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05 2007 Monday
7

The Best Keywords Ever

By Stoney deGeyter in Webmasters
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No, I’m not going to give you a list of most searched or most clicked keywords or whatever. Instead I’m going to talk about how to determine which keywords will be the best forThere are a number of measurements that can be used when determining how good a keyword might be:

  • Search volume (high or low)
  • KEI
  • Number of search results for a keyword phrase
  • Number of search results that use the phrase in the title
  • Whether a competitor uses a particular phrase
  • etc.

Personally, I don’t think that any of those will actually pick the best keywords for your campaign.

Looking at keywords in terms of difficulty is great for having realistic expectation of how soon you might be able to displace other sites ranking well for them, but it won’t tell you if your keyword is a good keyword for you. Same with looking to see if your competitor uses that term. For all you know they haven’t done their research yet.

All of the information above is useful within context, but there are really only three things that truly matter. You want:

  • Keywords that target your audience
  • Keywords that get traffic
  • Keywords that get conversionsYou can find and optimize for a lot of keywords that will perform well in one or two of these areas, but the BEST keywords are those satisfy all three requirements. Anything less won’t do.

    You can target your audience with low traffic keywords - but your conversion rates will be low.

    You can get traffic that doesn’t convert - but sales rates will be low.

    You can get conversions by targeting low traffic keywords - but your traffic rates will be low.

    You can target your audience with poor converting keywords - but your sales will suffer.

    You can get traffic without targeting your audience - but your conversions will suffer.

    You can get conversions without targeting your audience - but your traffic will suffer.

    The best keywords ever are keywords that you have determined to be relevant and have tested to get results. Nothing else really matters.

    Author:  Stoney deGeyter leads a spectacular team of seasoned marketing experts at Pole Position Marketing, a search engine marketing company. Stoney started PPM in 1998 by finding the brightest minds in the industry and nurturing within them an intense desire to become leaders in their respective fields. With this team of professionals, he has built a wildly successful website marketing company that succeeds through both personal and professional integrity.

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    05 2007 Friday
    4

    Your First Mobile Website - Should it be a .mobi or a mobile subdomain?

    By Ross Dunn in Webmasters
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    In reference to my article “Mobile Search Site Creation and Optimization - Part 1″; Vance Hedderal, Director of Public Relations at .mobi explains why he thinks the .mobi extension should be used instead of a mobile subdomain (i.e. yoursite.mobi vs. mobile.yoursite.com)

    Quote from Vance Hedderal:
    I was surprised to read the section in Rachel Pasqua’s presentation summation that says, “iCrossing decided to proceed with the subdomain concept rather than a separate domain such as a .mobi. In this case their mobile site is located at mobile.icrossing.com; a sensible concept that retained the branding of the top level domain name without having to rebrand a new one.”

    I was surprised because, up until then, the ideas in her section seemed well thought out.
    It’s rare to see companies that hinge their brand on a domain. Even the greatest Internet success stories like Amazon, Google and Yahoo aren’t tied to a domain. They realize a domain is a channel; to them, a .fr, or .co.uk or .jp matters as much as a .com. That’s what .mobi brings to branding: a distinct, easy-to-remember formula for finding the mobile content of a brand and a distinct channel, much the same as a country code offers.
    The subdomain strategy that iCrossing is employing is what has brought mobile users addresses like http://wap.oa.yahoo.com and http://proxy.espn.go.com/wireless/espn/. With .mobi, users can easily guess — say — “cnnmoney.mobi” or “google.mobi” and know that they’ll get content that works on their phones.
    Now, think about brands that did tie themselves to a domain. Here’s one: pets.com.
    We’ve talked more about this in our own blog’s misconception series. Our contributor, Ronan Cremin, remarked, “Third level domains such as wap.domain.com and mobile.domain.com do not work well for the purpose identifying mobile content, nor do special URLs such as domain.com/mobile and domain.com/xhtml because there are no enforceable standards for doing this (DNS is inherently distributed — registrants can do whatever they want with third-level domains). A top-level domain, on the other hand, can do this, and help the user to identify (and trust) mobile friendly sites.”
    It bears noting that iCrossing does own the icrossing.mobi domain. That said, Rachel was clear that .mobi was not their first choice for promoting their site. The other presenters also noted that although they did not have high expectations for the .mobi extension they felt it was still a good idea to purchase the domain to avoid the possibility of future losses should it gain traction.
    Go For .Mobi
    I recommend that clients utilize the .mobi extension when creating their new mobile websites because it is inherently logical; having a single top level domain (TLD) that is dedicated to mobile is a sensible manner to simplify mobile surfing. That .mobi is not a popular top level domain says very little since the mobile web is still in the first stages of formation. I expect the next 2 years will be the real test and I for one believe that .mobi has a real chance of catching on as long as the .mobi PR machine can get big media and other early adopters to utilize it.

    Author:  Ross Dunn is founder and CEO of StepForth Search Engine Placement. Celebrating its tenth year in business, StepForth is one of the oldest and most trusted brands in search engine marketing.

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    05 2007 Friday
    4

    Knowing Your Visitors Through Website Traffic Analysis

    By Don Resh in Webmasters
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    Analyzing your web traffic statistics can be an invaluable tool for a number of different reasons. But before you can make full use of this tool, you need to understand how to interpret the data.

    Most web hosting companies will provide you with basic web traffic information that you then have to interpret and make pertinent use of. However, the data you receive from your host company can be overwhelming if you don’t understand how to apply it to your particular business and website. Let’s start by examining the most basic data - the average visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
    These figures are the most accurate measure of your website’s activity. It would appear on the surface that the more traffic you see recorded, the better you can assume your website is doing, but this is an inaccurate perception. You must also look at the behavior of your visitors once they come to your website to accurately gauge the effectiveness of your site.

    There is often a great misconception about what is commonly known as “hits” and what is really effective, quality traffic to your site. Hits simply means the number of information requests received by the server. If you think about the fact that a hit can simply equate to the number of graphics per page, you will get an idea of how overblown the concept of hits can be. For example, if your homepage has 15 graphics on it, the server records this as 15 hits, when in reality we are talking about a single visitor checking out a single page on your site. As you can see, hits are not useful in analyzing your website traffic.
    The more visitors that come to your website, the more accurate your interpretation will become. The greater the traffic is to your website, the more precise your analysis will be of overall trends in visitor behavior. The smaller the number of visitors, the more a few anomalous visitors can distort the analysis.
    The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure out how well or how poorly your site is working for your visitors. One way to determine this is to find out how long on average your visitors spend on your site. If the time spent is relatively brief, it usually indicates an underlying problem. Then the challenge is to figure out what that problem is.
    It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong type of visitors to your website, or that your graphics are confusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to exit rapidly. Use the knowledge of how much time visitors are spending on your site to pinpoint specific problems, and after you fix those problems, continue to use time spent as a gauge of how effective your fix has been.
    Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determine effective and ineffective areas of your website. If you have a page that you believe is important, but visitors are exiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could, for example, consider improving the link to this page by making the link more noticeable and enticing, or you could improve the look of the page or the ease that your visitors can access the necessary information on that page.
    If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are spending a lot of time on pages that you think are less important, you might consider moving some of your sales copy and marketing focus to that particular page.
    As you can see, these statistics will reveal vital information about the effectiveness of individual pages, and visitor habits and motivation. This is essential information to any successful Internet marketing campaign.
    Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a final order or contact form. This is a page you can expect your visitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to your site is going to find exactly what he or she is looking for, so statistics may show you a number of different exit pages. This is normal unless you notice a exit trend on a particular page that is not intended as an exit page. In the case that a significant percentage of visitors are exiting your website on a page not designed for that purpose, you must closely examine that particular page to discern what the problem is. Once you pinpoint potential weaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content or graphic may have a significant impact on the keeping visitors moving through your site instead of exiting at the wrong page.
    After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it’s time to turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particular keywords are directing a specific type of visitor to your site. The more targeted the visitor - meaning that they find what they are looking for on your site, and even better, fill out your contact form or make a purchase - the more valuable that keyword is.
    However, if you find a large number of visitors are being directed - or should I say misdirected - to your site by a particular keyword or phrase, that keyword demands adjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitors to your site who are ready to do business with you. Close analysis of the keywords your visitors are using to find your site will give you a vital understanding of your visitor’s needs and motivations.
    Finally, if you notice that users are finding your website by typing in your company name, break open the champagne! It means you have achieved a significant level of brand recognition, and this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.

    Author:  Don Resh is CEO of WebForce Inc.

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    05 2007 Tuesday
    1

    Small Businesses Should Know Their Place Online

    By Stoney deGeyter in Webmasters
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    The online environment has dropped a number of barriers for the creation of new businesses. Before, the dream of “sticking it to the man” and starting a business of your own was a lot more difficult and burdensome, requiring planning for location, financing and a host of other issues.Online; however, the roadblocks to starting a business of your own, even if just happy to produce additional income, are far less severe. While that has been wonderful for commerce, it also has its downsides. Namely, the lack of planning in order to build a successful business.

    The world has always had mom and pop shops. In fact, many great corporations started out as just that.Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the United States, started out as “Walton’s Five and Dime“. These corporations were led by people who dreamed of being much more than an owner of another mom and pop store and through their leadership they built their businesses into empires. But not all mom and pop shop owners have such big dream or ambitions. In fact, many are content with their role in the business world and have no desire or ambition to be more than a mom and pop shop.

    At least until the internet changed the face of business online. In a way, it leveled the playing field. Mom and pops could compete in ways they never could before. In fact, it seemed to be the mom and pops that fueled the growth of the internet. Due to their smallness and flexibility, they were the first ones to really use the internet as a sales channel. The corporations lagged far behind for many years.

    The Internet allowed many mom and pops to move out of mom and pop status and develop a new kind of corporate identity. Jeff Bezos started a small online store to sell books and turned it into the behemoth known as Amazon.com, one of the largest online retailers in the world. Many other mom and pop stores enjoyed the ease of which they could develop a web presence and draw in traffic and sales. But as the e-marketplace began to grow, driving traffic to a new online business became increasingly difficult. While starting a business on the internet today is still relatively easy compared to doing so off-line, it has become more expensive and time consuming than ever.

    I had a conversation with a friend recently about the rising costs of search engine marketing, optimization firms, and consultants. It seems that the cost of SEO is getting out of reach to the mom and pop business owners. Many well-known consultants charge up to $500/hour. One hour can get you a lot of advice and good information, but that leaves the hard work up to the business owner. If you hire a web marketing firm you might end up paying anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 per year. $10,000/year is considered relatively cheap.

    These costs for marketing are making the online environment less viable for new businesses on limited budgets. It’s certainly not impossible. Those that can and will invest the time to learning what they need to know and then dedicate the time and effort to the implementation of their knowledge can still succeed online. But the more competitive the field is the more difficult and time consuming the marketing aspects become, especially for one who may already be tapped out trying to run the business.

    So while smaller businesses could initially enjoy easy success online, that is no longer the case. Unfortunately, many still have grand dreams of starting a business in a competitive field and instantly turning it into a thriving company. By and large, that’s not going to happen. New sites take more time than ever to rank well in the search engines as trust and reputation need to be established. This is especially important when competing against other companies that have spent years developing their trust and reputation online. There is really no reason why a new site should outperform an older site in the same industry, until that new site has been able to prove they are valuable, reputable, trustworthy, and unique. And not just because the owner of the business says so! These things have to be well established online.

    So what’s a mom and pop store to do? That answer depends on what the goals of the business owner are. Are you comfortable being a mom and pop shop or do you have bigger dreams and ambitions?

    Staying Mom and Pop

    If you’re fine being a mom and pop shop in the online market place then you need to recognize that your place is probably not among the top 10 search results in a competitive industry. There is nothing wrong with that, just like there is nothing wrong with a local hardware store not being a Home Depot or Lowes. The local store gets locals who don’t want to take the drive to the larger hardware stores. But we all know that the Home Depot gets a whole lot more business than the local store.

    Even online, mom and pop stores need to be content with their place in the business world. You realize that you’ll never own the largest store of your kind offline–nor do you want to–and you should also accept the same online. You don’t need to be #1 to run a successful mom and pop business.

    Now, if you have greater ambitions than just being a mom and pop store, well, that changes everything. But before that changes your desire to be on the first page of search results, it needs to change your drive, motivation, and financial investment as well. You need to apply some of the same off-line business starting strategies for your online store. This includes creating a business plan, having a USP, and perhaps even finding some financial backing or outside investors. Again, this is most important for those starting a business in more competitive industries.

    While the barriers to starting a business online are still less than starting one off-line, the mindset of success shouldn’t be. Succeeding in any environment and earning first page placement for your keywords requires much more than building a website. It requires time, determination, willingness to spend or learn more about marketing, and patience. There are very few overnight success stories online and those that there are usually come from new and innovative ideas.

    There is nothing wrong with finding something you can do in order to build your business, even if it’s already being done. Target and Wal-Mart compete with many of the same, or similar, products and you can too. But you need to know what drives you and what your motivation is and how you define success. Once you know this, set your online expectations accordingly. You don’t have to invest thousands of dollars in a marketing campaign in order to be successful online, but if you want to move out of mom and pop status, then you need to be willing to run and invest in your business as any other non mom and pop business would.

    Author:  Stoney deGeyter leads a spectacular team of seasoned marketing experts at Pole Position Marketing, a search engine marketing company. Stoney started PPM in 1998 by finding the brightest minds in the industry and nurturing within them an intense desire to become leaders in their respective fields. With this team of professionals, he has built a wildly successful website marketing company that succeeds through both personal and professional integrity.

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    05 2007 Tuesday
    1

    CMS Watch Compares 13 Web Analytics Vendors

    By Manoj Jasra in Webmasters
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    Today CMS Watch released the Web Analytics Report, which evaluates 13 major Web Analytics suppliers based on extensive vendor research, interviews with customers across a range of industry sectors, and “hands on” testing of solutions. Purchase the report at: http://www.cmswatch.com/

    The Web Analytics report is divided up into 6 main parts:

    Part 1 - How to Use this Report

    Provides an overview of the various sections and depending on your role in the organization suggests the best path to follow in order to get the most out of the Web Analytics report.

    Part 2 - What is Web Analytics

    An overview of web analytics including history and definitions of some commonly used phrases.

    Part 3 - Business Case for Web Analytics

    Talks about the reasons why Web Analytics is so important in an online solution by addressing business goals such as Improving Customer Service and Increasing Revenue/Audience/Operational Efficiency. It’s followed by the report addressing the various costs that come with web analytics above and beyond licensing. This section concludes by addressing why web analytics is such a worthwhile investment.

    Part 4 - Web Analytics Technology and Features

    This section goes into detail about the various features that were used to compare the various web analytics vendors:

    - Technology (Architecture, Availability)
    - Data Collection and Processing (WebServer, JavaScript tagging, Complexity)
    - Data Accuracy (Verification, Sampling, User Id)
    - Data Services (Importing, Exporting, Integration)
    - User Administration (Permissions, Distribution)
    - Reporting (Standard Reports, Usability, Advanced Features, Dashboards, Help Features)
    - Vendor Intangibles (Implementation, Support, Licensing Costs, Future Development, Stability)

    Part 5 - The Web Analytics Initiative

    Part 5 talks about purchasing and implementation starting from the requirements all the way to implementation and best practices.

    Part 6 - The Web Analytics Vendors

    This is where all the major Vendors are compared using the items addressed in part 5. The following web analytics vendors are compared in this report:

    24/7
    AuriQ
    ClickTracks
    Coremetrics
    Fireclick
    Google Analytics
    Nedstat
    Omniture
    SageMetrics
    Unica
    Visual Sciences
    WebSideStory
    WebTrends

    For information email: info@cmswatch.com. I will be interviewing Lead Analyst (and author of this report), Phil Kemelor on Friday so stay tuned for some further insight via podcast.

    Author:  Manoj Jasra is the Director of Technology at Enquiro Search Solutions in Kelowna BC. Manoj is also CTO of the BC Travel Guide.

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    04 2007 Thursday
    12

    Welcome to the New SiteProNews.Com

    By Mel Strocen in Webmasters
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    Welcome to the new version of www.SiteProNews.com/. We are now publishing the website as a daily news magazine, a reflection of the growth and expansion of the Internet marketing industry.

    Over the past six years, SiteProNews has been known as one of the world’s most popular webmaster focused newsletters. Content on the website was identical to content published in the newsletter. Fans of the thrice weekly newsletter can be assured we will continue to publish the same high level of information each week in the same format. We are, however, very proud to offer webmasters and web marketers yet another alternative for news, information, advice and opinion.
    Visitors to the site over the past two weeks will have noticed these changes. We have used the past 14-days to experiment with the new look and format. Today we are going public. Here is a short list of changes we have made.
    1. A completely new design with improved navigational menus.

    2. More article content. Three new articles by expert authors, posted to the site daily.

    3. Dynamically changing webmaster blog and news feeds, bringing you the latest information and developments in the world of SEO, search engine trends, web development and emerging web technologies.

    4. An onsite search feature which allows keyword searching of more than 900 previously published articles.

    5. Arrangement of all previously published articles into 20 topical categories such as Google, Blogs & Podcasts, Web 2.0, RSS, Linking Strategies, etc.

    6. An onsite Blog with informative posts being made daily by a growing company of industry expert bloggers.

    7. Provision of RSS feeds for published articles, blog news, security and fraud, etc.

    8. Weekly SiteProNews webmaster radio show, The Alternative which focuses on advertising alternatives to the Big Three search engines.

    9. An SPN Advocate Corner. If you need help or advice on SEO problems, issues with the major search engines or direction for your website, we may have the answers. And, if we don’t, we’ll try and put you in touch with someone who does.

    More features and content will be added in the coming weeks. As of today, there is a new voice on the scene. We want to know what you think. Please feel free to provide your feedback on these changes. Thank you for letting us be that trusted voice.
    Author:  The SiteProNews Team - Publisher: Mel Strocen, Executive Editor: Jim Hedger

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    04 2007 Monday
    2

    First Full Edition Resolutions

    By Jim Hedger in Webmasters
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    This is the first, full edition of the new look for SiteProNews.com. We have spent the last two months building this site as a daily magazine, news source and information resource for webmasters, online marketers and Internet analysts. Back in January when I was first told I would be made Executive Editor for Jayde-Online, I wrote a number of resolutions that have become personal rules about how we would bring out take on the news to the public. Today is a good time to revisit and reprint those resolutions.Today, April 2 is the first day of the second quarter of 2007. The first three months of this year have been fast paced and exciting. One of the most crucial changes in our industry is the expansion of the number of news gathering organizations examining search and online marketing. As the world of online business becomes more complicated, the business of providing honest expert news and opinion becomes more important.

    The remainder of the decade is going to be a great era in technology and hopefully in most of our lives. We in the search and Internet marketing sectors are among the most fortunate people on Earth at this time. In that spirit, I would like to outline a number of New Look Resolutions for SiteProNews. These resolutions are to be thought of as foundation principles for our editors, writers and contributors.

    1/ We will consistently and faithfully report the news as we see and understand it regardless of consequence or controversy.

    We are journalists. Reporting on a multi-billion dollar industry can be a daunting and challenging experience. Where there is smoke there is often fire. Similarly, money and power often attract corruption. It is the role of the news media to ferret out corruption and report on it. That role is integral to the functioning of a free and democratic society and is one our forbearers fought and died for. We will never dishonor their sacrifice by shying away from what we believe to be the truth.

    2/ We will continue to speak truth to power.

    Even if those in power have the ability to use their strengths against us, we have the responsibility to speak truth to them. This takes guts, determination and the absolute certainty that one has researched and triple checked their facts first but, we deeply and passionately believe in the role of the media as a watchdog.

    3/ We will NOT sensationalize our stories or aggrandize our sources.

    We report on the facts as we see, hear or interpret them. This includes the use of headlines written as link-bait. There is nothing to be gained by sensationalism, at least not in the long-run. As the history of SiteProNews demonstrates, we are devoted to being here for long-term.

    4/ We believe in using the media as a force for social improvement and economic equity.

    If we can use our publications to explain techniques and expand on the talents of our audience, we will be helping to create and foster stronger, better informed webmasters and online businesses. In turn, those webmasters and businesses create jobs, wealth and, in the long-run, greater social equity. The best way we can help improve the lives of those living in difficult economic circumstances is to offer accurate information and to motivate through inspiration. Strong, open economies are the cornerstones of strong, open societies. The media has a direct role in fostering openness and therefore can be used as a force for social improvement and economic equity.

    5/ We believe in a diversity of opinion and will focus a good deal of energy in the cultivation and support of new voices in the search and webmaster media.

    There are a lot of emerging voices in the search and Internet marketing sectors. We will endeavor to foster and support the best of them in order to bring the widest array of information to our audience.

    6/ We will only use verifiable statistics.

    In the immortal words of the mid-nineteenth century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.” While there is no way to avoid their use, we will attempt to temper our use of statistics by also providing as much information on how those stats were obtained as possible. We understand that readers prefer knowing how stats were gathered at least nine times out of ten.

    7/ We will make every attempt to avoid the use of anonymous sources. That often requires us to work harder to cultivate sources willing to go on the record.

    One of the most difficult decisions an editor can make is the allowance of quotes from anonymous sources. The media consistently owes its audience a full explanation of how news has been gathered, including the names of those who provided the “proof” behind claims made in public.

    8/ At the same time, we will make every attempt to protect those who provide us information under the condition of anonymity.

    We recognize that some honest people are afraid of the repercussions of telling their truths in a public space.

    9/ We will not drink the Kool Aid regardless of who is serving it.

    A famous poster of a UFO reads, “I want to believe”. We too want to believe it when we are told about the wonders and integrity of any technology or institution however that would defeat the goal of quasi-objective observation and explanation. We will not drink the Kool Aid, no matter how hot the day might be.

    10/ will be adventurous, exploratory and expansive.

    Heaven knows our audience is.

    11/ We recognize that there is a good and bad side to every story, every entity and every institution. We will not allow individual pieces of bad news to bias our opinions against any entity or institution.

    There are always at least two sides to every story just like there are always two sides to any coin. We will always try to present both sides of a story. When we are unable to present both sides of a story from the perspective of those involved, we will endeavor to explain how our audience can find information for themselves.

    12/ We will strive for informed objectivity.

    The ideal of objectivity is one of the oldest and most important in journalism. It is also one of the most difficult to practice as we all have our biases. In our reporting of the news or presentation of techniques, the editors and writers at SiteProNews will strive for informed objectivity by following these principles as closely as possible.

    13/ We will be relentless in our pursuit of any given story.

    We believe there is a sense of urgency surrounding what we do everyday. We will strive to follow a story to the ends of the Earth and beyond if necessary.

    14/ We will work as hard or harder than our colleagues.

    The editorial staff of Jayde-Online works hard. Our friends and family call us crazy and, given the schedules we keep, it is hard to argue with them. It is not unusual for us to put in sixteen hour, six out of seven days of the week. With the coming expansion of SiteProNews to a daily format, a weekly radio show sponsored by Jayde-Online and the ISEDN.org, and our plans to mix video and social network-media into Jayde-Online publications, we expect the work-load to get even heavier in 2007.

    15/ We will have fun.

    Hard work can be fun when we know that work helps others. We believe we are a beneficial component in the overall information spectrum.

    We believe that these resolutions are more than good intentions. It is our intention to treat these resolutions as the principles under which publications I am responsible for are created, published and distributed.

    Moving forward, we at Jayde-Online expect you, our audience, to hold us to responsible for maintaining these principles. On behalf of Jayde-Online, I would like to thank you for reading this. Watch for some interesting changes in this space in the coming weeks.

    Author:  Search marketing expert Jim Hedger is one of the most prolific writers in the search sector with articles appearing in numerous search related websites and newsletters, including SiteProNews, Search Engine Journal, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide.

    He is currently Executive Editor for the Jayde Online news sources SEO-News (http://www.seo-news.com) and SiteProNews (http://www.sitepronews.com). You can also find additional tips and news on webmaster and SEO topics by Jim at the SiteProNews blog (http://blog.sitepronews.com/).

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    03 2007 Friday
    30

    Life of a Webmaster: Managing Multiple Websites or Domains

    By Mary Markell in Webmasters
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    Hello there fellow webmasters. I know how frustrating and tiring can be to manage multiple websites or domain names or client accounts so I decided to outline the most important parts of process. Remember, you are not alone. There are thousands of webmasters like you and me struggling to stay on top of their website maintenance and management.

    Some of the most important task for a webmaster:

    1. Website statistics:
    You have to frequently check webpage statistics and take action depending on the statistics result. For example if the number of visitors decreased last month then you have to do something about it. Find out what went wrong, maybe. Also you have to often check bandwidth and space usage for every domain/website account. You may also want to check subdomains stats/usage too.

    2. Login Details Maintenance:
    Having a lot of websites/domains means that you have to deal with a lot of usernames and passwords. It’s not a good idea to stick with one password for all your websites or accounts. I hope you understand that. Keeping good track of all your website’s login details also helps when you want to access those websites via FTP. Setting FTP access and logging in to the servers can be frustrating.

    3. Taking Backups:
    If your web server does not support automatic back ups then it’s your responsibility to take copies of your website’s data. This is especially important when you have running databases (e.g. when you have a forum or portal). Taking frequent back ups can also help when you want to change servers.

    4. Email Management:
    Managing multiple domains and websites means a lot of email addresses. How do you deal with that? The smartest way to go through it, is by using email forwarding. I hope your server supports this feature since it is a common one. The idea is to redirect all email-messages from one e-mail address to another. That way, you can have a main email address and multiple other -redirect- email addresses. All messages will be redirected to your main email address.

    5. Client Management:
    A lot of webmasters, apart from owing websites, they also offer webhosting services to people. Everyone is tempted to make some extra cash this way. I only host websites for people i personally know. Anyway, if you have some clients you have to keep track of their domain and webhosting accounts.

    Here are some issues that may arise:
    - Domain expiry issues
    - Account bandwidth limit reached issue
    - Name server management issues
    - Client support issues (online, phone etc)
    - Finances

    and more.. It takes a lot of time and effort to deal with all that!

    6. Website/Domain Management Software:
    If you use WHM/CPanel control panels you have a lot of control over your accounts. I’ve tried lots of control panels and they all offer more or less the same level of control but I stick to WHM/CPanel. Now, there’s software based on these control panels that helps you automate webmaster tasks and manage multiple websites and accounts even if they reside in different servers.

    If you search for -Domain Management Software- or -Website Management Software- you’ll get millions of results. This software is supposed to automate your life and streamline your business even further. Webmaster tasks like:

    - mass nameserver management
    - mass account creation
    - mass subdomain creation
    - multiple FTP uploading
    - mass chmod commands

    ..can be applied to multiple websites on the same time and maintained through one central location. Choosing the right domain/website management software can be tricky. Be careful when messing with that. It depends on your experience level and your way of thinking so choose wisely. You must know what you are doing. For example, you may not have many websites and feel that you don’t need such management software.

    There are a lot more issues and tasks that a webmaster is responsible for. I just thought of mentioning some of the most important and time consuming tasks for the average webmaster.

    Author:  Manage multiple domains/websites using one user-friendly interface with this website management software that will even associate a keyword list with each one of your domains! A lot of work has been done to create videos/tutorials to convince you of the quality of the product and help you learn how to use it. - Mary Markell is a webmaster of Digital Star Products Directory of Digital Products

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