by Tinu AbayomiPaul
If I comment on your blog, it’s NOT for the sole purpose of getting a link.
I can buy links, earn them, submit for them, write articles, win awards, be written about, publish a press release, create a podcast…. so what the heck do I need you to link to me for?
It would be nice but…
A link is a consolation prize, not an end in itself.
If I comment on your blog, it’s my way of saying hi, a precursor to a relationship. If we were to use the metaphor of dating, the first comment is the stage where I decide if you’re worth asking out.
Step One - Stalking.
I read a blog for at least a week, looking for common ground, and seeing if the blogger writes in a style that leaves a place for replies other than “good job”.
The content has to speak to me, so that I want to say, “fantastic job”, “thank you”, or “and you know what else”, or “I respect you but you’re SO WRONG about this.”
You can’t expect people to write their most compelling work every day, but if I don’t see at least one memorable shot after a week or so of hanging around and reading archive posts, I’m off.
Because if I’m not electrified, and I’m looking to market to people like me, well, they’re not going to be electrified either.
Sometimes I ignore this rule if their audience loves them for some reason I don’t understand- because some of my readers have the same mercy on me.
Step Two - Introductions.
I comment once, leaving my full name, and making a concerted effort to truly contribute to the conversation. (I make an effort every time, but this first time, I want to be noticed, maybe even impressive.)
Usually the first comment is without leaving my link unless the browser fills it out for me.
If comments are moderated, I may come back if it’s really important to me and I remember. Which is why, if you want more people to comment, it's smart not to moderate comments until your blog is so popular that it attracts multiple spam entries a day.
Step Three - Flirting.
I comment again. This time I’m looking for a response from the publisher within a few days.
Having a busy company outside of my business blog, I know that not every blogger will respond quickly, or even at all. So what I'm also looking to see that each commenter gets treated the same way. If the blogger answers me a week later, is he responding to all responses a week late? Or have I been singled out?
Regardless of the response, I’ll probably still read though, because you can’t fairly judge the sum total of a person on what you perceive to be their flaws.
If the person doesn’t comment at all, either because they have a high traffic site which always produces 25 or more comments per post, I will cut them a little slack.
But I’ll probably read less often, and stop bothering myself to comment, unless I observe interaction between commenters.
Step Four - Yes, I’m asking you out on a date.
I comment a third time.
With this third comment, if I make it this far at that site, and they respond or their community responds, I’m moving them up to my priority list to read, link to, write about and reference.
Step Five - I Talk About You All the Time
I share my favorite reads with my audience at some point. I may share their posts on del.icio.us, Digg, Sphinn, PlugIM, BUMPzee, StirredUp, Stumble Upon, Facebook, anywhere I’ll see them more often.
And I keep doing it. I might dedicate a blog post to them, or promote their newsletter. I'm not looking for reciprocation at this point, though that's nice.
I'm sharing your resource to up my own brownie points with my audience - which, if you think about it, is a bigger compliment.
Step Six - We Fall In Like
I bond with my new friend. We might poke each other on Facebook or email each other. (Rare for me because I Loathe email.) We may have our own inside jokes on each other’s blogs. We're likely to end up talking on the phone, or I may drop by when I'm in town.
My motives are simple - make a new friend.
If anything else comes out of it, that’s great. If there is something I can do for them, even better. If one day, they do something for me too, that’s awesome. It doesn’t always happen that way, and that’s okay with me.
If it doesn’t, I still get credit when I comment, which I’ll do in bursts of frequency, and at the minimum, traffic and/or links will come from it.
And the community that posts there often may post over at my blog, and if they do, I’ll mention those people from time to time on my blog and add them to my links.
Who knows, that friend might lead me to another friend who wants the same serious business relationship I’m looking for.
If it does work out, it’s magic.
They’ll write about me, they’ll link to me, they’ll reference my posts, they’ll add me to their Blogroll, they’ll thank me in public, they’ll write me privately to set up partnerships, and I'll reciprocate or initiate the same.
Which results in much more traffic, much better links, an increase in both our audiences and in sales, as well as the primary benefit, a new friendship.
Step Seven - The Mutual Appreciation Party Begins
I Repeat steps Five and Six as much as time allows.
Again, thinking about this logically, what would you be willing to do for a person who was doing that for you? When people do the smallest thing for me that I notice, I tend to bend over backwards for them anytime, even if they only got to step five.
But folks who ask me a favor out of the blue, as if I somehow owe them something because they know of me? Not so much. Don't get me wrong, I do my best to be nice to everyone.
At the same time, when a person's motives are purely based on what they can get out of you, can't you tell? If you knew a person only wanted to know you because you have a car, would you really be enthusiastic about driving them to the airport?
Sure, if you're a kind person, you might still do it. That one time. Grudgingly. If they paid for gas. And you had nothing else to do.
But for a loved one, or a good pal, I bet you'd change your whole schedule just to help.
Relationships aren't magically different in the business world. If anything they are just as important.
Successful businesses are built on good relationships. You don’t have to be best friends with everyone. In fact, I’m really big on not working with people who expect something for nothing, or abuse my time.
However, every good blog traffic method is built on being a good neighbor in the blogosphere. No blog is an island.
It's not just about getting the traffic. It's HOW you get it. It's the experience people have from getting to your site. For massive traffic, learn what's behind the ethos, not just the technique. We can teach you both at http://trafficreality.com/ today.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
How to get indexed by Google in ONE hour
by Jamie Munro
If you’re not familiar with how some people accomplish getting their web sites submitted to Google quickly, you are going to absolutely love this article.
I’ve bet you’ve heard from many people that it can take days, weeks, even months to get indexed by Google. If you have heard that, you’re now thinking, “OK Jamie, you must have had a really stressful day at work today and you’re now hallucinating that this is possible!”.
If I read this blog title a while ago, I’m sure I would be thinking the same thing as you! Ok, let’s move on to how to get indexed by Google within one hour.
The secret is quite simple. Almost every site in today’s Internet world uses the social network sharing buttons. On my blog, http://www.endyourif.com I include it on every article page. I also include it on the main listing pages underneath my article summary.
If you don’t already have one of these on your sites, get one now, just search “Share This” or “Add This” and you will find a ton of web sites that tell you to put a few lines of Javascript code on your web site and it does the rest.
Ok, so now you have this button added to your web site? Perfect, I would suggest going to a page on your web site that you think will be the most valuable to other users and submit it to a couple of those sites listed in the button.
I have personally found excellent success with both Digg and Reddit. I launched a web site about 1 or 2 months ago, submitted two links to Digg. I waited about an hour or so and searched Google with keywords that I felt I targeted well and lo and behold there it was, my page was found and indexed with Google. Not only was it found, it was in the top 10!
Don’t just stop here though. Submitting to the above sites will provide you with some quick traffic. It won’t last long if people don’t like your site. Plus, it won’t cause your other pages to be indexed either. It really is just a start.
The next step is to create an XML sitemap of your content. Once you’ve done this, create an account on the Google Webmaster Tools. You will need to add your domain and verify your site before continuing.
Once you’ve completed this, add your sitemap that you previously created. Within a few minutes (some times longer), Google will validate your sitemap and queue all of your links to be indexed.
This of course is not a guaranteed solution to be indexed any faster. But Google certainly seems to crawl your sitemap on a regular basis and check the links. It also checks how often your site is updated, the more frequently it is updated, the more frequently Google will crawl your content!
If it’s possible, you should try to perform some kind of daily updates to your site. Ideally if you allow users to comment, hopefully there will be several new comments per day and this will cause your data to be considered new.
I hope you’ve found this article useful. Happy Googling! If you would like more tips and techniques, visit my blog at http://www.endyourif.com
I have been developing web sites for over 10 years and 6 years professional. I recently have decided to begin sharing my knowledge through articles and my blog:
http://www.endyourif.com
If you’re not familiar with how some people accomplish getting their web sites submitted to Google quickly, you are going to absolutely love this article.
I’ve bet you’ve heard from many people that it can take days, weeks, even months to get indexed by Google. If you have heard that, you’re now thinking, “OK Jamie, you must have had a really stressful day at work today and you’re now hallucinating that this is possible!”.
If I read this blog title a while ago, I’m sure I would be thinking the same thing as you! Ok, let’s move on to how to get indexed by Google within one hour.
The secret is quite simple. Almost every site in today’s Internet world uses the social network sharing buttons. On my blog, http://www.endyourif.com I include it on every article page. I also include it on the main listing pages underneath my article summary.
If you don’t already have one of these on your sites, get one now, just search “Share This” or “Add This” and you will find a ton of web sites that tell you to put a few lines of Javascript code on your web site and it does the rest.
Ok, so now you have this button added to your web site? Perfect, I would suggest going to a page on your web site that you think will be the most valuable to other users and submit it to a couple of those sites listed in the button.
I have personally found excellent success with both Digg and Reddit. I launched a web site about 1 or 2 months ago, submitted two links to Digg. I waited about an hour or so and searched Google with keywords that I felt I targeted well and lo and behold there it was, my page was found and indexed with Google. Not only was it found, it was in the top 10!
Don’t just stop here though. Submitting to the above sites will provide you with some quick traffic. It won’t last long if people don’t like your site. Plus, it won’t cause your other pages to be indexed either. It really is just a start.
The next step is to create an XML sitemap of your content. Once you’ve done this, create an account on the Google Webmaster Tools. You will need to add your domain and verify your site before continuing.
Once you’ve completed this, add your sitemap that you previously created. Within a few minutes (some times longer), Google will validate your sitemap and queue all of your links to be indexed.
This of course is not a guaranteed solution to be indexed any faster. But Google certainly seems to crawl your sitemap on a regular basis and check the links. It also checks how often your site is updated, the more frequently it is updated, the more frequently Google will crawl your content!
If it’s possible, you should try to perform some kind of daily updates to your site. Ideally if you allow users to comment, hopefully there will be several new comments per day and this will cause your data to be considered new.
I hope you’ve found this article useful. Happy Googling! If you would like more tips and techniques, visit my blog at http://www.endyourif.com
I have been developing web sites for over 10 years and 6 years professional. I recently have decided to begin sharing my knowledge through articles and my blog:
http://www.endyourif.com
Friday, May 22, 2009
5 Things You MUST Check Before You Buy the New SEO Software or Trust a Google Expert
by Tinu AbayomiPaul
Here's a trick people fall for all the time. It's so common the really scuzzy people have a name for it - it's called "False Proof."
The one that has been chapping my behind is when a supposed search expert will say, "I'm number one out of 33 million results." And you think, really? 33 MILLION?
Then you get their software, ebook, or system, and you find out that even though you're also able to rank number one for a term that gets 33 million results, none of it sent you any sales, or leads - and really, not much traffic either.
Don't get me wrong - it's not that this ranking isn't an achievement for some people. It's just that it HAS to be put into perspective. If someone is telling you - hey, I'm kind of a newbie to search, and I figured out how to do this. Let me share my research with you - that's information to trust.
The same person claiming it makes them an expert? Not so much.
If you don't want to get hustled by this little trick, remember that proof has to be MEANINGFUL.
It's fine to profit from a JV deal with a friend or colleague, I'm not knocking it. I've done it and when I have, I've slept great, because I make a conscious effort to only promote the highest quality products from my peers.
So I think endorsements are okay.
What's NOT Okay is when the testimonials of friends are the Only testimonials a person has for their product.
What did their peers think?
What did their clients think?
What do people who didn't know them before they tried it think?
If a person selling you an SEO product or search consulting is a layperson, and they figured out how to get results better than the next guy, and they say so, that is completely above board.
But if they're claiming to be a guru or expert in any way, and they're using keyword rankings or number of links generated, or anything else to prove their results, make sure they stand up to closer scrutiny.
Here are some things to look for:
1- The number of results doesn't always tell you how comparatively difficult the keyword is to rank for. A good keyword difficulty check like the one at SEOmoz.org will help you figure this out.
2- If the keyword phrase is 4 or more words long, a monkey could probably rank for it under the right conditions.
3- Even if it is hard for a newbie to rank for, and the software tool/person will help you get to the next level of expertise, if the terms you would rank for are those that don't send any traffic, or won't help you build up to terms that will send traffic, it's a waste of time.
4- If just one keyword ranking is their claim to fame, they aren't an expert if they're saying they are, or that their tool is worth paying for, based on this, be wary.
You do NOT really know what you're doing with search until you have been able to maintain hundreds or thousands of rankings for a few years.
You can get to number one by cheating in the short term - until they catch you and ban your site.
Luck or cheating doesn't make you an expert.
5- If the number one or first page result they got is one of many, and passes all the difficulty and traffic tests - is the result they have in Google or Yahoo for their own site? It if it, and that's all the information they're selling, don't buy it. I'll tell you how to do that for free in a minute.
First let me explain one thing: it's not that it's a bad thing to get to number one using Ezine Articles or Hub Pages. It's that you don't control the ranking when it's not on your site.
It's that you don't need someone to teach you something fancy to get that ranking.
Anyone can get a popular site to rank at the top for an article they've contributed - there are free articles for how to do this around the Net. If I'm not mistaken, Chris Knight wrote about it last year on this blog.
That's not some coveted secret worth the price of a large pizza or a fancy dinner.
How do you do it? You use your keywords in the title of the article you're contributing, and make your article semantically relevant enough to out rank whatever listing is presently number one. It won't work with every keyword, but when it does, that's how it happens.
The real trick is getting that ranking to mean money for you. That ranking doesn't automatically mean they'll click the link to visit your site.
(How do you do make sure they do? That secret takes way more room than one article.)
So again, this Can be a good technique. But knowing that doesn't make you an expert.
Now, I won't sit here and say that every expert trying to get you to buy a search or traffic related product is full of it. There's a lot of good programs out there. But the instant you're being promised outlandish results with a minimum of effort, it's right that your BS radar should go off.
The second you're being peddled a quick fix that is meant to supersede or replace good knowledge, you have to ask yourself if what you're paying and the results you're getting are worth the risk.
It's not that there isn't good stuff out there - it's that you have to really look at whether what you're paying is going to yield results worth your investment.
There are a bunch of great experts and great sites that can help you get better search results in Google and Yahoo. I could name ten off the top of my head. Just remember, in order to see what's worth your money, scrutinize your expert, and investigate the promises of your favorite search tool.
You may be surprised at what you find.
Great product, no traffic? I'll teach you every web site promotion technique from search to social media, all that I've tested and used myself. No hype or unrealistic promises. Just real-world techniques that actually work. Come to http://freetraffictip.com/really to see video proof.
Here's a trick people fall for all the time. It's so common the really scuzzy people have a name for it - it's called "False Proof."
The one that has been chapping my behind is when a supposed search expert will say, "I'm number one out of 33 million results." And you think, really? 33 MILLION?
Then you get their software, ebook, or system, and you find out that even though you're also able to rank number one for a term that gets 33 million results, none of it sent you any sales, or leads - and really, not much traffic either.
Don't get me wrong - it's not that this ranking isn't an achievement for some people. It's just that it HAS to be put into perspective. If someone is telling you - hey, I'm kind of a newbie to search, and I figured out how to do this. Let me share my research with you - that's information to trust.
The same person claiming it makes them an expert? Not so much.
If you don't want to get hustled by this little trick, remember that proof has to be MEANINGFUL.
It's fine to profit from a JV deal with a friend or colleague, I'm not knocking it. I've done it and when I have, I've slept great, because I make a conscious effort to only promote the highest quality products from my peers.
So I think endorsements are okay.
What's NOT Okay is when the testimonials of friends are the Only testimonials a person has for their product.
What did their peers think?
What did their clients think?
What do people who didn't know them before they tried it think?
If a person selling you an SEO product or search consulting is a layperson, and they figured out how to get results better than the next guy, and they say so, that is completely above board.
But if they're claiming to be a guru or expert in any way, and they're using keyword rankings or number of links generated, or anything else to prove their results, make sure they stand up to closer scrutiny.
Here are some things to look for:
1- The number of results doesn't always tell you how comparatively difficult the keyword is to rank for. A good keyword difficulty check like the one at SEOmoz.org will help you figure this out.
2- If the keyword phrase is 4 or more words long, a monkey could probably rank for it under the right conditions.
3- Even if it is hard for a newbie to rank for, and the software tool/person will help you get to the next level of expertise, if the terms you would rank for are those that don't send any traffic, or won't help you build up to terms that will send traffic, it's a waste of time.
4- If just one keyword ranking is their claim to fame, they aren't an expert if they're saying they are, or that their tool is worth paying for, based on this, be wary.
You do NOT really know what you're doing with search until you have been able to maintain hundreds or thousands of rankings for a few years.
You can get to number one by cheating in the short term - until they catch you and ban your site.
Luck or cheating doesn't make you an expert.
5- If the number one or first page result they got is one of many, and passes all the difficulty and traffic tests - is the result they have in Google or Yahoo for their own site? It if it, and that's all the information they're selling, don't buy it. I'll tell you how to do that for free in a minute.
First let me explain one thing: it's not that it's a bad thing to get to number one using Ezine Articles or Hub Pages. It's that you don't control the ranking when it's not on your site.
It's that you don't need someone to teach you something fancy to get that ranking.
Anyone can get a popular site to rank at the top for an article they've contributed - there are free articles for how to do this around the Net. If I'm not mistaken, Chris Knight wrote about it last year on this blog.
That's not some coveted secret worth the price of a large pizza or a fancy dinner.
How do you do it? You use your keywords in the title of the article you're contributing, and make your article semantically relevant enough to out rank whatever listing is presently number one. It won't work with every keyword, but when it does, that's how it happens.
The real trick is getting that ranking to mean money for you. That ranking doesn't automatically mean they'll click the link to visit your site.
(How do you do make sure they do? That secret takes way more room than one article.)
So again, this Can be a good technique. But knowing that doesn't make you an expert.
Now, I won't sit here and say that every expert trying to get you to buy a search or traffic related product is full of it. There's a lot of good programs out there. But the instant you're being promised outlandish results with a minimum of effort, it's right that your BS radar should go off.
The second you're being peddled a quick fix that is meant to supersede or replace good knowledge, you have to ask yourself if what you're paying and the results you're getting are worth the risk.
It's not that there isn't good stuff out there - it's that you have to really look at whether what you're paying is going to yield results worth your investment.
There are a bunch of great experts and great sites that can help you get better search results in Google and Yahoo. I could name ten off the top of my head. Just remember, in order to see what's worth your money, scrutinize your expert, and investigate the promises of your favorite search tool.
You may be surprised at what you find.
Great product, no traffic? I'll teach you every web site promotion technique from search to social media, all that I've tested and used myself. No hype or unrealistic promises. Just real-world techniques that actually work. Come to http://freetraffictip.com/really to see video proof.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Top 20 Google Ranking Factors
Websites are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways of advertising. Whether it be a business, its product or service or something completely different, everyone of all ages are turning to the web as a method of getting their message out there. With the popularity of this marketing medium increasing and the number of websites always growing, it is obvious that everyone wants to appear at the top of Google's search engine rankings. Achieving such a task is never an easy feat, however with a bit of perseverance, one can definitely increase their chances of reaching that glorious first page result.
Given that there are a heap of websites out there who are on the first page, what is their secret? It is a little industry term called "SEO" and it stands for Search Engine Optimisation. SEO basically consists of the customisation of your website, its content and its internal and external links to assist in the overall indexing and ranking of your website in popular search engines. There are many contributing factors that are used in determining a website's ranking and every search engine is different. This makes trying to optimise your site for Google, Yahoo, Live and the many others quite a pain staking task.
As most of us are aware, Google is currently the most popular search engine for the majority of Internet users. As such, it is only normal that we'd want to focus our sights on achieving a higher ranking within Google first with a hope that the rest will follow. To do this, we must start a journey that could potentially take months before we start seeing any real change, however we have to start somewhere.
Our journey begins by defining some of the key contributing factors that Google uses to determine a website and webpage's ranking within its results. These factors range from keyword use to manipulating internal and external links and the list goes on. To get you started, we have listed the top twenty factors that you should focus on in order to help get your website that little bit closer to the top of the search engine results listing.
The following components relate to the use of the user's search query terms in determining the rank of a particular page.
Top 20 Factors
1. Keyword Use in Title Tag - Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page's HTML header.
2. Keyword Use in Body Text - Using the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page.
3. Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords - Topical relevance of text on the page compared to targeted keywords.
4. Keyword Use in H1 Tag - Creating an H1 tag with the targeted search term/phrase.
5. Keyword Use in Domain Name & Page URL - Including the targeted term/phrase in the registered domain name, i.e. keyword.com plus target terms in the webpage URL, i.e. seomoz.org/keyword-phrase.
6. Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure - Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page
7. Quality/Relevance of Links to External Sites/Pages - Do links on the page point to high quality, topically-related pages?
8. Age of Document - Older pages may be perceived as more authoritative while newer pages may be more temporally relevant.
9. Amount of Indexable Text Content - Refers to the literal quantity of visible HTML text on a page.
10. Quality of the Document Content (as measured algorithmically) - Assuming search engines can use text, visual or other analysis methods to determine the validity and value of content, this metric would provide some level of rating.
11. Global Link Popularity of Site - The overall link weight/authority as measured by links from any and all sites across the web (both link quality and quantity).
12. Age of Site - Not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines (note that this can change if a domain switches ownership).
13. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site - The subject-specific relationship between the sites/pages linking to the target page and the target keyword.
14. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
15. Rate of New Inbound Links to Site - The frequency and timing of external sites linking in to the given domain.
16. Anchor Text of Inbound Link.
17. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site.
18. Topical Relationship of Linking Page.
19. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
20. Age of Link
Negative Crawling/Ranking Factors
There are also some points we should make before you start getting your hands dirty. With any type of SEO marketing, there are some things that can actually have a negative impact on your ranking. These following components may negatively affect a spider's ability to crawl a page or its rankings at Google.
* Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots
* Content Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content in the Index
* External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites
* Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages
* Overuse of Targeted Keywords (Stuffing/Spamming)
It's now time to get busy! Start prioritising your tasks, modifying your content and building your internal and external links to meet some of the above guidelines. Keep in mind that improving indexing is mostly a technical task, improving ranking is mostly a business/marketing strategy, what might work now may not work in the future and finally, it takes time. Loads of time. Still, with a bit of trial and error and a good dose of persistence, you can achieve the search engine ranking you're after.
Given that there are a heap of websites out there who are on the first page, what is their secret? It is a little industry term called "SEO" and it stands for Search Engine Optimisation. SEO basically consists of the customisation of your website, its content and its internal and external links to assist in the overall indexing and ranking of your website in popular search engines. There are many contributing factors that are used in determining a website's ranking and every search engine is different. This makes trying to optimise your site for Google, Yahoo, Live and the many others quite a pain staking task.
As most of us are aware, Google is currently the most popular search engine for the majority of Internet users. As such, it is only normal that we'd want to focus our sights on achieving a higher ranking within Google first with a hope that the rest will follow. To do this, we must start a journey that could potentially take months before we start seeing any real change, however we have to start somewhere.
Our journey begins by defining some of the key contributing factors that Google uses to determine a website and webpage's ranking within its results. These factors range from keyword use to manipulating internal and external links and the list goes on. To get you started, we have listed the top twenty factors that you should focus on in order to help get your website that little bit closer to the top of the search engine results listing.
The following components relate to the use of the user's search query terms in determining the rank of a particular page.
Top 20 Factors
1. Keyword Use in Title Tag - Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page's HTML header.
2. Keyword Use in Body Text - Using the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page.
3. Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords - Topical relevance of text on the page compared to targeted keywords.
4. Keyword Use in H1 Tag - Creating an H1 tag with the targeted search term/phrase.
5. Keyword Use in Domain Name & Page URL - Including the targeted term/phrase in the registered domain name, i.e. keyword.com plus target terms in the webpage URL, i.e. seomoz.org/keyword-phrase.
6. Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure - Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page
7. Quality/Relevance of Links to External Sites/Pages - Do links on the page point to high quality, topically-related pages?
8. Age of Document - Older pages may be perceived as more authoritative while newer pages may be more temporally relevant.
9. Amount of Indexable Text Content - Refers to the literal quantity of visible HTML text on a page.
10. Quality of the Document Content (as measured algorithmically) - Assuming search engines can use text, visual or other analysis methods to determine the validity and value of content, this metric would provide some level of rating.
11. Global Link Popularity of Site - The overall link weight/authority as measured by links from any and all sites across the web (both link quality and quantity).
12. Age of Site - Not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines (note that this can change if a domain switches ownership).
13. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site - The subject-specific relationship between the sites/pages linking to the target page and the target keyword.
14. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
15. Rate of New Inbound Links to Site - The frequency and timing of external sites linking in to the given domain.
16. Anchor Text of Inbound Link.
17. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site.
18. Topical Relationship of Linking Page.
19. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
20. Age of Link
Negative Crawling/Ranking Factors
There are also some points we should make before you start getting your hands dirty. With any type of SEO marketing, there are some things that can actually have a negative impact on your ranking. These following components may negatively affect a spider's ability to crawl a page or its rankings at Google.
* Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots
* Content Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content in the Index
* External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites
* Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages
* Overuse of Targeted Keywords (Stuffing/Spamming)
It's now time to get busy! Start prioritising your tasks, modifying your content and building your internal and external links to meet some of the above guidelines. Keep in mind that improving indexing is mostly a technical task, improving ranking is mostly a business/marketing strategy, what might work now may not work in the future and finally, it takes time. Loads of time. Still, with a bit of trial and error and a good dose of persistence, you can achieve the search engine ranking you're after.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Why It's Smarter - and More Profitable - to Market Like You Date
by Tinu AbayomiPaul
Imagine this.
You see a beautiful woman in a grocery store. She smiles at you suggestively. So you move in closer to flirt with her.
You stand next to her in front of the ice cream cooler and make eye contact. She smiles, looks away, your eyes meet again in the reflection from the glass. She turns and says, “Hi, I’m Candy.”
You yell “MY NAME IS ANDY. WILL YOU MARRY ME? I’M ONLY GOING TO BE STANDING HERE FOR A LIMITED TIME, SO YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY. LOOK, ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DATING ME, AND SOME PEOPLE YOU REALLY RESPECT, HERE ARE THEIR NAMES AND COMMENTS.”
She rubs her ears and says, “Uh, hi.” And starts to back away.
Stalker that you are, you follow her and continue your pitch.
“IF YOU’RE NOT READY FOR MARRIAGE, LET’S TRY A TEST MARRIAGE DURING A TRIAL PERIOD CALLED A DATE! IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR PHONE NUMBER, I WON’T SELL IT TO MY FRIENDS, HONEST. ACT NOW AND I’LL TAKE YOU TO FRIDAYS.”
“Maybe we should start ov-” She’s willing to give you another chance but you just can’t shut up.
“OH YOU WAITED TOO LONG, NOW ONLY SUBWAY IS AVAILABLE. HURRY OR WE'LL GO TO MCDONALDS. BEFORE YOU GO, CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHY YOU’RE NOT MARRYING ME RIGHT NOW? WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN MARRYING ME LATER?”
Okay, that's an extreme example, but think about it. How many of us either market that way, or have bought something from someone who markets that way?
I don't know about you, but I automatically don't trust people who market like they are used car salesmen. I am on my guard instantly even if I'm really interested in what they're selling. Then I start thinking of all the reasons why I absolutely do NOT want what they have.
Honestly I never thought about it before I wrote this article - but that's so true. If a person makes claims it doesn't appear they can prove, I'm instantly wary of them.
Think about how often you use some similar marketing tactics in your sales copy, on your site, or in your blog. Think maybe if you flirted a little with your audience and readers first, did something nice for them, paid attention to their needs, you’d be more popular?
Now, I know you need to sell the sizzle and not the steak. But it helps dramatically if the steak is actually the one you're cooking, and not one you hope to make some day!
I've tried both ways. Turns out you need only a dash of flash in your sales letter if you take your desired customer for a steak dinner prior to bumping uglies the first time. And just like in dating, if you maintain a good benefits balance in your relationship, they’ll be back.
Of course, if you think it’s smart to have a series of one night stands, more power to you. Me, I’d rather be up front and serially polygamous with my customers than fake monogamy just to get them into bed the one time. Don’t know about you but I’m building a business not a brothel.
So I don't market like that either. Maybe it costs me customers in the long run, but it also scares away the fence-dwellers, lookie-loos and people who aren't serious about their business. People who want a lot of hype and are allergic to actual work rarely buy my products.
So having realistic expectations ends up carving me out a nice little niche. The payoff is better customers, who more often become clientele. I'm popular in my little area, though no, I'm not a household name.
But I also have a loyal, almost fan-like following of business people who continued to solicit my services even after I semi-retired.
So am I some kind of genius for having figured this out? Heck no!
What, you think I came up with this stuff? People have been trying to tell you this for years. They just lack the finesse of someone as conceited and charming as I. :)
The biggest lesson I learned in marketing products I created online was that it doesn’t always have to be the invention of something new and ground-breaking - if you wait for the most divine intervention, you’ll never make any money.
In the meantime, it might help to think of it this way: you have knowledge your clients want, and you’re doing them a disservice by not giving them the chance to snatch it up. When you lead off with that knowledge, the way you com across to your clients totally changes. For the better.
This is true whether you create your own products, resell other people’s products, are an affiliate marketer, or sell advertising on your site.
To apply this concept to marketing, remember that there is a point of merging between your style of attracting a potential customer and making a sale, a point at which you take your own style and join it with what you’ve learned from other people.
If you want to be a lady’s man, do you study someone who never gets a date? That would be dumb. If you want a relationship, do you ask other single ladies for advice on how to handle your man? Equally stupid.
Decide what your identity is, and think about what works on You.
Learn about it. Take all those elements and then add you. The same way Andy in 40 Year Old Virgin took the best bits of all the advice from his friends and through trial and error, found what worked for him.
You'll find that there's no need to follow the way of the hype machine.
Okay, you've got a great product and a great sales letter that converts. But how will you get people to see it without breaking the bank? I'll teach you every web site promotion technique from search to social media in my traffic generation course at http://trafficreality.com . No hype or unrealistic promises. Just real techniques that really work.
Imagine this.
You see a beautiful woman in a grocery store. She smiles at you suggestively. So you move in closer to flirt with her.
You stand next to her in front of the ice cream cooler and make eye contact. She smiles, looks away, your eyes meet again in the reflection from the glass. She turns and says, “Hi, I’m Candy.”
You yell “MY NAME IS ANDY. WILL YOU MARRY ME? I’M ONLY GOING TO BE STANDING HERE FOR A LIMITED TIME, SO YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY. LOOK, ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DATING ME, AND SOME PEOPLE YOU REALLY RESPECT, HERE ARE THEIR NAMES AND COMMENTS.”
She rubs her ears and says, “Uh, hi.” And starts to back away.
Stalker that you are, you follow her and continue your pitch.
“IF YOU’RE NOT READY FOR MARRIAGE, LET’S TRY A TEST MARRIAGE DURING A TRIAL PERIOD CALLED A DATE! IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR PHONE NUMBER, I WON’T SELL IT TO MY FRIENDS, HONEST. ACT NOW AND I’LL TAKE YOU TO FRIDAYS.”
“Maybe we should start ov-” She’s willing to give you another chance but you just can’t shut up.
“OH YOU WAITED TOO LONG, NOW ONLY SUBWAY IS AVAILABLE. HURRY OR WE'LL GO TO MCDONALDS. BEFORE YOU GO, CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHY YOU’RE NOT MARRYING ME RIGHT NOW? WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN MARRYING ME LATER?”
Okay, that's an extreme example, but think about it. How many of us either market that way, or have bought something from someone who markets that way?
I don't know about you, but I automatically don't trust people who market like they are used car salesmen. I am on my guard instantly even if I'm really interested in what they're selling. Then I start thinking of all the reasons why I absolutely do NOT want what they have.
Honestly I never thought about it before I wrote this article - but that's so true. If a person makes claims it doesn't appear they can prove, I'm instantly wary of them.
Think about how often you use some similar marketing tactics in your sales copy, on your site, or in your blog. Think maybe if you flirted a little with your audience and readers first, did something nice for them, paid attention to their needs, you’d be more popular?
Now, I know you need to sell the sizzle and not the steak. But it helps dramatically if the steak is actually the one you're cooking, and not one you hope to make some day!
I've tried both ways. Turns out you need only a dash of flash in your sales letter if you take your desired customer for a steak dinner prior to bumping uglies the first time. And just like in dating, if you maintain a good benefits balance in your relationship, they’ll be back.
Of course, if you think it’s smart to have a series of one night stands, more power to you. Me, I’d rather be up front and serially polygamous with my customers than fake monogamy just to get them into bed the one time. Don’t know about you but I’m building a business not a brothel.
So I don't market like that either. Maybe it costs me customers in the long run, but it also scares away the fence-dwellers, lookie-loos and people who aren't serious about their business. People who want a lot of hype and are allergic to actual work rarely buy my products.
So having realistic expectations ends up carving me out a nice little niche. The payoff is better customers, who more often become clientele. I'm popular in my little area, though no, I'm not a household name.
But I also have a loyal, almost fan-like following of business people who continued to solicit my services even after I semi-retired.
So am I some kind of genius for having figured this out? Heck no!
What, you think I came up with this stuff? People have been trying to tell you this for years. They just lack the finesse of someone as conceited and charming as I. :)
The biggest lesson I learned in marketing products I created online was that it doesn’t always have to be the invention of something new and ground-breaking - if you wait for the most divine intervention, you’ll never make any money.
In the meantime, it might help to think of it this way: you have knowledge your clients want, and you’re doing them a disservice by not giving them the chance to snatch it up. When you lead off with that knowledge, the way you com across to your clients totally changes. For the better.
This is true whether you create your own products, resell other people’s products, are an affiliate marketer, or sell advertising on your site.
To apply this concept to marketing, remember that there is a point of merging between your style of attracting a potential customer and making a sale, a point at which you take your own style and join it with what you’ve learned from other people.
If you want to be a lady’s man, do you study someone who never gets a date? That would be dumb. If you want a relationship, do you ask other single ladies for advice on how to handle your man? Equally stupid.
Decide what your identity is, and think about what works on You.
Learn about it. Take all those elements and then add you. The same way Andy in 40 Year Old Virgin took the best bits of all the advice from his friends and through trial and error, found what worked for him.
You'll find that there's no need to follow the way of the hype machine.
Okay, you've got a great product and a great sales letter that converts. But how will you get people to see it without breaking the bank? I'll teach you every web site promotion technique from search to social media in my traffic generation course at http://trafficreality.com . No hype or unrealistic promises. Just real techniques that really work.
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