April 2008


by Terry Stanfield

Getting your webpage ranked as high as possible on a search engine results page is one of the goals of search engine marketing and using search engine optimization on your website. But do you know how the search engine actually ranks and indexes web pages? Most search engines use a complicated process to index and rank the web pages that the search engine spiders find when they are scanning the web.

Using search engine optimization and putting articles written with search engine marketing in mind will get the search engine spiders to your site but once the search engine spiders find your site they have to index your site and then assign your site a ranking within the thousands of other sites that contain information on the same topic that your site has.

Different search engines use different methods to assign a weight or rank to each web page that the search engine’s spiders find so using different methods of search engine marketing and using different percentages of search engine optimization is a good idea. If you do several different types of search engine marketing and utilize more than one kind of search engine optimization tool then it’s more likely that a search engine spider will find your web page and assign it a higher weight or rank.

One of the ways that search engine spiders determine the weight or rank of a particular web page is to index the number of times that a particular word or key phrase appears on a site. The search engine spider will assign a weight or rank to the web page based on how many times that word or key phrase appears within the web page. This is a very common method of assigning rank to web pages that is used by a lot of the most popular search engines so it’s important to use search engine marketing and search engine optimization to make sure that those search engine spiders give your site a high ranking or weight.

Another way that search engine spiders assign a weight or rank to a web page is to take note of where in the web page a particular keyword or key phrase is located. For search engines that use this kind of ranking system just using standard search engine marketing or traditional search engine optimization techniques might not be enough to get your website noticed by the search engine spiders. In order to draw the spiders of search engines that rank web pages based on the location of the keyword or key phrase on the page it’s necessary to use those words to tag your page. Tagging a page is putting that particular keyword or key phrase in the meta tags of your site, using them in the heading or home page of your site and using those words or phrases systematically through the rest of the site.

If you think of your website as a tree in order to get the attention of spiders from the search engines that use this type of ranking system you have to have a particular key word or key phrase on every branch of the tree in order to get a higher ranking.

About the Author:
by Terry Stanfield

Have you ever wondered how exactly search engine marketing works or how search engine optimization can help your business? Search engine marketing relies on the basic principles of search engine optimization. Search engine optimization makes it possible for a search engine’s spider to find your web page and add it to the search engine results page whenever someone does a search for a word or phrase that shows up on your website.

Search engine marketing uses search engine optimized content to make your website easier for the spiders to find and for people who are searching the web to find. A search engine uses thousands of little bots called spiders to index the millions of web pages that are on the Internet. These spiders start at the most well known websites and work backwards following links and searching for common words and phrases. Every page that the spiders come across with those particular words on them is indexed and saved. Those pages are the ones that show up in the search engine results page when someone uses Google or another search engine to look for websites on a particular topic. The place where each site shows up in the search engine results page ranking is based on the content of the site, how many times particular words and phrases appear on the site and the relevance of the site to those search times. That is why search engine marketing depends so heavily on search engine optimization.

If you want your website to show up higher on the search engine results page then you use to use search engine marketing and search engine optimization techniques in order to get the spiders to notice your site and put your site higher on the search engine results page. People who are using a search engine to look for websites will rarely click to the second search engine results page. It’s crucial that your site be on the first page of the search engine results page or people will probably not find your site. Using search engine marketing and search engine optimization is the best way to do that.

The number one rule to remember when you are planning out search engine marketing strategies or trying to figure out how use search engine optimization effectively on your website is that your website should have 100% original content. The spiders will place your site higher on the search engine results page if the content that is on your site is original. When websites duplicate copy the spiders pick up on the repeated phrases and language and will sometimes not index a site at all if the spider determines that the content is too similar to the content on another site.

Search engine optimization and search engine marketing is more than just taking one word or phrase and repeating it a certain number of times. The content on the site has to be fresh and engaging and also contain the keywords or key phrases that will bring traffic to the website.

About the Author:
by Kenneth Doyle

Internet Marketing is a now a must do marketing activity for any small business wanting to prosper in the so called Information age. However, with this being said, marketing your small business on the Internet does not need to be expensive, nor does it need to be complicated.

Opportunities to market your small business are many and varied, just like in the real world.

For small businesses Internet marketing can be a surprisingly low-cost way of promoting your local small business. This promotion can be targeted locally, regionally or across the globe.

So, what are these strategies and how does one apply them?

In broad terms there are THREE main types of marketing strategies, which apply to small business Internet marketing, being…

1. Paid search marketing (Pay per click marketing, and its numerous variations), and… 2. In-context link marketing (being commercial links within content on a specific topic), and… 3. Natural search marketing (SEO, content marketing, blogs and its numerous variations).

So, what are the PROS and CONS of these different approaches?

1. PAY PER CLICK SEARCH MARKETING:

The effectiveness of your paid search marketing campaign is directly related to the keyterms you chose to use. The other key factor here is your landing page for you PPC advertisement. In essence, Paid search marketing works a little like the marketing you (as a bricks and mortar business owner) already know and use in the real world. The main difference here is that you pay per click.

The benefits to you (the pros). Well, when correctly targeted, you’ll reach prospects, fast.

The CONS: A) Hire a specialist or do it yourself. If you DIY you can lose a lot of money, fast! B) Skilled specialists are expensive. C) You continually pay to play with this model. D) High demand keyterms are very costly (thus eliminating most small businesses).

2. IN-CONTEXT LINK MARKETING:

This approach uses other people’s web site content as the platform for your advertising. The links are embedded inside the content on their web pages. This content is usually keyword focused. For example, let’s say that you sell wood heaters. When you engage in in-context link marketing your hyperlinks are placed within content on specific web site articles and/ or web pages about wood heaters.

The PROS: Information is the currency of the Internet. When you use these embedded hyperlinked, and within context ads correctly they can be a very effective advertising medium for small business. The clickthroughs may be lower than the PPC model, but the quality of visitor is usually much higher.

The CONS: A) You have little to no control over what web sites your links are placed on, which means that links can be placed within content that doesn’t quite fit sometimes. B) Best results are achieved by driving prospects to especially designed landing pages. Skill is required to set up these sales funnel paths. C) The demand for good, profitable commercial keyterms always exceeds supply, thus pushing up the price for the good terms.

3. NATURAL SEARCH - SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING:

Think about this. How do YOU use the web? I’ll guarantee you that if you’re looking for a solution to a problem that you do what millions of other people do everyday. You go to your favorite search engine (usually Google) and type in your problem (a.k.a. keyphrase). Then, your search engine presents you will likely answers. When a small business interfaces with the fundamental reality of the way people use the Internet THEY win.

Note: It’s important to understand that search marketing is different from SEO. SEO is a term used to describe the optimization of a web site and its pages for the search engines to be able to spider pages correctly.

The PROS: With natural search marketing, if your business is the creator of the keyword-focused content, you have a distinct marketing advantage on the web. Long term, these advantages will far out weight both the PPC and In-context marketing strategies, because you are building a web business or traffic portal which belongs to you. Your results with natural search marketing are in direct relationship to your own efforts. And, here’s an interesting twist, small businesses wanting to primarily market themselves locally or regionally have a distinct advantage using this natural search marketing methodology.

The CONS: A) Search marketing strategies require more effort than the potential throwing money at the wall techniques of the other strategies. B) It can be a slower approach than the other methods discussed. However it has been proven time and again that search marketing is an ideal and cost effective method for small businesses to use on the net.

So, in summary… Small Business Internet marketing no longer needs to be the mysterious world it once appeared to be for small businesses. However, there is still a great divide between those small businesses that employ smart marketing strategies as the foundation of their online marketing systems, and those that don’t.

About the Author:
by Kim and Charles Petty

Millions are paying to get a ride on the Information Super Highway everyday. Now, it is widely known that the Internet is an accessible resource of many income-generating activities. Whether you belong to a private sales company or you are just interested in internet marketing, PPC affiliate programs can be a powerful venue to make money from the Internet. A partnership with an affiliate merchant is a win-win situation for the merchant and the affiliate: sales are soaring because of exposure and traffic while the affiliate is earning good cash.

To make things much simpler: the affiliate merchant provides a strip of advertisement and pays you when someone clicks on the ad’s link. You can get a commission of $0.10 to $0.30 for every click, but it sometimes it can go higher depending on your merchant affiliate. Sometimes, merchants require a quota ($1.4 for every 1000 clicks). Plus, you can get discounts from your merchant affiliates if you happen to like their products too. You can just kick back and relax while your website is generating cash. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

What is PCC Affiliate Program?

PPC means pay-per-click, wherein you get in partnership with an affiliate company that literally pays you for every click. There are actually two types of PCC affiliate programs - those who pay a commission based on the number of clicks and the other based on the sales. The pay-per-click scheme is much more popular than pay-per-lead because the affiliate gets paid by just clicking the ad, regardless of whether the visitor buys from the affiliate merchant or not. Plus the chances of a visitor purchasing something from the affiliate merchant are not really that high.

In choosing an affiliate program, read the fine print carefully - some pay-per-click programs get the ratio of the number of people who went to your site and the actual people who clicked on the ad. If you have a heavily targeted website, this can hurt your earnings.

How do I start?

Of course, you need to have a website. Depending on your target audience, choose the best affiliate merchant that is most related to your topic. For example, your website is about Carpentry then you can search for affiliate programs that sell tools used in carpentry.

However, if you don’t have a website, that’s not a problem. You can put up a content site about absolutely anything under the sun like ‘Taking Care of Dogs’ or ‘Decorating your own Home.’ But wait, its not over yet. We are faced by a dilemma - on how to increase traffic! You first need to get internet surfers to see your website, then the ad.

How do I increase my traffic?

First, design your website in such a way that it will attract internet users. A user-friendly site is always recommended so that the customers will know which one to click. Take into consideration the look and feel of the advertisement. If it doesn’t look professional, most likely, users will just ignore it. Place the ad on a strategic location - one where users can see it clearly. Visibility of the ad is always important.

Another way is to post a link to your website in forums, web communities, ezine articles or bulletin boards. However, this method requires a lot of effort - that defeats your purpose of getting easy money in the first place! The key is to do something once and forget about it. It’s like putting your business on autopilot. To maintain you pay-per-click business, be sure to track down site activity, so you are updated on how much money you are making.

Can I make more money?

If you think you can go to the next level, you can try a two-tier affiliate program. This gives you the power to recruit affiliates. Other than the money you get from your website’s clicks, you will also get a percentage of what your affiliate generates. Some companies give 30% to a soaring 50% commission on all referral sales.

Remember, you should be able to manage and monitor your affiliate program. If you can recruit more affiliates, then you can get paid more without even moving a finger! Choose affiliates that can most likely attract more internet users and bring more traffic. You just have to know the right people.

About the Author:
by JD Theis

With the penetration of internet in day to day life Search engines are almost a part of daily life. Looking for anything the first place to check is the search engine. Rightfully it was called the answer machine by usability guru Jakob Nelsen. Therefore it is very important to ensure that your website has excellent search engine visibility. When individuals are looking for a product, service etc. they generally do not have anything specific in mind, they use general words to search out what they want. In such a case if a website dose not has rank on the search engine on the keywords which are used more often they will just not be seen by people who matter. Search engine visibility is one of the most important ways to build your brand name and it will help you become a leader in your field. Any traffic will not do for your website it has to be qualified and one which matters to your business.

We have talked about search engine visibility but how do we achieve it. With millions of websites how does one manage to reach the top 10 in the search engines like Google, AltaVista, Hot Bot, AOL, MSN, Direct Hit, Fast, Yahoo etc. Answer is simple optimize your website. It is great if you can do it yourself or you have professional help who offer seo services. In case your website is not ranked say as the top 30 in the search on important keywords, there is very small chance of you being found by the searcher. Seo services assist your website to maximize traffic and reach the top of the search engines. You have the best chances of reaching the top rank if your website is properly optimized. This can generate millions of visits every day via the search engines which can convert into business.

A WordPress theme is exciting, functional and also affordable that will assist professional as well as companies to focus on their niche area instead of harassed over the theme to be used on their website. In the coming days it will become more popular and will be available for free and on payment also. This will facilitate the end user to accomplish professional look for their blogs and website with the use the WordPress theme as CMS! They will be used by seo service givers and achieve search engine visibility for your website.

About the Author:
by Michael Baker

Advanced seo services, such as using a blog or using social networks for bookmarking, are actually pretty simple to setup and start using right away.

Are you using a blog in your search engine optimization?

There are 2 types of blogs: free blogs hosted somewhere else, or blogs you host on your very own domain. The free ones would be like wordpress.com or blogger.com. I personally recommend using wordpress and installing it on your own host.

Using a blog allows 2 things to happen: You can become an expert in your field and you start adding a bunch of links to your main site.

Get more familiar with social bookmarking

Seems every time I turn around, or search on the internet, there is another social network starting up. The key thing here is to be aware of this and to take advantage of this. You can use these websites to your advantage.

First, social networks can be used for networking. You can easily find a group that has similar interests as you and get familiar with them. Places like Facebook and Twitter are good for this.

The other method to use this for is one way links to your website. By bookmarking your websites socially, you start to increase the number of inbound links to your site. And since Google loves backlinks, you can use this to your advantage. The best site for this will be Digg.

Just by adding some of these advanced seo services, outside of the basic seo, can be just what your website needs.

About the Author:
by Chris Channing

The LG KF510 is one of the latest mobile phones that cater to new technologies and styles. The mobile phone is most noted for its sense of style and the fact that it is a slider phone- making it popular among today’s youth. But what can the phone offer beyond good looks- and how does it stack up to the competition?

The physical design of the LG KF510 is quite impressive. The metal body has a very sleek finish that is visually appealing, and the overall slim body makes it easily concealed and carried. The biggest benefit would be the large touch screen that it contains- a total of 2.2 inches for browsing and navigating through the mobile phone. The design clearly has little to discount.

The LG KF510 can in many senses be called a mobile entertainment center. The LG KF510 gives users easy access to the Internet through a mobile web browser. For those who can’t get enough of their local music and talk shows, an FM radio is included in the package. Other options for videos, pictures, and programs also add to the entertainment value.

Mobile phones are of little use in entertainment and multimedia fun if they can’t connect to other devices well. In some cases, such networking is vital to business or organizational matters. The LG KF510 doesn’t disappoint with the support for both USB 2.0 and Bluetooth. Both technologies allow for the transfer of files or information between devices without any effort at all.

As far as photographers go, there is much to love in the LG KF510. The LG KF510 offers a 3 megapixel camera phone that also sports an autofocus feature so you won’t have any more blurred shots as a result of distance or lack thereof. An extra memory card can be added or swapped in order to get as many photographs on a mobile phone as anyone would need- not to mention programs, music, and other multimedia types.

Like many mobile phones with touch screen capability, the LG KF510 only works best indoors. When exposed to direct sunlight, mobile phone users will have a very tough time in trying to read anything on the screen. This detracts from having a mobile phone in the first place, if it can’t be taken outdoors with ease. This isn’t a big drawback, but it certainly can be annoying.

The LG KF510 doesn’t have support for 3G- meaning that high speed transmissions, global roaming, and extra access to multimedia options will not be available. In the forthcoming years of mobile phones, this will be a popular feature and the LG KF510 will sadly miss out.

Closing Comments

Although the LG KF510 doesn’t have perfect scores in every department, it is still a wonderful mobile phone to have. It can keep up with most of the current technologies, has a great style, and is generally cheaper than many other new mobile phones. Certainly, it should be kept in mind when looking to purchase a new mobile phone.

About the Author:
by Linden Walhard

About a year ago a friend of mine moved into a lovely Victorian house. When I went over for a party I realized that they hadn’t actually changed anything in the house. I put it down to them liking the original features, so didn’t think any more of it. However as we soon realized my friend was actually scared about starting any kitchen renovation project as they are so complicated. They were literally terrified at the thought of looking for design ideas for their kitchen.

This was probably made worse due to the house being so old. It was vital that work was done on the kitchen to bring it into the 21st century! I offered to help her design her new kitchen, and some of her other friends even offered to help complete the project.

Be Brave with your Kitchen Renovation

Many homeowners that own older houses find it very difficult to renovate them simply because of their age. However it’s not really more difficult to renovate an old house compared to a new one. No matter whether you house is new or old, a kitchen renovation will be pretty much the same. Renovation can tie in new features with the rest of the traditional features. It is possible to have a traditional stove in the same kitchen as a stainless steel fridge, they can even look great together if you know what to do.

For any age of home the most important part of your home renovation project is planning. The more detailed the plans are, the better.

Once you have your plan you should start to work out a rough cost. You should never start anything unless you have the funds to see it through to completion. If you are willing to do some of the work yourself then you should be able to make the renovation much more affordable. Labor costs are often more expensive than the materials themselves. If at all possible you shouldn’t change the layout or do anything to drastic as these would incur extra costs.

If you do require structural changes then it is important that you get a reliable builder who can stick to a budget. And I’m not talking about one of those ever expanding budgets either, it needs to be set in stone! You could consider adding or removing a divider, or adding a skylight if you think it would change your kitchen for the better. These aren’t the most difficult structural changes, and so should be more affordable.

Kitchen renovation ideas should be planned so that all of the problem areas are thought of. You should check to see if your heating, electrics, gas and plumbing require any attention. Some kitchens may look beautiful, however they may be unsafe. This is particularly true in old houses where perhaps the electrics are not up to standard.

Countertops, floors and cabinets in your kitchen will all contribute to the overall look. However all of these can be very expensive, if you want to save money then it is possible if you are clever. You don’t have to use marble or granite work surfaces, there are lots of other materials. Instead of getting your cabinets designed, buy some off the shelf. As for the floor, well you could use laminate flooring as it looks fantastic and is fairly inexpensive.

About the Author:
by Peter Slevin

Having links from other sites pointing to your site is the holy grail of search engine optimisation. It is crucial for any successful website, and is the single most important part of your website marketing efforts in order to increase overall reach, link popularity and website traffic. Having quality inbound links will improve your search engine results, which will in the end bring you more visitors. Acquiring new links from other websites, using your keywords as anchor text, will help you improve search engine rankings.

It is important that you try and achieve inbound links from sites that are trusted by search engines. The best way to do this is to use Google’s page rank facility to determine how Google views the site. It is important to remember that 85% of internet visitors use the search engines on a regular basis. Search engines beat all other media in driving visitors to websites. Moreover, the majority of users believe companies found in top search results are major brands which equals brand equity for you.

While the process of procuring ‘inbound links can be a lengthy process, it is a worthwhile pursuit. It is something that you can do yourself, but employing an internet marketing company to do it for you can save you months and months of research and work.

Getting links from the biggest directories on the internet such as Google Directory and Yahoo directory is a good place to start.

Submit your site to high quality internet directories using your keywords as anchor text. Make sure, however, that you submit your site to right category.

Ask suppliers, friends, and associates to link to your site from theirs. Because of your existing relationship with them, this should prove quite easy for you.

Writing press releases and articles and submitting them to newswire and article directories is another great way of obtaining links. You include your site URL in the resource box.

Content is king. We recommend that you constantly update your site’s content, and add new pages. Any search engines’ main goal is to provide surfers with fresh and relevant content. Updating your site on a regular basis will result in search engines rewarding you with higher placement within their results pages.

Whether you enlist the aid of a company such as ours, or try to procure links on your own, quality ‘inbound links’ are becoming an increasingly important component of your direct marketing and sales activity to increase site traffic and drive sales. As I mentioned before, it is the holy grail of internet marketing, and the foundation upon which any successful website is built.

About the Author:
by Michael Baker

A great website is only as profitable as the traffic it gets, that is why it is so important to get improved search engine rankings. The quality of your product, or service, will not matter if your website does not get a better search engine ranking. That is why some time and energy has to be focused on ways of getting improved search engine rankings.

Where your focus needs to lie to increase your rankings

Almost everyone I know uses the internet for information and research. Just think about the last time you needed to find something. It could have been a definition, directions, a recipe, or just about anything else you can think of. Where did you go? That’s right! The Internet. You normally end up looking at the first couple of sites and get what you need. This is where your site needs to be.

Now, how you improve your search engine rankings is just by focusing your internet marketing efforts in a few more areas. Some of these are listed below.

Give them what they are looking for: Good fresh content. They want what they are looking for so give it to them. And, always having fresh content is a sure way to help with your search engine rankings.

You need one way links, and not reciprocal links. The days of just swapping a few links are over. You need to get people to link directly to your website or blog. And speaking of blogs, what better way to link to your site than by commenting on other peoples blogs. Just make sure the content is relevant to what you are offering.

There are also keywords. Ensure you are using good keywords and keyword phrases. Here’s a hint: The longer the phrase is you are optimizing for, the more targeted the traffic will be.

Just by following these simple steps, you will definitely see improved search engine rankings.

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