Build Professional Sites With Wordpress Using Our Comprehensive Wordpress Guide

It appears the organic craze isn’t just for produce any more. The world of Organic Search Engine Optimization is on the rise.

Organic, the future is!

What exactly is Organic Search Engine Optimization?

The simple one liner is, letting the content of your website carry the heavy burden of link building.

This content can be anything from your product sites, to blogs, to articles.

Organic SEO is a more comprehensive approach to inexpensive web marketing and link building. Your article must be of some relevance. Meaning that you must speak to your audience – they are you niche market, this is your base.

Keywords, your content must have!

The keys to a successful Organic SEO regimen are keyword rich content, and your author’s resource box. You may have noticed that the words Organic and SEO appear more than once in this article. Those are the keywords that I want to exploit. And why not, search engines have a love affair with keyword rich content.

By creating keyword rich content for your websites, blogs, ezines, newsletters, and articles, you lay the solid foundation for building obscene amounts of traffic and inbound links. Again search engines love great content. That and the fact that you are helping other webmasters who are in dire need of fresh content.

Just as important is that resource box. This is truly your life line. With this simple text you can start building one-way links back to your web site. Below is a sample resource box to use as a template. About the author:

Put a brief intro about you, your site and product here. Copyright 20XX Your name. This article may be freely distributed provided this resource box stays attached.

Research, you must!

Before you get started in writing keyword rich content, you must know what keywords are best to use. I have seen lots of ads for keyword generation, and I don’t like them. I did stumble upon nichebot.com and I love it. Maybe it is because I’m a convenience freak, but I believe nichebot is a perfect starting point for your keyword research. It gives you the scoop on the number of times the search phrase appeared in a particular database, number of pages listed on google with any or all of the keyword phrase, number of pages listed on google with the exact keyword phrase.

Written, the article is!

Now that you have written your article you need to start the distribution process. The best place to do that is at an article directory site. Article Alley, Article Loft, and iSnare are all good places to start. These article directories serve you not only by hosting your article for distribution, they provide a better targeted visitor to your site.

Your task is to sign up and post your article on at least four or five of these directories. Good articles quickly spread on the internet. You will have put yourself and your site in a good position to benefit from such proliferation. Your efforts will not go unrewarded. Many of the search engines will push your ranking higher because of the wide spread use of one-way links to your site.

I′ve stated before that this is a regimen. You need to set a goal of submitting at least an article a week. Surely there is something that you wish to point out about your product or site. There are other things that you need to consider adding to your Organic SEO efforts. Blogging and RSS feeds are two additional ways to increase your sites visibility and links. I′ll leave those topics for a latter discussion.

Good luck to you on your article writing.

About the author:

Eric started Affiliate Scout to help with issues of affiliate marketing and Article Loft to help webmasters obtain fresh content.

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »

Organic SEO seems to be the catch phrase of the moment. However, unlike many other linking tactics and strategies, this one actually works.

What is Organic SEO or Organic Search Engine Optimization?

Explained simply, it’s where all your linking structures originates from the content up – in other words, you let all your content created for your sites, blogs and articles do your link building for you.

Actually, the answer is as simple as this article. You’re probably experiencing one of the best examples of Organic SEO right this moment by reading this article. Article marketing is pure Organic SEO. You let your article and your author’s resource box build one-way links from related niche sites to your site.

But the keyword is content. You must create high quality original content for this system to really develop and flourish. The better the content, the faster your rankings and traffic will grow. By producing valuable content in articles, sites and blogs, you are building real traffic and real links that the search engines salivate over. And they will reward your site with higher rankings and even more traffic.

Try Article Writing…

Frankly, I was rather surprised at the effectiveness of article writing. It seems like such a benevolent little creature. You write about your own experiences on the subject of your site or blog, keeping your articles short, around 500 to 800 words – although some of my best performing articles have been longer, about 900 to 1200 words.

I have only written about 60 articles. But the benefits have been enormous; spreading my content all over the web and building one-way links to my sites and blogs. Some of these articles like the ones in Addme.com or Webpronews.com get archived and will provide good deep PR links for years to come.

There are a few techniques I use to extend the effectiveness of my articles. First, I always start with a keyword or keyword phrase that I want to target with a particular article. I do major, major, major research on my article’s keywords – using sites like nichebot.com, overture.com, and a few others.

I check how much competition there is for the keywords. Combining a new keyword with ones you already have positioned high for in the search engines works well. For example, I have optimized my site for the keyword ‘Free′, it appears throughout my site. When I introduce a new keyword phrase I sometimes combine it with Free. Pick the right keyword combination and you will gain an edge over your competition more quickly.

Always put your keyword phrase into the title of your article. I also make it a habit of not picking the top keywords in a niche, I go for middle ranked keywords – I am better assured that I will rank on the first page SERPs for these lower keywords. Why waste valuable time shooting for the stars when you can easily land on the moon!

I submit my articles mainly to a short list of online article directories ( ezinearticles.com, buzzle.com, isnare.com, goarticles.com, ideamarketers.com, and articlealley.com ) these work the best for me. These sites rank well in the search engines and even though the surfer may go to another site to read your article first, it then delivers a much more warmed up and targeted visitor to your own site.

Other webmasters from your niche will pick up your high quality articles and place them on their sites. Organically growing more related one-way links to your site. Google looks very favorably on these one-way links and will reward your site for having them.

Article marketing is one Organic SEO tactic every website should be using. Instead of paying high prices for seo services, why not write or hire someone to create keyword rich articles for your site. The benefits will surprise you.

Try Blogging…

Blogs are another form of Organic SEO. It also builds links and traffic to your site the natural way – by providing valuable content.

For those marketers and webmasters who practice Organic SEO, the free blogging systems are a godsend. A skilled marketer can legitimately use these online blogging programs to boost their site’s rankings, traffic and income. What more can any online marketer or webmaster ask for?

I use numerous blogs to compliment my sites. I base these blogs on the major keywords of my sites. For example, one section on my main Internet Marketing site examines laptop computers, I created a blog with Bloglines.com covering the same topic. Although all the content is different from what you will find on my main site.

I also use Blogger.com because it’s owned by Google and is very simple to use. I find posting my weekly ezine on Blogger adds another way I can get my message out to my subscribers. Not to mention, all the linking and pinging a blog brings into play.

I also use the open source software and system, WordPress for another of my blogs on marketing. This is a php database supported program that was a lot less easier to set up on my site than I first expected. It’s one of the best blogging systems I have worked with and is highly favored by the search engines. If you′re not using it – try it.

In addition, I have just started using LiveJournal for another blog and that system is also very easy to use. I usually post to my blogs once or twice a week, just short helpful tips or links that a visitor or search engine would be interested in. Keep in mind, all these free blogging sites are P̽ or P‒, has to count for something.

Spam has become a problem with many of these blogging systems, I now usually block all comments or moderate them. All this spam just goes to show how effective getting links in related blogs can booster your rankings for competitive keywords.

I have found blogging to be a very effective tool for getting your keywords indexed and ranked very quickly. I also like to use blogs for those golden double-header listings in the SERPs, preferably at the number 1 and 2 spots! That’s where you get two listings from your site for a certain keyword on the first page, this I find, brings in a lot more traffic than a single listing.

In art there is something called the Golden Section, a perfect proportion that works magic into any painting or picture. It is an organic and natural effect that appears everywhere in our world. For webmasters, having your site listed 1 and 2 for your keywords has to be another form of the Golden Section, made especially for us.

In that same light, Organic SEO is a natural and effective way for webmasters to grow their links and rankings. Articles and blogs are two special tools we can use to further that natural growth. Create your own Golden Section and give the search engines something to talk about by trying Organic SEO. Build your links and rankings the natural way.

Your site′s salvation is only a keystroke away!

About the author:

The author runs a modest Internet Marketing web site where you will find helpful online guides on RSS/Blogging, Laptops, SEO, Spyware Removal, List Building, Internet Fax and quite a few Free Marketing Tools. Copyright ? 2006 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »

Organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) seems to be the buzzword these days. What is organic SEO? In its simplest explanation, organic SEO is publicity through content distribution. All your incoming links originate from content you created for your website or blog. And boy, search engines love this kind of linking structure.

Marketing through articles is organic Search Engine Optimisation. Your article and the link in your author’s resource box generate incoming links from other niche websites related to yours.

Good quality original content will generate incoming links and drive targeted web traffic to your website fast. This is the kind of activity search engines love, and would in turn lead to higher web page ranking and increase in web traffic.

Writing Articles

This is an effective way of gaining publicity for yourself and your site. Write about your experiences, expertise, hobbies or passion. As a rule of thumb, keep your articles at about 400 to 700 words in length. The issue is not the length of the article. It is the quality of it. But for a start, it is good to adhere to the rule of thumb.

Tips on effective use of articles

Before you start to write, do a research on keyword phrases related to your topic of interest. There are a few free online webmasters′ tools you could utilize (nichebot.com, wordtracker trial). Normally, the top ranked keyword phrases are highly competitively. A top ranked keyword with little or zero competition is a rare find these days. Go for the middle ranked keyword phrase. After all, your goal is to be found on the first page of SERP for your selected keyword phrase.

Include your keyword phrase in your article title and repeat your keyword phrase at least once or twice in the body of your article. You may also want to use sparingly and strategically a variation of your keyword phrase or terms related to it. You may notice in this article I use SEO and Search Engine Optimization, which are interchangeable terms but to the search engines they are variations. I also use search engines and webmasters which are terms related to SEO.

Using a variation of your keyword phrase and terms related to it makes your article more relevant to your topic. With such an arrangement, chances are you may score well at the search engines for more than one keyword phrase.

Post your articles on your site, blog and article directories. Spreading your content all over the web is a fast way to get website visitors. I submit my articles to ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com and articlealley.com. These article directories work well for me. Their high rankings at the search engines give me good publicity.

Other webmasters related to your niche will pick up your high quality articles and link to your web page through your author’s resource box. This is an organic way of growing incoming links. Major search engines like Google look favorably on organically grown one-way links, and reward you.

Most webmasters archived articles for 1 or 2 years because this is a quick way to increase content and the size of their websites. So you can be assured of incoming links for at least 1 or 2 years.

It would be worth your time and effort to write or to hire someone to write keyword rich articles and distribute them over the web. The results can be astounding at times.

Gerrick W
Attention Internet Marketers: Attract qualified traffic and make net profits. Information and software tools you need to market your online business. Internet marketing without all the hype.
Visit: http://www.1stinternetmarketingsolution.com

Copyright Gerrick W – http://www.1stinternetmarketingsolution.com

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »

When people refer to “organic SEO” (search engine optimization), they almost always use it as a blanket term to describe the unpaid, algorithm-driven results of any particular engine. However, a sophisticated search engine optimization company will often take the meaning of “organic” one step further. To such companies, the description of “organic SEO” is not to limited what shows up in the “natural” search engine results – it includes the methodologies used to achieve such rankings.

There′s more than one way to skin a cat (although I must admit that I don′t know the one way that everyone else presumably knows), and the same is true for achieving natural search engine results. A search engine optimization company usually falls into one of two camps. A “White Hat” search engine optimization company will use a largely content-based approach and will not violate the terms of service of the major search engines. A “Black Hat” search engine optimization company will use a largely technology driven approach and often ignore the terms of service. Neither approach is invalid (as I have said many times before, there is nothing illegal about violating a search engine′s terms of service), and both can achieve high rankings. But a search engine optimization company that takes the word “organic” literally believes that the “Black Hat” approach is anything but “organic SEO.”

Merriam Webster defines organic, in part, as “having the characteristics of an organism: developing in the manner of a living plant or animal.” To a search engine optimization company, this definition accurately describes the approach taken to achieve long-lasting results in the “natural” section of search engines.

Below are just a few comparisons of the different approaches taken by the two types of SEO firms. I refer to the two approaches as “organic SEO″ and “artificial SEO″ for the sake of clarity.

Content vs. Technical Loopholes

There’s an “old” saying in the SEO industry that “content is king.” This is not necessarily true. In my experience, good content is king. Study after study has shown that when people use search engines, they are primarily seeking one thing: information. They are not seeking to be impressed by fancy flash sites. They are not looking for a virtual piece of art. A search engine optimization company that is truly practicing “organic SEO” recognizes this fact and will refuse SEO work when prospects insist that content addition is not an option. “Artificial SEO” firms, which embrace a technical loophole philosophy, will allow a company to leave its website exactly as it is, because the work that such firms do is largely technical and is designed to trick the engine into showing content that it would not otherwise. Certainly, there are acceptable (from the engine’s standpoint) technical aspects that any good search engine optimization company will use, such as relevant page titles and meta tags. But there are many more unacceptable technical methodologies than acceptable ones, including cloaking, redirects, multiple sites, keyphrase stuffing, hidden links, and numerous others. A company practicing “organic SEO” will avoid these.

Attracting Links vs. Linking Schemes


As any search engine optimization company knows, inbound links are critical to the success of an “organic SEO” campaign. But there are different ways to go about it. Firms that practice true “organic SEO” will look at the website itself and say “How can we make this site something that other sites would want to link to?” A search engine optimization company using “artificial SEO” will ask, “How can I get links pointing to this site without adding anything of value to it?” The latter approach usually leads to reciprocal linking schemes, link farms, the purchase of text links, and more – anything save for making changes to the website that entice others to link to the site without the link being reciprocated, without paying the website owner, or without asking “pretty please.”

There is a stark contrast between “organic SEO” and “artificial SEO.” Of course, any decent search engine optimization company will make certain that a site is listed in all the popular directories, such as the Yahoo Directory, the Open Directory Project, and Business.com. A good search engine optimization company will also continually seek any industry specific directories where your site should be listed. But truly using “organic SEO” means evolving your site into something that holds actual value to your prospects. In my opinion, this is much more beneficial in the long run than the artificial methodology of trying to garner incoming links that the site does not truly deserve.

Creating a Valuable Resource vs. Algorithm Chasing

Search engines change algorithms frequently, and for two reasons. One is, of course, to improve their results based upon their most recent user studies. The other, which is obviously related, is to remove sites that are ranked artificially high. Such updates raise panic in the SEO community – particularly among “artificial SEO” practitioners who have just discovered that their most recent and cherished trick no longer works (and may have gotten their clients’ sites removed from the engines altogether). It is not uncommon on the search engine forums to see the owner of such a search engine optimization company threatening to “sue Google” over a recent update. Not uncommon, but always amusing.

There is, with only a few exceptions, a common denominator in the websites that remain highly ranked throughout these algorithm shifts. They offer something of value to their visitors and are considered a resource for their industry. “Organic SEO” practitioners generally do not have to worry about going back and redoing work because of an algorithm shift. While an “artificial″ search engine optimization company desperately tries to re-attain the rankings it lost for its clients (or to get the sites re-included in the search engine at all) because it was dependent on technical loopholes that have now been closed, “organic SEO” firms continue adding valuable content to a site, strengthening its value and bolstering its rankings.

A common argument from companies when advised by “organic SEO″ practitioners to take this approach is “we aren’t trying to provide a resource for our industry – we are trying to sell products or services.” This is, in my opinion, shortsighted. Remember, you are trying to reach prospects in all stages of the buying cycle, not just the low hanging fruit ready to buy now. Let your website be their resource to learn about your industry, rather than your overpaid salesperson. Prospects are very likely to call you when they are ready to buy – after all, you’ve done so much for them already!

In addition, taking advantage of “organic SEO″ to make your website an industry resource provides a tremendous natural boost to your rankings for your individual product or service pages. This means that with “organic SEO,” you’ll get the best of both worlds. You’ll reach people early in the buying cycle, educate them, and steer them toward your solution by using your website instead of your sales personnel. You will also reach the low hanging fruit because your individual product or service pages, which are intended for people who are ready to buy now, will get a significant rankings boost.

Learning from Engines vs. Learning How to Exploit Them


As I have said many times before, search engines conduct very expensive and frequent studies on what their users want to see when they enter search queries. Obviously, no company has a more vested interest in serving up the type of results that their users want than the engines themselves. “Organic SEO” firms will take the “piggyback″ approach. A search engine optimization company that uses “organic SEO” will try to learn what the results of these studies were by examining the sites that figure prominently in search engine results over long periods of time. In this way, the search engine optimization company is using “organic SEO” to make the website not only better for search engines, but also for the user- presumably, the engine’s internal research has shown that these sites have what their users have consistently desired, study after study. “Artificial SEO” practitioners have no real interest in these studies – they are instead expending a great deal of energy finding the next technical loophole to exploit after their most recent one has failed.

The latter approach can make results erratic, but it also raises a larger issue – the goal of the campaign. If an “artificial” search engine optimization company finds a temporary loophole in an algorithm that brings your site to the top, but does not take the time to delve into the user experience once a user gets to the site, it will defeat the original purpose. You may get plenty of visitors, but a large percentage of these will be short-term visitors who do not find what they want on your site and back out without a second thought. The search engine optimization company did not “piggyback” on the engines′ research to learn what type of content users wanted to see when they entered their query.

“Organic” Revisited (AKA “One Step Too Far″)

A search engine optimization company that takes a true “organic SEO” approach will actually take the Merriam Webster definition literally. A good website does have the characteristics of an organism and does develop in the manner of a living plant or animal. It builds upon itself. It learns how it should behave for its own benefit. Most importantly, it establishes its territory at the top of the search engine results. And as the organism thrives, artificial machine after machine fades into obsolescence.

About the Author
Scott Buresh is the founder and CEO of Medium Blue, which was recently named the number one search engine optimization company in the world by PromotionWorld. Scott’s articles have appeared in numerous publications, including ZDNet, WebProNews, MarketingProfs, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, SEO Today, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. He was also a contributor to Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004). Medium Blue is an Atlanta search engine optimization company with local and national clients, including Boston Scientific, Cirronet, and OneSource. Visit MediumBlue.com to request a custom SEO guarantee based on your goals and your data.

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »

If your back to school shopping includes outfitting a new dorm room, you′ll find unique accessories for your decorating at online bargain shopping sites. Whether you′re looking for the perfect floor lamp or an unusual wall accent, you′ll find what you′re looking for at prices that won’t strain your budget when you shop online.

Let′s be real here. Dorm rooms are meant to be utilitarian. They’re designed to be convenient and impersonal, because it′s most economical to build them that way. You, however, are not impersonal, and there’s no reason that you should live in a cubicle that has about as much flavor as a slice of white bread. And the architects who design most college dorms take that into account as well. While your dorm room may be a bland, one-size-fits-all box, the designers of most modern dorms do make an effort to make them easy to personalize with accessories and wall furnishings.

That desire of yours to personalize your bland living space hasn’t escaped the notice of the big retailers, either. Take a ride out to your local Wal-Mart or Target store, and you’ll find entire departments devoted to dorm room furnishing – at prices that they tell you are bargains. The problem is – you’re shopping at the exact same store for the exact same products that everyone else at your school is buying. If you’re looking for a way to make your dorm room reflect YOU, turn off the ignition and turn on your computer.

Start with the basics – your bed. A quick Google search for ‘closeout bedding’ will pull up a whole raft of online closeout shopping sites where you can pick up those comfy jersey sheets that retail for $25 at the bargain price of $12 or less. Or pick up a whole bed set for less than the price you’d pay for a single fitted sheet in a local shopping mall. You’ll find brand names like Wamsutta and Dan River at deep discounts that leave you more money for movies.

How about wall accessories? Type in ‘closeout home goods′ or ‘discount wall accessories′ to find the best prices on posters, wall hangings and wall decor that will turn your bland room into a personal statement. At the low, low cheap prices you’ll find at discount shopping web sites, you can afford to get outrageous with your decorating – how about an entire set of matching comic book covers in glass frames? You can do it for less than $10.

What would your dorm room be without a great sound system? Electronics are one of the hottest selling categories on online discount sites. You’ll find complete stereo systems for $50, CD players for $15 and DVD players for $25 and less. With those savings, you’ll have enough leftover to join Netflix for a never-ending supply of the latest movies.

Whatever your taste, shopping online discount wholesalers is a smart way to use your back to school decorating budget. Before you spend a single cent on personalizing your dorm room, fire up your computer and take a slow ride on the shopping superhighway. You’ll find everything you need at prices that free up your money for more important things – like those concert tickets you just have to have.

About the author:

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International , one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Visit this Shopping – General Website and Majon’s Shopping – General directory.

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »

Anyone that hasn’t heard of outsourcing by now must be either hiding in a cave or not working in the service industry. Call Centers are front and center, but it seems outsourcing is spreading to every nook and crannie of the economy. On a recent trip to Manila in the Philippines, a job fair for Call Center employees was held for 65,000 vacancies in Call Centers. Other statistics are just as shocking. India is set to emerge as a $17 billion knowledge outsourcing destination by 2010, states a new industry study. (Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) May 2005 ) Three-quarters of U.S. companies outsourced some or all of their information technology activities in 2004, and that percentage is likely to increase this year according to Global Outsourcing Report March 2005.

Outsourcing is seductive with skilled and educated native-english speaking labour available for $4 or $5 per hour. Many newcomers to ousourcing or contracting out, have the naive idea they can just ‘throw it over the fence for $4 an hour′ and are predicably disappointed. Indeed, the big boys are having difficulty as well. In a recent study, ‘Calling a Change in the Outsourcing Mode’ surveying 25 large organizations with a combined $50 billion in outsourcing contracts found that 70% a more cautious approach. One in four companies has brought outsourced functions back in-house and nearly half have failed to see the cost savings they anticipated as a result of outsourcing.”

Outsourcing, using freelancers and contracting out is still a very viable strategy that can reduce costs and increase productivity substantially. It just isn’t quite as easy as ‘throwing it over the fence!’

Outsourcing SEO?

In general, the more important the service is to your business, the better to have it in-house. If SEO/SEM is mission critical to your business and you already have qualified people on staff, outsourcing would be a mistake. If you don’t have SEO trained staff, developing SEO capability from scratch is a long road. The learning curve is steep, and like most skills, the very competitent people are the experienced ones, who have been doing it for years. You might want to hire an experienced person to work for your company and have them train others as part of their job.

This can be difficult as well, because generally people hired into this kind of situation will keep the secrets to themselves. In addition to the perenial problem of SEO — the really good ones make too much money on their own so keeping really good people is almost impossible.

The is another other option, though — Outtask rather than Outsource.

Outsourcing vs Outtasking

Outtasking is where certain tasks are contracted out and the main function is kept in-house. This option, with effective management, can give the best of both worlds. Examples of tasks that can be Outtasked are Link Campaigns, Article Writing, Directory Submissions and Article Submissions.

Tips for Managing Outsourcing Partners

- Develop relationships. Pay a fair amount or on the high side. Use the same person and develop and traing them.

- Spell out what you want. The more detail and the more specifics you can give a freelancer of what you want, the better the finished product will be. Freelancers have no imagination and now way of knowing what you want. They are in a different country and culture — all they have to go on is what you tell them.

- Keep in touch. Ask for progress reports and updates. Unless you have worked with someone and then hired them full-time, freelancers are juggling different contracts. Keeping in touch keeps your contract at the top.

- Move forward in stages. First, do contracts. Then, all going well, regular contracts. Next part-time. Finally, after you have developed a relationship, offer full time.

- Tell them what you want and offer to pay a slightly higher fee in order for them to do it. Writing articles especially, is difficult to get exactly what you want in exactly 500 words. And if its a longer, more in-depth article, that’s a bonus and more likely to be syndicated.

- If you are contracting for articles, you have to specify in advance that they will be original. And when you receive the completed work, check for plagiarism.

Popular Misconceptions

The more time YOU put into it, the better the project will be. Outsourcing deosn’t mean you just give the whole thing to someone else in the Philippines or in India. The more time you spend managing the project the better the result.

When I contract for 10 articles, I spell out exactly what I want including, target audience, education level, tone, type (information or how to) keywords, suggested title and length. When I get them back I read them over carefully and edit them. If I don’t like them, I ask for a re-write. Overall, it is cost effective, but it still takes time.

Outsourcing or Outtasking is still work. It is just not the same kind of work. Do it properly and you learn a valuable skill that can reduce your costs substantially, and increase productivity.

About the author:

Brian Stocker is a former teacher with a BA in Economics and a MA in Psychology. He has worked in Search Engine Marketing since 1997 and has offices in Victoria BC Canada and Manila Philippines. He offers SEO/SEM services as well as Link Campaigns, Article writing and Article Submissions at very reasonable rates.

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »

Imagine spending countless hours optimizing your website only to discover that it’s still not ranking any higher. What could possibly be holding your site back? After all your code is search engine friendly, the content has been rewritten to ensure its topic relevancy, and you’ve managed to score some pretty good links to your site.

If everything seems to be in place, you may be surprised to find out that you’ve overlooked a crucial step in the SEO process.

Just when you think you’re site is performing at its best you learn the awful truth – your web server is hindering your search engine ranking.

Selecting a server is often overlooked as a step in the SEO process. However, it is a crucial first step that each SEO professional should address when beginning any project. There are seven key areas that search engines now consider when ranking websites that could be affected by your web server.

Uptime
Your web server’s guaranteed uptime is a major factor that can affect your site’s ranking. The uptime of your site is so important because if it isn’t up and running then there is no way for the search engine spiders to crawl your pages. To ensure that your site is at its best availability don’t settle for a web server that offers anything less than 99.9% uptime.

Name Servers
Do you know who else is on your name server? Well, even if you don’t know all of the major search engines do. They can identify all of the domain names with which you share a name server. This can be bad news for you ranking if you happen to share your name server with a large number of spam sites.

IP Classes
Search engines group websites into neighborhoods based on their IP addresses. A search engine can detect what types of websites are hosted on a Class C IP address, and you could be penalized if your site is mixed into a bad neighborhood.

Sharing an IP Address
Chances are that you are just one of the many clients that your web server has assigned to a single IP address. This could mean that you are in some bad company if one of those sites breaks the rules of one or more search engines then you run the risk of being banned with them. You see it is much easier for a spammer to obtain a new domain name than a new IP address so many search engines choose to ban the IP address instead of the domain name.

Response Time
Search engine spiders are busy programs and therefore have very limited time to crawl through each site. If your website has a slow response time then it will take longer to read each page and the spiders will have to move on before crawling all of your pages.

Date Modified Attribute
Another aspect of your web server to keep in mind is whether it supports the Date Modified attribute or not. Major search engines like Google are constantly checking the dates that documents are created to determine the average age of the documents on your site and how frequently pages are updated or changed. If your web server doesn’t support the Date Modified attribute then the search engines are unable to collect this pertinent information from your site.

301 Redirect Capabilities
Search engines see the www domain and the non-www domain as separate sites, but 301 redirects help to avoid the possibility of duplicate content penalties. Ideally, your server should automatically issue a 301 server site redirect to any request made for a non-www domain that forwards users to the www domain.

Check out your web hosting server to determine if your host is keeping your ranking down. Ask them about these important factors to see where their service stands. Were they selective when you signed up for hosting or were they willing to give up the space without asking any questions?

On the other hand, if you are a web host keeping these criteria in mind can help you to provide a better quality service to your customers. Services that determine whether or not your servers are SE friendly are available from SEO Certified Servers.

Elizabeth Catalanotto is a representative of SEO Certified Servers. Increase the reliability of your hosting server with the services of SEO Certified Servers.

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »

Search Engine Ranking – Optimization Strategy
Think of the Internet as the biggest library-like source of information in human history, with one major difference from a actual library. The Internet is not organized, nor is all the information out there credible. This is where search engines come into play and why SEO services, SEO ranking and SEO optimization strategies are so important to real businesses who provide real information, services and products.
Why You Need Good Search Engine Ranking and Optimization Strategy
We call it being in the Top 10 of a search engine. It means your web site is listed on the front page, in the first 10 results, of any given search engine listing for your keywords … and that’s referred to as a Natural Listing or Natural Results.
In reality, your web site coming up in the top 10 of any search engine is anything but natural. Appearing in the top 10 for your business’s keywords will bring in potential customers to your web site just as effectively as the businesses that pay for the Google Ads and Yahoo Ads, but it’s more cost effective to you because you didn′t have to pay $3-$20 per click like they did … and remember, clicks don′t mean sales, it just means someone clicked onto their web site. Also, I′m not inflating those prices … if you want to compete with the big boys at the top of the keyword list on Google, that’s what it’s going to cost you. Suddenly optimizing your web site has much more importance to you doesn′t it?!
Search engine ranking and optimization is a highly specialized field of Internet study combined with the ability to write decently. Search engine users are what we call a targeted audience because they come looking for your business and usually want to buy what you sell. You don’t need to do anything, but provide them a clean web site that nicely displays your products, and close the sale (but that’s another article).
Internet Users and Search Engine Search Listings
Every web business needs a web site marketing plan with a solid search engine ranking and optimization strategy. The Georgia Institute of Technology says more than 85% of all Internet users find new web sites through search engine search listings. Data shows that search engine listings are the number one way to generate traffic to a web site.
Search Engine Ranking and Optimization Services
Think about it … when you got your very first computer, hooked it up and wanted to go out onto the world wide web … didn’t you ask yourself, How do I find web sites? Then you discovered what a search engine was and from there, you relied on the search engines to give you keyword results and that’s where you played on the Internet.
That’s what millions of users do everyday. These are people who are not tech savvy like you and me. They use search engines as a way of sifting through the myriad of web sites out there, narrowing their search and focusing them on the top 10 results. The goal of any SEO company is to get your web site to rank in the top 10 for your set of keywords, bringing you the people who are searching for the goods and services you provide.
Good Search Engine Ranking and Optimization Strategy
SEO services involve knowledge of SEO optimization, web site planning, SEO experience and having the right SEO tools, but most of all it requires patience because getting your web site into one of those top positions on the search engine results pages (SERP) takes an average of 1-3 months. Any SEO company will need to tweak your web site and it’s content, and then wait for the search engines to make their changes. The goal is to achieve and maintain true search engine optimization and placement for your web site.
By hiring an SEO company like us, to handle your search engine optimization you will see results. A good SEO company will bring you good search engine placement, and any business that can get the targeted traffic should also get the conversion necessary to drive profits up if the web site is able to close the sale.
Your web site content should both drive SEO optimized traffic to your web site and help close the sale. A good SEO Copywriter can help with both!
Search Engine Ranking and Optimization for Good ROI
ROI is the return on investment. You need to compare your ROI for the costs of placing pay per click ads (PPC) with Google and Yahoo vs. the cost of optimizing your web site to get a natural ranking.
How competitive is your market? If it′s highly competitive, like the Finance market is, then you’re most likely going to need to do both to make it in that business online. This is where where our SEO experience can be invaluable to you and the success of your online business.
Forrester Research reported that Over 80 percent of all Internet users reach sites through search engines. Translated, that means if your web site isn’t attracting 80 percent of its visitors from search engines, you’re losing out on a lot of free traffic.
A study from the NPD Group found that search engine listings are far more effective than standard banner or button advertisements when it comes to brand recall, favorable opinion rating, and conversion of traffic to sales.
In unaided recall, search listings outperformed banners and buttons by three to one. More than twice as many people gave a more favorable opinion of companies in the top three search positions than those featured in ads. The study also found that 55 percent of online purchases were made on sites found through search listings, while a mere 9 percent were on sites found through banner ads. You do the math! Search Engine Optimization is clearly linked to a better ROI for your business.
Based on our own internal calculations, the current cost of getting customers through a good SEO optimization strategy is less than half of the cost of pay-per-click services such as Yahoo’s Overture or Google’s AdWords.
We also know that organic or natural traffic, that comes to your web site from natural search engine ranking, converts better than traffic delivered via pay-per-click search… because the traffic is better targeted! Not all, but most people don′t want to click on the Ads and prefer to click on the organic links instead.
Search Engine Ranking and Optimization
Search engine ranking and SEO optimization is cost effective and should be a high priority. While the search engine ranking and SEO optimization process is complex and time consuming, it is very do-able if you know what you’re doing. That’s why you may want to hire an SEO writer.
SEO optimization is not only about working your web pages to match the ever changing search engine algorithms of all the major search engines, but it’s also about trying to out-rank your competitors.
If you are new to SEO optimization and want to learn more, Wild Wolf SEO Copywriters and Wild Wolf Webmasters both have a lot of tutorials and articles regarding SEO.
by Bobbie Grennier, SEO Copywriter

About The Author

Bobbie Grennier is an SEO copywriter and freelance writer at www.SEO-Writing.com and teaches herbalism at http://Herbal-College.com. Visit her web sites www.wild-wolf.com or www.wildwolf.ws for more SEO information and http://seo-writing.com/free-reprint-articles/ for FREE reprint articles. Visit her Webmaster Blog at http://webmaster.typepad.com.
webmaster@wildwolf.ws

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »

True SEO is making sure your website follows basic logical parameters. BE RELEVANT.
Tools that are questionable are Page generators & Cloaking software.
Page generators do just that, make web pages. Lot′s of them. Early generators made lot′s of the same pages just to have bulky websites. They had the same content over & over again. Generators today work much better. They have relevant content. Lot′s of different content. Lot′s & lot′s of keywords. And they all point to your main page.
Page cloaking software makes webpages invisible to people but not to search engines. There are lot’s keyword pages with very little content and are meant to trick the search engines into thinking you have more relevant webpages than you actually have.
Cloaking is frowned upon by search engines. If you read the fine print on Yahoo, etc. you’ll find it’s all there in black & white.
Page generators, however, walk a fine line. They can be used abusively or used as a time saver. An ethical SEO specialist will use this software to create RELEVANT, CONTENT RICH, web pages. A reasonable amount. Not thousands of irrelvant keyword pages just pointing to your main web site.
So, is there a difference. Yes. But, more importantly, there is is the difference in how the are used.
Be wise. Go for the long term, ethical success. Stick with the organic, logical, ethical, fair, & practical methods.
______
Go to http://TrafficXTC.com for more articles & free advice for your SEO needs.

About The Author

Conrad Sear has been a web developer for 14 years. He now manages a startup SEO company called http://TrafficXTC.com. Their growing list of clients are all making to the top with his guidance. Samples-(http://KataraCattery.com #1, http://AirOnSale.com (new), http://MyHomeTrainer.com #5, http://Ebooks.easyincomeinfo.com #1, http://Christineboccio.com #1)
se@trafficxtc.com

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »

Since I began my online money making adventures about 6 months, I have spent a lot of time trying to understand how the world wide web actually works. One of the biggest keys to being successful on the internet is how to get people to actually come to your website. Naturally, the more traffic that you get to your site, the higher potential for sales you will have. Of course, there are artificial ways of doing this such as advertising, classifieds and pay-per-click programs. While these are very important and can provide you with a lot of high quality visitors, they can be rather costly and limited in exposure. So how do you attract traffic the natural way? How do I get those top positions in the “free” search engine results? How do I expand my exposure beyond my hometown, state and even country? The trick to achieving these goals is called “Search Engine Optimization” or SEO.

Unfortunately, SEO is not a defined formula or process. It is a bit of a secret. Trial and error is what drives this process, not a straight-forward formula. Even worse, this formula is constantly changing. So what can you do? First, there are a few “figures of merit” for a website. Now understand, these merits do not directly relate to getting top spot on Google, but they are factored in to some degree.

One figure of merit is called Page Rank. Again, Page Rank is another unknown formula which only the search engine gods know about. Page rank generally provides a number (between 0 and 10) on how well linked your website is. If you are a sole entity in the world wide web with no links being directed to you, your exposure to the world and ability to find your website is rather low. Cases like this earn ratings of 0 and 1. If many websites, also with high page ranks, are linked to your site, the probability of people finding your website is much higher and deserves much higher page ranks such as 5 and 6’s. The upper numbers like 8, 9, and 10 are rare and found mostly on the real big sites (such as google.com, yahoo.com, etc.). So page rank provides a figure of merit on how people can get to your site naturally. It is believed that page rank has a lot to do with search position on Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc. Each one of these search engines have their own page rank system, but the Google one is the most respected.

The other figure of merit that I see praised a lot is the Alexa Ranking. Some people think this number and the Page Rank are similar, but they really are quite different. The Alexa Ranking focuses more on the AMOUNT of traffic that your site receives, not the linkage. Of course, the two are related, but the merits tell different tales. Now, as much as traffic is a good thing for sales, it has a lower effect on search engine rankings and SEO. Alexa Ranking numbers work in reverse, as well. The lower the number, the higher the ranking. Most websites start off in the millions. Websites below 100,000 usually means heavy traffic.

I currently have a friend who runs a fairly respectable website which has an Alexa Ranking of 65,000 (gets close to 500,000 visitors per day) but only has a page rank of 2/10. I have a website that has an Alexa Ranking of 1,000,000 but a page rank of 4/10. What does this mean? Most of his traffic is coming from places other than highly page ranked websites. My site has a lot of high quality links, but little traffic. For me, I need quality visitors, for him, he just needs visitors. At the end of the day, it all evens out and our income is approximately the same at this time.

From all of this, I have drawn a few conclusions:

1) Figures of merit for your website can help you understand your place in the world wide web.
2) Depending on your website goals, your figures of merit should be optimized according.
3) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is used to improve your free search engine position and is dependant more on your Page Rank and less on your Alexa Ranking.
4) Alexa Rankings are a good indicator of traffic, but does not necessarily reflect the importance of your website on the web (particularly to search engines)
5) One of the best ways to improve your Page Rank is to get your website link on other people’s high Page Ranked websites
6) Finally, no matter what type of website you run, high search engine placement (Page Rank) AND high traffic (Alexa Ranking) is the goal for all financial success.

Matthew is a 31 year old online entrepreneur and engineer currently living in San Diego, CA.

Visit http://www.TheWebReviewer.com for more money making articles, resources and reviews on today’s hottest online money making ventures.

Copyright 2006

Categories : SEO Tips // Add Comment »