Search engine optimization is a relatively complex business. Many people start working on it and give up after a while, thinking that they are not suit to do it.
Really, SEO needs a lot of work and knowledge. Any SEO master must know in depth many technologies like marketing, internet marketing, search engines, web design, some programming languages, etc.
Often, people start doing SEO without any knowledge, hoping that they will get it after some practice. Of course, large number of them fail. But there are few that succeed even without knowledge, support or investment.
So what is the basic rule of success in SEO?
It is simple - just never to give up. Yep, the success is not related to any knowledge, the most important thing is the wish for success. It is easy on words but after few months of hard work people tend to give up.
It is hard to continue working when you are disappointed of your achievements.
The cure for this state of mind can be a large vacation away from work and a strict schedule after it. This works for me pretty good, maybe it will work for you. And don't forget that you may be only one step away from the big SUCCESS!
Dec 22, 2008
Dec 13, 2008
Blog planning – how to start a high-traffic, high-paying blog?
After reading about a SEO experiment in DP, I gave a serious thought about what is the best strategy to start a blog. What is the best planning? How to attract more visitors? How to get maximum revenue? How to make people remember you?
I am not exactly a SEO expert, it is more likely that I am a SEO enthusiast. I am not interested in making money from SEO, my money source is programming. But for the past two years I do (and experiment on) search engine optimization for some sites. It is not a complete service and only small part of them are mine. I have some sites in high competition niches and some in low ones. And I make tests on different types of blog/website monetizing.
So what I have learned till now. The basic is – you have no guarantee in anything related to search engines. Two websites with no duplicate content but identical in niche/ marketing/ optimizing will have very different performance. This is not a rule of course but it happens most of the time. And all of this is just my opinion and analysis, I don't pretend to be fully right in anything.
I’ll make a simple plan for starting a blog, according to what I have learned till now. I choose a blog, not a website because it is a little more complicated for a website.
I am not exactly a SEO expert, it is more likely that I am a SEO enthusiast. I am not interested in making money from SEO, my money source is programming. But for the past two years I do (and experiment on) search engine optimization for some sites. It is not a complete service and only small part of them are mine. I have some sites in high competition niches and some in low ones. And I make tests on different types of blog/website monetizing.
So what I have learned till now. The basic is – you have no guarantee in anything related to search engines. Two websites with no duplicate content but identical in niche/ marketing/ optimizing will have very different performance. This is not a rule of course but it happens most of the time. And all of this is just my opinion and analysis, I don't pretend to be fully right in anything.
I’ll make a simple plan for starting a blog, according to what I have learned till now. I choose a blog, not a website because it is a little more complicated for a website.
- Initialization
This is the research part. If you haven't selected a niche for your blog - now is the time to do so. You must select a niche where you can provide quality content. If you are not a pro in writing consider hiring a professional writer. Make a deep research on your target niche. Analyze your competitors, niche forums, social sites, trends, keywords, etc.
Spending a little more time on this first part will help you to solve many problems of the future.
- Actions - any of this step may be not appropriate for your niche, make the final decision what to do in a clear mind
- Make minimum 20 posts before doing anything else with your blog. Maybe this advice is not suitable only for political/ civil/ spicy blogs.
- Make gradual link building campaign – too fast link building may put you in a sandbox
- Make minimum 3-4 posts per week for the first 3 months
- Active membership to some related forums and communities – minimum 3-4 quality posts per forum per week
- Make 30 or more directory submissions per week – prefer high rank directories
- Make minimum 20 posts before doing anything else with your blog. Maybe this advice is not suitable only for political/ civil/ spicy blogs.
- Goals
Define your goals depending on the niche popularity in a monthly rate:
- Unique visitors expectations
- Performance
- Revenue
Keep in mind that in a high competition niche your blog will need more time and efforts to become popular.
I usually start to monetize my blogs after 3 months starting period. It is better to set goals according to the niche for the expecting revenue. Don’t aim too high because one disappointment at the beginning may be critical.
Selecting the type of revenue program is also a very complex task. I’ll live it for another post.
Dec 10, 2008
Posting - how often?
How often I need to post in my blog to get on the top of the search engines?
This is a question that many newbie (and not only) SEO experts ask all over the net. And the truth is that no one can tell you the answer of this question. The answer is different for different blogs - for some people posting four times a week is the best, for other this doesn't work at all.
Some experts says - the more often, the better. I am not exactly convinced in this logic. Of course more posts will help in getting traffic and if they are with good content they will grab the readers attention to the blog. But not all of us have enough time to write cool, long post every day.
So for me works another tactic. I think that it is better to test for periods of one to two months with different frequency. You will find the best solution for your target market without spending too much time writing and wondering on the next topic.
This is a question that many newbie (and not only) SEO experts ask all over the net. And the truth is that no one can tell you the answer of this question. The answer is different for different blogs - for some people posting four times a week is the best, for other this doesn't work at all.
Some experts says - the more often, the better. I am not exactly convinced in this logic. Of course more posts will help in getting traffic and if they are with good content they will grab the readers attention to the blog. But not all of us have enough time to write cool, long post every day.
So for me works another tactic. I think that it is better to test for periods of one to two months with different frequency. You will find the best solution for your target market without spending too much time writing and wondering on the next topic.
Nov 6, 2008
The most important SEO things to do after writing a cool new article
So you have written a new article and you think that it is cool and fascinating? Maybe it is so, but if no one knows about it, you won’t gain any profit.
What are the basics, what to do after writing new post or article?
First - figure out a describing title. It must contain the correct keywords for your article and blog/site. Select a meaningful subtitle – something that people will use in the search engines to found you. Always tag your titles and use bold to emphasize on some of the text. Your article must be human and search engines friendly, all of them must find easily what they need.
After finishing the article altering – it is time for making many deep links. Post your article to your favorite social network websites. Ask your network friends for opinion on the topic.
Post your article to digg and other voting and social bookmarking sites.
Select some of the biggest forums in your niche and start a discussion about the topic, ask for readers’ opinion.
Add your new link to the best local forums if you are targeting a specified location.
These are some of the basics in making a blog a little more popular.
What are the basics, what to do after writing new post or article?
First - figure out a describing title. It must contain the correct keywords for your article and blog/site. Select a meaningful subtitle – something that people will use in the search engines to found you. Always tag your titles and use bold to emphasize on some of the text. Your article must be human and search engines friendly, all of them must find easily what they need.
After finishing the article altering – it is time for making many deep links. Post your article to your favorite social network websites. Ask your network friends for opinion on the topic.
Post your article to digg and other voting and social bookmarking sites.
Select some of the biggest forums in your niche and start a discussion about the topic, ask for readers’ opinion.
Add your new link to the best local forums if you are targeting a specified location.
These are some of the basics in making a blog a little more popular.
Oct 26, 2008
How to learn SEO? Top 3 ways
How to learn search engine optimization? What is the easiest way to learn SEO?
I'll try to answer these questions here.
I'll try to answer these questions here.
- SEO books - there are many SEO books out there. Some cheap (even free) and some really expensive ones. If you want to spend some time quietly reading in the garden, this is the way for you.
- SEO blogs - like this one. You can learn some basics from different SEO blogs and websites. Be careful for harmful tips. Don't forget to read the relevant search engine guidance.
- SEO forums - seo experts tend to gather in large online communities to share some tips and ideas. This is the best way to up to date with the current SEO trends.
Oct 15, 2008
SEO as a career - is it good?
Search engines play very important role in the contemporary life.
People nowadays search for anything - where to lunch, how to plan their holiday, how to fix something broken, even how to educate their children.
Search engine optimization services are high demanded. People need them in order to do their business. Any new website needs to be optimized. Can you imagine an e-shop with no visitors?
Is a SEO career possible?
Sure, there are many SEO experts, companies and so on out there. And they are making money.
Is a SEO career for you?
People can do anything they wish for. If you have enough time, investing it in understanding SEO basics will help you to answer this question. Technical background will help you a lot, of course. You need some knowledge about HTML, JavaScript and etc. for basic on site optimization.
What are the first steps?
Educate yourself about Search Engine Optimization. Read the basics and then start practicing.
Where to start?
There are two places to start - first is as a employee of a SEO company. The second way is the more risky - just start by yourself.
Of course don't forget that SEO like any other popular and money making profession desires hard and continuous work.
People nowadays search for anything - where to lunch, how to plan their holiday, how to fix something broken, even how to educate their children.
Search engine optimization services are high demanded. People need them in order to do their business. Any new website needs to be optimized. Can you imagine an e-shop with no visitors?
Is a SEO career possible?
Sure, there are many SEO experts, companies and so on out there. And they are making money.
Is a SEO career for you?
People can do anything they wish for. If you have enough time, investing it in understanding SEO basics will help you to answer this question. Technical background will help you a lot, of course. You need some knowledge about HTML, JavaScript and etc. for basic on site optimization.
What are the first steps?
Educate yourself about Search Engine Optimization. Read the basics and then start practicing.
Where to start?
There are two places to start - first is as a employee of a SEO company. The second way is the more risky - just start by yourself.
Of course don't forget that SEO like any other popular and money making profession desires hard and continuous work.
Sep 12, 2008
More abstract view over the link-building process
Link building is one of the most important parts of a SEO campaign. Anyone speak how this affects your website’s PR or traffic.
Link building can be split in several parts:
Directory submission
There are many web directories out there. They vary in types – free directories, deep-link directories, paid directories, topical ones. Web directories at any kind are a good way to make the count of links to your website greater. They can be good filling in any search engine optimization campaign. But web directories can’t be the only source of links or you won’t have satisfactory results.
Article directories
I am not a big fan of them. It hardly cost its time for me. There are only few good ones.
Link exchange
Link exchanging with related sites - one good way to get nice rank and a lot of targeted traffic. Offer some good link exchange program on your site and people will contact you with proposals.
Forums
Contribute to some related forums. Share your experience and your URL
Blogs
Links from popular blogs help both with good value and some traffic.
Friends
Ask people around you to help in your campaign.
Social networks/bookmarks/etc
Go for it. Put your titles on the main sites and ask some friends to vote for you. Make good friend networks and share your offer.
So what is the best option?
All. One good campaign must be well balanced, depending on the type of the website, service and target market.
Link building can be split in several parts:
Directory submission
There are many web directories out there. They vary in types – free directories, deep-link directories, paid directories, topical ones. Web directories at any kind are a good way to make the count of links to your website greater. They can be good filling in any search engine optimization campaign. But web directories can’t be the only source of links or you won’t have satisfactory results.
Article directories
I am not a big fan of them. It hardly cost its time for me. There are only few good ones.
Link exchange
Link exchanging with related sites - one good way to get nice rank and a lot of targeted traffic. Offer some good link exchange program on your site and people will contact you with proposals.
Forums
Contribute to some related forums. Share your experience and your URL
Blogs
Links from popular blogs help both with good value and some traffic.
Friends
Ask people around you to help in your campaign.
Social networks/bookmarks/etc
Go for it. Put your titles on the main sites and ask some friends to vote for you. Make good friend networks and share your offer.
So what is the best option?
All. One good campaign must be well balanced, depending on the type of the website, service and target market.
Jul 23, 2008
Getting traffic from images
Images are important part of many websites. If you have a blog with fun cat photos or a gamers website with screenshots, you can attract more users with your images.
So how to optimize a website for image search engines?
Optimizing for image searches is not so complex part of a SEO campaign. Done together with standard SEO optimization it can bring a lot of well targeted traffic.
Good luck!
Edit: One very useful video about image url - does Google consider the url?
So how to optimize a website for image search engines?
- Image name
Use describing names for your images. Name like a453kjh4.jpg won't help you get any traffic. Web crawlers are not people and they can't understand what is on the image but you can help them with precise names. Use short describing names like cat.jpg or clouds.gif.
- Alt text
Don't ever forget to add describing and precise alt text. This is the other important part for getting targeted traffic from image searches.
- Page title
Page titles are something important for any kind of search engine optimization. You must have precise, short and describing titles for your pages and images with similar content.
- Paragraph titles
Paragraph titles are very similar to page titles. One page can contain multiple topics and any topic must have its own describing title.
Optimizing for image searches is not so complex part of a SEO campaign. Done together with standard SEO optimization it can bring a lot of well targeted traffic.
Good luck!
Edit: One very useful video about image url - does Google consider the url?
Jul 19, 2008
How to optimize a website for a specific country
Why to optimize for specific location?
If you have a website targeting people from exact location, you will be interested in getting traffic mainly from that location. Ranking on the top for other countries won’t help you in your business. For example if you have a website to advertise a fast food restaurant, your target people are only nearby living or working.
So, how to optimize a website for a target location?
On-site optimization
First thing – add your location in the text and add your address with post code in the contact page.
Some SEO experts advice to host a website on a server in the target country although I am not fully confident in this.
Off-site optimization
Web directory and article submission, social media
Submit your website to local web and article directories. Submit also in local digg clones. Mention your services in local forums. In the link name add the geo location.
Google webmaster tools have the option to select target geographical location. Add your business in Google local business center - http://www.google.com/local/add/
If you have a website targeting people from exact location, you will be interested in getting traffic mainly from that location. Ranking on the top for other countries won’t help you in your business. For example if you have a website to advertise a fast food restaurant, your target people are only nearby living or working.
So, how to optimize a website for a target location?
On-site optimization
First thing – add your location in the text and add your address with post code in the contact page.
Some SEO experts advice to host a website on a server in the target country although I am not fully confident in this.
Off-site optimization
Web directory and article submission, social media
Submit your website to local web and article directories. Submit also in local digg clones. Mention your services in local forums. In the link name add the geo location.
Google webmaster tools have the option to select target geographical location. Add your business in Google local business center - http://www.google.com/local/add/
Jul 18, 2008
Backlinks
Backlinks are one of the most important parts of the search engine optimization. They increase a website value for the search engines and also bring traffic.
SEO and backlinks
Most of the search engines determine site value from group of parameters in order to get the most relevant results for the search queries. The number and the quality of the backlinks to a website are some of these parameters.
It is natural to consider that if more people link to one site than it has something useful. Also if websites with high authority link to other website – it must be trustful and important. Backlinks from websites in the same topic also bring points in ranking for that niche.
Backlinks and traffic
People follow the link and visit a website so backlinks bring traffic. Backlinks from popular blogs or websites like digg can increase website traffic a lot.
How to get backlinks
It is easy. Backlinks can be obtained through forums, blog comments, link exchange, social bookmarking sites or just by asking friends.
Offering something cheap or free of charge can make others to link to a website.
SEO and backlinks
Most of the search engines determine site value from group of parameters in order to get the most relevant results for the search queries. The number and the quality of the backlinks to a website are some of these parameters.
It is natural to consider that if more people link to one site than it has something useful. Also if websites with high authority link to other website – it must be trustful and important. Backlinks from websites in the same topic also bring points in ranking for that niche.
Backlinks and traffic
People follow the link and visit a website so backlinks bring traffic. Backlinks from popular blogs or websites like digg can increase website traffic a lot.
How to get backlinks
It is easy. Backlinks can be obtained through forums, blog comments, link exchange, social bookmarking sites or just by asking friends.
Offering something cheap or free of charge can make others to link to a website.
Jul 17, 2008
Basic resources for SEO beginners, resume
What are the basic resources for anyone who wants to be a SEO expert? It is a rather complex question. There are a lot of SEO books, tools, blogs and so on. So what is the essential from all this.
First of all don’t forget that the search engine optimization exists only because the existence of the search engines. The main reading must be centered on the SE documentation and blogs.
I made a short list of basic resources for SEO beginners.
http://www.google.com/webmasters/ Google Webmaster Central. Every SEO enthusiast must start from here.
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/webpublishers/ - Yahoo Search Help, if you want good ranking in Yahoo, this step is important.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ - Official Google Blog
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ - Google news for webmasters
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
Anyway if you are interested in ranking good in other search engine the fist place to stop and ask questions is its documentation, online help or blog.
First of all don’t forget that the search engine optimization exists only because the existence of the search engines. The main reading must be centered on the SE documentation and blogs.
I made a short list of basic resources for SEO beginners.
http://www.google.com/webmasters/ Google Webmaster Central. Every SEO enthusiast must start from here.
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/webpublishers/ - Yahoo Search Help, if you want good ranking in Yahoo, this step is important.
Blogs
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ - Official Google Blog
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ - Google news for webmasters
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
Anyway if you are interested in ranking good in other search engine the fist place to stop and ask questions is its documentation, online help or blog.
Jun 25, 2008
Blogging, SEO with blogging
Nowadays blogging have become a popular hobby for many. It is not necessary to be a tech guy to have a blog. There are even some pretty popular house wife blogs out there. Anyone can blog.
Benefits of having a blog
Have you asked yourself why people spend so much time in this? There are some good reasons behind. Of course, there are some sole bloggers, writing only for the idea out there. But blogging is a great way to promote, market and SEO website or service.
Both people and search engines are interested in fresh content and regularly updated blogs have it. Blogs often get fast indexed and on the top for hard keywords. Also blogging for your service, website or product will boost their popularity.
In other hand if you manage to create interesting and popular blog, you will get some regular visitors. People that like your blog will recommend it to their friends and will share your URL in popular forums and social networks. So you will have many visitors and some new and cool natural backlinks.
So what do you need to have a fancy blog? Is it expensive?
No. There are many free blogging services. Most popular of them are blogger and wordpress, but there are also many others. Almost all of these services give the opportunity for customization. You can have your unique style and there is no need for paying.
Benefits of having a blog
Have you asked yourself why people spend so much time in this? There are some good reasons behind. Of course, there are some sole bloggers, writing only for the idea out there. But blogging is a great way to promote, market and SEO website or service.
Both people and search engines are interested in fresh content and regularly updated blogs have it. Blogs often get fast indexed and on the top for hard keywords. Also blogging for your service, website or product will boost their popularity.
In other hand if you manage to create interesting and popular blog, you will get some regular visitors. People that like your blog will recommend it to their friends and will share your URL in popular forums and social networks. So you will have many visitors and some new and cool natural backlinks.
So what do you need to have a fancy blog? Is it expensive?
No. There are many free blogging services. Most popular of them are blogger and wordpress, but there are also many others. Almost all of these services give the opportunity for customization. You can have your unique style and there is no need for paying.
Jun 3, 2008
Fast SEO tip: Use keywords in the page titles
Why to pay attention to the title?
The title tag has great value in a SEO campaign. Most of the search engines pay a lot of attention to the page title.
So what to use in the title tag?
The worst possible idea is the website URL or name only.
The best title tag must contain a good selection of keywords, set in a human readable manner.
Don’t use very long title tags because search engines like Google will consider that for spam. Use short and explaining title with the strongest of your keywords.
If your website has multiple pages use different, describing titles for any of them.
Blogs
One of the best tactics for search engine optimization for blogs is to use the post titles for page titles.
Forums – often webmasters use only the forum’s name in the title. Better approach is to use the topics name for this. It will help the forum to be easily targeted in the searches.
The title tag has great value in a SEO campaign. Most of the search engines pay a lot of attention to the page title.
So what to use in the title tag?
The worst possible idea is the website URL or name only.
The best title tag must contain a good selection of keywords, set in a human readable manner.
Don’t use very long title tags because search engines like Google will consider that for spam. Use short and explaining title with the strongest of your keywords.
If your website has multiple pages use different, describing titles for any of them.
Blogs
One of the best tactics for search engine optimization for blogs is to use the post titles for page titles.
Forums – often webmasters use only the forum’s name in the title. Better approach is to use the topics name for this. It will help the forum to be easily targeted in the searches.
May 31, 2008
More traffic with Google Friend Connect
Social networks become more and more part of an everyday life. People are making valuable friends in networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn. Social networks communities also are great way for advertising a site. It is natural to share your favorite websites with your best friends.
Google are launching new service that will allows people to be more social. Here is an announcement titled Becoming Social. If it is not clear enough you can visit Google Code Blog post about Friend Connect.
Google are launching new service that will allows people to be more social. Here is an announcement titled Becoming Social. If it is not clear enough you can visit Google Code Blog post about Friend Connect.
May 28, 2008
How to choose the right SEO expert or company?
Choosing the right search engine optimization consultant is a hard and responsible task for your business. Be careful to provide enough time and effort for it. If you are not familiar with the SEO theory consider reading the basics.
Why SEO
Your page maybe great in its niche but no one would know that without proper marketing. People must discover your existence. The role of SEO service is to promote your website through search engines. There is no big profit from ranking last at the search pages. Contrary everyone wants to rank on the top for a given set of keywords.
In other hand choosing an inappropriate SEO service can lead to many problems. One of the worst from them is dropping from the biggest search engines results page and lots of time and efforts are needed to return back.
Rules
First thing to keep in mind is that ranking in search engines is not certain thing. No one can guarantee ranking on the top on search engines like Google and Yahoo. And don’t trust people that promise to do that.
Be aware if an expert or company refuses to explain what they are going to do. You must have clear idea what are they doing and where your money go. If they don't explain every step in details to you, it is most likely that they are going to use shady methods for promotions.
Also keep in mind that link popularity schemes don’t work. The search engines have approved a lot and this kind of activity can even harm your ranking in the most popular search engines like Google and Yahoo.
Know the search engine optimization services market. Research large number of experts and companies and choose careful. A trustful SEO company must have good references.
A reliable SEO firm won’t try to exploit search engine algorithm vulnerabilities to get easy ranking, because this can lead to fast drop or even ban from the SERP. The best way for one SEO campaign is to target the long term results and use only white hat SEO methodology.
Be careful with SEO experts that promise to submit your page to thousands of search engines. You don't need this service, there are not so much search engines.
Don’t trust SEO firms that send you spam emails, this is most likely a scam.
SEO is a large and dynamic field. SEO expert from few years ago is not necessary an expert now. Search engines are constantly developing and improving for a better service and search engine optimization services must go with them. Old fashioned methods like repeating the keywords with invisible font won't work and can even harm a lot. Make sure that your expert is up to date with the theory.
Why SEO
Your page maybe great in its niche but no one would know that without proper marketing. People must discover your existence. The role of SEO service is to promote your website through search engines. There is no big profit from ranking last at the search pages. Contrary everyone wants to rank on the top for a given set of keywords.
In other hand choosing an inappropriate SEO service can lead to many problems. One of the worst from them is dropping from the biggest search engines results page and lots of time and efforts are needed to return back.
Rules
First thing to keep in mind is that ranking in search engines is not certain thing. No one can guarantee ranking on the top on search engines like Google and Yahoo. And don’t trust people that promise to do that.
Be aware if an expert or company refuses to explain what they are going to do. You must have clear idea what are they doing and where your money go. If they don't explain every step in details to you, it is most likely that they are going to use shady methods for promotions.
Also keep in mind that link popularity schemes don’t work. The search engines have approved a lot and this kind of activity can even harm your ranking in the most popular search engines like Google and Yahoo.
Know the search engine optimization services market. Research large number of experts and companies and choose careful. A trustful SEO company must have good references.
A reliable SEO firm won’t try to exploit search engine algorithm vulnerabilities to get easy ranking, because this can lead to fast drop or even ban from the SERP. The best way for one SEO campaign is to target the long term results and use only white hat SEO methodology.
Be careful with SEO experts that promise to submit your page to thousands of search engines. You don't need this service, there are not so much search engines.
Don’t trust SEO firms that send you spam emails, this is most likely a scam.
SEO is a large and dynamic field. SEO expert from few years ago is not necessary an expert now. Search engines are constantly developing and improving for a better service and search engine optimization services must go with them. Old fashioned methods like repeating the keywords with invisible font won't work and can even harm a lot. Make sure that your expert is up to date with the theory.
May 25, 2008
Free directories list
List of relatively good free directories with easy submission and high accept rate. I personally don’t like registration or reciprocals. If you want your directory here just leave a comment with url. Also if some of these directories change the rules and don’t accept free submission, please leave a comment and I’ll check it. Thanks!
The list:
- info-listings.com
- londovor.com
- miriblack.com
- prolinkdirectory.com
- squidlink.com
- cgbee.com
- soveb.org
- cafioca.com
- esearchresearch.info
- abc-directory.com
- artmam.net
- creativeagency.eu
- turnpike.net
- oswd.us
- nonar.com
- a1webdirectory.org
- linkaddurl.com
- 000directory.com.ar
- addsitelink.com
- directory.allaboutadtips.com
- achx.com
- bluepearl-links.com/
- joopita.com/
- blfree.com/
- west2002.org
- sanewebdirectory.com
- ondir.com/
- xdstl.net
- t3b.net
- valioso.biz
- cmsweblinks.com
- newdesignworld.com
- instantadsenseempire.org
- biowatchmed.net
- abcdirectory.org
May 24, 2008
SEO campaign
First thing to do is to clearly define your business goals. Why are you doing a SEO campaign? What do you want to achieve? How to do it? What tools or services to use? Isn’t it better to hire a specialist or a company?
Try to write down these questions and expand them in a way that is most relevant to your web site or service. This article will try to clear the overall concept of a SEO campaign and find some answers.
Steps in doing our campaign:
First and one of the most important: keyword research.
The basic of all search engines are the keywords. Also main part in target advertising and Pay-per-click campaigns are the keywords. People enter keywords in search engines in order to get necessary information. Choose the keywords that will bring the right type of visitors in your website. There are two methods of approach in selecting keywords. First one is a broad approach. Imagine that you run an e-commerce web site. Here the most obvious keyword is “buy online”. Disadvantages of this keyword are apparent – very high competition and not targeting at all. Google will return millions results for this term. The effort for rank good for this keyword would be enormous and don’t worth it at all.
In other hand you can choose more relevant and describing term for your service or website. It will bring more exactly targeted traffic to your site and eventually more customers.
The basic tool to consider in this part of the campaign is Google keyword tool. Be careful to balance well between the popularity, relevance and competitiveness of your keywords.
On-Site optimization
Carefully review your site and map out a simple plan for basic changes. The first thing to consider here is the question - is the site search engine friendly? Avoid flash website without any html content. It may look cool but search engine crawlers are not friendly with the flash content. Also avoid using flash or javascript for web site navigation. Anchor is the best choice for a menu.
Website usability – consider that the main part in all this is the visitor. Make sure that every necessary part is easy to reach. Ensure enough time for planning site navigation and modules. Read different search engine guidelines and make your plans according to them. Pay special attention to the images – well described images can drive a lot new traffic through image searches.
Content
Content is the part that needs great attention. First thing is to check for and remove duplicate content. Avoid using duplicate content. Make a plan for regular updating and basic content suggestions.
Users Involvement
Plan a way to involve the visitors in your site growth. Polls, Competitions, Comments, Forum, User-created-content, Awards, Voting system can be weapons for this cause.
Off-Site optimization
Link building
Link building is the basic part of the off-site optimization. Search engines prefer and give more value to a natural linking. So give a reason to your visitors to link and promote your site.
Directory submission is a valuable way for link building, but using blindly won’t be in much use. Make a list of the best directories and plan dates for submitting. Consider to grow your links gradually, avoid automatic submissions and pay special attention to directories related to the search engines. Good thing to keep in mind that geographically related directories and listings can get you more targeted traffic than global services.
Article submission also deserves its time (but not much). Choosing few of the best article directories will add more value rather than spamming all the article directories over and over again.
Social bookmark and network services also need careful planning. Choose few more relevant to your niche and go for good rating in them. Selecting good content to share is very hard task. Ever wonder why some articles gets thousands votes and other hardly get less than ten? Good and spicy page can bring in a lot of visitors.
Search Engine Optimization campaign planning and realization is a time and effort consuming process but don’t forget that it is not the only way for promoting your site. Internet marketing is a lot broader field and the successful profit sits on the top of a selection of SEO, Pay-Per-Click, Affiliate and many other campaigns.
Try to write down these questions and expand them in a way that is most relevant to your web site or service. This article will try to clear the overall concept of a SEO campaign and find some answers.
Steps in doing our campaign:
First and one of the most important: keyword research.
The basic of all search engines are the keywords. Also main part in target advertising and Pay-per-click campaigns are the keywords. People enter keywords in search engines in order to get necessary information. Choose the keywords that will bring the right type of visitors in your website. There are two methods of approach in selecting keywords. First one is a broad approach. Imagine that you run an e-commerce web site. Here the most obvious keyword is “buy online”. Disadvantages of this keyword are apparent – very high competition and not targeting at all. Google will return millions results for this term. The effort for rank good for this keyword would be enormous and don’t worth it at all.
In other hand you can choose more relevant and describing term for your service or website. It will bring more exactly targeted traffic to your site and eventually more customers.
The basic tool to consider in this part of the campaign is Google keyword tool. Be careful to balance well between the popularity, relevance and competitiveness of your keywords.
On-Site optimization
Carefully review your site and map out a simple plan for basic changes. The first thing to consider here is the question - is the site search engine friendly? Avoid flash website without any html content. It may look cool but search engine crawlers are not friendly with the flash content. Also avoid using flash or javascript for web site navigation. Anchor is the best choice for a menu.
Website usability – consider that the main part in all this is the visitor. Make sure that every necessary part is easy to reach. Ensure enough time for planning site navigation and modules. Read different search engine guidelines and make your plans according to them. Pay special attention to the images – well described images can drive a lot new traffic through image searches.
Content
Content is the part that needs great attention. First thing is to check for and remove duplicate content. Avoid using duplicate content. Make a plan for regular updating and basic content suggestions.
Users Involvement
Plan a way to involve the visitors in your site growth. Polls, Competitions, Comments, Forum, User-created-content, Awards, Voting system can be weapons for this cause.
Off-Site optimization
Link building
Link building is the basic part of the off-site optimization. Search engines prefer and give more value to a natural linking. So give a reason to your visitors to link and promote your site.
Directory submission is a valuable way for link building, but using blindly won’t be in much use. Make a list of the best directories and plan dates for submitting. Consider to grow your links gradually, avoid automatic submissions and pay special attention to directories related to the search engines. Good thing to keep in mind that geographically related directories and listings can get you more targeted traffic than global services.
Article submission also deserves its time (but not much). Choosing few of the best article directories will add more value rather than spamming all the article directories over and over again.
Social bookmark and network services also need careful planning. Choose few more relevant to your niche and go for good rating in them. Selecting good content to share is very hard task. Ever wonder why some articles gets thousands votes and other hardly get less than ten? Good and spicy page can bring in a lot of visitors.
Search Engine Optimization campaign planning and realization is a time and effort consuming process but don’t forget that it is not the only way for promoting your site. Internet marketing is a lot broader field and the successful profit sits on the top of a selection of SEO, Pay-Per-Click, Affiliate and many other campaigns.
May 19, 2008
List of top Webmaster, SEO and Blogging forums
Participating in forums can contribute great to a SEO campaign both with backlinks from signatures and mainly with knowledge about latest trends in online advertising and promotion.
I decided to share my list of top Webmaster, Search Engine Optimization, Blogging or related forums. Here it is:
Webmasters, combined
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/ - Great forum with a lot of information for search engines, marketing, business, design, development and more.
http://www.v7n.com/forums/index.php also great forum.
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/
http://www.webmasters.am/forum/
http://www.webcosmoforums.com/ - promising forum
http://www.geekpoint.net/
SEO centered forums
http://forums.seochat.com/
http://www.seo-guy.com/forum/
http://www.webworkshop.net/seoforum/
Affiliate forums
http://forum.abestweb.com/ - affiliate centered forum, great knowledge for making money online
Blogging centered forums
http://www.bloggeries.com/forum/ - my favorite blogging forum
http://forum.authorityblogger.com/
http://www.theblogexperiment.com/blog-forum/
http://www.blogcrowds.com/forum/
I decided to share my list of top Webmaster, Search Engine Optimization, Blogging or related forums. Here it is:
Webmasters, combined
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/ - Great forum with a lot of information for search engines, marketing, business, design, development and more.
http://www.v7n.com/forums/index.php also great forum.
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/
http://www.webmasters.am/forum/
http://www.webcosmoforums.com/ - promising forum
http://www.geekpoint.net/
SEO centered forums
http://forums.seochat.com/
http://www.seo-guy.com/forum/
http://www.webworkshop.net/seoforum/
Affiliate forums
http://forum.abestweb.com/ - affiliate centered forum, great knowledge for making money online
Blogging centered forums
http://www.bloggeries.com/forum/ - my favorite blogging forum
http://forum.authorityblogger.com/
http://www.theblogexperiment.com/blog-forum/
http://www.blogcrowds.com/forum/
May 13, 2008
How to get indexed fast in Google, Yahoo, Live Search and more
If you want to get indexed fast in the search engines, the first thing you must do is to submit your site to their relevant submit page. Also don't forget to submit your site map to Google.
Register to Google Webmaster Tools and keep an eye on their statistics. Check regularly for problems, broken links and so on.
The fastest way to get your changes indexed is to submit your site link to web pages that are crawled fast and have a high page rank. Social bookmarking comes in help in this case. Here is a list of social bookmark sites that are crawled and indexed very fast.
Other group of sites that are indexed and crawled often and are easy accessible are the big web forums. Using links in the forum signature can help great in improving a site visibility an indexing. It is a n easy and fast way to get a lot of high quality backlinks.
Some practices in the Search Engine Optimization are labeled "Black Hat SEO". They can cause a lot of harm and even drop from the SERP. Be careful that the techniques you use are compliant with the relevant search engine guidelines. For Google you can start your reading from here.
Also poor server uptime can cause harm and eventually will be the reason for not being indexed.
Register to Google Webmaster Tools and keep an eye on their statistics. Check regularly for problems, broken links and so on.
The fastest way to get your changes indexed is to submit your site link to web pages that are crawled fast and have a high page rank. Social bookmarking comes in help in this case. Here is a list of social bookmark sites that are crawled and indexed very fast.
Other group of sites that are indexed and crawled often and are easy accessible are the big web forums. Using links in the forum signature can help great in improving a site visibility an indexing. It is a n easy and fast way to get a lot of high quality backlinks.
Some practices in the Search Engine Optimization are labeled "Black Hat SEO". They can cause a lot of harm and even drop from the SERP. Be careful that the techniques you use are compliant with the relevant search engine guidelines. For Google you can start your reading from here.
Also poor server uptime can cause harm and eventually will be the reason for not being indexed.
May 11, 2008
Nofollow - what does it mean?
Have you ever asked your self if submitting to web directories hour after hour every day have any meaning? And why, if you have many backlinks, the search engines still don't pay you much attention? Here is the secret - the "nofollow" on the links.
So what nofollow mean? Nofollow is a value that instructs some search engines that the link should not boost the link's target site rank. The main idea is a spam prevention as google people said in their blog - preventing comment spam. But like anything it can be used with evil intentions.
So what do you think happens when you submit a link to a web directory and it is tagged as nofollow? It doesn't deserve the time for doing it. There are thousands web directories that are not user or search engines friendly, they exist solely for the purpose to lure people to submit pages and don't give anything back.
Nofollow is not always a bad thing. Google recommends that paid link should have nofollow. But use it careful, and don't forget that people usually get frustrated from needless stuff.
Recommended reading for the nofollow attribute - wikipedia
So what nofollow mean? Nofollow is a value that instructs some search engines that the link should not boost the link's target site rank. The main idea is a spam prevention as google people said in their blog - preventing comment spam. But like anything it can be used with evil intentions.
So what do you think happens when you submit a link to a web directory and it is tagged as nofollow? It doesn't deserve the time for doing it. There are thousands web directories that are not user or search engines friendly, they exist solely for the purpose to lure people to submit pages and don't give anything back.
Nofollow is not always a bad thing. Google recommends that paid link should have nofollow. But use it careful, and don't forget that people usually get frustrated from needless stuff.
Recommended reading for the nofollow attribute - wikipedia
May 6, 2008
Ethical SEO (from an user point of view)
To be an ethical SEO and Webmaster is easy. Just observe some simple rules. First and most important: don't spam. Don't spam people with low quality content and pages purely for the idea of advertisement. Those sites are so annoying that almost all the visitors will close the window right away. Provide people with useful and interesting content. If they like your site they will stay longer.
Also don't spam the social bookmark sites and forums solely for the purpose of traffic and link building. Share high quality articles and make people enjoy reading them.
Captcha ... Have you tried to register on a page full of advertisement, with an annoying, unreadable captcha? Most of the seo directories are made this way. Submit form spread all over the page, with an advertisement with the same font between, and a captcha that fails two-three times. Don't do this. Even if it makes few impressions people will not ever return to you.
All this is not for a bad or good practice in search engine optimization. It is for pure human behavior. And looking from a distance, all the web sites and services that have succeeded in making really good money have granted the public something useful.
Also don't spam the social bookmark sites and forums solely for the purpose of traffic and link building. Share high quality articles and make people enjoy reading them.
Captcha ... Have you tried to register on a page full of advertisement, with an annoying, unreadable captcha? Most of the seo directories are made this way. Submit form spread all over the page, with an advertisement with the same font between, and a captcha that fails two-three times. Don't do this. Even if it makes few impressions people will not ever return to you.
All this is not for a bad or good practice in search engine optimization. It is for pure human behavior. And looking from a distance, all the web sites and services that have succeeded in making really good money have granted the public something useful.
May 5, 2008
Social Media Optimization (SMO) and Marketing (SMM) or how to get even more traffic?
First of all what is Social Media Optimization?
Social Media Optimization is a way to generate publicity through social websites and communities. SMO includes:
Social Media Optimization parts in depth:
Social Blogging. You can host your blog alone or use a service like blogger. In either way it can contribute great to increasing your traffic. First blogs attracts great number of readers, and thus engages readers to your site or product. Also good blogs have regular updated content and are indexed faster from the search engines, which helps to rang better on SERP.
RSS Feeds. Publishing your RSS Feeds can help you get even more fans.
Social Networks are a great way to popularize your web site, service or product.
Social Bookmarking is a way people to bookmark, share and vote something that they like in internet. Also it is an effective way for website or blog promotion. In a SEO aspect it is a way to get more quality backlinks.
Video and Photo public sharing is a fast way to spread your ads.
Don't forget that in the social media field users a the contributors of the content. Encourage the other people to contribute to your idea and goal. Be social! Just advertising won't help you much so be creative!
Social Media Optimization is a way to generate publicity through social websites and communities. SMO includes:
- Blogging
- RSS Feeds
- Social Networks
- Social Bookmarking (SB)
- Video and Photo public sharing
- Increase your in-links
- Facilitates tagging, bookmarking, voting
- Makes easier the content sharing
Social Media Optimization parts in depth:
Social Blogging. You can host your blog alone or use a service like blogger. In either way it can contribute great to increasing your traffic. First blogs attracts great number of readers, and thus engages readers to your site or product. Also good blogs have regular updated content and are indexed faster from the search engines, which helps to rang better on SERP.
RSS Feeds. Publishing your RSS Feeds can help you get even more fans.
Social Networks are a great way to popularize your web site, service or product.
Social Bookmarking is a way people to bookmark, share and vote something that they like in internet. Also it is an effective way for website or blog promotion. In a SEO aspect it is a way to get more quality backlinks.
Video and Photo public sharing is a fast way to spread your ads.
Don't forget that in the social media field users a the contributors of the content. Encourage the other people to contribute to your idea and goal. Be social! Just advertising won't help you much so be creative!
Worst blog niches for making money with pay per click programs – be careful
I decide to make clear something that cased me some problems when I start blogging. In the matter of facts it almost drive me to despair.
Worst blog niches for making money through pay per click advertisement – they can make you suffer, believe me. Of course – if you get enough traffic on your web site you will make some money. In any case consider to try some other form of making money.
Gaming – especially gaming, maybe the worst niche for making money ever. My first blog was in this niche - very low revenue.
Entertainment – most global thing, music, video and of course all forms of gaming – low paid in pay-per-click programs. Advertisers don’t want to pay much and there are not many of them. Of course there are other ways for monetizing your blog that would work for them very well.
May 4, 2008
Link building strategy
When your site is ready and on-site optimized it is a time for link building. It is one of the most important parts of one Search Engine Optimization campaign. Making an error here can slow down your success a lot.
So what are the basic steps to advertise your web site?
1. First and most important add it to the search engines:
http://www.google.com/addurl/
https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit
http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx
2. Submit your site to dmoz.org
3. Start submitting your site url to the web directories. Prefer directories with high PageRank. Always have in mind that few quality links can rank you higher than tons of low rate ones. Also pay special attention to directories that allow deep link submission.
4. Submit your RSS Feed to Feed directories.
5. If your site is with static content start a blog for it. Search Engines prefer fresh content and blogging is the ideal way to ensure it.
6. Add your content to social bookmark services like digg, stumbleupon, etc. Prefer links to articles or categories rather than just adding the whole site once. Consider some of the digg clones - there are some that perform very well for me.
7. Create accounts on social networks like myspace, facebook and so on. Careful friend network management can contribute great to your goal. Make friends and start marketing.
8. Add your site to your forum signatures. Choose your anchor text to be related to your keywords, not just “click here”.
9. Start to post comments on popular blogs. Just say your opinion and leave your link there. It is a good way to create fast contacts. Be careful and think what you are posting. High quality comments tend to bring more traffic than spammy ones.
10. Start submitting articles to article directories. Select several article directories with high page rank and post your information there.
Create a habit to work on your web site daily. After some time it will pay you well!
So what are the basic steps to advertise your web site?
1. First and most important add it to the search engines:
http://www.google.com/addurl/
https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit
http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx
2. Submit your site to dmoz.org
3. Start submitting your site url to the web directories. Prefer directories with high PageRank. Always have in mind that few quality links can rank you higher than tons of low rate ones. Also pay special attention to directories that allow deep link submission.
4. Submit your RSS Feed to Feed directories.
5. If your site is with static content start a blog for it. Search Engines prefer fresh content and blogging is the ideal way to ensure it.
6. Add your content to social bookmark services like digg, stumbleupon, etc. Prefer links to articles or categories rather than just adding the whole site once. Consider some of the digg clones - there are some that perform very well for me.
7. Create accounts on social networks like myspace, facebook and so on. Careful friend network management can contribute great to your goal. Make friends and start marketing.
8. Add your site to your forum signatures. Choose your anchor text to be related to your keywords, not just “click here”.
9. Start to post comments on popular blogs. Just say your opinion and leave your link there. It is a good way to create fast contacts. Be careful and think what you are posting. High quality comments tend to bring more traffic than spammy ones.
10. Start submitting articles to article directories. Select several article directories with high page rank and post your information there.
Create a habit to work on your web site daily. After some time it will pay you well!
Is it true that JavaScript is not SEO friendly?
OK, is it true that JavaScript is not SEO friendly? No, not exactly, but if you use JavaScript to redirect page or add new content the web site will not be indexed correctly by the search engines. What to do in this case? Be sure to have good navigation – the good old anchor tag with the relevant text in it. Even if you animate it later with JavaScript, it won’t be a problem. After that you can check your site navigation through text browsers like Lynx. Also create Google Site Map, it is a good practice even if you don’t have JavaScript content.
May 3, 2008
Project Wonderful - are they having problems?
I think that there is some fall off in the popularity of project wonderful. And some decrease in the member advertisers activity. One of my other blogs has project wonderful add box and the profit of it dropped down. Also this week I saw a lot of empty ads with relatively good prices. Even now the price for advertising is very law for a lot of good sites and places. And the idea of managing your own adds is something that I like. The internet advertising market place is quite interesting show and I wonder how all this will develop.
May 1, 2008
FAST SEO TIPS: 10 easy ways to improve your traffic
Just some basic tips for a good results in SEO.
1. Create Google Sitemaps – that will help Google to index your pages better.
2. Add your site to DMOZ.ORG
3. Add your site to free search engines.
4. Publish your RSS Feeds
5. Add your site to free web directories with good pagerank
6. Add your site to Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon
7. Use social networks to advertise your site
8. Create account in Technorati
9. Take participation in SEO Forums
10. Add your site with a relevant text to your forums’ signature.
1. Create Google Sitemaps – that will help Google to index your pages better.
2. Add your site to DMOZ.ORG
3. Add your site to free search engines.
4. Publish your RSS Feeds
5. Add your site to free web directories with good pagerank
6. Add your site to Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon
7. Use social networks to advertise your site
8. Create account in Technorati
9. Take participation in SEO Forums
10. Add your site with a relevant text to your forums’ signature.
Apr 29, 2008
Search Engine Optimization basics, some abbreviations
What is SEO?
When a person searches for something in the popular search engines usually only the first few results would be visited, so everybody wants to get their site there. SEO is the way to achieve this.
In other words, SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the amount of traffic to a web site or blog from search engines. It is a marketing strategy to increase site relevance.
Search Engine Optimization can be both on-page and off-page. On-page is the optimization of the web site code and text. Off-page optimization is achieved through actions.
Crawlers
Web Crawlers/Spiders are programs, used to browse the web, collect and index information. What is indexed by Search Engines Crawlers can be changed through robots.txt file.
PageRank – system used by Google to represent the position of the page in their search results.
SERP – is an abbreviation for Search engine results page.
Most used search engines are Google, Yahoo and Live Search(formerly known as MSN). List of all search engines can be found on Wikipedia.
Not predictable.
Search Engine Optimization results are not predictable. Most of the time they lead to an expected results but sometimes the most optimized site gets less traffic than other with no optimization or even with no content.
When a person searches for something in the popular search engines usually only the first few results would be visited, so everybody wants to get their site there. SEO is the way to achieve this.
In other words, SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the amount of traffic to a web site or blog from search engines. It is a marketing strategy to increase site relevance.
Search Engine Optimization can be both on-page and off-page. On-page is the optimization of the web site code and text. Off-page optimization is achieved through actions.
Crawlers
Web Crawlers/Spiders are programs, used to browse the web, collect and index information. What is indexed by Search Engines Crawlers can be changed through robots.txt file.
PageRank – system used by Google to represent the position of the page in their search results.
SERP – is an abbreviation for Search engine results page.
Most used search engines are Google, Yahoo and Live Search(formerly known as MSN). List of all search engines can be found on Wikipedia.
Not predictable.
Search Engine Optimization results are not predictable. Most of the time they lead to an expected results but sometimes the most optimized site gets less traffic than other with no optimization or even with no content.
Apr 3, 2008
Privacy Policy for bestseostrategy.blogspot.com
Privacy Policy for bestseostrategy.blogspot.com
The privacy of our visitors to bestseostrategy.blogspot.com is important to us.
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Cookies, Web Beacons
bestseostrategy.blogspot.com does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences and record user-specific information.
The privacy of our visitors to bestseostrategy.blogspot.com is important to us.
Log Files
We collect and use the data contained in log files. The information include your IP address, your ISP, your browser, the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.
Cookies, Web Beacons
bestseostrategy.blogspot.com does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences and record user-specific information.
Links
This site contains links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
We use third party advertisements on bestseostrategy.blogspot.com. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers information including (but not restricted by) your IP address, your ISP , the browser you used to visit our site.
You can delete cookies by clearing the private data in your browser and changing your browser privacy settings to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, forbidding cookies can affect how you are able to interact with our and many other websites.
This site contains links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
We use third party advertisements on bestseostrategy.blogspot.com. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers information including (but not restricted by) your IP address, your ISP , the browser you used to visit our site.
You can delete cookies by clearing the private data in your browser and changing your browser privacy settings to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, forbidding cookies can affect how you are able to interact with our and many other websites.
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See: Unified Cookie Opt-Out System which includes some of our advertisers.
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