Hi, My Name is Dick and I’m Addicted to SERP Analysis

Posted by JR in Internet Marketing, Motivation & Success, Odds and Ends, Search Engine Optimization

I was perusing a forum the other day and someone wrote a really long post about how he is perplexed with the Google dance going on with his website in SERPS. He went on to describe in excruciating (and quite painful to any reader) detail how he is perplexed as to how his site keeps jumping 1 or two spots on an almost hourly basis, and yes he provided the forum members with a blow by blow of his day of checking minute by minute, and his frustration with these developments as his site was dropping a little bit at a time.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm….Can You Say SERP Addicts Anonymous?……………….Yeah!

About 1/4 of the way through I stopped reading of course, and I wondered if he realizes that if this is how he spends his day, then his SERP positions will just continue to drop because he is not focusing on nor doing anything to enable better SERP positions and checking them minute by minute will certainly not make that happen

Getting obsessed and addicted to these types of things can often happen and especially with newbies to the business. In reality becoming fixated on those stats, as well as other aspects of Internet marketing and online business that people get caught up with, like checking commissions every 10 minutes is really self defeating. These are not productive activities as they only take valuable time from doing the array of important tasks for Internet marketing. There are regular fluctuations that occur naturally in SERPS and especially Google, and constantly checking these can be a source of great stress, which inevitably affect your work performance.

As an alternative spend some time…

Commenting on dofollow blogs, Gail from Growmap has a really useful resource to find some at Dofollow Blogs. How about some website promotion, link building, writing some good website content, networking for guest posts and article marketing.

You can also…

Work on boosting online conversion rates, commenting on some great blogs that have Comment Luv, testing ad placements, researching hot keywords for new or existing website pages, maybe you have been lacking in your search engine marketing efforts, or any number of other millions of tasks and duties that are on our plates, like social media marketing.

SERP analysis is important, don’t get me wrong, but there are limits, the Google dance is constant and it’s better to spend valuable time securing our positions rather than checking on them.

SERP analysis is important but they are the end all, in the grand scheme of things, falling some spots in Google will not crush you. The SERPS change all the time, and it’s much better to spend time focusing on the tasks that promote those SERP positions than obsessing over them and getting some good links that will ultimately aid those positions.

When you do need to check the SERPS, try this neat little checker, Instant SERP Rankings Checker that offers a simple interface for SERP analysis.

If you should find yourself checking the SERPS all the time, then please stop. Don’t let such distractions take over your online business and Internet marketing success!

What do you guys think?

46 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?

46 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

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.

160 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?

60 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

9 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?

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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

14 Comments

The Favicon is Essential for Website Promotion!

Posted by JR in Internet Marketing, Webmaster/Website Optimization, Website Promotion, Website Tools

I notice more and more when I visit websites and blogs that there is no Favicon. I also notice that the big-gun websites always have a Favicon and for good reason. A Favicon is the ideal venue to website branding and website promotion.

What is a favicon? A favicon is short for “favorites icon”, also known as a page icon that is associated with a particular website or blog. A favicon is a customized icon for your site and it appears next to your website name by the url in the address bar, title tab, and next to the website name in bookmarks.

FAVICONS IN BROWSERS and TITLE BARS:

Favicons in browsers, address bar and title bar

FAVICONS IN BOOKMARKS:

Favicons in Bookmarks

WEBSITE PROMOTION AND BRANDING with FAVICONS:

A Favicon makes your site stand out. If you look at the screenshot of my bookmarks, it is easy to identify those websites that have a favicon (circled in red). When I search through my bookmarks, I don’t even read the site name, I can easily click on what I need by memory through the respective Favicon and that is ideal for website promotion.

Conversely the sites marked with the black X do not have a favicon and so those sites are not easily identifiable because only a generic little white page icon shows up that blends into the background and no custom image is associated for those sites.

Overall humans are very visual, company images or logos are an essential part of any marketing campaign. The same goes for Internet Marketing, where logos are used to brand a website and for website promotion.

Just like a logo, a favicon helps your website’s brandability and promotion by associating a specific image with your websit e. But, while the logo is only visible on your site, a Favicon takes it further because the favicon shows up in the address bar, in the title bar and most importantly in bookmarks.

Also, if you comment on blogs and participate in forums, as you should be for traffic and link building, then you can use your Favicon as your Avatar and/or Gravatar, this will further help in site branding and website promotion by giving a large amount of exposure to your websites through an image.

I strongly recommend you get favicons for all your sites and blogs, if you have a logo then the Favicon should be your logo. If you do not have a logo then the favicon could be anything you want, but it’s best to create something that matches your site theme.

You can easily create a free and customized Favicon at:

Favicon Generator and Gallery – Create your Own Image using a Paint Program and turn it into a Favicon with this free online tool, complete instructions provided. (This is the one I used for the Favicon on this blog).

Favicon from Pics - Create Favicons from your picture files, such as jpegs. This Favicon creator has options for scrolling marquee and animation of the Favicon.

Favicon.ru – Create Favicons from picture files, such as jpegs.

Now go and get your Favicon!!

1 Comment

How-To Squidoo – Steps to Building the Best Lens for Website Promotion

Posted by JR in Article Marketing, Best Website Builders, Bum Marketing, Internet Marketing, Link Building, Web Site Traffic, Website Promotion

What is Squidoo?

An effective Internet Marketing strategy, Squidoo is a website which allows you to build your own webpages, called “lenses” wth your own custom URL, personally designed and with a ton of features and components.

What are the Benefits of Building a Squidoo Lens

Website Promotion – To promote your sites and blogs and get exposure to large amounts of traffic from other Squidoo members as well as the Search Engines. When optimized with hand picked keywords, and customized and promoted correctly (as described below) Squidoo lenses will rank high and quickly in SERPS, and you will get some great website promotion opportunities for all your campaigns.

Backlink – Get a backlink to your websites/blogs.

Steps to Building an Effective Squidoo Lens

1. Choose your Keywords

Make sure, as always, to research the keywords you want the lens to rank for. These are not necessarily the same keywords as the website your promoting, they could be other good keywords for your niche that you did not use on your website, this way access to your website is all over the search engine results. Read this guide to get tips for keyword research: Step-by-Step Niche and Keyword Research.

Creating a Squidoo Lens Step-by-Step:

Pre-Design Squidoo Lens Wizard

1. You will be asked “What your Lens is About, just put in the general subject (we will change it later)

2. What’s Your Goal of your Page?: Just choose option 1 (I want to get the word out about..your subject)

3. This step is crucial: Title and URL

Title: Must have your main Keyword that you want the lens to rank for. It can have other words to make it interesting, but title must have your keywords in order to rank in SERPS in Google. The title is coded within Squidoo as the h1 title tag of an SEO Meta tag.

URL: Also must have your keywords, preferably the URL should be the same as the title. If the URL you want is unavailable (because someone else is using it) then just add some other words to it, like your name. For example, if I want Internet Marketing as my URL and it is all ready taken, I may add, Internet Marketing Secrets, or Easy Internet Marketing, etc.

Category: Make sure to pick the best possible category for your lens and rate the lens as appropriate.

4. Another crucial step – TAGS

Add Tags: tags are basically keywords or categories that are appropriate to your lens, all possible good KW that apply to your lens should be added here. The more the better. Tags will allow your lens to show up in Google for those keywords and help people to find your lens. Tip: you can add all the tags you want once you are in the “workshop” window of your Squid lens and are actually designing your lens.

Lensmaster Workshop

Now that you have set-up your lens with the wizard you will be in the Lensmaster Workshop where you can add content and design the lens.

Squidoo Lens Workshop

BIO:

Fill in the bio section with a photo (yourself or something related to your niche, you can use your website logo) and then add some content about yourself or your website, or a catchy slogan, this makes your lens personalized and gives you authority.

If you don’t do this your lens will literally say “This is my Bio, I will fit in later”…looks really lame!

Modules:

In Squidoo “modules” are sections within your lens. There are many types of modules available, including text, photo, rss feeds, comments, links..etc. (More on modules below).

Unmax your Lens:

Make sure to UNMAX your lens from the box at the bottom portion of the sidebar. This will make your lens less busy and look more attractive.

OPT Out:

Lenses can earn you a little money from ads that are automatically generated by Squidoo if you select that option within your profile settings. But, if you want a cleaner lens, you can forego the few dollars you may earn, if you select “donate all my money to charity” from your profile settings, then the “WHOOPS” box will be available to you and you can select it to OPT OUT OF DISPLAY ADS, and have less clutter on your lenses.

Here is a screenshot of Max and Whoops!

Squidoo lens workshop screenshot

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the Lens:

For search engines to find and correctly rank your websites, you need to optimize certain attributes of the Meta Tags, Title <h1>, Description and Keywords, as well as the second in importance, the <h2> and <h3> tags.

In Squidoo, there is no “Meta Tags” section, but Squidoo lenses are automatically coded with Search Engine Optimization tags and so it is important to enter the relevant information correctly.

Squidoo coding for SEO:

Lens Title <h1> = Meta Tag Title

Lens Introduction Module = Meta Description

Lens Tags = Meta Keywords

Module Headers = <h2> tagged

Module Subheaders = <h3> tagged

So in order to have your lens rank in Google and stay there, make sure to fill in all of the above properly with your keywords and main subjects/points so that Google knows what your lens is about and what keywords you want to rank for.

Content/Modules for a Great Lens:

Table of Contents. Important! Select yes under table of contents from the tab under Introduction module. This will display an organized list at the top of your Squidoo lens with the titles of all your modules. Adding a table of content increases the click-through rate and navigation for visitors easier.

Create several text modules. Most Important! This is where you will add content that promotes your website. Break up your content and create several text modules, at least 5, but, the more modules, with relevant optimal headers and subheaders, the better. Make sure to use your main keywords, and a 3-5% keyword density throughout the content of the lens.

Create polaroid (picture) modules. Most Important! Add screenshots or photos that support your content at least 2 or 3.

Links module. Most Important! Linkback to your website and other helpful links and resources that related to your lens subject or website.

Comments Module. Most Important! Make sure to add a comment module, and edit the header with your own blurb, as discussed above. This way people will the opportunity to comment on your lens.

Add Del.ic.ious Bookmark Module – Make sure to select “show popular bookmarks within the module settings.

Add other Modules. Check the entire module selection, there are lots of options, and pick whatever suits your fancy. Just be sure to choose the modules that support your goal, of website promotion, don’t go overboard and choose so many that it will take focus away from your lens subject.

Once again, make sure to change the headers and subheaders, with your keywords/subjects for each of the modules (as discussed above under SEO).

Lens Design:

HTML
Squid lenses do not come with a wysiwyg builder, you have to add some html:

Basic HTML tags:
Bold- <b> </b>
Italic – <i> </i>
Hyperlink – <a href=”http://yourdomain.com”>Anchor Text</a>

For a complete guide to all HTML tags, including color please visit: Basic HTML for Squidoo

Lenses on their own are very basic, which is really okay if you don’t want to take more time on design. However, they can be tricked out with different module placement, colors, highlighted boxes, borders for content…etc. Here are some excellent and simple guides to trick out your lenses:

CSS Tricks for Squidoo Lenses | Basic HTML for Squidoo
Advanced HTML for Squidoo – My favorite! Get code for background color and borders.
Bulleted and Ordered List in Squidoo – My favorite!

Remember: Make your lens yours, add lots of modules, information and design tweaks to create a user-friendly information filled lens page.

Promoting Squidoo Lenses for Maximum Exposure:

These steps are crucial in getting the maximum exposure and visitors for your lenses, and these will also help your lens get ranked in Google.

1. Add your lens to as many Squidoo groups as possible (based on subject), there are tons of them for all subjects, and there are also groups that take any lens.

2. Do lens link exchanges (lensrolls) with other relevant lenses. Just select lensroll icon on the sidebar of the other lens and then select which of your lenses you want to lensroll with from a dropdown box, the link exchange is then added automatically by Squidoo.

3. Lensroll all your lenses with each other. In Squidoo this is easily done by selecting lensroll from your admin area and then selecting the lenses you want to roll with from a drop down menu.

4. Add your lenses to these Squidoo Directories and Search Engines:

5. Write some articles and point them to your lenses.

6. Social bookmark your lenses, especially the do-follow social sites (see list) all over the place.

Other Excellent Squidoo Resources:

Squidoo FAQ
SquidUtils -Lensmaster Tools

I know this may sound overwhelming, but once you build a couple of lenses it really becomes a piece of cake.

Now, go and Squidoo

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