Posts tagged SEO
Latest Google Algorithmic Update Helps Some Hurts Others
Mar 1st
Last Thursday Google launched another round of algorithmic updates on domains in the USA. Some website owners saw this as good for them and others lost ground in their SEO work by what is now referred to as the Google Farmer Update.
According to the Official Google Blog…
Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries—and we wanted to let people know what’s going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.
So, how did your websites do? Did you feel a “Google Slap” or did it help you?
For most of my own websites I saw a positive result increasing my sites one full PR point and I see other good coming from this.
Most of what I do is focused on helping local business owners who lately for the most part are benefiting from the changes Google is doing with the tweaking of their systems. Google Places pages showing up on page one for keywords in local niches is just one place that Google is helping.
Please post a comment below on how you think Google is doing.
What I learned at Clickbank Masters USA Conference in Orlando
Feb 23rd
My family and I had a great time in Orlando, Florida helping my friend and business associate Jeff Mills present his latest and I think, his best Internet Marketing conference to date… the Clickbank Masters USA three day event.
My wife Leslie lead the crew at the registration table while my son Jared and I worked the video production side of things along with our friend Grant Conklin as our audio technician. We had several others helping at the sales table and other areas and they all did a wonderful job of helping over 250 attendees to have a great experience and learn more about how to build their own online businesses.
I was blessed to meet so many wonderful people including the speakers that Jeff had lined up along with his co-host Mark. Many of the speakers taught about how they have built systems that incorporate products from Clickbank.com to earn them thousands of dollars of income each month. I’ve used Clickbank.com myself over the last few years as a place to find products that I can promote as well as purchase for myself.
It was interesting to go to my mailbox today and find my own monthly check from Clickbank.com. Even if it was not for the thousands that most of the conference speakers are getting it certainly was timely and a good reminder to follow along with what I learned this weekend to increase the size of this check.
Several of the speakers not only shared about Clickbank.com but also talked about how they make money by helping local business owners to drive traffic to their websites for leads and sales. This is a growing business opportunity for those of us who, like myself, work as online business consultants helping local business owners to get their businesses on page one in Google and other search engines and directories.
I’m trying to get caught up on my email now that I’m back home and found an interesting invitation to a live webinar this evening which focuses on a system that can help consultants like me to work with local businesses. You might have heard of this before because the concept is simple, you build websites and “rent” them to local business owners.
So why would a business like a dentist, home security company, lawn care or heating/cooling contractor want to RENT a website from you? When you build a website that Generates Leads for a Business Owner they will pay your hundreds and sometimes Thousands of dollars each month because you can provide them with new business that they are not getting from their own online efforts.
I said the concept is simple but accomplishing the task is not without a system.
What I learned at the Clickbank Masters USA conference this past weekend is… You need to build a System in order to build a solid online business that will bring in the income you want without eating up all your time trying to operate it.
This evening there is a free webinar that will show you a proven system for creating an income stream by helping local business owners. Time is short but you may still be able to reserve a virtual seat for this online webinar.
NOTE: This is a very little known but highly profitable method and the plan is to keep it that way. If you are interested, do it now, you are not gonna get another chance.
After you click the link below, use the form on the right hand side to RSVP.
RSVP LINK for Tonight’s Free Webinar
I hope to see you on there.
Oh, BTW. When you go there you will get Free access to a very cool tool for finding the best markets to offer your services to.
Google Is Really Going Local, This is Good For Local Businesses
Jan 20th
As you have no doubt already noticed as you have been doing Google Searches in the past couple months, more local businesses are showing up on Page One of Google. If you are a local business owner this is REALLY good news for you.
I just read a story on WebProNews, “If You’re Not Local, How Can You Compete in an Increasingly Local Google?” You might want to read the encouragement here for you if you own a local business in Elk River, Minnesota or any city in the nation.
Be sure to watch the video with Google’s Webmaster YouTube Channel, Matt Cutts. Matt is head of the Google webspam team. He lays it on the line and tells why Google Places is focused on pulling in local business listings to the SERPs.
If you are a local business owner with a store or office in the Greater Elk River, MN area I want to help you get on Page One of Google with your business. You can use my Contact Henry Griner form today to request a No Cost consultation to see what I can do to help your business grow in 2011.
How to Generate a Steady Stream of Traffic to Your Website – Part 2
Oct 16th
Getting visitors to your WordPress Blog or website is not easy if you are just starting out. Generating website traffic so that you can build your Internet based home business can be costly if you don’t know how to do it.
This is Part 2 of my 5 part series about you can Generate a Steady Stream of Traffic to Your Website. Even if you plan to outsource many of the tasks of traffic generation you still need to understand the many tools, systems and concepts to see what is best for your niche area.
Organic Traffic
Organic traffic pertains to traffic that is ‘sent’ to the site. Setting up your site to use this traffic route is then the best way of ensuring good organic traffic.
The easiest way of getting organic traffic is through Search Engine Optimization. Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic a site receives. (One of the great things about WordPress blogs is that you have SEO tools built right into the system and, you can add “widgets” like the All in One SEO Pack.)
Crawlers, which are small programs, are sent to a site by a search engine when the site is submitted for placement. These crawlers, also called spiders, scout the pages for keywords and tags attached to the site to compile a list of search-related features to generate the site on the search engine’s results page.
Crawlers usually look for keywords, so optimizing their use in the pages is a good way of making sure they are picked up.
Also, the more information available for a page, the easier it is for those programs to reference the page. For example, each page should have its own page name clearly defined, and this should include the title and header, which is also known as the meta tag, which the crawlers look for.
Tags should also be well used, for they allow for broader scope when the crawlers are doing their job.
A good bet would also be to include the most relevant information of the site in the first paragraph of the home page. The first 2-3 lines of this paragraph are usually included in search engine results a page, providing at first glance whether the site has what the person doing the search is looking for. In this way, the inverted pyramid structure of writing, whereby the paragraphs are written in order of most important information to least important, should be followed when writing the content of the page.
All these help the site have a better chance of ranking among the top spots on the search engine’s results page. 5 to 10% of clicks are generated through higher up placement on results pages.
One thing to steer clear of here – bad links or ‘under construction’ pages on the site. This is a deterrent for crawlers, which may thus not add the site to the results, as the site is not fully functional. Regular maintenance and updates of links and pages help to keep this issue at bay.
Another good option to increase organic traffic is to submit the site to directories and other guides on the Internet. These too will make the site come up through searches in their databases.
Other tips to increase organic traffic are:
•   Increase the number of related phrases that are typed in search engine boxes in the content of the site – this could allow for the site or page to be featured in results.
•   Provide the geographical location of the business – this works mostly for product-based sites, as the likelihood of someone choosing to buy something in their area is enhanced. Providing location, especially if the site is international, helps target more people that could have geographical location as part of their search parameters.
•   Listing products/content topic individually – the more pages on the site, the more a site is considered ‘worthy’ of being included in search engine results. Specific pages for specific content also show in-depth knowledge about the product/content, enhancing the reputation of the site as a good destination.
The above-mentioned options are only the tip of the iceberg where increasing traffic is concerned. Other methods do exist, and shall be considered individually.
Following is a detailed, random listing of the most popular and some of less well-known avenues to generate traffic to a website quickly and on a daily basis. These are in no particular order, and all those tips work in their own right.
SEO: Keyword/Phrase Placement
This feature has already been mentioned above, but it pays to always reiterate this fact – good placement in search engine results pages help to generate more traffic as the exposure and visibility of the site and its offerings are enhanced through such a process.
Using keywords is the key here, no pun intended. Concise and related keywords will help to funnel the search to your site, despite competitors’ presence as it has geared the search to find it more easily.
Keywords should also be well chosen. Generation, locations and slang may play a part in here, as different people may not use the same word to define a product or information. Providing a varied list of keywords helps cover this base nicely.
Optimizing pages themselves for SEO placement (keywords, working links, tags) further enhances the probability of good placement on results pages.
Another option could be to generally increase the number of keywords and their recurrence on the site as a whole.
Tracking Keywords
It is important to scan the data of traffic analysis to find which keywords are more popular and which are allowing the site to receive more visits.
Identifying them can then lead the marketer or business owner to optimize the use of this keyword to make it even stronger in its positioning.
In addition, those less-popular keywords could be identified and then removed from the content, to allow more space for the keywords that should be optimized.
List with Directories
This feature can enhance visibility and exposure on the Net.
Listing with directories that target the same industry or field of the site can also enhance its placement on the web and in clients’ minds.
Social Media Exposure
There are a lot of social networking sites on the web, as well as specific networks for an industry or niche.
Find which networks cater to the sector of the market or industry your site falls in, and register with them. These networks usually allow the registered user to create a profile for himself.
Use this profile to present your site, as well as the products or content offered. Where possible, and if the network allows it, feature a link to your website on your profile page. An intriguing profile coupled with a link to the main site will tickle many potential visitors.
Links
Links work by providing paths from other places and platforms.
Links to your site can be placed on industry-specific or product-specific sites. It is always a good idea to contact the big-name-websites to ask if they are willing to feature a link to your site.
Exchanging links is also another good option. In return to featuring someone’s link, this person features your link too on his site.
Links exchange programs also work upon the same premise.
An aspect often overlooked is the ability to link within the site itself. This increases the likelihood of navigating within the site, thus enhancing page views. This can be extremely useful to content-based sites. Product-based sites can also use the same strategy to present other products that may interest a visitor.
Buying Text Links
Using such links on a page enhances its potential to be picked up by search engines.
Buying Banner Ads
Banner ads are now assimilated within the framework of what a visitor expects on a site.
Buying banner ads on other sites provides exposure for your site. Doing so on industry-related or product-related sites further enhances the potential to generate traffic. Banners usually hold a link back to the site it is promoting.
Also, it helps build brand recognition of the site being promoted. A banner is an advertisement in itself, and people usually pay attention and remember banners. This then represents a wonderful opportunity to brand and present a site.
Participating in Banner Exchange Programs
This premise follows upon the same reasoning as banner ads, and is the easiest effective option to follow.
Banner exchange program increases exposure and visibility on the Net, as well as providing branding opportunities.
Such programs work on a swap ratio of 2:1 usually. Typically, if a banner is being shown on your site, for every 50 views on your site, in return, your own banner will be posted on 25 other sites.
Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs allow for a site to register with them and refer customers to them. For every sale then that is triggered by a referral, the site that sent the customer earns a commission of the sale.
These programs also work on the premise that your site can be associated to a big name and thus earn recognition. Affiliating in your own sector helps broaden the scope of your exposure.
Furthermore, a site that sells products may set up is own affiliate program, whereby other sites will affiliate with it. This is another very good opportunity to create presence, clout, and exposure.
Google Website Optimizer Helps You Drive Traffic To Your Website
Aug 9th
How do you know if your website layout, header, keywords, images, body copy and other aspects of your website are optimized to bring you the most traffic and sales?
Do you wish you had a tool that could help you to easily optimize your websites?
Would you like a free tool that would do a professional job of optimizing your website for FREE?
Well, the Google Website Optimizer is a free, professional grade SEO Tool that will help you to discover the best website design and content using A/B testing and multivariate testing tools.
Tom Leung, product manager for Google Website Optimizer, says it’s not always easy to know what drives traffic without a tool like Website Optimizer to help. “In the old days, you would just make the changes and hope for the best, or you might look at your traffic the next week and see if there were any changes in your web analytics dashboard.�
The problem with that approach, Leung explains, is that you don’t really know why you saw more or less traffic hit your website. Was it due to your design change or maybe you had a really popular blog post that week?
If you are not testing using a tool like the Google Website Optimizer or, having a professional high paid SEO consultant do the work for you, you will have no idea what causes the changes in traffic to your website.
You can access this fantastic free SEO tool along with all the training and a free support group at Google to help you. Click the video link below to watch an overview of how the Google Website Optimizer works.
CLICK TO WATCH GOOGLE WEBSITE OPTIMIZER OVERVIEW
