How To Use Images, Graphics And Thumbnails To Promote Your Site
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2006
Images, graphics and thumbnails play an important role in
the overall look and feel of your website. They can greatly
improve the usefulness of your site; making it more
user-friendly and easier to navigate. More importantly,
the visual images on your site can be optimized to improve
your search engine rankings.
Despite their importance, many webmasters ignore images or
graphics when it comes to optimizing their web pages. Don't
make the same mistake.
There are some simple rules to follow when using SEO with
your onsite graphics. Here are a few tips:
First, you must know exactly what an 'Alt Image Tag' is in
order to optimize for the search engines. You must also
realize search engine robots can't see your images, they
can only read text - the text in your Alt Image Tags. So
you have to construct your Alt Image Tags with this factor
in mind and feed these robots with your popular keywords.
Search engine robots usually spider popular sites every day
or so.
What is an Alt Image Tag?
Every image, graphic or thumbnail on your site will have
html code similar to this:
<[sample code] img src="http://www.YourDomain.com/images/logo.jpg" Alt="Your Keyword Image" width="600" height="200" [sample code]>
Your Alt Image Tag will be:
alt="Your Keyword Image"
Always include an Alt Image Tag description for all your
images, graphics and thumbnails. This includes all headers,
background images and even thumbnails of other sites, if
you use them. Keep your descriptions of the images short
and related to the image itself. It would be a good idea to
end each description with the word photo, image or graphic.
Many marketers like to include their main keyword or
keyword phrase they are targeting in the Alt Image Tag.
They also place this keyword phrase in the text on their
page, in the title tag, meta description and many alert
marketers also place their keyword phrase in the URL of
that page. You should also include your keyword phrase in
the last 25 words on the same page.
Feed the spiders but be careful!
DON'T repeat the same keyword or keyword phrase numerous
time on your page in the image tags - this may be seen as
keyword spamming by the robots.
Using plurals and variations of your keyword is fine, such
as: faxing service, fax services, efax services.
Many marketers also use misspelled keywords in the Alt
Image Tag as it can only be seen when the image is scrolled
over. Spiders can't spell but they will index these
misspelled keywords and bring in extra traffic!
Graphics
The ordinary website will have more than just photos or
images on a webpage. You will have headers, backgrounds,
liners, etc. all of these should also have Alt Image Tags.
Although in this age of the broadband Internet, your page
loading time is not a major factor as it once was, you
should still reduce all your images so that they will
download quickly.
Many professional web designers place unneeded or useless
keywords (ones that get no searches) in the graphics on
their site. For example, instead of placing 'Welcome to our
site' in a headline - place it in a graphic at the top of
your page. This will free up your headline for your main
keywords.
Placing these useless words in a graphic where the robots
can't read them - frees up your Alt Tags for keywords that
you're promoting. Place your main keywords in the headline
for better SEO. Keep feeding those spiders!
But always keep in mind, you are creating your content or
web pages for real live human beings so you should check to
see what your site's graphics look like in the different
browsers. Try here: www.anybrowser.com
Since we have an ever increasing number of different
screen or display sizes, always check to see how your
graphics look on a different size display. You might be
horrified to find your perfectly designed page on a 15" PC
is totally distorted on a 17" widescreen laptop.
Needless to say, for site consistency, keep all your
background images and logos the same throughout your site.
Same goes for your fonts and text size, it will keep your
site's visitors more focused and on track.
Thumbnails
Many online sites use thumbnails to raise the professional
quality of their sites. It makes for a higher standard of
design, not to mention, it will increase the usability of
your site. It will also increase your click thru rates.
Thumbnails are screen capture shots of a website. They give
the surfer some idea of what a site looks like before they
visit that site. In a billion site Internet, this can be
very important for the promotion of your site.
Using thumbnails will increase the visibility of your site
and make it stand out from the crowd. Many professional
sites like AOL, Network Solutions, and Alexa use
thumbnails. Any site can use thumbnails - check the resource
box at the end of this article for further directions on
how to place thumbnails on your own site or sites.
Conclusion
Using images, graphics and thumbnails to promote your site
can be easily done if you use the advice given above.
Always remember to use Alt Image Tags to position your
selected keywords or keywords in the search engines.
Consistently do this over a long period of time and you
will see your site rise in the rankings. Keep those spiders
well fed and happy!
More importantly, using these visual aids will also improve
the friendliness and usability of your site. It will help
raise the professional look and feel of your site so that
other webmasters and sites will want to link to your site;
further increasing your rankings and the popularity of your
site.
Don't underestimate the power of a simple image - it can do
wonders for your site.
===========================================================
The author is a former teacher who now works full-time
online operating numerous websites, including two sites on
Internet marketing. For the latest web marketing tools try:
MarketingToolGuide.com .To place thumbnails or
thumbshots on your own site, try this free service. Go here:
ThumbShots.org 2006 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed
if this resource box stays attached.
===========================================================
Copyright © 2006 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Google Gets Personalized
Google Gets Personalized By Kim Roach (c) 2006
Have you ever become overwhelmed by the number of documents
accessible via a search engine? If you're like most people,
then you probably have. There are often millions of results
and not every result is likely to be of equal importance to
you.
In addition to that, there is also ambiguity of language. Words
often have multiple meanings and people can have different
interpretations of the same word. How does a search engine know
the difference? Well, at this point, they don't.
They certainly can't read your mind so the only other
alternative is to track your online activities in order to
custom tailor your search results based on your recorded
preferences.
Google is one of the first major search engines to test this
new technology. They have released a total of 15 new patent
applications this month in relation to this very endeavor.
Actually, I'm not too surprised that Google is taking a closer
look at personalization. Google has already begun testing many
of these new search features in Google's personalized search
(www.google.com/psearch), which is currently in beta.
Traditional algorithmic search engines have reached their peak.
Personalized search is a natural and necessary progression for
Google and other search engines as well. Some alternative search
engines have already taken the lead in this endeavor. Eurekster
(http://www.eurekster.com/) is one of the main ones that comes
to mind, using a searchers history to bring them more relevant
results.
Here is an abstract from one of the Google patents entitled,
"Systems and methods for analyzing a user's web history"
(http://tinyurl.com/ycdhxl):
"A user's prior searching and browsing activities are recorded
for subsequent use. A user may examine the user's prior
searching and browsing activities in a number of different ways,
including indications of the user's prior activities related to
advertisements. A set of search results may be modified in
accordance with the user's historical activities. The user's
activities may be examined to identify a set of preferred
locations. The user's set of activities may be shared with one
or more other users. The set of preferred locations presented
to the user may be enhanced to include the preferred locations
of one or more other users. A user's browsing activities may
be monitored from one or more different client devices or
client application. A user's browsing volume may be graphically
displayed."
Now, let's talk about all of that in English. Over time, we
develop a history of search queries, selected results that were
clicked on, advertisements that were clicked on, and a multitude
of other browsing activities. Each of these actions reflect our
preferences and interests. Other examples of user activity
Google may begin tracking include instant messaging, word
processing, particpation in chat rooms, and internet phone calls.
Talk about an invasion of privacy. Unfortunately, we don't have
enough time to get into that issue.
Within the proposed system, users are able to access their past
searching and/or browsing activities to enhance their experience.
Each of their online activities gives clues to what they might
ultimately be looking for or related areas of interests.
In addition, users can also modify their profile information to
better represent their interests. For example, a user may delete
a search query from his/her history or he/she could also provide
updated information as to new areas of interest.
One of the most interesting aspects of the patent filings
involves the re-ranking of search results according to the
user's preferences.
After a query is made and the results are received, they are
then adjusted based upon information from the user's history.
The order of the search results can be adjusted in accordance
with a history score and/or any user modified result score.
Search results can also be ordered based upon the combined
search result score and the history score to come up with
optimal results.
A searcher may also be shown an indication of previously visited
pages among the SERPs, including information such as the date
and time a page was previously visited and the number of times
that the user has visited the site within a certain period of
time.
A certain number of the most highly ranked results that the user
has previously visited may be displayed in a region above the
search results for easy access (kind of like memorized favorites).
They could also be displayed in another section of the page, or
even in a separate window.
These previously visited pages may be ordered based upon a
number of different ranking criteria, including the history
score, pagerank, time of last access, number of accesses, etc.
A user's browsing activities may also play a part in the ranking
of search results. For example, if a website was previously
visited by the user, it could have its score boosted based upon
the number of times the user has visited that particular website.
Google may also track how long a visitor stays at any given
website. A site that is bookmarked and visited frequently will
almost always rank higher.
On the other hand, search results that were previously presented
to searchers but not clicked through could be lowered in the
results.
What does this mean for you as a webmaster and SEO? It means
that your focus should be on quality. In creating your website,
you must emphasize visitor optimization and content optimization
over search engine optimization.
The visitor always comes first and you must create a valuable
experience for them. Allow them to quickly and easily bookmark
your website. Give them a reason to hang out for a while,
whether it be a forum, lots of great content, or fun quizzes.
The future of SEO is about creating quality, authority sites.
============================================================
Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews
(www.sitepronews.com) and SEO-News (www.seo-news.com)
newsletters. You can also find additional tips and news on
webmaster and SEO topics by Kim at the SiteProNews blog
(blog.sitepronews.com/). Kim's email is: kim @ seo-news.com
=============================================================
Copyright © 2006 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.
Have you ever become overwhelmed by the number of documents
accessible via a search engine? If you're like most people,
then you probably have. There are often millions of results
and not every result is likely to be of equal importance to
you.
In addition to that, there is also ambiguity of language. Words
often have multiple meanings and people can have different
interpretations of the same word. How does a search engine know
the difference? Well, at this point, they don't.
They certainly can't read your mind so the only other
alternative is to track your online activities in order to
custom tailor your search results based on your recorded
preferences.
Google is one of the first major search engines to test this
new technology. They have released a total of 15 new patent
applications this month in relation to this very endeavor.
Actually, I'm not too surprised that Google is taking a closer
look at personalization. Google has already begun testing many
of these new search features in Google's personalized search
(www.google.com/psearch), which is currently in beta.
Traditional algorithmic search engines have reached their peak.
Personalized search is a natural and necessary progression for
Google and other search engines as well. Some alternative search
engines have already taken the lead in this endeavor. Eurekster
(http://www.eurekster.com/) is one of the main ones that comes
to mind, using a searchers history to bring them more relevant
results.
Here is an abstract from one of the Google patents entitled,
"Systems and methods for analyzing a user's web history"
(http://tinyurl.com/ycdhxl):
"A user's prior searching and browsing activities are recorded
for subsequent use. A user may examine the user's prior
searching and browsing activities in a number of different ways,
including indications of the user's prior activities related to
advertisements. A set of search results may be modified in
accordance with the user's historical activities. The user's
activities may be examined to identify a set of preferred
locations. The user's set of activities may be shared with one
or more other users. The set of preferred locations presented
to the user may be enhanced to include the preferred locations
of one or more other users. A user's browsing activities may
be monitored from one or more different client devices or
client application. A user's browsing volume may be graphically
displayed."
Now, let's talk about all of that in English. Over time, we
develop a history of search queries, selected results that were
clicked on, advertisements that were clicked on, and a multitude
of other browsing activities. Each of these actions reflect our
preferences and interests. Other examples of user activity
Google may begin tracking include instant messaging, word
processing, particpation in chat rooms, and internet phone calls.
Talk about an invasion of privacy. Unfortunately, we don't have
enough time to get into that issue.
Within the proposed system, users are able to access their past
searching and/or browsing activities to enhance their experience.
Each of their online activities gives clues to what they might
ultimately be looking for or related areas of interests.
In addition, users can also modify their profile information to
better represent their interests. For example, a user may delete
a search query from his/her history or he/she could also provide
updated information as to new areas of interest.
One of the most interesting aspects of the patent filings
involves the re-ranking of search results according to the
user's preferences.
After a query is made and the results are received, they are
then adjusted based upon information from the user's history.
The order of the search results can be adjusted in accordance
with a history score and/or any user modified result score.
Search results can also be ordered based upon the combined
search result score and the history score to come up with
optimal results.
A searcher may also be shown an indication of previously visited
pages among the SERPs, including information such as the date
and time a page was previously visited and the number of times
that the user has visited the site within a certain period of
time.
A certain number of the most highly ranked results that the user
has previously visited may be displayed in a region above the
search results for easy access (kind of like memorized favorites).
They could also be displayed in another section of the page, or
even in a separate window.
These previously visited pages may be ordered based upon a
number of different ranking criteria, including the history
score, pagerank, time of last access, number of accesses, etc.
A user's browsing activities may also play a part in the ranking
of search results. For example, if a website was previously
visited by the user, it could have its score boosted based upon
the number of times the user has visited that particular website.
Google may also track how long a visitor stays at any given
website. A site that is bookmarked and visited frequently will
almost always rank higher.
On the other hand, search results that were previously presented
to searchers but not clicked through could be lowered in the
results.
What does this mean for you as a webmaster and SEO? It means
that your focus should be on quality. In creating your website,
you must emphasize visitor optimization and content optimization
over search engine optimization.
The visitor always comes first and you must create a valuable
experience for them. Allow them to quickly and easily bookmark
your website. Give them a reason to hang out for a while,
whether it be a forum, lots of great content, or fun quizzes.
The future of SEO is about creating quality, authority sites.
============================================================
Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews
(www.sitepronews.com) and SEO-News (www.seo-news.com)
newsletters. You can also find additional tips and news on
webmaster and SEO topics by Kim at the SiteProNews blog
(blog.sitepronews.com/). Kim's email is: kim @ seo-news.com
=============================================================
Copyright © 2006 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
The 10 Commandments of Link Building
The 10 Commandments of Link Building:
Links today are what keywords were several years ago -- the hottest topic in SEO. Search engines, particularly Google, use link popularity to help evaluate and rank your website. Link popularity refers to the number, quality and relevance of inbound links from other websites to yours.
Some people waste a lot of time seeking links in the wrong way and from the wrong places. The "10 Commandments of Link Building" will help you avoid such time-wasters and achieve true linking success.
1. Thou shalt recognize the value of links.
For now, and for the foreseeable future, link building and SEO walk hand-in-hand. Linking profiles are one of Google's top ranking factors, and the "other" engines use them as well. Once upon a time, you could simply write a lot of keyword-rich content and rank well for it. While that may still be the case with MSN / Live Search, it no longer carries you very far with Yahoo or Google. That's where links come in.
2. Thou shalt begin link-building on thine own website.
"What is this heresy? Link-building starts on my website? Who ever heard of such a thing?" All too often, I see website owners throw up a new site and go out hunting for links before they have a site worth linking to. Link building always starts on your own website.
Think about it for a moment. Aside from directories and paid listings, few people will link to a bare-bones website that offers nothing unique, helpful or interesting. If you start hunting for links before your website has earned its place on the web, you're going to have a long, hard time of it.
On the other hand, if you build the kind of website that makes others in your industry or niche say, "Wow, that's really something! I know some folks who would like that," then your link-building efforts will be a breeze. It all starts with what you put into your website.
3. Thou shalt pursue the right kinds of links.
Not all links are created equal. Sure, you want a lot of links to your website ... we all do. But you should always put link quality before link quantity. Jim Boykin, SEO expert and owner of WeBuildPages.com, said it well:
"It’s not always 'He with the most links' who wins the game … Really, very often, he with the right 10 links can beat the guy with 1,000 of the wrong links. I see it all the time."
What makes for a quality backlink? Generally speaking, the most valuable links for SEO purposes are those that come from older, well-established sites within your topic area.
4. Thou shalt alternate link text.
To gain visibility for more of your key phrases, and to make your linking profile seem more natural to search engine algorithms, it's a good ideas to mix up your link text. For instance, instead of having a thousand backlinks to my site using the phrase "real estate marketing," I strive to get a broad mix of link text. I shoot for "real estate marketing" and "Realtor marketing" and "real estate SEO" and ... you get the picture.
5. Thou shalt find links everywhere.
Links are everywhere, and they're what make the web, well … a web. So link opportunities are everywhere, as well. You can gain links by publishing articles online, syndicating press releases, submitting to directories, participating in forums, growing a blog or becoming an authority in your field. You are only limited by your imagination, and imagination is our next commandment.
6. Thou shalt be creative.
Quick story. I was doing some link building for a home buying website once, and I thought I had exhausted my options. I had submitted press releases online, submitted the site to directories, published articles with the big article directories, and even written a few link request letters (which I normally don't bother with).
Then it dawned on me. There were hundreds, possibly thousands of websites out there looking for the kind of content I could provide, but not knowing where to look. So I began searching phrases like "home buying articles" and making a list of websites that provided this content.
Next, I emailed these sites one by one and invited them to use any of the 100+ articles I had written on the subject. All I asked was that they keep the author's note with hyperlink. By being proactive with my article publishing, I earned more than 30 new and highly relevant links! When you combine quality content or a unique website with strong imagination, your link opportunities are limitless.
7. Thou shalt not waste time with silly link requests.
The higher your website ranks, the more link-request emails you are going to receive. It's a law of the Internet. Let me save you some time and energy by saying you can delete 90% of these emails. Why? Because 90% of the time they are from sites looking to "feed" off your good rankings, but offering nothing in exchange.
I have one website that's ranked very well for its key phrases. It generates a lot of email requests from brand new sites that aren't even indexed yet, much less ranked well. Is that a fair exchange for me? Hardly. What's worse, most of these sites have nothing to do with my subject area. This is the 90% you shouldn't waste time with.
Once in a while, however, you'll receive an email that's actually personalized and specific. It will be intelligent, it will be from a site similar to yours, and it will be worth considering. In other words, it will be part of the 10% club.
8. Thou shalt track thine own progress.
If you put a lot of energy into your SEO program, you need to be able to track your progress. There are business reasons for this. But more importantly, there are morale reasons for it. You want to feel good about what you're doing, right? You want to see some positive results to justify your hard work, don't you? Of course you do. So keep track of your link-building progress the same way you keep track of your traffic and rankings.
There are a number of tools online that can help you identify links from other websites to yours. Yahoo Site Explorer is my favorite. You can use Site Explorer (http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com) to quickly and easily find out which websites are linking to yours. You can also export this information into a spreadsheet for further use. Nice, huh?
9. Thou shalt keep the big picture in mind.
Yes, links are a big part of your website's visibility. But there's a lot more to SEO than links. In fact, let's look at the bigger picture and say there's a lot more to online success than gaining links. If you tend to get carried away with certain tasks, like I do, then schedule your SEO efforts to avoid focusing only one thing. Set aside some time for link-building, article writing, website improvement, product development, etc.
In other words, don't adopt "SEO tunnel vision" to the point you neglect your website's primary offering (whether that be products, services, content, or a combination of the three).
10. Thou shalt enjoy aging well.
One of the things I live about SEO is that it gets easier as you go. When you put the right fundamentals in place up front, you'll be able to increase and/or maintain your visibility with less effort over time. Most search engines -- and especially Google -- place a lot of emphasis on the age of your domain, your individual web pages, and the links coming into those web pages. Like a good wine, links get better with age.
About This Author
Brandon Cornett is the author of the "Agent's Guide to Search Engine Visibility," available for immediate download at ArmingYourFarming.com. Learn to practice real estate search engine optimization the right way. Download your guide today at: http://www.armingyourfarming.com/search
Links today are what keywords were several years ago -- the hottest topic in SEO. Search engines, particularly Google, use link popularity to help evaluate and rank your website. Link popularity refers to the number, quality and relevance of inbound links from other websites to yours.
Some people waste a lot of time seeking links in the wrong way and from the wrong places. The "10 Commandments of Link Building" will help you avoid such time-wasters and achieve true linking success.
1. Thou shalt recognize the value of links.
For now, and for the foreseeable future, link building and SEO walk hand-in-hand. Linking profiles are one of Google's top ranking factors, and the "other" engines use them as well. Once upon a time, you could simply write a lot of keyword-rich content and rank well for it. While that may still be the case with MSN / Live Search, it no longer carries you very far with Yahoo or Google. That's where links come in.
2. Thou shalt begin link-building on thine own website.
"What is this heresy? Link-building starts on my website? Who ever heard of such a thing?" All too often, I see website owners throw up a new site and go out hunting for links before they have a site worth linking to. Link building always starts on your own website.
Think about it for a moment. Aside from directories and paid listings, few people will link to a bare-bones website that offers nothing unique, helpful or interesting. If you start hunting for links before your website has earned its place on the web, you're going to have a long, hard time of it.
On the other hand, if you build the kind of website that makes others in your industry or niche say, "Wow, that's really something! I know some folks who would like that," then your link-building efforts will be a breeze. It all starts with what you put into your website.
3. Thou shalt pursue the right kinds of links.
Not all links are created equal. Sure, you want a lot of links to your website ... we all do. But you should always put link quality before link quantity. Jim Boykin, SEO expert and owner of WeBuildPages.com, said it well:
"It’s not always 'He with the most links' who wins the game … Really, very often, he with the right 10 links can beat the guy with 1,000 of the wrong links. I see it all the time."
What makes for a quality backlink? Generally speaking, the most valuable links for SEO purposes are those that come from older, well-established sites within your topic area.
4. Thou shalt alternate link text.
To gain visibility for more of your key phrases, and to make your linking profile seem more natural to search engine algorithms, it's a good ideas to mix up your link text. For instance, instead of having a thousand backlinks to my site using the phrase "real estate marketing," I strive to get a broad mix of link text. I shoot for "real estate marketing" and "Realtor marketing" and "real estate SEO" and ... you get the picture.
5. Thou shalt find links everywhere.
Links are everywhere, and they're what make the web, well … a web. So link opportunities are everywhere, as well. You can gain links by publishing articles online, syndicating press releases, submitting to directories, participating in forums, growing a blog or becoming an authority in your field. You are only limited by your imagination, and imagination is our next commandment.
6. Thou shalt be creative.
Quick story. I was doing some link building for a home buying website once, and I thought I had exhausted my options. I had submitted press releases online, submitted the site to directories, published articles with the big article directories, and even written a few link request letters (which I normally don't bother with).
Then it dawned on me. There were hundreds, possibly thousands of websites out there looking for the kind of content I could provide, but not knowing where to look. So I began searching phrases like "home buying articles" and making a list of websites that provided this content.
Next, I emailed these sites one by one and invited them to use any of the 100+ articles I had written on the subject. All I asked was that they keep the author's note with hyperlink. By being proactive with my article publishing, I earned more than 30 new and highly relevant links! When you combine quality content or a unique website with strong imagination, your link opportunities are limitless.
7. Thou shalt not waste time with silly link requests.
The higher your website ranks, the more link-request emails you are going to receive. It's a law of the Internet. Let me save you some time and energy by saying you can delete 90% of these emails. Why? Because 90% of the time they are from sites looking to "feed" off your good rankings, but offering nothing in exchange.
I have one website that's ranked very well for its key phrases. It generates a lot of email requests from brand new sites that aren't even indexed yet, much less ranked well. Is that a fair exchange for me? Hardly. What's worse, most of these sites have nothing to do with my subject area. This is the 90% you shouldn't waste time with.
Once in a while, however, you'll receive an email that's actually personalized and specific. It will be intelligent, it will be from a site similar to yours, and it will be worth considering. In other words, it will be part of the 10% club.
8. Thou shalt track thine own progress.
If you put a lot of energy into your SEO program, you need to be able to track your progress. There are business reasons for this. But more importantly, there are morale reasons for it. You want to feel good about what you're doing, right? You want to see some positive results to justify your hard work, don't you? Of course you do. So keep track of your link-building progress the same way you keep track of your traffic and rankings.
There are a number of tools online that can help you identify links from other websites to yours. Yahoo Site Explorer is my favorite. You can use Site Explorer (http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com) to quickly and easily find out which websites are linking to yours. You can also export this information into a spreadsheet for further use. Nice, huh?
9. Thou shalt keep the big picture in mind.
Yes, links are a big part of your website's visibility. But there's a lot more to SEO than links. In fact, let's look at the bigger picture and say there's a lot more to online success than gaining links. If you tend to get carried away with certain tasks, like I do, then schedule your SEO efforts to avoid focusing only one thing. Set aside some time for link-building, article writing, website improvement, product development, etc.
In other words, don't adopt "SEO tunnel vision" to the point you neglect your website's primary offering (whether that be products, services, content, or a combination of the three).
10. Thou shalt enjoy aging well.
One of the things I live about SEO is that it gets easier as you go. When you put the right fundamentals in place up front, you'll be able to increase and/or maintain your visibility with less effort over time. Most search engines -- and especially Google -- place a lot of emphasis on the age of your domain, your individual web pages, and the links coming into those web pages. Like a good wine, links get better with age.
About This Author
Brandon Cornett is the author of the "Agent's Guide to Search Engine Visibility," available for immediate download at ArmingYourFarming.com. Learn to practice real estate search engine optimization the right way. Download your guide today at: http://www.armingyourfarming.com/search
SiteProNews: November 10, 2006 Feature Article
Article printed from SiteProNews: http://www.sitepronews.com HTML version available at: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives.html
How Blogs Can Break Or Make Your SEO Strategy
By Jon Rognerud (c) 2006
Blogs are a great way to get started authoring content and
sharing your knowledge and insights with other people. Plus,
mix work and play - and you can get rich doing this.
You don't have to be an MBA-accredited author by any means.
However, there are some rules to play by, and I'll break those
out below. We will talk about the top blogs, practicalities
around blogs and creative ways to get started, including how
you could possibly ruin your good-standing ranking and having
to change your Search Engine Optimization strategy.
Blogs - Structure and Layout
I work in the field of Search Engine Optimization. It has a wide
range of options, from the technical to the more strategic. Tons
of discussions are found on off-page and on-page factors, latent
semantic analysis, content scope, quality, HTML/CSS development,
site navigational structure, spamdexing, 301 redirects,
plagiarism, link strategies, directories, blogs, search engine
news, email marketing tips & online (internet) marketing. Most
all of the top 10 SEO firms (http://microsaw.stikipad.com/) out
there agree that blogs are a "must" for driving traffic and to
get established in the Internet community.
There is a right way, and a wrong way. We'll discuss these below.
Be warned - too many folks out there are thinking about "how to
outbeat the search engines" and use the latest-and-greatest
(blogs) to elevate their rankings, essentially via content and
blog spam. Blogs are a powerful way to get seen by the search
bots. Blogger (Google's own) is an important key to the puzzle,
but there are many.
The Un-Official Top 7 Blogging Best Practices For SEO
1. Start here, begin a quick review of the world's top blogs:
http://www.technorati.com/pop/blogs - updated daily
http://www.problogger.net/ - he makes #16,000/month
http://microsaw.stikipad.com/ - web 2.0 blogs
2. Get an account - it's free. Log in - and - don't start! What?
No, you must first continue by scanning the list above and get a
sense for what people are writing about. This could be more
generic at first, but start looking to yourself. What do you
know? What do people come to you for? Anything that you
specialize in? (Hint: don't think "how can I sell this" - but
"how can I share this?") You'll also learn how to use trackback
functions to allow other people to be notified. Permalinks are
great for SEO and should be used where appropriate. So, now you
learned something big: be yourself!
3. Think about an interesting headline. You don't need to be
a copywriter, but you should think about your headline and the
topic at hand. More importantly, is it something that you are
passionate about, or can contribute something to? It's ok to
spend some time here, writer's block can come up. Think about
other sites, can you re-write their UVP (unique value
proposition)? How would you write yours (thinking theme here).
What I've found to work is simply sit back and start talking as
if you were discussing a (hot) topic with a friend, and then
break it out into sub-groups from there.
4.Writing tips: casual, friendly and interesting (meaning you
have something to write and you don't copy others) works well
in blogs. Make sure you stay on topic and that you are truthful.
Would you lie to your mother? Of course not - then think about
this when you are writing online (and she will not come after
you). Yahoo's blogging policy is a good one: "Be respectful of
your colleagues, get your facts straight, provide context to
your argument, and engage in private feedback." Also, make sure
to include images (flickr) and video (youtube, google video)
where you can. Make the images rich and colorful, don't worry
about sizing too much.
5. Committment, persistence and discipline. Sound like an
extract from Jim Rohn or Anthony Robbins? Well, they probably
are - but it applies to most of the things you do in life. So
be it with blogging. Carve out 1/2-1 hour every day to nurture
your blog business. Think of it as your morning ritual - right
after you have attended to your family and other duties. Plus,
often you are not going to be in writing mode - but rather,
maintenance mode - reviewing and responding to other blogger's
input.
6. Search engines start picking up your blog, and traffic
increases. Be prepared and if it gets out of hand, be able to
manage that too. I'm not simply talking about traffic, but as
others join and comment, you may need to defend your stance,
including admitting mistakes if / when you make them. Folks
appreciate other folks who are big enough to admit mistakes if
it gets there. For example, you may have folks who don't like
you - even if you're Bill Gates. This guy created a Corporate
Weblog Manifesto (http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2003/02/26.html)
that I found interesting.
7. Run and host your own blog service. More expensive, but this
could have a large impact on your ability to control not only
the content, but custom HTML layouts, code and information
architecture that are important to search engines. You can offer
this as a service to others in your niche market.
http://businesslogs.com/ is a great resource to use for starting
this process, and more hands-on development companies like
http://www.leveltendesign.com/ can be an option for you. Keep in
mind that the market has developed niche-companies, from
real-estate to healthcare, and you should research those
specifically.
Content is important for Search Engine Optimization - be on top
of it, keep a schedule.
Voila - that's it, there you have it. Watch how the search
engines will start picking up your content. You can run tools
to see how you are ranking, how often you are showing up in the
search engines. We like http://www.UrlTrends.com as a simple
beginner starting point. However, it's not 100% accurate, other
SEO tools can provide more detail.
Keep your content fresh, updates daily is preferred - and
definitely once a week and your search engine marketing (which
includes search engine optimization) will become more visible
than it was just last week. Then, use http://pingomatic.com/ to
alert search engines that you have made updates. It's a free
service, and will help your visibility.
================================================================
Jon Rognerud is a recognized authority on the subject of search
marketing, and has spent over 10 years developing websites and
marketing solutions at companies like Overture and Yahoo. His
website, http://www.microsaw.com, provides a wealth of
informative articles, resources and free email courses,
including complimentary site ranking reports at
http://www.microsaw.com/emailpage.asp
================================================================
Copyright © 2006 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.
How Blogs Can Break Or Make Your SEO Strategy
By Jon Rognerud (c) 2006
Blogs are a great way to get started authoring content and
sharing your knowledge and insights with other people. Plus,
mix work and play - and you can get rich doing this.
You don't have to be an MBA-accredited author by any means.
However, there are some rules to play by, and I'll break those
out below. We will talk about the top blogs, practicalities
around blogs and creative ways to get started, including how
you could possibly ruin your good-standing ranking and having
to change your Search Engine Optimization strategy.
Blogs - Structure and Layout
I work in the field of Search Engine Optimization. It has a wide
range of options, from the technical to the more strategic. Tons
of discussions are found on off-page and on-page factors, latent
semantic analysis, content scope, quality, HTML/CSS development,
site navigational structure, spamdexing, 301 redirects,
plagiarism, link strategies, directories, blogs, search engine
news, email marketing tips & online (internet) marketing. Most
all of the top 10 SEO firms (http://microsaw.stikipad.com/) out
there agree that blogs are a "must" for driving traffic and to
get established in the Internet community.
There is a right way, and a wrong way. We'll discuss these below.
Be warned - too many folks out there are thinking about "how to
outbeat the search engines" and use the latest-and-greatest
(blogs) to elevate their rankings, essentially via content and
blog spam. Blogs are a powerful way to get seen by the search
bots. Blogger (Google's own) is an important key to the puzzle,
but there are many.
The Un-Official Top 7 Blogging Best Practices For SEO
1. Start here, begin a quick review of the world's top blogs:
http://www.technorati.com/pop/blogs - updated daily
http://www.problogger.net/ - he makes #16,000/month
http://microsaw.stikipad.com/ - web 2.0 blogs
2. Get an account - it's free. Log in - and - don't start! What?
No, you must first continue by scanning the list above and get a
sense for what people are writing about. This could be more
generic at first, but start looking to yourself. What do you
know? What do people come to you for? Anything that you
specialize in? (Hint: don't think "how can I sell this" - but
"how can I share this?") You'll also learn how to use trackback
functions to allow other people to be notified. Permalinks are
great for SEO and should be used where appropriate. So, now you
learned something big: be yourself!
3. Think about an interesting headline. You don't need to be
a copywriter, but you should think about your headline and the
topic at hand. More importantly, is it something that you are
passionate about, or can contribute something to? It's ok to
spend some time here, writer's block can come up. Think about
other sites, can you re-write their UVP (unique value
proposition)? How would you write yours (thinking theme here).
What I've found to work is simply sit back and start talking as
if you were discussing a (hot) topic with a friend, and then
break it out into sub-groups from there.
4.Writing tips: casual, friendly and interesting (meaning you
have something to write and you don't copy others) works well
in blogs. Make sure you stay on topic and that you are truthful.
Would you lie to your mother? Of course not - then think about
this when you are writing online (and she will not come after
you). Yahoo's blogging policy is a good one: "Be respectful of
your colleagues, get your facts straight, provide context to
your argument, and engage in private feedback." Also, make sure
to include images (flickr) and video (youtube, google video)
where you can. Make the images rich and colorful, don't worry
about sizing too much.
5. Committment, persistence and discipline. Sound like an
extract from Jim Rohn or Anthony Robbins? Well, they probably
are - but it applies to most of the things you do in life. So
be it with blogging. Carve out 1/2-1 hour every day to nurture
your blog business. Think of it as your morning ritual - right
after you have attended to your family and other duties. Plus,
often you are not going to be in writing mode - but rather,
maintenance mode - reviewing and responding to other blogger's
input.
6. Search engines start picking up your blog, and traffic
increases. Be prepared and if it gets out of hand, be able to
manage that too. I'm not simply talking about traffic, but as
others join and comment, you may need to defend your stance,
including admitting mistakes if / when you make them. Folks
appreciate other folks who are big enough to admit mistakes if
it gets there. For example, you may have folks who don't like
you - even if you're Bill Gates. This guy created a Corporate
Weblog Manifesto (http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2003/02/26.html)
that I found interesting.
7. Run and host your own blog service. More expensive, but this
could have a large impact on your ability to control not only
the content, but custom HTML layouts, code and information
architecture that are important to search engines. You can offer
this as a service to others in your niche market.
http://businesslogs.com/ is a great resource to use for starting
this process, and more hands-on development companies like
http://www.leveltendesign.com/ can be an option for you. Keep in
mind that the market has developed niche-companies, from
real-estate to healthcare, and you should research those
specifically.
Content is important for Search Engine Optimization - be on top
of it, keep a schedule.
Voila - that's it, there you have it. Watch how the search
engines will start picking up your content. You can run tools
to see how you are ranking, how often you are showing up in the
search engines. We like http://www.UrlTrends.com as a simple
beginner starting point. However, it's not 100% accurate, other
SEO tools can provide more detail.
Keep your content fresh, updates daily is preferred - and
definitely once a week and your search engine marketing (which
includes search engine optimization) will become more visible
than it was just last week. Then, use http://pingomatic.com/ to
alert search engines that you have made updates. It's a free
service, and will help your visibility.
================================================================
Jon Rognerud is a recognized authority on the subject of search
marketing, and has spent over 10 years developing websites and
marketing solutions at companies like Overture and Yahoo. His
website, http://www.microsaw.com, provides a wealth of
informative articles, resources and free email courses,
including complimentary site ranking reports at
http://www.microsaw.com/emailpage.asp
================================================================
Copyright © 2006 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.
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