Internet Marketing – The Money and Traffic Is In The Images

Posted by JR in Blog Promotion, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Web Site Traffic, Webmaster/Website Optimization

For most Internet marketing endeavors there are two main subjects of great interest, SEO and traffic and images are powerful tools for both of those goals.

1. They are really good for the look of the site design, look and enhance the visitor experience, especially with product guides and tutorials of any kind.

2. They are great for on-site SEO because they add keyword relevancy via image alt tags and this includes any header graphics for site-wide keyword relevancy.

3. They can also bring you lots of website traffic and money.

Search engines cannot read images you must use alt tags for descriptions, which should be keyword relevant to the page. By the way, it is blackhat to give inaccurate descriptions for the purpose of SEO trickery in the Alt Tags.

Image HTML Code:

Link Image to URL code:

The above code is for images that are hosted on your servers. With Wordpress you can upload images directly from your computer via the Browser Uploader and the Title area in the Image dashboard is the Alt Tag.

The Traffic Connection via Images

The best benefit of images is traffic. Google often shows image results when people search particular keywords.

Lately I think they must really be doing more of this than before because I have 3 new sites that have been getting a lot of traffic from Google Images and its converting to sales.

To make sure my images show up in correct keyword search results I name the image file in detail, for example:

SonyEricsonMobilePhone.jpg
SonyEricson350.jpg

And, I also make sure the Alt Tag is there with the correct descriptive words.

I launched a new site last week and within 4 days I had something like 2,000 visitors all coming via Google Images and 6 sales and that is pretty good for a new site. I think this is especially good for shopping sites that use product images.

What I like to do is place at least 2-3 images on my content pages that are related to the topic of that page. They really make the content pages look better and more professional, especially with guide type pages.

I also make sure to have several images on my home pages like around the welcome message, that is a great place to provide keyword relevace for the sitewide keywords.

28 Comments

Title Tags vs. Anchor Text – Link Attributes

Posted by JR in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Link Building, Search Engine Optimization, Webmaster/Website Optimization, Website Tools

A reader emailed me and asked for some advice about internal links:

“link titles” – that extra fill-in-the-blank box when entering a link in a post? Is there any value or is it just something nifty for the reader to mouse over?”

First, he is referring to Internal Links that are links back to your own home page and sub pages within your site’s content with the keywords you are targeting and want to rank for in the anchor text. Learn more at: The importance of Internal Link Building for On-Site SEO.

Purpose of Internal Links and
Title Tag vs. Anchor Text

1. Internal links are good for SEO. But, for SEO purposes the title tag is useless, the keyword anchor text is key to relate the page you’re linking to for the keyword you want it to rank for.

2. Improve Bounce Rate. Internal linking improves bounce rate (the rate at which visitors leave your site) and gives readers more stuff to browse on the site thereby keeping them there longer. The Title Tag, which shows up when the reader mouses over the link, is used for this purpose and is crucial to captivate reader interest and get them to read the contents of those links.

So, for example, while the anchor text (the keyword I want that page to rank for) may be Website Traffic, the Title will show more detail about the link, such as “Website Traffic that Converts are You Missing Out?”

Also, it is irritating to read a page and see internal links and not have any clue what is there, it is always good to give your readers a sneak peek.

Title Tag Code

Most softwares, including Wordpress have a fill in box within the add link area for the title and then it will automatically code in HTML, but here is how the code looks:

<a title=”Sneak Peek” href=”http://domain.com/”>Anchor Keyword</a>

Here is how it looks live with the title tag appearing with a mouseover:

No-Follow/Do-Follow Link Attribute

In Wordpress and most website software links created within text are automatically Do-Follow. For Google, when links are Do-Follow you are passing page rank juice to the url in the link and in essence giving it a vote of confidence helping their SEO efforts vs. No-Follow simply means that Google will not follow the link nor assign any rank to it based on your link juice to them.

When to add No-Follow:

For internal links you always want to pass your own internal page rank, also for reciprocal links and other sites that you may want to give a Google strong backlink to.

But, in reality there are several links that you may not want to do-follow and those need to be set manually as no-follow.

Examples for No-Follow:
Affiliate Links (should always be no-follow)
Authority/Reference sites cited to support content
Referral sites provided for readers
…and any other sites that you don’t need to waste PR juice on

Manually Adding No-Follow Link Attribute:

To add the no-follow attribute you need to go to the HTML source of your web page, in Wordpress it is done in the post/page editor by clicking on the HTML tab and manually adding “rel-”nofollow” as shown below:

<a title=”Sneak Peek” href=”http://domain.com/”rel=”nofollow”>Anchor Keyword</a>

Free Headers – Must See!

By the way, I did not want to do a separate post on this, but you have to check out this website I found with free website/blog headers at: Free Web Page Headers. They are simply gorgeous with tons of themes and absolutely free, just right click and save image as and then resize to fit your needs in a graphics software such as Gimp Image Software, which, by the way is also free, quite famous and a complete graphics/photo editing software.

51 Comments

Website Traffic that Converts – Are You Missing Out?

Posted by JR in Affiliate Marketing, Blogging, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Web Site Traffic, Webmaster/Website Optimization

What makes the best website traffic? Well, as far as I am concerned and I’m sure you’ll agree, it is website traffic that performs the action on my website that I intend it

too. Whether it is to buy something from my affiliate marketing niche sites, click on Adsense, to subscribe to a blog or whatever action the web

master intends that will lead to us making money. So, the best website traffic is traffic that converts.

Not all Website Traffic is Equal

If I have 5,000 unique visitors a day, and they do not perform any of the intended actions that I want them to then this is totally worthless website traffic, would you not agree?

Since the social, Web 2.0 revolution on the net there has been a craze with webmasters clammering to get a chunk of social traffic. Page 1 of Digg is often considered the holy grail of website traffic, but in reality Digg and other such popular social site traffic can be pretty worthless. You may get lucky occasionally but it’s nothing to rely on long term.

The reality is that social traffic hardly ever buys anything, subscribes or performs any other actions that will lead to you making money, which is why we are all here right?

Social traffic can be great as far as “numbers of website traffic” and getting more website traffic, becoming famous, but when it comes to converting website traffic it is often a big fat vacuum. Unless your goal is to become the next Tech Crunch, social traffic is not the best for making money online.

Look at your analytics and analyze what website traffic is making you money, I guarantee it won’t be social traffic. Of all my niche sites and Squidoo lenses, social website traffic has made me too little to mention! In fact, I recently launched a ringtones blog, and I got 1500 uniques from Stumble in one day, how many sales? ZERO!!!! A perfect example of how worthless that traffic is.

There are probably many reasons for this, first and foremost of which is the fact that social traffic is not well targeted, many of them are just browsing or bored, they are not performing an intentional search to solve a problem, a basic principle of any kind of marketing is that in order to get sales there must be a consumer with a problem and someone who provides a solution and THAT will lead to the desired action. Same with Internet marketing.

Also, the same concept applies to the website traffic from article marketing and blog comments where you may get traffic and even some who take the action you desire but it’s never a consistent nor a reliable stream of well converting website traffic. While blog comments certainly are good for networking and getting known for your flagship blogs, you constantly have to comment on blogs to get even a little bit of traffic so it is not “passive” traffic.

The main purpose of article marketing, social bookmarking and blog comments is NOT website traffic but link building for BACKLINKS and those backlinks lead to higher to Page One of SERPS for your sites keywords and THAT leads to converting website traffic.

I am not including Internet forum participation here, because there you will find targeted traffic that is looking for solutions and so that traffic often converts very well.

Best Source of Website Traffic that Converts

The best source of long term, stable converting website traffic are the search engines and specifically Google, since they dominate that arena.

1. Website traffic from the search engines is the best converting traffic because it is truly targeted. When someone sits down to search for something on the net, they are purposely looking to solve a specific problem, and they are much more likely to perform an action on your website than any one else.

2. Search engine traffic is all day everyday, 24/7, unlimited possibilities. While social traffic is temporary and gets buried over with newly submitted content, sitting on Page One of SERPS is far more stable. It may take time to get to Page One, but once you are there your site will get exposure to that targeted website traffic with little maintenance.

I am not saying that you should not test every possible traffic source for your niche, and especially when your site is new and you are working on ranking high in the SERPS, you should get all the traffic you can get. What I am saying is that search engine website traffic should always be the main end goal of any online campaign and it is the best converting website traffic.

Website Traffic with SERP Domination

Many webmasters and bloggers work hard to get their home page on Page One of SERPS by utilizing basic Search Engine Optimization. They do all the requisite tasks such as, on-site SEO, link building, keyword research and optimization etc… But, they completely ignore the inner pages of their websites and/or blog posts. This is a complete waste of perfectly good search engine website traffic. This is especially true for bloggers.

Time and again I see blog posts that are obviously just randomly picked titles without any keyword research when there is ALWAYS a good keyword that can be found for ANY subject. So the end result is that your home page may sit high in SERPS, but all your other pages are just randomly floating somewhere around the web missing out on a ton of good targeted website traffic and all for the price of ten minutes or less of research.

Also remember that as your home PR (page rank) increases it will bleed that PR to your inner pages. This blog is a PR3, but several of the earlier blog posts are PR1 and PR2 and those post titles were carefully keyword researched and now they sit on several Page One’s in Google for their keywords and continuously bring targeted website traffic to this blog. Google will spread the authority you’ve earned from your home page to inner pages placing you higher all over the SERPS, for all your keywords and this SERP domination is what brings more and more targeted, converting website traffic. And the absolute same applies to static website’s inner pages.

Keyword Research for Inner Pages

Use SEO Book Free Keyword Suggestion Tool and/or Google Keyword Tool to look for good keywords for your inner pages, I look for at least 30 searches a day, but the more the better.
Search allintitle:”your keywords” in Google to evaluate the competition. I usually choose lower competition keywords for inner pages, under 20,000.

As always you want to have the most possible searches with the least amount of competition.

3 Keyword Optimization Essentials for SERP Domination:

Here are the most important aspects of optimizing each and everyone of your website pages and blog posts for the SERPS.

1. On Page Title vs. Meta Title

On Page Title is the one the visitor sees on your page, such as the title of the blog post. The Meta Title is the title in the Meta Tags that the search engines will look to for your SERP placement. So, you can make the title the visitor sees longer and more detailed if you wish, while the Meta title can be shortened to comply with Meta Tag character standards and to zone in on keywords, but make sure it is still attractive to get the click from searchers.

Both titles should have your keywords in them
The Meta Title should have the keywords listed first or as close to the beginning of the tag as possible.
The On Page Title should be the header on your website inner page with the <h1> tags. In Wordpress this is automatic.

If you don’t have it, you really need to get the All-In-One SEO Pack plug-in for Wordpress. This will give you the Meta Tags module for customizing meta tags for every post and it is really a must have for Wordpress. It also provides some other important features for SEO on WP blogs.

2. Keyword Density

Long posts and website pages are the best for the SERPS and getting more website traffic, they allow the most room for keyword density and they also give the edge of lots of content for Google.

5% Keyword density per post/page, especially first couple of sentences, middle and ending paragraph.
Bold the keywords a few times and especially in the last couple of sentences.
Use <h2> and <h3> tags for the paragraph headers within content using your keyword, as I did in this post. Example: <h2>Keyword – Paragraph Header</h2>

3. Permalinks

The permalink must have your keywords in it. So, if my keywords are “how-to bake”, then my permalink for the blog post page or website page would be: htttp://www.recipes.com/how-to-bake-cake. That’s it, nothing else, if you add the whole title you just confuse Google as to what you want to rank for.

Some website software, and Wordpress will automatically add the entire title of your post/page into the permalink so, you must edit this. All extra words except for the keywords are UNNECESSARY and can be a detterent to ranking well in the SERPS.

Permalinks and Wordpress

With Wordpress you have to make sure to select the proper permalink structure. By default Wordpress will create permalinks for posts using the post number, like this: http://getinternetmarketingstrategies.com/?p=123. This does nothing for you in the SERPS.

How to Change Permalink Structure in WP:

From your Admin Dashboard go to Settings and then Permalinks. From there either choose Month and Name OR if you do not want to date your posts you can choose Custom Structure and then enter /%postname%/ into the box. This way you will have the optimal setting of http://www.yourdomain.com/posttitle

Editing Permalinks on a Post by Post Basis:

When you are writing posts from the editor after you enter the title the permalink will be formed automatically, click edit and get rid of everything but the keywords with the dashes in between each word.

Performing these steps is really important for SERP rankings and getting website traffic from a multitude of keyword sources to get those visitors to your sites. Also, please see 6-Step Checklist for On-Site SEO for more techniques for keyword optimization for inner pages, such as Alt Tags for images.

What do you guys think? Do you research each page and post? If not, why?

31 Comments

Increase Web Site Traffic – 8 Tips to Using Forums Effectively

Posted by JR in Web Site Traffic, Website Promotion

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I hope everyone had a great day and I am sure we all have somethings/someones to be thankful for!!

Here is a sign that I need a vacation, and probably a lobotomy, I was tired and I cooked today (maybe an excuse) but tonight at my dinner, there were times as I was talking that I found myself thinking about wether I was using keywords enough in my sentences, LOSER !! Anyway, on to better things…

As a follow up to my post 144 Do-Follow Forums, I wanted to offer some guidelines and tips to using forums effectively, to increase web site traffic, blog traffic and of course get the backlinks!

1. Read the TOS/Forum Rules and/or Posting Guidelines – Make sure to get to know the rules before you post because you don’t want to get banned! Many forums have different and specific rules. Usually you can find these rules in the forum index itself, as one of the first threads.

2. DO NOT SPAM - This is very important, do not write posts about your products and blatant advertising, not only will this get you banned, it’s also the fastest way to turn off the other members and NOT to increase web site traffic. People go to forums to look for information and answers to their questions, not to read ads.

3. Use Good Anchor Text for Signature Links –

Forums are great for website promotion and do-follow backlinks from your signature links. Make sure they are SEO friendly anchors that contain your keywords

BUT

Also make them provocative to get the click! For example, the anchor “Dog Food” may have your keywords, but the anchor “Top 10 Dog Foods” is much more click friendly.

4. Be an authority – Besides the benefit of do-follow backlinks, forums can be one of the greatest and quickest ways to increase web site traffic and this is traffic that is very targeted, as long as you’re in a forum relevant to your niche. You want the forum members to click on your signature links and the best way to make that happen is to respond to posts like an authority in your niche.

Be detailed, don’t just give one word answers, try to offer more valuable and comprehensive replies.
If there is a “newbie” section post there, newbies can be your greatest source of traffic.
Know what you’re talking about.
Check your typos and missing words. I for one hate a post filled with errors and broken English and I won’t bother to read it.

5. Many forums offer “Article threads” or “Guide Threads” or some such thing. This is where you can post your own informative guides, how-to’s, content etc. Make sure to use an intriguing title for these posts to get people’s attention. These posts are a great way to show off your knowledge and authority and deliver a click to your sig links, which of course means an increase in web site traffic for you!

6. Watch your reputation. Many forums use a “reputation” system that lets other members tag you with points when you deliver great posts, this is a good way to build authority.

7. Participate in the “Introduce Yourself” section. Many forums have a thread to introduce new members. Be active there, introduce yourself in detail and welcome others.

8. Check for new posts and participate often. The more you participate the more exposure you get to increase web site traffic AND the more backlinks you generate, since each page you post to counts as a backlink!

What works for you in forums? What tips can you offer for the best forum practices? Anyone have any no-no’s to share?

45 Comments

144 Do-Follow Forums – Categorized by Niche and PR

Posted by JR in Blog Promotion, Essential Marketing Lists, Link Building, Search Engine Optimization, Web Site Traffic, Website Promotion

Participating in forums relevant to your niche is one of the best ways to get relevant and targeted traffic to your sites and blogs.

Internet forums are so widely used and have thousands of members that ask questions and engage in discussions and that large audience can turn into targeted traffic that can lead to lots of sales and subscribers. If you have not utilized the power of forums in your Internet Marketing endeavors that you are really missing out.

Plus the fact that any good Internet marketing strategy involves a diverse backlink portfolio, so getting links from different IP’s and domains that are related to your site is the best way to higher SERP ranks, and forum sig links are decent places to get some links.

Posting in do-follow forums can give you a nice backlink for link building and search engine optimization. The do-follow forum link comes from a link you set in the signature option of your profile, referred to as a sig link. This sig link appears at the bottom of your forum posts. So, every time you post that’s a backlink! Remember to use a good anchor text for SEO but also make sure it is eye catching for the forum audience to get the click!

Make sure to read the TOS and Posting Rules to make sure that you will not get banned. Also check out all the topics available in the forum many of them have a section for website promotion, guides, articles and how-to’s where you can refer to your sites within the post itself.

Make sure to sound like an expert (no typos ) this can bring lots of traffic!

Getting targeted traffic from forum sites is one way to make money online right away, while waiting for SEO to take affect and SERP ranks for the organic traffic. Since most of the forum traffic is highly targeted they are much more likely to buy.

Do-Follow Forums with PR by Niche

Webmaster/SEO/Internet Marketing Do-Follow Forums

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/ – PR7
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/ – PR7 – Post requirement prior to sig link
http://forums.seochat.com/ – PR6
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/ - PR6
http://www.zymic.com/forum/ – PR6
http://www.googlecommunity.com/forum/ – PR5
http://www.smallbusinessforums.org/ – PR5
http://forums.site-reference.com/ – PR4
http://www.websitebabble.com/ – PR4
http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5staraffiliateprograms.com/ – PR4
http://www.geekvillage.com/forums/ – PR4
http://www.dreamteammoney.com/ – PR4
http://www.wickedfire.com/ – PR4
http://www.v7n.com/forums/ – PR4
http://www.webdigity.com/ – PR4
http://www.geekvillage.com/forums/ – PR4
http://www.ewealth.com/ – PR4
http://forums.seo.com/ – PR4
http://www.webmasterforums.com/ – PR3
http://siteownersforums.com/ – PR3
http://www.internetmarketingforums.net/ – PR3
http://www.webmasterdesk.org/ – PR3
http://www.internetmarketingforums.net/ – PR3
http://bbs.adultwebmasterinfo.com/ – PR3
http://www.im4newbies.com/forum/ – PR3
http://www.webmasterize.com/ – PR3
http://www.webworkshop.net/seoforum/index.php – PR3
http://w3seo.org/ – PR3
http://forums.seochat.com/ – PR3 – Member for 30 days before sig link
http://www.affiliateseeking.com/forums/ – PR3
http://www.webmaster-forum.net/ – PR3
http://www.webmasterforumsonline.com/ – PR3
http://allcoolforum.com/ – PR2
http://www.seorefugee.com/forums/ – PR2
http://9mb.com/ – PR2
http://www.searchbliss.com/forum/ – PR2
http://www.decentdiscussions.com/ – PR1
http://www.inboundlinksforum.com/ – PR1
http://www.directoryjunction.com/forums/ – PR0
http://www.webmastershelp.com/ – PR0
http://www.frogengine.com/forum/ – PR0
http://www.capitaltheory.com/ – PR0
http://www.gptboycott.com/forum/ – PR0
http://www.thegreennation.com/forums/ – PR0
DNForum.com – All about domains – PR4

International Webmaster/SEO Do-Follow Forums

Australia – http://www.australianwebmaster.com/ – PR3
IRISH – http://www.irishwebmasterforum.com/ - PR3
UK – http://www.davidcastle.org/BB/ - PR2
Phillipines – http://forums.seo.ph/ – PR0

Blogging Do-Follow Forums

http://forums.feedburner.com/ – PR7 – All Feeds Topics
http://forum.newsgator.com/ – PR6
http://www.feedforall.com/forum/ – PR5 – “Favorite RSS Feeds” thread to promote your blogs
http://www.bloggerforum.com/ – PR5
http://www.bloggertalk.com/ – PR5
http://www.bloggeries.com/forum/ - PR4 – Has a Show of Your Blog Thread!
http://www.blogtrafficschool.com/forums/ – PR4
http://www.wtricks.com/ – PR0
http://www.blogodirectory.com/forum/index.php
http://www.rss-forum.de/ - PR7 – German Based Forum

Web Design/Development/Code/Photoshop Do-Follow Forums

http://forums.mysql.com/ – PR7
http://www.zymic.com/forum/ – PR6
http://developers.evrsoft.com/forum/ – PR6
http://www.htmlforums.com/ – PR5
http://www.geekpoint.net/ – PR5
http://www.talkfreelance.com/ – PR4
http://www.geekvillage.com/forums/ – PR4
http://www.talk-mania.com/ – PR3
http://www.webmastershelp.com/ – PR0
http://www.adobe.com/support/forums/?ogn=EN_US-gntray_comm_forums – PR9 – Adobe and Flash topics

Electronics/Gadgets/Computers/Digital Hardware/Software/iPhone/Tech/IT Do-Follow Forums

http://forums.cnet.com/ – PR7
http://forums.amd.com/ – PR7
http://forums.microsoft.com/ – PR6 – choose Country and Forum Topic
http://forums.afterdawn.com/ – PR5 – Digital Media/DVD, Digital Cameras etc…No-Follow but allow sig link and very high traffic
http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/ – PR5
http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/isn/Community/en-us/Forums/ – PR5
http://forums.windowsforum.org/ – PR4
http://forums.xandros.com/ – PR4
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/categoryHome.jspa?categoryID=84 – Various PR
http://www.cultofiphone.org/forums/ – PR0
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/ – Various PR

Humor

http://www.funnyforum.org/ – PR0

Laptop/Notebooks Do-Follow Forums

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ – PR5
http://www.techsupportforum.com/ – PR5 – I think it’s no-follow but has mass traffic
http://www.notebookforums.com/ – PR4 – Not sure if do-follow but allows sig link and has mass traffic and bonuses for posting

Wedding/Bridal Do-Follow Forums

http://forums.onewed.com/ - PR4 – Sig link allowed after probation period and it’s no-follow, but big traffic.
http://www.bunchobrides.com/ – PR2 – Not sure if do-follow, but lots of traffic

Tatoo/Body Art/Piercing

http://forum.tattootattoo.info/ – PR2

Work at Home Moms/WHAM Do-Follow Forums

http://www.wahm.com/forum/ – PR4

Science Do-Follow Forums

http://amsci-forum.amsci.org/archives/American-Scientist-Open-Access-Forum.html – PR7

Forum Software Do-Follow Forums

http://bbpress.org/forums/ - PR7

Owners and Admin of Online Communities Do-Follow Forums

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/ – PR5

Math Do-Follow Forum

http://mathforum.org/ – PR8

Comics Do-Follow Forum

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/ – PR5

Photo Related Do-Follow Forums

http://www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/ – PR8
http://forums.photobucket.com/ – PR7
http://opensourcephoto.net/forum/ – PR3
http://forum.hot4s.com.au/ – PR3 (Australia)

Home and Garden Do-Follow Forums

http://www.gardenstew.com/ – PR5 – Blog link below each post and parses latest posts
http://www.blossomswap.com/garden-forums/ – PR4 – Parses latest posts near your username in forum posts
http://www.gardenweb.com/ – PR4 – Lots of Traffic!
http://www.homegardenguides.com/garden-forum/ - PR2

Education/Schools Do-Follow Forums

http://chronicle.com/forums/ – PR8

MIDI/Music Mixing/Musicians/Entertainment Do-Follow Forums

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/ – PR5
http://www.votefortheworst.com/forum/ – PR4 – American Idol Vote
http://www.ableton.com/forum/ – PR3
http://forum.hot4s.com.au/ – PR3 – Australia based

My Space Forum

http://forums.myspace.com/s/4.aspx?fuseaction=forums.viewsubforum = PR6

Credit Cards/Banking/Money/Investment/Finance Do-Follow Forums

http://forums.wsj.com/ - PR6
http://paymentprocessing.cc/ – PR6
http://thehyipforum.com/ – PR4
http://www.diggsamachar.com/adrforum/ – PR2

Cellular/Mobile/SMS Do-Follow Forums

http://forums.cnet.com/ – PR7
http://cellphoneforums.net/ – PR5 – No-follow but lots of traffic
http://www.cellphonehacks.com/ – PR3

Dogs/Pets Do-Follow Forums

http://www.i-love-dogs.com/forums/ – PR4
http://www.globalpaw.com/forum/ – PR4 – No follow but great traffic
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/ – PR4

Health/Vitamins/Weight Loss Do-Follow Forums

http://www.publichealthforums.com/ – PR3

Travel Do-Follow Forums

http://www.travelforum.org/ – PR4
http://forums.travel.com/ – PR4
http://forums.touristclick.com/ – PR3

Movies/Video Do-Follow Forums

http://forums.metacafe.com/ – PR6
http://www.movie-list.com/forum/ – PR5

Sports Do-Follow Forums

http://addictsports.com/baseball/ – PR4
http://www.baseballtalkpro.com/forum/ – PR2

Pagan/Witchcraft/Herbology Do-Follow Forums

http://www.paganforum.com/ – PR3

Cooking/Chefs/Food Do-Follow Forums

http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/ – PR4
http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/ – PR3
http://www.cookingjunkies.com/- PR3
http://www.cookingforums.net/ – PR2

Hosting/Web Sales/Domains/Design Do-Follow Forums

http://www.freehostforum.com/ - PR3

Real Estate Do-Follow Forums

http://www.realestateforum.com/ – PR3
http://loanofficerforum.com/forum/ – PR1

Satellite TV/Dish Do-Follow Forums

http://dishnews.medianetwork.co.in/yabb2/YaBB.pl – PR2

Joomla Do-Follow Forum

http://forum.joomla.org/ – PR8

Horses Do-Follow Forums

For my friend Glenda
http://forums.delphiforums.com/dreamhorse

Various Topics

http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=index&webtag=delphicomz

If you guys know of any do-follow forums I missed please leave links in comments or contact me and I will add it to the list.

134 Comments

Link Building – 11 More High PR Do-Follow Social Sites

Posted by JR in Link Building, Search Engine Optimization, Social/Web 2.0 Marketing

All of a sudden these do-follow social bookmarks are just coming at me left and right. I have added these to the original post 50 Social Bookmarking Sites, which is now 65+ Social Bookmark Sites. Remember that social site links are a critical part of an overall link building strategy as well as the benefit of their ability to bring traffic to your sites.

Magnolia – Must Have! PR7 No-Follow Social Bookmark. No categories, just add tags. I just realized when editing my list that I had not put Magnolia on it, not sure how this happened, but this is one of the best Social Bookmarks for link building, even though it is a no-follow counts strong with Yahoo backlinks and when you join groups it can bring traffic to your sites, brought me traffic time and again.

Googletop - PR3 Do-Follow Social Bookmark. Various Categories. Googletop could have a few more categories for my taste, but it’s a good one for link building.

Oopza – PR2 Do-Follow. Thanks to my friend Suzanne for turning me on to this one. Lots of categories, all though some of them are oddly specific. I found the submission process to be a little tedious since it did not automatically parse my Meta tag information, but worth the extra effort.

Lipstick – PR7 Do-Follow News Site. Celebrity related content only.

Dzone – PR6 Do-Follow News Site. Web developer related content only. Link is do-follow on inner page, not front page.

Plime – PR6 Do-Follow News Site. Categories remind me of Digg, so be careful what you submit, you might get banned for spamming.

Listible – PR5 Do-Follow. This one is different, no categories instead there are lists, find a relevant list and add your links OR if there is no relevant list you can create your own and add all related content to that.

Humsurfer – PR4 Do-Follow News Site. Submit anything, no category limitations. Primarily this site is an Indian community news site, (that is the country) all though I did find many US stories.

Care2 – PR6 Do-Follow News Site. Categories include, tech, green/environment, wellness, animals, off beat. Link is do-follow on inner page, not front page.

Hugg – PR6 Do-Follow News Site. Green related content only.

Shoutwire – PR4 Do-Follow News Site. Usual categories, tech, politics, biz…and then there is girls…where you find everything from Christina Applegate to Sarah Palin to Epic Boobs …webmaster must be a guy!

Remember to anchor your links correctly with your keywords. Also, remember to submit deep pages and not just home pages especially to the bookmark sites.

Cool Anchor Text Trick for Deep Pages: When anchoring your deep pages you can use this format Page Title | Main Keywords, if your site title contains the main keywords then you are all good, if not, make it appear as if it does.

For example, my laptop site’s main keywords are cheap laptops, so I can add a deep page anchored like this, Laptop Buying Guide | JR’s Cheap Laptops. Some sites won’t accept such a long title, but most do and this way you get your site-wide KW for every link.

Also, submitting to social sites can be very time consuming that is why I use Social Bookmarking Submission Service to submit for me. It’s a great service, submits to over 125 sites, really saves a lot of time and is very affordable.

Here’s to Link Building!

Anyone have any more to add to the list? Leave the info in the comments. Anyone have a favorite(s) where they have seen great results?

56 Comments

Internet Marketing – Can Traffic Exchanges Increase Website Traffic?

Posted by JR in Internet Marketing, Link Building, Web Site Traffic

When I first started in affiliate marketing and built my first site, I began to look for the golden egg – TRAFFIC! As always, increasing website traffic is at the top of our lists and so, I basically tried whatever was out there, anything and everything. After some experience and testing, I began to get a clear picture of what was working and what was not.

One thing that turned out to be the lamest waste of time is using traffic exchanges. Basically these are “incentuos” websites where members visit each others sites, in order to gain traffic. So you join, spend about 1/2 hour to 1 hour a day surfing other members sites, sometimes doing reviews, and they do the same for you.

Now, when you are new and you visit your Google Analystics account and see 50 visitors, this is really exciting, but very soon, when there are no sales, you begin to realize this is STUPID!

The reason there are no sales from traffic exchanges is because this is NOT targeted traffic and not exactly the best use of your time. So, yes traffic exchanges will increase website traffic, but this is just lame traffic for traffic sake.

We are here to make money right? So every valuable minute we spend working our asses off should be spent on the most effective Internet marketing techniques that will result in PAYCHECKS and eventually telling our bosses to shove it!

So, to summarize, traffic exchanges are a complete and total waste of time!

Now, there is one traffic exchange service, one of the ones I have used from the beginning, that is worth your time and that is linkreferral.com.

Now, the main purpose is to visit and review member’s sites and they do the same for you, but you don’t need to do that, again because traffic exchange is a pointless activity.

Sidenote: there is one exception to this, this blog received three subscribers from linkreferral members, but this is because most of those members are webmasters and Internet marketers who really liked the content and this blog was relevant for them and the traffic was therefore well targeted, and if your sites are about subjects related to webmasters and Internet Marketing stuff and your content is good the same may happen for you.

In general, I recommend Linkreferral for 2 main reasons:

1. Google loves them and crawls them often, member’s sites are listed in a directory fashion and their listings appear in search engines for respective keywords with your site name and description.

2. Most important, it is a powerful do-follow backlink. While Google is slow to show backlinks, the linkreferral backlink always shows up and stays strong month after month. So, for the 3 minute sign up and site submission that backlink is a nice payoff!

And, while most traffic exchanges require that you visit other sites to earn points or else your site does not even show up, with linkreferral your sites are always there, they will be last on the list if you don’t visit other websites and earn a higher position, but that does not matter for the backlink!

linkreferral.com, register a free account, and add your sites, (each site is added under the same user name but with a different password, I mention this because it is confusing on their site, so create an account add one site, log out and then add a new site, input the same info and user name, except change the password and add the new url).

Now go get a backlink at linkreferral.com

What do you guys think about this? Anyone disagree? Do you use traffic exchange? Has it worked for you?

7 Comments

A Great Venue to Increase Website Traffic

Posted by JR in Internet Marketing, Web Site Traffic, Website Promotion

A great Internet Marketing Strategy and a way to increase website traffic is USFree Ads. I started using USFree Ads, online classifieds, about two months ago and have been impressed with the results in the amount of increased traffic to my websites. I have received a total of over 3,000 visitors for all my ads combined.

There are 3 main benefits to using US Free Ads:

1. Increase in targeted and relevant website traffic, from the many USFree members who are there to look for specific products/services and often looking to buy, which is great for conversions.

2. Website Promotion. USFree is a great way to website promotion and exposure to your sites.

3. Google loves USFree and the ads rank high in SERPS (search engine page results) for respective keywords, so you have more exposure and traffic to your sites through search results.

USFree provides a great editor that includes, H1, H2, H3 header options, ability to insert images, fonts, colors, bullets and more:

Steps to Building Great Ads to Increase Website Traffic:

As always, do some keyword research and find the best keywords for your ads, use different keywords than those you are using for your sites because this way you will be all over the SERPS.

I will use the example Cheap Laptop Computers as my keyword

1. Use keywords in the title of the add

2. Use H1 and H2 (SEO tags) title tags for keywords within the add, and make sure to use keywords a few times within the content of the add, with some of them in bold.

3. Describe your products/services in detail and with content that will make people want to visit your site. Get creative, use images, bulleted lists, make what you are offering irresistable. Between each section of content add your website link with H2 header anchor text to your site.

4. Add your keyword at the bottom in bold (helps to rank in SERPS). You can say something like, please click the link and browse cheap laptop computers.

You can see the ad live here: Example of US Free AD

More Reasons to use USFree Ads:

1. For $9.99 a month you get unlimited ads, that is pretty cheap for the amount of exposure, traffic and potential sales you can get. (I believe they also have a free version but with limited ads)

2. You can have as many ads as you want for each specific category with different titles. This means you can use unlimited amounts of keywords for the same sites in different ads and be all over the SERPS.

For example, for my site I may have the keywords, Cheap Laptop Computers, Used Laptops, Apple Laptops, Dell Laptops, Buy Cheap Laptops, Laptop Sales, Laptop Auction…etc. AND I can make an add for each of these keywords and get much more exposure from USFree member traffic looking for specific things AND from be all over the SERPS for the different keywords. This is the way to Increase website traffic!

Learn more and get a USFree Ads account at: USFree Ads

10 Comments

Google Knol – the Good, the Bad and Internet Marketing Benefits

Posted by JR in Google, Internet Marketing, Web Site Traffic, Website Promotion

We all know about Wikipedia right? In similar fashion, Google has just launched Knol, basically a Knol is an authoritative article about a specific topic at knol.google.com

I was searching for migraines the other day and I noticed a knol.google link in the SERPS. Not having heard of Knol. I did some research into what it was. After that I looked closely at the SERPS and realized that not only was the very new Knol article sitting on Page 1 it was sitting above several authority migraine sites, that were PR5 and PR6.

Could it be that Google is actually biased and sway their algo to their favor? :eek

Actually, since the day after the launch of Knol, Knol articles have been mysteriously outranking other well known and established sites, and hitting page 1 of SERPS, bypassing high authority and high PR sites for respective keywords.

Today I read a post, Google Knol – Google’s Latest Attack on Copyright, by Aaron Wall, of SEOBook, who did a little test of his own where he copied an article on to Knol that he wrote on the PR5, high authority and well established article site, work.com, and lo and behold the Google algorithm chose to bypass the previously published content and Aaron’s Knol took the higher spot in the SERPS. Hmmm.

Also of interest is that Google knows the content is duplicated, because on Aaron’s Knol there is a pretty little box that’s header reads “Similar Content on the Web” and lists Work.com as the source.

All this leaves little doubt that Google favors its own interests even when the content is previously published by high authority sites.

What is scary about Knol:

Usually when someone uses content from your websites under a creative commons license, it is fine because you get the backlinks as a pay-off. But, on Knoll all out bound links are NO FOLLOW so you get absolutely no value or credit from your content being used.

Plus, the hideous fact that your content can be used against you. If your content is hijacked and published on Knol, then Knol may outrank your site, even if you have high authority.

Knol and Internet Marketing Benefits:

On the flip side, this favoritism can be used in our favor for Internet Marketing and especially for those sites that are not high ranking authority sites and need radical promotion, traffic and Internet Marketing efforts.

After all, this blog is about Internet marketing and wherever we can find an Internet marketing edge we need to use it. Right?

Research some new keywords for your sites/blogs and write some Knols. If your site is really low in SERPS, you can use the existing keywords of your site, this way you will sit high in SERPS and not have to worry about out ranking yourself.

Link to your sites/blogs as references to drive traffic and for promotion, even though the links are no-follow the readers of the Knol will get exposure to your site.

Write comprehensive articles. Have several paragraphs and subheaders, the Knol WYSIWYG allows for h2 and h3 headers. Make sure to use keywords in title and about 5% density throughout. Pretty much same techniques as I explain for Squidoo and for subpage content as explained on 6 Step Checklist for On-Site Search Engine Optimization.

Include images when applicable. Don’t spam!! Don’t write garbage, write well written content. Write as a professional and establish yourself as an authority within your subject, this will deliver more clicks to your site.

What do you guys think, is Google wrong? Is this business as usual? Can you really blame Google for favoring their own sites?

6 Comments

Don’t Wait for the Seach Engines – 14 Ways to Increase Website Traffic Now!

Posted by JR in Essential Marketing Lists, Internet Marketing, Web Site Traffic, Website Promotion

Search Engine Optimization seems to be foremost on everyone’s mind. And, of course, this is an important aspect of Internet Marketing and should be given its rightful dues. However, you cannot rely solely on Search Engines for your website traffic.

The primary goal of Search Engine Optimization is to rank on Page 1 of Google. But, Page 1 is a long term goal, it is not an overnight reward.

So, while working on SEO, here are 14 ways to increase website traffic NOW and good traffic that will lead to conversions and sales.

Sources to Increase Website Traffic Now:

1. Online Classifieds – These sites are great because people are there looking for something, so the chances for conversions greatly increase.

US Free Ads – Very high traffic site, lots of shoppers. Plus, Google loves US Free and the ads rank high in SERPS. Make sure to use good keywords in the title and H1 headers within the add, so when your ads rank high in SERPS they will rank for those keywords.
My Space Classifieds
Oodle Classifieds
WebLeeg Classifieds
Best Way Classifieds
Lycos Classifieds

2. Relevant Forums – There is no quicker or more targeted traffic than through a signature link in related forums. Just search Google for “your niche forum.” Make sure that they allow a link to your site in the signature, sometimes they make you wait until you have a certain amount of posts. Don’t spam, leave helpful comments and interact with the community.

3. Blog Comments – Commenting on blogs can generate lots of traffic, especially high traffic blogs. Don’t spam, read the blog post and leave relevant and meaningful comments, often you learn a lot of valuable information from veteran bloggers.

Sometimes bloggers are scared of competition, and will delete comments from what they consider to be rival sites, but don’t worry, not all of them are sissy’s, just keep at it and soon you will have a list of blogs that welcome your participation. Search Google “your niche blog”

4. Social/Web 2.0 – Submitting your site’s content to social media sites can explode your traffic. See the full guide and list Here: Social Marketing – 45 Social News Sites

5. Article Marketing – Article Marketing is one of the best ways to increase website traffic, traffic that is relevant and targeted for sales. Read the full guide at: Article Marketing 101

6. Build a Squidoo Lens – How-To Squidoo – Steps to Building the Best Lens for Website Promotion

7. Craigslist - Place an add on Craigslist.org, they have huge traffic and lots of people looking for stuff. If you build an interesting add with a captivating headline you can increase your website traffic. Make sure to check the TOS of your affiliate programs some of them prohibit using Craigslist, like eBay for example.

8. Link Referral – Linkreferral.com is a free service and I always get an increase in good traffic from them and have gotten several sales on my sites, as well as several subscribers to this blog through them.

Basically it is a traffic exchange program that’s backlink to your site is also counted heavily by Google. Unlike other useless traffic exchanges, here the members review each other’s sites, and pick which sites they want to view via selected categories for which they have a genuine interest.

9. Put a Sign on the Back of Your Car – This really works, especially if you spend time sitting in traffic .

10. Email everyone you know and send them links to your sites and ask them to spread the word to their friends and family. Also let your neighbors know about your site and make some flyers announcing your website and drop them off at your neighbors doors.

11. Viral Marketing – Write a great e-book on a subject within your niche. A good e-book can spread like wildfire with a link to your site embedded in the content.

Free E-Book Builders: Primo PDF and Dean Report Free E-Book Compiler

E-Book Promotion – ebooksubmit.com has the most comprehensive information on promoting and spreading your e-book all over the web.

12. Advertise – Lots of high traffic sites and blogs offer advertising space, if it is cost effective for you this can greatly increase your website traffic.

13. Online Directories – This is not the biggest traffic source, but since you have to do it for your SEO link building anyway…

Submitting to directories can be a tedious process, I use Directory Submission Service to submit for me, it’s really cheap and saves me lots of time.

If you want to do manual submission here is a hyperlinked List of 830 Directories s listed by page rank.

14. Pay for a Website Review – There are sites where you can register your websites and connect with bloggers that do paid reviews. Prices vary (see more details below). Usually the higher the traffic and Page Rank of the blog the higher the cost of the review.

Before you do this, be really sure that your website will hold up to the scrutiny of a review. Even though these bloggers get paid to review your site, they are usually really honest about their findings and the networks that I recommend below require high levels of transparency.

Here is a great post, from Ben at SEO Horror that can help you determine if your website is ready for a review: Is your Website the Best Thing in the World?

Bloggers, you can earn great money by registering your blog to do paid reviews.

Paid Review Blog Networks:

Sponsored Reviews – This is my favorite! Choose bloggers by the “Sponsored Reviews Score”, based on Alexa, PR and traffic. With the other networks you can either search for bloggers and purchase reviews, or post an opportunity and let bloggers find you, this is the only network that allows you to do both. Quality blogs that are at least 3 months old and meet strict requirements. Price: Negotiable via Bidding System.

Pay Per Post – Another one of my favorites! One of the most popular paid to blog networks, boasting a network of over 17,000 bloggers. You cannot pick individual blogs that will review your site, however, they do provide several efficient sorting methods, like Page Rank, Alexa, Niche/Content. Price: Calculated by the settings you choose, the higher the page rank and traffic the higher the cost for the review, minimum cost is $5 and a review from a higher end blog can run upto $35.

Blogvertise – Has lots of categories for blogs and allows advertisers to choose blogs that will review their sites by relevance to their niche. Advanced controls offer sorting by PageRank, Alexa score, and other filters. Price will vary dependent on the type of advertising, and the quality of the blog doing the review. Price Range: $8-$50 per review.

Smorty – Also uses a ranking system that is actually based on 20 different factors, not just PR and traffic, so they boast “no low quality blogs” in their network. Price: Bid for Reviews, minimum bid: $10, obviously the higher you bid the better set of bloggers you will attract.

Review Me – Features high-end bloggers, and while pricey will expose your website to high traffic blogs that can greatly increase website traffic. Pick the blogs you want with the “Review Me Score” which is based on reach, alexa, traffic, and citations. Scrutinize and pick carefully the bloggers you want for reviews, for the price you want to pick the most relevant, highest traffic blog you can afford. Price: $40 – $500 per review.

Blogitive – All blogs doing reviews are at least 3 months old and update consistently, this site offers a very hands-on customer service. Price: Varies, I believe they start around $5 per review.

Some of the information on the paid review list was derived from Social SEO at: A Review of the Top Blog Advertising Sites

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