The Website Insider.

Lotro comic

2009-02-06T14:22:00.003Z

Lotro comic

2009-02-06T14:22:00.001Z

Looking closer at page rankings (2)

2007-06-16T13:22:00.000+01:00

Well, I have updated the page and think it is fairly improved!
here is the old page: old page
and here is the new and improved page :New page
Not a lot of difference to the naked eye, a bit wordier and more references to the topic but no major changes.
Most of the changes are in the html or "off page"
I am confident now that the new page will perform better than the old one, now just the rest of the site to do and I`ll be optimized!

Wish me luck!

Looking closer at page rankings

2007-06-15T11:14:00.000+01:00

Whilst looking for link partners, I was searching through google, when I decided to see where one of my pages ranked.
One of the reasons i started my chocolate website is because of chocolate strawberries! so I checked the position of my page about Chocolate strawberries
The first search I did, was for the title of the page "Chocolate recipes- chocolate covered strawberries" Here is why my website isn't performing so great - 354 ranking on google, ie page 35!
My second search was more specific and more likely to be typed by a curious googler somewhere, simply "Chocolate covered strawberries"
If I wanted to know more about this topic, that's what I would type into a search engine.
My page ranking? 0, zip, nada, nothing....

The Solution

So I went to the high ranking pages on this same chocolatey topic and had a look. Whereas my page has fairly general keywords that cover my entire chocolate site, the high ranking sites, only referenced exactly what was on the page! Seems obvious now, but how many people make the same mistake?

So these are the areas that I am going to target for optimization:

Title

keywords

description

comments

Headings

bold and underlined text

body text

alt texts

I`m going to make sure that each of these areas contains reference to my topic, precisely.
Once I have updated the page and google has reindexed it, I will see if it performs any better on my searches, because if I can find it, so can someone else!!

Any advice or Comments welcome!

wish me luck

Reciprocal Linking - Give And You Shall Receive

2007-06-14T12:39:00.000+01:00

Reciprocal Linking - Give And You Shall Receive

Author: Neil Ebsworth

I think it is a given that the route to search engine placement lies in your link popularity.
The Page 1 of Google spot that we all desire, will depend on the number of links pointing at your site with the requisite anchor text matching the keywords for the term that you want to be found under.

The talk is all about how to achieve the thousands of links that it is becoming increasingly necessary to have so as to attain the heights of a competitive keyword placement.

Many voices decry the oldest and most used form of attaining links; reciprocal linking.
The practice of, I will link to you if you link to me, has been devalued by many, (especially the one-way link brokers who would much prefer you pay for your links).

Well I am adding my voice against the tide of sceptics to say that reciprocal linking does work. There is, however, a right way and a wrong way to do it.

The fact is, that when Google envisaged the link popularity route to search result placement, I am sure they didn't think they would end up spidering and caching millions upon millions of webpages of irrelevant links pages.

It must take up an awful lot of time and space to sift through the computer manufactured pages of irrelevant directories that place links three or four clicks away from a homepage. These link pages are destined never to receive pagerank and offer no real value to your site.

The key to good quality reciprocal links lies in relevance and value.

As a new website with no page rank this may seem a daunting task. Increasingly you come across sites that will only offer a link exchange if you have a Pagerank of 3 or higher.

The way to combat this is to give value in other ways. The saying 'Give and ye shall receive' certainly holds true when it comes to reciprocal linking.

So how does a new site give value?

1. Make your resources pages relevant.

When you are designing the main pages of your website, great care is taken with the factors that determine your search engine placement.

The title, meta description, url and content are all important.
So why is it that you see so many websites with a resources or links page with these factors ignored.
If you want to gain a link from a site dealing with 'Spanish property' for instance. Which of these two options would you think might gain a positive response.

Site 1
Page Title: Links Resources
Content: None,(apart from a form to fill out for reciprocal linking)
URL: xyz.co/links.htm

Or

Site 2

Page Title: Spanish Property Resources
Content: Welcome to xyz.co's Spanish Property Resource page. We have listed below sites that are relevant to the Spanish Property Industry. Although we take no responsibility for their content we have
vetted them to ensure they contain information you may find relevant to the Spanish Property market.

URL: xyz.co/spanish-property-resources

I hope the point is made.
Some other points to also note;
Keep your links pages no more than 2 clicks from your homepage.
Target associated industries in the same way as above.
Don't be afraid to offer a homepage link to obtain a good PR ranked page link. Doing this offers the mature site the potential for future value and should receive a favorable response.
Reciprocal linking DOES work. I took a new site to a PR6, Page 1 on Google for major keywords using quality reciprocal linking as the base in just 11 months. There are a few other things you will need to do to emulate this feat, but get your reciprocal linking right and you will be off to a good start.

Source: Submit Articles at ArticlesBase.com

About the Author:
Neil Ebsworth is co-founder of AMLASpain. The Spanish Property MLS. and SEO real estate Services Company

Top 5 SEO Mistakes

2007-06-14T12:37:00.000+01:00

Top 5 SEO Mistakes

Author: Vanessa Arellano Doctor

Search engine optimization is one of the best tools that most Web business owners can utilize in order to be able to make the most out of their business online. Unfortunately, not a lot of website or Web business owners know enough about SEO and what it can do to help them and their business.

If they are able to utilize SEO properly, then they will be able to increase their website traffic, and at the same time improve their sales, giving website owners the advantage over their competition online. Since not all of these Web business owners possess the knowledge of what search engine optimization is all about, and its possible benefits to their online business, they sometimes commit a few mistakes in their attempts to utilize such a program for their advantage.

One of the mistakes that Web business owners often commit is that they spend too much time on the design of their website, and not enough time on the content. Keep in mind that the content of your website is more important than the design, which is why people who invest too much money on site designs primarily instead of focusing on its content will only end up wasting it since this will only bring in a few people to visit their website. Instead, try to invest in copywriting initially, and only spend money on the site design later on.

Web business owners sometimes forget the importance of great content, and how they should create fresh content. Doing so will greatly benefit their online business since search engines will reward websites that offer fresh content to their visitors, regardless of its format. Some Web business owners tend to overlook this aspect, and they do not implement this in their websites, causing their website to not generate the desired amount of traffic. However, online business owners should not do this if they are only aiming to improve their search engine ranking. One way that they can improve their SEO ranking is by posting blogs or forums that its visitors can use and interact with other users, making them come back for more later on, thereby increasing the generated traffic. This is only possible, however, if the owners add a blog that contains something that can interest their site’s visitors.

This is where our third mistake comes in. There are some Web business owners who do not bother to offer something unique, especially in their site’s content. If you are able to properly optimize your site by offering something unique and interesting to your targeted market, then your site can greatly benefit from the improvement in search engine results since people will be linking to your site through different mediums such as blogs and forums, creating more inbound links later on.

Another mistake that online business owners commit is their use of inappropriate keyword phrases. It is important to remember that in order to be able to optimize the search engine result of your website, you need to make sure that you pick the appropriate keyword phrases, especially if you are only a small or mid-sized company. You should use the keywords that your potential customers may use in their search in the Web, and such keywords should be used in specific areas of your webpage.

Lastly, Web business owners sometimes do not label their links and images descriptively, making it very difficult for their visitors to know what they are being directed to. Being descriptive as possible not only helps visitors, but it can also help online businesses, especially those trying to market a particular product since Web business owners can use their main keywords and phrases in their link and image labeling, making it easier for them to direct potential customers to their site.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor

http://jump2top.com

Source: Submit Articles at ArticlesBase.com

About the Author:
Vanessa Arellano Doctor from Jump2Top - SEO Company

To Get your Website Visibility in the Crowd

2007-06-14T12:33:00.000+01:00

To Get your Website Visibility in the Crowd

Author: Wain Roy

With everything around going ‘online’, the new Internet buzzword has become ‘visibility’. Every big and small business today is trying to get their feet well-grounded in this fast online space. Starting a business online is much simpler than doing the same offline. That explains why one in fifty people is likely to have an online business. This is where the competitive factor pitches in. Huge competition keeps every business on their toes to get to the forefront and attract maximum visitors.

The task of getting visibility in the crowd begins with promotion and branding. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) takes care of this. Most internet-based companies today have realized the immense need of proper SEO strategies to promote their websites. Rest assured, creating a web presence is harder than what you have probably thought it to be.

Sometimes, beginners conclude that a self-study of the free web resources would hit the nail on the head. Though these are good starters, they aren’t everything. The real results can be savored only after careful consideration, prudent understanding and skilled optimization strategies, which are often missing in the free web resources (that surely justifies why they are free, anyway!). Realize: SEO details and success factors do not come free. This is where one would stop to consider going for SEO consulting services that would complement the self-study or refine the process all over again.

As organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a time-taking affair and requires persistent effort, many companies (both large- and small-scale) are turning to SEO consultation services today. There are SEO firms and online SEO service providers who can be hired to optimize your site and get the best Search Engine ranks. The Seattle SEO services, for instance, are quite popular and offer all types of services from website designing, relevant content creation to keyword research, link building, advertising, PPC research and more. For these they usually charge a fair setup fee and a fixed monthly charge. This has been proved to be cheaper and more convenient than hiring some full-time in-house SEO employee.

It’s true that many business-makers wrongfully think that having an in-house SEO would provide them more control on the optimization process. But they fail to factor in this that SEO is no child’s play and it requires collective, team effort for days on end to yield results. An SEO specialist would have to be a multi-tasking pro, performing all the tasks of search engine optimization from writing, programming, developing meta-template solutions to keeping track of the search engine algorithms and more. As a single individual working normal hours would find it extremely demanding and stressful to show efficiency, it’s best to go for well-established SEO firms if you are to achieve the desired visibility.

Source: Submit Articles at ArticlesBase.com

About the Author:
Wain Roy is organic SEO expert worked upon websites like real estate, web design, finance, medical tourism, etc.

Improve your website rankings!

2007-06-14T10:40:00.000+01:00

Ok last night, when I was supposed to be checking out potential link partners, our internet connection went down! Typical.

I have spent 10 mins searching this morning and located the article which follows. Its worth a read.

How To Increase traffic and get a better rank on Google

By Tony Farrell

You have a business you want to promote. You’re looking for more traffic to your web site. But, how do you get that traffic and how do you get it for nothing?

Here’s a technique I use to increase web site traffic and get a better rank on Google. But, you need your own web site first. This won’t work for your otherwise.

Having said that, even if you don’t own a web site you should follow some of the steps here. The reason will become very clear nearer the end of this email.

What you are doing is researching for sites with a Google page rank of at least 4 and upwards that are relevant to the content of your site. Then link with them and have them link back to you.

To do this set up another page on your site for the purpose of including good quality links from other relevant sites.

Here's how to do it...

1. Download Alexa Toolbar and install it on your computer. Get it here: (http://download.alexa.com/index.cgi?p=Dest_W_b_40_T1)

2. Download Goole Toolbar and install it on your computer. Get it here: (http://toolbar.google.com/)

3. Create a "Spreadsheet" using "Excel" and create a colum for each of the following...

URL, Contact Email, Owner's Name, Alexa Link Popularity, Google Rank, Contact 1, Contact 2, Contact 3, Link Accepted.

4. Go to Google Search Engine and key in a relevant keyword to your niche site.

5. When the results come up, go to each site (including the Google Ads that may come along with it)

6. Upon arriving at each site the first thing to check for is the Alexa Traffic Rank that shows up on your Alexa Toolbar. Aim for a traffic rank of 100,000 or less. Anything more than 100,000 leave the site and look for another one.

7. Next, look for the Google Page Rank. Aim for a PR (Page Rank) of "4" or more. Less than this leave the site and look for another one.

8. If you are happy with the Page Rank on Google and the Traffic Rank on Alexa, then place all relevant details on the spreadsheet you've created. Then move onto the next site.

9. Do this until you are satisfied with the number of possible contacts. You probably should aim to get 5 - 10 sites a day. Keep this up until you have reached the desired number of links you want on your page.

10. Set up a page on your own site and call it something like "Partner Links".

11. Now you need to put a link to their site from your niche mini site. Grab a bit of text from their site and place it in your "Partner Links" page. Then turn that text into a link to their site.

12. Email each web site owner letting the know who you are and that you placed a link to their site from your site. Then request that they link back to you. If they don't then just take their link down.

13. When you contact the web site owner, just place the date of contact on you spreadsheet under the colum "Contact 1". Any other contacts should be placed on the other "Contact" colums.

14. Whether a link has been accepted or not, just place a "Y" (for YES) or a "N" (for NO) in the colum entitled "Link Accepted".

That's it. I have done this for my site and am starting to see an better rank on Alexa and beginning to increase my PR rank on Google.

The thing with this method of getting a better rank on Google is that it's very time consuming and requires persistence on a daily basis. But it will work. Also, don't expect a positive response from every web site owner. Most likely you'll get more rejections than acceptances. Just carry on regardless.

The other thing is that you should ensure that you look for a Traffic Ranking of 100,000 or less on Alexa. This means that you are looking for high traffic web sites. This means a better chance of people clicking on your site. It only makes sense.

Also, you don't need millions of links from just any site to gain a better rank in Google. You need good quality links and this is a good method to do this. That's why I suggest looking for sites that have a Google PR rank of "4" or higher.

Remember I said that even if you don’t have a web site you should follow some of the steps here? Well here’s why...

The sites that have accepted your links are your future "Potential JV Partners". They're your number one contact names for Joint Ventures. They're the first people you contact with your offers for their customers and subscribers.

As you've done the research, don't just let all that work just sit there once you've created your link exchanges. You've just started a relationship with those people and you should make use of that opportunity. Even contact those who have not accepted a link to your site. Treat them as secondary contacts for Joint Venture purposes.

Just get crackin’ on this immediately.

© eBookToSuccess.com. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Tony Farrell specializes in initiating successful start up of new businesses while providing internet marketing training through his ezine and email course. His course is a 10-part email sent every other day. Subscribe with a blamk email to mailto:ims@goldbar.net or visit: (http://www.ebooktosuccess.com)

The Basics

2007-06-13T18:55:00.000+01:00

Ok here are some raw numbers :

The Home improvement website average about 10 visitors per day. Not great! It is early days and a few ideas for link swaps spring to mind. Using google Toolbar I can see how great google thinks a website is. When I find a website with similar content to mine that google thinks is worth it I will write down the URL, then later i can email the site owner and ask for a link exchange.
My other website Chocolate recipes is doing even worse! only 6 hits per day on average.
Its going to take a bit of work to get these guys up the rankings, but thats what this website is for.
SO tonights mission is to find some link-worthy websites and send them a polite email!

Wish me luck!

If you have any ideas or suggestions please email me or comment on this post! thanks!

WELCOME!

2007-06-13T17:34:00.001+01:00

Hi there and welcome to my newly opened website!
This is mainly to chart the progress of my websites and to discuss various techniques to improve website visibility.

My first website is Home improvements

and my secondary site is for chocolate recipes

They are both only 4 weeks old and are in need of some rankings boosting, but i think with time and some nurturing, i could soon have a valuable stream of visitors.
This Blog is where i will describe each step that I have taken (ie link exchange requests, url submission etc) and the results that have been noticed by me.

thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again!

For a more personal view of life in our house check out the underhill Journal