Archive for September, 2008
09.28.08
Posted in Web Of Traffic Builders at 6:14 am by admin
A prospective client asked me to view his web site and give him some advice on how to make the site better. Unfortunately, his site was such a mess it became the inspiration for this article.
One of the primary reasons to have a web site is to attract and educate visitors. However, this obvious concept seems to be lost on many web designers. The way your site is designed, what’s there and what’s not there, including what’s in the unseen HTML code, can have a great impact on how much traffic your site will generate.
Here’s my list of the most common web site design sins and traffic killers. Use this list as you design your own site or show it to your web designer. If your web designer doesn’t understand these points or dismisses them as unimportant. . .move on!
One word of warning, we are going to look under that hood of that shiny web page and see some of what makes it run from the search engine view. – This is not always for the squeamish.
No title tag or meaningless title tags. – Title tags are part of the HTML structure of every web page. Think of them as the informal name of the page. See for yourself. Go to http://www.ducttapemarketing.com. Look up there at the top of browser window and you will see the words – Small Business Marketing Ideas and Strategies – that’s the title of that page. Now right click your mouse in the page and hit “view source or view page source.” When you do this, you are looking at the HTML code for this page. Now, see that [title]Small Business Marketing Ideas and Strategies[/title] Every page has got them and they are one of the most important aspects of your web site. . .yet most people don’t even use them. NOTE: While you are looking at this source code realize that this is what the search engines see. No matter what your page looks like it won’t be found if this code doesn’t help you get found. More on that.
Your title tags can be a great tool for getting you search engine traffic if they are combined with good page content. Notice that my title tag is not Duct Tape Marketing or the often used Welcome to My Site. My tag is Small Business Marketing Ideas and Strategies. Now, think about this for a minute. Not too many people search for Duct Tape Marketing and nobody searches for Welcome to My Site, but small business marketing, now that’s another story. Most small business owners waste the effectiveness of their title tags with something like: The name of their business or our products. Use title tags and make them part of your site content. Think about what people search for in your industry and name your pages based on that.
Flash Intro pages – Don’t get me started on this one. You know those pages that do all this really cool animated motion graphics and then present you with an entry or splash screen. I’ll admit, these are works of art and I couldn’t design one if I had to, but visit http://www.superclubs.com/home.asp and do that “View Source” trick again and tell me if you think a search engine could tell what that page was about. Remember, search engine spiders can’t see pictures or hear sounds!
Cleverness – There are lots of little things that designers like to do because they can. The question is what’s it costing your site. One of my favorites is that date thing. You’ve likely been to a site that publishes today’s date. Perhaps there is a good reason for that but go on back to view source on one these pages and you will see the price of that little trick. This date trick adds 300-400 lines of JavaScript code at the beginning of your page. All of this makes it hard for those search engines to find your real content. Think long and hard about adding stuff that gets in the way.
No Anchor Text Hyperlinks – Web site designs like to make little buttons and badges for navigation links. Now, this can be okay but this is also a place where less is more. Text with a hyperlink is easily understood by search engines. Remember, they can’t see images. Help them understand what your page is all about. Even if you have images navigation, put text links at the bottom of your page with all of your navigation.
Referral Marketing – This is a text link
Contact info hidden – There are some web site owners out there that don’t want to be easy to contact but I’m guessing that’s not you. Put your address and contact information on every page and make them text. More and more people are turning to their web browser like a phone book. Lots of local address and content links can make it easier to find you in your own town.
Most important content out of order – Search engines read your source code in the order they come on it. Some engines only read a small portion so you should make sure that your most important content is early on your page. Left side navigation columns, commonly found on web sites, appear at the top of the source code and could be hindering your site from receiving proper credit for the content it contains.
No use of Heading tags – HTML uses a series of H or heading tags to help structure a page like an outline. H1 for the most important headings h2 for subheads and so on. Each of your pages will do well to contain a keyword rich headline, much like an ad for the page, and h1,/h1 mark-up in the code to let the search engines know that this is a really important part of the page. Then, do the same with sub sections with h2,/h2 tags. I know that most designers understand these tags when it comes to styling a page but few get the important role they play in the search engine game.
Look, there is plenty more to learn about this subject and certain aspects will change from week to week but now that you have a better understanding of how search engines view your site you can go out there and make pages that get found.
Copyright 2005 John Jantsch
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes frequently on real world small business marketing tactics and is the creator of “Duct Tape Marketing” a turn-key small business marketing system. Check out his blog at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php
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09.25.08
Posted in Money Management at 11:55 pm by admin
When you get to your twilight years you do not have to remove your pension fund at that moment. As a choice, you can make up your mind to put off procuring an annuity until the good old age of 75 and if you do so you can find you will get a more profitable deal. It’s called income drawdown. For more information on Income Draw Down, then go to the First Place Financial website today!
When you are aged between fifty & seventy five years old you are allowed to defer the tenure of your pension allowance from your insurance company. Instead, you can extract as much as one-hundred-and-twenty percent of the retirement fund that could have been originally got by means of the Government Actuary rates, and leave the remaining resources secure for when you require it. On your side, all you must do is to make certain that you pay for an annuity by the point you are 75.
Importantly, what would happen if you decided to take the income draw down selection, and then died? If this did occur then your existing wife or husband or dependant(s) would have three options: either to take a lump amount, following tax at thirty five percent, or keep on going with financial taking out, or paying for an annuity with the resources. Your existing next of kin has until they get to sixty to defer the control of a pension annuity, however no benefits are authorised to be given in the period-in-between.
Why select income draw down? Well largely because it might end in you earning a greater retirement salary from your pension by doing so. You can also choose exactly when you procured the annuity, therefore if you leave work at a point in time when the annuity rates are considerable low, waiting may well be a clever decision. If the remaining investments climb as envisaged, then together with the fact that annuity rates improve with age, you might in the end be able to buy a better pension than you possibly would have procured in the beginning.
Furthermore, also means that when you depart this world your next of kin or those legally responsible will benefit monetarily, because they are lawfully entitled to the remaining investments, as discussed above.
Like all financial investments, there are perils involved though. If asset performance on the remaining shares is below par, then the level of settlement payable may lower. And it’s critical to take in account that there’s no reassurance that the pension procured will ultimately be anywhere near the entire figure that could have been bought at the outset.
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09.24.08
Posted in Domainers Universe at 10:28 pm by admin
The first, and most critical, step for registering your domain name is choosing the right one. The perfect domain name is memorable, unique, easy to spell, and will rank high in searches. Here’s what to do.
1. Keep it simple. The shortest and most direct domain name is always the best. You’ll have to get creative to find it, though, because almost every single word in English is gone. Most of the best domain names being registered today are a company name, a person’s name, or two-word combinations. If you use a two-word combination, try to own it both with and without the dash: happydogs and happy-dogs.
2. Try to use a domain name with your keyword in it. If you have a dog-oriented business, the happydogs/happy-dogs domain names are perfect.
Why? Because when you use your keyword, the search engines take notice. A dog-oriented web site with the word “dog” in the URL is always assumed to be closer to what a searcher is looking for than one that doesn’t have that word in it; because the search engines are in the business of giving searchers what they’re looking for, they will rank that site higher.
3. Don’t use creative spelling. Your customers aren’t looking for a puzzle, they’re looking for you and your product. You can use the number 1 in your title, but don’t register the website Cre8ive; no one will ever find it, and it means nothing to the search engines.
4. Before you register, try to come up with at least a dozen different names; your top choices will almost certainly be taken, but it’s much less frustrating to register names when you have plenty of alternatives ready to go.
5. If you have a business that does a lot of volume in the UK or that is targeted specifically at a UK consumer base, getting UK in your domain name is a great way to rank higher in the search engines. The primary extensions for United Kingdom websites are .com and .co.uk.
However, most of the best domain names with these extensions are taken. Avoid buying a .info or another alternate extension; few people look for these. You should also avoid the .org extension unless you’re running a non-profit business. Acceptable alternatives to these extensions are the .uk.com and the .net extensions. If more than one of these extensions is available for your domain name, you should buy them all; domain names are not expensive, and you can point multiple ones at your web site. Buying multiple similar names ensures that you keep the competition away from your name, and that any search for your domain name will bring you up. Most large corporations use this trick; companies like Disney buy up every trademark they own.
6. When you register a domain name, as soon as the traffic starts picking up on it go ahead and renew it for multiple years. This is an investment. Even if you don’t keep the site yourself, you can resell your valuable virtual real estate at a profit later. Renewing it for a long time can keep someone from sneaking in and registering your domain name if you miss the expiration, too.
7. Register with a company that has been around for a while and charges enough that you know they won’t go bankrupt. This makes it much easier when you renew; instead of re-registering, all you have to do is let your registrar know that you want to renew. Shop around a bit, though, so you’ll have a good idea of price ranges.
Clare Lawrence is CEO of Discount Domains Ltd – A leading UK provider of UK Domains
Please feel free to re-publish this article provided this reference box remains together with a hyperlink to http://www.discountdomainsuk.com
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09.23.08
Posted in SEO Parlor at 10:26 pm by admin
Many of you have heard of submitting your website, but what does this really mean? What places should you really submit your website? What about submitting to thousands of search engines and directories through some website promotion service?
WHAT PAGES TO SUBMIT:
At the minimum, you should submit your home page. Many search engines will promise to find and crawl the rest of your website automatically (in their own good time). But if they don’t discourage you from doing so, I would submit several of the important pages in your site. For example, a site map is definitely something I would want to submit, since it should have direct links to the rest of your website.
Also, if I get another webmaster to link to my website, it I like to submit that page as well. I want the search engines to recognize that this resource has changed – it has a link to my website and I want the credit for it.
WHAT TO PREPARE:
For the search engines, I would make sure that the website is properly optimized. At a minimum, I would do a double check the meta-tags to ensure that the title, meta-description and meta-keywords properly describe the web pages and have some of my desired keywords in it. I would also run a website validator on the pages I intend on submitting – to keep the search engine spiders from choking on my website. (http://validator.w3.org/) For more information on optimizing a website for the search engines, go to http://website-optimization-2.blogspot.com/.
For the directories, I would normally prepare some commonly requested information. This really helps to speed up the process. I normally use a generic text editor like Microsoft Notepad and save the following data before I go and submit to the different search engines and directories. This enables me to use copy and paste.
This should have:
* Your email
* Your website url
* A good title for your website
* A description for the website
Since Yahoo will allow you to submit a list of URLS that are in a text document (or an RSS feed) I would encourage you to prepare one to help them out. These should be at the root directory of your website and be updated whenever there is a change to your pages. That way you can just submit the location of the RSS feed or the text file and let Yahoo use that to find the rest of your pages. It is a nice time saver. Personally, I like using an automated RSS feed since Yahoo can use it to determine when the last changes occurred and decide what pages to re-crawl first.
(If you don’t know what RSS is, here is a great article on it: http://feedvalidat or.org/docs/rss2.html.)
Google uses a similar technology to help it find all of your web pages. It is called a “Google Site Map”. That is the subject of another article. I wrote one that has a lot more info on the Google Site Maps, for when you are ready to build one. Google also has a special way to submit these. Just follow their instructions. If this is too complicated, contact a webmaster or a SEO specialist who is familiar with this feature.
WHERE TO SUBMIT:
I would recommend submitting your home page to the major search engines individually, at least initially. However, there are several services that do groups of them for you – and is a big time saver for the rest of your site. The following is one of my favorites: http://www.freewebsubmis sion.com/ I have always deselected Google, though, since I submit to them manually through the Google website. I submit my web pages to the following search engines manually (without a special tool) just to ensure that it is done.
* Submit to Google
* Submit to Yahoo
* Subm it to MSN
You will need a Yahoo account to submit to the Yahoo search engine. And don’t fret if you don’t see immediate results. Your site should normally exist in MSN within about 6 weeks, in Yahoo in 8-12 weeks, and in Google within about 3 months. (You will not likely get much search results from Google for the first year though – but hold out and keep working on the other tricks. In the long run, Google will normally give you about 60 – 70% of the search engine traffic if you follow these methods.)
Also, if you have the Alexa toolbar installed, navigate to your website and click on the “info” button on the toolbar. Then you will have to fill in information about your website. Once this is registered, you will start seeing how your website’s Alexa rating looks. There has been some rumors that Google considers the Alexa description in its searches – so make sure it is relevant to your website as a whole and has at least one of your keywords.
You should also submit your website to DMOZ. This is a massive directory that is republished in several other websites. It is managed by humans, and is therefore considered to be of special relevance by other search engines. I strongly recommend reading all their rules before submitting – and follow them closely. Make sure that you try to get listed in only one category – the most relevant one for your business. It can take a month or two to get listed, but it really helps with your backlinks and overall relevancy as a website.
After DMOZ, here are the most important list of directories to be listed in.
* Yahoo Directory website submission ($299 annual fee)
* Business.com website submission ($199 annual fee)
* Microsoft Bcentral Directory website submission ($49 annual fee)
* Best of Web website submission ($40 annual fee)
* goguides.org website submission ($40 lifetime fee)
* gimpsy.com website submission ($40 lifetime fee)
* joeant website submission ($40 lifetime fee)
* Tygo website submission ($40 lifetime fee)
* Skaffe.com website submission ($40 lifetime fee)
* wowdirectory.com website submission ($25 lifetime fee)
If you haven’t used directories before – try browsing these before you fill out the form to submit your site. They are organized by category. You need to find the most relevant category to put your website before you start to fill out the form for each of these. Have a pen and paper as you browse – and write down directory paths of where you want to be.
Being in some directories just adds some good backlinks. (When another webmaster links to your website, this is considered a backlink.) Others, like Yahoo and DMOZ, tend to get some special relevance to certain search engines. After you get familiar with these well-known directories, look for niche directories that are specific to the type of business your website is about.
There are specialized directories that focus on a particular category of links. These can be valuable – you will just have to do a bit of searching to find them. These may be considered as part of your overall strategy.
Being listed in a search engine there doesn’t guarantee that you will have a good ranking – this is just the first step – letting them know that you exist.
IF YOU SEE AN OFFER TO GET LISTED IN HUNDREDS OF DIRECTORIES AND WEBSITES AUTOMATICALLY – BEWARE! Many of these will list you in hundreds of FFA (free for all) sites. These sites are considered SPAM by search engines and I would strongly encourage you to avoid them. Did I mention to avoid these? Check out what Google has to say about these: http://www.googl e.com/webmasters/seo.html . They may get you quick backlinks, but they are from the “wrong” type of site. These are just a list of sites – and they stay there temporarily. Only the latest 100 submitted or so are displayed there and you need to be resubmitted regularly to stay there. Few humans use this – it is just a linking game to trick the search engines about your popularity (and search engines don’t like it). Don’t bother.
TO WRAP IT UP:
Get backlinks – but avoid FFA sites. There are some important directories, but being listed in “THOUSANDS OF WEBSITES AND DIRECTORIES” is likely a promotional trick to get you listed in FFA sites. The most important backlinks are from web pages with content related to your website and those that your customers visit. If it isn’t likely to draw your customers, it may not be very important for your website traffic.
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09.22.08
Posted in Casino Stuff, Fun, Games + Cheats at 3:39 pm by admin
Brunson’s done it before. You know, playing by feeling. Just the situation of the thing. This isn’t a move for the faint of heart, and it’s definitely not a move for novices to pull. But there are players who will play on circumstances alone. Here’s the basics. In a game of poker, you get your cards, you leave them face down, and you don’t peak at all. What you’re doing is playing off of the other player’s betting patterns. This requires total knowledge and awareness of all the nuances of the game. Betting patterns, position, player profiles, blinds, pot. You’re paying attention to everything but your cards. And then you act accordingly. And this, this can strike FEAR into the hearts of your opponents. An example: You’re in middle position. You get checks all around to you. Well, the first few players theoretically shouldn’t have much. So you decided to make a bet. You’ve created a lot of controversy. Your opponents can’t put you on anything, because you don’t even know what you’re on. The people acting after you, have to make a bet on your bet, not your cards. This is totally unreadable. So let’s say you get a couple of callers. Flop comes 8s-7s-5h You’ve still not looked, and it’s again checked to you. Continuation bet time. 2x the pot. Again, the confusion is still there. And you’re gaining more and more information the whole time. With this flop you either have a straight or flush possibility, or two overs. Again, you’re paying attention to the betting, not your poker hand. If they just a little, they’re still unsure. If they fold. Good, you won with minimal effort. They go all in or bet high, then it’s time to look at your cards. But let’s say they just call again. You’re getting exactly what you want here. And you look like you have balls of steel (excuse me ladies, ovaries of steel if it appiles) Turn comes As. Now, good chance of flush draw, and maybe you hit one of your overs. This will be the deciding card. From here, you may bet again, or you may just check. Either way, you’re not giving anything away, you still don’t know your cards. It’s still all about the action going on. Your ability to read the bets of your opponents is far more important anyway. You decide to bet. You just get a call. You can be pretty certain you opponent here has a weak hand. poker!
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Posted in Domainers Universe at 12:05 am by admin
Through my experience as president and founder of DomainPurpose.com, I’ve come to an understanding that behind every registration of a domain name lays a purpose. Further More, behind most domain projects is a story of passion, excitement and inspiration. Who better to illustrate this point then Michael Furdyk, who became a dot com millionaire in 1999 at the age of 17.
Michael Furdyk is a young man and domain name owner with a vision and a compassionate heart. He has a unique understanding that the Internet has the power to create positive change if used responsibly and with a purpose. In the Internet world, Michael Furdyk is a domain name owner who I root for. I’m excited to share his story and new domain venture with you.
Michael Furdyk is the co-founder of TakingITGlobal.org, a global non-profit online community for youth engaging members in over 195 countries. In the past, he has turned his interest of computers into a series of successful online companies, co-founding MyDesktop.com in 1997 (later sold to Internet.com in 1999 for $1-million) and BuyBuddy.com in 1999 (which closed a $4.5-million round of funding in late 2000). Over the last few years, Michael has done work for many large corporations, including Xerox, CIBC, IBM, and recently a 6-month consulting engagement with Microsoft in Seattle , Washington.
As one of the “10 entrepreneurs who shaped the year 1999″, according to Profit Magazine, and one of Teen People’s “20 teens that will change the world (2000)”, Michael has shared his experiences as a member of the Net Generation by speaking at many events, including two of Microsoft’s Anytime, Anywhere Learning Summits, the Boca Raton gathering of The Business Council, and TED11. He has made numerous media appearances including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Time Magazine, Fast Company, Business 2.0, BusinessWeek, CNN, MSNBC , USA Today, Globe and Mail, and the National Post. He is also a frequent contributor to Canadian Business Magazine.
I asked Michael Furdyk a few questions about his new domain venture. Here’s what he had to say:
Shaun Cronrath: What is the vision for your domain?
Michael Furdyk: TakingITGlobal.org is an outlet for my passion and excitement enabling young people to become empowered users of technology, using it to conquer any inhibitions they feel about their ability to change the world. Through both a vibrant online community, and active local initiatives led by youth from around the world, TakingITGlobal.org will instigate positive global change of unimaginable impact.
Shaun Cronrath: What is the purpose of your domain?
Michael Furdyk: To inspire young people to follow their dreams. To inform young people about the wealth of opportunities that surrounds them. To involve young people in online and offline communities where members & mentors contribute to, and gain from the TakingITGlobal.org experience while fostering a sense of global awareness, collaboration, and leadership.
Shaun Cronrath: How did you think of this idea?
Michael Furdyk: Rollerblading down Parliament Hill in Ottawa Canada, my friend Jennifer Corriero and I reflected on the experiences we had racked up over the previous few years, consulting for major corporations, advising governments, speaking at big events – and being listened to. We wondered, “What if every young person was connected with the kind of opportunities we had?” TakingITGlobal.org grew out of that simple question and developed into a dynamic global network driven by youth.
Shaun Cronrath: When did you realize that sharing your passion via TakingItGlobal.org could turn into something successful?
Michael Furdyk: After press coverage about our ambitious plans for a dynamic youth-led network to augment the stagnant educational system and provide real opportunities and inspiration for youth emerged; TakingITGlobal.org attracted a crowd of support and success followed.
Shaun Cronrath: How has your life changed since you registered and launched TakingItGlobal.org?
Michael Furdyk: I love the work we do at TIG, so my life has been great! I am super committed to the work we are doing and always talk about it. Since launching TakingItGlobal.org, I’ve got to travel all over the world and meet people from all walks of life. I’ve also been able to use these opportunities to speak with diverse audiences about my passion for technology, TakingItGlobal.org and important issues affecting the world.
Shaun Cronrath: How has other peoples lives been effected since you registered and launched TakingItGlobal.org?
Michael Furdyk: TakingITGlobal.org has helped inspire over 10,000 youth members from over 195 countries to become informed and involved with their ideas and visions.
Shaun Cronrath: As a successful domain name owner, any words of advice for people who want to use a domain name as a vehicle to share their passion in life?
Michael Furdyk: Subscribe to the belief that passion and persistence will get you further than desire. Love what you do, and you’ll do it well.
Shaun Cronrath is the President & CEO of DomainPurpose.com, a domain name registration company offering all the major domain extensions –.com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .name, .ca, .us, .cn, .eu, .de, .pro and more.
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09.21.08
Posted in SEO Parlor at 6:06 pm by admin
Internet search engines exist to organize the seemingly immeasurable amount of information available on the web. They direct people to pages that are relevant to their searches, pages that discuss the exact keywords they are looking for. For a business that receives the majority of its clientele from search engines, search engine rankings can make or break an e-commerce company.
Search Engines
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the marketing technique of enhancing a website and its content in order to increase the chances of achieving a high rank on search engine result pages (SERP) under relevant keyword searches.
Search engines are very secretive about their criteria and ranking systems, they continuously update and revise their algorithms (a mathematical formula used to determine which web pages are displayed in search results), and therefore, there is less likelihood of webmasters and search engine optimizers being able to achieve higher rankings by manipulation and spamming.
Each search engine has its own formula and criteria for indexing and ranking pages. One can analyze SERPs and backward links (all the links pointing at a particular web page) and attempt to determine a search engine’s indexing criteria, however, there is a lot of risk involved in relying on a limited number of optimization techniques.
Because of the unpredictable nature of search engines, a website can easily move from a top ranking position on a SERP down to the third or fourth SERP or even banned from the search engine altogether.
To Trust or Not to Trust
There are so many unethical SEO companies that claim to be able to achieve your website #1 rankings, they use overwhelmingly aggressive marketing techniques, and attempt to manipulate search engine results, that they give the industry a bad name.
The main problem with SEO companies is that they base their methods and techniques on research, trial and error, and speculation. As a result of the secretive indexing criteria of search engines, webmasters and SEO companies can only make an educated guess about the ranking systems and possible algorithm revisions.
SEO companies may be able to achieve high rankings in search engines for your website, they are good at what they do, however it is the way they do it that is precarious and dangerous.
Some SEO companies may use ‘black hat’, techniques to manipulate search engine results to their advantage. These techniques are high risk or illegal and can get a site banned from search engines. Black hat techniques can cuase seevere damage to the business of an e-commerce company.
A few examples of ‘black hat’ techniques:
• Hidden text/hidden links: stuffing your pages with keywords or links too small to read or the same color as the background, so viewers are unable to see any difference in the aesthetics of the page.
• Cloaking: using browser/bot sniffers to serve the search engine spiders a different page than the page visitors see. It is used to show an optimized page to the search engines and a different page to viewers.
• Mutiple submissions: submitting your domain and pages to search engines, for example submitting http://www.logobee.com and http://www.logobee.com/samples as two seperate urls.
• Link farms: sites created soley for the purpose of search engine ranking. These sites are nothing more than random links which have no relevance to one another.
• Selling PR: sites that sell their high PR links for a fee through direct advertisement and for the sole purpose of increasing link popularity.
• Doorways: having one page stuffed with keywords that re-direct to another more user friendly page.
• Meta tag abuse: having too many keywords in the meta tag description, title and keywords.
I am not implying that all SEO companies use ‘black hat’ techniques, there are some that use safe techniques, however I am only pointing out that relying on an SEO company to achieve top rankings for your website is a gamble.
As Easy As ABC
You don’t have to be a computer genius to achieve higher search engine rankings for your website. Effective search engine optimization can be done by anyone who has the time and determination. There exists hordes of information, suggestions, ideas, methods and tehnicques about successfully optimizing your website for search engines. SEO companies do not use any ’special’ tactics that we don’t already know or that we can’t easily research on the internet.
Safe SEO techniques:
• Content: Add valuable and relevant content to your site. The more content the better. Keep your paragraphs brief and to the point.
• Continuously update your website: Add new information and new pages to your site. Create a section on your home page containing up-to-date news items relevent to your business.
• Link popularity: Participate in link exchanges that are relevant to your business or that compliment your business. The more inbound links, the more important your website is perceived to be by the search engine spiders. Progressively build your links. Do not add 500 links to your site at one time.
• Site maps: Include a site map on your site. Site maps can help your visitors easily surf your site.
• Meta tags and Alt tags: Meta tags contain information about the website, placed in the HTML header of a web page, that is not visible to browsers. The most common meta tags relevant to search engines are title, keyword and description tags. Title tags are the most important tags because they contain the information that a viewer sees concerning your website on a search engine results page. Choose a title that clearly represents your business. Make sure that your all your tags contain relevant keywords. Alt tags describe the graphical elements in a web page.
• Header tags: Header tags (H1, H2, H3….) are tags used to represent headers and important titles. Use H1 tags for the most important headers, H2 for the next, etc…As well, use bold, italics, underlines, and different font sizes. Spiders and bots give high value to sites that contain a variety of text and font sizes.
• Keep it simple: Make your site simple and viewer friendly. Make you site easy to surf, eye-catching, informative and interesting. Keep in mind that surfers have a short attention span.
• Stay away from large images and Flash images. Spiders have a preference for html text sites.
• Keyword density: Keywords should exist in your title tag, headline tag, description tag and throughout the content of your home page as well as other internal pages. Be careful not to over do it though.
• Informative and authoritative: Include authorative articles pertaining to the topic of your business, FAQ, tips, how-to’s, etc..
• Participate in SEO and webmaster forums to keep up to date on SEO techniques and search engine criteria revisions. Read websites and articles on various SEO suggestions.
• For other safe optimization techniques see Google’s guidelines for webmasters (http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html).
SEO companies are by the dozen, attempting to lure you in, convincing you to believe that they, and they alone, can help you attain top position results on search engines. While you consider whether to go with an SEO company or not, you may want to do some research on the SEO industry. You can find some helpful information at http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html.
Instead of spending big bucks on achieving big results, take initiative, do it yourself. Don’t spend endless hours worrying about search engine results and crawling spiders. While keeping in mind basic SEO techniques, customize your web site for your human users and not for spiders and bots.
Bio: Colleen Ryan is the Art Director of Logobee Inc., a logo design firm that designs high quality logos and corporate identity design for businesses worldwide. Logobee Inc. was founded in 2000 and since then the company has grown at an exponential rate.
http://www.logobee.com
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09.19.08
Posted in SEO Parlor at 4:35 am by admin
Webmasters today spend quite some time optimizing their websites for search engines. Books have been written about search engine optimization and some sort of industry has developed to offer search engine optimization services to potential clients. But where did this all start? How did we end up with the SEO world we live in today (from a webmaster standpoint seen)?
A guy named Alan Emtage, a student at the University of McGill, developed the first search engine for the Internet in 1990. This search engine was called “Archie” and was designed to archive documents available on the Internet at that time. About a year later, Gopher, an alternative search engine to Archie, was developed at the University of Minnesota. These two kinda search engines triggered the birth of what we use as search engines today.
In 1993, Matthew Gray developed very first search engine robot – the World Wide Web Wanderer. However, it took until 1994 that search engines as we know them today were born. Lycos, Yahoo! And Galaxy were started and as you probably – two of those are still around today (2005).
In 1994 some companies started experimenting with the concept of search engine optimization. The emphasis was put solely on the submission process at that time. Within 12 months, the first automated submission software packages were released. Of course it did not take long until the concept of spamming search engines was ‘invented’. Some webmasters quickly realized that they could swamp and manipulate search results pages by over-submission of their sites. However – the search engines soon fought back and changed things to prevent this from happen.
Soon, search engine optimizers and the search engines started playing some sort of a “cat and mouse” game. Once a way to manipulate a search engine was discovered by the SE-optimizers they took advantage of this. The search engines subsequently revised and enhanced their ranking algorithms to respond to these strategies. It was clear very soon that mainly a small group of webmasters was abusing the search engine algorithms to gain advantage over the competition. Black Hat search engine optimization was born. The unethical way of manipulating search engine resulted in faster responses from search engines. Search engines are trying to keep the search results clean of SPAM to provide the best service to customers.
The search engine industry quickly realized that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as an industry would not go away, and in order to maintain useful indexes, they would need to at least accept the industry. Search engines now partially work with the SEO industry but are still very eager to sort out SPAMMERS that are trying to manipulate the results.
When Google.com started to be the search engine of choice for more than 50% of the Internet users it was highly visible to anyone in the industry that search engine spamming had reached a new dimension. Google.com was so much more important to the success of a website that many webmasters solely concentrated on optimizing their sites for Google only as the payoff was worth the efforts. Again – Black Hat SEO took place, pushing down the honest webmaster and their sites in search results delivered. Google started fighting back. Several major updates to Google’s algorithms forced all webmaster to adapt to new strategies. Black Hat SE-optimizers but suddenly saw something different happening. Instead of just being pushed down in the search results their websites were suddenly completely removed from the search index.
And then there was something called the “Google Sandbox” to show up in discussions. Websites either disappeared into the sandbox or new websites never made it into the index and were considered in the Google Sandbox. The sandbox seemed to be the place where Google would ‘park’ websites either considered SPAMMY or not to be conform with Google’s policies (duplicate websites under different domain names, etc.). The Google Sandbox so far has not been confirmed or denied by Google and many webmasters consider it to be myth.
In late 2004 Google announced to have 8 billion pages/sites in the search index. The gap between Google and the next two competitors (MSN and Yahoo!) seemed to grow. However – in 2005 MSN as well as Yahoo! Started fighting back putting life back into the search engine war. MSN and Yahoo seemed to gain ground in delivering better and cleaner results compared to Google. In July of 2005 Yahoo! Announced to have over 20 billion pages/sites in the search index – leaving Google far behind. No one search engine has won the war yet. The three major search engines however are eagerly fighting for market share and one mistake could change the fortune of a search engine. It will be a rocky ride – but worth watching from the sidelines.
About the Author
Christoph Puetz is a successful entrepreneur and international book author. Examples of his search engine optimization work can be found at Web Hosting Tutorials and at Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
The article can be published by anyone as long as the resource box (About the Author) is posted on the website including the links. These links must be clickable.
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09.16.08
Posted in Travel Tips at 1:46 pm by admin
The thought of a safari can often probably stir up the ideas of amazement and the location of Africa. African safaris have been well established in South Africa for years and have become attractive with the British holiday tourists cause of the wonderful weather and the wonderful wildlife that will be explored. Find out about the different types of safaris and get upclose with the widlife.
The very best time to explore Africa for a considerable safari is around April as the weather is terrific. The number of Irish tourists who travel over to South Africa for a walking safari has significantly increased in the last five decades due to the strong pound and also due to the increased attention of Africa.
The wildlife that you will happen upon is massive, you might well see tigers and elephants all up close. Africa is perfect for those who desire to come and explore the animals and also wish for a romantic holiday. The South African safaris are not too strenuous that you cannot possibly go back to your terrific hotel in the evening for a romantic evening. That is why safaris in Africa might be perfect for a honeymoon. Zambia has some of the very best privately owned apartments and walking safaris in the world and should be experienced by you at least once.
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09.12.08
Posted in House Of Home Improvement, Lifestyle Infos, Shopping & More at 7:42 pm by admin
Is there a power cut in your home? Did you fridge break overnight? Do you have qualms about food that was in the freezer?
Not to worry – there are some simple guidelines to food safety in such a situation.
Food that thaws completely or gets as warm as room temperature should be discarded. If it has been kept at room temperature for more than two hours, throw it away.
If the food is mostly thawed, but still cold, cook it immediately. Foods that have been cooked may then be consumed or refrigerated for later use.
The food can be refrozen if there are still ice crystals visible on it. You can put it in a cooler with some dry ice if no freezer is available. You will not have the longevity that a normal freezer offers, and will need to cook these items.
If you notice any food with even a little freezer burn, you need to throw it away.
It’s not possible to prevent the occurrence of unexpected power interruptions due to weather or accidents, but it is possible to react properly in such cases.
If your current refrigerator or freezer isn’t working like it should, your best bet is to purchase a new one. A new American Style fridge freezer is a great option if you have the amount of space needed. Any kitchen will be much better by having this. This site has a range of American fridge freezers from many suppliers that will server you better.
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