FAQ Search Engine Optimization

What is SEO anyway?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO for short) is a highly involved, somewhat lengthy, process designed to elevate an internet website’s major search engine ranking and/or positioning. The major search engines (Google, Microsoft Network (MSN), and Yahoo) make up greater than 70% of search traffic on the internet. This is a common way for people to find others, information, companies, potential business partners, etc. by entering a “keyword” or search term. Typically, the searcher will seek information on their keyword or search term and click on the top results. Thus the higher a site ranks for a given keyword or search term, the better its chances of attracting more visitors to its site.

Why Should I Care about SEO?

If you run a business and have a web presence, don’t you want the most people possible knowing about that business? Wouldn’t it benefit you if your website was able to bring you new leads or develop new customers every day, 24 hours per day? Research has shown that nearly 95% of all search engine users rarely read past the first page of search results. Because of that, it behooves you to have your website on the first page of search results for specific keywords and terms.

Can’t I just Pay for a High Ranking?

No! Organic (or “free”) search listing rankings cannot be purchased. These are “earned” over time via links, content, keyword relevance, page and site descriptions, titles of pages, etc. You can pay for clicks to your website based on specific terms or keywords however these are separate results from the free results people commonly click.

What is Pay-Per-Click?

Pay-per-click is a form of internet advertising where you pay a certain amount for each “click” or “hit” to your website as a result of a person searching for a certain keyword or phrase.

What is Click Fraud?

Click fraud occurs when a person or automated computer script imitates a legitimate search for a keyword or phrase yet clicks on the pay-per-click result for the sole purpose of generating revenue for the search engine or affiliate.

What is a Linking Partner?

A linking partner is a website which provides a link to your site. Some will require a link on your site to theirs in return (a reciprocal link) while others will want to have a link on a third party’s site in exchange for the link to yours. Reciprocal links aren’t as valuable as unique one way links but the more links you have pointing to your site (link popularity), the more “important” the search engines will consider your site.

What is Page Rank?

Page Rank is Google’s proprietary algorithm for determining a site’s importance. It’s expressed as a value from 1-10 with 10 being the most important and most desirable. The algorithm was designed by Larry Page, Google’s co-founder. Page Rank is affected by things such as the number of links pointing to your website, and the amount of unique and relevant content on your website.

What is a Keyword?

A keyword is a typical word or phrase you’d expect people to use when searching for your site. That’s about as simple as we can explain it.

What is Keyword Density?

The number of keywords you use on a particular page in relation to the number of total words on that page. The more keywords you have peppered throughout the page and site, the better your site may rank for that particular term. You must be careful not to load a page with too many keywords, however—that is considered keyword “stuffing” or spamming and is frowned upon by the search engines.

What is a Sitemap?

A sitemap is basically an inventory listing of all of the pages on your site. It tells the search engines how to get around your site and also how many pages there are on your site. It can be made visible to your visitors, but it doesn’t have to be. Uploading an XML file directly to the search engines is a generally accepted best practice for optimizing your search engine rankings.

What is a Spider?

Search engines utilize small programs to surf and inventory sites all over the internet. These are called spiders, and they follow links from site to site to gather their inventory to report back to the search engine. They are also referred to as crawlers or bots from time to time.

What is a Meta Tag?

A meta tag is an HTML piece of code which provides information about that particular page or document. These don’t provide formatting information or any actionable code—they are there for the search engines to catalog your site and the pages contained on your site.

What is a Blog?

A blog (short for weblog) is a news or journal type of site which is frequently used more for opinionated type of entries and is typically updated frequently. It is intended for general consumption but has become a valuable tool for all types of users to spread information and awareness of their websites.

Why Should I Write Articles for my Website?

Articles are a great way to increase the amount of unique content on your site as it pertains to the keywords you desire to rank well. There are numerous websites that publish articles, and it is common practice for the authors to include a link in their by-line back to their website. This creates an inbound link to the author’s website which in turn increases its popularity. It’s also a good way to increase awareness aside from the linking benefits.

What are Directories?

Directories are databases containing listings to websites based on categories and sub-categories. Many of the search engines access directories to crawl their links to learn of new sites. Directories are an invaluable resource for search engines and can often serve to improve a site’s ranking depending upon how important the search engine weighs the directory in question. Directories may provide a link to your site often without requiring a return or reciprocal link on your site.

There you have a faq based overview of search engine optimization, why you should care, and some of the key terms used. If you're considering implementing an optimization program for your website, please visit http://smbconsultinginc.com for more information on this topic.

About the author: Roger Bauer is Founder and CEO of SMB Consulting, Inc., a Louisville, Kentucky based small business consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, web presence, internet marketing, SEO, technology, and business analysis. To learn more, point your browser to http://smbconsultinginc.com

search_engine_optimization

Playing by Google's Rules: Google's "Webmaster Guidelines"
While its important to focus on natural search optimization techniques, it is more important to adhere to Google's policies - termed "Webmaster Guidelines." Google aggressively monitors their index of websites and is careful to make sure that the websites and webpages

• Add value to the Internet, and
• Provide unique content

Breaking any of Google's policies or engaging in any "illicit practices" may lead to Google removing an entire website from its index and search engine. According to Google: "Once a site has been removed, it will no longer show up in results on Google.com or on any of Google's partner sites."

Below is a list of "Webmaster Guidelines" written by Google and available at http://www.google.com/webmasters/. Follow these guidelines carefully as not doing so will result in Google pulling your site:


"Quality Guidelines - Basic principles:

---

• Make pages for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users, or present different content to search engines than you display to users.
  
  
• Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"
  
  
• Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
  
  
• Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our terms of service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.

Quality Guidelines - Specific recommendations:

• Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
  
• 
  
• Don't employ cloaking or sneaky redirects.
  
  
• Don't send automated queries to Google.
  
  
• Don't load pages with irrelevant words.
  
  
• Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
  
  
• Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.

These quality guidelines cover the most common forms of deceptive or manipulative behavior, but Google may respond negatively to other misleading practices not listed here, (e.g. tricking users by registering misspellings of well-known web sites). It's not safe to assume that just because a specific deceptive technique isn't included on this page, Google approves of it. Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles listed above will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit."

Paid_search_engine_optimization

When done effectively, paid search is an excellent, cost-effective medium to target interested leads. Paid search provides advertisers with great flexibility and the extraordinary opportunity to reach millions of potential customers with thousands of keywords. Many of eBay's most successful affiliates use paid search to generate over $100,000 each month in eBay commissions! (Note: affiliates are prohibited from bidding on keyword eBay or variations thereof; please consult our terms and conditions.)

	About Paid Search and Getting Started

While natural search refers to all unpaid search results based on relevance, paid search refers to all pay-for-placement results. On Google, for instance, the paid search results appear on the far-right column labeled "Sponsored Links". For affiliates practicing paid search, those "sponsored links" - or advertisements - generate commissions in one of two ways:

1. the advertisement links to a publisher's Web domain where affiliate links and banners direct users to eBay; or
2. the publisher embeds his or her tracking ID within the advertisement and links directly to eBay.com or an eBay search results page. By sending traffic directly to targeted eBay.com pages, the latter ensures that users arrive at eBay; furthermore, this method does not even require affiliates to own Web domains!

Paid search services like Google typically sell listings on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis - this is also referred to as pay-per-click (PPC). In CPC or PPC programs, advertisers pay for each click-through on a pay-for-placement advertisement. How much does a click cost? Paid search affiliates "bid" on placements by declaring maximum bid amounts; those with the highest bids are usually listed highest. Advertisers will never be charged more than the declared maximum and, when there are no competing bids, will automatically be charged the minimum amount (which ranges between $0.01 and $0.10, depending upon the PPC program).

If you are new to paid search and seek more detailed information, we encourage you to visit the following pages:

SearchEngineWatch.com Search	www.searchenginewatch.com/links/index.php
Google AdWords Overview	adwords.google.com/select/index.html
Overture Overview	www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/index.jhtml

In addition to "naming your price," you are able to selectively target their audiences. By controlling which keywords your ads appear alongside, you only reach relevant users. PPC engines like Google, Overture, and Ah-Ha give advertisers nearly unlimited control of targeted keywords using "matching" categories. The following are "matching" types offered by Google:

Broad match
Simply enter your keyword: cell phone
The ad appears when users search on the keywords cell and phone, regardless of other search terms used or of the order in which they are entered.

Exact match
Use brackets around your keyword: [cell phone]
Ad appears when users search only on the phrase cell phone. Ad will not show if cell phone service is searched.

Phrase match
Use quotes around your keyword: "cell phone"
Ad appears when a phrase incorporating cell phone is searched for. Ad will show for lightweight cell phone but not for cell lightweight phone.

Negative keyword
Use a dash before your keyword: -Motorola
If your keyword is cell phone and your negative keyword is -Motorola, your ad will not show if a user searches on Motorola cell phone, cell phone Nokia Motorola, etc.

There are many benefits to paid search - many of which have been outlined above:

• Easy implementation
• Does not require changes to your Web site (you don't even need a Web site!)
• Unlimited number or variety of keywords
• Ability to turn campaign on or off
• Precise control of advertisement, landing page, price, and message
• Easy to test efficacy of various components (landing page, price, etc) and easy to change your ads respectively
• Access to millions of potential customers who are now just a click away
• Ability to cap daily spend and maximum bid prices
• Potential to significantly increase eBay commissions to upwards of $400,000 each month

Though the benefits of paid search can be tremendous, there are certain elements of paid search that advertisers should be aware of:

• Paid search can be time intensive and manual
• Paid search can be costly if not managed carefully

	Guiding Principles - 8 Steps Toward Effective PPC Marketing

1. Understand your Metrics - Particularly ROI

   In paid search, there are several key terms; but ultimately, none is more important than ROI:

   Acronym	Definition
   ROI	Return on Investment
   CPA	Cost Per Acquisition
   CPC	Cost Per Click
   CTR	Click Through Rates
   EPC	Earning Per Click

   There are many useful metrics available to better analyze and monitor PPC campaigns; in the end though, their greatest use is in understanding the ROI. Monitoring campaigns solely by traffic, impressions, or clicks can be dangerous. Remember also that ROI will vary based upon keyword(s), ad position, PPC platform, time/day, and other variables. Consequently, it is important to track each variable and its effect on overall ROI? bringing us to Guiding Principle #2:

2. Track and Test

   The key to successful PPC advertising is twofold: track and test. PPC platforms like Google, Overture, FindWhat and others enable advertisers to monitor all aspects of each campaign through robust reporting applications. Tracking ad ranks/positions, CPC, click-throughs, and other important metrics is easy with these platforms. Furthermore, comprehensive tracking and analysis is critical to understanding and improving your campaign ROI.

   Testing various campaign elements is equally important. With PPC platforms, it is easy to identify which ad copy, landing pages, and ad positions work best. The following guidelines are excellent starting points:

   Ad Copy

   • Explain what's in it for the customer
   • Use action-oriented language - "Buy", "Sign Up", "eBay" etc
   • Avoid fluffy language. Remember, you have a character limit - use it wisely

   
   

   Landing Pages

   • Visit our Landing Page Best Practices for detailed information
   • Make sure that each landing page directly correlates to its respective advertisement
   • Always utilize eBay's Dynamic Landing pages when available (a list of dynamic landing pages is available at: keyword.ebay.com)

   Note: To take advantage of DLPs, simply append "%26krd=1" to the end of a search results link that you use as your landing page in your paid search advertisement. When this URL parameter is present, the user will be redirected automatically to a DLP if one exists for that keyword query.

   Ad Positions

   • Carefully monitor your ad position, CPC, and CTR
   • Typically higher positioning equates to higher CTR and higher CPC
   • Evaluate which positions deliver the greatest CTR and whether it is worth the incremental cost

   
   

   Shopper ID (SID)

   Commission Junction publishers can (at no cost) add a self-generated tracking code called an SID to their eBay links. SID tracking is an advanced affiliate tool that enables affiliates to track the origin of each transaction and is hugely beneficial for large affiliate campaigns and for paid search initiatives precisely because they empower affiliates with very detailed tracking metrics capable of improving efficiency, conversions, and return on investment (ROI).

   You can create your own SID values, and SIDs within your links are passed through the CJ tracking system. When a click-through converts to a lead or sale on eBay, the SID is recorded and displayed in the publishers' transaction reporting. Using SID tracking, the publisher can track the total number of transactions driven by each keyword. This is an effective method to track individual link or creative conversions. If you would like more information regarding the SID, please email CJ: ebayaffiliates@cj.com.

   Flexible Destination Tool

   The flexible destination tool allows you to create trackable links to the eBay destination page of your choice -- great for paid search! You can create links to search results pages or any other eBay page that you feel is most appropriate for your site. The closer you bring your site visitors to the item they are looking for, the higher your conversion rates will be. Start creating your links now!

   
   

   Day-Parting

   Certain keywords or campaigns perform considerably better during certain parts of the day, week, or month. In these situations, affiliates have benefited greatly from "day-parting": the practice of raising CPC bids to effectively emphasize creatives during particular hours, days, or weeks. If, for instance, your keywords convert 300% better during 7-9PM EST, you might increase your CPC bids so that your creatives will appear in higher positions during those hours. Day-parting can be achieved in three ways:

   1. using a third-party tool,
   2. writing an advanced script to adjust bids, or
   3. manually adjusting bids. The third option is time-intensive and is typically not optimal.

   Ultimately, the goal of tracking and testing is to determine which campaign elements return the highest ROI and to duplicate those elements throughout each of your campaigns.

3. Segment Keyword Groups and Campaigns

   As noted above, tracking and testing are essential elements of effective and efficient paid search advertising. Tracking and testing, however, can be difficult and burdensome for large keyword lists that can reach into the thousands.

   By segmenting keyword groups and ad campaigns by specific variables (keyword, creative, maximum CPC, landing page, etc), advertisers are able to isolate each variable and determine what is effective. This insight can then be applied to the other segments and hopefully be used to increase overall ROI. When keyword lists are not segmented, for instance, the data becomes overwhelming and it becomes difficult to target which variables influence which metrics!

4. Utilize "2nd Tier" PPC Engines

   Google and Overture are easily the largest PPC engines. They draw the most advertisers and they reach the most users; however, because of the crowded landscape, Google and Overture typically carry very high costs per click. There are several smaller ("2nd tier") PPC platforms that, despite have smaller audience reaches, provide similar click through rates (CTR) with substantially lower costs per click. Moreover, these smaller PPC services frequently provide personalized customer-service which enable advertisers to reach traffic from different, untapped communities. A paid search best practice is to complement your Google and Overture campaigns with PPC advertising on the smaller platforms (see the list below for a sample of available PPC services). The benefits can be tremendous: lower CPC, higher CTR, increased market penetration and site traffic, and increased ACRUs and commissions!

   Available PPC services (listed alphabetically):

   "First Tier PPC"
   Google AdWords	www.google.com/ads
   Overture	www.overture.com
   "Second Tier PPC"
   Ah-Ha	www.ah-ha.com
   Business.com	www.business.com
   FindWhat	www.findwhat.com
   Kanoodle	www.kanoodle.com
   LookSmart Looklistings	listings.looksmart.com
   Lycos InSite	insite.lycos.com/adbuyer/overview.asp
   Mamma Classifieds	ads.mamma.com/signup/signup.php3?md=67-331d
   Search123	www.search123.com
   Sprinks	www.sprinks.com
   Access a complete list of PPC search engines
   Note: Each platform syndicates advertisements to different sets of search engines (i.e. Lycos InSite syndicates to Lycos.com)

5. Utilize Untargeted, Niche Keywords

   Identifying relevant and effective keywords is often straightforward. For example, imagine the fictional affiliate Golfers-Equipment.com. Relevant keywords and phrases for this company would be golf clubs and Callaway driver. These keywords, however, might have high CPC rates because they are rather general and probably have numerous other companies bidding on them.

   It is possible, however, to avoid crowds (and high CPCs) by identifying niche keywords and phrases. Although misspellings, unique synonyms, and clever phrases deliver less traffic, they generally have very high CTRs with very low CPCs. Again using Golfers-Equipment.com as an example, the affiliate might consider complementing the more general keywords by bidding on the following "niche" ones: Caloway driver, Calloway wood, golfing clubs, golfers clubs, golfing irons, etc.

   PPC platforms like Google and Overture offer tools such as the Keyword Suggestion Tool and the Search Suggestion Tool, respectively. By inputting keywords into these tools, the PPC engine will output variations and related permutations of your words and phrases. These are excellent tools to expand your keyword reach and utilize niche keywords.

   Using different keyword matches (such as broad match, exact match, and phrase match) is an excellent way to target niche words. Likewise, utilizing negative keywords prevents superfluous, untargeted results. Consider, for instance, an affiliate that markets cruise vacations; they might bid on island cruise, Alaskan Cruise, or even cruise. They would also want to use negative keywords to disassociate any search with Tom Cruise ( -Tom).

6. Understand Your Competitive Landscape

   Competition plays a critical role in PPC advertising because marketers essentially "bid" for ad placements. Understanding the competitive nature of particular PPC segments is crucial in formulating campaign metrics (CPC, CPA, ROI). Furthermore, understanding how "crowded" particular keywords are enables advertisers to determine appropriate CPC rates. Meanwhile, capturing "un-congested" keywords enables advertisers to capture low CPC and high CTR phrases.

   By visiting Overture (www.overture.com), publishers can monitor the competitive landscape (number of bidders and CPC) of each keyword and phrase. All users - registered and non-registered - are able to take advantage of this very useful feature.

7. Understand the Landscape of Third-Party PPC Management Tools

   We have emphasized the tremendous value of testing and tracking campaign metrics. For Web sites and companies with large PPC campaigns, testing and tracking can become time-intensive. Moreover, running campaigns on several PPC platforms complicates the issue: there are different CPC bids, keyword lists, campaign results, etc.

   Utilizing third-party bid management and tracking tools is a great solution for affiliates feeling overwhelmed by data and results. These tools and applications typically offer the following benefits:

   • Time efficiency
   • The ability to manage accounts from a single application rather than several Web-based applications
   • Automated CPC bidding tools
   • The ability to set bidding rules (for example, automatically increase bids during specific hours, days, and weeks)
   • Enhanced metric reporting and ROI tracking
   • Consolidation of campaign metrics - directly compare campaigns from various PPC platforms

   Many third-party bid management and tracking applications are available. Because applications and vendors vary, it is important to consider the following features when considering a third-party program:

   • Automated bidding capabilities
   • Bidding rules capabilities
   • Reporting and tracking features and thoroughness
   • Customer service level
   • Number of supported PPC services
   • Price (one-time purchase vs. monthly fee vs. revenue-based fee)
   • Application software (Web-based or installed software)

   If you're interested in third-party management applications, below is a list of available programs and companies (please note that eBay is not affiliated with these companies and is presenting this list without bias):

   BidRank	www.bidrank.com
   BlowSearch	www.blowsearch.com
   ClickTracks	www.clicktracks.com
   Did-it.com	www.did-it.com
   Go Toast	www.gotoast.com
   Index Tools	www.indextools.com
   Kanoodle.com	www.kanoodle.com
   Marketleap	www.marketleap.com
   TrafficLeader	www.trafficleader.com
   Website Management Tools	www.websitemanagementtools.com
   24/7 Website Results	www.247wsr.com

8. Monitor & Understand the PPC Landscape

   Paid search is a rapidly growing - and rapidly changing - industry. New services and products are introduced seemingly on a daily basis. As a PPC advertiser, it is essential to always monitor the industry, its biggest players, and its sweeping changes. It is important for you to keep your campaigns flexible so that, when these changes occur, you are prepared and able to adjust appropriately!

   Consider, for instance, new contextual advertisers like Google AdSense and Overture Content Match. These new PPC tools display your PPC ads within search results shown on related Web sites (hence the name, contextual ads). AdSense and Content Match, however, do not provide affiliates the ability to track or optimize their campaigns. Consequently, we do not recommend using these tools.

If you have additional questions or want to do further research, the following Web sites are filled with great industry information:

Internet.com	www.internet.com
JupiterResearch	www.jupiterresearch.com
Search Engine Strategies	www.searchenginewatch.com
SEMList.com	www.semlist.com

Paid search is a tremendously powerful means to improve your business and drive additional ACRUs and commissions; and if your business model currently includes paid search, integrating these best practices is a great way to improve your ROI and increase your ACRUs and Revenue.

Natural Search Best Practices

Content is King: Developing Content for Natural Search

1) Add value to the Internet, and
2) Provide unique content

Adding eBay content via tools like the Editor Kit and the API is a great start; but to be indexed highly on the search engines (and to avoid being excluded from their indexes), it must be supplemented by relevant information and content. That content doesn't need to be overly extensive, but it must support the eBay level data (products, listings, pricing) presented on the page. For instance, consider a webpage dedicated to the classic board-game Monopoly. There are over 3,000 "Monopoly" listings on eBay.com - all of which can displayed on your webpage(s) via our Editor Kit and API tools. That information is great, but the search engines want to see it alongside other value-adding content such as an introductory paragraph. A 200-250 word introduction would provide unique content, improve conversion rates and user experience, in addition to improving search engine rankings.

About.com is a strong example of a site that develops short, informational "articles" across 1,000s of categories and products. Consider the articles written for "Monopoly" as a good standard for informational, unique content: http://boardgames.about.com/cs/monopoly/a/monopoly101.htm. Developing the Content: Best Practices

• Keep it relevant and pertinent
• Keep it brief: For higher level pages (Nike), 200-250 words is ample; for specific products (Nike Shox NZ), 50-150 words will suffice
• Place alongside matching products using either the Editor Kit or API
• Highlight your keywords in the title and text
• Avoid textual "spamming": the content must be coherent and valuable

Copywriting: By Hand or Hire?

Generating unique content can be time consuming. If content is needed for only select number of pages, it can be done by oneself or internally. If content needs to be generated across 1,000s of pages, content development becomes tougher. One solution is "outsourcing" authorship to various copywriting companies that specialize is writing website content. These companies usually have staffs that specialize in various categories and often provide bulk rates for mass production. Though we do not endorse any particular company or website (nor are we affiliated with any), we have provided a short list of some available companies that are worth exploring:

• Elance.com
• Elance.com: Web Content Providers
• InfoSearchMedia.com
• Chillibreeze
• Guide5.com
• Copywriting.Net
• M.L. O'Brien Communications
• Website-Writers.com

Copywriting through the API

Another solution is to automate the authoring process by writing scripts to convert the text and information from eBay's API into coherent, relevant "articles" that appear alongside the listings. eBay's API enables affiliates to access listing-level titles and descriptions - a wealth of text and information that can be turned into valuable content. For standardized items like DVDs, Books, CDs and electronics, this information is standardized and cataloged - and is accessible via the API. For instance, look at the listings for "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" on eBay; there is valuable content in each listing that would supplement any related affiliate webpage. Of course, our information can be parlayed alongside other forms of relevant content such as datafeeds, pertinent articles, blogs, etc… just remember, content is only worthwhile if it is relevant and adds value!

DO's

Highly indexed Web sites are designed to be both user-friendly and search-engine-friendly. Search engines periodically send "robots" or "crawlers" to scour every Web site. The following initiatives will make it easier for those crawlers to search, index, and output the information within your Web site, which will improve your natural search rankings.

1. Title Tags (Page Titles): Each of your Web site's pages should have a distinct 6-10 word title using relevant keywords found throughout that page. If,.for instance, your Web page provides advice regarding college entrance exams, your title might be "SAT Tips and Hints for Students". Visit www.washingtonpost.com for an excellent example of great page titles.
   
   
2. Site Maps: Site maps are crucial to improving natural search rankings precisely because they enable engine crawlers to access each of your Web site's pages. Your site map should begin with a brief description of your Web site's purpose or mission and then include text links to all major site pages (maximum of 100 links). You should also include a brief explanation above each subset or category of links.
   
   Each page within your Web site should provide a text link to your site map. Additionally, your site map should be stored in your root directory - making it easily accessible to all crawlers. Visit WashingtonPost.com's "Site Index" for an excellent example of a site map best practice. Remember, that search engines only crawl the first 100 links on a webpage - including your sitemap.
   
   It is important to note that search engine crawlers have difficulty with drop-down menus, JavaScript, and search boxes. Site maps are simple ways to attract crawlers to each page.
   
   
3. Utilize Your Error Pages: Too often companies forget about error pages (such as 404 errors). Error pages should always re-direct "lost" users to valuable, text-based pages. Placing text links to major site pages is an excellent practice. Visit www.cnet.com/error for an example of a well-utilized error page.
   
   
4. Meta Tags: Make sure that 100% of your site is tagged with pertinent keywords found throughout your site. Beware, however, that the search crawlers will interpret excessively long tags with superfluous words negatively!
   
   Visit www.duke.edu and select "View" and then "Source" from your browser's navigation menu. Duke.edu lists all related meta tags by keyword and by description. The meta tag listings are stored in the html code, beneath the page title.
   
   
5. URL and File Names: Short, appropriately named files and URLs enable engines to easily crawl your site. Always keep the most important content at the root level and name directories appropriately (think keywords!). If possible, try to place pages at a maximum of two directories deep. For example, NFL.com lists the entire roster of the New England Patriots at this straightforward link: www.nfl.com/teams/rosters/NE.
   
   Additionally, when naming files or folders with two words, separate the words with either a dash or underscore. For example, name a directory /horse-racing/ rather than /horseracing/.
   
   
6. Page Size Under 75k: Always keep page sizes under 75k - most search engines stop crawling when a page exceeds this limit.
   
   
7. robots.txt: Robots.txt is a text file that essentially speaks to search engine crawlers -effectively welcoming or prohibiting them to various parts of a Web site. Utilize your robots.txt file to ensure that crawlers are invited to your site and excluded from those areas with sensitive information (such as files contained within a CGI folder). If you are unfamiliar with robots or your robots.txt file, visit www.robotstxt.org/wc/faq.html for a thorough explanation.
   
   
8. Links: Strong linkage to your Web site raises your relevance and eventually your page rank. Improve linkage by contacting related Web sites and Webmasters and kindly ask them to create a text link to your site. Forming strategic alliances with relevant sites and services also works well. Additionally, construct and submit related articles to online publications in exchange for linkage.
   
   
9. Page Content: Your page content should mirror all of the optimization you have performed within your page titles, meta tags, and file names. Make sure to place strong, relevant keywords throughout the page body and in text. Place pertinent keywords within your headers by using header tags (H1, H2, etc). Keywords can also be stressed by bold and italics formatting. Go to www.itt-tech.com to see an excellent example of highlighting keywords and terms with text.
   
   
10. Submit Your Site to the Engines: Of course these best practices are useless if a search engine fails to find your site! Most of the search engines (Google, Yahoo!, AltaVista, etc) allow you to submit your site for free; upon entering your URL, email contact, and other pertinent information, the search engine directs its crawlers to enter your site.
    
    However, before submitting your site to the major search engines, submit it to www.dmoz.org. Dmoz.org catalogs over 3.8 million Web sites and distributes collected information to many of the major search engines and portals. Inclusion in the dmoz.org catalog typically has a beneficial impact upon page rankings.
    
    The following are links to the site submission pages for several of the major search engines:
    • Google: www.google.com/addurl.html
    • MSN: free.submit-it.com/msnsubmit.htm
    • Yahoo!: docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest
    • All The Web: www.alltheweb.com/help/webmaster/submit_site.html
    • AltaVista: addurl.altavista.com

How To: Create The Perfect Signature For Your Emails And Articles!

What, you don't have a signature for your email messages and articles?
Then you are missing out one of the cheapest, but most efficient marketing tools :
o But how do you create the perfect signature for your business?

Let me show you: When creating your own prmotional email signature, first you have to figure out how you want the reader to react.
Do you want her to visit your web site, to purchase your products, or to join your newsletter?
Maybe you even want to create several signatures for different occasions:
One to promote your newsletter, one that links to your web site, one that fits the signature rules of your favorite discussion list, and so on.
Once you have decided on the goal of your signature, you can go on and create your email signature. It is best to use a real simple text editor to create your first signature, such as Notepad. I recommend to create a text file that contains all your signatures. Then it is easy to find a specific signature when you need it, and when you create a new one, you do not have to start from the scratch but modify an existing signature. Your signature always starts with a greeting and your own name. Depending on the audience, you can also include your title and company name. However, I do not recommend to include your phone and fax numbers, at least not in promotional signatures.

Sample: ----------------------------------------------------
Best regards, John Vorwerk 4OfficeAutomation, Inc. ----------------------------------------------------

Next, you have to create the promotional part of your signature. This part is like creating a short e-zine ad. You have to mention your offer, your URL and a call to action. It is not enough to only mention your URL; you have to give the reader a compelling reason to go to your site and join your newsletter or buy your product.

Sample:
----------------------------------------------------
Send rich HTML email to your customers with EmailUnlimited. Go to http://www.4officeautomation.com/default.htm?a_aid=3bf35761 to download your copy of EmailUnlimited Free Edition!
----------------------------------------------------
Here are some additional tips to make your signature line more efficient: Although your signature is a promotional item, it should be as unobtrusive as possible, just like the Yahoo! Mail signature. Do not use exclamation marks exessively. It is enough to use one in your call to action. The same goes for upper-case letters: USING UPPER-CASE LETTERS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS MAKES READERS FEEL LIKE YOU ARE SCREAMING AT THEM!!! See what I mean? It is also important that you keep your signature as short as possible. People are annoyed when they see sigantures that look like full-blown ads and tend to ignore them. As a rule of thumb, I suggest that the promotional part of your signature should be one to three lines of text, including the URL. Each line should not be longer than 65 characters, otherwise some email clients may have trouble displaying your signature correctly.

About The Author:
Article Written By John Vorwerk, 4OfficeAutomation, Inc. Inventor of the EmailUnlimited Email Marketing Software.May your connection be foul, your ISP be a bitch - EmailUnlimited delivers your mailz like a witch! Download your free copy at http://www.4officeautomation.com/default.htm?a_aid=3bf35761

What, you don't have a signature for your email messages and articles?
Then you are missing out one of the cheapest, but most efficient marketing tools :
o But how do you create the perfect signature for your business?

Let me show you: When creating your own prmotional email signature, first you have to figure out how you want the reader to react.
Do you want her to visit your web site, to purchase your products, or to join your newsletter?
Maybe you even want to create several signatures for different occasions:
One to promote your newsletter, one that links to your web site, one that fits the signature rules of your favorite discussion list, and so on.
Once you have decided on the goal of your signature, you can go on and create your email signature. It is best to use a real simple text editor to create your first signature, such as Notepad. I recommend to create a text file that contains all your signatures. Then it is easy to find a specific signature when you need it, and when you create a new one, you do not have to start from the scratch but modify an existing signature. Your signature always starts with a greeting and your own name. Depending on the audience, you can also include your title and company name. However, I do not recommend to include your phone and fax numbers, at least not in promotional signatures.

Sample: ----------------------------------------------------
Best regards, John Vorwerk 4OfficeAutomation, Inc. ----------------------------------------------------

Next, you have to create the promotional part of your signature. This part is like creating a short e-zine ad. You have to mention your offer, your URL and a call to action. It is not enough to only mention your URL; you have to give the reader a compelling reason to go to your site and join your newsletter or buy your product.

Sample:
----------------------------------------------------
Send rich HTML email to your customers with EmailUnlimited. Go to http://www.4officeautomation.com/default.htm?a_aid=3bf35761 to download your copy of EmailUnlimited Free Edition!
----------------------------------------------------
Here are some additional tips to make your signature line more efficient: Although your signature is a promotional item, it should be as unobtrusive as possible, just like the Yahoo! Mail signature. Do not use exclamation marks exessively. It is enough to use one in your call to action. The same goes for upper-case letters: USING UPPER-CASE LETTERS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS MAKES READERS FEEL LIKE YOU ARE SCREAMING AT THEM!!! See what I mean? It is also important that you keep your signature as short as possible. People are annoyed when they see sigantures that look like full-blown ads and tend to ignore them. As a rule of thumb, I suggest that the promotional part of your signature should be one to three lines of text, including the URL. Each line should not be longer than 65 characters, otherwise some email clients may have trouble displaying your signature correctly.

About The Author:
Article Written By John Vorwerk, 4OfficeAutomation, Inc. Inventor of the EmailUnlimited Email Marketing Software.May your connection be foul, your ISP be a bitch - EmailUnlimited delivers your mailz like a witch! Download your free copy at http://www.4officeautomation.com/default.htm?a_aid=3bf35761

Choose The Right Format For Your E-zine

Choose The Right Format For Your E-zine by:

John Vorwerk When you plan to publish your e-zine, one of the first things you need to decide on is the format in which you want to publish it to your readers. Currently, email can be delivered in two different formats: Plain text and HTML. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each format:

--------------Plain Text--------------

Advantages:
* Easy to create
* Can be read with all email programs
* Small size equals fast delivery and short download times
* Some people consider it to be more personal than HTML newsletters

Disadvantages:
* Poor formatting options
* Newsletters may appear different to different users, depending on the email client, font choices, and margin settings


--------------HTML Text--------------

Advantages:
* Complete formatting options; your newsletter may look like web pages or a printed magazine, with colorful pictures and rich formatting.
* Provide better tracking options; you can see how many people have opened your message.

Disadvantages:
* Some people use email clients that do not support HTML properly, or deliberately turn off HTML—or filter HTML mails from unfamiliar senders into the trash.
* HTML messages are significantly larger than plain text messages, and take more time to deliver.
* When you include pictures, you either have to embed them into your email, which adds to the size, or link them to files on the Internet, which requires the recipient to stay connected to the Internet while reading your message. Which format you finally use really depends on the contents of your newsletter and also on your target group. I have decided on using HTML format, since it provides me the most freedom and also give a more professional impression. When sending automatic follow-up emails, however, in same cases it can be better to send a plain text email that looks like somebody has manually written it. Special Tip: Using a professional email program like EmailUnlimited you can easily send emails that contains both, an HTML and a plain text your of your newsletter. This way, the recipient's email program will automatically determine which format it can display best and you can be sure that your message gets displayed on any email client.


About The Author:John Vorwerk, 4OfficeAutomation, Inc. Inventor of the EmailUnlimited Email Marketing Software May your connection be foul, your ISP be a bitch - EmailUnlimited delivers your mailz like a witch! Download your free copy at http://www.4officeautomation.com/default.htm?a_aid=3bf35761

Testing your Internet Newsletter - Technical and Content Tests

An internet newsletter is the equivalent of a brochure or an offline informative newsletter - it needs to capture attention, deliver high quality information and content and convince readers that your company is worth remembering. With Internet newsletters, however, there is an additional issue. Unlike a printed brochure, which everyone sees the same, Internet newsletters are displayed on different browsers and screen resolutions. This may affect the way the newsletter looks or the way the layout is seen on different computers. Another test you should do with your newsletter concerns the way the message arrives at your target audience. Let's have a look at both test types that you should do before you submit your newsletter to your subscribers.

Technical Tests

There are many browsers that interpret web pages slightly differently. Many websites that look great on Netscape are displayed all wrong on Internet Explorer, and viceversa. This calls for your attention as you cannot afford to release the newsletter and have it display poorly on certain web browsers. Before sending it out try to proof it in several browsers and on different computers with different resolutions. This may be a hard thing to do if you don't have a larger office with several computers, but you can always ask a few friends to check it out and let you know if it looks ok on their screens. However, a basic test you can do even on one computer is to download different browsers and try them with your newsletter. You might also want to change the screen resolution from your current one to lower and higher ones as part of the test. The standard computer operates in SVGA true color, but you should also see other configurations.

Testing the way the message reaches your audience

This is mostly a test that resembles a focus group or a survey. Send the newsletter to a few people and ask them about it once they have read it. Did your message go through without any obstacles? Did they find the graphic layout attractive? What did they think about the photos you used in your newsletter? How did they respond to the call to action at the end of the newsletter? Were they tempted to find out more by visiting your website? Once you get answers to these questions you can easily see whether your newsletter is working properly. The message is essential and there is no point in going through all the trouble to publish the Internet newsletter unless you get the readers to visit your website and to trust your company.

Putting it all together

All of the things mentioned above sound like a lot of stuff to do for a simple newsletter. However, keep in mind that once you get the pattern right and once the first issue of the newsletter starts having success you will never have to repeat 90% of that work. It might still be a good idea to test your Internet newsletter in different browsers if you have made changes to the graphic design or layout. It would also be advisable to have at least one more person read each issue of the newsletter before sending it out, to see if you might have passed some errors.

Testing your newsletter is essential. Both the technical details of the newsletter and the expected response from the readers have to be tested thoroughly in order to ensure its success.

About the author:(c) Balwant Gohil 2006.

Check Out The Internet Newsletter Package...

At:StartingAnInternetNewsletter.com

Combining The Power Of Google Adsense And Email Marketing

In the past year, Google Adsense has become the “It” way to make money on the Internet.

But even if you already use Google Adsense on your site, you are probably leaving money on the table. Let me explain why…

Most people create a site, slap some content and then wait for people to click on their ads.

But once people click on an ad, they are gone….probably forever!

One method that smart Internet marketers use to maximize their Google Adsense is to harness the power of their email list. By getting people to subscribe to their list, website owners can continue to make money from their readers.

By utilizing the power of their email list, website owners can dramatically increase their Adsense income.

Here is how you can do the same. In the following article, there is a step-by-step list of how you can harness the power of your list to create a steady stream of Adsense revenue.

The first step is to create a topic that is in high demand. A good topic would be something that people have an interest in, or information that can help your readers personally or financially.

Your next action would be to create content for your site. The idea is to write or use information that would provide value to the reader. All your articles should help improve their life in some manner. You can create content for your site in a large numbers of ways. This can include:

· Your own web articles
· Guides, product evaluations, and “How To's”
· Blogs and RSS Feeds
· Public domain works
· Private label rights
· Hiring a freelancer to write your content

Obviously creating content for your site is an ongoing process, so once you've created at least 10 pages of quality information for your readers, you should create your web pages and optimize them for Google Adsense.

As you are designing your pages for Adsense, you should keep one thing in mind- Your primary goal is to get people to click on your Adsense ads.

So don't give your readers too many options. As a result, it is important to keep your web page simple. To do this, you should include do the following:

· Place the article on the web page
· Ad all three Adsense blocks in prominent places
· Make sure that the ad blocks look like standard text, with the no borders and blue links
· If you have to have other links on this page, include them at the bottom where there is a less chance of being clicked on

After designing your web pages, you need to create an autoresponder sequence for your email list. The primary focus for each email is to get people to click on your Google Adsense pages. So it is important to create and intriguing title. Then in the email, write a little bit about the importance of the article and tell your subscribers how they can learn more by clicking over to the site.

Once you've created your sequence of bringing readers to your Adsense pages, you should start promoting your lists. You can do this by articles, PPC, ebooks, viral marketing and SEO. The more people usually means more money, so you have to continuously work at marketing your website.

Once you have finished creating your Adsense and email system, you should go back and continue to add more content and market your site. By having a large selection of information and more readers, you'll discover that your Google Adsense income will grow exponentially.

About the Author: Scott J. Patterson is a self proclaimed Dunce, yet in a recent month he earned $12,124 from one of his online businesses. To find out how YOU can do the same, download his free ebook- A Secret Guide to Online Businesses

Top 10 Reasons To Advertise With Ezines

Yes, Ezine Advertising really does work and here are 10 reasons why this form of internet marketing is so powerful and effective:



1. An Ezine is an electronic magazine or newsletter. The electronic format makes it easy to respond to your ad. A simple mouse click is much more convenient than picking up the phone, mailing in a card, or driving to a physical store



2. The electronic format offers less potential for distraction before they arrive at your "store". Just think if you send a traditional sales flyer through the mail. The customer is eager to buy but needs to drive past several other retail establishments to arrive at your store and then walk past still more in the mall or shopping center. They might spend the money meant for your pocket before they ever arrive! In an Ezine they click right from the ad into your "store" so there is less potential for loss.



3. Subscribers have opted in. Opt In means they have voluntarily signed-up to receive the Ezine and were not added to the list without their knowledge or permission. Your ad is less likely to be tossed in the garbage like junk mail or deleted like spam. It is also likely to be "white listed" and so won't get caught up by spam filters.



4. Cheaper than most traditional forms of advertising. Priced television, radio, or print media lately? It is also cheaper than many other internet advertising options. Have you looked into the cost of PPC?



5. Easy to target ads and products to specific audience. No matter what your target audience there is an Ezine out there to serve it-and probably dozens to choose from!



6. No need to narrow your category like in traditional classified advertising. Classified listings restrict your placement so only people looking in that category see your ad. In an Ezine every reader sees it!



7. Most Ezine subscribers read for the free information they expect from their Ezine and will usually read each issue from top to bottom. Since most publishers only allow a limited number of ads, your ad will have greater visibility.



8. Most people buy when they least expect to, so as they are reading their Ezine they will be relaxed and more receptive to marketing. This contrasts sharply with many other advertising mediums (TV, radio, direct mailing) as then people are expecting a sales pitch!



9. Ezine subscribers feel comfortable acting on sales pitches because the electronic format makes it risk-free to respond to your ad. They don't have to risk getting trapped on the phone or in a store by an over-eager sales staff. They take comfort in knowing that one simple click can get them back out again!



10. The electronic format also makes it easy to capture more information about your prospect. You have the opportunity to at least get their name and e-mail address (if you are savvy about your offer) and potentially a whole lot more. Once you've got that then you can sell, sell, sell!



About the Author: Deanna Mascle, Visit http://ezineadvertisingworks.info and http://howtoadvertisewithezines.info to learn more. Want to save money on Ezine Advertising? Check out our ebook "Harness The Power Of Ezine Advertising" which includes $21 of free ezine advertising plus our Ad Club. Our ebook not only offers FREE ezine advertising but additional tips.

Link Popularity Explained And How To Build Links

Link popularity is the single most influential factor for determining how well a web site will perform in search engine rankings. A web site's link popularity is computed from the number and more importantly, the quality of links pointing to a web site.

Link Popularity history

To gain a better understanding of link popularity it is useful to know why it became so crucial for search engine rankings. In the past a web page's ranking was determined, amongst other factors, by the number of keyword occurences within 'on-page' elements i.e. in page text, META tags, title tag. When web developers learned that they could trick a search engine to return their web pages by cramming keywords into their pages the search engines had to get a bit smarter. They were using 'on-page' elements to determine relevance so it was only natural that they would look to elements out of direct control of the web page creator i.e. 'off-page' elements. Search engines made the assumption that the greater the number of links from other sites pointing to a web site, the more popular the web site is and therefore a more quality resource. This worked nicely in theory but in practice it was also to be abused.

Web site owners figured out many ways to get links pointing to their web sites one example of which was through the use of link farms, pages the contained nothing more than a collection of links, Quantity of links was being abused so the search engines made use of the old saying "quality not quantity" and began to assign a quality factor to each of the links pointing to a web site. Now web sites that had a higher number of high quality links were looked upon favourably by the search engines. Building link popularity became a science in itself and today is still the most time-consuming and frustrating activity for a search engine optimizer.

Main classes of links

Note: In the following examples SiteA is our web site and SiteB is an outside site (i.e. a web site under a different domain name than SiteA).

Inbound links:

Inbound links to a web site are links that originate from an outside web site. An example would be a link on SiteB pointing into a page on SiteA.

SiteA (----- SiteB

Outbound links:

Outbound links from a web site are links pointing to a page on an outside web site. An example would be a link on SiteA pointing out to a page on SiteB.

SiteA -----) SiteB

There are two further classifications of links:

Reciprocal links:

An example of a reciprocal link is when SiteA links to SiteB AND SiteB links to SiteA, the link is reciprocated by both parties.

SiteA -----) SiteB

AND

SiteA (----- SiteB

To achieve a high link popularity the type of links to build are inbound one-way links. This simulates how natural links are created i.e. links that people create to point to your site because they found it worth linking to.

For outbound links it is natural to assume that they might decrease link popularity of a web site but this is not true. You do not give away your link popularity when you link to another site. They do not add to your link popularity though.

Reciprocal links can add to your link popularity if the web site that you exchange links with has a higher link popularity than your site. However they are not as powerful as inbound, one-way links as they are quite artificial in nature i.e. most probably created by communication between the owners of both sites.

How to build link popularity

So it is quite obvious that to help build up a nice link popularity many inbound, one-way links need to be created. This can be achieved in a number of different (and most importantly, legal) ways:

Directories:

Directories are categorized listings of links from around the web. Many, many directories exist and vary in their methods of getting your link posted on them. They provide a great source of quality inbound, one-way links. Getting listed in quality directories such as DMOZ or Yahoo can be more beneficial for your link popularity than a lot of links from smaller, newer directories.

Great site content:

The most powerful way to get inbound, one-way links is to have great site content that other web sites will want to link to. This allows you to get links from sites other than directories, which can definitely be better. The best thing about this is that it requires no communication on your part, it just happens naturally. If your site has poor content then others sites may not link, including the directories. Most of the top ranking web sites today got to the top because of great content. Writing interesting and informative articles for your web site is a good way of getting these kind of links.

Emailing web site owners:

If you come across a listing of links on a web site other than a directory e.g. a links page on a somebody's personal web site, it can do no harm to write the web site owner a polite email requesting a link to your site from their page. They may request a reciprocal link in return but sometimes they do not and you can get a quality inbound, one-way link for your efforts. I have got many links in the past using this method. In my email I always ask them to visit my site first before making a decision to link and I personalise each email with a comment or two about their site.

Summary

The best and most effective way of increasing your search engine rankings is working to improve your web site's link popularity. This can be achieved by getting as many inbound, one-way links as you can from quality sites such as directories. Other ways to get these links are having great content on your site and requesting a link to your site from other web sites.

Increasing link popularity is a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating process but is definitely worth the time and effort when you see a dramatic increase in traffic.

About the Author: Frank Kilkelly is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Expert and Webmaster at http://www.seo-ireland.com/, a complete search engine optimization resource. The highlight of the site is an SEO forum ( http://www.seo-ireland.com/forum/ ) for discussion of the latest techniques and tips to improve the ranking of your web site.

Getting Traffic From MySpace And Social Networking Marketing Tips

MySpace is well-known for its huge online community and the way to do social networking, but it also can be a way to get your message out about your service or business if done in a non-pushy casual way. Today's generation has seen so many ads and can block it out in a flash. What's important to remember that MySpace and social networking is about making friends and casually mentioning what you do, what you've found helpful etc. It is not about hard selling.

After you set up your profile at MySpace you can explore using the various feature which include adding friends, sending out bulletins, joining a group, blogging, writing comments and sending e-mails to your friends. Also when you set up your profile you are assigned a number but it's nice to change it to a catchy phrase because that will be part of the url or website address people use to find you.

The group tab on MySpace is wonderful to browse because you can find groups that are targetted on your niche and join them. For instance, if you study the pets and animals tab you'll see there are several groups available for dog lovers. The Dogs are the Best group has 31,901 members. There's another group titled My Dog Rocks that has over 54,000 members. There's also specialized niches as well such as a pit bull group that has 9000 members.

After you join a group you need to wait a week to post and then you can either answers people's posts or post your own topic or question. It is best to put your offer in your signature file and to build up relationships with people in the group rather than be an aggressive marketer. Some groups also have a bulletin section which allow ads and you use that section as well in a more direct way. I have found that being anecdotal and talking about my own interest in the topic help builds connections with other group members. Think how long it would take you to grow a newsletter list yourself of 54,000 members and you'll get a glimpse of the potential this has to let others know about your product or service.

Another feature I like is the commenting aspect. You can leave a comment on your friend's profiles that everyone who goes to their page will see. It can be worth it to make or buy a pretty banner so that you can include that within your comment. I always study someone's page before I make a banner so I can customize my remark to their personality. It takes more time but again it helps to build the relationship. If I see that the person likes a certain book I like or hobby I will mention that in my comment and then put a link to my site using a banner or a text link.

Blogging using the MySpace blog system is also a very good way to get traffic to your site. I usually will post something in a diary or casual way and have a link to my site. I then will send out a bulletin to tell people I've updated my blog. Don't neglect MySpace in your marketing campaign as it has wonderful opportunities to help people get to learn about your website, service and business.

About the author: Dee Cohen is a psychotherapist and online marketer. Visit to get a free 22 page report on how to market on MySpace. http://www.socialsitesmarketing.com and learn ways to get your message out to others. Free 22 page MySpace Marketing Tips Report

Effective Tips For Successful Submission To Web Directories

As you know, submission to web directories is a fantastic promotion tool that can boost your website link popularity and search engines rankings because with each submission you get one-way link to your website. There are free and paid web directories, and if you pay for the listing you want be sure it will work for your website. However submission to web directories is a kind of art and science at the same time and of course it has its secrets.

Follow these 5 tips to make web directories work for your website:

1. Make sure that it is a SEO friendly web directory

Links must be direct, static, and SEO-friendly that allows search engine robots to easily find and index your link:

• View the web page source code by right clicking on the page and selecting “View Source” from the drop-down menu.
• Look at the page meta tags, namely ROBOTS and make sure it doesn’t contain NOFOLLOW or NOINDEX attributes.
• Look at the links codes – URL in HREF attribute must be pointed directly to a linked website, not redirect from the web directory domain link.
• Links must not contain NOFOLLOW attribute.

2. Find the best place for your web site link

The best place is page with good Page Rank, easily and shortly reached from index page of the web directory, that contain relevant text and links.

• Browse a web directory categories and/or subcategories to find the best placement for your link. It’s very important because link, placed on a page with text content relevant by theme to the website’s theme has more value in eyes of search engines.
• If your website fits more than one categories or subcategories, select the one which is reached by less clicks from the home page, and/or has less other websites links on the pages – this will give your link larger “piece” of Page Rank.

3. Follow the web directory submission guidelines

If the online web directory meets all these requirements you can start composing your link. Always before starting submission you should read the submission rules or guidelines, because if your submission is failed to meet them, your website will be denied.

• Usually typical submission guidelines are quite simple and within the common sense rules – your website must be legal, developed (no landing page or under construction), must not be related to racism, hate, illegal activities, etc. If you try to submit such website regardless of the guidelines, most likely your submission will be denied because most of web directories are human edited.
• Another reason for your website to be denied is that you selected wrong category for your listing – one web directory editor may fix it, but another one will just delete the listing.
• Let’s also talk about deep linking – this is when you submit internal page of your website like www.yoursitename.com/pagename.html instead of top level domain www.yoursitename.com Deep linking is a SEO tactics for getting links, which look more natural in eyes of search engines, and it helps promoting certain website pages or sections as well. Not all web directories accept deep links for regular listings – most of them offer this for premium paid submission only. If you want to submit internal page link to a web directory, read before starting what the directory submission guidelines tell about this to avoid deletion of your listing.

4. Write proper title and description for your link

Title of your link is very important because usually it will be linked to your website as anchor text that has great impact on your website search engine rankings, so do your best writing title for each link you submit, however:

• Do not stuff the title with keywords only because this may cause rejection of your submission by the directory editor, but write normal informative phrases describing your website topics, services, products, ideas.
• If the web directory submission rules allow using 2–3 keywords or key phrases in the title and description, do not miss that chance; however try to “mix” the keywords with other normal words.
• Do not exceed the allowed limit of characters otherwise your title will be truncated or the whole listing rejected.
• Vary the link title and description at least slightly for each submission to make the links look natural in eyes or search engines. When search engines find hundreds or thousands of links to your website with the same anchor text (title) and description, they just discount the links value and your money and time were wasted to no result in rankings. It’s enough just to change one word in title and phrases order in the description from directory to directory, and use different keywords for every 10th web directory to get natural links for your website and improve its rankings for all the keywords.
• Remember that human users are also interested in your website listing and will follow the link if they find it interesting and useful. That’s why to use normal language for the title and description, that takes attention of the users and prompt them to click the link.

5. Write down all web directories you have submitted your website to

• The first reason for this is to avoid repeated submission to the same web directory because this may cause the first submission rejection or deletion.
• Also it’s just helpful and handy to have summary list of where and when you submitted your website, so in few weeks you can return and check if your website has been added, because some web directories send notification about website inclusion but some do not and you have to check it manually.

These 5 tips are simple but very effective because you know you spend your time and money on submission that brings great results.

About the author:Julia Ramyalg,Internet Marketing Manager
SEO friendly online web directory - JuliaWebDirectory.com accepts website submission for regular listing $1/year and featured listing $7/year.

• 300+ categories
• Deep Linking is allowed for regualr listing
• 24 hours Listing Approval
• Quick Indexing by search engines
• Relevant content on the pages of categories – all you need for building your website link popularity.

Instant Traffic Techniques for Mini-Sites

When building websites there are two main options: large content site or small mini-sites. Large content sites normally focus more on providing "information". Mini-sites, however, normally have one purpose only, to sell. Given what search engines want, large content sites are much better for getting search engine traffic. Most of the time (unless you're excellent at optimizing) it's hard to get mini-sites to rank well for competitive keywords. This is why most do NOT rely on search engines for traffic to their mini-sites. In all honesty, the best strategy is to combine the two types of sites by having a large content site to rank well with search engines that feeds traffic to your mini-sites. However, not all of us have the time or know-how to easily build large sites that do well with search engines. Most of us just want to put up a small site and start making money. Here are the 3 traffic generating techniques I use everyday for traffic to mini-sites.


#1: Forums/Discussion Boards
I have made more than $6,000 from one mini-site just by targeting it to the right forum in my signature file. All I did was leave a nice statement in my signature file; in 1 month I attracted over 5,000 targeted visitors that converted to over $6,000 for me. The basic strategy here is that you need to find related forums and become active in them. Get yourself known, find out what those members talk about and find an affiliate product to fit their demand. Then, make a nice, simple, yet captive site with a great headline followed by a review of the product. Test it and if it pulls well, you have a winner. If not, choose another product.


#2: E-zine Advertising
I would rate e-zine advertising at the second best way to gather traffic to your mini-sites only because this technique can cost some money. Forum promotions have no cost (typically). However, e-zine advertising can provide much better results. Forum marketing requires you taking the time to make sensible responses or asking good questions. With e-zine advertising, however, you just write a good promotion and let the publisher send it out. An advantage of e-zine advertising is that you know before you promote that you have a targeted audience that has already expressed an interest in your topic. Also, the subscriber and the publisher most likely have a good relationship (considering the subscriber has not left) and so your promotion comes with credibility and may get more attention. One of the keys to doing well with e-zine advertising (for me) has been repeated ads in the same e-zine. I have found that my results are best in the second of third promotion. However, if I get no results on my first mailing, I do not repeat that e-zine again. Warning: Not all e-zines are the same. Some will be major winners and others will be major flops. #3: Directory SitesAlright, here is the controversial technique that I use very successfully. I know some of you will think that it is "wrong" - but in the end, my job is to teach you how I get my traffic; that is exactly what I am going to do. Directory sites are sites created by software that automatically build you a site which is 500 or more pages. These sites are just simply uploaded to a domain name. Most (if done right) tend to do well with search engines. That traffic is then forwarded to your mini-sites. As you can see, we're holding fast to our policy of building a funnel system where we use the large sites to bring in the "no cost" search engine traffic (which is also highly targeted). However, all the "selling" takes place on our mini-sites. Large sites = Traffic Gathering Mini sites = Conversion Into Sales Obviously there are many more techniques to use to attract traffic to your mini-sites such as banners, pay per click, link exchanging, etc... I just wanted to discuss the top 3 that are the easiest to implement and require the least learning curve (in my opinion)

About the author:Anik Singal became a successful internet marketer at just 21 with a unique affiliate marketing system that helped him earn over $10,466 in just 60 days using mini-sites. Sign up for his free e-course at: http://www.amclassroom.com/cmd.php Copyright 2006 Anik Singal.

Dont's

In general, attempts to trick engine crawlers fail miserably and will usually affect your natural rankings detrimentally. Avoid all activities described below.

1. Never Seek Quick Fixes: If a service promises too much, it probably will not deliver. Products that promise millions of unique visitors or services that email millions of "eager" recipients are anything but quick fixes - they are immediate problems. Subscribing to these services usually results in search engine banishment!
   
   
2. Avoid Link Farms: Link farms are sites that link to numerous other sites with the hopes of improving page rankings. Beware: link farms spell immediate trouble - so avoid them at all costs! Engines like Google interpret link farms as spam and actually remove participating Web sites from search engine indexes.
   
   
3. Avoid Splash Pages: Flash and heavily graphic introductions prohibit engines from crawling your site. Because crawlers work best with text links, splash pages are very troublesome. A good rule of thumb: always keep your most valuable and compelling information up-front and in text. Bob's Big Boy (www.bigboy.com) uses a splash page and, as a result, prohibits crawlers from reaching the body of the site.
   
   
4. Avoid Frames: Never use pages with frames. Frames are too complex for the crawlers and too cumbersome to index.
   
   
5. Avoid Cookies: Never require cookies for Web site access! Search engine crawlers are unable to enter any cookie-required materials; similarly, crawlers are unable to enter or index secure pages (https, password protection, etc).
   
   
6. Avoid JavaScript when Possible: Though JavaScript menus are very popular, they disable crawlers from accessing those links. Most, well-indexed Web sites incorporate text-based links primarily because they are search engine friendly. If necessary, JavaScript should be referenced externally.
   
   
7. Avoid Search-Box Navigation: Never rely on search boxes for site navigation; engine crawlers are incapable of entering text into search boxes and will be unable to find those pages.
   
   
8. Avoid Redirects: Search engines frown upon companies that use numerous Web sites to redirect to a single Web site.
   
   
9. Avoid Internal Dynamic URLs on the Home page: Though many sites incorporate internal dynamic links, they should not incorporate those links on the home page. Engine crawlers are currently ill-equipped to navigate dynamic links - which often pass numerous parameters using excessive characters.
   
   
10. Session ID's: Do not leave URL session ID's on for engine crawlers; they will be unable to access and index your site.
    
    
11. Eliminate Pop-Up Ads: Search engines frown upon pop-up advertisements - especially when they occur on the home page! Eliminating all pop-up ads will win favor with the engines and make your site more crawler friendly.
    
    
12. Eliminate Hidden / Invisible Text: Search engines immediately recognize hidden text and consider such practices to be "cheating."
    
    

For more information on natural search best practices, see Google's Webmaster page: www.google.com/webmasters.

increasing_website_traffic

First, by submitting their site to search engines. Use the links bellow:

• Google. The No. 1 search engine
• Yahoo ! Free submission to yahoo, but requires registration
• MSN (requires visiting their site)
• Those are small search engine. Only if you are plenty of time.
  Rex, Infotiger, Netsearch Voyager, ExactSeek, LinkCentre, HotRate, TrueSearch, WhatsNu, LookSeek Susy (South Africa), Walhello.com, Dirs.org, Wisenut

There is no point trying to submit to these search engines...

• Inktomi - Feeds over 125 search engines (Yahoo, AlltheWeb, AltaVista, HotBot, MSN, Overture, About...) and has been adquired by Yahoo; No free submission service available at the moment. Pay for inclusion throught Overture or wait until they find a link to your site in the net.
• Excite - Dead, now uses pay-per-click results
• Direct Hit - Replaced with Teoma
• Northern Light - No longer available to the general public
• Lycos - Uses AlltheWeb's index

Submitting my site is enough?
No. Indexing will take up to 8 weeks, but this is not enough to start getting visitors. Being in the top search results depends mostly (but not only) on popularity of your site, and a new site is not popular at all. So you may need a different strategy.

In case you are using a popular free hosting service, robots may never visit your site. It is convenient to have your own site with your own domain name. In case you have not got it, check 6 international extensions in only one click here (fast search without graphics). For registration, it has no sense to pay over $9 (check for "register domain" a search engine).

Simple strategy to increase popularity
Let's suppose you site includes a html tutorial. You will need to search for "html tutorial" at google (or other search engine). Search results will show a list of sites. Copy the URL of one site which is related to your topic (for example "www.htmltutor.com" and find who is linking to them in the net by searching at Google for "link:http://www.htmltutor.com". Some of the pages linking to that site are probably pages including links to several html tutorials. Visit them one by one and ask webmaster to add a link to your site. This procedure is very time consuming, but it is very effective to increase your position at search engines.

Pay-per-click search engines
Perhaps you need to increase very fast the number of visitors to your site, or it worth to you paying to get visitors. In this case, pay-per-click search engines may be an interesting option for you. The procedure is simple: users will search for keywords in the search engine, and they will get a list of results. The top results correspond to paid listings. In case you click on them, the owner of the site will be charged. If your keywords are very common, to be listed in the very top may be very expensive (for example: the top position for "hosting" at overture.com is by sure over $1.0 per click (check here the cost of your keywords at overture.com, which is the most important pay-per-click search engine). Use this search suggestion tool to find keywords.

Pay-per-click search engines may be very interesting to make your site visible (mostly in case your keyword is very specific to an specific subject, and there are few pages about that subject in the web). Consider this
option as an inversion.

Banner exchange programs
Banner exchange services may be interesting for you, but do not rely only on this services to increase the number of visitors to your site. In case your Banner is atractive enough you will get up to 5 visits per 1000 banners displayed in other sites. And you will need to display another 1000 banners in your site (or more) from other companies. So it is not very effective.

Submission to over 700.000 directories and search engines
Some sites will provide this kind of service. They will ask you for your email or inclusion of an specific code for banners in your page. Your email will become very popular and you will get a lot of spam. The only potential benefit of this services is that your site may be found by robots throught links in those directories (but robots are prepared to recognize these directories, and they will not index most of them). It is our recomendation not to use this services.

Getting money from ads in your site
Most sites will be unable to pay expenses until they are getting about 10.000 unique visitors per month. So do not place ads in your site unless you are having those visitors. The cheapest hosting services will be enought to handle this amount of visitors.

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