Time is precious. They say “time is money,” but I think it’s even more than that. In this post, I would like to talk about the SEO practices that are a complete waste of time.

Before writing the post, I simply sat down and penned my SEO experiences. As a beginner, I used to waste a lot of time on different SEO methods that later on turned out quite useless. So, I made a list of those. I’ve also “interviewed” some of my SEO buddies and included their piece of advice in this post, too. So, what I would like to present to you is our distilled wisdom. Enjoy!

It is NO use:

1. Hanging Out at SEO Blogs/Forums

Ironically, this is what you are doing now, aren’t you? Well, it’s not the same, and let me explain why. There is a difference between CHOOSING to read a blog post or a forum thread that looks really helpful (this is what experienced SEO’s do) and simply reading everything in sight to stay informed about everything at all times.

I remember the days when I used to read every reply in a forum thread that I started, even when I already knew the answer to the question I had asked in the thread. I was just curious! So, guess what, I don’t have the time for curiosity anymore.

Also, one of my SEO buddies had volunteered to moderate an SEO forum. He thought it was gonna be fun, but it turned out to be extremely time-consuming. Well, if you have nothing better to do, you might as well do that.

2. Commenting on SEO Blogs/Forums

First, let me make myself clear and say that I do NOT mean using blog/forum commenting for SEO purposes, I mean using it for commenting purposes. Like, sometimes you’d get caught up in a heated discussion, especially when the “wow, I didn’t know that” stage is over, and you can give your opinion on different SEO matters, and you don’t hesitate to do it. So, this just eats up your valuable time and doesn’t really do anything for you.

3. Thinking That Manual is Better

To all of you perfectionists, double-checkers and sure-makers out there, I’d like to say that manual is seldom better. At least not when it comes to SEO. Many of my SEO friends, including me, say that, as SEO newbies, they had tried to do everything by hand. Partially, that was striving for better quality, and, partially, it was not trusting the SEO tools.

Anyhow, once they did try SEO software, they never got back to the olden do-it-yourself ways, ever. The general principle here is, if there IS a tool that can do it FOR you (like, a rank checker), go for it. Will save you loads of time.

4. Submitting to Crappy Article Directories

One of the SEO managers I know admitted that she used to spend a lot of time submitting to crappy article directories. Later on, she discovered that article marketing was all about quality, not quantity; that it was better to find fewer better-targeted, perhaps even paid directories and submit there.

5. Spinning Content

Another friend of mine did a lot of article submission, too. But those were not unique articles, but spun articles that were being submitted to hundreds of directories on the Web. At some point, he realized that writing and promoting one unique and useful article had a much bigger impact on site rankings, than spamming the Web with hundreds of “clones.”

6. Doing Manual Link Exchange

When I was still a beginner, the way I used to do link building was one link at a time. I would find a site, offer to exchange links, write “best regards” at the end of each email – Hah, now, when I think about it, it seems just so ridiculous.

I don’t do that any longer, of course. I now use SEO tools like LinkAssistant and SEO SpyGlass to build links. I now sometimes build 100 backlinks a day, with very little effort on my part.

7. Keyword Stuffing

One of the SEO’s, who I have great respect for said that he used to engage in keyword stuffing at the beginning of his career. He just wanted to rank faster for his major keywords, you see.

Well, of course, that affected content quality. His bounce rates went up, and the rankings went down. So, my acquaintance decided to work on interlinking instead! He provided useful links between different pages of his site. This worked both ways: to help SEO and to improve user experience. Users began following those links and, as the result, were staying longer on the site.

So, this is it. Are you practicing any of the above-mentioned techniques? If you are, take our word, they are not worth it! There is a saying that goes like ‘a smart man learns from his mistakes; a wise man learns from the mistakes of others.’ So, be wise and save your precious time!

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

7 Things NOT to Waste Your Time On When Doing SEO – A SEO-News Exclusive Article

What is a guru?

Literally, a guru is a teacher. The word guru means “heavy” or “deep,” thus a guru is a person “heavy” or “deep” in knowledge. In this sense, a schoolteacher is a guru, a coach or athletic instructor is a guru, a fine-arts, or even a dance teacher is a guru. One’s parents are also gurus. In the religious field, where the word is most commonly used, a guru is a Hindu religious teacher. So a priest or any person learned in Hindu lore may be a guru. The main purpose of the guru is to teach. (Source: What is a Guru?)

Personally, I don’t believe in so-called “gurus” – whether they’re self-proclaimed or anointed. Never have. But I do believe in teachers and mentors. And I’m all for free enterprise – for everyone making as much money as they possibly can, with this caveat: Not off the backs of the desperate, naive, and people who can least afford it.

That’s taking advantage of people. I have a problem with that.

They’re Like Vampires

And that’s why I have a problem with some Internet Marketing (IM) gurus. Not all, but some. They’re like vampires… they stick their fangs into your neck, with no concern for your regard, and they just keep sucking your blood (i.e., money), until there’s nothing left but a trail of bodies of the broke, wounded, and disenfranchised.

That being said, if you have disposable income and want to give it to some guru, I don’t have a problem with that, as long as you’re not taking food off your family’s table.

Guru Groupies

Marketers who are gurus – self-proclaimed or anointed, often wear the label “guru” like it’s a badge of honor. That’s their prerogative, of course. And while I’m an expert in my field, as well as a teacher, I don’t consider myself a guru, and I don’t consider it an honor to be called one. I just don’t like the term “guru.” Despite my business success, and years of marketing knowledge and expertise, I don’t place myself above other people. I’m not better than you or anyone else.

Conversely, I don’t place anyone else on a pedestal either. I’ve never been into hero worship. For example, I’ve always been a huge Michael Jackson fan – all the way back to the days when he was “Little” Michael Jackson of the Jackson 5.

I have every single one of his albums/CD’s. But there was always a limit to my devotion – a reasonableness, if you will. I did not spend thousands of dollars to go see him in concert. I did not follow him around like a groupie, and I did not stand in line clamoring for his autograph, or bid outrageous sums of money for his sequined gloves.

This is the kind of irrational behavior I see exhibited toward IM gurus. They are treated like rock stars. Their fans follow them around like groupies, spending thousands of dollars on endless new product launches and expensive seminars. It’s beyond insane.

My Experience With Gurus

Let me tell you about my own personal experience with gurus. A few years ago, I purchased a couple of e-books and a software product from three different IM gurus.

The blood-sucking started almost immediately. Non-stop e-mails… one right after the other. Welcome e-mails, tutorial e-mails, new products launches, past seminars, upcoming seminars, etc., etc., etc.

I received over twenty e-mails from these guys in a period of only 48 hours. It was extremely irritating, to say the least.

Anyway, to make a long story short, that experience so disgusted me, I unsubscribed from their lists, and I actually requested a refund on two of the three products that I ordered.

I requested a refund because the products didn’t come close to living up to the hype – and that’s exactly the point: More often than not, gurus’ products DON’T live up to the considerable hype.

Don’t Believe The Hype

Gurus make everything sound so easy, don’t they? Just follow their “magic” blueprint, and you will “get rich in 90 days!” As a result of these outrageous and unrealistic claims, too many people approach IM thinking that it’s easy and doesn’t require any effort – other than to place a few Adwords ads, kick back, relax, and watch the money roll into their PayPal account. And while a rare few realize success quickly, the vast majority get hit with a brutal dose of reality. That’s right, the vast majority fail. What a surprise.

Let me tell you something, despite what some gurus tell you, success in IM is neither quick or easy. It requires time, patience, discipline and hard work. There are no shortcuts. Or, in the words of famous philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie…

“Anything in life worth having is worth working for.”

Hard work starts with education – learning your craft. If you’re truly serious about succeeding in IM, put in the work. In addition to reading articles like this one, read as many quality, online and offline small business publications as you possibly can.

A few of my online favorites include SiteProNews, WebProNews, ClickZ and MarketingProfs. My favorite offline small business publication is Entrepreneur. Buy books. Buy lots and lots of books. Learn as much as you can about sales and marketing. More importantly, apply what you learn. It can make all the difference in the world to your success or lack thereof.

10 Of My All-Time Favorite Marketing Books

1. Advertising Secrets of the Written Word by Joe Sugarman

2. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

3. Cash Copy by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

4. Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman

5. Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples

6. Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

7. Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins

8. The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy

9. How to Write a Good Advertisement by Victor Schwab

10. Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz

There are, of course, many, many more outstanding marketing books that I could name, but the one’s listed above are classics and should be part of every serious marketer’s library.

Good Gurus, Bad Gurus

Despite my rant, I want to strongly emphasize, I’m not painting all gurus with one broad brush. Like with everything in life, there is good and bad. That applies to gurus as well. There are good gurus and bad gurus. There are some good, responsible gurus out there who give back generously – who aren’t taking advantage of people – who provide excellent value for the dollar – who don’t promise results that they know they can’t possibly deliver. They are conscientious, honest and responsible marketers.

And then there are the bad gurus who rip people off by selling over-priced, inferior products, and promising “pie-in-the-sky” results that they can’t possibly deliver. They never give back, they just take and take and take. They give IM and gurus a bad name.

I’ll say it again. Success takes time, and it requires hard work. Always has, always will. There are no shortcuts, and if someone tells you otherwise… they’re probably trying to sell you something.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Are you familiar with the story “The Tortoise and the Hare?”

It’s a classic Aesop fable about a hare who one day ridiculed a slow-moving tortoise. In response, the prideful tortoise challenged his much faster mocker to a race.

Not unexpectedly, the hare soon left the tortoise in the dust. In fact, the hare was so far ahead and confident of winning, he decided to take a nap halfway to the finish line.

Alas, when he awoke, he found that the competitor he had mocked, crawling slowly but steadily, had already won the race.

The moral of the story is…

“Slow and steady wins the race.”

Conclusion

I learned a long time ago that you can give people advice that’s in their best interest, but invariably, they’re going to do what they want to do. But do yourself a favor. If you’re a guru groupie – if you’ve been drinking the kool-aid, as it were, take a discerning look at the amount of money you’ve invested in guru e-books, courses and seminars, then look at the amount of your return and ask yourself… has the money that you’ve spent been worth the investment?… Or anywhere close?

If you’re honest with yourself – really honest, more often than not, I think you’ll discover that it hasn’t.

Then the question becomes, what are you going to do about it?

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Guru Kool-Aid: Are You Drinking It? – A SPN Exclusive Article

A website’s title tags are very important for several reasons:

1) The title tag shows up in search results as the blue link, and a good one helps the site get more clicks and visitors from
search results.

2) Title tags are a crucial SEO element that can help the website show up higher when people search for the words in it.

3) Title tags show up when web pages are shared on social media sites like Facebook. This is important because social media mentions are now a ranking factor in Google search results.

So if you have the time to optimize one thing on your website, title tags are it.

Here are some of the top mistakes and missed opportunities I’ve seen in title tags. Avoid these and you’ll be ahead of the game. You’ll rank higher in search results and entice more people to click on your site.

9 Signs of a Bad Title Tag:

1. “Home” or “Home Page” in Title Tag

It may be logical or helpful to the website owner, but including “Home” or “Home Page” does not help visitors or search engines. All we really care about is what the page is about, and what it offers us. Why take up space with this non-information? You surely don’t want to rank for the terms “home” or “home page.”

2. Domain Name in Title Tag

Including the domain name (like example.com) in the title tag is redundant and takes up prime SEO real estate.

If a searcher cares what site they’ll be taken to, they can look at the green URL that’s visible in the search result before they click. And web pages are automatically going to rank very high (at the top unless something is wrong with your SEO) when people search for your domain name, whether it’s in the title tag or not.

Put another way – Is it more important to tell people your website address, or to tell them about what you offer and show search engines a keyword?

3. Too Long

Search engines display only the first 70 characters (about) of a web page’s title tag. The rest gets chopped off and replaced with ellipses.

4. Too Short

Short and sweet can be nice, but you might as well use all the space available to tell people and search engines about the web page. Making your title tags close to – but not exceeding – 70 characters is a good way to get the most out of your title tags and optimize your chances of showing up for different keyword searches.

5. No Keywords

The purpose of your title tag is to tell people and search engines what your web page is about. If it doesn’t include keywords, you’re doing it wrong.

6. Just the Business Name

I know it’s tempting to make your title tags be just your business name, especially on your home page. But your business name is 70+ characters long or contains several of your important keywords already, you should really include more so that you’ll be found – and clicked on – by people who aren’t familiar with your business yet.

For example, if you were searching for a local business that sold widgets, how likely would you be to click on a search result that just said a generic business name like “Jones & Jones, Inc.”? You probably wouldn’t waste your time clicking on a search result that doesn’t make it clear the company is in your city and, or that it sells what you’re looking for. Because the title tag doesn’t make it clear what Jones & Jones sells, or where they’re located, search engines are less likely to rank that result high in search results.

7. First Few Words Aren’t Important or Eye-Catching

Research shows that people scan search results quickly. Searchers pay the most attention to the first few words in search results, and the first few results on the page. This heat map shows you where people tend to click in a page of Google search results.

Make the first few words of your title tags count by including the keywords you think will be most relevant to searchers. Or write something that will catch people’s attention. Put your best foot forward, and cut the meaningless fluff.

For example, I searched for “cat toilet training” and found this search result. It did catch my attention and make me read the whole search entry to see if it was really what I was looking for. But many people would just skip it, and focus on the search results that mention their search terms right up front.

8. Doesn’t Include Geographic Location – if Location is Important

If you have a physical retail location, or if you want to target customers in a specific region, you should make it clear to searchers and search engines where you’re located. Include your neighborhood, city, state, or county – whatever makes most sense for your business – in your title tag and in other website content.

9. Too Many Keywords (spammy looking)

If your title tag is just a long string of keywords, it might rank well for those keywords, but the real, live people searching for those words will probably be less likely to click that result.

Here are two examples of keyword-filled title tags in a search result:

Example 1

Example 2

Kristina is a community manager for AboutUs.org who talks with a lot of website owners who are trying to promote their business online. Have a question? Kristina Weis, @KristinaWeis.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

9 Common Title Tag Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Make no mistake – online video marketing is the “next big thing.” However, there are a ton of misconceptions about it floating around out there. The end result is business owners that are hesitant to jump onboard and who don’t think they have what it takes to use online videos as a marketing tool.

Chances are you don’t know these 6 things about online video marketing. And, until you understand them backwards and forwards,
you’re really missing out!

1. YouTube is the World’s Second-Largest Search Engine

How much time do you spend making your website “Google-friendly”? Why do you work so hard on it? Because Google has a tremendous reach. Heck, the word “Google” has turned into a verb that’s used day in and day out, all over the world. Need an answer? Just Google it!

But how much time are you spending, marketing through YouTube?

Did you know that YouTube gets more than 4 billion video views every single day? Yes, that’s “billion,” with a “B.”

And, don’t fall victim to the myth that getting exposure on YouTube is nothing more than a crap shoot. With just a few mouse clicks, you can optimize your video titles, descriptions, and tags – and even create your own optimized “About Me” and “Channel Description” areas – so that you’re more likely to pop up in a search. You can even take it one step further and organize your videos into different “Playlist Categories” that – you guessed it – have keyword-based names. That way, you’re optimized from top to bottom!

2. There’s More to Online Video Marketing Than Just YouTube

As powerful as YouTube is, it’s not the only horse in this rodeo. There are plenty of other video sharing sites where you can upload your creations and share them with your target audience.

A great way to make the most out of your online video marketing efforts is to look for sharing sites that are specific to your niche. Some searching may turn up video sites that are go-to resources for people interested in your niche – or that make it easy for people to find videos, without navigating a sea of irrelevant YouTube videos.

3. Longer Doesn’t Equal Better

Lots of people avoid creating online videos because they think they have to talk for hours on end to get their point across. But great videos come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I’ve seen great videos that kept my attention for a full 20 minutes. I’ve also learned a lot from videos that are 2 minutes long. The length of your videos will be determined by what you’re talking about, and how long you can realistically engage your viewers.

And, if you still don’t think your videos are long enough, look at it this way – When you turn on your local newscast tonight, odds are that the lead story will be 1 and a half – 2 minutes long. If a reporter can squeeze all of the facts into a minute or two, so can you!

4. You Can Succeed With Online Video Marketing Even if You’re Camera Shy

Sure, giving your target audience a chance to see and hear you (and, thus, prove that you’re not some kind of slimeball or scam artist) is one of the great perks of online video marketing. However, if the thought of getting on camera has you crawling under the bed and trembling with fear, that’s OK. You can still use online videos to your advantage. To get yourself comfortable, do voiceovers instead of being in front of the camera. Just make sure that you don’t sit there and read verbatim off PowerPoint slides. The last thing that you want to do is bore your audience to tears!

And, really, no one expects you to have the on-camera charisma of Walter Cronkite anyway. As long as you can speak clearly, avoid the dreaded “umms” and “uhhhs,” and look confidently into the camera, that’s good enough. Instead of looking at the camera and envisioning the thousands of people that are going to be watching it, just pretend like you’re talking to a trusted client. That way, you’ll feel like you’re having a one-on-one conversation – and your fears will subside.

5. Most People Make Excuses About Online Videos, Instead of Taking Action

In the online video marketing world, the excuses are never-ending. You don’t have the right equipment – You don’t have the time to upload things – You think your voice sounds funny – Your hair doesn’t look good on camera – You don’t know how to write video scripts.

Luckily, all of these excuses make it easier for the people who actually get out there and do it! If you embrace online video marketing right now – while it’s still relatively new – you’ll be able to jump out ahead of the pack and become one of the “Joneses,” instead of always trying to keep up with them!

6. Creativity is More Important Than Budget

Don’t have a Spielberg-esque budget to blow on sets, lighting, and post-production? No problem! Sure, big companies like Doritos, Volkswagen, and Geico are making a huge splash in the online video world – but that doesn’t mean that your videos have to compete with theirs.

Instead of worrying about dollars and cents, come up with creative ways to get the job done – like turning your living room into a “studio,” having a kick-butt script, or using inexpensive editing software to come up with awesome animations. Remember, at the end of the day, the goal is to create online videos that your target audience will learn from, will remember, and will want to share with their family and friends!

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

6 Things You Don’t Know About Online Video Marketing – A SPN Exclusive Article

Even though there are numerous search engines available on the internet we all know that Google is the one that counts when it comes to rankings. This means that if you want your website to be successful you need to aim your SEO campaign at Google, but how exactly can you do this if you struggle to understand the complexities of the subject?

1. Create Content That Isn’t Time Sensitive

Putting good quality content on your website that won’t go out-of-date in a few weeks or months is an easy way to boost search engine optimization. By making the content you use useful now and in the future you won’t need to remove it and replace it over and over again – you can simply add to it on a regular basis.

A website with very poor content or very little content is an SEO no-no if you want good search engine rankings so get your typing head on and create some content that people will be glad to read now and in 10 years’ time.

2. Think About Your Customer’s Needs

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think about the actual words they may type into the search box in order to find your website. Then check how popular these words are with an SEO keyword tool, such as the free one supplied by Google. One of the quickest and easiest ways to achieve good SEO is with good keyword selection. Then all you need to do is include your SEO keywords in your website content.

3. Do Some Guest Blogging

Google loves links so the more quality websites you can create guest blog posts for the better your SEO campaign will be. Make sure that the guest blogs all link back to your website and that they are relevant to the subject of your website. You should also make sure the content is top quality so that readers want to follow the link you provide.

4. Links, Links and more Links

As the above tip points out Google loves links – but only when the links are genuine and they link to and from other authoritative sites. You run the risk of blacklisting your website and ruining a good SEO campaign by either purchasing links or blogging on unrelated sites and linking back to your site. There are loads of other SEO techniques available so don’t go down this route.

5. Create an Informative Video

Informational videos with backlinks to your website are another great SEO tool. Businesses can make a short video explaining what they do, who they are etc. while vendors can demonstrate their products if appropriate. If you can, distribute your video over multiple platforms then watch as your Google rank increases.

6. Update Your Website on a Daily Basis

If you can add content to your website on a daily or bi-daily basis, Google and the other big search engines start to recognize your site as an authority in its niche. By changing your choice of SEO keywords on a regular basis as well you will begin to rank highly for a good selection of keywords and eventually the majority of keywords related to your site’s topic (or your business) will get your website noticed and ranked among the leading sites.

If you don’t have time to create new SEO oriented blogs on a daily basis, hire a blog writer to do it for you. On-going content creation is one of the easiest SEO techniques to master and one that will improve your Google rank over time.

7. Concentrate on Your Article Titles

A simple SEO tip that many people forget, revolves around the wording of their content or article titles. A lot of search engine spiders/bots initially read the first few lines of a webpage to determine the topic of the content. If you can include your top-ranking keywords in the title of whatever you’re writing, it will help your site’s SEO no end.

8. Avoid Flash-based Websites

Flash websites look lovely and stylish and expensive, but they don’t sit well with Google or your SEO efforts. It takes a number of sophisticated tricks to make Google notice Flash websites and so it makes more sense to use another platform, if you want to improve your rankings.

9. Use Article Submission Sites

Article submission sites are a great SEO tool as they distribute a single article written by you to hundreds of article directories with the aim of getting it published and noticed. The articles you submit can be published for free but any websites that choose to publish it have to include your bio and a link back to your website. Most article submission sites do charge for the service, but they can cut months off your SEO campaign.

10. Hire a Professional SEO Agency

The nine SEO tips mentioned above are quite simple to put into place but they take time, effort and patience. Not everyone has an abundance of these qualities so it may be worth hiring a professional SEO agency to do the work for you. Of course this will cost you money but if it gets your business website onto page 1 of Google within a few weeks it’s definitely a price worth paying.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Top 10 SEO Tips for a Better Google Ranking

Search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t easy for any website, and e-commerce sites have some unique SEO challenges to overcome.

These tips will help you tackle your e-commerce site’s SEO so you can rank higher in search engine results and get more visitors, customers and sales for your online store.

1. Create Unique Content on Each of Your Product and Product Category Pages

Interesting, unique content tells Google a page is valuable, and helps it rank higher. Well-written content can also persuade more of your visitors to actually pull out their credit cards.

Don’t just copy the manufacturer’s description of the product. Write your own description so that Google sees it as valuable, unique content. Google’s Farmer/Panda Update of early 2011 favors sites with more original content.

2. Discover What Shoppers are Actually Searching For

Keyword research is an invaluable way to discover the words you should be using to describe what you sell. You can find out how many people search for a particular keyword per month, and even check more specifically for your own region, with Google’s free keyword tool.

For more info on choosing the right keywords, read Keyword Research Is Key to Online Success.

3. Create Pages for Categories People are Searching For

Some people may be searching for specific product names like “Nikon D90,” but odds are, more people are searching for broad keyword phrases like “Nikon digital camera” and “digital SLR cameras.”

Creating category pages for these broad keyword phrases – as well as product-specific pages within each category – boosts your SEO and helps you capture a bigger group of people searching for what you sell. Added bonus: Category pages based on broad keywords can help browsers and researchers find what they want more quickly, and turn them into buyers.

4. Interlink Your Pages Using Good Anchor Text

Link to other products or categories within the text on your site. Be sure to use anchor text with relevant keywords. This will help search engines find and index other pages on your site, so they can be found by searchers. The links and anchor text will also boost the linked pages’ SEO and help them rank higher for words you use in your anchor text.

Added bonus: People reading your text can easily click on links you provide and find other products that might interest them. You’ll be keeping people on your site, and helping them find what they want.

5. Allow People to Share Your Products on Social Media Sites

Social media mentions help your SEO. Plus, social sharing gets your product seen by more people. Install social sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter and Google+ on every product and product category page. Make sure they’re easy to find. One online retailer places them right below the price of each product, because people always look for the price.

6. Get Valuable Backlinks

Backlinks (links from another site to yours) have always been one of the most important factors search engines consider when deciding how high to rank a web page in search results. Getting backlinks isn’t easy, however.

Adding interesting content to your website beyond product and category pages is the first step, because few website owners want to link to a boring page, or a page where you’re just selling something. A blog is a great avenue for adding link-worthy content to your website.

For much more info on getting backlinks, check out our articles about link building.

7. Avoid Duplicate Content Issues

E-commerce sites tend to give visitors the option to sort a list of products by various parameters like price, popularity or product ratings. While sorting is useful for people, it can be a nightmare for your SEO, because it usually means you are essentially creating multiple pages with the same content, just in a different order. Search engines can see these pages as duplicate content, and therefore less valuable. This in turn can dilute the SEO of these pages.

This isn’t a simple thing to fix, but the easiest thing you can do is tell Google about the sorting through Webmaster Tools. For more info on solving this problem, read item No. 3 in this article.

8. Use Descriptive URLs

The URLs on your site are another opportunity for you to boost your e-commerce site’s SEO. If your page about blue widgets has a URL like http://www.example.com/blue-widgets, the URL is telling Google that the page is about “blue widgets” and should show up in search results for that keyword phrase. However, if the URL is http://www.example.com/page?id=59274974, Google doesn’t get that extra piece of information telling it what the page is about. People also look at URLs, and it’s much better if the URL informs them, too.

For more information about SEO-ing your URLs, read Improve your URLs for Better SEO.

9. Let Visitors Leave Reviews

Reviews are another piece of unique content, and search engines love unique content.

Plus, reviews can help visitors decide to pull out their credit cards and buy the product.

10. Include a Sitemap to Help Google Find All Your Pages

If Google finds a page and thinks it has valuable content, it will index the page. That means it can show up in search results. For instructions, read Creating an XML Sitemap or HTML Sitemap.

11. Update Your Website Content Regularly

The Google Freshness Update of November 2011 favors websites with the freshest content on a given topic.

Tweak your website’s content and add new content from time to time so your website doesn’t look stale. Adding a blog to your website, and writing a blog post every so often about your industry, can make this task easier. For example, if you sell pet supplies, you can add a post in mid-summer about de-fleaing your pets and your house.

Allowing visitors to post reviews is another way to get fresh content for your site, and it doesn’t take much work on your part.

Kristina is a community manager for AboutUs.org who talks with a lot of website owners who are trying to promote their business online. Have a question? Contact me. @KristinaWeis

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

SEO Tips for E-commerce Sites

On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, a category 5 hurricane named “Panda” swept through the Gulf of Google devastating businesses large and small alike. The hurricane was reportedly named after one of Google’s engineers.

So what was the reason for this catastrophic and “game-changing” update? Well, according to Google:

“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites – sites which are low-value, 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. It is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.” (Source: Google Blog)

Mission accomplished. Anyway, in the aftermath of the Panda update, there are 11 important SEO facts I’ve learned based on my own personal experiences, the experiences of my clients, and from listening to top SEO professionals across the Internet.

The above passages are from an article I wrote last July titled, Google Panda Update: 11 Important SEO Facts You Should Know.

In item #7 of the 11 SEO facts I wrote:

7. Avoid Excessive Advertisements or Images

“Be mindful of having too many advertisements on any of your pages, in relation to “meaningful” content. There seems to be a direct correlation between the number of advertisements on a page (especially above the fold advertising), and the overall ranking of a page. Make sure you have plenty of quality, relevant content to balance out your web pages.”

Well, now it’s official. On January 19, 2012, Google announced that it will penalize sites with pages that are top-heavy with ads.

The change – called the “page layout algorithm” – takes direct aim at any site with pages where content is buried under tons of ads.

From Google’s post on its Inside Search blog today:

“We’ve heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away.

So sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change. If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience.

Such sites may not rank as highly going forward.”

Google also posted the same information to its Google Webmaster Central blog.

Sites using pop-ups, pop-unders or overlay ads are not impacted by this. It only applies to static ads in fixed positions on pages themselves. (Source: SearchEngineLand.com)

Google’s Hypocrisy

Danny Sullivan (SearchEngineLand.com) said on the same day that Google’s web search team announced this change, he received a message from Google’s AdSense team encouraging him to put more ads on his site.

Can you believe that?

Think about the hypocrisy for a moment. When you perform a search on Google, the first thing you see when they return your search results are above-the-fold ads. But yet, they want to penalize you for the above-the-fold ads on your site.

That’s typical Google…Do what we say, not what we do. Hey, Google! What about our user experience when we do a search?

Quality Content Matters

So what does all of this mean? It means play by the rules or suffer the consequences. It also means the content on your website matters more than ever before. Not to be redundant, but I have to go back to what Google said when explaining Panda:

“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. It is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.”

So what constitutes high-quality content?

Like everything else in life, when it comes to quality, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, what constitutes quality to one person, might not necessarily be quality to the next person. You know the old saying…

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

What does that mean? It simply means, what is useless to one person might be valuable to another.

For example, my idea of “quality” content is to write useful “how-to” articles, (minimum 800 words) or blog posts that explain how to market your website better. I strive to create the type of content that not only helps people – but also content that other quality websites will want to link to and share with their visitors. My experience and results has taught me this standard satisfies Google.

Your idea of quality website content might be to write sales copy promoting your products and services. And while there’s nothing wrong with doing that, it’s not exactly the type of content that quality websites will want to link to. While it may do a fine job of promoting your products – (which is what it’s designed to do), it doesn’t necessarily build a relationship with visitors – the type of relationship that will compel them to return to your website over and over again.

And while I prefer to write articles, quality content can take many forms including, videos, e-books, newsletters, press releases, podcasts, seminars, or a variety of other formats. But whatever form it takes, make sure it’s the type of quality other websites will want to link to and share with others.

Google And Relevancy

But it’s not enough to just publish quality content. Your content also needs to be relevant to the overall theme of your site. Google places a tremendous amount of value on relevancy. So do everything you can to make sure your pages are as relevant as possible and accurately reflect your site’s actual content.

Why am I making such a big deal out of relevancy? Because Google does, that’s why. This is what it says on Google’s Technology page:

“Co-founder Larry Page once described the “perfect search engine” as something that “understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.” We can’t claim that Google delivers on that vision 100 percent today, but we’re always working on new technologies aimed at bringing all of Google closer to that ideal.

When you type a query into the Google search box, your query is sent to Google machines and compared with all the documents stored in our index to identify the most relevant matches. In a split second, our system prepares a list of the most relevant pages and also determines the relevant sections and bits of text, images, videos and more. What you get is a list of search results with relevant information excerpted in “snippets” (short text summary) beneath each result.”

Did you notice how many times Google used the word “relevant” in the above paragraph? And while Google may not always return the most relevant search results 100 percent of the time, make no mistake, relevancy does matter when it comes to website rankings.

Conclusion

Consistently getting back relevant search results is often an exercise in futility. Think about how many times you have searched for something, only to click on the link to find out the website’s description didn’t come close to matching up with the actual content on the page.

Maybe you landed on a web page that was nothing but one long sales letter trying to sell you an e-book of some sort. Or perhaps, you landed on a page that tried to force you to give up your name and e-mail address in order to receive some free report that had absolutely nothing to do with what you were searching for in the first place.

Like I said, consistently getting back relevant search results is often an exercise in futility. But nowadays, you can benefit by NOT being part of the problem – but rather, the solution.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Google’s New Page Layout Algorithm Penalizes “Above-The-Fold” Advertising – A SPN Exclusive Article

While great content will always get you noticed, I have come to the somewhat obvious conclusion that “Content is NOT King, Google is King” on the web. This is a slightly different mindset when it comes to getting traffic and marketing on the net.

This new mindset doesn’t change the fact that you still have to create great content, but it changes the way one goes about promoting that content on the web.

In the last few years, Google’s share of the search market has grown to 65% or much more in most areas of the world. This domination of online search puts Google in control of what content is seen – regardless of its quality.

It plays a major role in your content’s visibility, a role so great that without Google’s approval, your content is not exactly dead in the water, but your chances of succeeding is much less than with a thumbs-up from Google.

Now, the real turning point (light bulb moment) for me was Google’s recent promotion of its own products or data, as in the whole “Google Plus Your World” search results features which were introduced a few weeks ago. Google is actively showing and promoting its Google+ profiles and posts within its SERPs.

Many believe Google is sacrificing both relevancy and quality by only showing its own data (as opposed to Twitter’s and Facebook’s profiles/posts which Google claims it no longer has access to) when Google users are logged into their accounts.

Those same critics also believe Google has stepped over the line and has become too self-promotional in the way it is now handling search. These critics say Google is promoting its other products such as YouTube, Blogger… over other outside entries in their search results.

Regardless of your view on this matter, there’s no denying Google has become much more pro-active in promoting its products. You can now see ads on TV and elsewhere for Google Chrome, Android, Adwords… all promoting Google’s products.

Why is all this important?

Many believe, myself included, that Google is aiming for control of all aspects of the web – not only search, but video and social as well. They want to control what web users search, see and how they socialize on the net. Google wants to be in the driver’s seat – plain and simple.

But Google’s influence will go much further than those three areas; Google probably would also like to control the browser (Chrome) we use, the operating system (Android) and the device (Chromebook) we view those results on. Only Microsoft comes close to doing the same thing, but they have really not presented a search engine which can beat Google and fall short in this respect.

This leaves Google in the Captain’s chair. It now controls what content on the web is seen and viewed. While this control is not complete, it is growing stronger month by month, year by year.

What is extremely troubling and a little hard to understand, Google is now JUDGING your WHOLE site instead of just the webpage/ content in question. This new attitude is reflected in the recent Panda Series of updates which was supposedly aimed at removing duplicate and low quality content from the web.

However, if a webmaster or site triggers just one of Google’s new rules… their whole site is lowered in the rankings, including their perfectly good high quality content. It is like saying you can’t have visitors into your house, because you have an untidy attic. Your visitors will never see the attic, but Google as Gatekeeper of the web, with the Panda Updates and other restrictions, makes sure your rightful visitors don’t even make it to the door.

This absurd, arbitrary ruling by Google is extremely hard to understand by small web site owners and businesses who don’t have the resources/manpower to re-design their sites at a drop of a hat. Whatever happened to Google’s motto of “Don’t be evil” or “Do no evil” when it comes to judging and penalizing WHOLE websites, instead of the pages in question. Many webmasters would be satisfied with “Don’t be cruel” when Google is ranking their sites.

Likewise, Google is rolling out another rule which states webmasters can’t have too many ads “above the fold” or their whole site will be penalized, not just the offending page in question. Ironically, at the same time, Google is actively telling webmasters to place Adsense above the fold… but they have no problem with placing their own ads above the fold.

What does this all mean?

To put it bluntly, you must make sure your content passes ALL of Google’s hurdles if you truly want it to succeed on the web. The long series of Panda Updates really pointed this out to many webmasters who failed to jump a few hurdles and saw their rankings drop from sight in Google.

To put it even more bluntly, webmasters and marketers must please Google if they want their content to have the best results. While quality content is still important, without Google’s approval your great content will go nowhere fast.

In addition, webmasters and marketers must optimize their content not only for Google search, but also for other Google products such as Google+, YouTube… and they must make sure their content displays properly in the Chrome browser because Google is taking data from these users to rank your content.

Quality content is no longer king of the web, Google is king of the web and you better play by Google’s rules or you might as well take your ball and go home.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Has Google Replaced Content as King of the Web?

1. Keyword Basics:

The most important thing with keywords for your website is that you have to begin the process with proper research. Take advantage of free tools and services at your disposal such as the Google Adwords tool, and consider paying for more advanced and detailed programs.

Remember that keyword density is a thing of the past, there is no density you should be opting for. Instead, focus on natural inclusion of your targeted keywords, working them in where possible without doing it excessively.

Google Keyword Tool – google for “KeywordToolExternal.”

Note: The fastest results are seen in targeting a larger number of lower level competitive terms.

2. Create Great URLS:

There are many steps that go into creating great URLs. Starting from the beginning, you should pick a domain name that is short, memorable and includes your most important keyword phrase. While hyphens are acceptable, more than two begins to get excessive and spam-like.

For your individual page names, also include a relevant keyword, so that each URL looks something like your-main-keyword.com/ targeted-page-keyword.html.

When possible, avoid using session IDs and other dynamic page variables that add a lot of unnecessary junk to your page URLs.

Note: If you already have a site that prevents you from adjusting the page structure to accommodate keywords in your URLs, then consider buying additional domains (building mini sites) to support various segments within your niche. These additional mini sites will drive traffic to your main domain.

3. Find Long Tail Keywords:

Long tail keywords often are the secret to great search engine rankings. Long tail keywords include at least three words, and when you find ones related to your niche you will be facing much less competition. Additionally, the traffic you see as a result will be much more effectively targeted, ensuring you see better results.

Note: Adding longer tail keywords into your URL will help as well (see #2). Do a quick search and you will see most “experts” agree that the buyers are found with the Long Tail Terms. Boost your earnings through driving more of the right type of traffic … buyers!

4. Use Latent Semantic Indexing:

Latent Semantic Indexing, or LSI, is the process of including related keywords and phrases to your main phrases in order to boost your site’s value in the search engines. So if your site is about coffeemakers, you can include other related words, ranging from coffee makers to iced coffee and organic coffee and on down the list to help boost your rankings. This will also keep your site from being spammy because you won’t just be reusing the same keywords over and over again.

Note: The more content you have on your site about the general topic, the better your site will do for the specifics within that niche. That’s how a site becomes an authority on a topic.

5. Get Smart with Internal Links:

Many websites don’t properly use their internal links to their own advantage. However, it’s an easy way to help each of your pages gain a higher and more targeted ranking in the search engines. Be sure to include each page’s main targeted keyword or phrase in internal links pointing to it, and always be sure to reference your other pages with links within your site’s content when appropriate.

Example: You sell a type of Coffee maker. Make sure that anyplace that keyword is found on your site that it is linked to the specific product profile page. This helps the individual profile page rank higher in the search engines.

6. Dive into PPC:

Whereas other SEO strategies take time to work, pay-per-click advertising is a great way to see instantaneous results. Start running a campaign for your website, backed up with all of the keyword research you have already done. Begin small, as costs can quickly get out of hand if you don’t know what you’re doing. Experiment with different ads, different bidding strategies and different targeted keywords until you start to see consistent results, then pick up the pace and run larger campaigns.

Note: One sure way to confirm that the keywords you’re targeting with your SEO efforts will drive the right type of traffic is to pay to get them their first. If they don’t buy then target a different keyword phrase.

7. Optimize your Images:

Always include an ALT tag for your images that describes what the image is – with targeted keywords and phrases. This ensures that people who can’t see images see something, but this also helps you get found in image based searches. Additionally, try naming your images with a keyword in the filename, as in, targetedkeyphrase1.jpg.

Note: Don’t overdo it. Some people will read that and then add a bunch of keywords to every image on their site. The idea is to do what you would typically do but this time do it “right.” If the image is relevant – name it something relevant. Oh, and also, if it is a button or something else that isn’t relevant to your niche, name it something with numbers, as in, 1010101.jpg.

8. Optimize your Title Tag:

Many people think that anything they put in their title tag will be sufficient, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Your page title provides an excellent opportunity to boost your rankings, as well as draw people into your site to see more visitors.

To begin with, your title should be kept short, no more than 60 or 70 characters in length. Also, ensure that every page has its own unique title, instead of merely listing your site’s name on all of them. Work your targeted keywords into the title and be sure to be more descriptive and exciting than just labeling a page “Home” or “Store.”

Note: When giving each page its own title, try to include product model or product names to help drive targeted traffic.

9. META Tag Notes:

The META Keywords tag is no longer used by Google for ranking, although other search engines may still make use of it. More important are the META Title and META description tags. Keep your title to 70 characters or less, and keep your META description to 160 characters or less. Anything more will just get cut off by the search engines. Of course, remember to include your targeted keywords in these META tags.

Note: The META description is what the searcher will read in the organic listing so try to make it sound compelling and give the searcher a reason to click on your site.

10. Link Building, What Not to Do:

Many people go in the entirely wrong direction when it comes to link building. For example, buying links or participating in a link farm is a strategy that’s doomed from the get-go. You should also avoid low quality, spammy directories and you must understand that tactics like link exchanges, blog commenting and forum posting have all been devalued. Also remember that if you build thousands of links in a few days, it will be seen as unnatural.

Note: It’s best to build links over time from high value sites. Think of sites that are in your niche that you consider the highest value and work directly with them to get a link to your site (can link out to them – see below).

11. Link Building, What you Should Do:

Submitting to high quality, respected directories such as DMOZ, Best of the Web and others can pay huge dividends. You should link out to your niche authorities to help boost your own reputation, and you should focus on providing catchy, unique and engaging content that serves as “link bait” for your site. Social networks can be beneficial when used in the right fashion.

Note: Link Bait is content that is so good that people want to talk about it. One way to do this is, provide content that is controversial.

12. Don’t Forget Canonicalization:

If you want to maximize your search engine results while also improving your ability to track your site’s traffic, then you need to ensure that your pages aren’t being counted more than once. Your home page may be coming up in different ways as <http://yourdomain.com>, <http://www.yourname.com> and <http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html>. This can confuse the search engines and impact your tracking stats. Use 301 redirects to move your pages to one home page, and fix any issues with other pages on your site as well.

Note: Talk to your techie about implementing this strategy. WordPress has a great plug-in for this that makes it really easy… yet another reason why I LOVE WordPress.

13. Stick with HTML:

The benefits of JavaScript and other program languages are lost because code isn’t searchable by the search engines. To help your cause of ranking highly, stick to easily accessed HTML for your website. Avoid overcomplicating your site with excess forms, frames of any kind, or code that isn’t searchable.

Note: As I stated in #12, I love WordPress. Why? Well, one of the main engineers at Google said it best, “WordPress does 80-90% of what Google loves without changing a setting.” If you haven’t already, look for ways to use WordPress in your business.

Like I said at the beginning, go through each item in the above list and check it off. If you covered each of the listed points, then you’re doing most of what’s required to get good SEO scores. Stay tuned for our next email with more tips and strategies on what you can do to boost your SEO rankings!

Until then!

Max OnFire, IT professional, computer programmer and web-developer. SEO specialist from Sydney Australia. Involved in online marketing with OnFireMatrix and other affiliate programs. Website: maxonfire.cjb.net

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

SEO Short Cheat Sheets

Facebook provides businesses with another way to interact with their customers or clients in addition to adding value.

Unfortunately, notwithstanding the potential, I often hear from Facebook Page owners that in spite of their hard work on creating their pages, they are frustrated by the fact that they have few fans, and the ones they have aren’t engaged.

Something that contributes to this problem is inadequate planning and no clear purpose for their Facebook Page. Purpose and planning aren’t the most exciting words out there, but they payoff big time. Once business owners take the time to put a plan, known as an editorial guide, in place, everything else falls into place. As a result of this, their fan base grows, and engagement begins to happen to the point where it no longer feels like work, but fun.

Here are some tips for creating an editorial guide for your Facebook Page.

Define Your Purpose

Ask yourself the following three questions to help you define the purpose of your Facebook Page:

#1: Why Have a Fan Page?

Hint: “everyone else is doing it” is not a good reason! Instead, consider what you hope to accomplish through having a Facebook Page.

#2: What Will Differentiate Your Fan Page from Your Website?

You need to think about what you can offer on your Facebook Page that will be different from what is available on your website. Think of ways that your fans can interact with you on your fan page that they can’t on your website. The more interactive your page is, the more successful it will be. Fans will have no reason to visit a static Facebook Page.

#3: Define Your “it” Factor

What is different and special about you and your employees? What do you offer that is different from your competitors? Build your fan page strategy around what makes your business unique.

Now that you’ve considered the three points above, it’s time to work on your editorial guide. Here are the things you’ll want to be sure to include:

#1: How Often Will You Post on Your Facebook Page?

Although we engage with our fans throughout the day on Social Media Examiner, we also have specific chunks of time set aside for certain types of content. For instance, in the morning, we post the latest Social Media Examiner article. In the afternoon, we post a link to content from a third-party that we know will be beneficial to our fans. Then, a few times a week, we post a question late in the afternoon. Although most of the questions pertain to social media, some are on other topics.

#2: Decide What Type of Content You’ll Post.

Knowing this ahead of time makes it easy to find great content for your fan page. At Social Media Examiner, we consistently find valuable content on about 20 different websites. It’s fine to branch out occasionally, but having a list of great sites you go to regularly for content makes it easy to find valuable content to share with your fans.

#3: Determine the Post Format.

Define ahead of time how you want you and your team to put posts together. Some pages are informal and conversational and others are more factual and informative, like a news source.

Since we have three people posting on our fan page, we always end each post with our names, so people will know who posted. This adds a friendly and personal touch to our posts.

#4: Plan Out How You’ll Respond to Your Fans’ Comments.

On the Social Media Examiner page, we have a goal of reaching out to everyone who makes a comment on our page. We want our fans to know we are listening to them and interested in their thoughts.

#5: Determine What to do About Promotional or Negative Posts.

It’s not uncommon for fans to post promotional bits of information regarding their services and products on your Facebook wall. This can make things cluttered and can hinder legitimate conversations from taking place. It’s important to determine ahead of time which types of posts you’ll allow and which ones you’ll delete. Be sure your entire team is on the same page regarding this.

One thing to keep in mind is that your editorial guide is just a guide, not something that can’t be changed. The goal of the guide is to keep things running smoothly without hindering you from going with the flow.

Bonus Tip: If you feel overwhelmed by social media and if your social media efforts are taking too much time, click on the link below right now to gain access to a free 3-part video series where you’ll learn:

* Why what you’re doing now may be costing you profits and valuable relationships in your biz.
* The 3 reasons for your lackluster social media results
* How to identify the big-fat social media time wasters
* And so much more!

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How to Create an Editorial Guide for Your Facebook Fan Page