Starting an Online Store Called givitup

Why Simple Landing Pages Work

2009-10-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

By Bruce Alan

Are you just getting started in Internet Marketing and you want to sell something? Not having your own product, you decide to try affiliate marketing (selling someone else’s product). OK, great…but how do you do it?

You can buy hundreds of ebooks all with different “systems” or strategies and you can find lots of free information as well. Eventually though, you are going to realize that you will need to make some landing pages.

What are landing pages? Landing pages are where you want your visitor to ”land” and once there, you hope they click on your link to go to the sellers website where they will then buy the product.

Why not just link directly to the seller’s website? Why do you need a landing page at all? Well, it depends on how you are going to get your visitor to the seller’s site. A popular way is by writing articles, having them published, and having readers find those articles and click on the links inside them. The problem is that many article sites do not allow direct affiliate marketing links. They will allow links to your website or landing page but not directly to the seller.

You can learn a lot about landing pages by typing in “What are landing pages” in Google. You will find lots of useful information and tips galore on how to make great landing pages. But just like everything else on the Internet, after reading 10 or so different articles, you may be no closer to making one and confused about exactly what you should do.

I believe the best way to get started is by making simple landing pages that pretty much say to the viewer ‘here is the product and here is where you get it“. I don’t do a lot of “pre-selling” on my landing pages and many Internet marketers would disagree with that. The common consensus is that you should warm your visitor up to the sale by reviewing the item and/or telling them how great it is.

The problem with that is that it is difficult to write convincingly about something you know little about. Another problem for beginners is that their writing skills may not be up to par…at least not yet. That is why I recommend setting up something simple at first.

My opinion is that it is my job (or you might say the landing page’s job) to get the visitor to the seller’s website. It is the seller’s job from there to convert the sale. I sort of just open the door for customers to walk through and let the product and shopkeeper do the rest. If they can’t do their job, then I have to at some time move to another product.

I suggest opening a blogger.com account or Wordpress.com account (which are both free) and use those as your landing pages. Make your site as pretty and color coordinated as you can (some people will obviously be better at this than others) and do a lot of copying and pasting graphics and words from your sellers website.

Only use one link to the seller’s website though, as using free blogs for marketing is frowned on and if you overdo it they could suspend you. Ideally you should get your own domain and hosting but that can be done once you start making money. If you have a Wordpress blog you can even go to YouTube and perhaps find a video about the product you are selling and put that in your blog. Looks great and I’ve done it.

Basically you are making a big advertisement that says “This is where you get so and so product”. If the people you drive to your blog want that product, then they will click on the link to find out more. Once they do that, you have done your job. Making a landing page is the easy part…..getting targeted traffic to your website or blog is much harder.

Love at First Sight, Baby Clothes and Gifts

2009-08-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Anyone who says they don't believe in love at first sight has never had a baby. Our delightful "Love at First Sight" baby tees, bibs and gifts make perfect baby shower gifts.

Shop for your baby gifts here

Vegetarian T-shirts and Gifts

2009-08-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

I’m starting to go more and more toward the Vegetarian lifestyle and have added some fun Veg Out t-shirts and gifts to my online store. Check them out here:

Veg Out T-shirts and Gifts

T-shirts, Buttons and Magnets Show What You Think About What the Government is Doing

2009-07-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about you, but what’s going on in the government right now really annoys me. If you think it’s unfair and maybe even insane, here are some buttons, magnets and stickers you can pass out to like minded friends. Or t-shirts you can wear yourself.

Shop Here

31 Days to Build a Better Blog

2009-06-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

Anyone in business today can benefit from a blog. If you don't have one, you should because most likely your competitor does. Blogs allow you to update your site in minutes - so Google loves them. When you link them to your website it's like driving fresh content there every time you add a post.

Blogs also give the human voice to a business and allow your customers to interact with you.

I just finished taking the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog course. Designed by Darren Rowse of Problogger it is packed with helpful information. Hundreds of thousands of us took the course online and let me tell you, it was tough keeping up! Luckily for future students he's come out with a workbook so if you're overloaded with life, you can take your time with the course and get even more out of it.

Here's the link to get the workbook. He's got a 100% return guarantee, so try it!

Click here to view more details

This Recession is Killing My Buzz

2009-04-23T06:04:00.001-07:00

Is the recession getting old for you? I've added some fun t-shirts and buttons to at least deal with it with humor!

http://www.cafepress.com/givitup/6556667

New Inspirational Rectangular Magnets

2009-04-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

I've always written positive quotes and Bible verses down and stuck them everywhere: inside my daytimer, inside the cabinet door where my vitamins are, on the side of the file cabinet next to my desk. In fact that is one reason I started my What I Learned Teaching Sunday School blog - it's a place to not only keep the lessons I've written and taught, thoughts I've had about Christian books, concerts, etc. but to keep all the great quotes and things I've been collecting.

Then that spilled over to my print on demand store and I've got positive and Christian t-shirts and gifts and just started a section of rectangular magnets with uplifting quotes on them. It's a little overboard, but it really helps me to be surrounded by them, so if I start to get down I don't have far to look to read something that will lift me up.

http://www.cafepress.com/givitup/6371093

Free Links to Help Your Business

2009-04-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

Short and sweet today!

http://www.freelinks.com/

Facebook Applications to Promote Your Business

2009-04-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

Facebook is growing rapidly and it’s becoming a destination for businesses and business professionals alike to establish a presence. Author Josh Peters shares over 30 Facebook applications to help promote, network, communicate, collaborate and accomplish more with your business.

Read article here

How To Create Offers People Act On

2009-03-27T02:07:00.000-07:00

A marketing issue that baffles and frustrates many small business owners is when they make an offer to sample a product or service they sell and there are no takers.
Example: Why isn't the Phone Ringing?

Diane wants to build her real estate business by attracting more first time home buyers. On her web site's home page, along with the usual listings, she has an offer which reads, Are you buying your first home? Call me for free consultation at 1-800-NEW-HOME.

The offer has been up for six weeks and although people are visiting her website, the phone isn't ringing. Diane is discouraged and wondering if "this Internet marketing stuff really works?"

Has this happened to you? You create an offer--maybe a very generous offer--and no one takes you up on it.

It's really discouraging. I know. It's happened to me more than once.

So what's going on here? Bottom line: your offer may be a good one but you're making it at the wrong time for most of the people visiting your website.
What do I mean by "wrong time"? Here's an example:

Dan and Lisa are married couple looking for their first home. They're great prospective clients for Diane. Lisa is on the Internet checking out homes for sale in the neighborhoods in which they're interested and one of the websites she looks at is Diane's.

Now, let's assume that Lisa sees Diane's offer. Why doesn't she pick up the phone and call?

For the same reason most of us don't pick up the phone and call: we're concerned we're going to get a sales pitch and be pressured to do something we're not ready to do.

Solution: Small Steps Over Time

The way to create offers that people act on is to set up a series of small steps you ask prospects to take over a period of time.

For example, let's say that instead of offering a free consultation, Diane's offer is this:

"Click here to get my free report, The Ten Biggest Mistakes First Time Home Buyers Make."

When a prospect clicks the link they are asked for their email address so Diane can send them the report.

She will get a lot of takers on this offer.

Now that Diane has collected some emails what are the next offers she might make?
She sends those who downloaded the report two emails in the next 30 days that focus on specific points in her report. These emails also include an invitation to subscribe to her weekly ezine.

Those who subscribe receive a weekly ezine with information that's useful to first time home buyers.

In each ezine, Diane includes her original offer for the free 30-minute consultation.
Diane's free consultation offer is still there but prospects see the offer after taking two intermediate steps: (1.) Getting the free report; (2.) subscribing to her weekly ezine.

How Long Does It Take?

Some people will point out, "Yes, but won't it take longer to get prospects to the phone...what she wanted to begin with?" These folks worry that they're wasting time with little intermediate steps instead of just cutting to the chase.

It does take longer. Depending on the service your business provides, it can take anywhere from 8 weeks to several months. And there will be people who read your free reports and ezines for quite a while before they buy something.

But here's why offering small steps is so important. Why several small steps over time work so much better than asking for a giant step right away:

Effective marketing and sales are all about building trust and credibility. As human beings, we develop trust when we experience repeated demonstrations of trustworthiness over time. No matter how persuasive the sales pitch, no matter how many testimonials are in the copy, very few people will make a large financial or emotional commitment at first sight.

They will, however, make small, low cost commitments at first sight. And they will be willing to make larger commitments over time as you demonstrate value again and again.

Final Word

If you are making a generous offer to prospects but very few if any are responding, you may be asking them to do too much too soon. Consider adding at least one low cost, low commitment intermediate offer that gives you the opportunity to build trust over time.

About The Author:
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com

Basic Things All Affiliate Marketers Need To Survive Online

2009-02-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

Every affiliate marketer is always looking for the successful market that gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is just good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication. There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and are continuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to increase your sales.

1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. Do not lump all of it together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more.

Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an initial understanding on what the product can do for those who buy them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.

You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive, compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to read more and contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers learn what the page is about and make them want to find out more.

2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the very topside of your page so they cannot be missed. Try to create auto responder messages that will be mailed to those who put their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect.

Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified periods, you will remind them of the product again. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.

Focus on important points like how your product can make life easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” because there are still older spam filters that dump emails with free in them. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail themselves of your products and services.

3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that are focusing on your target customers.

Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100-targeted readers to your site in a day.

Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits to your website in a day, that means you have a chance at making 10 sales.

About the Author:
Eugenijus Sakalauskas
E-Ezine - Free marketing recourses,
website promotion tips
http://ezine.pluginnetproefit.com/
Get FREE info: plugin@freefollowup.com

Internet Marketing - Affordable Efficiency

2009-02-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

Bonnie Jo Davis wrote very solid article on affordable Internet Marketing. These are all good steps to take whether you are just starting out or have been online for a while.

Click here to read the article

No Dream Too Big T-shirts and Gifts

2009-02-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

I just added a new design to my Dream line in my store. “No Dream Too Big”. I especially like how the no and too are in light yellow, so that at first glance it looks like Dream Big!

Click here to see all No Dream Too Big items

Obama Inauguration Merchandise

2009-01-02T17:52:00.000-08:00

CafePress has hundreds of thousands of designs on over 100 products geared toward this historic inauguration. Shop here to own a piece of the history!

Ten Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business

2008-12-20T12:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a good article by Susan Ward over at About.com with 10 tips to promote your business. Some are common sense. Some you've heard before. But she does a nice job picking inexpensive tips that online store owners should be doing.

http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/marketing/a/bizpromotion.htm

Official Twilight Movie Merchandise and More

2008-12-09T18:56:00.000-08:00

CafePress is the official home for fan-designed Twilight Gear. We've also got official Twilight Movie merchandise.

Types of Business Structures

2008-12-07T17:37:00.000-08:00

Here’s an article explaining the six types of business structures, each with its own legal, tax and business ramifications.

Click here to read

How Not to be just a Product Listing Site

2008-12-06T12:45:00.001-08:00

Here’s a quick article that explains that to generate sales, your website has to do a good job of removing some of the confusion by helping the visitor narrow down his choices.

Click to read

The Lucky Thirteen: the critical SEO checklist

2008-11-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

Whether you built your own website or not this is good information for all online business owners to know.

When it comes to SEO not all of us have the time to be experts. At some point the real "gurus" of SEO and other topics are the people with a whole lot of time on their hands. This list, put together with the everyday webmaster in mind, drives home some absolutely crucial points that you should keep in mind when optimizing your pages for valuable search rankings.

1. Check Search Engine Crawl Error Pages

It's important to monitor search engine crawl errors reports to keep on top of how your site and its pages are performing. Monitoring error reports can help you determine when and where Googlebot or another crawler is having trouble indexing your content - which can help you find a solution to the problem.

2. Create/update robots.txt and sitemap files

These files are supported by major search engines and are incredibly useful tools for ensuring that crawlers index your important site content while avoiding those sections/files that you deem to be either unimportant or cause problems in the crawl process. In many cases we've seen the proper use of these files make all the difference between a total crawl failure for a site and a full index of content pages which makes them crucial from an SEO standpoint.

3. Check Googlebot activity reports

These reports allow you to monitor how long it's taking Googlebot to access your pages. This information can be very important if you are worried that you may be on a slow network or experiencing web server problems. If it is taking search engine crawlers a long time to index your pages it may be the case that there are times when they "time out" and stop trying. Additionally, if the crawlers are unable to call your pages up quickly there is a good chance users are experiencing the same lag in load times, and we all know how impatient internet users can be.

4. Check how your site looks to browsers without image and JavaScript support

One of the best ways to determine just what your site looks like to a search engine crawler is to view your pages in a browser with image and JavaScript support disabled. Mozilla's Firefox browser has a plug-in available called the "Web Developer Toolbar" that adds this functionality and a lot more to the popular standards-compliant browser. If after turning off image and JavaScript support you aren't able to make sense of your pages at all it is a good sign that your site is not well-optimized for search. While images and JavaScript can add a lot to the user experience they should always be viewed as a "luxury" - or simply an improvement upon an already-solid textual content base.

5. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML, not images

One of the most common mistakes in web design is to use images for site navigation. While for some companies and webmasters SEO is not a concern and therefore they can get away with this for anyone worried about having well-optimized pages this should be the first thing to go. Not only will it render your site navigation basically valueless for search engine crawlers, but within reason very similar effects can usually be achieved with CSS roll-overs that maintain the aesthetic impact while still providing valuable and relevant link text to search engines.

6. Check that all images include ALT text

Failing to include descriptive ALT text with images is to miss out on another place to optimize your pages. Not only is this important for accessibility for vision-impaired users, but search engines simply can't "take a look" at your images and decipher the content there. They can only see your ALT text, if you've provided it, and the associates they'll make with the image and your relevant content will be based exclusively on this attribute.

7. Use Flash content sparingly

Several years ago Flash hit the scene and spread like wild fire. It was neat looking, quick to download and brought interactivity and animation on the web to a new height. However, from an SEO standpoint Flash files might as well be spacer GIFs - they're empty. Search engines are not able to index text/content within a Flash file. For this reason, while Flash can do a lot for presentation, from an accessibility and SEO standpoint it should be used very sparingly and only on non-crucial content.

8. Ensure that each page has a unique < title > and meta description tag

Optimization of < title > tags is one of the most important on-page SEO points. Many webmasters are apparently unaware and use either duplicate < title > tags for multiple pages or do not target search traffic at all within this valuable tag. Run a search on a competitive keyword of your choice on Google - click on the first few links that show up and see what text appears in the title bar for the window. You should see right away that this is a key place to include target keywords for your pages.

9. Make sure that important page elements are HTML

The simple fact to keep in mind when optimizing a page is that the crawlers are basically only looking at your source code. Anything you've put together in a Flash movie, an image or any other multimedia component is likely to be invisible to search engines. With that in mind it should be clear that the most important elements of your page, where the heart of your content will lie, should be presented in clean, standards-compliant and optimized HTML source code.

10. Be sure to target keywords in your page content

Some webmasters publish their pages in hopes that they will rank well for competitive keywords within their topic or niche. However, this will simply never happen unless you include your target keywords in the page content. This means creating well-optimized content that mentions these keywords frequently without triggering spam filters. Any way you cut it you're going to need to do some writing - if you don't like doing it yourself it's a good idea to hire a professional copy writer. Simply put: without relevant content that mentions your target keywords you will not rank well.

11. Don't use frames

There is still some debate as to whether frames are absolutely horrible for SEO or whether they are simply just not the best choice. Is there really a difference? Either way, you probably don't want to use frames. Crawlers can have trouble getting through to your content and effectively indexing individual pages, for one thing. For another, most functionalities that the use of frames allows is easily duplicated using proper CSS coding. There is still some use for a frames-based layout, but it is still better to avoid it if at all possible.

12. Make sure that your server is returning a 404 error code for unfound pages

We've all seen it. We're browsing around at a new or familiar site, clicking links and reading content, when we get the infamous blank screen that reads "404 page not found" error. While broken links that point to these pages should definitely be avoided you also don't want to create a "custom error page" to replace this page. Why? Well, it's simple: if you generate a custom error page crawlers can spend time following broken links that they won't know are broken. A 404 error page is easily recognizable, and search engine crawlers are programmed to stop following links that generate this page. If crawlers end up in a section of your site that is down through an old link that you missed they might not spend the time to index the rest of your site.

13. Ensure that crawlers will not fall into infinite loops

Many webmasters see fit to include scripting languages, such as PERL, PHP and ASP to add interactive functionality to their web pages. Whether for a calendar system, a forum, eCommerce functionality for an online store, etc. scripting is used quite frequently on the internet. However, what some webmasters don't realize is that unless they use robots.txt files or take other preventative measures search engine crawlers can fall into what are called "infinite loops" in their pages.

Imagine, if you will, a script that allows a webmaster to add a calendar to one of his pages. Now, any programmer worth his salt would base this script on calculations - it would auto-generate each page based on the previous month and a formula to determine how the days and dates would fall. That script, depending on sophistication, could plausibly extend infinitely into the past or future. Now think of the way a crawler works - it follows links, indexes what it finds, and follows more links. What's to stop a crawler from clicking "next month" in a calendar script an infinite number of times? Nothing - well, almost nothing. Crawlers are well-built programs that need to run efficiently. As such they are built to recognize when they've run into an "infinite loop" situation like this, and they will simply stop indexing pages at a site that is flagged for this error.

About the Author: Mike Tekula handles SEO, SEM, usability and standards-compliance for NewSunGraphics, a Long Island, New York firm offering Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, W3C-Compliant web design using full CSS layouts and all things web design/development.

Free HTML Tutorial

2008-11-24T16:39:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across a free HTML tutorial on the web that is fabulous.
Check it out:
Writing HTML

8 Tips to Increase Response in Email

2008-11-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

Email marketing is a great thing to do when you own any kind of business. Here’s an article I found about increasing your response rate, by Paul Easton.

Opt in email marketing is no different than normal direct marketing in that small simple changes will increase your response and success. These tips will help with both plain text and html email:

1. Personalize - "A persons name is still the sweetest sound" Having first name in both the subject of the email, and the body of the message will help your email get read and not just deleted or being mistaken for junk mail.

2. Free - Offer something free: It's an over used word on the Internet, but it still works. It must 100% free, not an item you have to pay postage and packaging for. Otherwise your user who checks out your offer will feel cheated.

3. Tracking - Always track any promotion, which means using tools that will allow you to track responses and conversion of visitors to sales. A good service to use is adminder: http://www.adminder.com Tracking also allows you to find out what information is most important to your readers.

4. Talk - When you write your email copy, write as if you are having a one-to-one conversation with the recipient. This makes your customer feel like a real person and not a number.

5. Short but informative - Provide the information in a short and clear method showing the main information using short paragraphs of 3-4 lines making it easy to read or skim over. Using bullet points and line space between paragraphs to highlight important points.

6. Benefits not features - Show what the item or service can do for your customer, not what its features are.

7. Call to Action - Use a sense of urgency with ease of contact.

8. Easy to contact - Use a clickable link such as http://site.com or mailto:you@yoursite.com
This format will create a click on link in most email programs. If you are marketing internationally you will need a format suitable for American On Line -- The biggest US ISP. Something like this: [ AOL Users Click Here ]

Always test and target to your market, response rates can be up to 20% with the right message. Trial and error will prove you right or wrong. The power of the promotion to an in-house list is something very over looked. The list must have agreed to receive information (opt-in) from you or you just become junk email.

About the Author:
Paul Easton is a self confessed Internet Marketing Nut and Editor of "Power Promotion Plus" -- An ezine dedicated to web site promotion tools that work with 3 free gifts for subscribing Check it out here: http://www.Digitalawol.com/?source=Article

New Inspirational Dream T-shirts and Gifts

2008-11-14T13:16:00.000-08:00

I’ve been adding lots of new designs to my online store. I especially like my dream designs that I’ve put in my Inspirational T-shirts and Gifts section.

They fit the positive theme of my entire store: nothing is impossible if you want it badly enough! Set your mind to it and go after your dream! givitup's inspirational tees and gifts will help keep you motivated.

Inspirational T-shirts and Gifts

My Flip Mino Press Release

2008-11-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

I wrote and sent out a bunch of press releases about adding Flip Minos to my online store. Here’s the release:

Hickory, NC, November 3, 2008 – Online store, givitup, is pleased to announce the addition of custom designed Flip Minos

givitup, is part of CafePress, who recently announced a branded partnership with Pure Digital Technologies, makers of the wildly popular Flip Mino Camcorders. By teaming up together, video lovers can now take their movie-making creativity one step further by customizing their Flip Mino camcorders.

Nancy Geiger, owner of givitup, says, “It’s a perfect partnership. The amazing growth of CafePress shows how much consumers enjoy designing their own T-shirts, mugs, posters and books. CafePress shopowners are on the cutting edge of new trends and Flip Minos are very hip.”

"We're a destination for self-expression," says Amy Maniatis, vice president of marketing at CafePress, calling CafePress a "me-tailer." The company has seen its sales increase 40% year to year.

"Skins were fun and a trend for the last few years, but they can get messy and peel off," Maniatis says. "We're printing directly on the camera. It's a high-gloss print, more strong and durable."

Jonathan Kaplan, CEO of Pure Digital, says, "This generation wants to be famous, tell their story and be heard, change the color of their hair, wear tattoos and express themselves. It goes beyond the clothes and watch you wear and extends to the cellphone or camera you hold."

The ultra-thin & pocket-sized Flip Video Mino camcorder has a handy USB arm that flips out and hooks up to your PC or Mac. This charges the battery, plus lets you use its built-in software to easily view, edit, and upload video and photos to favorite sharing sites. It records 60 minutes of VGA-quality video.

givitup opened almost three years ago focusing on giving up negativity. “We believe there are too many negative and vulgar t-shirts out there. givitup is all about fresh starts, positive attitudes and becoming a better person. We believe people can alter their lives by altering their attitudes. And by wearing positive and inspiring thoughts people are reminded of good things all day.

Besides the Flip Minos, givitup has over 9300 items with its own designs: t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, buttons, magnets, stickers, aprons, journals, greeting cards, postcards, teddy bears, mugs and more. Customers may also send in their own designs or text for any of givitup’s products.

32 Most Important SEO Tips

2008-11-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

I found a good article by Edwin Reyes that will help you with SEO on your website:

1. Make sure your site is not under construction or incomplete with little or no unique content.

2. When your site is ready, submit it to Google, Yahoo, MSN and ASK.com. Consider also submitting to other search engines but most of them are powered by these four leading search engines. Also submít your site to reputable high PR web directories, open directories, yellow pages and social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us, furl, etc.

3. Submit your sitemap to Google, Yahoo, MSN and ASK.com (sitemap for search engines usually in XML format)

4. Offer a sitemap to your site visitors for easy page navigation. (sitemap for visitors in HTML format)

5. Create unique and rich content sites. Avoid duplicate content. Do not create multiple pages, sub-domains, domains, mirror sites or sites with different domain names but the same content.

6. Check your keywords and make sure they are relevant and actually are contained in your site. Avoid keyword stuffing.

7. Use text instead of images in your content, links and important subjects.
8. Make your TITLE and ALT tags descriptive, simple and keyword rich. Avoid irrelevant and repeated keywords.

9. Your Title tag should be 60-80 characters maximum length.

10. Your Meta tag description should be 160-180 characters, including spaces. (about 25-30 words)

11. The keywords Meta Tag must be 15-20 words maximum.

12. Optimize pages with Headings (H1, H2, H3..) containing your site's primary keywords.

13. Validate your CSS and HTML. Check for errors and broken links.

14. If your site contains dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), make sure you use SEO friendly URLs. Search engine spiders have difficulty indexing dynamic pages.

15. Maximum links per page must be fewer than 100. Avoid the risk of being flagged as a link farm by search engines.

16. Use lynx.isc.org as text browser to check your site.

17. Allow search bots (good ones) to crawl your sites without session IDs or arguments that track their path through the site. Using these techniques may result in incomplete indexing of your site.

18. Check your web server/host if it supports the If-Modified-Since HTTP header. It tells search engines whether your content has changed since your site was last crawled. It will save you bandwidth, resources and avoid server overload.

19. Use a Robots.txt file to manage and control search engine spiders that index your site. You can allow and disallow spiders and choose directories you want to be crawled and indexed. With bad bots or spam bots you need to modify your HTACCESS file to properly and effectively manage bots or spiders.

20. Do not attempt to present different content to search engines than what you show to your site visitors.

21. Avoid dirty tricks and exploiting loop holes to improve search engine ranking.

22. Avoid links to bad neighborhoods such as web spammer, link farm, phishing, hacker, crack, gambling, pörn and scam sites. Linking to them will greatly affect your search engine rankings.

23. Do not attempt to join in link schemes, excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging and link exchange web rings.

24. Do not use unauthorized programs or online tools to submit your site, check page rankings or perform other automated queries. Avoid the risk of being flagged as a spammer.

25. Do not use hidden text and links. Show the search engines what you show to your vistors. It will greatly affect your site's reputation.

26. Do not attempt to create pages that contain phishing, scam, virus, trojan, backdoor, spyware, adware or other malicious programs.

27. Make your site useful and informative.

28. Improve your link building. Link to high PR websites. Quality of relevant links is far more important than quantity. Links will greatly improve your site's visibility, popularity and ranking. Search engines consider links as votes to your site.

29. Check your page link structure. Every page should be reachable by a single static text link.

30. Be extra careful in purchasing SEO services. Some use illegal and questionable methods to improve rankings.

31. Do not buy or sell links.

32. Do not create sites that contain purely affiliate links and no valuable content that is useful to users.

I hope these tips will add more popularity and visibility to your site. Enjoy!

About The Author
Edwin Reyes is a Web Developer and the Webmaster of Findmesoftware.com, a Philippine based website that provides free software downloads, tools, reviews, online tips, blogging resources, tutorials and Free SEO Tools and Software Download.

Twilight T-shirts and Gifts

2008-10-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

CafePress and Summit Entertainment have launched an official Twilight Movie fan portal on the CafePress website. This is exciting as the agreement allows shopkeepers to create official fan merchandise for the portal which will be linked from the official Twilight Movie website.

Twilight Merchandise