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 Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Sometimes terms come up as slang or "lingo" that you can just ignore, but when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) it really does pay to stay informed.
The term "Link Baiting" is yet another example of something that you should know about. Check out this article that gives a very good definition with examples and then figure out whether you are up to leveraging the concept for your own purposes. Not for the faint of heart. Tuesday, January 31, 2006
If you go to a big time online retailer you will see many places on their sites that try to get you to provide an email address. They might have a raffle or just want to notify you of upcoming deals. Once they get the address they will typically send you monthly newsletters that keep them top of mind and while you can unsubscribe, you may well just delete them until one arrives on just the right day to drive you to buy. This is a tried and true model and really rounds off the whole online retailer best practices. The problem is that it is hard to get started and is a whole project in itself to get these messages created and sent. If this is stopping you then check out EzineDirectory.com. They offer a free membership if you send out less than 250 emails per month and it is a great way to get started doing the thing that can actually make your whole ecommerce efforts actaully pay off! Thursday, January 12, 2006
If you visit Alexa.com you not only can check out a margin search engine (not Google, MSN or Yahoo), but if you notice the tabs you see one for traffic rankings. You can then analyse sites for how they rank according to alexa and see something like this:
- Traffic Rank for cnn.com: 26 (
 5)
- Speed: Slow (67% of sites are faster), Avg Load Time: 2.6 Seconds (what's this?)
- Other sites that link to this site: 19,511
- Online Since: 22-Sep-1993
This is what you get for cnn.com, but for other sites that aren't coordinated (or registered with alexa) will have less comprehensive data.
Play with it as the more you know these kinds of tools the more likely you will know where to look when you need something.
Also look into registering your site by filling in the information form on alexa.com.
Hosting a site isn't just about getting the site to work, it is also about ensuring you get the traffic you need to make whatever you are doing successful.
Monday, December 19, 2005
We normally don't do much recommending, but given we are trying to share info here and alot of our time is spent looking for the best service in the hosting area, I figured this was worth the post.
The hosting provider I have started using has just launched a sale (don't know for how long) that brings the price of a new domain name to $1.99! You have to buy some other non-domain service to get that rate, but if you get hosting or email or anything then you get the rate.
This even applies to transfers so I am probably going to move my own old domains over and tack on email.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Now that we have commented that link exchanges are not the way to go (at least not quickly) how can you add to your Search Engine Rank without them?
A truly powerful way to get the best of links is to create real content and make it available for distribution (and distribute it). If I write an article for a site that is in the same area as my site then I typically can put a link to my site in the author block at the end of the content. This is a one-way, content laden link. It requires some work for you to identify the sites in your space that accept content, for you to create the content and finally arrange for that content to be accepted and displayed with your link.
Think about it and you may help yourself immensely!
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Now that Google has redone their ranking algorithms there are some things to keep in mind relative to the old reciprocal links game. Namely it is important that you not add too many of these kinds of links too quickly, build them up gradually otherwise you will be identified by the search engines, as it will be seen as unnatural. If this happens than you might see your rankings in the search engines disappear instead of rising. A good way to start is keep the number of new links to less than 10 in one month. Friday, November 25, 2005
Alot of energy goes into making a website score well with search engines, but unless your goals are met upon the page loading you have to get the user to do more than just show up. There are many sites that have number one position that I visit in my Internet travels that I leave immediately. I didn't buy anything, I barely read anything because the page isn't usable or is just repulsive.
This isn't easy, but it is part of the task. Figure out what you want users to do and get them to do it with your design. The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is just the part that gets the chance to sell them.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
For years Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been characterized by the effort to trick the seach engines with shadow networks or the more benign practice of trading links. Google has implemented a new system called Jagger that now finally makes all this futile. We have finally arrived at the age where the ranking of a site will be based on that site's content and the quality of that content. If you want to get a high rank, start doing the real things that should improve your rank, namely publish relevant content, write articles with links back to your site, actually participate in online discussions about the topics you wish to be well ranked for...
This is actually good news (as you should be able to tell by my tone) since we are finally beyond the "get rich quick" mania that has been the mainstay of SEO since it's inception years ago during the Dot Com boom.
Write and encourage your community to write in your forums. Do the things that will make your site worth visiting and the traffic will come. A long hard road, but a fair one.
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