Sabre Blade's SEO

YPN is Dead

2010-03-31T15:15:00.001-05:00

This kinda bothers me, because I hate to see any Ad Network go under.
More competition is usually better for publishers.

Dear Publisher,

Yahoo! continuously evaluates and prioritizes our products and services, in alignment with business goals and our continued commitment to deliver the best consumer and advertiser experiences. After conducting an extensive review of the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program, we have decided to close the program effective April 30, 2010. We expect to deliver final publisher payments for the month ending April 30, 2010 to publishers no later than May 31, 2010. All publishers eligible for 1099s for the 2010 tax year will have those mailed by January 31, 2011.

Because our content will no longer be delivered to your ad unit spaces after April 30, 2010, we recommend removing all YPN ad code from your pages by that date.

For the opportunity to continue earning revenue, we suggest using Chitika, a leading advertising network that syndicates Yahoo! Content Match and Sponsored Search ads. Chitika has set up a special process for YPNO beta publishers to participate in its platform. Click here for more information.

We thank you for your participation in the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta. If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please contact our Support Team at (866) 785-2636, Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PDT.
Sincerely,

Your Partners at Yahoo!

Bing Trumps Google?

2009-08-03T17:41:00.001-05:00

I wondered as much as anyone if Bing would make a dent in Google.
At least at first, it looks like it has.
The news is full of it.....

Google search share drops as Bing gains momentum
Bing's share of the search market grew another percentage point in July, indicating that some of those initial users may be sticking around for the long haul. Google, on the other hand, fell by nearly the same amount, and now faces the combined forces of Microsoft and Yahoo in the race for search market share.
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/bing-continues-to-chip-away-at-googles-search-share.ars

Bing gains 1% US share in July, Google loses: StatCounter
In a press release issued today, web statistics firm StatCounter showed an increase in US search market share from 8.23% in June to 9.41% in July. Google was down in the US from 78.48% in June to 77.54% in July. Global figures show Google still dominating, with 89.23% share in July (down from 89.80% in June).
http://www.liveside.net/main/archive/2009/08/03/bing-gains-1-us-share-in-july-google-loses-statcounter.aspx

Chitika: Bing outperforms Google?
It may be too early to make a definitive statement at this point, but new research from search advertising network Chitika indicates that Bing's search platform may be outperforming Google's. According to the research, consumers who land on sites as the result of organic listings on Bing's engine are 55% more likely to click on an advertisement than those who arrive on-site from Google's engine.
http://www.bizreport.com/2009/08/chitika_bing_outperforms_google.html

Google's recent algorithm changes (which btw cut my traffic in half...Thanks Google!) has had effects on searchers.
I have heard "Whats wrong with Google?" and "Why cant I find anything on Google anymore?" more than a few times.
I think Google's change was VERY ill timed.

Death knell for Google?
Hardly.
As long as "I Googled it" is still a phrase in the English language, Google is number one.
But you know....AOL was number one several years ago.....

Google and Page Rank

2009-06-04T12:18:00.000-05:00

From the "Just When You Thought You Knew The Rules..." category....

PageRank sculpting is a pretty advanced SEO tactic, and it has been widely used by SEO pros since Google’s Matt Cutts described its use on YouTube, giving the strategy the official green light.
At SMX Advanced in Seattle, the same harbinger of Google insider information offered a stunning revelation: Google changed the way it handled link structures intended for sculpting.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/06/03/google-evaporating-excess-pagerank

This leads me to believe that yes SEO is changing rapidly.
Maybe faster than ever before.
With Google rolling out Google Wave, Microsoft replacing Live Search with Bing, Yahoo shutting down Yahoo 360 (did you notice that?) it seems like SEO is about to become a moving target.
And of course we can't forget that Twitter Search and Wolfram/Alpha may also have an effect.

I think one good over all philosophy to follow in all of this is think humans not machines.
I'm not saying forget SEO, but maybe it would be best if everyone concentrated on the old tried and true "User Experience".
If you have a good solid website that delivers, you will get traffic.
You get more good traffic, your profits go up.
Just like everything else, people have been saying that SEO was dying probably since it started.
It's not dying, it's changing.
The best thing to do is keep informed on whats going on and how it affects you.

Oh, by the way, I ran across a website the other day that has a LOT of really good free keyword and traffic ideas.
It's really worth a look if you haven't been there.
The site is Keyword Academy and they are not trying to sell anything, they just give out great advice.
http://thekeywordacademy.com/

How will Microsoft's Bing Affect SEO?

2009-05-29T17:20:00.005-05:00

No...not this guy. But 1000 style points if you know who this is.

Microsoft's new search engine " Bing" is getting ready to roll out.
"Bing"?
What was wrong with " Live Search"?
Does "Bing" make more sense?

Anyway, even though it's not out yet, people are trying to figure out how it will affect Google searches and Yahoo.
And how it will affect one of the basic components of SEO...keywords.

New Microsoft search engine 'could affect SEO'

Marketers' approach to search engine optimization(SEO) may have to change significantly following the launch of Microsoft's new search engine, Bing.
This is according to Forrester Research principal analyst Shar VanBoskirk, who explained that the so-called "decision engine" may mean businesses will have to shift away from purely focusing on keywords in their SEO campaigns.

http://www.directnews.co.uk/news/search-engine/msn/new-microsoft-search-engine-could-affect-seo--$1299482.htm

If you want to look at Microsoft's pretty page you can go here:
http://www.bing.com/ComingSoon

Of course there's really nothing there but the logo yet.

Will "Bing" affect Google and Yahoo?
Maybe.
But will the combined efforts of Bing, Twitter Search and Wolfram/Alpha affect the big search engines?
I'm gonna have to say definitely.
And will it affect the way SEO is done?
Well depending on which ones of these catch on and how well they perform, I'm going with yes here too.
But don't chuck out your keyword research just yet.
I'm betting that will still be an important factor.
We may just have to start looking at things in a variety of ways now.
Maybe even different sites,each tailored for Google, Yahoo, Bing, Twitter and Wolfram.

Basic SEO Tips

2009-05-26T09:45:00.001-05:00

No matter how far you get along in SEO, it's always good to go back and check on the basics.
Here is an article at sajid-lucky.blogspot.com about 11 basic SEO tips to look over.
Sometimes when you get into the advanced stuff you forget about the basic needs, so go over the list and see if you are doing all of these...

And here is an article by Ann Smarty at Search Engine Journal about the importance of follow up posts, and what they can do to help better target your audience...

And here is a book review of Rebecca Lieb's book, The Truth About Search Engine Opimization (SEO) at Independent Weekly

Like I have said before, with the economic slump going like it is, now is a great time to go over your sites and make sure everything is optimized.

Wolfram Alpha Launches Today

2009-05-18T10:24:00.003-05:00

I mentioned the Wolfram Alpha search engine a couple of entries back.
I've been in contact with them and I got this e-mail this morning about the actual start up of this new engine.....

"Wolfram Alpha LLC will officially launch Wolfram|Alpha today at
3:00 p.m. (CDT). The world's first computational knowledge
engine, a free online service, has become one of the most eagerly
anticipated international product launches of 2009.

A full press release follows. Additional materials are available at:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/media/

Here are some data points and observations from Wolfram|Alpha's
pre-launch testing period May 15-17:

* During the weekend, Wolfram|Alpha processed 13.7 million queries.
* Our request for feedback has elicited nearly 27,000 responses.
* Within minutes, there were queries from six continents.
* Queries were surprisingly diverse. People quickly moved from
using the examples page on the site to using their own inputs.
* Twitter users discovered that Wolfram|Alpha could immediately
provide information on a small California earthquake that
happened Sunday.
* Finding Wolfram|Alpha Easter eggs has already become a popular
topic on Mashable, the social media news guide.
* Facebook users have been helping each other suggest and correct
inputs."

Wolfram Alpha is already "Trending" on Twitter, about number 30 on Google Trends and not even on Yahoo's Top Searches.
So I wonder just how much affect this new player will have.

And on a lighter note, does it make any "Angel" fans out there nervous that the engine is called "Wolfram"?
LOL

UPDATE:
I've been playing with WA and I really don't think Google has anything to worry about.
WA is great for hard data, but it doesn't "think" like people.

Google Search Fires Back

2009-05-12T15:42:00.000-05:00

It didn't take Google long to raise shields (or is it fire phasers?) in the search engine battle I posted about last entry.
Take a look at this article by Ben Parr over at Mashable:

"Google has just made search a lot more useful, and real-time search offerings (i.e. Twitter Search, OneRiot, and Tweetmeme) are about to feel the power of the Google juggernaut. Why? Because of the release of Google Search Options, a new Google search feature that provides the user the ability to drill down search results by recency, content type, and more."

You can read the full article here:
http://mashable.com/2009/05/12/google-search-results/

SEO May Be Looking At An Upheaval

2009-05-11T09:00:00.004-05:00

SEO may be looking at a coming upheaval.

With Twitter search looking better and better to people, the focus may shift off of the big search engines like Google and Yahoo, and onto smaller ones.

In the last entry I pointed out how Twitter's results were very different from Google and Yahoo.
More and more people are looking to tailor their search for Twitter because of the popularity of that service,
But now you may have to look at Twitter search engine optimization if you haven't already.
Before they searched only the text of Twitter posts,but soon, they will begin to crawl links in tweets, and index content from those pages.

Twitter will be getting a reputation ranking system and when you do a search on a trending topic, Twitter will take into consideration the reputation of the person who wrote each tweet and rank the search results partly on that.

CNET has an article telling more about this here:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10235360-2.html

Judging by Twitter's popularity, this is something people concerned about SEO may want to look into very seriously.

Now, do I think that Twitter will knock Google out of the number one spot?
No.
People are creatures of habit, and it takes awhile for habits to change.
I admit I look at Twitter's popular subjects, but in doing a search, I go to Google first.
I'll "Google it" will have to be replaced with "I'll Twitter it", and I don't see that happening anytime soon.
But with Twitter beefing up it's search, and the new Wolfram Alpha engine hitting the scene, it will pay to stay on top of just what people are using to find things online.

Google Trends, Yahoo and Twitter

2009-05-08T20:34:00.001-05:00

I thought since I hadn't done this in awhile, I'd look at some of the top searches listed for Google Trends, Yahoo and the new guy...Twitter.
Boy, you can sure tell that they use different methods for getting their results.

Google Trends
1. boehm porcelain
2. reason magazine
3. aisy may s bbq nyc
4. nevada test site
5. ryan freel
6. rihanna pics
7. seal singer
8. taste of addison
9. rihanna pictures
10. pelosi

Yahoo
1. Victoria Beckham
2. Jennifer Aniston
3. American Idol
4. Basking Sharks
5. Oprah Winfrey
6. Hi-5
7. Mother's Day
8. Twitter
9. Farrah Fawcett
10. NBA

Twitter
1. Facebook money
2. Rihanna
3. Star Trek
4. hiring
5. A-Rod
6. tweemyjobs
7. Follow Friday
8. Cassie
9. Celtics
10. Lakers

See? It looks like the results all come from different planets.
It looks like the only thing they have in common is Rihanna and basketball.
Interestingly Star Trek only appears on Twitter.

But the stats change constantly, and by the time I am finished typing this, they probably will already be changed.
That's why I use Google Keyword Tool instead of Google Trends.

So just for fun, I ran the above searches through the GKT and came up with this....
1. nba
2. rihanna
3. american idol
4. star trek
5. cassie
6. jennifer aniston
7. victoria beckham
8. lakers
9. celtics
10. twitter

The keyword tool gives you a 30 day trend, not minute by minute.
But if you do a lot of posts a day, these other tools may be better choices for you than the Keyword Tool.

More Free SEO Stuff

2009-04-30T07:56:00.001-05:00

I had an entry awhile back on Hospitals using SEO and SEO companies to get their name out.
Here is a story from Brafton.com about an Oklahoma newspaper that is using SEO to boost readership.

Oklahoma newspaper uses SEO, Web 2.0
Some newspapers are using search engine optimization (SEO) to help draw readers
It's no secret that the newspaper industry is in trouble, but one paper in the Midwest is implementing search engine optimization (SEO) and Web 2.0 techniques to popularize itself with readers and advertisers.
http://www.brafton.com/industry-news/oklahoma-newspaper-uses-seo-web-2-0-$1291752.htm

With all the other "Dummies" books out there, I wonder why this hasn't happened before now.....

New SEO For Dummies Book
Search engine optimization and Internet marketing company Bruce Clay, Inc. has partnered with For Dummies Publications to produce the all-in-one desk reference guide for SEO. The "Search Engine Optimization All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies" by Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza is currently available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Borders.com and will soon be available in bookstores nationwide.
http://search.sys-con.com/node/942346

Fahrenheit Marketing has started a service that lets you see SEO results BEFORE paying for them.....

Performance Based Search Engine Optimization Services
Fahrenheit Marketing has announced the launching of a new SEO service promotion for new customers. The promotion allows customers to see tangible results before paying for the service. After a business signs up for search engine optimization, Fahrenheit Marketing identifies the keywords driving the most qualified traffic to the business. They then optimize the keywords for Google searches. The service is offered at no charge until one of the keywords yields a first page website ranking on Google.com.
http://www.pr.com/press-release/148792

And Hobo, a UK SEO Company, has published a starter guide to Google SEO. I checked out the website and theres a lot of good free info there.

Free Search Engine Optimization Guide
Want to get more traffic and sales from your website? Most businesses do, and with the current economic climate, they need to! SEO can be expensive - but there are places online you can turn to.
Scottish based Hobo, a UK SEO Company, have published a comprehensive starter guide to Google SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It's a complete beginners guide to SEO and refresher course for even experienced SEO. You can find it at http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo/
http://www.bignews.biz/?id=799753&keys=seo-google-marketing-advertising

Is SEO Recession Proof ?

2009-04-29T11:06:00.001-05:00

Even though advertising spending may be down online, according to the UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, over half of the companies surveyed are going to increase their SEO budget this year.

"According to a report published earlier this month by Guava and Econsultancy, companies are continuing to invest in search engine optimization with over half expecting an increase in their budgets this year."
Full article here

This seems to me to be a good idea anyway, with the economy like it is, the companies have to figure out a way to get their brand's name out to the public.
And what better way than by showing up at the top of Google and Yahoo searches?

If you do a search on Google Trends, you will see that "SEO" is a steadily rising term, as is SEM.
Is SEO mainstream yet?
Not really.
While a search for SEO turns in 4,090,000 for monthly search volume, Britney Spears turns in 20,400,000.
So SEO is not deep in the public's mind yet.
But the SEO industry is not going away.
And it may actually turn out that search engine optimization companies are one of the most recession proof industries.

Google versus Microsoft

2009-04-21T11:36:00.000-05:00

Google is still the leader in the search engine world, but with new search engines coming out, how will this affect the way you do SEO?
Or will it even affect it?
Microsoft is getting ready to unleash a $100 million ad campaign for its new search engine.
The new search engine could be named Kumo or Bing.

And word is that Microsoft is also planning a new mobile search engine that may be called Sift.
In March, Microsoft trademarked another name, Swivel.

But how will a new search engine affect your SEO?
Well unless it's reverse engineered from captured alien technology, I don't really seeing it affecting Google much.
How many people gear their SEO to Yahoo or AOL searches now?
For Microsoft to cut into Google much, this new search engine will have to debut with a bang in the megaton range.

Google rolls out semantic search capabilities

2009-04-08T19:15:00.001-05:00

Google rolls out semantic search capabilities:

"Google has given its web search engine an injection of semantic technology, as the search leader pushes into what many consider the future of search on the internet.

The new technology will allow Google's search engine to identify associations and concepts related to a query, improving the list of related search terms Google displays along with its results, the company announced in an official blog last week."

And in case you are wondering just what Semantic targeting is.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_targeting

Slowing Search Ad Spending

2009-04-04T15:37:00.001-05:00

In the category of "preaching to the choir", we have this bit of news about search ad spending from Business week.....

A Sign of Slowing Search Ad Spending
Search advertising is finally feeling the full impact of the weak economy, according to a new report out this morning from online marketing analytics firm Covario. In fact, search spending fell from quarter to quarter for probably the first time ever, by 1.4% in the first quarter.

The report isn’t comprehensive—it’s based on Covario’s largely tech and consumer electronics customers—so it may not be typical of overall spending on search ads. But with those clients spending $250 million a year on search ads, it’s also worth mentioning.

You can read the full article here

I think we all know this.
Almost all I hear is profits are down.
But why not take this down time to fine tune your SEO, so that when things do turn back up, you'll be in better shape than before the fall?

technorati tags: search engine marketing tips, search engines marketing, search advertising

My Top Programs for March

2009-04-02T17:15:00.001-05:00

1. Adsense
Of course.
Even with lowered expectations it still blows everybody else away.
Targeting has seemed a little wonky in March, but I imagine that has to do with advertisers.
If the inventory isn't there for a niche, you cant show it.
If the Google Adsense program ever gets any competition, I'll let you know.

2. Kontera
Number two as usual is Kontera.
I really need to figure out how to how to break out and take it to the next level though.

3.YPN
Still it's normal schizophrenic self.
Good days and bad.
But enough good days to come in at number three.

4. Chitika
Good days and bad like YPN.
Weird targeting.
One day it's "Yes, it's turned the corner!"
The next day it's in the gutter.

5. Widget Bucks
Performing well on only one site.
So I took it off all but that one.

Affiliates?
So far for me a waste of space.
Really considering pulling them all off.

SEO and Hospitals

2009-03-30T15:51:00.000-05:00

And just to show you how competitive SEO is getting, hospitals are getting into SEO.
They want people seeking medical procedures and info to find their site first.
So how do they do that?
They hire search engine optimization companies.
So all of these little techniques that you learn to boost your own traffic, may land you a high paying job with a big SEO company one day.

"Since an increasing percentage of consumers are turning to the Internet for health care information, many hospitals are boosting their presence with everything from their own sophisticated websites to online video sharing."
You can read the full story here

SEO News, Is Using Flash Okay?

2009-03-30T10:36:00.001-05:00

A lot of people use Flash on their websites, and here is an article from adobe.com by Damien Bianchi about how to make sites that use Flash more search engine friendly.

Search optimization techniques for RIAs
A variety of technologies and platforms are used to create rich Internet applications (RIAs), including Ajax, Curl, JavaFX, Microsoft Silverlight, and the Adobe Flash Platform. It's no secret that RIAs present challenges for search engines. Understanding the importance of this issue, Adobe has partnered with Google and Yahoo! to get to the heart of the issue and to come up with solutions that can not only work with the Adobe Flash Platform but also provide insight and fundamentals that can influence future technological advances.
You can read the full article here

SEO, Twitter and Google

2009-03-24T13:12:00.000-05:00

People are constantly talking about how just a subtle change can make a difference in SEO.
Well here is some proof of that via Robin Wauters over at Tech Crunch.
It involves what Twitter has done with it's title tags.....

Notice that title tag for my Twitter profile page?
It reads “Robin Wauters (robinwauters) on Twitter” where it used to say “Twitter / robinwauters”. For the TechCrunch Twitter account, it used to read “Twitter / TechCrunch” (only the username) instead of now “Michael Arrington (TechCrunch) on Twitter” (full name + username).

Full story here

Another Free SEO Tool

2009-03-23T10:23:00.002-05:00

Here is a free SEO tool I ran across, Website Grader by HubSpot.
According to the site, you can enter your URL and if you like, the URL of competing websites.
It says that they will do a little search and e-mail you an analysis of your website.

Even though I am wary of doing any kind of analysis that involves me giving someone my e-mail, I decided to take one for the team and do it myself with one of my blogs.

The good news is that after a few minutes, I didn't have to wait for the SEO analysis to be mailed, it came up on a new page.
So why did I have to give them my e-mail?
(I'll be watching to see if my spam mail jumps up.)

First they gave me a website grade.
Which I got a 96.3
Not too shabby.

Then I got On-Page SEO.
They checked the page's meta tags.
They checked the Heading Summary, Image Summary, Interior Page Analysis and even gave me a Readability Level which was Primary / Elementary School level in this case.

Then it checked Off-Page SEO.
They checked Domain Info, Google PageRank, Google Indexed Pages, Last Google Crawl Date, Traffic Rank (by Alexa), Inbound Links, DMOZ Directory, and they checked to see if the site was found in the Yahoo! Directory and ZoomInfo.

They then checked the Blogosphere.
The site was found on Technorati and it gave a list of recent posts on the blog and if they had been "Dugg", plus how many Inbound Links each entry had.

The Social Mediasphere was next.
They checked to see how many del.icio.us bookmarks there were and if any entries were submited to Digg.

Then a check of Converting Qualified Visitors to Leads.
Basically they checked to see if there was a RSS Feed.

Lastly, they did a Keyword Grader and gave me a Score Summary, showing all the stats.

A lot of good info for a FREE SEO tool.

They also have a badge you can put on your website to show off your ranking.

You can try the website grader yourself at http://website.grader.com/

Basic SEO, Free Stuff

2009-03-15T10:52:00.001-05:00

Okay, here is what is working for me as far as SEO goes.

Search engine optimization is a fickle lady.
What works gangbusters on one site may not work at all on another.
So there is no set formula, but there are basic guidelines.
And you don't need to buy anyone's e-book to find out what those guidelines are.
I've posted tons of links here that lead you to free info that will help you.
If you look over at my links section, you'll see sites that you can spend hours on just browsing and learning things that will help you.
And those things are free.
Most people don't want to hear "trial and error" but that really is a good way.
It's better than paying tons of money to search engine optimization companies.

The main things are keywords and content.
The keywords are out there.
For free.
One of the best places to work on keywords for search engine optimization is Google.

Go to Google, type in a search...
Before you finish typing, Google will auto complete the term for you.
That's a term that Google has a lot of searches for.
Yahoo has a similar system in there search box.

Go to Google Trends.
See what people are looking for.
Does it relate to your field?
If it does go to that link.
When you get there, Google not only gives you the top stories relating to that subject, but if you look at te upper left, Google gives you related searches.

Go to Google Keywords Tool
Type in a word and see how many searches they have had for that word and what words relate to that word.

And there's always SEOTools keyword search.
Again, free.

As far as content goes, that's up to the individual.
It needs to be original.
Duplication does not do well in the search engines.
Remember Google Trends up there?
See what other people are writing about that's popular, and put your own spin on it.
What do YOU think about the subject?
How can you help your readers?
Some people like to be clinical, some people like to be personal.
Find what works for you.

AdSense and the Privacy Policy and SEO News

2009-03-14T20:23:00.002-05:00

Just a few quick things.....

One, if you are using AdSense, make SURE you check up on the changes to the privacy policy.
This is very important to anyone using AdSense.
If you want to know more, JenSense has a good entry on the Google AdSense behavioral targeting and how this will relate to the privacy policy here
Jen also promises help in getting everyone up to speed on the new policy.

Two, Writing for Your Wealth has a really good article on why some websites and blogs may not be making a lot of money with AdSense, and more importantly, steps you can take to correct the situation.
You can read the article here

Three, here is a really interesting article about how it's not enough for journalists to be able to write effectively anymore.
They may also need to know about SEO and Keywords.
You can read this article at Poynter Online here

It's funny to me that now MSNBC is even reporting on search engine marketing events like the Search Engine Marketing Showcase at Internet World 2009.
With the economy getting tougher, look for everyone to be squeezing as much as they can out of every advertising dollar.
That's going to mean staying up to date on the latest SEO techniques.
Some of these search engine optimization companies may very well turn out to be their "white knights".

SEO Tips and Tricks, Bits and Pieces

2009-02-27T17:56:00.001-05:00

Want some good inspiration?
Then head over to Retire@21 and check out their list of the Top 50 Young Entrepreneurs Under 30.
Of course it you're OVER 30, it could make you feel bad but still.
If they can do it......
http://www.retireat21.com/top-young-entrepreneurs/

And here's an article at freshegg.com about a technique we've covered here before, using keywords in URL filenames....
As a newcomer to the professional practice of SEO I am still trying to familiarise myself with the relative importance of the multitude of factors that can affect a site’s search engine positions for various search terms. There are just so many to consider. When engaged in an SEO project we may initially make a whole range of changes and tweaks so it is difficult to know exactly how much each has contributed towards subsequent search engine position changes. However, a recent experience appears to reinforce the significance of an appropriately chosen URL filename.
http://blog.freshegg.com/the-name-game-using-keywords-in-url-filenames_248/

And social media is still really big in SEO.
But there are common sense cautions that should be kept in mind.
This article at JNK web design points this out very well.
"Used regularly social media sites can really pay dividends in driving traffic to your websites giving you a great opportunity to show off your web design, using bookmaking tools such as Stumble Upon and Digg let others know about your site and give them the opportunity to visit it if they wish. But this is an important point, and perhaps my reason for writing this post, give your readers the opportunity to visit the site - don’t ram it down their throats."
http://3wdesigners.com/?p=52

More SEO from SEO Chat

2009-02-21T16:57:00.000-05:00

Since Google is the big dog as far as search engines go, it would follow that knowing what Google wants would help you get a better search ranking.
There is a multitude of info online about just this subject.
Some of the info is free, some isn't.
But of course I like to focus on the free and try to make it available to everyone.
So while I was looking for some good info I ran across this article at SEO chat.
(Notice how that site keeps popping up?)
Anyway the article is by Ivan Strouchliak and it's an in-depth 5 part series on Search Engine Optimization, Website Development and Search Engine Spiders.
It is very much worth the time to sit down and read this....

"Do you have some experience with HTML and web site development, but haven't really gotten your feet wet with search engine optimization? Keep reading, because you're in luck. In this article we'll cover some of the more important aspects of SEO, focusing on the changes that you should find easiest to make to your web site. After you read this, you should know where to concentrate your efforts now and going forward."

It goes on into more detail, and even if you are not new to SEO, it may remind you to do a few things you may have forgotten.

You can read the full article here.

Modern SEO Ideas Are a Bunch of Junk?

2009-02-18T13:43:00.002-05:00

Now this is refreshing!
Okay, I like controversy, big deal.
John C. Dvorak over at PC mag.com has published an article that critizes the current SEO industry.
Yes it's not a glowing tribute to one company or technique, its a critical look at SEO.
Among the things he talks about are the long URLs and tags.
This is definitely worth a read and really something you should think about.

"Search engine optimization (SEO) has turned into a big business, and from what I can tell it's the modern version of snake oil. The unproven nonsense spewed by so-called "SEO experts" simply doesn't work. And worse, it's screwing up the elegance of the Web."
You can read the full article here
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2340694,00.asp

Like I said before, I break one of the big commandments of SEO, I send people to other sites to read.
But when I do, it's because I think it's worth it.
Even if you dont agree with what he says, mull it over and do some research.

SEO, Times of the Internet and The Street.com

2009-02-12T14:24:00.000-05:00

Here's a really good article about SEO I found on Times of the Internet.
The technique looks simple and it really is.
BUT I bet its a very overlooked tactic.

"One of the simplest SEO techniques anyone can use should be fairly obvious. Pay attention to how people find your website and then give them more of the same. There's no easier way to build additional traffic to a website than to offer related material to what's already bringing them in. Your log files hold keys to what your visitors really want."
You can read the full article here

And here's another good article from The Street.com by Chandler Harris about how SEO can make or break a business.....
"In the realm of e-commerce, one of the top marketing tools a company has is a Google ranking. The difference between a page 1 or page 2 search-engine ranking can be the difference of tens of thousands of dollars of revenue for a company. Because of this, companies are allocating more budget space than ever toward search-engine optimization, the strategy and process of improving the volume of traffic to a Web site by improving the search rankings of various search engines like Google, Yahoo!, AOL, Ask and MSN."
Full story here

ShoppingAds

2009-02-05T14:03:00.001-05:00

Well ShoppingAds is gone.
I don't mean gone, as in no longer in business.
I mean gone as in they kicked me out.
I got an e-mail from them stating that:

" ShoppingAds is undergoing a revamping and in the process has redefined the requirements of quality and traffic volume for the publishers we work with. Due to this restructuring, we regret to inform you that we have had to deactivate your account moving forward. If you have remaining earnings in your account from your last payout. You needn't worry- you WILL be paid on or after our next payout date, March 1st, 2009.
Thank you kindly for your cooperation, and good luck with your future marketing endeavors.
The ShoppingAds Team."

Nice enough, and they have been really good to work with, excellent customer service.
But in reality I have watched my earnings drop with them from XXX.XX to X.XX in just a few months.
I was already considering pulling their ads, so they took care of that for me.
And I have Chitika and Widget Bucks ready to step in and take their place.
Like I always say, always have a back up plan.

BTW, I went back to my account and it did give a specific reason for me being dropped.
Low Sales Volume.
That's totally understandable.
Last month I had over a million hits, over a thousand clicks on their ads and only made X.XX with them.
See the problem?

Month End Wrap Up of All My Programs

2009-01-30T16:05:00.002-05:00

Time for the month end wrap up of all my programs......

As usual and always Adsense dominates every program I use.
No one else is even close in earnings.
Not close to Adsense but a remarkable second is YPN.
Yes YPN.
Their keyword targeting seems to have improved. And CTR has increased accordingly.
Third place, Kontera.
Fourth place, Chitika.
Fifth place, Shopping Ads.
Last place, Widget Bucks.

Affiliate programs, not really doing anything and about to get put on my "you're taking up space on my blogs and delivering nothing" list.

Of course your results may vary, but if anyone runs across anything really good, please drop me a note.
As you can tell, I road test every program and tell you my personal real results.

All the top Search Engine Optimization news

2009-01-25T14:01:00.001-05:00

This isn't really a post.
It's a link.
You know how I try to give out a lot of free info here to everyone that wants to improve their search engine rankings, get more traffic, make more money etc?
Well this may be the motherlode.
Point your browser to All the top Search Engine Optimization news
I know, I know, doing this really violates the "how to make money with a Blog " rule.
Don't link off off your blog, people leave your site.
But this All top is a literal goldmine of search engine optimization info.
You can spend hours just going through their SEO articles.

"New" SEO Tips and Free SEO Tools

2009-01-12T12:20:00.001-05:00

I hate to keep posting here with SEO articles that I think "You should really read", but this is another one.
If you're not familiar with this, it could give you a whole new way to look at your pages for search engine optimization......

How search engines could get granular
Dave Harry
One area that is worth looking at for SEO in 2009 (for me at least) is page segmentation. Now this approach really isn’t new and I came across papers as far back as 1997 and beyond. But unsurprisingly most IR methods don’t just appear over night. The big three, (of search) have each had various research papers and patents dating back as far as 2003-4. It just seems to have some traction and is sensible as well.
http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Search-Engine-Optimization/SEO-implications-of-Page-Segmentation-concepts.html

And here's an article about some FREE SEO tools.....
Nathania Johnson tells us Bruce Clay's SEO group has introduced two free SEO tools: Search Engine Optimization/KSP and SEMToolBar. The SEMToolBar installs in a browser, but only works with Internet Explorer. Both tools provide select competitive intelligence data from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=98101

Google, SEO and Social Media

2009-01-05T10:49:00.001-05:00

I ran across this on SEO Roundtable and I think it's a very important read for anyone that uses SEO and Google.
That's about everyone right?
Of course if you have been around SEO for awhile you have heard of the "how to make money online without ranking high in Google" ideas, but for most people, Google is still number one in search.
Do yourself a favor and read this.

Google Warns About Social Media "Schemes" in SEO Guide
Remember a few months back when Google published their internal SEO guide? Well, Michael Gray asked if Social Media links is an easy way to SEO death row.
Michael pointed out that on page twenty of the guide, under the "Good practices for promoting your website" section Google writes you should avoid:
Full story here
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/019129.html

Shopping Ads

2008-12-19T14:43:00.002-05:00

Well this morning I got up and checked my Blogs and I can see the Shopping Ads!
The people over there worked on my problem and fixed it. It must have been a doozy too. But they prevailed and now the ads are functioning fine.
It's what I keep saying, customer service is a great thing.
And as I have said before, when I run into a company that has good customer service I'll let you know.
Right now Kontera,Shopping Ads and Chitika have all gone out of their way to help me.
So yes I do have to recommend doing business with them.

Fridays round up.....Yahoo, Google, Kontera and the Vundo Virus

2008-12-12T21:00:00.000-05:00

I was offline a lot of this week due to the lovely Vundo...Vundo Trojan...Virtumonde...Virtumondo, whatever you wanna call it, virus.
Tried all the fixes, nothing got it all....had to reformat.
Anyway I'm back now with all new anti-virus armor. We'll see how well that works.

So here's this weeks stuff....
Found a really good place to kill some time and pick up info.
http://www.webpronews.com/
Lot's of good SEO info laying around there if you take the time to look.

Right now of course Adsense is my best program.
Kontera is second.
Chitika is acting bi-polar. Great one day, in the tank the next.
Watching Widget Bucks. Right now it's out performing Chitika.
Shopping Ads, gonna have to give up.
Even after reformatting my hard drive, I still cant see the ads. Their techs seem to be at a loss to explain this.
YPN is...well....almost everything is beating YPN. BUT I'm still keeping that door open.
HubPages doing really well. I think they might have a lot to do with how well Kontera is doing.
Affiliate stuff, not so great actually. Last month was good, Pepperjam actually beat every other program (except Adsense) that I run. But this month, nothing good to report yet.

So right now my best advice....
Adsense, Kontera and HubPages.

BTW...if you use Google's Keyword tool you might wanna stop and check out their new Search-based Keyword Tool option.

Black Hat SEO and Google

2008-12-05T11:42:00.000-05:00

If you've done much research on search engine optimization, you've run across Black Hat SEO.
They have always been the looked down upon section of SEO.
But now Google seems to be lending respectability to Black Hat.
How?
Well a search for "Blackhat SEO" on Google gives you only 267,000 hits.
But if you look over in the right hand column, there are Blackhat SEO ads in Adsense.
"black hat seo" gives you 569,000 and yes, even more ads in the right hand column.
Ads like "Blackhat SEO Traffic", "Great Black hat seo Tool", "Black Hat SEO Secrets" and more.
Now search volumes are still pretty low on Google, the highest term being "black hat seo" at around 2,900 hits a month. And the terms are not very well paying.
But the idea that Google, that hates Black Hat so much, is running ads for it kinda amazes me.
The idea for this article came from Search Engine Roundtable. You can read the original article here: http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/018908.html

Google Tops in Search Engines....Still

2008-11-27T17:26:00.001-05:00

To stay on top in searches, you have to know where the searches are coming from.
This article at The Motley Fool shows you.
I can imagine Google like the French Guards in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" taunting Yahoo and Microsoft...LOL

Google Laughs at Yahoo! and Microsoft By Rick Aristotle Munarriz
The monthly domestic search-engine rankings from Nielsen Online are out, and they're as predictable as ever. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) keeps getting stronger, and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) keep shrinking in its rearview mirror.
The surprises come after the win, place, and show finishers. Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL staged a huge bounce, and IAC's (Nasdaq: IACI) Ask.com tanked, after showing some healthy advances earlier in the year.
http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2008/11/26/google-laughs-at-yahoo-and-microsoft.aspx

Friday Round Up: Mainly Adsense

2008-11-21T10:36:00.001-05:00

It's Friday, and time to update all the free stuff I've found on the web this week to help you with SEO and making money online.
The best thing I have found this week is a series of videos by Joel Com.
And yes these videos are free and have a ton of info on Adsense and affiliate marketing.
Joel covers the best colors for ads, placement and a whole bunch of useful information.
And like I said, it's FREE info!
It's under a heading on his site called "AdSense Secrets Live" and here is the link:
http://ask.joelcomm.com/adsense_secrets_live.shtml

Another interesting thing I found was an entry on blogtrepreneur.com about one Adsense layout that worked really well for Mark Wielgus of 45n5.com.
And you can check out that link here:
http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/2007/04/16/my-best-adsense-layout-ever/

Squidoo finally answered my e-mails...

2008-11-13T18:08:00.003-05:00

WELL....Squidoo finally answered my e-mails in a way I guess.
They locked the rest of my lenses.
Maybe they have been reading my blog.
Good for them.
So rather than moan and complain, I just went in and deleted my Squidoo account.
I guess now I HAVE to agree with Jason Calacanis.
As I said before(I think) I contacted everyone that had linked to my lenses and told them to remove the links and be VERY wary of linking to Squidoo lenses in the future.
To just destroy someones work with no reason is unacceptable.
Oh yeah, I read their bogus reasons.
Please.
The lenses were not guilty of anything they said.
That's what I tried to tell them the first time but they weren't even gracious enough to respond to one single e-mail I sent over the course of 30 days.
I think these last ones were just locked out of spite.

ANYWAY, if you run into trouble on Squidoo go to HubPages!
I really cant say enough about them.
Hubs listed with Google in less than 24 hours in some cases.
WAY more traffic than I EVER saw with Squidoo.
And you make more money. (My Squidoo profits dropped from XXX.XX to X.XX in one month with higher traffic!). With HubPages you can track them in Adsense and actually SEE what you are making.
Cleaner easier to use page set-ups, I could go on and on.
Bottom line...
Squidon't!
HubPages yes!

Shopping Ads, Squidoo and More Stuff

2008-10-31T21:42:00.001-05:00

Well I have run into a glitch with Shopping Ads.
I can't see them. Even on their site.
Tried dumping my cache, checking Firefox for exceptions, nothing.
I e-mailed them about it and for once they didn't reply in 30 minutes.
Maybe they are stumped too.

I realized I haven't done any free info lately, just complained (mainly about Squidoo. BTW, I did delete those lenses finally and as far as I'm concerned my Squidoo lenses are on auto pilot)
So here's some good free search engine optimization and general stuff I've found lately.

List of Best and Worst practices for designing a high traffic website
http://www.webconfs.com/15-minute-seo.php

Digging Deeper into the AdSense Heat Map
http://impnerd.com/adsense-heatmap

Top 100 Free General Directories
http://info.vilesilencer.com/top

Search Engine Optimization Tutorials
http://www.seo2020.com/seo-articles/index.html#Tag

There, that should keep you busy for a little bit at least.

The Friday round up, Adsense, Kontera and more

2008-10-24T11:40:00.002-05:00

The Friday round up of whats working and whats not.
Well as always, Adsense is my number one program.
Coming in a close second is Kontera.
Third is Chitika, and right behind Chitika is Shopping Ads.
Really I can't say enough about Shopping Ads' customer service. Almost every e-mail I send them is answered in less than 30 minutes.

Affiliate programs, despite them being very helpful, not doing too well at all.

With YPN I'm getting about as much as I would walking down the street looking for loose change. BUT, I'm still keeping them on some blogs because of...well hope actually. They do have good customer service and when I do get a hit on YPN, it's usually huge.

HubPages appear to be doing really well. Traffic is good considering how many of them are new....all but one is new actually.
Squidoo.....well still no reply after numerous e-mails. I guess I need to go delete those lenses.
21 days and no reply.
I get the hint.

And the tool I am playing with the most right now is Google Trends.
It seems to be an excellent place to do some good, up to the minute keyword research.

Squidoo and HubPages

2008-10-17T12:48:00.002-05:00

On October 3rd Squidoo locked ten of my highest traffic lenses all in the space of about one hour.
I have since sent them 5 or 6 e-mails with no reply.
Nothing, zip, nada.
So anyone have any suggestions?
The lenses are still there, just locked. And they don't seem to care enough to reply.
Maybe its because I'm not in the Squidoo "clique".

On a happier note, HubPages seem to be doing really well. I redid the HORRIBLE hub I created back in June and the rank almost immediately jumped up.
I've added several more Hubs and one is getting more traffic than any of my blogs. The traffic seems to be much higher on HubPages and one of my Hubs was listed on Google in less than 24 hours, with the same techniques I used with Squidoo.
If I can find ten more topics to create Hubs on that good, I'd be set.
The creation process is easy once you get the hang of it, and I don't get the system lock ups with HubPages I did with Squidoo.
So far I would have to give HubPages a much higher "user satisfaction" rating.

If it sounds like I'm cheerleading for HubPages, I am. When I find something that works, I tell others about it.

Speaking of which, in my little Chitika versus Shopping Ads war, Chitika is pulling ahead. One reason is, so far today, all of my Shopping Ads have vanished. I don't know about you, but when I put ad blocks on pages, I like to see them served. Not big empty blocks.
I sent them an e-mail about it, lets see if they reply....LOL.
UPDATE: Yes! Shopping Ads replied in about 30 minutes!

A lot of the Ad companies continually talk about "Advertiser satisfaction."
I understand that.
But without publishers, you have nowhere to put these ads.
We make money, you make money.
Pretty simple.
Thats why I love companies like Kontera and HubPages that seem to try really hard to reach a middle ground with Publishers.
Remember, if you feel neglected or ignored, there are TONS of alternate advertising programs out there.
Not counting affiliate programs and just outright selling your ad space yourself.

Never feel like you are under someone's thumb.
No matter how big a company is.

Remember, a million ants can take down an elephant.

Squidoo did WHAT?...Part 2

2008-10-10T19:17:00.002-05:00

Well it's been over a week.
I e-mailed Squidoo three times asking about the status on my locked lenses and no reply.
Not even an automated response.

So I guess that's it for my lenses.
I think I'll leave them alone and just see what happens.
I've lost one week of traffic and profits, not really that big of a deal there.
But to see 10 lenses locked up like that, all the work put into them and BANG! nothing from the Squid.
It's a shame really.

Now, cry over spilled milk time?
Have I taught you nothing?
LOL

Nope, time to regroup and hit HubPages!
Always have a plan B!
And C...D...E...you get the picture.

I've had an account with them for awhile and never really messed with them much. But it seems like a nice bunch of people.
So onward and upward.
Goodbye Squidoo and hello HubPages.

As always, I'll let you know how this goes.

And remember...always have a back up plan!

Squidoo did WHAT?

2008-10-03T15:04:00.004-05:00

Wow!
And I mean wow!
Today has really been a rollercoaster.
Remember back about two posts back I mentioned how excited I was getting about Squidoo?
Well today, in the space of one hour, Squidoo locked 10 of my lenses!
Yep ten...BOOM!
I e-mailed them and am waiting on a reply, I really hope it's a glitch, because instead of calling Squidoo names(like some bloggers do), I've been a Squidoo cheerleader, really hoping this program makes it.

I think the Seth Godin's Squidoo program is great and I was just about to really get into it, maybe even letting some of my blogs slide just to boost up my Squidoo.
Like I said, I'm gonna take the wait and see attitude and hope everything works out.
They have always been very helpful in the past with any issues I had, and I'm betting this one will get fixed just like the others.

Hey, Kontera bent over backwards to help me.

Anyway, a good thing to learn here either way is to NOT put all your internet business eggs in one basket. Be it Adsense, Kontera, QuickAds (BTW...good luck guys! So far another really good group of people to work with!)or any other program.

DIVERSIFY!
GET MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME!

Yes I was shouting.
I cannot emphasize those two things enough!
Listen, you'll thank me later.
Really.

Make Your Website More Profitable - Introducing Hi5 Avatars

2008-10-02T10:59:00.000-05:00

Make Your Website More Profitable - Introducing Hi5 Avatars

Hi5 Search Marketing, a search engine marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) firm headquartered in Dallas, TX introduces Hi5 Avatars to the Dallas, Texas business community. Managing Partner Tony Gauthier and his staff at Hi5 Search Marketing have devised another attention-grabbing asset for companies and businesses of all sizes to attract more attention and generate more business when visitors and potential customers view their websites.
“As you know,” Gauthier noted, “Hi5 Search Marketing is in the business of SEO and search engine optimization - basically driving traffic from the search engines to company websites. But really, that is only part of the equation. After all, what good is quality website traffic if it doesn’t convert into sales or more leads?”
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=76390

Updates on programs I use

2008-09-24T12:23:00.001-05:00

Updates on programs I use

As usual Adsense is my number one earner. Despite all its ups and downs, which right now seems to be mainly down.
Coming in second is Kontera. Again, its up and down, but it seems to be doing well.
My surprising third is Chitika. I started running it last month and already its kicking Shopping Ads all over the place. Chitika is quirky. Kinda like a 69 Camaro I had once. You have to tinker with it a lot, talk nice to it, and then it'll roar!
I just started using banner type affiliate ads (as you may have noticed...LOL) so far, nothing amazing there. But it's still VERY early with them. Ran into a couple of VERY nice Affiliate reps. Hay House seems to really take online affiliates seriously. They even sent me a nice advertising package in the mail.
YPN....I just keep hoping. I called them last week ( you can actually do that, I think that's mainly why I keep them, they actually attempt to do customer service) and talked to a rep there.
Shopping Ads...well mine is acting like someone pulled the plug. Profits were not halved, they were quartered! Not calling it a sinking ship yet, but I am VERY close. I think one more month and I'm hitting the silk on this one.
I'm starting to get hyped about Squidoo. We'll see what next month brings.

SEO Marketing Type or Strategy

2008-09-21T11:17:00.001-05:00

Here's an article from New Design World about organic search results versus SEO.....

SEO Marketing Type or Strategy
What is in SEO marketing that makes it so interesting and people are doing anything to keep it up and come up with newest strategies?
In the organic type of SEO marketing, there are greater click-troughs. A lot of people market this because of the organically grown search results that do more than what they were supposed to do with the sponsored results.
While the other search engines business is supported by some of the paid ads, there are many consumers who would choose the organic search results. The listings they provide are more related and can offer great depth of choices that are truly manageable.
http://www.newdesignworld.com/press/story/4198

Lincoln Creative Group announces expanded SEO capability for improving keyword ranking

2008-09-15T10:49:00.001-05:00

Lincoln Creative Group announces expanded SEO capability for improving keyword ranking

Citing changes in alternative Internet media networks and search engine ranking schemes to include them, search engine optimization provider Lincoln Creative Group, Ltd has initiated several programs to improve organic keyword rankings.
Frustration with pay-per-click costs and time to actively manage a PPC campaign to improve inquiry volume, especially for small businesses, has led to poor results for website owners, according to Lincoln Creative CEO Bill Wolski. By adding social media connection points such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and YouTube with links to client’s websites, and by adding press releases, electronic white papers, blogs and video tags, you can make great inroads in link building, he said.
http://www.prleap.com/pr/125829/

Technorati Tags: Lincoln Creative Group yahoo google search engine engines seo web optimization marketing

Majestic SEO Proclaimed 'Most Advanced Backlink Analysis Tool

2008-09-08T15:13:00.001-05:00

Majestic SEO Proclaimed 'Most Advanced Backlink Analysis Tool'

Backlink analysis service Majestic SEO was proclaimed the most advanced backlink analysis tool by Ann Smarty, in-house SEO expert at Search Engine Journal.
Majestic SEO tracks the number of sites linking back to your own. It gleans its figures from two sources of data: its own web crawl (32,690,802,864 sites have been crawled so far, including 211,051,271,656 unique URLs), and backlinks reported by Google and Yahoo.
http://www.marketingvox.com/majestic-seo-proclaimed-most-advanced-backlink-analysis-tool-040834/

There's No Secret Recipe to SEO

2008-08-31T11:28:00.001-05:00

There's No Secret Recipe to SEO
By William Flaiz, Search Engine Watch, Aug 29, 2008

Just about everything worth doing comes with a process of some sort. More often than not, these are stringent step-by-step instructions on how to get something done, such as cooking an omelet.
But SEO isn't an omelet. While a general framework is necessary to be effective, the optimization process must be adaptable to each unique client.
SEO is like the Incredible Edible Egg of online marketing. You might start out cooking an omelet, but wind up with scrambled eggs after you try to flip the omelet. Along the way, you made an adjustment, but the end result will still be eggs for breakfast.
There are no hard-set rules for strong keyword optimization and SEO, only guidelines. So here are a few of those guidelines to follow for proper SEO.
full article here:
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3630706

HubSpot Grows Past 600 Customers With Inbound Marketing - MarketWatch

2008-08-25T13:48:00.001-05:00

HubSpot Grows Past 600 Customers With Inbound Marketing - MarketWatch:

"Since launching its first product in December of 2007, HubSpot has signed up over 600 customers. http://www.hubspot.com/
-- HubSpot offers an inbound marketing system that integrates SEO, blogging, social media and marketing analytics to help customers drive traffic to their websites and capture more leads using Internet marketing.
-- In addition to its customer base growth, HubSpot's free SEO Tool, Website Grader, has grown to having analyzed over 400,000 unique URLs."

Keywords --- Key to SEO Success

2008-08-20T12:49:00.000-05:00

Keywords --- Key to SEO Success

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential for the success of almost every business. Majority of traffic to websites is brought in by search engines if search engines ignore your site, you are as good as invisible.
Keywords are words and phrases that web users put into search engines when they are looking for particular topics, services or products.
Optimizing your website so it turns up in the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) search engine ranking of pages, can spell success for you. Only if you choose the right keywords can you begin on the winning trail of SEO.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.corsavoo.com/seo/0,2577,439022,00.html

I had a problem with Kontera....

2008-08-11T14:35:00.003-05:00

Image via WikipediaI had a problem with Kontera.
Really I think it was more my fault.
It was a screw up on my tax info.
But let me tell you something, as far as I'm concerned, Kontera has one of the best customer help divisions of any program I use.
Not only were they quick and courteous, they fixed the problem, THEN went the extra mile for me.( Special thanks to Joshua over there that pretty much fixed everything for me.)
So if you're thinking about using Kontera, keep in mind their customer service is excellent.
A lot more than you can say for some of the other programs out there.
Now if only YPN would allow Kontera..........

Google Helps SEO Gurus Further – Launches “Insights for Search”

2008-08-07T10:51:00.001-05:00

Google Helps SEO Gurus Further – Launches “Insights for Search”

Google has introduced an addition to both Google Trends and AdWords called "Insights for Search" that is intended to help you "see what the world is searching for" (in their own words). Using this tool everyone will be able to better understand what people search for on Google and see details for certain keywords across various geographic regions, verticals and time periods for more insight.
http://profy.com/2008/08/06/google-helps-seo-gurus-launches-insights-for-search/

Former Googleers unveil Cuil, a new search engine | U.S. | Reuters

2008-07-29T14:34:00.001-05:00

Former Googleers unveil Cuil, a new search engine | U.S. | Reuters:

"MENLO PARK, California (Reuters) - A start-up led by former star Google engineers on Sunday unveiled a new Web search service that aims to outdo the Internet search leader in size, but faces an uphill battle changing Web surfing habits."

Google's Flash indexing - good or bad for SEO? | Internet Marketing News and Blog | E-consultancy.com

2008-07-05T11:38:00.001-05:00

Google's Flash indexing - good or bad for SEO? | Internet Marketing News and Blog | E-consultancy.com:

"Flash sites can be a nightmare from a user experience perspective, so we were surprised by Google's decision this week to begin to indexing content from Flash files (SWF).

One major argument against the use of Flash has been that the major search engines have been unable to effectively index the content contained within these files, so websites using this software have been losing out in the search rankings.

But the main arguments are that Flash sites are often inaccessible and their architects often try to reinvent the wheel, which leads to all manner of user experience nightmares.

I talked to iCrossing's head of natural search Nilhan Jayasinghe to find out more about the development with Google, and why - like us - he believes that using Flash is still a bad idea from an SEO perspective..."

Five Things to Know Before Hiring an SEO Company

2008-06-05T07:23:00.001-05:00

PromotionWorld : Five Things to Know Before Hiring an SEO Company:

"There's no greater competition on the Internet than the fight to get to the top of the search engines. An entire industry has sprung up around search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Some companies make outrageous, tempting, but too-good-to-be-true promises about getting you to the top of Google, Yahoo, and other search engines.

Like any other business, SEO has its real gems and its terrible scams. Before you search for an SEO company for your site, here are a few SEO 'tricks' that could get your site penalized, or worse, blacklisted for good."

Reporting SEO Competition to Google : Conflicting Reports

2008-05-24T10:30:00.001-05:00

Reporting SEO Competition to Google : Conflicting Reports:

"Well, the issue of whether or not search marketers report their competition to Google if their competitors are practicing gray or blackhat tactics has shed a new light on the issue, or on the difference between some SEO blogs and our audiences.

Search Engine Roundtable has published the results of a poll asking if SEO’s report the sneaky work that their competition is doing to Google. According to Barry’s results, 70% of respondents do not report their competitors.

But when Search Engine Journal asked our readers a very similar question, the majority left comments that they do report their competitors to Google.

Wow, let’s look at both discussions :)"

Read the full article here:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/reporting-seo-competition-to-google-conflicting-reports/6956/

SEO Basics - Keywords in the Body of your Page

2008-05-11T11:40:00.001-05:00

SEO Basics - Keywords in the Body of your Page:

"Here’s another topic for our SEO Basics series. Does the appearance of keywords in the body of your webpage affect its ranking? The answer according to most of the SEOs is yes. However, I do not recommend keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is what you call when you put so many keywords in a page or repeat the same keyword over and over again."

UK SEO Company Launches New Pay As You Go SEO Service

2008-04-26T08:56:00.001-05:00

UK SEO Company Launches New Pay As You Go SEO Service:

"Glasgow, Scotland, UK 26 April 2008. Micrositez SEO Studio provides affordable search engine optimisation, internet marketing and website promotion services in the UK and across the globe.

According to Micrositez owner Scot Crone “Search engine optimisation is now as essential as having a website itself”… Mr Crone goes on to suggest that “Many online businesses want some sort of seo to promote their website but they don’t necessarily want to be locked into annual contracts or want to have to pay monthly fees”."

Top five SEO misunderstandings | SEOptimise

2008-04-12T10:11:00.001-05:00

If you haven't been to this blog, you really need to.
Yes it's more free SEO info that can help you.

Top five SEO misunderstandings SEOptimise:

"The SEO industry is an exciting place to be; it has developed rapidly over a considerable period and it is still such a comparatively new sector that it is filled with entrepreneurs – people who saw the industry potential way back when. Many of our clients understand the sector or have researched all aspects of online marketing before they approach us."

technorati tags: search engine optimization, search engine optimization seo, search engine marketing, search engine placement, search engine ranking, search engine rank, search engine submission

Keep the Lines of SEO Communication Open - Search Engine Watch

2008-04-08T07:52:00.001-05:00

Keep the Lines of SEO Communication Open - Search Engine Watch:

"For years I've touted the importance of training your employees about SEO. We know why it's important to tell everyone what tactics are right and wrong, but we don't know how long they'll actually remember the information."

The SEO Copywriter: Wordsmithing the Web - Search Engine Watch

2008-03-28T09:04:00.001-05:00

The SEO Copywriter: Wordsmithing the Web - Search Engine Watch:

"We've all heard the adage that 'content is king' when it comes to SEO (define). Despite this, it's still easy to lose sight of content creation in an online landscape increasingly focused on securing links. In all the talk of link relationships, has the art of communication itself been lost?
In SEO, as in war, generals and officers must gather intelligence and develop a strategy in preparation for a campaign. For all the high-level thinking that goes into an engagement, you need troops on the ground to make sure the plan is carried out."

Why Did Your SEO Campaign Yield Poor Results?

2008-03-23T10:14:00.001-05:00

Why Did Your SEO Campaign Yield Poor Results?

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is a fast growing young market. More and more companies are switching onto the benefit of using SEO best practices to get their brand noticed or products sold over the Internet.

However, there is a problem that affects a number of SEO campaigns - no improvement in the search engine positions, traffic or sales after some considerable time and money spent.

http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=20080322_search_engine_optimization.htm

E-Commerce News: E-Marketing: SEO Tricks of the Trade

2008-03-14T09:24:00.001-05:00

E-Commerce News: E-Marketing: SEO Tricks of the Trade:

"Inbound linkage to your site is extremely important, but it must be done correctly. What is correctly? First and foremost, avoid link exchanges and other free-for-all link reciprocation schemes -- including a 'links' page or 'resources' page in which anybody can join. Only link to sites you personally know, and keep these to a minimum."

technorati tags: google ,yahoo,msn ,search engine optimization ,search engine optimization service ,search engine optimization company ,dsl engine optimization search ,search engine optimization seo

Website optimisation 'must be first step to SEO'

2008-03-10T09:37:00.002-05:00

Website optimisation 'must be first step to SEO':

"Search engine optimisation (SEO) must begin by addressing the content of the target website, it has been claimed.

Marc King, chief executive officer of consultancy group Kingsrealm, explains that effective optimisation of website content can have a knock-on effect on other areas of SEO campaigns."

technorati tags: google ,yahoo,msn ,search engine optimization ,search engine optimization service ,search engine optimization company ,dsl engine optimization search ,search engine optimization seo

SEO.com Announces New Online Forum About Search Engine Optimization and Online Marketing

2008-02-28T11:07:00.001-05:00

SEO.com Announces New Online Forum About Search Engine Optimization and Online Marketing:

"SEO.com, a search engine optimization firm, has launched a new online forum where website owners and marketers can gather to ask and answer questions regarding how to increase their website traffic.
Salt Lake City, Utah (PRWEB) February 28, 2008 -- SEO.com, a search engine optimization firm, has launched a new online forum where website owners and marketers can gather to ask and answer questions regarding how to increase their website traffic. The forums are available at http://forums.seo.com
This new forum focuses primarily on search engine optimization and marketing. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making a website show up at the top of the web search results page. The top-ranked websites tend to get more clicks than websites that don't show up on the first page."

SEO Haiku

2008-02-25T10:52:00.000-05:00

SEO Haiku
Posted by samantha on February 25, 2008 at 09:33 AM

Creativity. In the world of SEO, whether you're a Natural SEO Project Manager, a Paid Project Manager, or a Software Developer, creativity is a vital element. Without it, one runs the risk of being mediocre at best.
http://www.straightupsearch.com/archives/2008/02/seo_haiku_1.html

technorati tags: google ,yahoo,msn ,search engine optimization ,search engine optimization service ,search engine optimization company ,dsl engine optimization search ,search engine optimization seo

SEO Step 3 of Ten: Site Structure | WebProNews

2008-02-14T11:09:00.001-05:00

SEO Step 3 of Ten: Site Structure WebProNews:

"Website structure and SEO are a combination of topics that I've always had a particular interest in because of my background in software engineering. I have worked on, or maintained over 150 corporate websites having seen many of the things that can make a website go wrong, which can seriously impact a websites operation and search engine rankings."

Microsoft Bids 44 6 Billion in Cash to Buy Yahoo

2008-02-01T16:09:00.000-05:00

Microsoft Bids 44 6 Billion in Cash to Buy Yahoo:

"Here is the press release announcing a half cash / half stock offer. Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has made a proposal to the Yahoo! Inc. Board of Directors to acquire all the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 representing a total equity value of approximately $44.6 billion."

technorati tags: google ,yahoo,msn ,search engine optimization ,search engine optimization service ,search engine optimization company ,dsl engine optimization search ,search engine optimization seo

» Roundup: Western Union spam; Super Bowl SEO; Be a malicious hacker in Japan | Zero Day | ZDNet.com

2008-01-28T10:15:00.001-05:00

» Roundup: Western Union spam; Super Bowl SEO; Be a malicious hacker in Japan Zero Day ZDNet.com:

"Roundup: Western Union spam; Super Bowl SEO; Be a malicious hacker in Japan"

A few items of note: There’s a Western Union spam with Trojan payload; Beware Super Bowl hijinx this week; And if you really want to be a malicious hacker move to Japan.

Search Engine Optimization, Symantec Corp., Super Bowl, Japan, Goal, Trojan Horse, Malware, Spam, Sunbelt Software, Hacker, Cyberthreats, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Viruses And Worms, Security

New Services Help Bloggers Bring in Ad Revenue

2008-01-16T10:50:00.002-05:00

New Services Help Bloggers Bring in Ad Revenue Users Can Customize Appearance of Spots, Use Video and Audio
By KELLY K. SPORS

If you're not making money off your blog, 2008 might be the year.

As more people see potential in earning money off the Internet, there is a quickly expanding array of advertising services and tools for bloggers that go well beyond the standard pay-per-click text ads or display ads.

Many of the most widely used programs are adding features to allow users to customize the appearance and placement of ads on their sites. Some also are introducing newer money-making mediums such as audio and video ads.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120036638439890355.html

Technorati Tags: affordable search engine optimization business cheap submission improve rankings increase rank

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: The Ultimate Fate of Supplemental Results

2008-01-15T14:32:00.001-05:00

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: The Ultimate Fate of Supplemental Results

In 2003, Google introduced a "supplemental index" as a way of showing more documents to users. Most webmasters will probably snicker about that statement, since supplemental docs were famous for refreshing less often and showing up in search results less often. But the supplemental index served an important purpose: it stored unusual documents that we would search in more depth for harder or more esoteric queries. For a long time, the alternative was to simply not show those documents at all, but this was always unsatisfying—ideally, we would search all of the documents all of the time, to give users the experience they expect.

Technorati Tags: yahoo google search engine engines seo web optimization marketing internet msn

The High Cost Of Search Engine Advertising A Significant Barrier For Many Businesses

2008-01-13T12:04:00.001-05:00

The High Cost Of Search Engine Advertising A Significant Barrier For Many Businesses

Dallas, TX - In today’s search engine advertising marketplace, many businesses are paying search engine optimization firms tens of thousands of dollars a year (and up to $15 per click in some cases) to help move their sites to the top of the web search results pages of Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines. This exponential increase in the cost of marketing sites on search engines has made search engine advertising too expensive for many businesses; especially those businesses that sell products at relatively low prices and have products with relatively low profit margins. For example, assume the average price of a company’s product is $20, with a profit margin of 30% ($6.00 profit per sale).

http://www.prurgent.com/2008-01-10/pressrelease6239.htm

technorati tags: search engine optimization cost, search engine optimization service, high search engine ranking optimization, guaranteed top search engine ranking, search engine marketing, search engine marketing services, search engine rank optimization, improve search engine rankings

Top 3 ranking 'vital for SEO efforts'

2008-01-11T17:36:00.000-05:00

Top 3 ranking 'vital for SEO efforts
Friday, 11 Jan 2008 16:33
Websites employing search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques might be wise to aim for a top three position, it has been noted.

Figures from Forrester Research and cited by RISMedia observe that 65 per cent of all online sales are generated by sites which rank in the top three search results for their category.

Barry Hurd, president of online marketing consultancy Social Media Systems, writes in the publication that the use of detailed key terms within content is an effective way of achieving a higher search ranking.

He warns, however, that "stuffing" too many keywords into a page is looked upon unfavourably by search engines.

full story here:
http://www.directnews.co.uk/news/search-engine/seo-development/top-3-ranking-vital-seo-efforts--$1187434.htm

technorati tags: search engine optimization cost, search engine optimization service, improve search engine rankings, search engine rankings, search engine promotion company, search engine promotion, seo optimization, search optimization, seo software, seo help, successful search engine

American Chronicle: SEO By Owner in Three Easy Steps

2008-01-06T14:21:00.000-05:00

American Chronicle: SEO By Owner in Three Easy Steps:
"SEO By Owner in Three Easy Steps
Bruce Swedal
January 5, 2008

You have two choices to consider when trying get your site ranked higher in search engines. You can hire a Search Engine Optimization Company that is an expert in the field or if you have some time, you can do it yourself."

technorati tags: search engine optimization cost, search engine optimization service, improve search engine rankings, search engine rankings, search engine promotion company, search engine promotion, seo optimization, search optimization, seo software, seo help, successful search engine

American Chronicle: Affordable SEO - Affordable SEO Link Building

2007-12-30T14:09:00.000-05:00

American Chronicle: Affordable SEO - Affordable SEO Link Building:

"Robin Brain
December 29, 2007
What is affordable SEO?
It is unfortunate that many SEO businesses offer services without informing or attempting to educate their clients what good SEO is let alone what affordable SEO would be.
Good SEO is not about services, web page optimization, linking methods or seo campaigns although these are all required for top rankings."

technorati tags: search engine optimization cost, search engine optimization service, improve search engine rankings, search engine rankings, search engine promotion company, search engine promotion, seo optimization, search optimization, seo software, seo help, successful search engine

Google kicks Wikipedia in the googlies | The Register

2007-12-16T18:31:00.000-05:00

Google kicks Wikipedia in the googlies The Register:
Google kicks Wikipedia in the googlies
Move over, Jimbo - we're in the content biz now
By Andrew Orlowski
Published Friday 14th December 2007 16:31 GMT
Find out how your peers are dealing with Virtualization
Whatever you think about the kooks at Wikipedia - the crazed Goths banning chunks of Utah, a COO prone to drunken rampages and embezzlement, and a Roi Soleil answering to himself - one thing is in no doubt. The project has saved Google's original business.
Two years ago, the advertising giant's search engine was fighting a losing battle against spam. A perfect storm of ruthlessly effective SEO and wittering blogtards meant that Google's search engine was being swamped by noise - or 'Goobage', as some call it."

technorati tags: search engine optimization cost, search engine optimization service, improve search engine rankings, search engine rankings, search engine promotion company, search engine promotion, seo optimization, search optimization, seo software, seo help, successful search engine

Site Promotion Tools - How Many Sites Do You Need?

2007-10-06T11:34:00.000-05:00

Site Promotion Tools - How Many Sites Do You Need?
Posted by EditorsChoice
Friday, 05 October 2007
Site promotion tools are an important element in making sure you give online users the greatest opportunity to visit your website. It is likely you have infused your site with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies, and you have included site link information in any forum posts and blogs. You might have gone so far as to develop Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. You are relatively comfortable with the conversion rate based on site visitation. You may even believe you've done all you can do, but there may be a strategy you haven't considered.

full story:
http://pr-gb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27074&Itemid=9

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Scope of SEO in India

2007-10-06T11:32:00.000-05:00

Scope of SEO in India
Posted by EditorsChoice
Friday, 05 October 2007

SEO which is commonly known as Search Engine Optimization is meant to increase the visibility of the website. For a commercial website it means a lot. If your website is not getting traffic, means that website is not getting visitors and it directly means that website is not able to sale any thing. Just because a website is not getting visitor it won’t be able to fulfill the desire of its owner.

Hence, a website is always requiring visitors and for that we will have to do the search engine optimization of that website, so that visitors can come to the website and we can convert them into customers.

When I first started doing search engine optimization in year 2004, the term SEO was not well known to me. I was not at all aware from it. Like me, there were so many people around me who even don’t know what is the word SEO means. Even today some people asks me is it Senior Executive Officer, as if CEO means Chief Executive Officer.

full article here:
http://pr-gb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27089&Itemid=9

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Get started making money, hows 600 a month for starters?

2007-10-05T15:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've said before there is tons of info out there for people that want to know how to monetize their blogs.
And not just little money.
I'm seeing more and more bloggers step up and SHOW you exactly how to do it.
So today I'm gonna post a link that shows you how to make 600 a month with a blog(s).
I cant thank these kind people enough, the best I can do is link to them.

First up, 45n5's article:
http://www.45n5.com/permalink/basic-business-plan-to-make-600-profit-per-month-w.html

More will follow, but this really should get you started.

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Discount Click

2007-09-30T11:45:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you just get tired of banging your head against the wall and decide to go for a company to help you get better SEO rankings.
So you look for a company that does SEO consulting.
One such company is Discount Click ( http://www.discountclick.com/ )

Discount Click offers a ton of SEO services to increase your companies website's marketing and search engine traffic. And as we all know, more traffic equals more $$$$!

The best thing about this is that they offer services starting as low as fifty dollars per month. No long term contract, just a monthly fee. That’s not a bad deal in today’s market.

They get this done by providing SEO Consulting, Natural Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click Management, Keyword Analysis, Link Building Services, Non Reciprocal Link programs, Code Optimization, Affordable, Content Writing, Monitoring and Reporting and Search Engine Marketing....whew!

They also focus on the main search engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN, Netscape and Alta Vista among others.

They also claim results in 2 to 4 weeks in most cases. Getting to the top ten takes a little longer, but getting there and STAYING there is a pretty good trick.

They give you keyword reports, SEO tools and help to build link popularity.

Look, check out any report and you'll see that online adverting is the wave of the future. So to get a piece of that pie, you have to do search engine promotion . Or ....have someone else do it for you while you focus on the details of the site yourself.

So check them out and see if what they offer is right for you.

technorati tags: seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Changing your Dynamic URLs to Static URLs Can Increase Traffic

2007-09-28T13:48:00.000-05:00

Search Engine Watch ( http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/ ) has an interesting article about how changing your dynamic URLs to static URLs can increase traffic.
If you're looking for a fairly simple way to increase traffic, this might be it.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/070323-083029

technorati tags: search engine optimization , search engine marketing , seo , search engine rank , search engine , search engine ranking

The programs I use.......

2007-09-24T12:26:00.000-05:00

You know I realized that I'm always telling everyone about new things, but I never have said what I use online.

Well as of right now my " big gun" is AdSense. As far as my blogs go, nothing else even comes close.
Second place is Kontera. Their reporting stats are a little wobbly, but my payments usually hit right after AdSense each month.
Third and climbing fast is AuctionAds . Erratic, but a lot of potential. Auction Ads could be huge.
Yahoo....well...they pay good when an ad actually gets targeted. But new kitchen cabinet ads on a wrestling blog really don't do so well you know? I have actually spoken to them ( yes you can call Yahoo) and they said they were working on it. Still waiting to see that though.
Ujena. Yep the swimsuit company. VERY low customer hits for me, but, one good hit can equal a whole day of AdSense.
I know some people do well with Amazon, but not me...LOL. Pretty much just a waste of time here.
So that's what I'm using right now.

technorati tags: Adsense, Kontera, Auction Ads, Yahoo, Ujena, Amazon

So whats up with Pingoat?

2007-09-20T12:16:00.000-05:00

Pingoat was my favorite pinging service for a long time. ( Even though everyone kept telling me pinging was dead). Pinging was a daily part of my SEO regiment.
But now its just gone wacky.
No reliability.
Warnings and errors every time I try to use it. Oh sure occasionally it works, about 50% of the time.
Maybe.

So now I have had to go to Autopinger. http://autopinger.com/
I don't like it as well as Pingoat, but it works. Except it does seem to have issues with Technorati, forcing me to go in and manually ping them.

Deep down I'm hoping Pingoat gets fixed, because like I said, I really liked them.

technorati tags: pingoat,technorati, autopinger,seo

How does everyone else use SEO?

2007-09-16T12:27:00.000-05:00

" Know thy enemy as you know thyself"
Now I don't consider anyone an enemy. I still consider the blogosphere as one big community.
But if you want to know what the big boys are doing and how they do it, visit the big blogs.
Look around at how the use SEO.
Look at their layouts, articles, writing styles. How do they link? Who do they link to?

So to help you along, here's a list of the top ten blogs as listed on Technorati:

http://www.engadget.com

http://www.boingboing.net

http://gizmodo.com

http://www.techcrunch.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://lifehacker.com

http://arstechnica.com

http://mashable.com

http://www.dailykos.com

http://www.beppegrillo.it

technorati tags: search engine optimization , search engine marketing , search engine rank , search engine , search engine ranking

Search engine optimization

2007-09-14T11:40:00.000-05:00

Well after letting things go here, I'm gonna try to get this blog back up to speed.

Wikipedia ( I know..ewwwwww) defines Search engine optimization as...
" the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines."

So knowing what it is, I'm gonna try to provide people with a better way (ie: FREE) way to do that for themselves. There is a lot of info out there provided by a lot of good people.

Pick, choose, try something new.
The business is fluid.
Don't stay static!

technorati tags: search engine optimization

13 Great Firefox Extensions for Web Professionals

2007-08-14T13:09:00.001-05:00

13 Great Firefox Extensions for Web Professionals:
"Like most web developers or SEO professionals, I use a vast array of tools to get the job done. I use a combination of desktop and web applications, some purchased and some free. Everyone I know has downloaded a free copy of Mozilla Firefox, but few realize that by installing some of the 1,500 free extensions they can eliminate the need for most of the other applications they currently use. Below are my 13 favorite extensions for web professionals (in no particular order):"

Is SEO Dead?

2007-08-08T18:04:00.000-05:00

Interesting article and well worth the read here:
http://relaxseo.com/blog/seo-is-dead/

Digg Fires Google for Online Ads

2007-07-26T15:26:00.000-05:00

Digg Fires Google for Online Ads
Wednesday July 25, 7:03 pm ET
By Jessica Mintz, AP Technology Writer
Digg Fires Google, Hires Microsoft for Online Advertising

SEATTLE (AP) -- Digg Inc., a reader-powered news site, fired Google Inc. as its online advertising partner Wednesday in favor of a company Digg's top executive described as young and willing to take risks: Microsoft Corp.

"We at Digg couldn't think of a better partner to get to where we need to go," said Jay Adelson, the company's chief executive officer. "They're a young ad service, they're innovative, they're willing to work with us on the cutting edge."

For three years, Microsoft will deliver ads -- mostly small, contextually relevant text links -- on Digg.com.

More than 9.5 million people visited the site in June to read, suggest a story or help vote a favorite onto a list of top news, according to data from comScore World Metrix. Digg competes with similar sites including Reddit.com, acquired last fall by magazine publisher Conde Nast, and Netscape, which is owned by Time Warner Inc.

full story here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070725/microsoft_digg.html?.v=4

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Don't outsource your search engine optimization without asking these 10 questions

2007-07-14T18:40:00.000-05:00

Hiring an SEO Consultant
By Jon Rognerud

Don't outsource your search engine optimization without asking these 10 questions.

Updated: 2:00 p.m. ET July 13, 2007
Finding and hiring an outside firm or consultant for your SEO can be daunting. In today's marketplace, a professional search optimizer is a combination of copywriter, web designer, product designer, developer, marketer, advertiser, analyst and entrepreneur. It can be hard to find someone with these qualifications, and if you're running a business, you may not have the time.

full story here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19748514/

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Technorati's Troubles

2007-07-07T16:35:00.001-05:00

Technorati's Troubles
Rachel Rosmarin, 07.05.07, 6:30 PM ET

Blog search-engine startup Technorati's own technorati, including its chief technologist and vice president of engineering, are leaving. With these heavy-hitters will go some of the site's geek credibility, while Google siphons away some of its traffic. It's all part of the Silicon Valley life cycle.

Will the company survive? Sure. But it will need to change if it is to flourish.

full article at:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/07/05/blogs-technorati-sifry-tech_cx_rr_0705technorati.html?partner=yahootix

technorati tags: seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Advantages Of Ongoing SEO Consulting

2007-07-05T18:07:00.000-05:00

Advantages Of Ongoing SEO Consulting
By: Lee Odden
2007-07-05

When companies consider search engine optimization as a service, it's important to understand that this kind of consulting comes in a variety of forms with the most popular being: phone consultations, site audits/reviews and ongoing SEO consulting.

Advantages of Ongoing SEO Consulting

Businesses that are very early in their stages of search marketing and not entirely "sold" on SEO as a channel seem to gravitate towards short term engagements. "Can we test SEO for a few months?", they'll say. Also, companies that perceive SEO as a set of IT and web development focused tactics also tend to see the promotion of a web site via search as a one-time set of recommendations.

full article at:
http://www.searchnewz.com/topstory/news/sn-2-20070705AdvantagesofOngoingSEOConsulting.html

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Negative SEO is Possible, Yet Difficult, Says Matt Cutts

2007-07-04T23:41:00.000-05:00

Negative SEO is Possible, Yet Difficult, Says Matt Cutts

Two posts in DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld post point to a very interesting Forbes article on a lesser known practice of SEO known as "Google bowling" or "negative SEO." In this tactic, search engine optimizers force competitor websites down in the rankings so that the desired client's website has more visibility.

full story at:
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/014057.html

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

The Saboteurs Of Search

2007-07-01T16:40:00.000-05:00

The Saboteurs Of Search
Andy Greenberg, 06.28.07, 1:20 PM ET

If your online business, like thousands of others on the Web, relies on Google searches for traffic, then Brendon Scott is a good person to have on your side.

For a price, he can boost a site to the top of Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) search results for lucrative search terms, attracting crowds of customers. And better to have Scott working for you than for your competitors. Because occasionally, Scott says, he takes a less friendly approach: reducing a competing site's visibility to searchers--or making it seem to disappear from search results altogether.

full article here:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/28/negative-search-google-tech-ebiz-cx_ag_0628seo.html

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Ten Tips for Avoiding Google Hell

2007-06-09T23:18:00.000-05:00

Ten Tips for Avoiding Google Hell

Have you ever wondered just what makes a website disappear from the search engines? Maybe one day your website is ranking well, and then a few weeks later it's like someone hit a switch and sent your site into the nether regions of the search engine rankings. Perhaps your site has never even managed to make it into the rankings at all? Welcome to the world of Search Engine Marketing — in particular, Search Engine Optimization (commonly referred to as SEO).

In a nutshell, SEO is the practice of optimizing a website's pages to ensure that they are search-engine friendly and that they target their intended key audiences. Each of the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask) sends out "spiders" or "crawlers." These are programs that come to your website and "collect" all the information about each web page and take it back to the search engine's database. The search engine houses the information about the pages it collected and then presents it when a query from a searcher matches what your page is about. Each search engine applies its own algorithm to determine a page's relevancy to the searcher's query, and returns a set of results.

Here are some very basic tips that webmasters, or online marketers responsible for promotion of a website, should keep in mind. These fundamental strategies can help overcome many issues that webmasters and marketers encounter when dealing with search engines — issues that can inhibit a site from ranking, and prevent pages from being crawled or even push them into the supplemental index.

Full article at: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=768382&rl=1

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Tools For Search Engine Optimization

2007-06-09T23:16:00.000-05:00

Tools For Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization Tools, Helps, and Hints.
by Jon Kerby

Search Engine optimization is of two kinds, Organic and Mechanical. Organic SEO depends on manual or natural ways of optimizing a website and takes more time resulting in long lasting results. Mechanical SEO use software i.e. seo tools to optimize a website. It takes less time but results have a shorter shelf life.

SEO tools are numerous. They are available for keyword verification checking and suggestions, link popularity checks, meta tag optimization, search saturation checking, back link building, search engine ranking etc.

Full article at:
http://www.domaininformer.com/guides/Marketing/articles/070607toolsforsearch.html

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Using the robots meta tag

2007-05-30T07:38:00.000-05:00

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Using the robots meta tag:

"Using the robots meta tag
3/05/2007 04:05:00 PM
Recently, Danny Sullivan brought up good questions about how search engines handle meta tags. Here are some answers about how we handle these tags at Google."

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Measuring ROI Can Be Difficult for SEO

2007-05-24T23:39:00.000-05:00

Measuring ROI Can Be Difficult for SEO
By Chris Boggs May 25, 2007

One of the common requests agencies get from large organizations is to provide an estimated return on investment (ROI) for search engine optimization work. Our VP of SEO asked me to explore the possibility of predicting ROI with statistically reasonable confidence. I am no statistician, but I did stay at a nice hotel a few weeks ago, so here is the first half of what I came up with.

I would love for people with a statistical background, or others who have wrestled with this topic, to discuss it at the Search Engine Watch Forums in the thread dedicated to this column: "Just One Agency Point of View."

In order to predict future ROI from SEO, let's look at one way to determine ROI from current efforts. We'll ignore the potential branding value, which is inherently difficult to quantify and would require its own article.

Full article at: http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3625973

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

GoogleVersal Search--The End of Outsourced SEO?

2007-05-19T21:30:00.000-05:00

GoogleVersal Search--The End of Outsourced SEO?
by Tameka Kee, Friday, May 18, 2007 6:00 AM ET

GOOGLE'S RECENT MOVES--FROM ITS MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR acquisitions of YouTube and DoubleClick to its foray into in-game advertising--have led to industry speculation about the company neglecting search in its pursuit to become the dominant Web portal.

The rollout of its universal search model would seem to dispel those thoughts, but at the same time sparks another debate--namely, what does it mean for the future of today's search engine optimization and search marketing industry?

"I think it underscores our value," said David Berkowitz, director of emerging media at 360i. "Google has really upped the ante on competition for space on that first page, which makes it that much more important for companies to have every last one of their assets optimized. And the more challenging SEO is, the less likely a company is to do it in-house."

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=60584

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

Top 10 Free SEO tools

2007-05-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

Really good post, and valuable as well......

Top 10 Free SEO tools
Submitted by David Leonhardt on Wed, 05/16/2007 - 11:29.

Have you ever wondered which are the best free SEO tools available on the Internet? Well here is my top ten list, so listen closely....

http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/05/16/top-10-free-seo-tools

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

A Survival Guide to SEO & Wikipedia

2007-05-15T16:21:00.000-05:00

A Survival Guide to SEO & Wikipedia

“Who knows about Wikipedia?” asked Neil Patel. “Everyone,” he answered. And this is exactly why the session “Wikipedia and SEO” was completely packed at the 2007 SES New York show.

Moderated by Danny Sullivan, the panel featured Neil Patel, Co-Founder of ACS, Stephan Spencer, Founder and President of Netconcepts, Don Steele, Director of Digital and Enterprise Marketing at Comedy Central and Jonathan Hochman, Founder and President of JE Hochman & Associates.

So why exactly does everyone know about Wikipedia? For starters, it is pretty hard to ignore a site that consistently ranks in the top 10 organic results for just about any query. Consider Wikipedia the organic counterpart to eBay’s ubiquitous paid search ads. The success lies in the social media genius of a distributed model where anyone can contribute to the collective knowledge, trusting that the majority will balance the scales of information justice.

With over 1.7 million articles in English alone, it is clear why the site ranks so well. And as the equation goes, with visibility comes pageviews, and with pageviews come marketers.

http://searchengineland.com/070508-061206.php

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet

GobalaKrishnan.com

2007-05-13T11:57:00.000-05:00

Time for a bit of shameless promotion.
Not mine mind you....LOL
Gobala Krishnan runs a site called appropriately enough GobalaKrishnan.com.
Why do I like him?
Well I like anyone that helps out his fellow bloggers. Gobala gives you a lot of good FREE info. Yes that's right FREE!
Sure you can buy things, but you can learn a lot from him just by reading his articles. As you know, I rank Darren Rowse and Joel Comm both high. To some people that's like rating Darth Vader and Obi-Wan both high on the same list.
Not to me.
I guess it comes from idolizing Bruce Lee. Bruce used to say look at all the systems of martial arts and take what works, leave the rest. What works for you might not work for another, so learn what works for YOU!
Well Gobala puts out a lot of info and you can pick and chose.
Stay fluid, do the same things and get the same results!
You have to constantly evolve.
Check out his site at Internet home business
Also to prove that FREE thing, If you review his blog, he’ll link back to you and send you a ton of traffic.
See?
A good guy!

technorati tags:seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, google, search engine marketing, marketing, sem, weblogs, blogs, blog, internet