Archive for August 22nd, 2006
A Nurtured Weblog and The Back Door Effect
by: Ryan Lawrence
Last week, I found myself involved in a very familiar conversation. The owner of an online music download company wanted to know more about “those weblog things” and if he should try to incorporate one into his web site. Like many in his position, when he first heard the term blog, he chalked it up to a passing fad or something his thirteen-year-old daughter might be interested in. But, soon even he could not ignore the buzz and his curiosity peaked.
“I sort of know what a blog is,” said the site owner; “But, I don’t see what an online journal can do for my music download web site.”
This site owner is not alone in his confusion over weblogs. Most business people are still just learning the power of weblogs and how vital they are becoming to online business. There are many benefits to having and maintaining a weblog, and if you want to know them all, you should have little trouble finding resources to educate you.
Today, however, I would like to focus on a single often overlooked beneficial aspect of having a weblog. It is what I like to call the “back door effect,” and it relates to the boost a weblog can have on your site with pagerank and general overall rankings in search engines.
The back door effect works like this: let’s say your main web site, the site where you want visitors to go, is mainsite.com. Your ranking for your particular keyword or words in search engines will depend on a great many variables. But, two of the most important variables can be boosted by having a weblog that links back to your main page. These two variables are pagerank and quality related inbound links. If you’re still in the dark about pagerank, check out this article by Ian Rogers, http://www.iprcom.com/papers/pagerank/.
The best way to use a weblog to boost your search engine rankings is to nurture that weblog by updating it regularly with information worthy of syndication (RSS Feeds) and by getting your weblog listed in directories that rank high in pagerank, like this one, http://www.highclassblogs.com. It, like many of the blog directories, contains several different categories, so finding one that fits your particular site should not be difficult.
Study up on how pagerank works and why quality related inbound links are important to your search engine rankings. Once you understand how important these facets are, you’ll see how a well-nurtured weblog can transfer ranking power to your main site through the back door.
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About The Author
Ryan Lawrence has designed and optimized web sites for twelve years. He writes based on his many experiences with site owners from many different genres.
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Permanent link to this post (461 words, estimated 1:51 reading time)
August 22nd, 2006
A few days ago, I was setting up my latest Google AdWords campaign. My brother was watching me work through the process, and he asked me:
“Why do you put quotation marks and square brackets around some keywords?”
I was a bit surprised to realise that I couldn’t actually answer him - not in any definite way, at least. So, I set to work finding out what the matching options mean, and how they affect results.
(545 words, estimated reading time: 2:11 ) read the full post...
August 22nd, 2006
So you have a site concept developed that you are ready to start writing great content for.
So what’s the next step?
It’s time to develop your ” master keyword list ” which you will use to craft your WebPages. These are the words or phrases you would like to get ranked high in the search engine’s for and get the free targeted traffic that this will bring to your website.
(1256 words, estimated reading time: 5:01 ) read the full post...
August 22nd, 2006
If you are the owner of a new website, trying to get a decent ranking from the mighty google, you will no doubt answer with a resounding, NO! Recent findings indicate that Google’s algorithm has an ageing filter, which put in simple terms, makes it harder for a new webmaster to get high ranking in the SERP’s, in the short term at least. So does this mean google favours established sites over new ones?
(582 words, estimated reading time: 2:20 ) read the full post...
August 22nd, 2006
Pay Per Click Optimisation: Pay Per Click Vs Natural Listings
by: David Touri
So which is the better option, pay per click listings or working towards strong natural listings? This answer depends on you and what you want to achieve in the long run. From my point of view, I would look at using both methods of optimisation with a technique that changes as time progresses. Let me explain
For those who are not quiet sure what pay per click listings are, they are the listings that appear before all the natural search results for a particular search. To appear in those positions, a set amount must be paid for each time a user clicks on your link. For the website owners who have just built a new website or have a very low search engine visibility, ppc is a great option to get your website indexed and to start receiving quality traffic, provided you have the necessary funds to cater for all the clicks. Daily budgets can be set so you do not overspend on your ppc account.
What about achieving a strong presence in the natural listings? This is a very important point not to overlook. The most obvious reason being is you do not have to pay for each time someone clicks on your link. Pay per click is the fast and easy option however, over a long period of time the amount of money spent can add up to a large sum. So it would be very wise to take on search engine optimisation for your website to achieve those strong natural listings.
As time progresses and your website starts to built a strong reputation within the search engines, pay per click optimisation spends can be cut for the keyword phrases where you are at the top of the competition. If you are satisfied with your incoming traffic from the natural listings, then pay per click optimisation can be stopped completely. In my opinion, I would recommend to continue running ppc listings for those keyword phrases where a strong presence has yet to be made in the natural listings.
To recap, until a strong search engine presence is made in the natural listings, pay per click optimisation is strongly recommended. As time progresses and your website gains more popularity within the search engines, ppc optimisation spends should be reduced or can be stopped. At this stage, your focus will be primarily on keeping your natural listings at the top of the competition and seeing that it has all paid off in the end.
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About The Author
David Touri is a search engine optimisation specialist working for SEO Sydney. He has worked on many projects and offers pay per click optimisation & bid management services to companies in Australia. For further information, please visit http://www.seosydney.com.au.
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Permanent link to this post (469 words, estimated 1:53 reading time)
August 22nd, 2006
Doing Your Market Research Online
by: Norio De Sousa
Success on the internet depends a lot on what you know about your target market before starting! If you want to make money on the ‘net, you’ve got to be prepared to do some market research online!
It’s important for you to know…
- How many people are looking for your product or service and…
- How many companies are supplying that same product or service
These numbers give you an idea of how much money you can make with your concept.
The number of people looking for your product or service is called the “demand”.
The number of companies offering a product or service similar to yours is called the “supply”.
If demand is 1000 and supply is 500, you’ve found yourself a market 
Supply and Demand on the Internet
The internet works a little differently to the “offline world”…
Supply is the number of people searching for information on your product or service, while demand is the number of web sites providing that info.
Got that? No? Let me elaborate…
..If 1000 people are searching for “golf clubs”, that really means that 1000 people are searching for information on golf clubs.
By the same token, if 500 web sites are supplying “golf clubs”, they’re really supplying information on golf clubs.
Information is the key word there. If your web site doesn’t provide valuable information on a particular subject, it might as well not exist!
That’s the key difference between offline marketing and online marketing. You’re not marketing products, you’re marketing…
I.N.F.O.R.M.A.T.I.O.N !
To help you understand why that’s the case, here’s a simple but true quote…
“Most people use the internet to research their next buy.”
If you’re providing the info they’re looking for, they’re a lot more likely to trust you with their money.
But you’ve got to be willing to put the work into it in the beginning. If no one’s searching for your content, or there are too many sites supplying that info - you’ve lost before you’ve even begun!
I hope that, by now, you’ve started to realise just how important it is to do your market research online first. There really is no point in starting a site that no one’s looking for - so make sure you do proper markert research online.
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About The Author
Norio is a young South African entrepreneur that enjoys teaching others the things he has learnt to make running his business easy & profitable. He runs a web site teaching people how to creat web sites for free at: http://www.free-websites-from-scratch.com.
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Permanent link to this post (431 words, estimated 1:43 reading time)
August 22nd, 2006
A synopsis of Philippa Gamse’s Presentation to the National Speakers Association, Washington DC chapter on Saturday, January 10, 2004
Someone had asked Philippa why Websites are such a ‘pain’ in a pre-seminar question. Her opening reply was simple, yet powerful, “when you stop improving your site, you stop growing.” She believes that Websites are a work in progress much like a business plan or one’s own self-improvement. In fact, the first question you should ask yourself about your own Website is, “What does it really do for people?”
(602 words, estimated reading time: 2:24 ) read the full post...
August 22nd, 2006
In my earlier article, "Online Network Marketing 101A", I wrote the first three things that you have to do in order for you to start your career to be a successful marketer.
We are going to about some of the actions that you can do to enhance your experience of being a successful marketer.
Here are some keywords that you ought to have written down from the previous articles.
o Learn
o Practice
o Be Creative
o Take Action
(1050 words, estimated reading time: 4:12 ) read the full post...
August 22nd, 2006
With Billions of pages on the internet how do you find exactly what is that you are looking for? Chances are you have stumbled across different search engines, and maybe even used and tried out a few of them.
Aside from look and feel which search engine really is the best? It used to be that Google’s search results were far superior to any other search engine on the internet. With an increase in technology by Google’s closest competitor’s Yahoo and Msn, it’s getting harder and harder to really sort through and say which one is really better.
(566 words, estimated reading time: 2:16 ) read the full post...
August 22nd, 2006
The most important thing you can do for your business and your website is develop relevant keywords that are not too competitive yet generate targeted traffic to your website.
It’s called keyword optimization. Why is it important?
Because Keywords and keyword phrases do a couple of things for you:
- With the right keywords, you will attract the viewers most interested in the items or services on your site.
(679 words, estimated reading time: 2:43 ) read the full post...
August 22nd, 2006
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