

Should You Outsource Link Development in SEO?

2007-04-04T16:52:00.000+05:30

If you have ever outsourced your link development then you probably have an answer to this question, and the good answer is probably NO. Additionally, you might know as well that this particular area is ripe with link abuse from those who either don't know what they are doing or wish to scam you only for your money. Make no mistake, the links you get are hardly the concern. So the talk these days is all about quality. What constitutes quality in a link and how can you ultimately measure it and be so good that you could tell a link development firm what you need?

This can be a difficult road for the regular website owner. There are a million questions that you might need to ask. In my experience I have rarely seen the value returned from outsourcing a link building campaign to be the same or more than the money I paid for it. There are a lot of metrics involved and ways to determine success but I am specifically talking about the low hanging fruit. One of the most successful link building campaigns I have seen recently was not done by an SEO, link builder, link baiter, or anyone of the sort but a single PR person who just knew who to talk to. So again the talk today is... who do I talk to and how can I get better quality links? Its like buying jewelry right, give me the best for the least amount of money!!

So what should you be concerned about when your outsource a link building campaing?
There is an excellent thread on Webmasterworld discussing this very topic. The thread starter starts about explaining his experience of hiring an Indian link building firm and his dismay at what resulted and the resulting things he did afterward.

He says about defining quality:

I defined very clearly my parameters in order to avoid directory spamming. Things like "no pages named links", "no pages with more than 25 links", "on topic sites only", "no reciprocal links will be given", "no bad neighbourhoods", "PR4 or higher sites only", etc. etc. My hope was to find someone who would go out there and truly "sell" the virtues of our site to real sites in order to have them link to us.

Some great comments from Martinibuster who said on the topic of quality:

First off, the above are poor metrics for quality. All of your above metrics have zero, absolutely nothing to do with quality. So your project was doomed from the beginning.

I feel like he just blew up my battleship after reading that, but he is 100% correct. Those metrics are extremely dated and ineffective at measuring the success or quality of a campaign. They mean nothing. He goes on to say "The requirement for PR 4 is a totally random metric, also with zero relevance to what constitutes a quality link. You mean to say that you won't accept a PR 3link from a .gov resource page called links that lists quality sites in your industry? Do you see how your metrics have nothing to do with metrics of quality?"

Some other people chime in an voice some opinions on outsourcing link development. I will summarize:

On the topic of Indian link building firms:

I would only recommend something like this to a competitor who had pissed me off at some point. In fact, I have a competitor who used an outfit from India. They wreaked havoc with the reputation of his site.

On the topic of PR:

One of the biggest mistake outsourcers make while defining Quality website is put up a minimum qualifying PR for linking to other website.

Continued discussion on WebmasterWorld

Source : seroundtable.com

Ranking The SEO Ranking Factors

2007-04-04T16:47:00.000+05:30

Back in 2005, SEOmoz tried to assemble a list of all the possible search engine ranking factors out there and get various experts to rate them. I say tried to because while they had a list, and ratings, no one knows all the factors or exactly how each individual search engine chooses to use them. But I admired the determination. SEOmoz is back at it, with version two of the list now out. Some background about it here; the list is here, and some further observations by me are below.

There's a lot to digest here. A lot. That's why it's particularly useful to make use of the "Top 10 Positive Factors" section at the top of the report. In fact, I wish the report had been organized this way, with an alternative list showing everything and buried away from those new to SEO. Give them the most important basics; don't blind them with too much!

The most important factors based on expert voting are:

Keyword Use in Title Tag

Global Link Popularity of Site

Anchor Text of Inbound Links

Age of Site

Topical Relevance of Inbound Links To Site

Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots

Keyword Use in Body Text

Global Link Popularity of Linking Site

Notice number one -- that you have HTML title tags that reflect the key terms you want your page to be found for. That's been the advice since I first starting writing about SEO back in 1996. Eleven years later -- and even in the age of it's all about links -- it remains the top ranked tip by so many experts.

Now let's flip the list around into how hard it is to control these factors:

Easy

Keyword Use in Title Tag: Totally in your control. We continue to have sites that get ranking boost just for making this change. Remember that Jason Calacanis challenge where SEO already has gotten him a traffic increase of 21 percent? That's almost all down to title tag changes.

Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure: This is easy in that you can link to your own pages in however you'd like. So do think carefully about how you link. Point to your own articles and describe them using the terms you want them found for. That can contribute.

Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots: If you can't be indexed, you can't rank. Keep your server online. But don't freak. Being down on the odd occasion is unlikely to wipe you out.

Keyword Use in Body Text: This is basic. Want a page to be found for certain words? It continues to be good advice that you actually use those words on the page. Not 100 times in a row. Not for any particular "density." Just use them as it makes sense to use them.

Medium

Age of Site: Brand new site? Nothing you can do but get older, really, to control this. Some like to buy domains, but search engines can also detect transferred domains and count age from when the transfer happened. Google is the most noted for this. One thing you can do is register your domain for a long time, say five or ten years. That at least suggests you want to hold on to it more than the average person, so it might help.

Hard

Global Link Popularity of Site: You can't do much here easily beyond building up good quality links. Get good links, and you should be helping your site mature. Links take work, but they're worth it. See our link building and linkbait sections for some articles and advice on this.

Anchor Text of Inbound Links: Hard in that you can't control exactly how people link. But doing things like thinking about how you name your pages or articles (or site), or how you pitch a link request, can have an influence. Remember that Google will now tell you the most popular anchor text used to point at you. Google Now Reporting Anchor Text Phrases explains this in more detail.

Topical Relevance of Inbound Links To Site: Are the sites linking to you related to what you are about? Hard to control, other than to make sure you are requesting links from sites that cover similar topics to you. That's just good marketing, of course -- but time consuming.

Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community: Pretty similar to the above.

Global Link Popularity of Linking Site: Is the site linking to you important? Then it can transmit that importance to you more than other sites might. This has been a known factor for years. It's not about number of links. It's about the quality (importance) and context (link text or anchor text) of those links.

In the report, note that there are comments for each of the factors from many of the experts that rated them (I was one of the 34 involved). These are great to read. But you won't see all the comments unless you use the "Show the rest of the comments" links for each factor. So do it!

Source : searchengineland.com

Highest Paid Pay Per Click Search Engine

2007-04-04T16:46:00.000+05:30

Neevie.com was launched december of last year and provides its visitors with a real-time search engine that produces the most up to date relevant search results. Neevie.com is inviting businesses, affiliates, advertisers and companies to submit their free directory listing in the Neevie.com database.

With the recent launch of Neevie.com, companies, businesses, affiliates and individuals can still target the traffic they want on their site with minimum bids. List your site in the neevie directory at no charge and you can begin your advertising campaign right away.

Set up your account on Neevie.com today and get your site the traffic you desire and need. Now is the time to drive potential customers and clients to your site with minimum bids on keywords and phrases that you select. Don’t pay $2.00 per click on major sites when you can have the same keyword on Neevie.com for pennies.You will have full access to adsense,search boxes,banners,toolbar and many other marketing tools.We have full support in case you run into any problem installing or monitoring your account.

For a limited time to get your ad campaign started, Neevie.com will match every dollar you deposit into your advertising account. By establishing an account today you can be sure of doubling your deposit amount thru the Neevie.com match your dollars program.

Carlos Cortez
Neevie.com
Phone:407-699-1277
info@neevie.comThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
http://www.neevie.com

S.E.O. Friendly Directory Accepting Submissions

2007-04-04T16:45:00.000+05:30

Ahmedabad 04/04/07 - We promise to keep the distribution of Webworld-directory data, and the submission process to this data, entirely free. We will support our data users who choose to add proprietary and revenue generating content, and other non-free value-added functionality upon versions of the Webworld-directory in which they download. In turn, data users agree to attribute use back to us per the free use license.

We Provide an Open Invitation to Join

We invited you to join our service . Our categories attempt to express the depth and breadth of human knowledge. We accept editors from all walks of life, and we attempt to represent all points of view. We will keep our application process open to anyone interested in joining. An absolutely free general inclusion web directory that is and search engine friendly. Get very good traffic to your website with improved rankings in all major search engines using Webworld-directory Link Exchange Service. Get valuable and quality traffic + link partners to your website and DAILY MORE with Webworld-directory link exchange! Almost all major search engines rank your web pages based on the number and the quality of links that point to your web site (Webworld-directory). Genuine & Quickest way to receive quality backlinks is to convience high quality website by offering them something helpful and free in exchange of credit link to your website.

WEBWORLD-DIRECTORY

A directory is the ultimate place to go if a business is seeking linking partners. Inclusion in the web directories can be both free and payment-based. Now-a-days, most business webmasters are well aware of widely used web directories as Yahoo! Directory and DMOZ (The Open Directory Project). Although the latter is a free option, the Yahoo! Directory offers paid inclusion for commercial websites. In addition, one may also consider other directories which are unequivocally worth checking out. In this article, both the merits and demerits of paid/free web directory inclusion will be discussed briefly. Please read on.

There is no final answer for any every business and website. The ultimate answer is what is truly ideal for an individual and his business. If one is not sure about picking a paid of free directory inclusion, then it is suggested that he assess his needs before anything else. He has to consider whether his business requires immediate exposure. If the waiting duration on the free directories proves to be too long, then one definitely needs to consider paid inclusion. Moreover, it should be considered that paid directory inclusion also saves one from the time consuming hassle of editing a directory category. A really good commercial directory service is usually featured by prestigious organizations and thus, it can offer credibility to one’s site in exchange of a good amount of money. On the contrary, one should go for free directory inclusion if his budget cannot handle the financial requirements of paid inclusion, especially the unknown totals of pay per click.

The directory reflects changes in Web promotion, advertising and marketing taking place today. Blog publishing is here to stay and has brought with it new directories, social networks and new types of search engines. Tagging and social book marking are the words associated with the Web promotion of today.

Our listings are sorted categorically to make it easier for people to find what they are looking for. If you cannot find an appropriate category for your listing, please e-mail us and suggest a new one. We will do our best to add any categories you suggest.

Source : pressrelease365.com

Is More Text on a Single Page Better For SEO?

2007-03-27T12:58:00.000+05:30

Is More Text on a Single Page Better For SEO?

Kalena's Answer :

1) I seriously hope your entire site contains more than 500 words of text. For pages to do well in the search engines, they usually require around 250-300 words of text each, as a minimum. In my experience, a web site with less than five text-heavy pages does not perform well in search engines.

2) I'm assuming you are looking at the green bar PageRank in the Google Toolbar? Let's just get one thing straight here. That little green bar is NOT a true indication of your site's Google PageRank. That figure is known only to Google. It's not even a close approximation these days, because it is only updated when the Toolbar software is updated and by then your site's true PageRank score has changed dramatically anyway. So it's always out of date. You shouldn't be looking at that green bar at all.

3) Generally, a page with more text on it will perform better than a short page with very little text. This is because a page with more text provides more information to search engines about your site. It also generally contains more keywords and keyword phrases so it can be compared to search queries and found to be a more relevant match to a wider range of search queries. But the PageRank of a page is not dependent on the amount of text on that page, it is dependent on a wide number of on-page and off-page factors, only some of which are within your control.

4) In my opinion, you should concentrate on fleshing out the pages of your site dramatically. The site is not performing well in search engines because there is so little content available to visitors and bots. The site is also not very search engine compatible in terms of navigation and tag optimization. You should implement text links to make it easier for search robots to find and index all your pages and you should have an SEO expert review your Title Tags, META Tags and visible copy.

Source : webpronews.com

Deep Linking Is Your Key To SEO Success

2007-03-20T22:13:00.000+05:30

Times are changing, the question is are you changing too? SEO has always been something which has divided people's opinion but one thing is clear, time never stands still, what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. Many people who are classed as experts give their opinion as to what is the best course of action to take and then wham everybody gives it a try. The result is quite clearly there for all to see, the idea was a good one but soon becomes over used and in a short while is worthless. The search engines get wind of what is going on, they change their ranking criteria and that seo technique has now died. The problem is that many webmasters continue to use the idea unaware that the times have changed. Come on guys changes are going on as we speak, take note and go with the flow.

Source : businessportal24.com

The Duplicate Content Penalty Myth

2007-03-16T12:40:00.000+05:30

One thing that has plagued the SEO industry for years has been a lack of consistency when it comes to SEO terms and definitions. One of the most prevalent misnomers being bandied about is the phrase "duplicate content penalty." I'm here to tell you that there is no such thing as a search engine penalty for duplicate content. At least not the way many people believe there is.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that the search engines like and appreciate duplicate content -- they don't. But they don't specifically penalize websites that happen to have some duplicate content.

Duplicate content has been and always will be a natural part of the Web. It's nothing to be afraid of. If your site has some dupe content for whatever reason, you don't have to lose sleep every night worrying about the wrath of the Google gods. They're not going to shoot lightning bolts at your site from the sky, nor are they going to banish your entire website from ever showing up when someone searches for what you offer. The duplicate content probably won't show up in searches, but that's not the same thing as a penalty.

Let me explain.

The search engines want to index and show to their users (the searchers) as much unique content as algorithmically possible. That's their job, and they do it quite well considering what they have to work with: spammers using invisible or irrelevant content, technically challenged websites that crawlers can't easily find, copycat scraper sites that exist only to obtain AdSense clicks, and a whole host of other such nonsense.

There's no doubt that duplicate content is a problem for search engines. If a searcher is looking for a particular type of product or service and is presented with pages and pages of results that provide the same basic information, then the engine has failed to do its job properly. In order to supply its users with a variety of information on their search query, search engines have created duplicate content "filters" (not penalties) that attempt to weed out the information they already know about. Certainly, if your page is one of those that is filtered, it may very well feel like a penalty to you, but it's not -- it's a filter.

Search engine penalties are reserved for pages and sites that are purposely attempting to trick the search engines in one form or another. Penalties can be meted out algorithmically when obvious deceptions exist on a page, or they can be personally handed out by a search engineer who discovers an infraction through spam reports and other means. To many people's surprise, penalties rarely happen to the average website. Most that receive a penalty know exactly what they did to deserve it.

Honestly, the search engines are not out to get you. Matt Cutts isn't plotting new ways to take food off your table. If you have a page on your site that sells red widgets and another very similar page selling blue widgets, you aren't going to find your site banished off the face of Google because of this. The worst thing that will happen is that only the red widget page may show up in the search results instead of both pages showing up.

On the other hand, if you've created a Mad Libs spam site -- i.e., one that uses a pre-written template where specific keyword phrases are substituted out for other ones -- the pages in question might get filtered out completely. Not so much because of their dupe content (although that's part of it), but because it's search engine spam (low-quality pages with little value to people, created solely for search engine rankings).

The bottom line is that the engines are actively seeking out lousy content and removing it from their main results. If this sounds like your site, don't be surprised to wake up one day and find you've lost some or all of your rankings. It's time to bite the bullet and use them as PPC landing pages instead. There's definitely some irony in the fact that those types of pages are welcome in Google if you're willing to pay for each clickthrough you receive, but those are obvious moneymaker pages, and Google has a right to demand their cut.

Regionalized pages are another duplicate-content "spam" model that has been losing ground with the engines lately. Those consist of hundreds of pages/sites selling the same basic thing, but they are targeted to every city in the US. Unfortunately, there's no easy answer to how to create high-quality pages that do the same thing.

Suffice it to say that just about any content that is easily created without much human intervention (i.e., automated) is not a great candidate for organic SEO purposes.

Another duplicate-content issue that many are concerned about is the republishing of online articles. Reprinting someone's article on your site is not going to cause a penalty. At best, your page with the article will show up in a search related to it; at worst, it won't. No big deal either way.

If your own bylined articles are getting published elsewhere, that's a good thing. There's no need for you to provide a different version to other sites or to not allow them to be republished at all. The more sites that host your article, the more chances you will have to build your credibility as well as to gain links back to your site through a short bio at the end of the article. If the site your article is hosted on shows up instead of yours, so be it. There's nothing wrong with that, as your site can be easily clicked to from your bio; the pros far outweigh the cons. In many cases, Google still shows numerous instances of articles in searches, but even if they eventually show only one version, that's still okay.

When it comes to duplicate content, the search engines are not penalizing you or thinking that you're a spammer; they're simply trying to show some variety in their search results pages.

Jill Whalen is owner of High Rankings, a search engine optimization firm founded in 1995. She speaks and writes regularly on SEO issues and also maintains the High Ranking Forums, where the community over of 10,000 members discusses SEO topics. The 100% Organic column appears Thursdays at Search Engine Land.

Source : http://searchengineland.com

New Search Engines and Directories by ISEDB.com

2007-03-15T14:41:00.000+05:30

New Search Engines and Directories

Linkspub

Web directory which lists sites by category. Allows webmasters and siteowners to submit their own site.

Accept Submission: Yes

Submission Cost: Free

Web Directories/General Directories/Free Directories

Gr8SitePoint.com

Humanly edited search engine friendly web directory.

Accept Submission: Yes

Submission Cost: Free

Web Directories/General Directories/Free Directories

A1look.com

Humanly edited search engine friendly web directory.

Accept Submission: Yes

Submission Cost: Free

Web Directories/General Directories/Free Directories

AllGr8Sites.com

Humanly edited search engine friendly web directory.

Accept Submission: Yes

Submission Cost: $3

Web Directories/General Directories/Paid Directories

Coupons Savings

Provides online coupons, coupon codes, discounts, and rebates at a variety of online merchants selling computers, DVDs, jewelry, electronics, apparel, and more.

Accept Submission: No

Submission Cost: N/A

Internet Search Engines/Specialty Search Engines/Shopping Search Engines

Beautyfinder Beauty Directory

Beauty directory offering listings for beauty salons and beauty related businesses, as well as beauty resources, news training and much more.

Accept Submission: Yes

Submission Cost: One of fee of £20 or Free with recipricol link

Web Directories/Specialty Directories/Health and Fitness

Blogs By Country

A free web directory of quality personal blogs organized by country.

Accept Submission: Yes

Submission Cost: Free

Web Directories/Specialty Directories/Internet and Computers/Weblogs Directories

ReleMed

ReleMed is a new search engine from the University of Virginia School of Medicine that searches PubMed for medical literature by assigning relevance to results in addition to just looking for keywords.

Accept Submission: N/A

Submission Cost: N/A

Internet Search Engines/Specialty Search Engines/Medical Search Engines

For More: http://www.isedb.com

Just Dial Launches India's First Local Search Engine

2007-03-15T14:38:00.000+05:30

Just Dial Services, a telephonic search company announces the launch of India's first cutting edge local search engine - www.justdial.com. Just Dial local search website provides users access to any local information across cities and multiple categories with search results instantly. Listings for businesses, enabling focused outreach via increased visibility for prospective customers optimizing their advertising revenues are the other services which Just Dial offer.

Just Dial is an open search application which helps users to define their search whilst supporting it with intelligence that picks up synonyms and phonetics, rendering much more effectiveness and ease-of-use.

"Pursuant to the success of our telephone based search service, we saw the need to expand our services to reach users via multiple tools, which would make local searches convenient, fast and highly accurate for consumers. With the proliferation of Mobile phones and Internet, JustDial.com aims to make local search information available at the click of a button", says V.S.S. Mani, Founder & MD, Just Dial Pvt.Ltd.

Just Dial local search services can currently be availed by logging on 'www.justdial.com', across 14 cities (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Ernakulum, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Vadodara and Vizag), or by dialing 2888 8888- from 45 cities across India. (also 3999 9999 w.e.f. 25th March), or by sending 'FIND' as an SMS to 3999 (launching shortly).

Source : www.daijiworld.com

Search Engine Optimization Writer Secures #1 Google News Ranking For Mobile Coupon Company

2007-03-15T14:37:00.001+05:30

Search engine optimization writer Beverly Aarons (www.beverlyaarons.com) secured the #1 Google News spot for Text2Store Mobile Corporation www.text2store.com using an SEO (search engine optimization) press release designed to attract both businesses and individuals to this mobile coupon company. "Search engine optimization doesn't mean articles and press releases that are mechanical and boring," says Aarons, an award-winning writer. "Search engine optimized articles and press releases should provide useful information to the reader, accomplish client goals, while simultaneously helping search engines locate the content. That's something I kept in mind when creating Text2Store's press release," she added.

When writing Text2Store's press release, Aarons recognized the competitive nature of the online coupon business and determined search engine optimization to be the best choice for Text2Store's content. "We needed to beat the competitors to the punch," said Aarons. "After doing research on mobile coupons, I wrote a press release using search engine optimization that announced Text2Store's service and informed businesses of how they would benefit from that service," Aarons added.

Aarons stresses the importance of recognizing search engine optimization as one of many tools that can be used to attract customers online and it should not be seen as a replacement for good writing that provides useful information to the reader. "When creating SEO content I consider the reader, the client and the search engines. If I can create search engine optimized content that meets the expectations of all three, I'm in a win-win situation."

Beverly Aarons (www.beverlyaarons.com) is an award-winning writer with over 5 years experience creating press releases, articles and other content, for the internet and print publications. Get a free consultation on how you can use articles and online content to become an expert in your industry and attract more customers. Contact Beverly Aarons at 404-680-0384 to receive your free consultation today.

Source : www.promotionworld.com

Website and Blog Tools, Debuted by Search Engine, Answers.com

2007-03-15T14:07:00.000+05:30

Search engine, Answers.com, has created webmaster tool, AnswerTips, for websites and blogs, providing visitors with instant access to Answers.com's comprehensive information on four million topics, without the necessity of leaving a website or blog.

AnswerTips is a site feature developed to provide instant background information when a site's visitor double-clicks a word on an "AnswerTips-enabled" site. Activate an AnswerTip, and without leaving the page, a small information bubble opens, providing definitions, explanations, biographies, historical background and countless other types of relevant information. Unlike other offerings, the AnswerTip provides content on the spot, rather than a number of related search links to follow.

The free content in an AnswerTip comes from Answers.com's extensive database of information consisting of four million topics that are licensed from over 120 authoritative reference publications and other resources.

Gil Reich, Vice President of Product Management for Answers Corporation explained, "It's about immediate gratification for anyone reading your blog. Readers get the information they want while remaining engaged in reading your content. Fewer distractions create a better experience on a website, and they save the writer time providing background information on subjects and terminology that his or her audience might be unfamiliar with."

The technology behind AnswerTips yields a more productive user experience than a simple dictionary site or program. The tool has the ability to crack acronyms, quote stock prices and retrieve biographical information on everyone from rock musicians to political figures. Using patented technology, AnswerTips scans the text surrounding a word to retrieve the most appropriate information. For instance, it can differentiate between 'Paris Hilton' and 'plaster of Paris' when only the word "Paris" is double-clicked.

Currently, AnswerTips technology has been implemented on Answers.com, WikiAnswers (wiki.answers.com) and CBSNews.com, and was beta tested on a few select blogs and websites, including: A VC, CleverClogs, California Polytechnic State University Library, and Write Technology. In addition to being available directly from Answers.com, AnswerTips are also available within the widget gallery of TypePad.

Other free tools from Answers.com include 1-Click AnswersTM (Windows, Mac OS X), which enables AnswerTips within all of your desktop applications, and the Firefox extension (Windows, Mac OS X and Linux).

Answers Corporation operates the award-winning Answers.com information portal, delivering comprehensive content on four million topics spanning health, finance, entertainment, business and more. Content includes over 120 licensed titles from leading publishers such as Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group PLC, Barron's, Encyclopedia Britannica, All Media Guide and others; original articles written by Answers.com's editorial team; community-contributed articles from Wikipedia; and user-generated questions & answers from Answers.com's industry-leading WikiAnswersTM (wiki.answers.com). Founded in 1999 by CEO Bob Rosenschein, Answers.com can be launched directly from within Internet Explorer 7, Firefox and Opera browsers, and its service is integrated into sites like Amazon.com's A9.com, The New York Public Libraries' homeworkNYC.org, The New York Times, CBSNews.com and others. Answers.com is also available for mobile devices at mobile.answers.com. For investment information, visit ir.answers.com. (answ-p)

To learn more, please visit: www.answers.com.

For more about Answers.com webmaster tools, please visit: www.answers.com/main/webmasters.jsp.

Source : www.cheaphostingdirectory.com

Google's Matt Cutts: A quick word about cloaking

2007-03-12T23:37:00.000+05:30

"Cloaking is serving different content to users than to search engines. It’s interesting that you don’t see all that much cloaking to deliver spam these days. If you see people doing spam, they tend to rely on sneaky redirects.

When a Google user clicks on a search result at Google, they should always see the same page that Googlebot saw."

Click here to read full news...

Search Engine Optimization Tips - How To Quickly Get Your Website Indexed

2007-02-26T14:08:00.002+05:30

skIf you have trying to get your website listed in the search engines you may have missed these two proven strategies which cost nothing to use. As well as this you can also improve your rankings and generate consistent free traffic.

Before you start its best to use both of the following strategies together for maximum effect and if you keep using them you will start to rank higher in the search engine results pages allowing you to generate hundreds of free visitors to your website everyday.

The first strategy involves setting up a blog on your website using a free script called Word Press. Its well known that search engines will index blogs faster than any other pages on your website. To get listed as quickly as possible it works best if you install the blog in your root directory (so the blog will be on your home page).

If you install the blog in a new folder on your website which is not the root directory you can still get listed very quickly but just not as fast as using it on your home page. If you have a new website you can always move the blog from the root directory to another folder once you have got indexed in the search engines.

Once the blog is set up you need to start posting new content at least once per day but preferably multiple times per day. You don't have to write the content yourself as you can just use articles that are available on article directories but make sure that the information is related to your domain and contains relevant keywords.

To instantly attract the search engines to your blog you can use the next strategy which involves writing an article that is relevant to your website and then submit it to Go Articles for free. The article only has to be around 300 words long and it works best if the content is closely related to your website (don't forget to include your website link at the bottom of the article).

Although the search engines will eventually notice your blog and index the content you can speed up the process by submitting an article to Go Articles who will list it instantly. It doesn't take long to write one article and you should be able to attract the search engines within a day or two.

The great thing about this process is that you are using legitimate methods to attract the search engines and it costs you absolutely nothing to implement. If you decide to keep posting content on your blog and keep submitting articles to article directories you will improve your rankings and start generating free traffic.

source : seoarticles4u.com

Google Analytics Reviewed and Explained

2007-02-26T14:08:00.001+05:30

Google has put in place a great business plan tailored for success. One of the ways in which Google aims to retain its loyalty base is by offering its users free Google analytics. Success is always dependant on long term symbiotic relationships and Google knows that you need to "give a little to take a little."

So, since 2005 when Google acquired Urchin it is offering analytical software for free. The software benefits small businesses and offer a comprehensive statistical program that can be used to construct future business plans on.

* The first step in the process is to sign up. Once registered Google will begin to gather data. * Google analytics has three reporting types: Executive, Marketer, and Webmaster. Each type has a comprehensive set of reports that can be used by the business to understand the user or consumer needs and view the direction the business is proceeding in. * Apart for the three categories, Google Analytics has two additional options: Marketing Optimization and Content Optimization.

Google Analytics is a dream come true for webmasters as it brings at the click of a mouse for no cost quality reporting. For e-businesses Google Analytics gives insights on who buys, what they spend, what people are looking for, and what keywords are used by the World Wide Web Surfers.

The service shows you how surfers have used your website and gives you ideas on how you can enhance user experience. They give tips on how your e-business can make money.

To benefit from Google Analytics you need to have a Google AdSense account and the sign up is by invitation only. The Google Analytics software creates a detailed report on: the performance of your site, visits by new and returning visitors, where in the world your visitors are originating from, which search engine they are using, and whether or not they are using any web site referral. The analytics software gives a thorough breakdown of the top five referring sites, the search engine keywords used, as well as campaigns. Google Analytics covers the referral, direct as well as organic. The site overlay mechanism will tell you how efficient your web pages are and whether the page design and content are perfect. It will also earmark which pages on your website are popular with visitors.

All the data generated can be used in the creation of marketing strategies and future business plans. The greatest advantage of Google analytics over industry giants like Webtrends or Web Side Story is that it offers immense statistical analysis for free.

One drawback of Google Analytics according to experts is that it cannot capture "spiders." And so it will not tell you how spiders are mapping your site at any point of time. If one could determine how a spider maps your pages then you would be able to spider perfect your site. And incase you have pages behind firewalls then Google Analytics will not view these pages. To benefit from Google Analytics you need to use the data generated. And you must use the tool effectively with Google Adwords and Adsense. Google Analytics can help further your position in the ongoing SEO wars. If you need help there are workshops on "getting the most out of Google Analytics," which train you on using the data to increase profitability.

source : seoarticles4u.com

Improve Search Engine Ranking through Natural Search Engine Optimization

2007-02-26T14:08:00.000+05:30

Search engine optimization is about making your site in such a way that it will rank higher in the search engines. A website that's optimized for search engines can reap huge benefits on to your website and your business's. A recent Forrester Research report showed that 80% of web surfers discover the new sites that they visit through search engines. Include your most important keywords both in the title and the description you submit to the ODP with perfect descriptions and titles.

There are various areas of page optimization for Google search engine

Title: Title Tags are a very important guide for all search engines in determining what is in the content of a specific web page. You will find the title tag in the head section of the source code along with your Meta description tag and Meta keyword Tag. We feel that title tags should span no less than six words and no more than twelve which result in about a range of fifty to eighty characters, this includes spaces, hyphens, commas, etc.

Keyword Density: keyword density is the ratio of the word that is being searched for, ie the keyword, against the total number of words appearing on a given web page. There are a few techniques you can choose that were carefully researched by experts in the SEO business.

Link Popularity: Link Popularity refers to the number of hyperlinks pointing to a webpage. The higher a webpage's link popularity rating the better, as most major search engines consider link popularity as an important factor in determining a webpage's relevancy in its search rankings.

Blogging: Weblogs can be used as a way of providing current up to date content on an existing website or can be used as a website on their own. Most importantly Blogs allow for easy visitor interaction, whereas websites generally don't.

Search engine optimization services encompasses a number of skills which come together to provide all the required ingredients for a website to rank high on the major search engines and directories for a chosen search term or terms.

source : seoarticles4u.com

Get massive directory submissions for better search engine rankings

2007-02-26T14:04:00.003+05:30

Web directories are the website that content human made categories and sub categories. Directory provides an inbound links to the website. It's no secret that search engines, especially Google, value quality inbound links to a website for higher search engine rankings
Link building is a process of creating relevant and quality inbound links to a website with the intention of increasing the website's importance resulting to an increase in page rank and thus generating more traffic and return of investment. If you are part of a very good link directory then you can be sure that the other websites listed in that directory quality sites to and are bound to give you quality links.

Link popularity is a major stepping stone for any online presence. Link exchanges could greatly up your site on search engines, therefore, drive more traffic to your site.

Never participate in an automated link exchange program. These programs are useless. There are several link exchange scripts that allow build many good, relevant back links within a very short amount of time. Diversify your link portfolio. As well as submitting to thousands of web directories will brings you a huge amount of traffic.

Does not use search engine submission software to submit the site. Most quality search engines will see this as spamming the site and penalize you for it. These products are good for working on your page; they are not good for actually doing the submitting. You'll find that the path to affordable search engine optimization, and even professional search engine optimization, offers no short cuts.

source : seoarticles4u.com

The Boom of Search Engine Optimization

2007-02-26T14:04:00.002+05:30

A query is going on in the minds of the webmaster is that, whether optimizing their site through search engine will yield a high rank? This is the major query that takes place in every body minds. From the query, it has been realized that good search engine ranking will highly help to make the site ranking. The search engine rankings can be made possible or impossible by this search engines. This can make or break the business. This search engines are striving hard to present the relevant information in the web pages for the search of the given page or term. This should be made possible by the efficient SEO. SEO are the main reason for the ranking of the site in the appropriate position. They are the major cause for this success. The work performed as per the requirement of the site is the major cause for the development of the successful optimization. The site should be handled as per the client requirement and the site should have proper web designs, submission and it should be well versed in the technical and optimized side. When a site has been newly introduced in the net, it does not have good search engines and directories. When the optimization work is performed properly, the search engines and directories can be found in the top results for the keywords. When keywords, directories, links and articles have been submitted properly, then the site will finds success in optimization. Before or after this optimization, the ranking is to be checked for their keyword phrases, directories and search engines. Many number of website come and go in the net to find a good result.

Many wonder how the site is placing a good result or ranking for their information, keyword, and directories submission. At last it was found that all because of the effect of the search engines in their bottom line. When search engine optimization is done with advertisement, then the result will be good compared to their outlays. Search engine optimization is realized then it has a good effect on the marketing side. The majority visitors of the site are through the search engines. When search engines optimization is done and the ranking is achieved for the optimization, then the work to be performed will be very less. Most of the clients find the service through the Web site. So, search engine visibility is extremely important.

Content Search engine optimization is not enough to find the site ranking. It is important to be noted that optimization should also be provided with the relevant information about the search tools and terms. When your product and services have a good sell in the website, then you should provide the service or product along with the information relating the service or product. When you website work has been started, then the start the work along with providing the relevant information about the marketing text, site, the product or service provided and changes made in your site. Content is the main text needed for the better search engine optimization. It provides content in both technical and non technical aspect. These things are to be concentrated more, to make the site getting listed in the top ranking from the bottom to top line.

It is impossible to say that all SEO business will have same kind of return on the investment. The optimization can be made successful, when experienced and knowledgeable search engine optimizers exist. Compared to the other forms of the marketing, the optimization will make you up from the bottom line to achieve.

source : seoarticles4u.com

Getting Inbound Links to Your Website

2007-02-26T14:04:00.001+05:30

One of the oldest and best ways to increase your search engine rankings and get visitors to your website is from inbound links. The importance of inbound links to your website will most likely never diminish. It's no secret that search engines, especially Google, value quality inbound links to a website for higher rankings. However, these days the emphasis is not on the quantity of links, instead it is on quality. A couple dozen links to your site from related, high quality, authority sites are much more valuable to a search engine than hundreds of low quality links you obtained by exchanging with anyone that would say yes.

Before I tell you how to get quality inbound links to your website, I feel I should mention something you should definitely NOT do to obtain inbound links. Never participate in an automated link exchange program. These programs are useless. They don't benefit you because you will be automatically exchanging with all sorts of low quality and unrelated sites. The search engines may even penalize your site for links obtained this way. Even manual link exchanges do not carry nearly as much weight as they once did.

However, manual link exchanges are not totally dead so if you do decide to do some "old fashioned" link exchanges, be sure you don't exchange with sites where your link will be placed on a page with hundreds of other links and make sure the page your link is on is linked from their home page. Again it's important to remember you only want to exchange with quality sites related to yours.

Now I will talk about my number one strategy for getting inbound links. And that strategy is... (drum roll please)... To write and submit articles related to your website niche. Be sure to have a resource box at the end of each article. Your resource box should mention a little about your expertise on the subject and have link to your website. If you write good, informative articles then other people will want to repost them on their websites. This will give you an inbound link for the search engines and also a link for human visitors to follow. It's a win/win situation. And for the most part only people who have websites in your niche will repost your articles, so the inbound links you are getting are also relevant. Article marketing is nothing new or revolutionary but it does work and works very well.

Now here are some tips for increasing your inbound links by writing and distributing articles...

* Be sure to write original articles. If you purchase private label rights to articles, rewrite them to make them unique before submitting.

* If you are having a hard time getting started on an article all you have to do is search article directories for other articles on your topic. Find a few that you like and use ideas from them to write a new article in your own words. Remember, you can't just copy another article. That is copyright violation. And it won't be unique anyway so it won't do much for you.

* If you are good at writing with a little humor then you might want to use that skill when writing articles. Humor is very powerful and can attract a lot of readers.

* Once you have a completely original article written, find a few quality websites in your niche and offer them your article for free with your resource box attached. You are not asking for a link exchange, you are simply giving away your informative article for free to selected sites.

* After you have a few good articles on a topic you should compile them into an ebook. Place a short author bio at the end of the ebook with a link to your website and allow other site owners in your niche to give it away free to their visitors. They can give it away as a "thank you" for signing up for their newsletter, as a gift for visiting their site, as a free bonus for purchasing their product or any other way they want to give it away. Once your ebook gets into a few people's hands it will be passed around more and more, thus giving you inbound links and a boost of traffic to your site.

* Submit your articles to a few of the top article directories. When doing this you aren't so much doing it for the inbound link from the directory itself. Of course, that link doesn't hurt but the main reason for submitting to these directories is to get your article in front of other website owners who will republish it on their sites. Two of the top directories to submit your articles to are Lighthouse Article Directory and http://goarticles.com

* Publish links to your articles in community based popularity sites. A well "dugg" article can generate thousands of visitors to your website as well as inbound links.

* Network and build good relationships with maybe 10-20 quality site owners in your niche. The higher their site is ranked, the better. Help each other with site promotion, content ideas and article exchanges. Not only will this build relevant and quality inbound links to your website, it will also get you some good friends and JV partners who will prove to be very valuable to your business as time goes on.

Overall there are many benefits of writing and submitting articles. You get inbound links which help with your search engine rankings among other things. Articles also help to establish you as an expert in your niche, bring you targeted traffic and provide you with free advertising. A little time spent each day writing and distributing articles can do incredible things for your website and business.

source : seoarticles4u.com

Advantages of using tableless CSS | XHTML Web Design Techniques

2007-02-26T14:04:00.000+05:30

Tables used to be the "in" thing when it came to designing web sites. As with many other things though, new techniques and methods standards are bound to emerge with time. When once tables were seen in most web pages, some experts now suggest that tables should be thrown out of the window.

In simple words, tableless web design is basically a method whereby page layout control is achieved without the use of HTML tables. Instead, text and other elements on a page are arranged using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This language is the brainchild of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). It was designed in such a way as to improve web accessibility as well as to make use of HTML for semantic purposes rather than presentational purposes.

One thing that has been making the headlines in the past year or so is the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques. With search engines such as Google and Yahoo making big waves in the information sector, web designers are scrambling to get on their good side. The one main goal of a web designer is to get his site on the top pages for search results. How is this achieved? By making one's site search engine friendly.

Search engines make use of various techniques to index all existing web sites. Based on these various techniques, they assign a page rank to the web site. The higher the page rank, the more chances it will be high up in the search engine results. The higher up the site is in ranking, the more chances that people will visit the site. That means good news for the web site. That is where semantics and HTML come in.

So how about tables? Web designers who favor tables assert that they make the design process easier and less time consuming. More so, they assert that tables are more compatible with various web browsers. On the other hand, proponents of tableless formats assert that tables do not adhere to web standards and web accessibility.

Over the years, people have been trying to come up with web standards that are based on logic and that would make it easier for everyone involved to access web sites. Text readers, bots, mobile devices, and other elements were all taken into consideration. As such, the tableless format has come into popular use.

Why should you follow this standard? Here are a few reasons as to why you should go tableless:

* The current W3C standards dictate the use of tableless design. * Practically all browsers in use today support CSS for controlling layouts. As such, your site will be compatible with most any browser. * It is easier to make global changes to the layout with the use of CSS. That is, if the coding is properly done, of course. * Web site accessibility for people with special needs is done more easily with the proper implementation of content into XHTML documents. In this case, CSS is used only for the layout and style. * Unnecessary code is eliminated with the use of XHTML and CSS, making for a sleeker and more manageable code. * Tableless formats make it easier for search engines to index a web site.

Though tableless formats are being widely used for page layout control, it does not necessarily mean that tables are not being used anymore. They are merely not optimal for presentation purposes.

source : seoarticles4u.com

SEO Tactics That will Work for You

2007-02-26T14:03:00.000+05:30

For sure, a lot of people who own a website in the internet have heard and know SEO or search engine optimization.
Indeed, knowing what SEO is a good thing but understanding SEO is different. There are heaps of people who don't give some time in understanding SEO, and what they do, is just look for someone to do SEO for them. But there are some people in order to earn quick money, gives loads of misplaced advices, and what really matter to them is earn money. There are some techniques that really work, that this article will tell you.

Beware to people or SEO experts (which they say they are) who tells you that they can get you to be on top rank on Google, that you will be on the first or second page of this particular search engine quickly. Indeed, you wanted to be rank in that particular search engine, but think again, can the so called SEO expert do that. Maybe this so called SEO expert can make you on the top rank in doing some techniques, but techniques that will make your website be banned soon. The techniques that this so called SEO expert can do are by making hidden pages or cloaking, these are some of the favorite ways this people do.

The great way you need to do is attract users and visitors to your website. One of the great ways to do this is by working with other webmasters, make them link with your website or they will add your link to their website.

Looking for websites to link with your website is not that easy, it requires hard work. Great way of learning about SEO and to find other websites to link with yours is communication. Communication plays a big part in this certain field. It is wiser to talk and communicate with other websites by knowing their experiences. You can learn through their experiences. And of course, you have to ask them if they can put a link to your website on theirs.

In order to promote your website, you have to do some communicating to other webmasters and by learning through their experiences.

But you also have to bear in mind that the content of your website has value, make sure that it is original and unique. Having contents with value will make visitors visit your website. You also have to make sure that you can give readers and visitors valuable information, in order to attract them. And another advantage of ensuring the value of your content is that it can encourage other websites to link with yours. These are the tactics that really work; all you have to do is take these tactics into consideration. If you really want your website to be on the top rank, hard work and communication are important.

Another important factor you need to bear in mind is that, being on the top rank takes some time. You really have to focus on the mentioned techniques first, having unique contents, gaining those links, communication, hard work and time; these are the factors you need to consider in order to be on the top rank on search engine results.

source : seoarticles4u.com

Does a Google Sitemap May Increase Your Search Engine Ranking?

2007-02-26T14:02:00.000+05:30

A common question my clients always ask is:
''Does a Google Sitemap Will Increase My Search Engine Ranking?''

The Sitemap Protocol allows you to inform search engines about URLs on your websites that are available for crawling.

In its simplest form, a Sitemap that uses the Sitemap Protocol is an XML file that lists URLs for a site. The protocol was written to be highly scalable so it can accommodate sites of any size.

It also enables webmasters to include additional information about each URL (when it was last updated; how often it changes; how important it is in relation to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.

Sitemaps are particularly beneficial when users can't reach all areas of a website through a browseable interface. (Generally, this is when users are unable to reach certain pages or regions of a site by following links). For example, any site where certain pages are only accessible via a search form would benefit from creating a Sitemap and submitting it to search engines.

Please note that the Sitemap Protocol supplements, but does not replace, the crawl-based mechanisms that search engines already use to discover URLs. By submitting a Sitemap (or Sitemaps) to a search engine, you will help that engine's crawlers to do a better job of crawling your site.

Using this protocol does not guarantee that your webpages will be included in search indexes. (Note that using this protocol will not influence the way your pages are ranked by Google.)

To Your Success!

About the author
Michael Biehn, SEO Consultant.

source : seoarticles4u.com

SEO Can Make Online Business Succeed

2007-02-26T14:00:00.000+05:30

There are a lot of online businesses nowadays, they are booming because of using the concept of search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a website by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. SEO is about enhancing the visibility of your business website on the search engines. The higher a website ranks in the search engines result, the better the chance that the website will be visited by a user. The key plan in getting a lot of visitors to your website is to convert the visitors into customers. So in order to make sure that you will gain heaps of visitors, you have to make sure the website is perceptible and accessible in the search engines.

One of the important things that matter in search engine optimization is the keyword. It is better to have the right selections of keywords. Since having the right selection of keywords can help in adding visibility of website on the internet. Optimizing your website should be done in order to get an edge over the other competitive websites. So it is really important to have unique keywords, since it can create traffic to your website. Having the right and unique keywords are your key to be known in the online business market.

Other advantage of SEO is that it can help your website to be in a consistent place in the search engines. The main reason in doing SEO is that it can make your website to be ranked on the top. And being on the top ranked, users can easily see your website.

Another way to have a lot of visitors in you website is by optimizing your content, and you have to make sure that it is unique. You have to make a content that describe the products and services you offer. Largely, the content can help you improve the visibility and popularity of your website. It is also important that you can give the users, visitors and readers the valuable information they needed, in doing so; the readers tend to visit your website every now and then, since they can get a lot of information. And if this will be the case, then the popularity and visibility of your website will increase.

Yes, online businesses increases these days, heaps of people are now aware of the large profits they can get when entering into online business and especially when going about search engine optimization. If you are planning to put up an online business, search engine optimization is the great option there is in the market. Going about search engine optimization, can make business move in the perfect way.

Since everyone is aware of the internet, and most people use the internet to have the information they needed, even in products and services, so going into online business, and doing search engine optimization can help you succeed and earn a lot of profits.

So if you wanted to be successful with your online business, start optimizing your website. Just consider the right ways in optimizing your website, in order to be successful and to prosper with your business.

source : seoarticles4u.com

Top 12 Search Engine Optimisation tips for public sector websites for 2007

2007-02-22T18:22:00.000+05:30

Public sector websites are no different to any other, when it comes to driving up usage. Online marketing is essential to getting usage, and Search Engine Optimisation is one highly crucial tool in the armoury for any local authority or central government websites. Here, SEO expert Gary R. Beal advises on 12 top tips to maximise online reach in 2007.

1. Content – Regular, frequent and high quality content produced by people with knowledge in the field, or people that you can trust to do their homework before jumping headfirst into writing it. This is crucial both at the search engine algo level and the PPC campaign design level.

And its not just a fresh article once a month. If you examine your log files you will see how often the SERP’s comeback to visit. Once you are in good with them, they hit your site 1-3+ times a day. It will only do this if it sees fresh content, via your navigation.

There is a point at which the bots will and won’t come back and crawl. They won’t if they don’t see fresh content. They will come back to your index (homepage) to find the fresh content, if they don’t find it they will leave. If they do find fresh content they will continue to navigate throughout your site via the ‘proper’ navigation mentioned in this list below.

Fresh content throughout your entire site is costly and time-consuming, but will separate you and elevate you from the rest.

2. Inbound links to your site from relevant and trusted sites – Links from trusted sites; links from pages with a higher PR(4+) and less than 50 outbound links; links from pages with a lower PR and less than 10-25 outbound links (Keyword-rich anchor text as well).

Preferably forums and blogs (or Viral Marketing) are some of the strongest referrers. This needs to be a permanent, ongoing project, and the links should be in place for at least 12-18 months for optimal effect. Getting 50 or 1000 this month, then dropping to just a few next month is a huge red flag for all the SE’s. A steady link building scheme is required to earn top rankings. This means no link farm’s.

Let me quickly explain about link farms and the way that the SE's see them.

If you are actively and voluntarily participating in a linking scheme you are trying to manipulate their results. They value natural linking in their algorithms highly so they do not look on link farms kindly now, or anytime in the future. It is one of the possible methods they have to value a website. This is why you hear so many of the pros say "content is king".

One way or the other you need to attract traffic naturally or the least make it look like you have.

3. Individual Title and Descriptions - The argument is alive and well, and continuing as it has and will for several years. Title tags are how the SE’s identify the relevancy of your page (compared to the end-users search query), not just in Organic ranking but in Paid Placement as well.
Descriptions are how (organically) the SE’s place a relevancy rating on your page.

4. Site Architecture/Navigation – This includes menus, all the way to how each section on a site’s pages are interlinked with each other.

5. Keyword Terminology - In your content, use 2 or 3 word keyword phrases that are likely to be searched for by users. Don’t over-do-it, but be sure everything is in line and included - Keyword Title; Keyword phrase in description (1st line); Internal navigation keyword links; Fresh keyword rich content.

6. Universal XML Sitemaps - Providing an XML sitemap is one of the easiest things you can do to help search engines traverse your site. Google, Yahoo and MSN have all adopted this “standardized” tool. Having a sitemap and then submitting it through WEBMASTER Central will tell you not only when the crawl (usually 1-2 days) is complete, but also if there are any errors that the bots found.

7. Rich Media – Or concentrating on utilising video, image and audio search. Google is and I believe Yahoo and MSN will be offering big incentives to move into these areas, provided you can utilize this according to your current ad structure, demographics and product or service. Flash builders are a dime-a-dozen. Utilize them to create interactive ads.

8. Web 2.0 - Utilising blogs and forums more to improve search such as www.flickr.com , www.myspace.com , www.technorati.com, www.simpy.com, and others. Also put these “public bookmarks” buttons (AddMe to Google) in your site and your articles.

9. Mobile Web - Google, Yahoo and MSN mobile are nearing and making your site accessible to all mobile web browsers is increasingly important.
Remember when Firefox and Opera came out and everything didn’t work or look right? (kinda like today on a much smaller scale). That’s all there is to becoming mobile compliant.

10. Content Relevancy - ensuring everything is neat and relevant across a site. Irrelevant links and content could be detrimental. Map your entire site in a hand-written tree and link them accordingly. Then use this to create a sitemap, and add a link to it to your homepage, and/or your navigation.

11. Constant Monitoring of Paid and Organic Analytical Information - Re-evaluation and improvements based on user stats and new industry changes.

Having an expert in this field is vital. (e.g. If you have a PPC account with a few thousand keywords that are working for you that is proving successful, great job. If you want to double the traffic whilst cutting your costs in half, then you’ll need an expert to know what these analytics mean)

12. Become a More Trusted Site – Links are great but links from trusted sites are KING. If you need to work 10 times as long writing articles, creating Charitable Ebay auctions, endorsing a football team or a fraternity, do whatever you have to do to get links such as from a .edu or .gov.

This will almost instantly boost your trust and especially your organic rankings. Other potential trust issues include GeoTrust and HackerSafe certifications or even going to a secure server.

A Word About Website Popularity - Yes, this is measured by all the search engines, and always has been. (Remember when you open your Google PPC account and it asked you about providing behaviorally statistical
information?)

Whether you use analytical and tracking tools or not, all the SE’s do. This is part of the method they used to use before the more advanced algorithms of today. Unfortunately, you can’t directly control this, but with the rest of these tips you can definitely improve it.

About the author:

Gary R. Beal has been in the Search Engine Optimization field for 10 years. He attended Ohio State University in the US and holds a Masters Degree in Biometrics and Mathematical Statistics. Gary turned his hobby into a new and successful career, playing around with Search Engines from practically day one! Working as a Freelancer in the United States, Gary came to Stickyeyes last year to “close the gap” between the US and UK in search engine optimization techniques. He has been instrumental in the development of many SEO and PPC tools as an analyst and consultant. Gary is well known in the SEO/SEM/PPC forums (a.k.a. GaryTheScubaGuy) and a Moderator at SEO Chat. He was a speaker at the most recent Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in London, and specializes in Search, Pay Per Click, Affiliate Management and Email Marketing. He has worked for many years in lead aggregation for highly competitive industries such as Online Gaming, Banking and Finance, Insurance, Travel and Investments.

Source : http://www.publictechnology.net/

Google Custom Search Engine Gets Supplemental Results

2007-02-22T18:17:00.000+05:30

The Google Custom Search Engine Blog announced that Google has added supplemental results to the results displayed in Google Custom Search Engines (CSE).

In addition, Google has updated the FAQs to explain that the supplemental results are shown only if one of two conditions are met:

Your search engine includes only the patterns you specified and searches over three or fewer sites.
Your search engine includes the whole web, giving preference to the patterns you specified.

I have confirmed spotting supplemental results in some of my Google CSEs.

Google says that this is good because now it can show you "more results" than they did before.

More information on these CSEs can be found in our Google Custom Search Engine section.

Source : http://searchengineland.com/

Finally! Google Shows us the Backlinks

2007-02-18T12:57:00.000+05:30

If you’ve ever compared Google’s link: command to that of Yahoo or MSN, you probably know how useless it is. For some reason, at some point, some one at Google decided to filter, and only show a small selection of all links to a site. Well, that has all changed now. You can now log in to your Google Webmaster Tools account, and find a plethora of link data.

I logged in and checked it out a few minutes ago, and I must say, I’m thoroughly impressed. Links are divided into 2 groups: internal and external. If you have several links from one site, each page is listed individually. It would be nice to have the option to show only domains, and not every single page, since it can be sort of overwhelming to have to dig through hundreds of links from one site, like (http://site.com/?pid=323, http://site.com/?pid=325, http://site.com/?pid=329, etc…). They did add the ability to search for specific pages, but don’t allow you do wildcard searches. I guess the ability to export a spreadsheet of every single link sort of makes up for that though.

Here’s a link to the official announcement from Google.

Source : www.seologs.com

Free SEO Tool to Identify Google "Supplemental Results" Pages on Your Website

2007-02-18T12:52:00.000+05:30

SEOValley Solutions Private Limited, a leading Interactive Marketing company based in India offering SEO, SEM, Linking, Web Design and SEO Product Development services and solutions today added another unique Free SEO tool to its ever growing bunch of free tools for SEOs and webmasters to easily manage their search engine promotion campaigns. This new tool as named as Google "Supplemental Results" Identifier, will list down all “supplemental result” pages on your website.

Bhopal, India, February 14, 2007 --(PR.COM)-- Google’s “Supplemental result” is driving every SEOs & webmasters crazy today. The pages in the supplemental result index of Google are not trusted much, not crawled so often and rarely rank high. If there are too many supplemental result pages on your website then it’s surely going to negatively affect your natural rankings. This tool has been created to help you determine the number of “supplemental result” pages on your website and get rid of its search engine incompatibility elements. This will make sure your website is 100% clean to achieve the desired top rankings. You can checkout this tool at

http://www.seovalley.com/seo-tools/google-supplemental-tool.htm

YouTube founders split $650 mn in Google payday

2007-02-10T22:19:00.000+05:30

Two of YouTube's founders stand to divide shares of stock now valued at around $650 million, Web search leader Google Inc said in a regulatory filing detailing the payout from its $1.65 billion acquisition on Wednesday.

Chad Hurley, Chief Executive of the online video sharing phenomenon YouTube, received 694,087 of Google common stock worth around $326 million, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Co-founder Steve Chen received Google common stock valued at a similar amount, including 625,366 shares directly owned and another 68,721 shares held in a trust.

Sequoia Capital, the sole venture capital backer of YouTube, stands to receive around $442 million in Google shares based on the $470.01 closing price of the Web search leader on Wednesday.

Source : Expressindia.com

Watch the sunrise on Google Earth

2007-02-04T17:52:00.000+05:30

Today, Google added a new feature to its Google earth that brings the sun's ascent right to your computer screen. You can also see video drawn from Discovery HD Theater's "Sunrise Earth" program.

To view the videos, open Google Earth and select the Sunrise Earth layer under Discovery Networks. Follow the links in the pop-up window to experience the sights and sounds of one of nature's most beautiful phenomena. Google Blog

No Cost For Index Website By Search Engines

2007-01-21T10:58:00.000+05:30

Yes, like everyone else who venture into internet business and own websites, we want to know the best options to get website indexed as soon as possible which of course means more business. Well, allow me to share a little strategy of here, one of the fastest way is actually by writing and publishing articles and press releases, and get it distributed all over the internet.

Are you being surprised on such simplest way? Or you were expecting me to explore some long boring, and complex options? Hey, I'm not that techie, so do most of others. We are here just to earn so income, that the reason we go into business right? So let's get to the ground and examine this simple way further.

One of the best ways we can do to generate more traffics to any of our website is to obtain inbounds back links from others right? Allow me to clarify here, what we are looking for are those one way links back to our site which are of higher quality to the SE. Reciprocal links are alright still, but one fine day the search engines would be catching up on that! Don't just rely on this strategy and put your online business at potential risk.

There isn't a real value in Reciprocal links except more on "Virtual Business Trading". You see, if you could achieve hundreds if not thousands of relevant one way links channeling back to your website, you are getting best of both world! You are going to get traffics coming from the one way links channels, and also from the increased ranking or search position in SE. Would that be truly great?

Are you getting excited and rushing to get started on this strategy? Hold on first, before anything else, you have got to realize that writing, publishing and distributing articles is not just a one time work. It is in fact a continuous and recurring task. It will be part of your business strategy plan, your business marketing plan!

As with your business activities, you must practice article writing and related tasks on daily basis. Somehow you might wonder, is the time spent worth it? By sitting down and start typing, how would you gain? Well, be assured that this would be time well spent for your business! Rather than cranking your head deep down with those complex strategy and tactics, why not get yourself with this simple and effective strategy?

In fact, there are a whole bunch of article directories out there. They are in real hunger for content! If you got a well written article, I bet you that they will start to chase for you! And With RSS technology, you would be surprised if they are all set to draw contents from your sites almost instantly whenever you update a new content. In my own experience, some of my articles get published as fast as within 2 days, and it get indexed sometimes later on the same day being published. If my articles are published in well established sites, the link back will bring my website showing up in the major SE as fast as the following day due to the SE are crawling the site on daily basis!

So my dear friend, this surely beats waiting for months in doing some complex or techie thing like SE Optimization right? And if you are like me whom am totally off hand in SE Optimization things, I bet it will cost you money just to get your site optimized by some expert.But then you would be wondering, "How on earth could I submit to whole hundreds bunch of those article directories?" Of course, under normal situation, one would really have to spend thousands of hours in doing that. But there have been many great tools available on internet, there are also some kind of automated article submitting software to help make the submission task easier! Furthermore, there is also a wide selection of article distribution service available of which you could tap into their good network.

In my case, I utilize a combination of these article distribution services. Again, with ZERO advertising budgets to spend, I could only utilize their Free Service with limited distribution range. But hey buddies, I have seen my site back linking increased from about 50 to more than 500 within 2weeks! What else I could ask for more for a free service?

Now, for the second option on Press Release strategy, it is another great tool for marketer's Marketing Secret Weapons. Not only in brick and mortal traditional business, this strategy could work wonders too for online business!

Of course, just as with articles publishing and distribution, it can't be a just "One Time" work also. But, unlike article publishing strategy, you don't need to do Press Releases on daily basis. Doing it on either weekly or bi-monthly basis would be much sufficient for that kind of marketing effect. It will also go a long way in generating the traffic while getting your website indexed fast.If you combine the above 2 methods in promoting your websites, you will be able to experience much quicker indexing than other methods. In the same time it also drive traffic to your websites fast almost instantly as readers who feel interested in your articles or Press Release will click thru and reach your website.

What's next? Don't wait, get your self start in doing the above 2 simple strategy! Little to your awareness, your website might just be indexed the next day!

Source : seoarticles4u.com

Promotional Articles Increase Your Web Site Traffic

2007-01-21T10:54:00.000+05:30

One of the most effective methods of getting targeted traffic to a site is by using promotional articles. There are several reasons why articles are effective and examining them will help us understand this subject a little better. To start with, it is useful to remember that most people come online looking for information. They are usually already aware of the fact that this information is available in web sites and they are eager to find sites that are packed with the information that they are looking for. If they find a promotional article covering the subject that they are seeking information on, they will eagerly read it and if they like what they see, they will then visit your web site. Promotional articles are therefore a great way to attract attention to yourself and your web site. Unlike traffic that directly originates from search engines, visitors who arrive at your site after having read your promotional articles will not only be highly targeted, but they will also already be prepared in that they will have a very good idea of what is available at your site. This means that they will usually be much easier to convert into paying clients. In other words much smaller number of readers arriving at your site through promotional articles will tend to be much more profitable to you than bigger numbers arriving via any other web site promotional method you can think of using. Then there is the fact that a single article can continue to pull in traffic for your web site for years to come without you having to invest any more time or money on it. For instance a good promotional article distributed to article directories, web sites and blogs will tend to remain online for years. In effect it will continue to be available to persons interested in the subject, and a good number of them will end up at your web site. This is a huge advantage. These are but a few of the many reasons why articles tend to be more profitable than many other forms of web site promotion.

About the author : Terry Detty, 42 years old, internet guru who finds internet marketing his passion. In addition to internet marketing he reads history, and occasionaly gets out for a short walk. He generally likes to have his hands occupied.

Source : seoarticles4u.com

Benefits of a Search Engine Optimization Company

2007-01-21T10:48:00.000+05:30

Successful business professionals will tell you that the best businesses start with great marketing. This is the case with internet businesses, as well. If you are going to be successful with an Internet business, it is imperative that you make it easy to find your resource on the Internet. Having a terrific website is great, but it means absolutely nothing if people cannot find it. Imagine owning a Ferrari or a Lamborghini and having no gas to fuel it. The good news is that there is a fuel out there for your website. It comes in the form of a Search Engine Optimization Company. These incredible marketing companies can tunnel potential clients to your website and get your business off the ground in no time.

As internet search engines continue to be the primary tool used by internet users in order to find information, it will always be important for companies to have a strong search engine ranking. Given all of this information, it is only fair to conclude that the only way that your company will bring in visitors to your website and gain success is through having very searchable content. The best way to ensure that a website is "search engine ready" is to hire an SEO company to optimize your website's content. These Internet marketing agencies employ many experienced and talented individuals including copywriters who can deliver great articles and other forms of content that will be searchable in the search engines.

Instead of worrying about how and when people will find your website on the Internet, it may be best to leave it to the professionals to make sure that this happens. By hiring an SEO company, your website will be constructed with the search engines in mind. These companies understand what search engine rankings are all about and they know exactly how to bring your company's web page right to the top. In order to score a high ranking, a website must have a good amount of keywords and more importantly, those keywords must be strategically placed. Effective keyword placement is something that most website owners do not ever consider even though it is a very important factor in determining the success of a website.

While it is certainly important that these companies create top-notch content for your website, many of them also offer other marketing services. You can easily find a company that will be excited about marketing your website.In addition to optimizing your company's website for search engines, some of these companies offer link building services which can be critical to getting higher search engine rankings.Most search engines rely on link popularity and quality inbound links to help determine the importance of the website when ranking them in the search results.So be sure to choose an SEO service that includes a solid link building strategy.

Instead of leaving your company's future to chance and luck, consider hiring professionals to do the job. Not only will they take some of the stress off of you in running your business, but they will drive enough business to the website to jumpstart your venture. Don't be intimidated by the Internet and all its workings by deciding to promote your business on your own. Instead, focus on what this great resource can do for your business after you hire a search engine optimization company to help your business rise to the top.

Source : promotionworld.com

SEO - The Development of Page Ranking Algorithms

2007-01-02T22:45:00.000+05:30

By Christopher Angus

Google, which is the gold standard for all page-ranking systems (including PageRank as it is called by the industry) was started by two Stanford University Students - Sergey Brin and Larry Page (no pun intended.) These two students (now billionaires) invented the Google algorithm now known as PageRank.
All PageRank is really is a formula, not unlike the FICO score that is used to calculate credit. Only in this case the formula takes in a lot of variabilities to see if a page is worthy of being included at the top of search engine rankings. This concept weighs a page's importance based upon the incoming links. In essence PageRank is a type of prediction, but one that can make a great deal of difference to the credibility of your business. It is the estimation of the likelihood that a given page will be reached by a web user who is randomly surfing the web. This popularity is measured by how an individual might have followed links from one page to another. This of course makes some links more valuable then others and it is your goal as a web master to use SEO techniques to make your links valuable in terms of the PageRank system.

Another genius element of the PageRank algorithm is that it keeps link results relevant to what the person is searching for. The fact that PageRank keeps searches on the Internet accurate (for the most part anyway) has made it the most emulated and popular algorithm in use by search engines today.

Of course the Google PageRank system is not invulnerable to exploitation. There are many ways of fooling the algorithm, usually through the buying and trading of links which is known as white hat SEO. There is also black hat SEO that as mentioned before uses techniques frowned on by Google to boost a web page's rankings in the search engines.

Source : seoarticles4u.com

Google more popular than Yahoo!

2006-12-29T10:07:00.000+05:30

Google overtook Yahoo as the second most popular Internet destination for Web surfers worldwide in November while Microsoft held on to the top spot, ComScore has reported. Slightly more than 736 million people around the world traveled the Internet last month, with 475,713 of them visiting Google websites and 475,262 going to Yahoo online properties, according to industry tracker ComScore.

Websites of Redmond, Washington-based software giant Microsoft were visited by 501,720 people, the rating tally revealed. Hot video-sharing website YouTube placed tenth in the ComScore Media Metrix rankings but showed the largest surge in visitors, with the number catapulting by more than 2,000 per cent to 107,944. Google's results did not include visits YouTube, which it bought in October.

The popularity of Google websites was up nine per cent from the same month a year earlier, while visits to Silicon Valley rival Yahoo grew by five per cent and to Microsoft by three per cent in the same comparison.

Online auction pioneer eBay was ranked in fourth place, with the number of visitors slipping by one per cent from November of 2005 to 250,848. Time Warner Network site visits also notched down one per cent, tallying 222,107.

The number of people going to the communally-edited Internet encyclopedia site Wikipedia more than doubled to 171,945 in November as compared to that month last year.

Source: Expressindia.com

Google's Matt Cutts talks about SEO traps

2006-12-12T19:58:00.000+05:30

Google's Matt Cutts talks about search engine optimization traps

The head of Google's anti-spam team Matt Cutts publicly reviewed some web sites at the 2006 PubCon in Las Vegas. Some statements in these public reviews might help you to improve your rankings on Google and Yahoo.

Duplicate content can create problems

One of the web sites that Matt Cutts analyzed had a problem with duplicate content. The owner of the web site had more than 20 other web sites that offered overlapping content and overlapping pages on different URLs.

Search engines can find out which other web sites belong to you. For example, Alexa shows the different domains that a webmaster owns. In addition, the web site used the same meta description tag on dozens of pages. This can cause problems with search engines.

Matt Cutts suggests to vary the pages by adding user comments or reviews. He said that varying the duplicate pages by adding a few extra sentences or by scrambling a few words wouldn't work.

Very big sitemaps can cause problems

Another web site did fine in Google but it couldn't get high rankings on Yahoo. The site had a very large sitemap-type page that listed hundreds of articles on one page. This could trigger the filters of some search engines. Matt Cutts suggested to split the sitemap into smaller pages.

You should use the correct letter case in sitemap files

The same site might had problems with Yahoo because there was a mismatch between the uppercase URL titles on the live pages and the lowercase URL titles according to Yahoo's Site Explorer. That might trigger cloaking filters.

You should focus on quality back links

If inbound links are built too quickly, they don't have a positive effect on the link rankings of a web site. Reciprocal links should be from related sites that have something in common with your own web site. Reciprocal links with unrelated sites don't help.

Avoid session IDs if possible

Matt Cutts indicated that it makes sense not to use URLs with session IDs. Long URLs with many variables can cause problems with search engine spiders. This is also mentioned in the Google guidelines:

"If fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a [simple] text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site."

Having too many web sites and private WHOIS might hurt your rankings

Matt Cutts indicated that it might hurt your rankings if you have too many sites and if you use these web sites just to display PPC ads:

"Having lots of sites isn’t automatically bad, and having PPC sites isn’t automatically bad, and having whois privacy turned on isn’t automatically bad, but once you get several of these factors all together, you’re often talking about a very different type of webmaster than the fellow who just has a single site or so."

If you try to cheat Google then it's likely that one of Google's filters will apply to your web site sooner or later.

Your web site should be useful and interesting to web surfers. If you have such a web site, make sure that there are no technical errors that prevent search engines from indexing your web pages. Make it as easy as possible for search engines to parse your web pages and get good inbound links to show search engines that your web site is important.

Coutesy: Axandra.com

Smart Answers Lead to Smart Voting!

2006-11-19T12:59:00.000+05:30

Even if your only outside link to the world was your mailbox, by this time you'd still be awash in (mostly biased) election information: candidates, propositions, polling places and more. And of course there are all the latest scandals that just happen to drop just before the big day. Don't you wish you had one reliable source where you could find all the Election Day info you needed? Ahem.

Try this on for size:

Just type in "election" into Ask.com. You'll get a Smart Answer that points you to practically everything you need to know about this year's elections.

And see that pull-down menu labeled "Voter Info by State"?

That's your Smart Answer gateway to all the local voter resources you'll need.

Looking to delve even deeper into the issues? Our Director of Online Information Resources, Gary Price, has rounded up some sites where you can do some serious research.

So if you want to make the best-informed decision possible--or just figure out how to get there before the polls close--turn to Ask.com. We'll point you to the facts. After that it's up to you.

And if you're reading this on November 7, what are you doing sitting at your computer? Go out there and vote!

Source: blog.ask.com

Google Beats Yahoo For Best Search Engine According To ChristiaNet Poll

2006-11-13T21:14:00.000+05:30

ChristiaNet.com (http://www.christianet.com), the world’s largest Christian portal with twelve million monthly page loads, asked reader’s to participate in a survey to determine the most popular search engine. Respondents commented on what they thought was the best search engine out of the most popular three, Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The poll shows that many users are looking for one that is simple, fast, and has accurate information. One participate stated, "I have more success finding information with Google." (http://www.christianet.com/searchengines/)

Out of 266 participants polled, the majority of 125 felt that Google was the best search engine. Users felt that it was superior over Yahoo and MSN but several commented that they frequently used all 3. Participants emphasized that they don’t like to be bothered with pop-ups and having searches pull up sites that contain spam but instead appreciate accessing quality Internet sites. Another attribute that is important to users is that the site be visually appealing and not too busy.

Thirty-three respondents preferred using MSN over the others. Many of these participants commented that they use it because they are familiar with it, since it came installed on their computer. Some people have a specific reason they like one over the other. One reader wrote, "I love chatting with my friends." Instant messaging options are gaining in popularity and make it easy to communicate instantly with family and friends. Setting up a homepage provides access to daily stock quotes, news and entertainment information. There are many other popular features that provide users with options right at their fingertips.

Yahoo is also very popular with participants since 108 of the 266 polled think it is the best search engine. The capability of using email and setting up a homepage attracts many people to a particular program. Offering free email gets attention along with the capability of customizing a homepage by changing layout columns, and colors. For some users, old habits are hard to break. People often will go to the one program they know how to use over trying a new one, especially if it has performed well for them in the past. Several users couldn’t quite articulate why they use a specific engine, except to say, "I just like it." For more information, visit: http://www.christianet.com/articles/

Source : prleap.com

Google Custom Search Engines Open Worlds of Potential

2006-11-10T17:45:00.000+05:30

The development of the Internet, and later search engines, has put a wider (and sometimes deeper) range of information at more users’ fingertips than ever before. What’s more, it has empowered users to find exactly what they’re looking for – the ultimate in “personal media,” if you will. But large general search engines have their faults. What if you could build a search engine that focused specifically on your own interests?

That’s exactly the service that Google unveiled with its Custom Search Engine. Now you don’t need to be a programmer to create a search engine; what’s more, the search engine you create will be vertical, based on the topics and web sites you choose. Do it right, and users of your custom search engine (including you, of course) will benefit from results that are far more relevant to their needs than what they can find at Google itself.

As we’ve often seen, Google isn’t the first company to enter this arena. Other companies that offer customized search include Rollyo, PSI, and Yahoo. But Google is throwing its brand, coolness factor, and – let’s face it – almost intuitive grasp of what should and should not be part of a user-friendly interface into this project. As an outgrowth of Google Co-op, this move throws Google right into the midst of the social search and web 2.0 world, a field in which the search engine giant had actually been lagging behind Yahoo.

Read Google Custom Search Engines Open Worlds of Potential

Barnett Takes 2nd Turn vs. Google

2006-11-08T21:37:00.000+05:30

Jim Barnett knows the perils of competing with Google. He saw firsthand how the company's mastery of search vanquished early leaders like AltaVista (where he was CEO) and Excite.

Now, he's striving to take on Google in the online advertising realm, where the Big G boasts the Internet's largest ad network via AdSense, a system that puts links and banner ads on thousands of Web sites.

Despite AdSense's success, Barnett believes the system has plenty of flaws, and he's betting his new venture, Turn, will be able to take advantage of those weaknesses.

"It's exhilarating," Barnett said of the upcoming fight against Google. "They're very good competition."

San Mateo, Calif.-based Turn in recent months has attracted $18 million in venture backing from Norwest Venture Partners, Trident Capital and Shasta Ventures. Turn has about 1,000 advertisers in its system, which displays ads on approximately 30 sites.

Unlike Google, which charges advertisers on a per-click basis, Turn relies on a cost-per-action scheme. It charges advertisers only if users take desired actions, such as filling out registration forms or closing on sales. (A marketer such as Starwood, for example, could bid $20 for each hotel night booked, $3 for every e-mail sign-up and 75 cents for each site visit.)

Turn hopes to appeal to advertisers unhappy with poor conversion rates from their contextual campaigns and frustrated by the complexity of compiling keyword lists.

Turn has another key point of differentiation: It analyzes 60 factors to decide which ads to show users, weighing variables such as past behavior, publisher demographics, copy contents and brand quality. The system shows either text listings or display ads, choosing the option likely to yield the most revenue, Barnett said.

Source: adweek.com

Google faces YouTube dilemma

2006-10-18T19:53:00.000+05:30

Google's acquisition of YouTube provides a "tantalizing opportunity" for the search giant to boost its advertising model, but the success of the partnership is far from certain, according to Gartner.

Analysts at the research firm said Google could struggle to maintain YouTube's loyal following and attract advertisers, highlighting the copyright concerns faced by the video-sharing site.

"Brand advertisers, in the main, are unwilling to place their marketing messages alongside (or in some cases inside) stolen or controversial material," said Gartner. "YouTube claims to be poised to deploy technology that roots out copyrighted material. But such efforts have been largely unsuccessful."

Gartner said YouTube's efforts to stamp out copyright infringement on its network had been marred by both false positives -- where legitimate content is deemed to by copyrighted -- and "significant violations that slip through the cracks".

That means the companies face "the burden of proving to advertisers that they will be able to resolve this issue without alienating their audience," the research firm added.

Google announced its US$1.6 billion acquisition of YouTube last week, but partners such as News Corp and content owners including Time Warner have already expressed their concern about the implications of the deal.

Courtesy: computerworld.com.au

Sales Without Search Engines

2006-10-15T12:27:00.000+05:30

Imagine one day you flip on your PC, log on to the Internet and go to google.com. The browser alerts you and says that there is no website found at that address. No problem you think, as you head on over to Yahoo.com. Same thing. No website found at that url. Now something seems fishy, go to MSN.com because you know Microsoft will never run out of money, and their search engine will be up. Nope, instead you get another alert box telling you that there is no website found at that url.

Imagine that!

Yes, imagine an Internet world where no search engines exist, and anyone trying to make a living online selling a product or service has to be found.

Where would you start? Where would you list your site(s)? How would you get your site found by your potential customers?

This is the mentality you should always take when promoting your website. Sure, it'd be great to have top rankings in the search engines, and get all of that free targeted traffic coming to your site. But just as easily as you achieve that ranking, you could lose it overnight - with a simple filter change in the algorithm.

You've heard of the "Florida" update that caused many site owners panic attacks as their previously highly ranked sites fell off the face of the Internet. They lost sales, traffic and dreams of Internet riches.

Why? As someone famous once say: "Don't place all your eggs in one basket" - yet too many website owners do. They are obsessed with a top ranking in Google instead of building a brand name people will recognize and trust. Top rankings in the search engines should be part of your Internet marketing strategy, but dedicate only a portion of your efforts to that. You should equally spend your time pursuing partnerships with other non-competitive sectors of the Internet.

You've seen a web-ring. To refresh, they are a group of related sites that link to each other. Internet marketing is the same concept, but on a much grander showcase. You can advertise your site in the costly Pay-Per-Click Arena, and if you have the budget to do so, by all means, that is the quickest way to get found. But keeping in mind that search engines don't exist, what would you do to get the word out?

1. Press Releases - While they should be reserved for newsworthy purposes (new product/service, acquisition, attending Trade Show or Convention, etc.), they are a great way to get people to visit your site when they are looking for information relating to your product or service. It's also a great way to build your brand name and to become known as an authority of information in your field.

2. Directory Listings - Quite simply, this is the easiest way to get your site indexed by search engines. There are many free directories that you can get your site listed in, and there are many fee-based directories that are worth the price of adding your site. The added value is that since your site is listed categorically, it helps to re-enforce what your site offers, since it will be found with similar sites.

3. Articles - Expose your expertise! While article writing is not easy, it is an extremely valuable asset to your site. By writing, you are creating unique content found nowhere else and we all know how much search engines love that! It also gives you another way of explaining a product or service without coming off as a sales pitch. Another added benefit of writing articles is that it's a great way to naturally grow the size of your site in an organic way, and will in turn, make your site become a "hub" of relevant information in regards to your industry.

4. Newlsetters - This should be your site's bread and butter. The people who have signed up for your newsletter already feel that your site was worth their time to give you their email address, so these people have already place some trust and value into what you have to say. The newsletter is where you can promote new products and services to interested users without risking any intrusiveness factors. This is the best place to make a sales pitch to your perspective readers!

5. Blogs/RSS Feeds - While to some people this is already old-hat, there are many users out there (think AOL users) who have no idea about how to customize the content they want to read. There are many areas to get your blog listed, and it gives an inside point-of-view into the inner workings of your company or personality, thus giving yet another way for a user to identify with you or your site.

It's safe to say that the search engines will always be around, but to focus entirely on them and ignoring the other resources could be a costly business mistake.

Just remember to keep your eye on the prize of online success, and customers coming from various outlets, not just the search engines.

Paul Bliss
SEOforGoogle.com

SEO Masters India Known as Dedicated SEO India launched New Website

2006-10-05T20:25:00.000+05:30

Did you know that 90% of unique internet traffic to a website originates from a search engine. So you can not ignore search engine optimization or search engine marketing!

SEO trend in India is fast catching up. Many SEO companies in India have set up their services. These SEO firms in India have become successful in a short period of time as the service that they provide is needed by everyone who wishes to achieve success in web marketing.

SEO Masters India doesn’t stand different but are different is all aspects of their service. For them what stands more important is their worldwide clients who made their site worth visiting in such a vast IT industry. SEO Masters India strongly believes in them, know capabilities and limitations and work accordingly on any given project. SEO Masters India makes sure that whatever they do is client and quality centric.

Their team consists of experienced SEO / Internet Marketing Experts who can offer expertise in the areas like Web Promotion, Internet Marketing, PPC Campaign and Top Search Engine Positioning. With focused nature to place our client's website prominently in the search engines and further retain the search engine rank positions, their professional and expert SEO team has developed successful and ethical web marketing and Natural SEO techniques over the years and have a proven track record of excellent results and a plethora of satisfied clients.

SEO Masters India has a budget for every type of business and with affordable options to suit your marketing goals; they will certainly increase your online presence!

Feel free to circulate and share out this press release as you wish - if you can post it on your own site or email it to your friends then please do. It’s real time to reproduce the word far and wide amongst the all community across the world.

SEO MASTERS INDIA is truly a MASTER of these elements.

SEO MASTERS INDIA
Email: seomastersindia@gmail.com
http://www.seomastersindia.com