이병무 - Brian Lee > Brian Lee - Town > 검색엔진 최적화 - Search Engine Optimization

These 10 SEO Tactics Bring Me Over 2000 Visitors Daily

평상심 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:44:07 -0700

These 10 SEO Tactics Bring Me Over 2000 Visitors Daily
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2008

No matter how hard some people try to mystify SEO, it is not as complicated as many would lead you to believe. Despite all the techno jargon that many in the field will throw at you: SERPs, SEM, PageRank, Keyword Density, Vertical Search, Algorithms... SEO is really simple to do if you understand some basic concepts and follow some easy steps.

Search Engine Optimization is getting your content listed in all the top positions in Google, Yahoo and MSN for your targeted keywords. When someone does a keyword search in a search engine for your particular subject or niche - you want your site or content to be at the top of the list.

Here are 10 SEO tactics that have worked and are working for me at this moment in time.

1. Quality Content is and always will be your number one factor for getting high rankings and keeping them. You must understand search engines are simply businesses that supply a product like any other company. That product is information. They must provide quality results to anyone using their service to solve a problem, answer a question or to buy a product. The more relevant, the more targeted the search solution they return, the higher the overall quality of their product and the more popular their search engine will become. Providing quality content is vital for SEO success.

2. Keywords are your number one tools for achieving high rankings. You must understand keywords and how they work on the web. You must know how many searches are made each day for your chosen keywords. Sites like Wordtracker and Seobook will give you a rudimentary number of searches. Design your pages around your targeted keywords and don't forget to do some deep-linking to these pages on your site. Find and build backlinks to these interior keyword pages and not just to your home page or domain URL. Picking keywords with medium to low competition has worked out well for me. So too has using the more targeted and higher converting "long-tail" keywords been very beneficial for me.

3. Onpage Factors and site design will play a major role in the spidering and indexing of your site/content. Make sure all your pages are SEO friendly, make sure all your pages can be reached from your homepage and no pages should be more than three levels away from it - keeping a sitemap listing of all your major pages makes the search engines happy. Make sure you have all your meta tags such as title, description, keywords... optimized (Title = around 65 characters, Description = around 160 characters).

Remember, your title and description should be keyword targeted and are the first contact/impression anyone will have of your site - make sure you use them to draw and entice interested visitors to your site and content. Also make sure your title and URL are keyword matched for maximum effect. Having your major keyword in your Domain Name also helps, using a pike | to separate different elements of your title has helped my rankings, so too does having your keyword in the first and last 25 words on your pages.

4. Google will send you the most qualified traffic so concentrate the majority of your SEO efforts on Google. Don't ignore Yahoo! or MSN but Google is king of search so give it the respect it deserves. With its new browser, Google's influence will only grow stronger so you must optimize your pages for Google. Use Google's Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics to fine-tune your pages/content. I also use Google Alerts to keep up on my niche keywords and for comment link-building on the newly created pages Google is indexing.

5. Link Building is still the most effective way to boost your search rankings. Make sure you get backlinks from relevant sites related to your niche market and make sure the 'anchor text' is related to your keywords but don't ignore the text and overall quality of the content linking to you. The anchor text is the underlined/clickable portion of a link. Don't forget linking is a two-way street, make sure you link out to high quality, high ranked relevant sites in your niche.

6. Article Marketing is a well established method of getting quality backlinks and it still works. Writing short 500 - 700 word informative helpful articles with your backlinks in the resource box is still very effective for getting targeted traffic and backlinks. Longer articles have also worked for me and I use an extensive network of distribution, including SubmitYourArticle, Isnare, Thephantomwriters... plus other major online sites. Don't forget the whole element of blogging and RSS feeds in your article distribution. And always remember you're also using these articles to pre-sell your content or products. Don't forget to leverage sites like Squidoo, Hubpages... to improve your rankings and traffic.

7. Onsite Traffic Hubs have worked extremely well for me. These traffic hubs are whole sections of your site devoted to one sub-division of your major theme. For example, if you have a site on Gifts, then wedding gifts could be a separate section. This would be fully fleshed out with extensive pages covering everything dealing with wedding gifts - a self-contained keyword rich portion of your site on wedding gifts. Works similar as a sub-domain, but I prefer using a directory to divide it up, such as yourdomain/wedding_gifts. (Most experts suggest always using a hyphen in your urls, but underscores have worked fine for me.) Search engines love these keyword/content rich hubs but keep in mind you're creating content to first satisfy your visitors.

8. WordPress blog software is extremely effective for SEO purposes. WordPress software is easy to install on your site even if you haven't any knowledge of installing server-side scripts. Besides, search engines love these highly SEO friendly blogs with their well structured content and keyword tagging. I have at least one of these on all my sites to draw in the search engines and get my content indexed and ranked. I also use Blogger (owned by Google), Bloglines and other free blogs to help distribute my content.

9. Social Bookmark/Media Sites are becoming very important on the web. These include a whole range of social sites like MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter... media news sites like Digg, SlashDot, Technorati... you must get your content into this whole mix if you want to take full SEO advantage of Web 2.0 sites. You should be joining these sites and using them. It's time consuming, but it will keep you in the swing of things. One simple thing you must do is to put social bookmark buttons on all your pages so that your visitors can easily bookmark your content for you. You can use a WordPress plug-in. I like using the simple free site/service from Addthis.com which gives me a simple button to put on all my content.

10. Masterplan! Many webmasters and site owners forget to develop or have an overall masterplan/strategy when it comes to SEO. You must have an understanding of what SEO is and what it can do for you and your site. More importantly, you just don't want SEO - you want effective SEO. In order to achieve effective SEO you must have three things: Relevance, Authority and Conversions.

First, your content/site must be relevant to the topic or niche area you're pursuing - your content must fit in and be related to all the other sites in your niche. That's why closely themed sites do so well in the search engines. They give only relevant content to what's been searched for or discussed.

Second, your content/site must be perceived as an authority site on your subject or niche. Establish this authority position and the search engines will love you and your content. One way to develop this authority, besides offering superior content, is to form links/partnerships with other perceived authority sites in your field. Always strive to make your site an authority site - tops in your niche - the one site everyone has to check before drawing or forming a conclusion.

Third, conversions should be your main goal of any SEO efforts because you want to convert your targeted traffic into site members, subscribers, buyers or just repeat visitors. If you're into online marketing, conversions will be the most important element of the whole SEO process because you want buyers, not just visitors coming to your site.

Most of all, you must convince yourself Search Engine Optimization is not difficult, nor is it the equivalent of the online bogeyman as many would like you to believe. Used effectively, SEO can give you the targeted traffic you're seeking. Just follow some of the outlined steps/tactics listed above and you will have SEO working for you and your site in no time at all.

Your Website from the Ground Up in 10 Steps

평상심 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:41:53 -0700

Your Website from the Ground Up in 10 Steps
By Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.

So, you have finally decided to build yourself a website, but really have no idea where to start. The following 10 steps will give you some insight into what you need to address when creating a search friendly website from the ground up.

While this article is not an exhaustive list of everything you need to know, it does touch base on many of the important aspects of creating a new website.

Step 1 - Keyword Research
Even before you choose your domain name, you should put a little time into some keyword research. Research all the possible keywords that will fit your industry and the website you plan on building. Having a clear idea of what your end targets are will make the rest of your job much easier and help things to just fall into place. Take a look at Keyword Research for SEO, written earlier this summer, for more help on this.

Step 2 - Domain Selection
If you already have an established brick and mortar business and the website will be an extension of that business, using your company name as the domain name is in most cases the best idea. If your company name is either irrelevant, or simply unavailable, you may want to consider a domain that has your target phrase listed as part of the domain.

A great example of this is if your site is focused geographically. Using the location as part of the domain when possible will give you a little extra juice with the search engines and help draw people to your site as they instantly can see the relevance in the domain.

Let's say that you are building a website focused on your home town, "Somewhere USA". A domain you may consider could be "Somewhere.com"; however, this would probably be already taken. Other options such as "SomewhereInfo.com" or "SomewhereGuide.com" may be good alternatives. The same goes for retail stores. "SomewhereCameras".com or "SomewhereBakery".com would also be good choices.

Avoid excessive use of hyphens; sometimes it is appropriate to use one, but if you can help it, avoid more than that as it can appear messy and even spammy in some cases.

Step 3 - System Back End
If you plan on having a large scale website that will grow and change constantly then you may want to consider a content management system (CMS) such as Joomla. If you decide to go this route, you want to ensure that whichever CMS you choose is search engine friendly and offers items such as unique title tags, custom URL's, and full control over content, heading tags, image alt tags, etc.

Starting a website using a non-friendly CMS is like buying a car without an engine. Sure it may look great, but it won't get you anywhere.

Step 4 - Site Structure & Navigation
This is really one of the most fundamental aspects of your site creation. If the structure of your site does not work well, then your site may be doomed from the very beginning.

Take a look back at your keyword research and brainstorm all the areas of your site that you may want to develop content for. In some cases you may find valuable keywords that would fit perfectly into a few pages of content for your site. If the phrase and the content would be a good match for the theme of your site, go ahead and note them as pages to create. Get a list, or flowchart, of all the content you plan on adding and sort those pages into relevant categories.

Be sure your site files are saved in a way that makes sense - this includes both the file name, and the complete path to the file. Save files, including similar content in a relevant subdirectory, with simple file names representing each. Let's take an example of an informational site dedicated to a specific geographic location. If you have a series of pages dedicated to recreation, you may save them as:

/recreation/parks.html
/recreation/trails.html
/recreation/beaches.html

Keeping your URL structure clean and tidy can not only help with search engine rankings, but it will give a good visual impression to the site visitor as well. Often, using each of these categories as main points for your primary site navigation may make the most sense.

Also be sure to keep your site relatively flat, with as few layers as possible. Don't make the search engines follow a dozen links to get to the deepest levels of your site. Unless the site is literally tens of thousands of pages, there is no need to click more than 2 or 3 links to get to any deep content. The shorter the path to an internal page, the more credit by the search engines.

Step 5 - Navigation
When developing the end site, you also want to make sure that your site navigation is search engine friendly - this is critical if you ever want free organic listings.

If possible, use a text based form of navigation. You can use CSS to style the text links to fit into your graphical design. Text links are the best method, but image based navigation and even some forms of drop down menus are also search engine friendly.

If you choose to use image based navigation be sure to include image alt text relevant to the link to give something for Google to associate with the linked page. If you absolutely must use Flash, or any form of navigation not friendly for search engine spiders, be sure to supplement this with text based links on another location of the page.

Step 6 - Analytics
It isn't ever too early to start thinking about your stats. Before your site goes live you must have some form of accurate analytics in place so you can measure your site's traffic and progress.

There is an endless supply of analytics options out there to choose from. You can simply use the stats software that comes free with your web hosting, however, more often than not, they tend to be very basic with no flexibility. Advanced choices such as ClickTracks can give you rather in-depth statistics, but for a very small mom and pop operation it may be too expensive. Google Analytics, is a free option that can give you most, if not all the data you will need and does not require access to your raw log files.

If you do opt for an option such as ClickTracks, check with your host to ensure that you will have the raw log files you require. StepForth can also help you with your statistical analysis and offers a number of inexpensive ClickTracks service packages

Step 7 - Content Creation
Now is the time to get that new, fresh content posted to your site with the SEO in mind. Make sure that the content you write reflects your industry and target keywords. You don't need to flood the content with your target keywords, but make sure they are in there a few times. When it makes sense to do so, also include some acronyms to help Google establish the overall relevance.

If you perform a search in Google for "~keyword", any words that Google bolds in the search results will be acronyms that Google deems relevant. Include some of these where possible.

Step 8 - Basic SEO
Ensure that ALL pages of your site include unique and Meta Description tags. This is one of the core fundamental aspects of an optimized size and it does play a significant role in your search rankings. Make sure that these tags are not only unique but are accurate representations of each page. Also be sure to place your target phrase in heading as well as image alt tags where applicable. Step 9 - Initial Promotion / Launch Now that you have your new site all up and ready to go, you want to give it that kick start to help drive some traffic. It will be a while before the search engines fully index your site and even longer before you start to see organic rankings for your target search phrases. It is important to start off right away to get the ball rolling. Start off by issuing a press release to announce the launch of your new business website. Press releases are a great way to get some traffic and a rather valuable first link into your site. Submitting your press release using a company such as PRWeb will get your link in the engine's path and should help your site to be initially indexed by Google right away. Next submit your site to some relevant directories starting with DMOZ. It can take months, even years, to have your site listed in DMOZ, so it is important to get it submitted right away. Consider submitting to other industry relevant directories. For some information on how to select the right directories take a look at Building Links with Directory Submissions Work on getting as many links from relevant industry websites as possible. The more links you can get from reputable sources, the better the overall performance of your site. Step 10 - Ongoing Promotion Once you have completed the site, the content looks great, and all appears finished, you've still got work to do. For long term success, especially for a brand new site, you need to continually promote your site. You should always be looking at ways to build your inbound links and your relevant content. Consider creating accounts with various social media platforms to help promote your site. These can not only give you a link back to your site, but they can help you drive traffic and raise awareness about your business and product. A site that is always growing, and always getting new links, has the best chance of getting a stable top 10 listing in Google. </article> <article> <h1>검색엔진 등록 사이트 모음</h1> 평상심 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:51:27 -0700 블로그등록 사이트모음 좋은 내용이라 퍼왔습니다. 국내 유명 메타블로그 사이트들 올블로그 <A HREF="http://www.allblog.net/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.allblog.net/</A> 이올린 <A HREF="http://www.eolin.com/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.eolin.com/</A> 블로그코리아 <A HREF="http://www.blogkorea.org/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.blogkorea.org/</A> 오픈블로그 <A HREF="http://www.openblog.com/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.openblog.com/</A> 커리어블로그 <A HREF="http://careerblog.scout.co.kr/" TARGET='_blank'>http://careerblog.scout.co.kr/</A> 블로그플러스 <A HREF="http://www.blogplus.net/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.blogplus.net/</A> 버즈 <A HREF="http://blog.ebuzz.co.kr/" TARGET='_blank'>http://blog.ebuzz.co.kr/</A> 블로그나와 <A HREF="http://www.blognawa.com/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.blognawa.com/</A> 프리로그 <A HREF="http://www.freelog.net/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.freelog.net/</A> 콜콜넷 <A HREF="http://www.colcol.net/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.colcol.net/</A> 블로그 이야기 <A HREF="http://www.blog2yagi.com/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.blog2yagi.com/</A> 블로그모아 <A HREF="http://www.blogmoa.com/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.blogmoa.com/</A> 미디어블로그 : <A HREF="http://www.mediamob.co.kr/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.mediamob.co.kr/</A> 코리안블로그 : <A HREF="http://www.koreanblog.com/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.koreanblog.com/</A> 나루 <A HREF="http://www.naaroo.com/" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.naaroo.com/</A> 검색엔진 등록 네이버 블로그 등록 <A HREF="http://blogsearch.naver.com/popup/FeedAdd.nhn" TARGET='_blank'>http://blogsearch.naver.com/popup/FeedAdd.nhn</A> 네이버 홈페이지 등록 : <A HREF="http://submit.naver.com/registry/registry.nhn" TARGET='_blank'>http://submit.naver.com/registry/registry.nhn</A> 다음 홈페이지 등록 : <A HREF="http://help.search.daum.net/help/register.html" TARGET='_blank'>http://help.search.daum.net/help/register.html</A> 엠파스 블로그 등록 <A HREF="http://blog.empas.com/empas/9261970" TARGET='_blank'>http://blog.empas.com/empas/9261970</A> 엠파스, 네이트닷컴 홈페이지 등록 센터 <A HREF="http://add.empas.com/" TARGET='_blank'>http://add.empas.com/</A> 구글 블로그 등록<가입><A HREF="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview?hl=ko" TARGET='_blank'>https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview?hl=ko</A> 구글 홈페이지 등록 <A HREF="http://www.google.co.kr/intl/ko/add_url.html" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.google.co.kr/intl/ko/add_url.html</A> 파란 블로그 등록 <A HREF="http://blogspace.paran.com/index.php" TARGET='_blank'>http://blogspace.paran.com/index.php</A> 파란 홈페이지 등록 : <A HREF="http://add.paran.com/normal_info.php" TARGET='_blank'>http://add.paran.com/normal_info.php</A> 라이브서치 <A HREF="http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx" TARGET='_blank'>http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx</A> 야후<영문> <A HREF="http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/" TARGET='_blank'>http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/</A> 야후<한글> <A HREF="https://kr.suggest.yahoo.com/guide/guide_normal.php" TARGET='_blank'>https://kr.suggest.yahoo.com/guide/guide_normal.php</A> 드림위즈 홈페이지 등록: <A HREF="http://request.dreamwiz.com/BIN/register.cgi?" 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Ironically, these sites rank well for the keyphrase "search engine optimization tips", but the SEO tips that you seek are: 1. Buried in dense blocks of text which make them difficult to find. 2. Featured on sites so unappealing to the eye that you don't care whether the content is good or not. 3. Bracketed by distracting ads that encourage you to Buy Their SEO Book! Please bear in mind that achieving success through search engine optimization is highly dependent on a wide range of factors and any ethical Internet marketing consultant will tell you that up front. Some rules will apply to your website and some will not. But even when everything is done correctly, ranking well doesn't happen overnight as some sites lead you to believe. It takes time but if you're willing to be patient, search engine optimization will help you and your business achieve its goals. Additional Search Engine Optimization Tips 1. Know Your Target Audience - Before any code or content is written for the site, think about your target audience and keep them in mind at every stage of site development. Consider age, gender, and especially, think about the things that will make your target audience want to visit your site often. 2. Build a Clean, User-Friendly Site - Web users have very short attention spans and the decision to linger at your site or click the Back button is made in a few seconds. Build a site that's easy on the eyes and structure it so that information can be found quickly and easily. Use bulleted lists, subheads, bold important text but don't overdo it, and use clean, intuitive page layouts. Avoid building pages with frames, .PDF's, and Flash. By the time these pages have loaded, your viewer is probably long gone. 3. Well-Written Content - Make sure the content on your site is well-written, gets right to the point, and doesn't insult the intelligence of your readers with wild claims and hyperbole. Good content encourages readers to explore the other pages of your site and creates high-quality inbound links. 4. Let Keywords and Keyphrases Occur Naturally - Both search engines and readers alike will notice obvious keyword stuffing immediately and your credibility will suffer. Let the words and phrases that you want to optimize occur naturally in the content without overdoing it. 5. Use Short, Relevant URLs - Give your page URLs good file names which include the keywords optimized for that page and definitely avoid query strings. Try to limit page titles to relevant words separated by hyphens. For example, instead of ".com/seo" try ".com/search-engine-optimization-tips" or ".com/seo-tips. " 6. Good Meta Descriptions - Keep meta descriptions between 200-250 characters and make them relevant to the page and informative. Good meta descriptions raise confidence that the page will contain the information that web users seek therefore making it more selectable. 7. Quality Inbound and Outbound Links - The quality of your inbound and outbound links far outweigh quantity for SEO purposes. Link farming is frowned upon by search engines and readers alike. If someone clicks on an outbound link from your site, make sure that it takes them somewhere interesting and informative or they're not likely to click on another. 8. Limit Keywords and Keyphrases - Feature two or three optimized keywords and phrases on each page and again, make them occur naturally in the content. If you want to rank well for other terms, simply build other pages optimized for those terms. 9. Update the Content Regularly - Add new content to your site on a regular basis. It gives your site visitors something new to read and the search engines will be inclined to index your site more frequently. 10. Avoid Unethical SEO Methods - Link farming, duplicated content, cloaking, spamdexing, and other attempts to fool search engine crawlers will get your site penalized and buried where no one can find it. Search engine algorithms are increasingly sophisticated and Black Hat SEO methods will destroy any possibility for ranking well. These are just a few search engine optimization tips for you to consider that will help your site rank well and there are many, many more. For a more thorough understanding of how these strategies and others work together to bring positive results, explore the other pages of this site and contact an experienced Internet marketing expert. The guidance and counsel of an ethical search engine marketing consultant is the best SEO tip of all. </article> <article> <h1>Do-It-Yourself SEO - A Beginner's Checklist</h1> 평상심 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:44:43 -0700 Do-It-Yourself SEO - A Beginner's Checklist By John Metzler (c) 2008 There have always been do-it-yourselfers succeeding at web promotion and search engine optimization. In fact, many of the established businesses offering web services today came from humble beginnings, perhaps nothing more than a college student with a laptop, an internet connection, and too much free time. The Web evolves as the result of the innovation and experimentation of individuals. The sharing of knowledge. The do-it-yourself attitude. As text link brokers and mass link networking decrease in value and use of social media increases, it becomes more important for companies to have an internal approach and awareness of search engine marketing. Don't get me wrong; outsourcing to SEO firms is still a smart option. That said, making the most out of Web 2.0 usually requires some level of cooperation between SEO firm and site owner. You don't need to be an expert to know the basics of good SEO practices, and that added knowledge will be agreat advantage whether you're working along side an SEO team, or promoting your site in your spare time. Generate Leads - Close More Deals! So if you're on a "need to know" basis with SEO, the following points should illustrate what an overall plan should include: 1. Create Search Engine-Friendly Content Unique web content is your most valuable asset, and ensuring search engines can read it is crucial. Text embedded in images or Flash cannot be read, so make sure you use important keywords, headings, and hyperlinks in plain text form. Instead of using images as navigation links, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes it easy to format those links to look more like 'buttons', thus creating powerful anchor text as well as making it visually appealing. Use heading tags properly and don't try to hide keywords or text by making it the same color as the page background or shrinking it so it can't be seen. Make sure the keywords you wish to rank high for are used frequently in the page copy but within reason. Now that you've created good content, is it actually being crawled? Copy and paste a page's URL into a search engine to see if it has been indexed. If you've just created the page, it may take a few days to show up. Aside from age, many factors can lead to web pages not being indexed by search engines, such as duplicate content (ie. a printer-friendly version of a page might be indexed and the normal version not, or vice versa); links generated by JavaScript instead of HTML; poor site architecture (ie. using too many sub-directories); lengthy, dynamically generated URLs using special characters; and orphaned pages. 2. Choose Your Keywords Wisely One of the first steps of SEO, this one needs to be done properly the first time or all your future efforts and promotion could end up being wasted. Start by writing down general terms that describe your products, services or web content. Use keyword research services to investigate word and phrase variations. Wordtracker, KeywordDiscovery, and the Google AdWords suggestion tool are good starting points. The goal is to find those niche phrases that your target market uses to find sites just like yours and optimize your site for them. If the phrases do not get enough use by searchers, your profits from ranking for them will be low. At the same time, stay away from general terms that are tougher to rank for (ie. like "art", "computers", "business", etc.) as a great portion of the traffic will be irrelevant and you'll break the bank attaining such competitive phrases. 3. Get Others to Link to Your Site In theory there are countless ways, some traditional and some quite innovative, to get other web sites to link to yours. In practice, it can be easier said than done. Google defines a link as it pertains to rankings and SEO as a "vote" from one site to another. The more quality votes your site receives, the greater chance you have of ranking well. If a well established site links to yours, that link carries more weight than one would from a mom & pop shop or less reputable page. How Much is Your Website Worth? If your site has useful content and is doing something unique, you're already ahead of much of the competition. People need a reason to link to your site, as very few will do it out of the goodness of their heart. Trading links can work, but link exchange networks have decreased in value and won't be of much use in competitive fields. Buying links, if you haven't heard, is a big Google no-no. While entire articles could be written on this topic, here are a few popular methods of acquiring incoming links: * issuing company press releases with a link back to your site * submitting to reputable business directories such as Yahoo! and Business.com * be active on related blogs by commenting and exchanging ideas * if you have clients with web sites, ask if they would mind adding your link in a "partners" section * participate in relevant forums and discussion boards with a link in your signature * write and submit original articles to web publications in your field with a link in your bio * get involved in social media and bookmarking 4. Join the Social Media Revolution The collaboration between Internet users and the development of online communities is at an all-time high. Social bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Furl, Reddit, and Technorati provide users a way to store their favorite pages and media online, and share it with others. These services also provide a way to promote your content or create a buzz over a product or service. Creating a Myspace page or Squidoo "lens" is also a way to network and share information. Forget Expensive PPC Advertising - There is an Alternative! However, if your goal is to generate sales, then you must provide something without the promotional hype. The reality of social media is that popularity is based almost entirely on public interest. If your information or media isn't unique or of interest to anyone, you cannot force success using social media communities. The key to using social media and bookmarking sites to your advantage is to not be shy. Getting your entries and content to the popular pages on these sites requires some hard work. Network with other users, bookmark and share useful content, create eye-catching titles for your entries, and tell your friends and co-workers about the content you have on these sites. However, don't force your employees to vote your entries up - this is social media fraud. If you have great content and simply share it with as many people as you can, it will see success naturally. These four points are a general guideline to follow for SEO. Search engine optimization experts and firms are a good outsourcing option in competitive markets, while the DIY attitude can yield great results for web site owners with smaller marketing budgets. If you're in the latter group, hopefully this helps get you started. </article> <article> <h1>Look Beyond Google: Meta-Search Engines Can Help Online Marketers</h1> 평상심 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:42:03 -0700 Look Beyond Google: Meta-Search Engines Can Help Online Marketers By Bill Platt (c) 2008 the Phantom Writers For businesses that market wholly or partially online, it may seem that three words are the only way to get more customers: search engine optimization (SEO). Typically, the search engines being referred to are: Google, Yahoo, and MSN. These three engines have almost become interchangeable with the phrase "do a search", so much so that the word "Google" has entered the English lexicon as "find information". There are actually hundreds of search engines, not just the Big Three (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) that many Internet users think of. By focusing only on the most well known search engines for your marketing online strategy, you may be missing out on as much as 30% of the billions of searches being done online every single day. Use Web CEO for Capturing the Number 1 Position in Google! While not the oldest search engine on the internet, Google does have the reputation of being the granddaddy. However, it is worth investigating alternative search engines - niche engines, meta-search engines, and human-powered engines. Niche search engines focus their searches on a particular subject matter, such as blogs or articles. Meta-search engines (DogPile, Widow) compile results from multiple search engines . Finally, human-powered search engines (Mahalo, DMOZ) are composed of directory pages with link and general information, put together by humans who search for the most relevant content. These alternative search engines tend to have pretty high page ranks, which give more credence to the fact that online marketers shouldn't overlook them. There is also the fact that some Internet searchers do not want to use Google because of personal or political views. Because of Google's popularity, it can (incorrectly) be perceived as having a monopoly on the search engine market. That perception, combined with opposition to a seemingly growing "corporate world", turns off some potential customers and eliminates your potential to reach them, if you focus only on Google or other big search engines. As part of SEO, using keywords to bring in consumers is all the rage. Businesses spend a great deal of time and money researching keywords, keyword density, and effects on page rankings in results lists. Guess what? It's not only a pain for the businesses to constantly be looking for which words may get them more hits and higher rankings; it's quickly becoming over done. Consumers are fatigued with seeing keyword-loaded articles and websites tagged with anything that could possibly be related to their search terms. This online marketing strategy may make sense in the short-term, but chances are good that by the time the strategy is perfected by your marketers, there will be a different trend altogether that needs to be learned. Marketing with the intent to only improve your page rankings, by any means necessary, is only a quick fix and could be quite expensive. SEO tactics are starting to turn customers off. If SEO is the main priority of a marketing campaign and keyword-dense content was the impetus for the customer finding the website, this hurts the site's credibility with the consumer. Perhaps they'll buy from you once because you showed up at the top of the results page, but will they remember you next time or just do another search? Another concern with search engines is the program spiders that crawl the Internet, looking for relevant pages for search results. Even the largest of the search engines can only cover a portion of the internet. According to Wikipedia, no search engine can search more than 16% of the net! In addition, the spiders have a massive amount of searching to do, which can be a slow and taxing process on the sites they are crawling. By the time a spider finishes crawling the Internet, the information collected can be outdated - pages and links have either been deleted or new information added. Spiders are certainly not a perfect means of finding good results with one search engine. Searching just one engine at a time is time-consuming and not very cost-efficient for searchers looking for the most appropriate information or businesses to suit their needs. Enter, meta-search engines. As mentioned earlier, meta-search engines compile results from multiple engines. Among these, dogpile.com is probably the most well-known. The problem with dogpile, as I see it, is that it spits back the top 10 results from each of the Big Three engines. This results in a lot of sponsored results at the top of the result list, followed by a mix of "normal" results and more sponsored results. The truth be known, I simply consider dogpile to be really annoying, so I avoid it. In comparison, widow.com uses a different sort of math equation that sorts through search engine results for the most relevant information and ranks them in their results pages. In an unscientific but entertaining comparison I performed, I plugged in "celebrity gossip" to both dogpile.com and widow.com. On dogpile.com, I felt like I had to search through commercials to find the content. The results on widow.com were much more relevant, giving me results with the desired content. Plus, I didn't have to look between the annoying sponsored results to find the information I wanted. Utilizing meta-search engines can be very time-efficient and cost-effective for online marketers, especially when doing market research, even for keywords. More importantly, if you can also rank in the meta-search and smaller niche search engines, you have a better chance of reaching the approximately 30% of searchers who do not use one of the Big Three engines, as their search tool of choice. The niche audience may be smaller than the number of consumers you're exposed to on Google, but if you can gain an audience in the niche search engines, you are likely to find consumers intent on buying what you are selling. It's a good general marketing strategy to remember that "quantity exposure" does not always equate to "quality exposure". It's also a good general marketing strategy to not rely on only one advertising platform to help you reach your target audience. </article> <article> <h1>Optimize Your Website...and They Will Come</h1> 평상심 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:06:34 -0700 Optimize Your Website...and They Will Come By Susan L Reid (c) 2008 What's the big deal about search engine optimization? Isn't it enough that you've put up a website, purchased some Google AdWords, and sent out an email to everyone you know announcing your site? In short, no. There is an art and science to search engine optimization (SEO), and it is critical for web-based businesses to know, understand and utilize if they want to drive quality traffic to their website via the Internet. Where do you begin, though? How can you possibly know whom to trust or what to do first with so much information out there on SEO? Do you buy links or not? Pay per click or go organic? And what about those SEO companies who are aggressively promising Number 1 rankings? When it comes to search engine ranking, there are a lot of rumors and myths about what will improve your rankings and what won't. Debunking Some Popular Search Engine Ranking Myths - Pay per click (PPC) ads will either help or hurt organic rankings. (Organic simply means the process by which web users find websites having unpaid search engine listings.) Debunked: PPC is categorized differently than organic listings. There is no effect, one way or the other, on ranking. - Websites are banned if they ignore Google guidelines. Debunked: While it's a good idea to read Google Webmaster Guidelines or Google 101: How Google Crawls, Indexes and Serves the Web, you are not banned if you ignore their guidelines. - Websites are banned if they buy links. Debunked: Sites are not banned. The links just aren't counted. - Copy must be a certain number of words, use a specific keyword density, and contain bold or italicized keywords. Debunked: It used to be thought that there was a magic number of words used or certain times a keyword or keyword phrase should be repeated. Not so. Same with bolding and italicizing. They don't do anything for ranking. - Duplicate content will get your website penalized. Debunked: It will just get filtered out and not counted. - Reciprocal links won't count. Debunked: Every link counts, to a certain extent. - SEO companies can improve your rankings without doing any on-page work. Debunked: Run if an SEO company tells you this. According to SEO expert Jill Whalen, SEO isn't magic and isn't a crap-shoot. "SEO is about making your website the best it can be for your site visitors and the search engines." Want to help the right kind of people find your website? Then you need to design your site so search engines can find, crawl and index your pages. Seven Ways to Get Your Website Crawled It's better to have one main website with numerous domains pointing to the main domain, than to have mini-sites or multiple sites with similar content. Mini-sites and multiple sites with similar content do not increase search engine listings and are frequently viewed by search engines as SPAM. If you do have several stand-alone websites, make sure each serves a different target audience and has unique content with different domain or sub-domain URLs. Search engines need to be able to follow internal links. To make that happen, use tags, text links, image links, and CSS menus. Spiders have difficulty with JavaScript menus, pop-up windows, drop-down menus, and flash navigation. Choose keyword phrases that are most relevant and specific to what your web page is about. Think from the perspective of someone searching for what you are offering on your site. Ask, as if you were they: What would I search for if I am looking for something on your page? Validate your keyword phrases through either paid or free services, such as Keyword Discovery, Wordtracker, or Google AdWords. Check for keyword competitiveness. Take into consideration the size of your business. In this case, size does matter. If you are a major player with a major brand, you can play in a larger competitive pond than a smaller company just starting out. Know what size pond is right for you, and check for competitiveness by putting: allintitle: "keyword phrase" in your browser and check the number count. Once you have your keyword phrases validated and checked for competitiveness, use them in anchor texts, clickable image alt tags, headlines, body text copy, title tags, and meta descriptions. Meta tags aren't all that important for crawling. SEO can be both intimidating and exhilarating. Intimidating because it seems as if just about everyone has an opinion on what it takes to get a high ranking in Google, so it's hard to know what to believe. Exhilarating because, once you understand the method behind the madness of SEO, you see the art and science of it. Then it becomes fun and easy to come up with a strategic plan about where to place keyword phrases, how to write copy, and what size pond is best for your company to compete in. Optimize your website, and they will come. </article> <article> <h1>Top 20 Contributing Factors For Google SEO</h1> 평상심 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:02:51 -0700 Top 20 Contributing Factors For Google SEO By Jon Bergan (c) 2008 Websites are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways of advertising. Whether it be a business, its product or service or something completely different, everyone of all ages is turning to the web as a method of getting their message out there. With the popularity of this marketing medium increasing and the number of websites always growing, it is obvious that everyone wants to appear at the top of Google's search engine rankings. Achieving such a task is not an easy feat, however with a bit of perseverance, one can definitely improve their chances of reaching that glorious first page result. Given that there is a heap of websites out there who are on the first page, what is their secret? It is a little industry term called "SEO" and it stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO basically consists of the customization of your website, its content and its internal and external links to assist in the overall indexing and ranking of your website in popular search engines. There are many contributing factors that are used in determining a website's ranking and every search engine is different. This makes trying to optimize your site for Google, Yahoo, Live and the many others quite a painstaking task. As most of us are aware, Google is currently the most popular search engine for the majority of Internet users. As such, it is only normal that we'd want to focus our sights on achieving a higher ranking within Google first with the hope that the rest will follow. To do this, we must start a journey that could potentially take months before we start seeing any real change, however we have to start somewhere. Our journey begins by defining some of the key contributing factors that Google uses to determine a website's and webpage's ranking within its results. These factors range from keyword use to manipulating internal and external links and the list goes on. To get you started, we have listed the top twenty factors that you should focus on in order to help get your website that little bit closer to the top of the search engine results listings. Keyword Use Factors The following components relate to the use of search query terms in determining the rank of a particular page. 1. Keyword Use in Title Tag - Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page's HTML header. 2. Keyword Use in Body Text - Using the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page. 3. Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords - Topical relevance of text on the page compared to targeted keywords. 4. Keyword Use in H1 Tag - Creating an H1 tag with the targeted search term/phrase. 5. Keyword Use in Domain Name & Page URL - Including the targeted term/phrase in the registered domain name, i.e. keyword.com plus target terms in the webpage URL, i.e. seomoz.org/keyword-phrase. Page Attributes The following elements comprise how Google interprets specific data about a webpage independent of keywords. 6. Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure - Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page. 7. Quality/Relevance of Links to External Sites/Pages - Do links on the page point to high quality, topically-related pages? 8. Age of Document - Older pages may be perceived as more authoritative while newer pages may be more temporarily relevant. 9. Amount of Indexable Text Content - Refers to the literal quantity of visible HTML text on a page. 10. Quality of the Document Content (as measured algorithmically) - Assuming search engines can use text, visual or other analysis methods to determine the validity and value of content, this metric would provide some level of rating. Site/Domain Attributes The factors below contribute to Google's rankings based on the site/domain on which a page resides. 11. Global Link Popularity of Site - The overall link weight/authority as measured by links from any and all sites across the web (both link quality and quantity). 12. Age of Site - Not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines (note that this can change if a domain switches ownership). 13. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site - The subject-specific relationship between the sites/pages linking to the target page and the target keyword. 14. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world. 15. Rate of New Inbound Links to Site - The frequency and timing of external sites linking in to the given domain. Inbound Link Attribute These pieces affect Google's weighting of links from external websites pointing to a page and ultimately will assist in the ranking of that page. 16. Anchor Text of Inbound Link. 17. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site. 18. Topical Relationship of Linking Page. 19. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world. 20. Age of Link. Negative Crawling/Ranking Attributes There are also some points we should make before you start getting your hands dirty. With any type of SEO marketing, there are some things that can actually have a negative impact on your ranking. These following components may negatively affect a spider's ability to crawl a page or its rankings at Google. Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots. Content Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content in the Index. External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites. Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages. Overuse of Targeted Keywords (Stuffing/Spamming). It's now time to get busy! Start prioritizing your tasks, modifying your content and building your internal and external links to meet some of the above guidelines. Keep in mind that improving indexing is mostly a technical task and improving ranking is mostly a business/marketing strategy. What might work now may not work in the future and finally, it takes time. Loads of time. Still, with a bit of trial and error and a good dose of persistence, you can achieve the search engine ranking you're after. </article> <article> <h1>Top 11 Information Marketing Business Mistakes to Avoid</h1> 평상심 — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:00:35 -0700 Top 11 Information Marketing Business Mistakes to Avoid By Adam Urbanski (c) 2008 If you've tried your hand at building an Internet-based business but haven't yet reached the success you want, find out about these 11 deadly mistakes and how to avoid them. Mistake #1 - Not Treating What You Do as a Business. The difference between a hobby and a business is that a hobby doesn't make you money - it costs you money. If you're earnest about starting a profitable online business, approach seriously and focus on generating revenue. Treat your online business as you would any regular business. Mistake #2 - Being Distracted by Too Many Good Ideas. You can light up a room with a light bulb, but you can cut through steel with a laser beam. The same is true with your effort and ideas. Too many Internet-Entrepreneur-Wanna-Be's lack the will power to stay focused. Chasing too many ideas at the same time often leaves them exhausted, frustrated, and with little result to show for their hard work. The key to success is to select one business idea and to develop it completely before moving on to another project. Mistake #3 - Not Selecting a Specific Niche. Perhaps the biggest mistake of all is trying to be everything to everyone. You can't - so stop! It's very counter-intuitive to focus on a smaller slice of the market and most people are afraid to do it. But when you do, your business will grow faster, and you'll be more financially successful in less time. Mistake #4 - Falling in Love With the Wrong Product Idea. Even the most experienced entrepreneurs fall into this trap from time-to-time and develop products without doing any research. Before you devote any serious amount of time and effort to developing your new ideas make sure there is a demand for the type of product, information, or service you want to launch. If you need help with selecting an ideal niche market for your business and finding out which products you should develop first, take a look at this fast track training program. Mistake #5 - Falling for the "Get Rich Quick" Scheme! Remember the old adage "if something is too good to be true..."? It's alive and well on the Internet. Countless people buy into the idea of making millions online overnight. Sadly, they buy into programs hyped up with empty promises only to find themselves "out of cash and out of luck" a short while later. Be aware of spammers, illegal money-winning scams, and buying "ready to go businesses" that are "hot but will sell for cheap"! Before you fork over your money investigate if those hot businesses have ever made a dime for their current owner. Doing your homework will save you valuable time, money and many sleepless nights! Mistake #6 - Going Into It, Instead of Growing Into It. While the Internet makes it easier to reach your potential clients, you're still building a business - and that takes time. Don't tell your boss you're quitting today because you started this hot new online business last night and you'll be "rolling in dough in no time flat!" First make sure your business idea works and is profitable. That's one of the advantages of Internet Business - you can start small and step-it-up as your business starts getting sales and generating profits. Just be sure you can consistently replace your current income before jumping ship and telling your boss to "beat it"! Mistake #7 - Being a Copy-Cat! Quickly - what is the most popular business on the Internet? You guessed it - it's how to make money on the online! It seems that everyone who has bought a course on making money online is credible enough to teach this subject a week or two later! Don't fall for the allure of easy money - because it's only a perception. In reality your chances of having a successful online business are much greater when you are different from the pack. Mistake #8 - Wasting Time and Money on Developing Pretty but Useless Websites. A bad idea is a bad idea - no matter how pretty you dress it up. Many people waste precious startup dollars on expensive but needless graphic design work, pretty logos, and complex web design. In reality, many businesses can be simple and inexpensive to get off the ground. In fact, a simple site with little or no graphics will often make more money than one with all the latest bells and whistles flashing all over the page. Think - what is the core concept of your business. Outline it on a single sheet of paper, then implement it fast in it's simplest form. You can always give it a makeover and make it prettier if it's successful and profitable. Mistake #9 - Not Building Relationship with Clients. "Even though you don't know me from Adam, I want you to take out your wallet and give me $20 - in exchange I'll make you the King of the Universe!" What!? You don't want to give me your $20? What a surprise! Most people think about starting a business online in terms of getting a quick sale - with no prior relationship with their potential clients at all. In reality, you'll be more successful when you make your first goal to collect contact information from potential clients and follow up with them on regular basis. It's much easier to "sell something for Free" than trying to convince people to give you money at first. Make it your goal to prove your credibility online and make your business all about relationships with prospects and clients, and you'll build a thriving online empire. Mistake #10 - Calling It "QUITS" Too Soon! If your new online venture isn't making money at first, don't walk away from it too soon. Many entrepreneurs have multiple "failures" in their background - which in reality are lessons in what didn't work. Evaluate your ideas and get help with gaining a new perspective on what you're doing. With some new ideas you might find a new way to position your business differently and make it profitable. Or maybe you simply need to give it more time to gain the traction and momentum you want. Mistake #11 - Being too cheap! While it's a good habit to be thrifty with your dollars, don't confuse saving money with being cheap. Remember the price you're paying for things isn't always expressed in money. It's also the time, effort, and lost opportunities you can't take advantage of because you lack the know-how or are busy doing low-level tasks. Smart online entrepreneurs continually invest in their Education. They buy marketing training programs, time-saving software tools, and systems that allow them to grow businesses faster with less effort. The best news is that getting good basic training in how to start your information marketing business doesn't have to be expensive. </article> <article> <h1>The Ten Commandments of Search Engine Optimization</h1> 평상심 — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:24:31 -0700 The Ten Commandments of Search Engine Optimization By Bhaskar Thakur (c) 2008 Most of the time when we pitch to a new client we are asked for SEO guarantees. "Your competition has guaranteed top results and submission to 100,000 Search Engines and Directories". We go all out educating clients that Search Engine Optimization is all about smart work and not just adding random keywords and submitting to every directory possible. I'm writing this article to reach out to the SEO buyers and help them distinguish the crooks from the genuine SEO cos. I've compiled my Search marketing experience over the years in this article. I hope this helps you in selecting your Search Marketing initiative. Commandment 1: There are No Rank Guarantees. (Period) Search Engines alone control their indexing and ranking algorithm. Do not try to trick Search Engines. The only way to improve your search engine rank is by playing by the rules. And the rule is very simple: make it logical. Web content is primarily for the site visitor and not crawlers. If your Search Engine Optimizer sold you magic "Top rank on Google in 10 days flat". Forget it. There are no short cuts. Top ranking in Search Engine Natural Results will take time. Hard work is imperative especially in developing the content on your website and the links to your site. Commandment 2: Ranking is Not the End, It's the Means. Ask yourself what will a top search engine rank get you? Most businesses are interested in increasing sales on a website or at the least driving qualified traffic. Ranking for the right keywords (keywords used by your target audience) is important. There are SEOs who will try to show case results for keywords that occur only on your website. Beware such gimmicks. Commandment 3: Know Your Competition. "Rank" is relative position and more so in the Search Engines' natural results. How well you do in the search engine results is a function of how much hard work you have done in relation to your competition. Analyze your competition's keywords, links, keyword density and spread, but be sure not to copy your competition. Commandment 4: Use Search Engine Friendly Design. A search and visitor friendly design is a must for any successful website. Your website should be compelling enough for repeat visits by search engines and potential customers. Make sure you have search engine friendly URLs and avoid those long URLs with query strings. Commandment 5: Select Keywords that are Worthy. You must research your keywords before targeting. There are tools that give you a good idea of a keyword's search potential for example. It is important to know the number of searches for a keyword in the last month, last 6 months and last year. You should also find out the number of web pages that are targeting the keyword. It is advisable to start a campaign with keywords with moderate competition and a high number of searches. Commandment 6: Write Great Content. Even if your website site is technically perfect for search engine robots, it won't do you any good unless you also fill it with great content. Great means it has contextual and editorial value. Great content brings repeat visits and increases the chance of conversion. Great content is factual and appeals to your target audience. Your web page should have your desired action embedded in the content and you must ensure that the content is fresh. Keep adding and editing content regularly. Commandment 7: Use Good Hyper Linking Strategy. Hyperlinks make your content accessible and contextual. You must hyperlink in the right context within the website and to other websites. Good links are appreciated by the Search Engines and by visitors. No one likes to be taken to a mall selling "Macintosh" when shopping for "apples". Commandment 8: Write Relevant and Original Meta Content. Meta content is like a business card. Just as your business card tells who you are and what you do, Meta content tells the search engines the relevance and context of a web page. Resist the temptation to include everything in the Meta content, but make it detailed. Confused? The idea is to include only what is relevant to the page in the Meta Content but to include everything that is relevant. Commandment 9: Acquire Relevant Links. The links you acquire are the roads to your web page for search engine bots and visitors. Good links improve your webpage's equity on the World Wide Web and bad links make a dent in your equity and credibility. Be selective in reciprocal linking. Both reciprocal and one way links work, if you are prudent in selecting the links. Submit your website to the relevant sections in relevant directories. Commandment 10: Consult Experts, If You Need To. If you have the competence, there are two ways to learn - learning from your mistakes and learning from others' experience. You can choose either. If you have the time and can wait for the online dollars, do it yourself. If you want to get started now, it may be useful to consult the experts. </article> <article> <h1>How to Optimize for Google: Part 3 of 3</h1> 평상심 — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:32:50 -0700 How to Optimize for Google: Part 3 of 3 By Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO, StepForth (c) 2008 In Part 1 and Part 2 of How to Optimize for Google I discussed general website optimization, links, and Google webmaster tools. In Part 3 we will look at a number of other considerations which play a role in successful rankings in Google, and also touch on some tactics which are best avoided. Completing Optimization: Other Considerations Redirects If you need to use redirects on your site, it is very important to use the correct one. If a page is moving to a new location, or being removed all together, it is very important to have this page redirected to either the new location or the next closest page using a Permanent 301 Redirect. While rare, if a page is being moved to a new location for a short term, with the intent of it returning to the original location, then and only then, will you want to use a Temporary 302 redirect. For more information please see Redirects: Permanent 301 vs. Temporary 302 . Non WWW Redirects To help eliminate page rank split, and provide your site with a little extra value, implement a non-www redirect. What this redirect will do is change the URL to include the "www" whenever a URL is accessed that does not include it. This can help to consolidate links to the correct page and give your site some additional strength. For more help on Non WWW redirects please see: How to 301 Redirect Non-WWW to WWW URL's HTTP Headers Check your page headers! If you have implemented any form of redirect on your site including mod rewrites, check your HTTP headers. You may be surprised at what you find. Some forms of redirects may use a 302 code where you really want a 301. By checking your headers you can ensure all is well, and troubleshoot problems. On our website we have added our own HTTP Header Checker for your convenience. Home Page URL Never have more than one URL for your home page. If your home page is available and displays on more than one URL, then utilize 301 redirects on all but the main URL you want to focus on - in most cases "http://www.domain.com/". All your links pointing to the home page should direct to the exact same URL otherwise you will split the value of your home page into multiple duplicate URL's. Google sees "http://www.domain.com" and "http://www.domain.com/index.html" as different pages, but displaying the same content. This splits the overall value of your home page, and can decrease the chances of rankings. By keeping it consistent with a single URL, you remove this split and retain more of the strength. In theory having your home page split like this could bring with it duplicate content penalties, however, I have yet to see this actually happen - that said, it is best to avoid the risk all together. XML Sitemap XML Sitemaps are great for ensuring that Google and the other engines are able to spider your entire site. While an XML sitemap will not directly impact your search rankings it can help as Google is more likely to see any SEO based changes more quickly, which in turn can have an impact. Robots.txt This is the first file all search engines look for every time they visit your site. While placing a blank robots.txt file in your root folder will not help with search rankings, it will help reduce 404 errors appearing in your log files. It is also highly recommended that if your site utilizes an XML sitemap, to include a call to this sitemap within the Robots.txt file. Simply add the following line to ensure that the major engines (including Google) can find your sitemap: Sitemap: <A HREF="http://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml" TARGET='_blank'>http://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml</A> Potential Blockages If you are finding that your site is simply not being indexed it is possible that you are blocking the spiders in one way or another. Start with checking your main site navigation, if you are using Flash or some other fancy form of navigation that could be your problem right there. Next check your HTTP headers to ensure that your home page is returning a 2xx code which indicates that the clients' request was successfully received. Finally take a look at your Google Webmaster Tools for any noted errors. If you are blocking Google, chances are you will be able to uncover the issue with these steps. Duplicate Content Duplicate content can be quite damaging to your rankings. Ensure that all content on your site is unique. Never steal or "borrow" content from another site, and never cut and paste large portions of text from one page of your site to the next. By keeping all pages of your site entirely original you stand the best chances of getting a thumbs up from Google. Fresh Content / Regular Updates Update your content. In highly competitive markets, sites with old static content can often slip away. Keep your content fresh and updated to keep bringing Google back to your site. If they find new pages and updated pages with every visit, they will come back more often. Site Age The age of your site can also have an effect on search engine rankings. While there is little you can do (short of keeping the same domain) to help on this matter, remember that the longer your site is online, the better its chances for success. It pays to select the perfect domain right from the start and not to change domains mid-stream. Older sites that stand the test of time add a level of authority in Google's eyes. New sites seldom see rankings for competitive terms in their first year. Note: Site Age is determined not by the date the domain was originally registered by rather by the date Google first discovered content on your site. Load Time Load time can have an impact in your Google AdWords Quality Score but it is unknown for sure if it can also impact your organic search rankings. It is best to keep your load time to as little as possible. If it is not already a part of the Google Algorithm, it likely will be soon. Besides, it is also best in order to give your site visitors the best experience possible. Server Up Time This can be a rather significant issue. If you find that your web hosting company has a history of down time, change hosts. If Google comes to visit your site once and it is down, not to worry, they will come back, but if Google visits your site often only to find that it is unavailable, you can find yourself with drastically depleted rankings. Google Local If you have a traditional brick and mortar store, consider submitting to Google Local . While this will not directly impact your regular organic rankings, you may find your site ranking above the organic results with a "local business results" map listing. This tends to be most common when your business is near the geographic center of a city, and when the search phrase uses a geographic modifier. W3C Compliant Code There is much speculation as to if W3C compliant code can have a positive impact on search rankings, and the majority believe "maybe" with some saying "yes". Regardless, it is definitely a good idea to have your site be W3C Compliant if at all possible. Not only may it help you in terms of search rankings, but having compliant code can decrease load times, and help to ensure cross-browser compatibility, all of which are good things. If at all possible, it is recommended that sites be made to be compliant. Many experts who took part in the SEOMoz "Google Search Engine Ranking Factors" lean towards it not being a big contributor, however, it may be an issue if Google has difficulties indexing a page properly. A code validation service is available at validator.w3.org </article> <article> <h1>How to Optimize for Google: Part 2 of 3</h1> 평상심 — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:29:26 -0700 How to Optimize for Google: Part 2 of 3 By Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO, StepForth (c) 2008 Optimizing for top Google rankings includes a number of factors. In Part 1 of 3 we discussed onsite optimization. In Part 2 we will touch on incoming links as well as using Google Webmaster Tools. LINKS Links are very important in today's Google rankings, but just how many links you need will depend on both the competitiveness of your target phrases, and the quality of the incoming links themselves. Essentially the number one rule of links is to keep it relevant! Topical relevance is very important in order for inbound links to give your site the most value. If the page that links to you is relevant that is good, if the entire site linking to you is relevant, that is better. First to get an idea of how many links you may need, take a look at the top 10 ranking sites in Google and record how many links Yahoo is noting for each site. (This is because Google does not display anywhere near all the links they have noted). The average of this count is often a good indication of how many links your site may need. There are many different ways to get links to your site including the age old reciprocal link trade, directory links, article based links, and links from press releases. Reciprocal Links Reciprocal linking has seen its value drop considerably over the past few years, however, if the site you are trading with is relevant you can still receive value from these links. Paid Links Google frowns on paid links, however that is not to say that they don't work. Often you can find highly reputable and relevant websites which are offering paid advertising spots. If these links are coded to link directly to your website without passing through any tracking redirects, you will in many cases see value in the form of both direct traffic and increased link densities and rankings. Articles Writing and distributing industry specific articles is a great way to help boost both your link counts and site traffic; for examples of such content see StepForth's SEO Blog News articles. Consider writing articles on a regular basis and submitting them to some of the more popular services such as EzineArticles. Be sure to include a link to your site from somewhere within the article, or at the very least within your bio. Try to use a target phrase as part of the anchor text for additional value. Press Releases If something of importance has happened to your company such as a new product launch, or other notable achievement - essentially anything news worthy, put out a press release. Submit this press release through services such as PRWeb or PRNewsWire. Again, be sure to include a target phrase as part of the anchor text. There are also a number of places you can get links that have basically turned south, and are not generally recommended. These include signatures in form posts, guest books, and other typically free links. Forum Posts Forum posts can help to marginally raise your link counts; however, with this one you must be careful. Only add a link to your site in your signature if both the forum allows it, and you are a respected member of the forum. If you are a solid contributor and your posts have depth and meaning, and the forum is highly relevant to your site, then having a link in your signature may give your site some juice. Posting wildly to random forums will in most cases get yourself banned, and will be both a waste of time and potentially make you and your site look bad. Guest Books In nearly all cases, do not post your link to guest books. If you happen to stumble upon a guestbook that is highly relevant to your site, the other comments are relevant to your site, and you have something useful (and again relevant) to say, then perhaps consider it, but typically focusing on links from guest books is considered SPAM and is best avoided all together. Blog Comments Having a link from your blog comments is not necessarily a bad thing. If you find a relevant blog post of use, and have something relevant and constructive to say, don't be afraid to enter your link into the "URL" field of the form, but don't try stuffing links into the comment itself. Link Farms & Bad Neighborhoods These are sites that allow you to simply post your link no strings attached. They are mostly long scrolling pages with countless links. Stay away from them. If you see one, run in the other direction. These links are bad, will not help with your rankings, and in some cases can actually damage your rankings. Stay away from sites that cross link with obvious spammers. These networks of SPAM sites are not ones you would want your site associated with, and if you achieve links from enough of these sites it can adversely impact your rankings. Even more important, NEVER link to any of these sites - as that will certainly tie in your connection to them and give Google reason to discount your rankings. DMOZ, Yahoo and Other Directories Directory based links can be of significant help, especially if they are from highly reputable directories, the two biggest being DMOZ.org and the Yahoo Directory. Getting a site into DMOZ is like Gold. Google loves links from DMOZ and your site will reap the benefits. The big catch however is actually getting your site into the directory in the first place. Find the perfect category for your site and check to see if it has an editor. If you see a link "Volunteer to edit this category" try and find another relevant location. Pages without active editors take much longer to get listed into. Once you find the perfect directory submit your site every 4-6 months until listed. If you are lucky you will get in eventually. Yahoo Directory is seen as an authority in the eyes of Google, and getting your site in will help your link reputation. This link does come at a price of $299 per year, but will play a role in helping your website achieve top rankings. There are a number of other valuable directories out there that can help you with your search rankings. Before submitting to any directory the key is a combination of relevance and authority. If the directory is relevant and active, it may be worth considering. GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS Google Webmaster Tools can be very useful for your optimization efforts. It may not directly help you obtain higher rankings, but can help you trouble shoot if you are experiencing problems. It will also allow you to remove URL's that you don't want indexed and set various preferences such as your domain, crawl rate, and geographic target. XML Sitemaps This is the most common reason people use Google Webmaster Tools - the submission of their XML sitemap. While you can use your robots.txt to have Google find your XML sitemap, by submitting it directly to Google you can check up on the spidering status. Error checking Webmaster Tools is also quite useful for checking on various error URL's that Google may know about. Under the Diagnostics > Web Crawl you can view any errors that Google has to report on your site. By cleaning up any errors you can help boost your chances of rankings. Links From inside Google Webmaster Tools you can get a much clearer look at what sites Google is noting as having links to you, and give you a better indication of the need, if any, to raise your link counts. WWW Preference Be sure to select your domain preference under Tools > Set Preferred Domain. In nearly all cases you will want to select the version including the "www" . SUMMARY Inbound links play a significant role in successful Google rankings. By focusing on relevant links, as well as by diversifying where you get those links from, you can build a solid foundation for your search rankings today and into the future. Stay tuned for Part 3 (of 3) where I will discuss other considerations including redirects, HTTP headers, and a number of other factors which play a role in successfully conquering Google. </article> <article> <h1>How to Optimize for Google: Part 1 of 3</h1> 평상심 — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:25:51 -0700 How to Optimize for Google: Part 1 of 3 By Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO, StepForth (c) 2008 In today's online world search engine rankings can make your business succeed, and while rankings in Yahoo and MSN are very valuable, their combined market value is still less than that of Google. This makes achieving top rankings in Google that much more important. In this three-part series on How to Optimize for Google we will touch on a number of important aspects for top Google rankings including website optimization, links, Google Webmaster tools, and a number of other considerations. The focus of Part 1 will be with on page website optimization. THE RIGHT KEYWORDS This article is not about keyword research so I will not spend too much time on this topic, however, I felt it was important to at least brush on this slightly. If you are interested in reading more, please see Keyword Research for Organic SEO. Make sure that your targets are achievable. If you select the wrong keywords, it can make your entire optimization experience essentially a waste. Choose keywords that are attainable but yet still provide a reasonable search frequency for your industry. Your phrase selection should also be targeted to bring qualified traffic to your site. Using the hotel industry as an example, targeting the word "hotel" would make very little sense but by narrowing it down to "Victoria BC hotel" you now have less competition, and a more qualified audience. Keep your targets in perspective and go after the obtainable rankings. WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION There are many on-site factors that play a role in your search engine rankings. Here are a number of those factors and what you can do to increase your chances of success. Title Tag The title tag plays one of the most important roles in search results at Google, and is almost always the heading Google chooses for each of its listings. Placement of your target phrase is best used near the start of the tag and repeated again in the middle or near the end. Three uses of your target phrase may be helpful in some instances, as long as it is not too overwhelming. For best results each page on your site should have a totally unique title tag. It is also important to remember that because Google will use this title as the main heading for your listing, you will want to keep it attractive to potential searchers. Try to also add a call to action, or other wording to help make your listing appear attractive to searchers. To help illustrate the fact Google takes this tag into consideration, simply do a search for your target phrase and take a look at the titles of the top 10. I tried a search for a rather broad term "hotel" and saw that all 10/10 listings had it in the title tag, and 6/10 had it as the very first word. A quick scan showed that the entire top 30 either had the word hotel, or hotels in their title tags. If you do only one thing to your website, make sure that all your title tags are relevant, unique, and contain your target phrase for each page. Meta Description Tag The Meta Description tag is still occasionally used by Google as the description which appears in the search results themselves. While this used to be a more common practice Google tends to use it most often on sites with very limited content, or those which are flash based. I have seen it still used for content rich sites, however this is less common. The Meta Description tag still has an impact on search rankings. Your best bet when using this tag is to keep it short and sweet with your target phrase close to the start and not repeated more than 3 times. Like the title tag, each page on your site should have its own unique description tag. Meta Keyword Tag When it comes to Google this tag is useless, and won't influence your rankings. There is some speculation as to whether a spammy keyword tag can however, have a negative effect on Google rankings. As a result, if you do utilize a keyword Meta tag for the smaller engines, it is best to keep it clean and play it safe. Density Keyword density plays a role in overall rankings; however, it is not as cut and dry as it once was. Once upon a time there was a magic number that when used could almost guarantee top rankings. This is no longer the case. Today the ideal density varies from industry to industry, phrase to phrase. To find out what density you should aim for, take the top 10 or 20 search results and see what percentage those sites are using. In most cases you will find that the majority of these sites have a very similar density to one another, and this average density is a good estimation of what you should aim for. Body Text and Keyword Placement The location of relevant text on your site will help establish the overall importance of your target phrase. While you do not want to overwhelm the engines and site visitors with a bombardment of target phrases at the top of the page, try to sprinkle in some instances as close to the top of the page as possible. Synonyms Be sure to include various synonyms for your target phrases within your body text on your site. Google will use these synonyms to tie in the overall relevance of the page for your main target phrases, which in turn can improve your odds. To find possible synonyms you can use a thesaurus, but the best way is to search Google itself and see exactly what they consider to be similar. Simply search in Google for your target phrase preceded with a tilde, such as "~hotels". Next scan through the search results for any text Google has bolded. These are all words that Google considers to be related. Using the "~hotels" example Google brings up phrases such as 'travel', 'tourism', 'accommodation', as well as various hotel chain names such as 'Hilton Hotels'. Keywords in Domain There is still some speculation if having a target phrase as part of your top level domain (TLD) is of use to search rankings. From my experience, yes, there is value here, although, nothing like it was several years ago. If you are starting off in the online world and are contemplating which domain to go for, consider one that uses your target phrase, assuming that it is both relevant to your business name, and uses no more than a single hyphen. While multiple hyphens in a domain can be successful, they are very common with highly spammy websites, so it is best to not take that route if possible. While having a keyword located within your domain can provide some ranking juice, I would not suggest heading out and doing a domain swap. In most cases you would be better off working on your existing site than starting from scratch with a new domain. Keywords in page specific URL Using keywords for specific page URL's can also help add a little bit of value to your site, providing you use them responsibly. Consider using a keyword as a directory name and as part of a file name where it naturally makes sense to do so. If you have a website that focuses on tourism and includes local hotel listings, you may want to consider the following structure for your page on the Hilton: MyTourismSite.com/Victoria/Accommodations/Hotels/Hilton.html Heading Tags Placement of target phrases within heading tags helps to establish the importance of those given phrases. That said do not over do it, or abuse it. Only place target phrases within a heading tag if it makes sense to do so, and don't flood a page with numerous tags. Heading tags are not as critical as they once were, but still a good contribution to a well optimized page. Link Anchor text This is the actual text you click on as part of a link. When full or partial target phrases are used within your text links they help pass on some value to the linked page for those phrases. This is also true when considering surrounding text. When the content around the link is also relevant, the link holds slightly more value. While a link that simply states "click here" or "<A HREF="http://www.domainname.com"" TARGET='_blank'>www.domainname.com"</A> does have its place, they provide considerably less value than a link that would use "discount hotels" as its anchor. Image Alt Text While image alt text still plays a minor role, its biggest part is within the use of image based navigation. If you have an image linked to another page, the alt text will be attributed much the same way as standard link anchor text is. Image Alt text should always be short and to the point and should accurately describe either the image itself, or the page the image is linking to. Do not use alt tags as a place to stuff keywords. Inline Links These are links that are found mid sentence or mid paragraph as opposed to a simple listing of links as found in a menu or possibly on a sitemap. Links found mid paragraph tend to pass on a little more value from the surrounding text and can provide more relevance to the linked page. Site Navigation It is absolutely imperative that your website be fully spiderable by the search engines. This may seem obvious, but often webmasters overlook Google's ability to crawl a website. Google has become very advanced in what links it can follow and how it can spider a website, but there are still some things that can cause significant roadblocks. - Flash: One of the most commonly made mistakes is the use of flash. If flash is used as a sole means of site navigation then you can count on Google not viewing your internal pages, and having a significant disadvantage in terms of site rankings. - Java Script / DHTML: These days most Java Script and even DHTML menus can be spidered by Google, however, this is not always the case. If your site utilizes any kind of fancy navigation and you are wondering why Google has not indexed your internal pages, check out Google's Cached Text version of your page. If you do not see any text links, then your navigation may be invisible to Google. - Images: Image based navigation has been safe for many years now, but if your site uses this form of navigation it is essential to have brief, relevant alt text on all your buttons. This alt text will act much like standard anchor text for text based links. This is not only for the purpose of search ranking value, but take a look at Google's cached text version of your page. If you have image based links that do not have alt text, those links do not appear. This doesn't mean Google won't follow them, but for anyone viewing your site on a text based browser, your links will be invisible to them. URL Structure Avoid long elaborate URL's with extraneous characters. While Google has reached a point where they can index massive URL strings, it is best to avoid them if at all possible. For dynamic sites consider utilizing mod rewrites to significantly clean up the URL to not only make it more search engine friendly, but more user friendly as well. MyTourismSite.com/?locid="victoria"&catid="accommodations"&type="hotel"&comp="hilton" stands a better chance if cleaned up to read: MyTourismSite.com/victoria/accommodations/hotels/hilton.htm SUMMARY Basic website optimization is a critical component for successful placement in Google but is only part of the overall picture. Stay tuned for "How to Optimize for Google - Part 2 of 3" where we will discuss Links and Google Webmaster Tools. </article> <article> <h1>웹표준의 득과 실</h1> 평상심 — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:00:27 -0700 (Q.1) 제작업체의 관점에서 볼 때 웹표준화로 인해 현재 웹 환경에 무엇을 개선할 수 있는가? 그리고 현재 웹 환경에 웹표준화를 적용함으로써 제공해 줄 수 있는 장점은 무엇인가? (A) 첫 번째로 웹사이트 제작 프로세스의 개선이다. 해외에서는 2000년대 초반부터 W3C가 제안한 웹표준을 이용하여 구조와 표현, 동작을 각각 분리하는 프로세스를 이용하고 있는데 반해, 국내에서는 아직까지도 1990년대 중반의 낡은 프로세스를 이용하고 있다.이렇게 구조, 표현, 동작을 분리한 프로세스는 제작 과정의 효율성을 증대시키고, 결과적으로 인력과 비용의 감소로 이어질 수 있다. 두 번째로 웹 접근성 향상이다. 웹표준을 준수한 사이트가 얻게 될 가장 큰 혜택이 바로 웹 접근성 향상이다. 시각 장애인이나 노인을 위한 별도의 사이트를 구축할 필요가 없으며, 최근 이슈가 되는 모바일 웹을 위한 별도의 사이트도 제작할 필요가 없다. 세 번째로 기술 마케팅 진행이다. 웹 2.0으로 대변되는 차세대 웹의 핵심으로 UCC와 Ajax를 뽑곤 한다. 특히 Ajax는 사용자 인터페이스를 획기적으로 개선하여 많은 클라이언트에게 환호를 받고 있다. Ajax라는 단어를 만든 사람이 기술 마케터인 Jesse James Garrett이다. 표준 기술을 활용한 UI는 클라이언트와 사용자 모두의 경험을 혁신시킬 것이다. (Q.2) 제작업체의 관점에서 볼 때 웹표준화로 인해 기존 웹 환경에 야기될 수 있는 문제점은 무엇인가? (A) 첫 번째로 인력 수요와 공급의 불균형이다. 공공기관을 중심으로 웹표준 및 접근성 이슈가 확대되면서 많은 클라이언트들이 웹표준화를 요구하고 있다. 하지만 현재 국내 업계에선 이들 요구에 맞춰 사이트를 만들지 못하는 사례가 발생하고 있다. 웹표준화 인력의 부족이 그 이유인데, 업체들이 구인하고 싶어도 인력이 없는 게 사실이다. 두 번째로 자기개발하지 않는 업체들의 퇴출이다. 업체들이 자기개발을 해야만 한다. 신규 인력이 부족한 현실에서 기존 인력의 재교육과 자기개발 여건 마련에 노력해야 한다. 그렇지 않은, 또는 못한 업체는 클라이언트의 요구에 부응하지 못한체 자연방출될 수 있다. (Q.3) 2번 의제에서 제시한 문제점을 극복하기 위해 대안으로 제시될 수 있는 점은 무엇인가? (A) 첫 번째로 연구개발 활성화이다. 일부 몇몇 인력이 웹표준 능력이 있다고 하더라도 웹 사이트가 웹표준화되지 않는다. 기획자, 개발자, 디자이너는 물론이고 심지어 마케터들도 웹표준화를 명확한 이해하고 활용할 수 있을 때, 웹사이트의 웹표준화가 가능하다.사내에서 웹표준에 대한 연구개발은 반드시 진행해야만 한다. 기존 인력은 물론이고, 신규 인력 또한 웹표준화에 대한 지식이 부족할 수 밖에 없기 때문이다. 두 번째로 조직체계 변경이다. 클라이언트측 기술/디자인 센터로 통합이 필요하다. DB나 코어 개발인력을 제외한 기존의 디자인, 개발인력들을 체계적으로 관리하고 기술력을 전문화하기 위한 UI 센터 형식으로 통합할 필요가 있다. 세 번째로 전문업체와의 협력관계 유지이다. 클라이언트측 기술의 다양화 및 전문화로 인해서 해당 기술력을 보유한 전문업체와의 협력을 유지할 필요가 있다. 해외에서는 이와 같은 사례들이 꾸준히 증가하고 있는 추세이며, 국내에서도 몇몇 쇼규모 업체들이 전문성을 갖고 큰 업체의 업무를 돕고 있다. </article> <article> <h1>Search Engine Optimization is Only the Beginning to Marketing Online</h1> 평상심 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:18:17 -0700 Search Engine Optimization is Only the Beginning to Marketing Online By Mason Curry (c) 2008 Search Engine Optimization is Not Always the Answer Search engine optimization has a purpose. Keyword targeting lets search engines link their users to your website when they look for your keywords. They will not do this satisfactorily without optimizing your site with proper web design techniques. Unfortunately, however, it is more complicated than that. Have you ever wondered why Google will almost always place Ebay on the first few pages when anything is entered into the search field accompanied with the word buy? The word buy has been targeted from more sites than you could count so what makes Ebay special. For example, take the word bike. If a person uses Google by searching for the string 'buy bike', a page from Ebay will usually be listed before any of the major bicycle makers. It goes without saying that any of the major bicycle dealers have spent a great deal more time targeting keywords related to bikes than a site that manages hundreds of thousands of different products. The answer to this problem is the nature of this article. Can My Website Compete? The answer is to increase the importance of your site in the eyes of the major search engines. Ebay gets searched before many other sites because it has been decided by the search engines to be more popular with internet users. So what I am offering the little guy is a way to do what Ebay and the other 'big dogs' have done to become popular. The world of search engines boil down to the stereotypical high school hierarchy. Search engines pay more attention to those that are popular. In high school, teens usually become popular by having popular people associate with them. The online world is no different. But how do search engines know that popular sites are associating with you? That is an easy one - they link to your website. The three biggest search engine players all crawl the web indexing links to and from all the websites that they have found. They create a ranking system based on many factors, but the most substantial one is how many sites link to you. It could be argued that an optimized site is key, and my opinion expressed here is based on the assumption that your site has been built with proper design techniques. It is also assumed that you have well written content based on your main products or ideas. If you feel that your website does not currently qualify as well written or properly designed, I recommend that you rectify these issues before attempting to build your popularity as it may turn out to be a waste of time. Do Not Jump Right into Getting Links There are many tempting ways to get other sites to link to you that are very unsavory. I choose to address these first. These include: - sites that promote linking as a primary activity. - sites that have illegal or inappropriate content. - sites that are entirely unrelated to your target market Sites that do nothing more than link to other sites may look like a great option but a site without content is not very popular with the search engines. They need to provide something to internet surfers in order to be important. If they are not important to the search engines then a link from them should not be important to you. Link marketing is based on quality links not the amount of links. I advise staying away from these sites all together. Next, it goes without saying, sites with illegal and inappropriate content are never a safe bet. Getting a Good Start with Link Marketing Most of us do not have a lot of expendable income starting out so I do not spend much time explaining the options that involve paying large sums of money. In my experience, webmasters with that kind of money contact a company to handle this for them (I have had enough of them as clients to know). I intend on putting out another article to cover this option more in depth, however this article only covers the less costly options. There are 3 cheap ways to get get some link popularity: - Ezine articles - Field related forums - Banner/Link exchanges Ezine Articles Ezines are online magazines. Ezine articles provide two great benefits. First and foremost, they allow you to link to your site from your article or resource area. Also, they provide a chance to show off the knowledge you have in your field. Although this is essentially a free way to get a quality link, it does come with some work. You must be able to write a content rich article on a topic related to your site. Most Ezine sites do not mind giving you the opportunity to get your name out there but you need to provide them with a well written article that offers something to their users. Searching for ezine databases on any major search engine should provide you with a list of great sources for this linking method. Be sure to consult the guidelines of an ezine site in which you decide to submit articles. Related forums Forums are another great opportunity to get your site out there without paying up. Again, it does take some time. Find forums that cater to questions about your field. For instance, if you sell natural supplements for joint pain, search for forums related to arthritis. Find strings that are talking about different options for arthritis or ask about what works. This opens a perfect opportunity to link to your site. It is important to know that most forums are not keen on letting sales pitches post for long. The trick here is to provide quality information on these posts. You could compare your arthritis product to others, you could even provide a plug for a competitor (attempting to prove yourself superior, of course). This makes your post look less like a sales or link pitch and helps make the internet more content driven like it was intended to be. Banner/Link Exchanges There are usually two main ways you can get a banner or link on another site without offering any content. You can pay them a fee, or you can propose a trade. Like the other two options, only target sites that are related to you in some way. Exchanges require a little research on your part. You want to search for your potential link partner to see that they are worth the trade. A easy rule of thumb is to check their pagerank compared to yours. You can use this free tool to compare at CheckPageRank.net. Put your web address in and look at your pagerank as well as theirs. If you are paying for a link and they have a pagerank of zero it would be wise to save your money. If you are trading links, use your better judgment. If they have a quality site it may be worth the exchange in hopes that their site takes off and they can share a little of their success with you. Take note that a link from no single site will boost your website's importance significantly. Every quality link helps a little bit so you need to practice all methods for some time before you see the results you want. Stick with it and be patient. </article> </main></body></html>