When it comes to running a successful SEO campaign, there are certain techniques you need to avoid as using these strategies can have negative impacts on your website’s search engine rankings. Google, the world’s largest search engine, has been making constant updates to their search engine algorithm to weed out the websites that are employing bad SEO techniques to achieve a first page ranking. Whenever Google suspects a specific website has been using bad SEO techniques, they will hit the website with a penalty, causing that site’s rankings to drop. Below is a list of bad SEO techniques you should avoid when running an SEO campaign for your website.

 Hidden Text

Placing hidden text on your website is one of the quickest ways to receive a penalty from the search engines. When you place hidden text on your site in an effort to get more SEO friendly content on your website, search engines will think you are trying to deceive your visitors and will subsequently lowering your rankings for your target keywords.

 Duplicate Content

Another SEO technique you want to avoid is having duplicate content on your website. Stealing content from another website to place on yours is a very quick way to get penalized by the search engines. Search engines want to see websites that have fresh, unique, high quality content. If you are getting your content from other parts of the web, your website will not be providing any value to your visitors.

 Keyword Stuffing

Writing content that contains a bunch of keywords and that is not written with the user in mind is another excellent way to receive a search engine penalty. In the early days of SEO, simply having your keywords on your page a number of times was enough to gain a first page ranking. However, now that Google’s search engine algorithm has evolved, this practice will now bring about a severe penalty, and your website will not be found in the search results.

 Purchasing Links

Google is trying to crack down on webmaster who buy backlinks for their website in an effort to improve its search engine rankings. When you purchase backlinks for your website, the chances are pretty good that they will not come from a high quality, relevant website, which will actually cause more harm than good when it comes to your website’s SEO. By avoiding the temptation to buy backlinks in bulk, you will be able to focus on building high quality links that point to your website from trusted, well respected websites around the Internet.

 Redirects

Placing a redirect on your website is a surefire way to get your website removed completely from the search engine results. A redirect is when you trick people into clicking your link in the search results by promising them one type of content and sending them to a website that is completely different. If the search engines find out that your website is running a redirect, they will simply remove your website fro the search results, making it impossible to gain organic search traffic.

 Building Links With the Same Anchor Text

When you are building quality backlinks for your website, it is important that you remember to diversify your anchor text. If you use the same keyword as your anchor text for every link that you build, your backlink profile will look unnatural in the eyes of the search engines, and your website will be penalized with lower rankings. Having a natural looking backlink profile is the secret to SEO success.

Running an SEO campaign is one of the best ways you can drive targeted traffic to your website. By avoiding bad SEO techniques, you can ensure your website never receives a penalty from the search engines, and will be able to achieve a first page ranking.

Richard H. is passionate at everything he do. Photography, internet marketing, writing, blogging. Currently working for Samuelson Hause & Samuelson as a content contributor. Enjoys helping others any way he can.

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While there are several ways to create a website, using a readymade content management system (CMS) is often the fastest way to do it. There are several popular content management systems available on the web such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal etc. that serve a variety of purposes. However, if you looking for a CMS that combines functionality with flexibility, look no further than WordPress. If you have never used WordPress before or want to know what makes it such an efficient content management system and website builder, here are top 5 reasons for its popularity.
1) Easy to install and maintain – WordPress is one of the most simple content management systems out there; you can download and install it within minutes. Even if you are technologically challenged, you can use the WordPress installer that comes with most web hosting packages and get the job done quickly. Along with the ease of installation, WordPress also offers ease of maintenance. You can also use plugins to automate routine maintenance tasks such as creating backups, updating plugins, emailing traffic statistics and so on. The ease of installing and maintenance is especially useful if you have a large portfolio of sites to maintain.
2) Multi-user functionality – If you are looking for a content management system that supports multi-user functionality then WordPress is your best bet. WordPress is a flexible system that supports multiple administrators, moderators and content creators. So you can have one or more administrators who can tweak WordPress settings and perform maintenance tasks and several authors who are only allowed to post content in a single installation.
3) Easy to customize – WordPress is an open source software which means you are free to make changes to the code and add new functionality as per your needs. There are thousands of free plugins available that allow you to add to WordPress functionality but can also create your own customized plugins. Since WordPress was created in PHP, anyone with the knowledge of PHP and HTML can quickly add to its functionality. WordPress is truly a versatile system so you are free to add and remove features as per your needs without affecting the core functionality of your website.
4) Security – WordPress is one of the most secure content management systems out there. Moreover you can also add to its security by installing plugins like Better WP Security. The security plugins allow you to restrict the number of login attempts, hide pages, ban IP addresses, secure databases and customize every single security aspect that can be exploited by hackers.
5) All-in-one system – WordPress is no longer just a website builder or a blogging system; it has evolved into much more than that. Nowadays Wordpess is considered as an end to end website creation system that includes content management system, blogging platform and website builder all rolled into one. The beauty of WordPress is that it never exposes its users to the technical details so they are free to create content and promote their sites instead of worrying about maintaining their site.

The author is a WordPress expert who writes for http://make-a-web-site.com.com Visit the site to discover more WordPress tips and tricks and to learn how to create a successful WordPress site.

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Ecommerce has grown leaps and bounds in the past decade. With that much competition, it pays to stand out as much as possible. One tactic you can use is to increase your website’s search engine optimization, otherwise known as SEO. When you improve your website’s SEO, you help ensure that your website comes up on the first page of internet searches. The following are five critical SEO tips for ecommerce sites.

Choose Relevant Keywords

Keywords are what people search for to find something on the internet. For example, if your ecommerce site was devoted to ereader covers, your keywords would be ereader covers. These terms would be used throughout your website and in other areas to draw customers to your website. When choosing keywords, use a website like Google Adwords to find relevant keywords that have numerous searches, but low competition.

Add Keywords to Site Description

A site’s description is what shows up under your website’s name on search engines. This means you definitely want to include your keywords. For example, your description might read, “Fashionable E-Reading features a number of designer ereader covers that fit the Kindle, Nook, iPad, and many more ebook reading devices.”

Create Content

Websites need content. If you’re not comfortable with writing content, hire a freelance writer. Content not only increases your ranking on search engines, but gives customers a reason to come to your website. For example, you might write an article about how it’s necessary for ereaders to have a cover to protect it from scratches and drops.

Use Backlinks

A backlink is when you create a hyperlink between words on the page (preferably your keywords) to another page of your website. You can also create backlinks by writing guest posts for other websites and linking back to your website. If someone finds your website interesting, they too may link to your website. Quality backlinks can increase your page’s ranking and drive traffic to your store.

Build Great Pages

Last, but not least, search engines want websites to have content on each page. In other words, your contact page should include more than just a phone number and email address. Instead, explain why the customer should contact you and that you’re happy to help with any questions they may have. Remember to also include your keywords.

Ecommerce can be a fierce business to get into. However, with the use of SEO, your website can stand out from those that don’t use these tips. When your page ranks higher in search engines, you’re more apt to increase sales and backlinks to your website. Take the time to do these simple tasks and watch the sales rise.

About the Author: Moises Weis loves building ecommerce sites. He loves incorporating WordPress, a great Prestashop theme, and fabulous content to create an unforgettable store.

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Whether they want to be or not, professional athletes are role models to a multitude of people, and many of their fans follow them on social media sites like Twitter or join their fan pages on Facebook.

But professional athletes are humans, and humans make mistakes. And when you give a human the ability to reach thousands (and oftentimes millions) of people by allowing them to share their thoughts via social media, you may not always like the end result. The following are eight examples of athletes behaving badly on social media.

Voula Papachristou

Voula Papachristou was a triple jumper on Greece’s Olympic team. She was recently expelled from the team due to comments she posted on Twitter, in which she openly supported a far-right party and mocked immigrants from Africa.

Cappie Pondexter

Cappie Pondexter is a member of the New York Liberty, a WNBA team. After the tsunami in Japan, she went to Twitter and said, “What if God was tired of the way they treated their own people in their own country! Idk guys he makes no mistakes.” She received plenty of backlash from many fans, and eventually she apologized.

Chad Ochocinco

In 2010,Chad Ochocinco, a wide receiver in the NFL, was fined $25,000 for bringing an electronic device onto the field and tweeting from a game. He apologized via Twitter, but seemed more concerned with losing money that he planned on using to make his car payment.

Rashard Mendenhall

Rashard Mendenhall is a member of the NFL who generated a large amount of backlash when he went to Twitter after the killing of Osama bin Laden and questioned how people could be so happy about the death of someone they don’t know. He also mentioned how people had no right to hate someone whose side of the story they never heard, and made comments that he believed 9/11 was a conspiracy. Not only did plenty of people give him a piece of their mind, but he was also dropped by Champion.

Larry Johnson

Larry Johnson, a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, was fined $213,000 and suspended for one day when he posted multiple angry tweets, one of which was a gay slur. Even after plenty of people left nasty comments about his tweets, he continued mocking them, saying that their hatred doesn’t stop him from getting paid.

Charlie Villanueva

Charlie Villanueva was caught tweeting during halftime of one of his NBA games. He was not fined like Ochocinco, but he was banned from using Twitter during games. He then went on to Twitter and asked what the difference was between tweeting at halftime and doing a live interview.

Kareem Jackson

Kareem Jackson recently went under fire after posting pictures to Twitter. While on vacation in the Dominican Republic, he took pictures of live cockfights that he attended. Many people lashed out on the NFL player and compared his pictures to the scandal Michael Vick faced for dogfighting.

Gilbert Arenas

Gilbert Arenas, a member of the NBA, was on a blind date. During the date, he posted many tweets about his date, poking fun at her personality, clothes, food choices and even the fact that she wouldn’t have sex with him on the first night.

Caleb Grant is a well established social media and web marketing professional writing in tandem with SEOMap.  At SEOMap you can download free learning resources and spreadsheets to quantify your SEO spend.

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Most businesses are using social media to connect to their target markets and customers. But as with many things in advertising and marketing, social media is not immune to embarrassing mistakes. Social media is very powerful. It can make or break your brand. You have to be careful when posting status updates, shoutouts, etc. Here are some mistakes to watch out for when using social media.

True compassion

Just because you write compassionate words does not mean that your audience feels it. If you are not being truly compassionate about something, your audience will instantly know it. Avoid being inconsiderate especially after a disaster. Avoid mixing promotion with messages of compassion. For example, with Hurricane Sandy, don’t announce that you are going to help out the victims and then say that you have a new offer in stores in one message. If it’s a message of concern then let it stay that way. Wait for a couple of days to push your promos. This way you won’t get misinterpreted.

Mixing work and personal accounts

Some employees can be careless in using corporate social media accounts. Use a management system that asks employees if they want to publish a message. Tell your employees to review their posts twice before publishing them. Better yet, don’t allow them to access their personal social media accounts from the office.

Thinking that everything can be deleted

Yes, everything can be deleted but everything that you post leaves an electronic trail. Word on the web travels fast and you won’t be fast enough to delete it especially if someone has already seen it. It’s very easy to share on social networks and your message can be on the other side of the globe in a few minutes. Make sure that your employees know this. Have some basic training modules available to your employees.

Rules of communication

There are certain activities and meetings inside the office that should not be announced to the public. Make sure that you have policies regarding this and all employees comply.

Approval system

If your employees are free to post on your corporate social network accounts make sure that their tweets or status updates are approved first before publishing. Use a management system that has permission settings to easily control posts. 

Scheduled tweets

You can schedule blog posts if they are educational, harmless posts. Tweets are trickier as these are usually based on what’s going on in your environment. These are usually affected by current events. If something suddenly happens and your harmless scheduled post suddenly seems offensive or insensitive then you will be in big trouble.

Personal posts

Your employees must understand that whatever they post on their personal accounts is a reflection to the company. They must remain professional at all times especially when posting something about your company in their personal profiles. How many employees have been in trouble by posting things that should not be posted on their accounts?

Try to avoid these mistakes and you are sure to make it big in this 1.3 trillion dollar market but try to keep in mind that social media is about connecting to people and interacting with them. This is the true essence of social media.

This article was brought to you by Contractor Money Mortgages. Visit the site for more business tips.

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Everyone loves their pets very much and most of us are irrevocably convinced that they communicate with us in their own special way. While the animal kingdom certainly has some wisdom the human race could learn from, maybe you should think twice before signing your pet up to Twitter. If you, however, do believe they have some world changing truths to bark or chirp about, there, are some rules you should know about.

(In)Digestion is Not a Topic

Just like most of us cringe when reading about them on any Twitter account or Facebook wall, pets are no exception here, particularly because an overwhelming amount of their messages on the twitterverse seem to contain references to pooping, peeing or even farting. Even the celebrity dogs seem to not have resisted the temptation, with 50 Cent’s dog @OprahTheDog debating leaving a turd in an office while American model’s Coco’s English bulldogs made another unexpected confession, tweeting: “I hate when my farts wake me up”.

No Showing Off

While it’s quite obvious that many pet accounts are solely made for this purpose, using your cat or your dog as own advertising board screams desperate to me. If you can’t resist posting a picture of your latest gadget or that exquisite meal you had last night, there’s no need to back it up with an identical picture on your buddy’s account.

Even if your dog cares for that new pair of heels you got yourself yesterday, it’s probably the chewability rather than the price he’d really be concerned about.

Tweet for a Good Cause

Either it’s the general animal welfare, fundraising for shelters or stopping animal abuse, there are topics that pets and their owners would be more concerned about than others and would add more weight to your tweets (as well as followers).

@Romeothecat a “proud two time rescue cat” is currently sporting more than 16,5k followers on Twitter has raised $60 000 for pets in need and is trying to establish communication between cats and their owners and vice versa.

Find an Edge

If you’re a lazy house cat, laying around your house and feeding on royal canin at your owner’s expense, there will be just as much excitement to your Twitter account as there is to your life (none, that is).

But if you’re one of the world’s deadliest snakes who happen to have slipped out of its cage in Bronx Zoo and set up a Twitter account in the meanwhile, you’re in for more than 200 000 followers in just a week’s time! Following no one but the Zoo itself, the snake is sharing its views on a range of topics from U.S. politics to MTV movie awards. Didn’t take long for @BronxZooPeacock to join the party.

To the Point

Keeping it short is the magic phrase for Twitter but sometimes it pays off keeping it even shorter than 140 characters. There’s a very ordinary Twitter account for a very @common_squirrel that has earned 91 329 followers by sharing nothing but the most basic survival skills and observations like “run run run run” and “scratch scratch” or simply “stare”. Words of wisdom, that is for certain.

So what do you think about this Twitter pet craze?  Or maybe your furry friend has already started a Twitter account on its own?

Attached Images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source

Louise Blake is a new mom and a huge animal lover who’s life with be unimaginable with her four legged companion. As pets are starting to take over the twitterverse, Louise is wondering if setting up an account for her pooch wouldn’t be slightly over the top and is sharing her thoughts blogging for petmeds.co.uk

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Internet marketing blogs are filled with posts telling businesses that they need to start their own blog. Because blogging has become such a mainstream practice, many businesses follow this advice. However, the problem is even though a large percentage of businesses with an online presence do have a blog, a lot of them aren’t happy with it.

The main reason why businesses are unhappy with their blogs is because they aren’t seeing any results from them. A business that starts a blog has to spend their valuable time writing posts for it or money paying someone to write posts for it. Since they expect a solid ROI, not bringing in any new customers through their blog can be quite frustrating.

If your business has a blog but you haven’t seen it help your bottom line, there are actually quite a few reasons why this may be the case. While that may sound like bad news, it’s actually not. Instead, what it means is once you identify what’s going wrong, you can take action to correct the problem so you can actually start to see positive results from blogging:

Expecting Too Much Too Soon: Unless you have the good fortune of having one or more of your posts linked to by an existing blog with a huge audience, you’re not going to see a huge flurry of traffic during your first few months of blogging. Also, keep in mind that since the ultimate goal of your blog is to turn readers into customers, you actually don’t need huge floods of traffic like blogs that are 100% dependent on advertising.

Not Understanding the Target Audience: There are very few company blogs that will get anything useful out of spending every post talking about themselves. If you want people to consume your content and share it with others, you need to figure out what they want and provide them with posts that they’re going to find very useful and/or interesting.

Rarely Update: Company blogs that are updated less than once a month generate 43% less leads than those that are updated at least twice a week. While you don’t have to drive yourself or your employees crazy by trying to post every single day, since you do want to get something out of the energy and resources you direct towards blogging, it’s important to commit to publishing at least two quality posts a week.

Not Making It Easy for Readers to Sign Up or Buy: It’s honestly amazing how many companies have blogs that make it difficult to get to the main page of their site. Since a blog is a marketing tool, it’s obviously very important for anyone who’s interested in a business to be able to find out more about them, sign up for their newsletter or actually make a purchase through their online checkout. If any or all of these areas of a site are difficult to access, it’s going to significantly limit the blog’s effectiveness.

Attached Images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source

Jeff Adcock is the president of www.veritransllc.com Which is an merchant account provider headquarted in Houston TX. Feel free to follow Veritrans on Twitter.

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Social Media is not an option anymore, it is a need. In order to reach out to your customers or audiences you have to be where they are, and in today’s time and age, they’re easily reachable through social networking sites. Networking via the social media requires the same rule as networking at a social event, you just don’t have to be there, you have to interact too. Following are some ways through which you could increase your engagement and give your business that much needed boost.

1. Content

Post interesting articles, blogs or any other information which you believe will interest your readers. It does not always have to be relevant to your business, an interesting quote, a knowledgeable video or a captivating picture will also do the trick. If a reader finds your post interesting, the chances are he or she will share, thus your page and company will get more exposure. However, do not overdo it, as nobody likes their newsfeed to be crammed with too many posts from one source, no matter how interesting.

2. Interact

Don’t just post and vanish, it will give it a very robotic or mechanical feel. Interact with your audience, ask questions or suggestions and then be sure to respond. If you post a picture, a video or an article, explain why you like it in the first place and ask for opinions. Also, ask them about your products or services and what they will like to see next. This will let your customers know that you value their opinion and feedback.

4. Link Each Other

It is imperative to engage through all forums, and to link each to the other. For instance, if you put up a picture on Pinterest, then be sure to link it to your Facebook page and your Twitter account. That way you will not only be letting your customers know about your presence on other social networking sites, but will also be saving a lot of time by not having to post the same piece of news again and again. Hashtags are also very important, so if you are tweeting on Twitter, or posting a picture on Instagram, be sure to hashtag it so that it is visible to a larger audience.

5. Timing

Timing is the key to successful engagement. Posting a question at 8 in the morning will hardly be received with enthusiasm. It is very likely that your customers live in the same time zone as you do. And even if not, then try posting different types of material at varying times of the day and week. And make sure to keep a check of when people respond the most.  What kind of material are they most attracted to? One good way will be to make a chart or note down the number of responses to each post along with the nature and time of the post.

Don’t expect to see overnight results, and be prepared for negative reviews and feedback too. But the key is to always be cordial and friendly no matter what. It takes time and effort to build trust and loyalty, but you will eventually get there.

Attached Images:

•  License: Image author owned

Social Media is a vital part of every Business Digital Strategy. Globalserve Business consultants is company in Cyprus that can provide you offshore company formation and other corporate services for your company, that will also help your Business strategy

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Anybody who has been watching Google must have thought an antitrust suit was only a matter of time. Well it looks like that time has come. – Warner

The Federal Trade Commission is raising the ante in its antitrust confrontation with Google with the commission staff preparing a recommendation that the government sue the search giant.

Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the F.T.C., said the agency would decide whether to sue Google by the end of the year.

Joaquín Almunia, competition commissioner for the European Union, said he was troubled by Google’s dominance.

The government’s escalating pursuit of Google is the most far-reaching antitrust investigation of a corporation since the landmark federal case against Microsoft in the late 1990s. The agency’s central focus is whether Google manipulates search results to favor its own products, and makes it harder for competitors and their products to appear prominently on a results page.

via F.T.C. Staff Prepares Antitrust Case Against Google Over Search – NYTimes.com.

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Operating an online business is both easy and difficult. Easy in the sense that you can start it at home with little budget and difficult in a way that a lot of expertise and knowledge is required to sustain the pressure of winning the top rank. Nonetheless, if you run a small online business setup, there are less complicated ways to stay in the game and continue to attract new customers. This post discusses the top 3 all-time popular ways to marketing an online business.

SEO

Search Engine Marketing (aka SEO) is the backbone of online marketing. No website can work without proper SEO. SEO is done in order to get good ranks on a search engine and there are various techniques applied in this marketing domain. The search engines revise their ranking criteria now and then to facilitate their users every. Therefore, SEO practices change as well. In fact, SEO is one of those marketing means where staying up to date about the new and modern ranking concepts is vital. Without proper and up to the mark SEO, most online businesses cannot hope to perform well.

Blogging

Blogging is a sub domain of SEO but it also enjoys a separate and very important status. In case of business websites cater to, as an example, wholesale suppliers, retailers, online sellers etc., blogging can earn you respect and recognition in that very circle.

Writing education content with an intention to guide budding entrepreneurs to learn from your experience, also earns you credibility as an expert in your field. Also, blogging gives you a chance to offer advice, information or inside titbits related to your niche that interest your prospective clients so in that sense, blogging helps you develop a network of your as well as offer you a superb platform to market your products and services.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is tricky and the companies, that do not mind flooding the inbox of every email address that they come across, have sabotaged its effectiveness. The idea of email marketing is to reach out to your clients and it is not at all a game of numbers. Because of the recent practices observed in the name of email marketing, people are now prone to ignore the emails sent by a new sender with less relevant subject line.

Nonetheless, for promoting online business and services, email marketing is still regarded as a great tool. For generating a successful email marketing campaign, you are required to target the right audience and approach them systematically.

Julie Robert is a B2B wholesale trade and B2B marketing expert. She writes frequently on the topics related to UK Wholesalers and Wholesale Supplies.

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