Friday, January 28, 2011

10 SEO Link Building

SEO link building is one of the most crucial methods you can use for website promotion. While on-page optimization is important, it doesn't take you really far. Once your website is up and running, the next thing to do is build quality inbound website links, which can help your site appear higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Here are valuable tips for search engine optimization link building. If you're an expert in SEO already, these tips will remind you of the basic yet essential link building strategies.
1. Go for Higher Quality Links

All links are not created equal. SEO links that have higher value provide greater optimization benefits compared to low quality links. There are several factors that can determine the quality of website links. These are:
The reputation and trustworthiness of the domain giving the website links. For instance, a link from cnn.com would have higher value compared to a link from a website that ranks lower in the Alexa rank checker.
How relevant the anchor text is to the link. This means that an anchor text saying "fish tank" would be far more relevant and valuable than a "click here" anchor text.
The link's location within the site structure. For obvious reasons, SEO links embedded on a site's homepage is more beneficial than a link that comes from a deeply hidden page.
The link's visibility on a webpage. It also matters where the inbound link is located on a webpage. Website links at the top of a webpage are more visible than those at the bottom.
Similarly, a link that's one of three on a page is more valuable than a link that's one of 80.

Now that you have an idea of how website links are given value, the question is: How do you get high quality links? The tips below will explain different methods of effective search engine optimization link building. 2. Create Useful, Relevant and Interesting Content

Building superior quality content remains an effective method of getting SEO links from other websites. With excellent content, not only will you be able to build backlinks naturally, requesting a link also becomes easier since the partner website can benefit from the link request as well.

In addition, building good content is one way to get all your SEO links for free. Link baiting is a method made for the sole purpose of attracting links using interesting and useful content. All you have to do is create a site with great content, and wait for the website links to come. 3. SEO Link Building with Blog and RSS Feeds

Promoting your site via blogs and RSS feeds is an easy and great way to boost your site's exposure and SEO link building opportunities. Blog readers are always looking for interesting sites and posts. If your website is listed in their preferred blog and RSS directories, there's a decent chance that your site will be found. 4. Submit Your Site to Directories

Another easy way to get website links is through directory submissions. Although this method doesn't quite give good quality SEO links, it's a good place to start if you're new to search engine optimization link building.

There are two ways to submit your site to directories. You can use a directory submission service that automatically sends your site to over 100 directories, or you can manually submit the site yourself. Doing it automatically saves you a lot of time; while manual submission allows you to easily send your site to major directories (the more popular directories usually don't accept automatic submissions).

Now you can purchase Jazzers individually on SiteJazzer!

SiteJazzer makes it easy for businesses and agencies to create and show off their web content in style.

Sign up for free to try out and pay only as you download individual Jazzers.

Login to SiteJazzer and introduce dynamic elements into your website today.

SiteJazzer has amazingly easy-to-create Jazzers such as 3D Flip Book, 3D Carousel and others.

All Jazzers can be published in HTML5, making them viewable on iPhones and iPads. You have the choice of Flash and HTML5 Jazzers. See All Jazzer Prices 5. Research on Your Competitors' SEO Links

Look up the sites that are providing links to the websites of your competitors. This is a good way to start your SEO link building efforts, since websites that link to your competitors are likely to be interested in linking to your site as well. However, before implementing this strategy, make sure that your website is as good as your competitor's.

There are many SEO link building tools that can help you check your competitors' SEO links. SEOBook Back Link Analyzer provides comprehensive backlink information. It's free, but only runs on Windows. There's also the impressive (paid) SEO SpyGlass, which runs on Mac, Linux and Windows. 6. Writing and Submitting Articles

There are several websites out there that you can submit your articles to. EzineArticles, for example, is a popular article site that allows you to post writings, as well as build website links. You can either create SEO links within the article or at the bottom section of the article called the "bio box" or "author box."

Again, it's important that your articles are useful and informative. Bloggers, news reporters and other industry experts might be interested in posting your article to their blog or creating SEO links to your site. So, make your article as interesting as possible. 7. Purchase Links and Look for Link Brokers

Although Google is becoming stricter on link renting, it's possible to purchase temporary website links. The reason why Google is cracking down on link renting is that these SEO links are there on your site one day, and then suddenly disappears once you stop renting them.

For this reason, it's advisable to permanently purchase these one-way website links. 8. Use Local Directories

Website owners who have a brick and mortar business can find local directories very useful in their search engine optimization link building campaign. If your business is in the United States, for instance, you can submit your site to the Better Business Bureau or the Chambers of Commerce. Not only will you receive high quality SEO links, your website will also appear in regional searches, or even rank higher. 9. Press Releases

Don't underestimate the power of press releases. If you write something very interesting about your business, website or company, there's a good chance that your press release will be picked up by news organizations, such as cnn.com. This can be a huge website visitation and SEO link building opportunity for you. 10. Participate in Forums

Interacting in communities and forums is another grSEO link building is one of the most crucial methods you can use for website promotion. While on-page optimization is important, it doesn't take you really far. Once your website is up and running, the next thing to do is build quality inbound website links, which can help your site appear higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Here are valuable tips for search engine optimization link building. If you're an expert in SEO already, these tips will remind you of the basic yet essential link building strategies.
1. Go for Higher Quality Links

All links are not created equal. SEO links that have higher value provide greater optimization benefits compared to low quality links. There are several factors that can determine the quality of website links. These are:

    * The reputation and trustworthiness of the domain giving the website links. For instance, a link from cnn.com would have higher value compared to a link from a website that ranks lower in the Alexa rank checker.
    * How relevant the anchor text is to the link. This means that an anchor text saying "fish tank" would be far more relevant and valuable than a "click here" anchor text.
    * The link's location within the site structure. For obvious reasons, SEO links embedded on a site's homepage is more beneficial than a link that comes from a deeply hidden page.
    * The link's visibility on a webpage. It also matters where the inbound link is located on a webpage. Website links at the top of a webpage are more visible than those at the bottom.
    * Similarly, a link that's one of three on a page is more valuable than a link that's one of 80.

Now that you have an idea of how website links are given value, the question is: How do you get high quality links? The tips below will explain different methods of effective search engine optimization link building.
2. Create Useful, Relevant and Interesting Content

Building superior quality content remains an effective method of getting SEO links from other websites. With excellent content, not only will you be able to build backlinks naturally, requesting a link also becomes easier since the partner website can benefit from the link request as well.

In addition, building good content is one way to get all your SEO links for free. Link baiting is a method made for the sole purpose of attracting links using interesting and useful content. All you have to do is create a site with great content, and wait for the website links to come.
3. SEO Link Building with Blog and RSS Feeds

Promoting your site via blogs and RSS feeds is an easy and great way to boost your site's exposure and SEO link building opportunities. Blog readers are always looking for interesting sites and posts. If your website is listed in their preferred blog and RSS directories, there's a decent chance that your site will be found.
4. Submit Your Site to Directories

Another easy way to get website links is through directory submissions. Although this method doesn't quite give good quality SEO links, it's a good place to start if you're new to search engine optimization link building.

There are two ways to submit your site to directories. You can use a directory submission service that automatically sends your site to over 100 directories, or you can manually submit the site yourself. Doing it automatically saves you a lot of time; while manual submission allows you to easily send your site to major directories (the more popular directories usually don't accept automatic submissions).
Purchase nice web elements, one at a time

Now you can purchase Jazzers individually on SiteJazzer!

SiteJazzer makes it easy for businesses and agencies to create and show off their web content in style.

Sign up for free to try out and pay only as you download individual Jazzers.

Login to SiteJazzer and introduce dynamic elements into your website today.

SiteJazzer has amazingly easy-to-create Jazzers such as 3D Flip Book, 3D Carousel and others.

All Jazzers can be published in HTML5, making them viewable on iPhones and iPads. You have the choice of Flash and HTML5 Jazzers. See All Jazzer Prices
5. Research on Your Competitors' SEO Links

Look up the sites that are providing links to the websites of your competitors. This is a good way to start your SEO link building efforts, since websites that link to your competitors are likely to be interested in linking to your site as well. However, before implementing this strategy, make sure that your website is as good as your competitor's.

There are many SEO link building tools that can help you check your competitors' SEO links. SEOBook Back Link Analyzer provides comprehensive backlink information. It's free, but only runs on Windows. There's also the impressive (paid) SEO SpyGlass, which runs on Mac, Linux and Windows.
6. Writing and Submitting Articles

There are several websites out there that you can submit your articles to. EzineArticles, for example, is a popular article site that allows you to post writings, as well as build website links. You can either create SEO links within the article or at the bottom section of the article called the "bio box" or "author box."

Again, it's important that your articles are useful and informative. Bloggers, news reporters and other industry experts might be interested in posting your article to their blog or creating SEO links to your site. So, make your article as interesting as possible.
7. Purchase Links and Look for Link Brokers

Although Google is becoming stricter on link renting, it's possible to purchase temporary website links. The reason why Google is cracking down on link renting is that these SEO links are there on your site one day, and then suddenly disappears once you stop renting them.

For this reason, it's advisable to permanently purchase these one-way website links.
8. Use Local Directories

Website owners who have a brick and mortar business can find local directories very useful in their search engine optimization link building campaign. If your business is in the United States, for instance, you can submit your site to the Better Business Bureau or the Chambers of Commerce. Not only will you receive high quality SEO links, your website will also appear in regional searches, or even rank higher.
9. Press Releases

Don't underestimate the power of press releases. If you write something very interesting about your business, website or company, there's a good chance that your press release will be picked up by news organizations, such as cnn.com. This can be a huge website visitation and SEO link building opportunity for you.
10. Participate in Forums

Interacting in communities and forums is another great, not to mention free, way of getting SEO links that point to your website. Forum users are usually free to post links to their websites in the footer of their profile or posts. Just make sure that you're not spamming. You should contribute to the forum positively.

On the other hand, many forums have the "nofollow" tag, so those inbound website links might not help in boosting your site rankings. Nonetheless, while communities and forums may not help in your SEO link building efforts, they can help increase website traffic, especially if other forum users are interested in what you have to say.eat, not to mention free, way of getting SEO links that point to your website. Forum users are usually free to post links to their websites in the footer of their profile or posts. Just make sure that you're not spamming. You should contribute to the forum positively.

On the other hand, many forums have the "nofollow" tag, so those inbound website links might not help in boosting your site rankings. Nonetheless, while communities and forums may not help in your SEO link building efforts, they can help increase website traffic, especially if other forum users are interested in what you have to say.
READ MORE - 10 SEO Link Building

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

6 Tips to Improved Facebook Marketing

When it comes to social networking there's little doubt that Facebook is the largest and most influential of the social networks online. It has more than 500 million registered user and, at the time of writing this, the average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events. For businesses this means that a Facebook page or other piece of Facebook real estate is a serious way to generate social and viral traffic, but only if it is done well.

There are 900 million objects that people interact with which means, first and foremost, yours needs to stand out. It either needs to provide something that others don't (unlikely given the amount of competition) or it needs to do what it does better than the competition. One of the most common mistakes by small businesses is believing that Facebook traffic is a quick hit; it can take months to build up a decent sized list of fans that avidly read your content, but there are some steps you can take to help attract greater numbers.

The Facebook Platform

Fortunately, there is an extensive platform on which you can build unique Facebook pages and interact with existing and potential readers and your business needs to make the most of these in order to generate the best possible results.

1. Be Unique Not Generic - There is a lot of competition on Facebook, regardless of the type and topic of content that you're providing. Ensure your Facebook page really stands out by creating a unique design. You don't have to have the standard Facebook page design and you can implement all sorts of features that help your visitors recognize you as a leader in your field.

You can also serve different landing pages to different visitors. For example, fans and first time visitors to your page do not need to see the same thing and Facebook offers the functionality to change these settings. Show a page that encourages non-followers to fan your page, and show the main content to those that have already done so. Provide incentives such as coupons for your products or services, or free resources like Ebooks and other giveaways, to members that have not yet clicked to follow your page. 2 . Use Giveaways - Giveaways have long been and continue to be one of the most effective branding and promotional techniques there is. Ebooks, gift items, and coupons are just some of the Facebook-specific items you can provide to those that are willing to sign up for your Facebook fan page. You can provide regular giveaways to members to ensure that people follow you over time and as an extra incentive for becoming what is essentially a subscribed member of your fan page.

3. Use Competitions - Competitions can generate even more buzz than a giveaway. If you place a financial value on each of your fans, then you can calculate a decent prize to give away. It could be one of your products or services or something relating to one of your partners. Make sure that it is related to the content you provide as well as the products or services that you promote. Competitions can go viral too, so encourage your readers to spread the word with their friends - you can even build this into the competition by offering extra prize draw entries for each friend referred to your page.

4. Get Personal - Facebook is first and foremost a social network. The fact that it can also be used to help promote your business is an added benefit, but users are predominantly on the site because it allows them to connect with others and hunt down content that they are interested in. It is, therefore, a personal experience and your readers will for the most part want to believe that they are dealing with real people. Add a large photo to your Facebook page.
If you organize events or can take photos of your visitors some other way then do so, and tag the people in those photos. It is possible to let readers upload their own photos and tag themselves (I would of course watch this carefully, but it can be a great way to get people involved).

5. Say Thanks - A little "thank you" can go a LONG way. As soon as somebody becomes a fan send them an unobtrusive message thanking them for becoming a fan and welcoming them to the fold. The message doesn't need to be long and it can be automated, but remember, people buy people, so a little personal touch will go a long way!

6. Don't Give Up - Don't be surprised if your Mom and your Sister are your only fans after a few days of adding content and personalizing your page. It does take effort to develop a high quality Facebook fan page. Keep posting, keep updating, keep testing, keep evolving, and keep trying - don't' give up!

Facebook Marketing

Facebook is the largest social network online having surpassed half a billion users. While competition is fierce, if you can master the art of creating a popular and beneficial Facebook page then you can also master the art of generating social traffic and your marketing message can go viral producing massive returns in the long run.
READ MORE - 6 Tips to Improved Facebook Marketing

3 SEO Traps to Avoid During Your Redesign

I receive a lot of SEO questions from business owners who want to spruce up their aging websites, but are dead afraid of losing their existing search engine traffic. And for good reason. Going live with a redesigned website without considering the SEO implications is like being ensnared in a nasty trap that you cannot escape from. It's hard to make monéy while stuck in a trap!

With that in mind, here are a 3 SEO Traps to Avoid During Your Redesign :

1: Your Content Management System

If you are switching to a different content management system, (CMS) it often means that the URLs from your current site will have to change to something that fits with the new system. It's likely that the new URL naming convention will not match your old one.

The Escape: If this is the case with your new back end, then 301-permanent redirect all of the old URLs to their new counterparts if you can. If this is a practical impossibility, then review your analytics to find the landing page URLs within your website that receive direct search engine visitors, and redirect those. Also redirect any URLs that have links pointing to them from other sites. While it's best practice to redirect all URLs, those that don't receive any direct search engine traffic and don't have any external links are less important.

2: Your Site Architecture

Your new website is likely to be sporting a brand new navigational scheme as well as an overall change of its site architecture (how each page links to each other). This is a key element in determining whether pages from your website will show up in the search results. For instance, if you take a page from your website that is currently featured in the main navigation (meaning that every page of the site links to it) and you feature it less prominently within your new website, don't be surprised if it doesn't show up in the search results for its targeted keyword phrases as it used to.

The Escape: You can tell the search engines which pages are the most important ones on your site by how you link to them. Be sure that the pages you are optimizing are linked from your main navigation so that they will receive the internal link popularity they deserve. They'll stand a much better chance at bringing you targeted visitors than those that are deeply buried.

3: Your Content

If you hadn't previously optimized the content of your old site, I highly suggest doing so with your new site. This means that you research the keywords that people use at the search engines to find products or services like yours, and then use them strategically within each page of the website. Doing so will likely boost the targeted visitors to your site fairly quickly after going live.
READ MORE - 3 SEO Traps to Avoid During Your Redesign

Find More Terms With Yahoo Keyword Extraction Tool

Ensure that you're emphasizing every available keyword! It's generally easy enough to pick two or three of the most important phrases out of a chunk of text, but the major search engines go far beyond that.

So give the Yahoo! Keyword Phrase Term Extraction tool a shot. Using the Yahoo Search API, it will find loads of keywords within a piece of writing; this is especially handy when it's a long piece, or when it involves a subject with which you're not familiar. Follow the tool's recommendations, and go about your business of reaching search engine success.

See your content the way the search engines do! Spiders don't operate like normal users, and yet you've got to take their perspective into account. The Spider Simulator will help you do exactly that.

Just enter the URL in which you're interested, and the Spider Simulator will return "spidered" page titles, text, meta descriptions, meta keywords, internal links, and external links. Use this information to your advantage and gain new insight into how the search engines work.

Whether the subject is life or online campaigns, adopting a different perspective on things can prove valuable. In terms of online campaigns, adopting a search engine spider's perspective can be especially fruitful. And so the Spider Viewer tool is a handy thing to know about.

Just enter a URL, and the Spider Viewer will list details relating to the page's title, description, keywords, size, text, links, and HTML. Use this information to mold your campaign and you should receive the search engines' favor.

The concept of achieving search engine success is centered on the idea of keywords. Choosing the right keywords can be a tricky matter, however, and things are sure to fluctuate over time.

Fortunately, you can use the SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool as a guide. After signing up for a free account (a process that should take less than a minute), just input any keyword term or phrase, and it'll generate a list of related suggestions, complete with monthly search volume estimates connected to Google and Yahoo. Let these lead your online campaign to victory.
READ MORE - Find More Terms With Yahoo Keyword Extraction Tool

10 Tips to Write Your Most Popular Post

One popular post can bring your more traffic and links than a month’s worth of your usual content.
In this post, I want to set you a challenge with the potential to launch your blog into the stratosphere.
Make the next post you write your most popular post ever.
The following ten tips form my key advice for tackling this task. I used all of them when hitting the Digg front page for the first time. There’s no blueprint you can follow to write an incredibly popular post, but you won’t have a chance unless you try. I’m confident these tips will give you a good shot at success.
1. Time is more important than talent. Work on something for eight hours and you can bet it will be good. You don’t need to spend that long, however (though that’s how long it took me to craft the first post I wrote that hit the Digg front page). More time means you can refine, format and fill your post with plenty of value. Take the time to really craft your content. It will show in the finished product.
2. Use your best idea. A post will never become wildly popular unless it fulfills a need, and does so emphatically. What’s something your niche wants but hasn’t got yet? Can you assemble a whole lot of really awesome (targeted) resources in one place? The more your posts helps people, the better it will do.
3. Use formatting to your advantage. These days, social media is key when it comes to launching your posts into the stratosphere. Social media users are notoriously spoiled for choice, however. Use formatting to emphasize the best aspects of your post. Hone in on your funniest lines, your most profound bits of advice, your best resources. Make them stand out.
4. Brainstorm headlines. There are probably one or two bloggers who’ve completely mastered the art of writing headlines for social media (you’ll know who they are). The rest of us haven’t been blessed with such skills. When you see a great headline, chances are it’s option #12 of a dozen choices. Few of us can think of a great headline straight away. Spend ten minutes brainstorming and you’re bound to stumble across something that works. A weak headline will cripple your post’s chances of success. It’s essential that you put a lot of work into getting it right.
5. Invest plenty of value in your post. Ever bookmarked or voted for something without completely reading it? We’ve all done it. It’s because of the ‘Wow’ factor — the presence of enough promised value in one place gets the reader enthusiastic about the post straight away. Instead of 5 tips, why not share 50? Instead of 9 resources, why not 40 or more?
7. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If your post looks good, it will draw readers in. Take the time to add images, thumbnails and formatting to what you create. Make your post a visual feast. With so much web content presented in a bland way, your post is guaranteed to stand out.
8. Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Readers will skip your waffly introduction. You can say the same in less words, particularly when you’re writing for an impatient reader: someone who wants to get straight into your tips/resources/opinions. Use your introduction to highlight why the reader should stick with your post. There’s a reason my post introductions mainly consist of: “In this post, I’m going to do this, this and that.” It’s what people really want to know: what am I getting in exchange for my attention?
9. Send messages with links. The best way to get a blogger to investigate your blog is by linking to them. We’ve got a natural desire to know what’s being said about us. If your post becomes really popular, each link inside it should send enough traffic outwards to be worth investigating. Be generous with your outbound links when writing your most popular post. It gives other bloggers an incentive to link to you, because it’s ultimately more promotion for them.
10. Utilize your network. If you want people to Digg, Stumble or Reddit your post, there’s no reason why you need to sit back with fingers crossed and hope it happens. Ask them. Your loyal readers like you. You entertain them, or teach them, or help them. If voting is a simple matter of clicking a link they’ll be more than happy to do so. Ask for votes in your post and email readers and social media influencers. In most cases you will need to get the snowball rolling. After that, others will do most of the work for you.
Bonus tips:
11. Examine what worked before. Study your most popular posts so far. What’s common about them? Why did they work? What needs did they address? In creating your most popular post, it’s important to learn by example and build on what has worked for your blog in the past. Another good idea is to analyze the most popular posts on other blogs in your niche. Why did they work? What’s remarkable about them? You can transfer those qualities over into what you write.
READ MORE - 10 Tips to Write Your Most Popular Post