Bob Withers is a professional sales and marketing person with over twenty years in the field. He has turned his sights on internet marketing to apply his trade. If you want to get in touch with Bob please visit:
Free Internet Marketing Advice
The Top Five Social Media Websites Online Today
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Social Media sites are basically communities where like minded people gather to share information and experiences. They are viewed everyday by massive numbers of people and these same people actually generate the content for these sites. These sites are growing in importance because they contain information users find interesting, timely and informative and they are becoming a target for Internet Marketers who see them as an untapped reservoir of potential clients.
The top five Social Media websites in terms of Inbound Links, Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, and U.S. traffic data from Compete and Quantcast are lead by MySpace. MySpace is a popular social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos for people internationally.
It is one of the most successful sites in recent years, amassing 124 million profiles and has transformed life online since its launch. MySpace is one of the most visited sites in the world and it’s introducing a huge number of people to content syndication and they allow millions of people around the world to publish to the web for the first time.
It is by far the dominant social network in the US and is at an all time high in terms of audience reach and engagement according to both comScore and Neilsen. Coming in second is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is booming in terms of visitors and contributors. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, for the most part written by the masses and therefore should be viewed accordingly.
It is meant to be a starting point, a place to go for basic information and therefore it’s like any encyclopedia, a place to begin your research but not a place to end it. Wikipedia is full of information, but this doesn’t mean that it’s all reliable information. Wikipedia is a good example of the new Web 2.0 and is a fine first step to get the basics quickly, especially for technology and pop culture related questions.
It’s a wonderful resource if you use your own judgment and don’t always believe what you read. It is supported by a non-profit organization and exists to serve information in an open platform. Anyone can edit it and, of course, this opens it up for all the issues and inaccuracies that come with an open platform. However, Wikipedia is a wonderful resource and often provides excellent summaries and detailed articles.
In third place we have YouTube. YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. Founded in February 2005, and based in San Mateo, California, they specialize in showing short videos created by everyday people. YouTube is a consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience.
It is the most popular site to visit for viewing online videos, sharing your favorite videos and for commenting on what you’ve seen. A slightly newer feature of YouTube is the ability to send invitations to people through email by using the “Invite Your Friends” feature.
In fourth place we have Facebook. According to Wikipedia: “Facebook is a social networking website launched on February 4, 2004. The free-access website is privately owned and operated by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves.”
Finally, at number five we have Photobucket. Photobucket is a photo-sharing and hosting site owned by News Corp. Photobucket is a photo and video tool that could become an online warehouse for the storage of digital media.
It is the Web’s most popular creative focal point, with nearly 40 million unique users around the world linking billions of personal photos, graphics and videos daily to hundreds of thousands of websites. It’s a tool that allows users to host images for use on social networking, e-commerce, gaming and blogging sites.
These sites are all about shared experiences and are based on the technology of Web 2.0. Social media sites are where people come together online to interact, share experiences and make friends. When formulating your Social Media Marketing strategy these five sites are the ones to target in order to make your presence known in the social media network and to drive this traffic to your website. They are the new wave online and it’s a wave which doesn’t appear to be going out anytime soon.
SEO for google,bing and yahoo
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Ranking on one of these major search engines can be an intimidating task. Ranking on all three entails three different sets of rules and algorithms. It’s not impossible though, it just takes a little in-depth knowledge.
The end result of every search engine is the same. They all want their visitors to find the most relevant results they can by using their search mechanisms. How they get there however changes from search engine to search engine. Yet even these variations are limited.
To clarify the difference between Google, Bing and Yahoo, it is first necessary to understand each one individually, starting with Bing. It could be realistically said that it is easier to expect rankings on Bing first.
Bing for SEO
Bing demands a structured site that carries a distinct theme and provides many inbound links. Bing is fast to pick up and credits new content and incoming links. This is good news for SEO practitioners as it means with the right strategy it is possible to rank fairly quickly.
Bing requires a solid site that focuses on primary keywords, a good number of links and one that keeps their theme constant throughout. They don’t use aging delay methods and within a few months of concentrated SEO, one can start ranking highly for competitive keyword phrases.
Yahoo for SEO
Yahoo! also demands a solid size website along with unique content and a good amount of links. They have a type of page value factor which is similar to Google’s Page Rank. However Yahoo! do not say what the specifics of their page value is.
Yahoo! place importance on age links. Links don’t hold value for them until they are of a certain age. The time period is unknown. In order to rank on Yahoo! they require you have patience until your links age.
Google for SEO
It is the wish of most webmasters that they attain Google rankings. If you build a website that follows ethical practice, you will be ranked. But this will take longer than Bing and Yahoo! rankings due to their link age policy or rule.
The longer your links, domain and pages have been online the better your rankings. Google require constant linking and updated content.
Apart from that Google rankings follow the same rules set by Bing and Yahoo!
In conclusion
It follows logically that a new website should focus their SEO efforts on first Bing and on building good quality and relevant links. While you are gaining rankings on Bing it follows suit that your efforts will start attracting the attention both Yahoo! and Google.
Ranking well on all three search engines is not impossible. In fact it is possibly easier than you may think. It takes patience and time and analysis.
Researching what is required by each will help determine exactly what amount of weight should be focused on different areas. Tweaking your offerings as you go will ensure that your site is optimized for all three search engines.
To get latest SEO news register with http://www.softlogicorp.com community
To get latest SEO news register with http://www.softlogicorp.com community
Social Media Optimization Has Made the World a Smaller Place
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Socializing is known to be the best way to get the latest news and the hottest gossips on just about everything. So if it works for people there is no reason why a social media platform should not work for online sites on the web. Internet as we know it today is one of the biggest platforms for interaction and knowledge sharing. It is no wonder therefore that social media optimization is one of the most popular methods for enhancing the visibility of the site and giving it a higher ranking on the search engines. Search engine marketing firms often employ various methods of social media optimization for their online clients. The process involves carefully planned and laid out strategies that keep in mind the strengths and weaknesses of the client and are implemented accordingly.
Social media optimization is a method of generating publicity through online processes, communities and websites. The internet savvy people today frequent a number of websites that act as a social media optimization platform. The videos uploaded on sites like ‘you tube’ and the various sites offering blogging facilities, forums and discussion panels further enhance the effect of social media optimization. The social media optimization uses the technique of viral marketing to spread their word across the web. The main idea is to get people talking about a product, service or idea. The word of mouth then serves as the publicity vehicle thereby popularizing the website that is most talked about by the internet users. Social media optimization utilizes the techniques of social book marking, video and photo sharing and blogging.
The term social media optimization was coined by a person called Rohit Bhargava and he also suggested some guidelines as to how websites can reap the maximum benefits from social media optimization. The main emphasis is to be laid upon increasing the link-ability of the website and also encouraging the inbound links to the site in question. Social media optimization also stresses the need to make tagging and book marking of a site an easy process. Once a visitor to the site can easily book mark it and go back to it as and when required he is bound to achieve a comfort level with the website. This is in turn would make him recommend the website to other acquaintances thereby serving the inherent purpose of social media optimization. Social media optimization platforms also face the common problem of spam and this might cause inconvenience to a group of users. However the advantage in this scenario is that the users on a social media platform are usually active participants and hence they can easily delete and block the spam as and when it is placed. Some media platforms have specifications about qualifying matters into relevant data and spam and have taken precautionary measures to avoid influx of spam in the website. Social media optimization has reached a high level in recent times and the growing popularity of platforms like Facebook and Orkut show positive indications for this phenomenon. As the internet community becomes wider social media optimization is becoming a crucial tool for the websites across the globe.
Steve Waganer has specialization in Web Marketing. He is expert in Search engine optimization,Search engine marketing,Social media optimization.To get the SEO tips for your website to get high rank and top position in major search engines visit www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com
How to Optimize Your Website For Bing
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Now that new search engines like Bing are being talked about more readily, it’s clear that people want to know how to optimize for Microsoft’s latest introduction to search. Those who visit Bing will find that the site provides general search and a category search. Other than a large graphic, the search engine doesn’t appear to have a lot behind it. However, Microsoft has reported a more intelligent search engine and new search experience.
The question that website owners want answered is how the new engine produces results differently than the previous search engine and what optimization techniques should be used compared to those used for Google and Yahoo! I’ve done quite a bit of research on the subject and it appears that there are only a few factors that might influence Bing results compared to Google. The thing to keep in mind is that following SEO best practices will rule the day.
When looking at top ranked websites, an in depth analysis can be done to see which factors vary between top results. A recent comparison that I viewed showed that the number one ranking website on Bing was able to keep a leg up on the competition by having an older domain age, and having inbound links from websites that included the primary keyword in the referring site’s title tag. In short, the top web site was successful in building inbound links from other SEO sites and directories as opposed to being from unrelated websites.
What I find particularly interesting is that Bing is relying on many of the same factors that Google has been using from day one. The factor you should be most concerned with is inbound linking. Both search engines like inbound links. More importantly, they like relevant in bound links. Use this information to guide your SEO campaigns and determine which sites to target for link exchanges.
Organic search should be at the top of your list. If it is then you know where you need to focus, inbound linking. If you haven’t gotten on the organic rankings band wagon, then start with on page optimization. Once your site is formatted appropriately, start with off page optimization and link building.
The other place you want to focus is content. Quality content is vital. But trying to attract users with quality content alone is not enough to rank on top for competitive keywords. Make is easy for others to link to your content and give them a reason to do so. Add time to your daily efforts to acquire links from relevant and authoritative sites to increase your rankings and keep you on top of search engine results.
You may be asking yourself which search engine you should be optimizing your web site for. Based on what I’ve seen, I’m encouraged by preliminary Bing related findings. I believe that Bing is using many of the same factors that Google uses to evaluate a site’s relevance to a search query. As always, focus on white hat methods to optimize your site and follow SEO basics.
If you’re looking for a quick way to rank out on top for Bing, Google, or Yahoo! for that matter, consider leveraging existing websites that has some age, a number of inbound links from authority websites, and quality content.
Learn how to generate income from home using Bing Click Here For More Info More and more people are cashing on Bing very fast so Cash in on Bing
How To Get Free Web Design Advertising
November 18, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
If you are on a small budget there are a lot of free ways you can use on the Internet to advertise your business. Yes that is right! You don’t have to pay anything and they are the same solutions that companies pay thousands of dollars to do. So if you have some time, you can get ready to generate your own traffic for free!
Content
First of all you need to make sure your web design has the right content. Your content should be unique and interesting to your audience. Give people something they are interested learning something that will bring them back for more. Your text needs the right keywords repeated in a certain density. Only use about 1 keyword for every 100 words. This will help with search engines for your ranking. Do not repeat the same keywords too much. Search engine could see it as spam!
Blogging
Blogging is a great starting point for free. There are many of free services on the web that allow you to publish a blog. If you already have your business web site then you can work the web design with the blog so it is a part of your site. When you write a blog be sure it is related to your business, then includes as much inbound links possible to your website.
Press Releases
Press Releases are another way to promote for your business, writing press releases about upcoming events and other big happenings. This way you can get the word out and create hype about the business. Press releases can be sent to media outlets like newspapers, radio stations, news stations, and such.
Bookmarking
Bookmarking is a perfect way to bring more traffic to your site and get the word out about the fact that you exist. You can bookmark every single page on your website and this will ensure you get some traffic and will create a site rank.
Social Networking
The idea is that social networks like Linkedin , Myspace and Facebook are similar to search engines, where the goal is to ensure that the most relevant and interesting content bubbles up to the top. On sites like Digg it means having enough votes from the community to move your news article to their front page, while on a site like MySpace, your measure of popularity is all about how many friends you can get. if you build relationships with other community members. Even though becoming an active member on these sites will help you get more traffic to you website , it is a great strategy for promoting your own material.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many techniques you can use to get free advertising for your web presence, There is no reason to leave out any opportunity, however if you don’t have the time, it is highly recommended to ask for an search engine optimization (SEO) expert that understands well your business model.
Fox Web Creations is a full service kansas city web design, search engine optimization (SEO) , and email marketing firm located in Kansas City that is geared to help small, and large size companies succeed in their web business.
Search Engine Optimization or SEO
November 18, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is big business. If you rely on search engines to bring visitors to your business website, you need to rely on more than luck. Your business will lag far short of its potential unless your site is optimized and re-optimized for search engine results.
What is search engine optimization?
SEO is optimizing your website for search engines, acquiring inbound links, and monitoring your traffic and referring links to use them optimally. SEO is also studying and monitoring your competitors’ techniques.
The goal of SEO is to bring in targeted traffic that is organic, i.e., from search results. When people type in a keyword or phrase that you’ve optimized your site for, you want your site to appear on the first page, preferably high on that page. Good SEO results in increased traffic without the cost and time spent on advertising.
The SEO industry
Where there’s a need, there’s an industry ready to help you spend money on that need. SEO firms charge from a few hundred dollars up to six-figure amounts to optimize your site for search engines.
If paying thousands of dollars to an SEO firm isn’t in your budget, consider using SEO packages to optimize your site yourself.
A combination of SEO tools is needed to get the best results. The SEO packages described below offer a variety of tools to help you optimize your site for search engines.
SEO tools compared
While we’ve listed numerous features of each SEO tool, these comparisons are summaries only.
Internet Business Promoter (IBP)
Known for their link popularity tool ARELIS, IBP also produces a three-step suite of tools to help you promote your website:
1. Page optimization
* Generate, analyze, and edit keywords
* Optimize for the top 10 search engine rankings
* Optimize the title, link texts, and other parts of the web page
* Validate the HTML
* View the site via a spider simulator
2. Page promotion
* Submit your site to search engines and directories
* Search for sites that might add a link to your site
3. Results tracking
* Verify search engine positions automatically
Price: $179.95 or $349.95.
LinksManager
Links Manager is designed to help users manage reciprocal linking. It doesn’t require any software downloads, and current links pages can be imported into it. Some of its features:
Link organization and formatting
* Organize your links into multiple categories, subcategories, and “most popular links” lists
* Store the links on your own server
* Highlight newly added and featured links
Link management and tracking
* Remove dead links temporarily via a dead link checker
* Check whether or not reciprocal links at other sites exist
* Rotate links automatically
* Deny link submissions according to the criteria you set via a blacklist
* View the most popular keywords on your links pages
Price: $19.95 a month.
SEO Administrator
SEO Administrator automates website promotion with tools that can do these tasks:
Keywords and site visitors
* Track your site’s position for your keywords in over 30 search engines
* Report on the keyword weight and density of your site as well as of competitors’ sites
* Suggest keywords that are relevant to each page
* Analyze your site logs to find out about site visitors, keywords used, referrers, and more
Search engines and directories
* Check which pages at your site have been indexed by various search engines
* Check Google PR, the number of inbound links, and whether or not the site is listed in the DMOZ and Yahoo directories
* Show the automated descriptions that search engines display for your pages
Price: from $70 to $150, depending on the version.
SEO Elite
With SEO Elite, you can find out exactly what your competitors are doing and copy their strategies. You can find out about your competitors’ web pages:
* Keyword density and prominence
* Their h1 and h2 headings
* Their meta keywords
* Whether their site is listed in the Yahoo directory
* Which websites your competitors are advertising on
Concerning link partners and search engines, SEO Elite can:
* Find thousands of possible link partners
* Track details about pages with inbound links
* Check whether or not reciprocal links at other sites exist
* Indicate which of your pages search engines have indexed
* Keep a record of where your site is ranked for search terms
Price: $167.
SEOToolset
The focus of SEOToolset is to provide data to help with website promotion. The toolset includes:
Your website
* Keyword density analyzer
* Keyword selection tool
* Reports on rankings for keywords, page names, and indexed page counts
* Link partner finder
Search engines and directories
* Engine-specific keyword research
* Traffic checker for keywords
* DMOZ category selector
* Search engine submission tool
* Search engine ranking monitor
Your competition
* Keyword research summary
* Link analysis of inbound links to competitors’ websites
Price: $90.00 per quarter per site.
Web CEO
The 10 tools in the Web CEO package are designed to help you promote and maintain your website, improve search engine results, and analyze site visitors. A summary of these tools:
At your website
* Keyword research
* Website optimization
* Inbound link tracking
* WYSIWYG website editing and file uploading
* Link checking
* Website monitoring
* Stats analysis to track visitors, ad campaigns, transactions, and more
Search engines and competition
* URL submission to search engines
* Search engine rank checking
* Tracking who links to the competition
Price: $295 for one person. A free version is also available.
WebPosition
WebPosition, one of the oldest and most popular SEO tools, offers a five-step SEO process:
Determine your position in search engines
* Create search engine ranking reports
* Monitor your site’s placement in search engine results
Research and choose keywords
* Identify the most searched and least competitive keywords
Optimize your pages
* Compare your pages to those of top-performing sites and specific competitors
* Detect when your competitors’ pages have changed
* Be alerted to changes that could affect your site rankings
Design and submit your pages
* Use Page Builder and Upload Manager to design and maintain your site
* Submit your site to search engines with the Submitter tool
Analyze your results
* Track the correlation between search rankings and revenue
* Import top-performing keywords
Price: $149 or $349.
How to hire an SEO firm
If you’d prefer to hire an SEO firm instead, do your research. You’ll be spending a minimum of a few hundred dollars, more likely thousands of dollars for a medium-sized or larger website.
While many SEO firms are good at what they do, the field unfortunately has its share of scammers as well. They may tell you that a variety of tricks such as hidden text or cloaking will improve your site’s position in search engines. In reality, these techniques may get your site banned from search engines.
If you’re considering an SEO firm, ask how they measure success. Will your site hits be organic? Look at the sites of SEO firms’ clients and the site for the SEO firm itself. Do the sites rank well for keywords at these sites? The search engine results for relevant keywords will indicate how successful an SEO firm is.
Lowest Domain and Hosting Services from http://www.yoursdomain.com
Online Videos From http://www.ispcheck.com.pk
Lowest UK hosting http://www.theexalter.co.uk
Affordable hosting http://www.exaltersolutions.com
For More Info About Author Visit At :- Cheap
Domain And Cheap Hosting ! Free
Videos ! Pay Per
Clicks And Much More about Search Engines.
Domain And Cheap Hosting ! Free
Videos ! Pay Per
Clicks And Much More about Search Engines.
Getting Quality Inbound Links to Feed Your Seo Monster
November 17, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Getting quality one way links is the daily routine of many bloggers or webmasters who truly understands the importance of Search Engine Optimization. When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), winning the game is to have as many people link your site to theirs. Quality one way links that is.
Search engine optimization simply means to optimize both on-page and off-page factors so that your website or blog becomes search engine friendly, hence gaining a good position in your selected keyword listing. Numerous methods on optimization has been shared around and they range from legitimate ways like continually providing real content rich articles and resources so other webmaster can’t resist but to throw a link to the site to black hat tricks like link farming. Do note that Google can ban you for link farming and you can bid farewell to getting from Google, so please avoid this dirty trick.
As quoted from Google: A quality link to a site is equivalent to a vote for the site. The more links you have pointing to your site, the more votes you have in the eyes of Google. So, when Google sees that you have a good number of “votes” from other websites, your website gets a raise in position in the search engine listing for your particular keyword. But, what is a quality link? It is a link from a site that is relevant to your niche and preferably linked using your main keyword as the anchor text. For example, your selected keyword is “Make Money Online” and Website A links to your site’s content using the word “Make Money Online”, then you have a quality one way link.
In other words, a quality one-way inbound link is a treasure for SEO purpose.
So far, there are five effective ways to acquire inbound links:
1. Post real great content or articles on your site and wait for people to link to you automatically. This is the most common and polite way of getting inbound links. Be a resource to others or write something that interests people and nobody will hesitate to throw a link to your site.
2. Be active about commenting on blogs or helping others out in forums related to your niche. Once readers find that your information is helpful, they will visit your site, read the content and throw a link to you willingly.
3. Submit your websites or blogs to as many web/blog directories as possible. There are directories that can give you a one-way link for free. By doing this, you are also gaining maximum exposure for your website and there is a higher chance of reaching people who like your content.
4. Buying links from some high-ranking sites that are willing to sell their outbound links. Sites that are popular with PageRank or other search engine ranking systems use this extra capacity for extra income sometimes.
However, the drawback to this is that the sites are only mercenary, selling their sites for rent. You have no link-equity other than the amount of cash you shell out to keep on existing on their site. Search engines such as Google are actively trying to dampen these efforts as it degrades the relevance of their search engine results. In other words, Google is not very supportive about this and it could depreciate the value of your website or blog.
5. Be Generous, Distribute Content. Of all the strategies stated, this is a highly effective method of getting better quality, legitimate one-way links. You give other websites a reason to put a link on their sites to point in your direction.
The main idea is to keep your content fresh and updated constantly. Search engine optimization is not an overnight process, it is a constant battle that requires constant effort in building quality inbound links. The above are the exact methods I used to jump from unranked to PR3 after one month for my new blog. Just remember this tag line, “You have to keep doing it, so that you can keep doing it!”
Ben Pei, an aspiring internet entrepreneur, sets out to help others make money online by sharing online money making tools, tips and ideas with his blog community www.PeiProfit.com
Need more SEO tips? Visit my blog at PeiProfit.com to find out more!
Why Even A Single Unethical SEO Strategy Can Spell Disaster To An Internet Marketer
November 17, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Search Engines play a vital role in the success and failure of Internet Marketers and others who use the Internet for various businesses. Though a few search engines stand out above the rest, Google is by far the most popular and most sought after by about 50 % of the Internet community worldwide.
As an Online marketer it is prudent to remain in the good books of the search engines especially Google and implement the SEO Strategy Google loves and appreciates if you want to succeed in your business. Let us then identify the strategies Google dislikes or detests and avoid being penalized or blacklisted knowingly or unknowingly.
1. Avoid Keyword Stuffing:
Optimizing your content to the relevant keywords or phrases of your website is a SEO Strategy always appreciated by the search engines but do not use your keywords too often in the text to improve search engine ranking because this is considered unethical. Google frowns on this practice to obtain better search engine rank. Use your keywords judiciously.
2. Avoid Bad Neighborhoods:
Inbound links especially from theme related quality websites increase your link popularity and Improve Search Engine Ranking. The more such links the better. If on the other hand you have outbound links linking to other sites with a bad reputation, you will soon be penalized by the search engines and especially by Google. Your site will be removed from the index if detected to be linking excessively to a bad neighborhood to improve search engine ranking.
3. Avoid Link Farms:
These are pages in websites that contain a huge number of assorted links irrespective of theme or category built for the sole purpose of increasing the number of incoming links to a web site, a SEO strategy implemented by some. If there are more than one hundred links in a page, it is it is considered a link farm. Reciprocal links from these pages are of no value to you. It is better to avoid these rather than getting penalized by the major search engines. Moreover anything more than thirty links to a page will not be of much benefit to you.
4. Avoid Duplicate Content:
Search Engines love good unique content and fresh content.
Do not duplicate the same content in multiple pages. It has been observed that Google bans sites that duplicate a lot of content. Also do not violate copyright by copying content from other sites.
5. Avoid Irrelevant Meta Keywords:
Meta Keywords are what you use to inform the search engines the true Keywords that are in your content. Some webmasters use popular irrelevant keywords to trick the search engines. Do not list Keywords irrelevant to your site in your Meta Keywords. You will be found out and penalized for this unethical SEO strategy.
6. Avoid Doorway Pages:
Doorway pages are really Gateway pages optimized for a particular keyword but are gateways to a different page and content. These doorway pages have very little original content but redirect the visitor to the planned targeted website. Never trick the search engines by this strategy.
7. Avoid Hidden Text and Links:
This is done by inserting hidden texts and links that cannot be seen by the human eye but readable by the search engines. This SEO strategy is considered to be spam and your site will be penalized once discovered by the search engines.
Conclusion:
Adopting spamming techniques to Improve Search Engine Ranking might work for a short period but you are bound to be found out before long. The consequences of indulging in unethical SEO strategies and practices can be drastic and painful. Your site could even be banned, so play it straight if you want to succeed in the long term as an Internet Marketer.
Copyright © 2007 Kanaga Siva. Kanaga Siva is an experienced Author and Marketer. Welcome to visit his Website and Blog for Tips and Advice on Internet and Affiliate Marketing that can help you in your business carrier. http://www.business-fromhome.com ; http://business-fromhome.blogspot.com
How To Feed A Blog In Three Easy Steps
November 15, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
If your blog is really hungry for links, you need to feed it. Fortunately, blogs aren’t very picky eaters. All you need to do is spend some quality time thinking about creative ways to draw links to your blog. You don’t need to be a rich man to cook up these succulent link building ideas. All you need is to free your mind from its prison and open yourself to a multitude of fun strategies that will draw links to your website.
Why are links so important? Well, for one thing, the amount of you links you have will partially determine your search engine ranking. If you have a lot of links, especially inbound links, Google will rank you higher. In addition, links drive a huge amount of web traffic to websites. In fact, links are the largest way that websites receive traffic that they wouldn’t otherwise receive. Inbound links are particularly useful. An inbound link is when an external website links to your website without your reciprocation. Google considers these links to be very powerful, and they are often determinants in search engine ranking. Most search engine optimization companies stress the importance of links when they are advising clients.
So if you don’t feed your blog links, it will starve and die, just like a living being will starve if it doesn’t have food. You can either do link exchange, or go for inbound links. Remember that search engines will highly rank inbound links, and while they will value link exchanges, inbound links will always elevate your status with the search engine. However, it is also very important that the links are relevant to the content of your blog. That means that the link contains similar or pertinent information to that which is posted on your blog. Search engines give significant points to links that are relevant, whereas they don’t really pay much attention to irrelevant links.
In other words, you have to whatever you can to secure inbound links. This means you have to be profoundly creative, because it’s not easy to get these links. But take a look at these three steps which can help you gain inbound links.
1. The Maverick Strategy
The Maverick strategy is a very effective way to gain inbound links. Here’s what you do. Get online to one of your favorite blogs and read up on the conversation that is occurring there. Surely one of those pompous bloggers who thinks he knows it all is making a comment about some current event. In fact, since people are sheep, there’s probably a whole boatload of morons who are following the opinion of one person. Here’s what you do.
Carefully research and study the subject matter. Ideally, it should be a subject you are already familiar with. Then write a scathing, but respectful diatribe against the opinion of the status quo. This way, you will set yourself apart from the crowd. What will result is an influx of inbound links. People take notice when someone stands for something different. You really should believe in what you say, because you should stand for your principles. That’s why this strategy works when you find a blog that you disagree with. “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights” -Bob Marley.
2. The Maven Strategy
If you’re an expert in a certain field or sector, you can share your knowledge and become the local blogosphere expert. You must possess intricate knowledge about the subject matter so that you are the most knowledgeable person writing about the subject. If you truly know as much as you think and you write about it, people will flock to your site. This is another great way to get inbound links.
3. The Comedy Strategy
One thing that the Internet is lacking is quality humor. If you’ve got a good sense of humor and you know how to make people laugh, you will surely gain a wealth of admirers. Just be yourself and write what you feel. Honesty makes people laugh, especially uncomfortable honesty. This is probably one of the best ways you can attract visitors to your web site. Remember, everyone loves to laugh.
You can employ any number of these strategies to increase web traffic and feed your blog. You will feed it a great, whole meal if you use these strategies, and you’ll enjoy a huge amount of visitors.
Moe Tamani is an Internet Marketing Services consultant specializing in Natural Search Engine optimization.
-
FOR SALE
6 Reasons To Avoid The Social Media News Release Part I
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
The Social Media News Release is a template available for the sole purpose of incorporating social media and multimedia into press releases. And while it may sound like an absolutely ingenious idea, it probably is not the best use of time and money for your business. Here are 6 reasons why using a SMNR may be one of the biggest mistakes you are making.
1. People Do not Read Them. Let s face it, this is not the best way to get your information out to the general public. The number of people who actually view releases on news release websites is quite small. There are better ways to reach your potential customers that are not nearly as expensive or time-consuming.
2. They are Expensive. The optimal use of an SMNR is to send a Social Media News Release with Multimedia, and It is expensive. Even a limited distribution will cost you hundreds of dollars at minimum. Compare this to the cost of writing a blog, which will also allow you to include images and video. The blog is far cheaper and gives you a much higher return on your investment.
3. There is No Critical Mass. One of the most important aspects of marketing with social media is that you can gather a huge number of like-minded or like-interested people in the same place. If you use an SMNR to send your information out to 500 websites, you may only get one or two comments on each website. If that is the case then your interested parties are not talking to each other, which defeats the purpose of social media marketing. Not to mention the time and tedium involved in responding to comments on each of the 500 websites to which your release was sent. Consider instead how you might get those 500 commenters to have a conversation with each other.
4. They Do not Help Your SEO. The whole point of news releases in general is to get inbound links to your site. And while SMNRs contain links, those links are not optimized and generally link to resources other than your website. Use the online Press Release Grader to see how your SMNR release stands up. You will most likely find that you have too many links, and that diminishes the effectiveness of your release greatly.
5. They Do not Help You Reach Your Goals. The whole point of marketing your business is to get people to come to your website and get them to buy your products. So why would you spend money to put your information on another website? We have already noted that SMNRs generally do not result in optimal links to your site, so there is really no sense in using them for that purpose.
6. They Do not Allow You to Use Your Own Mutlimedia Accounts. Did you know that if you want to include a video in your SMNR then you have to upload that video to the news release service s YouTube account? That is right! Never mind that you have already uploaded the video to your own account; now you have to upload it to theirs as well. This means that your video is sitting in an account with thousands of other videos that are not at all related to your product or service. So if a potential customer actually finds your videos and wants to see more from your business, he has to search a lot harder than if all of your videos were lumped together in your account. Another problem is similar to the one we mentioned in #3. The comments left on the new release service s account are separate from the ones left on your account, so your commenters do not have the opportunity to interact with one another. And you have to visit your video in both places to respond to all of the comments.
You are much better off simply creating your own release, without images or video, and sending it over the wire, specially if you do not have the know-how to optimize them. Save the really cool release for your own website where you have control over what happens to it. You will save time and money, and the results will be greatly beneficial.
Filed under Social Media · Tagged with Avoid, Commenters, Critical Mass, Images, Inbound Links, Ingenious Idea, Interested Parties, Marketing Social, Media, Media Marketing, Media News, Multimedia, News, News Release, News Releases, part, People, Press Releases, Reasons, Release, Seo, Social, Social Marketing, Sole Purpose, Tedium, Time And Money, Use Of Time