Search Engine Optimization Information

Some info about Smorty

2008-02-06T03:50:00.000-08:00

Smorty is a get paid to blog and blog advertising service. The signup process for advertisers: when opening their home page, an account can be made by clicking on "advertisers get started" button (on the left). For bloggers it's the same but "bloggers get started" should be clicked (on the right). Advertisers can use Smorty to promote their site. Bloggers can use it to get paid. Advertisers can submit a task for promoting their site(s). If a blogger accepts it a post will have to be published with a link back to that site. Blogs can be submitted by logging in (blogger), click on "My Acccount", and then click on "Add New Blog" button. If the blog is not approved it will be rejected but if it is it can receive tasks (e-mail will be sent for that - if it is accepted or not). More details about Smorty can be found on their home page.

xhtml and css development

2007-12-16T03:18:00.000-08:00

Slicemydesign is a xhtml development service. It is about converting a design to a clean xhtmlized, SEO and css structured web file.
By using their contact us page anybody can send them a message (example: questions about the product) or the design which needs to be converted. On their website too can be found the prices, discounts, etc.
Their accepted file types are: psd(example: psd2html convertion), jpg, gif but if the design is in another format you can use their contact us page to ask about that.
More information about the product can be found on their questions? page.

Cheaperthanhotels - hotels information, reservations

2007-12-16T02:28:00.000-08:00

Cheaperthanhotels is a site about reservations for hotels in many places. In their website's about us page can be found (contact) information about their offices. By the way I've never tried their services(example: online reservations) which they are offering.
Some of the hotels to which they are providing online reservations are:

London Hotels

Edinburgh Hotels

and Glasgow Hotels

The images were taken from Cheaperthanhotels' website.

Discountclick.com - internet marketing company

2007-12-11T12:38:00.000-08:00

Discountclick is an Internet Marketing company offering Search Engine Optimization, Link Popularity Campaigns, List Management, Ad Serving, etc. Their website is easy to navigate and the services which they offer can be ordered directly from it (online).
Discountclick 's Link Popularity Campaigns are divided into 3 subcategories: Manual Link Building Link Popularity Services Per Link, Basic Level and Premium Level.
Their List Managment service is for managing and sending mails to many subscribers. It doesn't require software or hardware to be installed or bought.
Discountclick's services are for websites owners willing to market their products and services online too.

Link analyzing tool

2007-12-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

The online site link analyzer tool avaliable at www.seochat.com/seo-tools/site-link-analyzer can give u some information of what is the number and the text of the links of your site. It has few options to choose from when showing the links: external, internal, both types and if show nofollow links. This web instrument can be added for example to your site if you want so that it can be used from there.

Website Speed Test checking tool

2007-12-08T06:11:00.000-08:00

There are many tools for checking the loading speed of of a website. The web tool at www.iwebtool.com/speed_test can do that (don't know how much accurately) . You can type up to 10 urls and test them by clicking on the button below. It will give you even then size of the page and the average speed per KB.

Reciprocal Link Checking tool

2007-12-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

This web tool is for checking the reciprocal links automatically you have already. It is avaliable at www.webconfs.com/reciprocal-link-checker.php.The first thing to do is to type the url in the Your Domain Name form and the list of reciprocal links below. When clicking on submit button this tool will find out if the urls you have listed are linking back to your site.

URL rewriting tool

2007-12-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

Difficult url's can be rewritten with the tool at www.webconfs.com/url-rewriting-tool.php. This program can show you how to convert a (difficult) dynamic url to static looking html one which is typically better for SEO. Example:

Typing some site into the Enter Dynamic URL form:
site.com/products.php?prod_id=22

Then you will be shown 2 options:

Type 1 - Single Page URL

site.com/products-prod_id-(Any Value).htm

eg: site.com/products-prod_id-22.htm

and Type 2 - Directory Type URL

site.com/products/prod_id/(Any Value)
eg: http://scibody.com/products/prod_id/22/

And below еach of the options there will be an example code for .htaccess file (not tested).

What You Need To Know About SEO: Basic Facts

2007-10-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

by: Vanessa Doctor

Exposure could mean a lot for different firms, organizations or groups seeking a wider venue to make their views heard, accepted, and patronized. The main term used for this web-positioning method is the seo, or the Search Engine Optimization.

----

What exactly is Search Engine Optimization?

The Internet age has spawned a phenomenon of new terms, new jobs, and new career paths. The growth of the Worldwide Web is creating a new realm, where new types of internet-savvy folks engage in careers that require the skills of an intrepid explorer, searching for new worlds to discover. Among these new tasks are those that require the faster, more strategic placement or positioning of company adverts, documents, products or issues, in order for these entities to have the most maximum level of exposure in the web.

Exposure could mean a lot for different firms, organizations or groups seeking a wider venue to make their views heard, accepted, and patronized. The main term used for this web-positioning method is the seo, or the Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine Optimization is the terminology used to define, or describe the action of gaining a better position within a search engine or internet directory system based upon a selected key word or a group of key words. With well over 4 billion documents already on the internet, the prominent search engines are all flaunting that they can locate most of them and show you a link from within their systems, and each of the search engines or directory providers have different guidelines by which a listing within their system is accomplished.

* Achieving Maximum exposure

As web-updated consumers, we are constantly on the lookout for sites that address our specific interests, goals, or products at a specified time and day. Most of us do not always know the URL (Universal Resource Locator) for all the types of businesses that can fulfill that interest, so we use a search engine or directory service to find them for us.

For example, I plan to go out and take my girlfriend with me to a bar, but I haven’t got an idea of which place to go to that I haven’t already been to yet. The next most probable step for me would be to go to a search engine and type in something like: “bars and restaurants pasadena ca"; I put in the quotation marks to make the search more specific, to get me closer to what I am looking for. The phrase I wrote, "bars and restaurants pasadena ca" will be used represent my main key word phrase.

Once I write those key words, I am, hopefully, going to get back a list of the restaurants within the greater Pasadena area, and I indeed got well over 500 or so choices too. What makes it more helpful is that I could find those assorted choices in the local phonebook listings. However, if I wish to make my list of choices much shorter, I would type in, or enter a new search maybe like: "jazz bar pasadena ca”.

Once the search engine has done its job, then I probably will get a shorter list with these new, more precise characteristics. However, the list created will be made in an order that is determined by the search engine. The first one may or may not be starting with the letter A or a number like the one on the phone directory.

From the bar and restaurant viewpoint, if they could be in the top 10 or 20 and get a lot of “hits” or visits by web users, they will have a chance of being seen by the searcher. This is what Search Engine Optimization is all about: gaining a position as close to #1 as possible and then staying there on top, and to achieve maximum exposure.

* It’s all about location

For those who own businesses, then the primary name of the game is profits. Revenue of course, comes from people who spend their incomes with you. The more people spend their money with you, the richer and more successful you become.

In today’s business environment, it is all about LOCATION, and the next important word that comes is “ADVERTISE”.

The way the worldwide web works is the same as in the world of advertising or the directories: It’s about location in the search engines and directory systems, and advertising. If your listing is something less than the top 100, you stand an excellent chance of never being seen, or viewed. Most people are notoriously impatient, and they do not wish to wade through tons of listings. This simply means that you really need to be near, or on the top of the lists for the key words that you feel your prospective customers are, or will be using to find you.

* How Search Engine Optimizers Do This

Improving your position on the web could be done through a wide variety of methods. An easy way for this is to hire a professional Search Engine Optimization firm that can do the job for you. You could check their fees and price ranges on the web or the phone book. The process is definitely a labor-intensive one, and definitely doesn’t come cheap.

But anyway, you too can do it yourself. All you need to do is to get the rules for listing within each of the engines and directory systems where you wish to be listed, the register with them. If they allow you to point to secondary pages that also discuss specific topics, then be sure to do that by pointing to the pages within your site that cover that topic. You may also need to check on your position every month within each of the engines and directories to see how you are stacking up, and sometimes you may need to modify your site to improve your position, as well as your exposure.

About The Author

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://7seo.com - SEO Company
For more info visit http://7seo.com and http://seo.xon.us

source: ArticleCity

Crash Course SEO

2007-08-16T02:02:00.000-07:00

Crash Course SEO

There is one thing I have learned after a week of fulltime crash course on SEO - It is very easy to learn but it takes a lot of work.

Last June the first Philippine SEO Contest was announced to the public and the contest was open to everyone, both SEO experts and amateurs. More than 70 entries were submitted and the contest will end on September 29th. The winners will be determined by the Google Philippines Search Engine Results Page.

All contestants did everything they can to get it to the top. Both White Hat and Black Hat SEO techniques are involved in the contest and the SEO community

Aaron Wall made a comment on this SEO Contests with regards to comment spamming and this raised a concern with the rest of the SEO community worldwide. Somehow this contest is becoming to look like spamming contest to some and the contestants are now changing their strategy to prevent their site from being eventually banned.

So what does it take to be on the top spot? Below are the general SEO techniques most of the contestants have done for the first month of this competition.

1. On-Page Optimization - The entry sites are being designed to make it as Google friendly as possible. Good Site Navigation, 5 to 7% Keyword Density, inserting Meta Tags, using Google Site Maps and implementing Google Adwords are among the most common techniques being implemented on these sites. Many are using WordPress because it is easy to build and it is known to be SEO friendly.

2. Link Building - The entry sites are submitted on almost all forums, blogs and directories out there. Even though some sites are totally unrelated to the entry site, many are still linking their sites there because of the site's high Google PageRank and Backlinks is the Google's top priority in ranking websites.

3. Articles - Articles are submitted to feeders and article sites. Some have violated copyright laws by using articles made by other people and made it as their own. Many SEO's agree that article writing helps the site's ranking a lot and many have submitted several articles just to get their site noticed.

4. Black Hat - Unfortunately, black hat techniques are being used. Spam blogging, duplicate sites and other unfriendly techniques are being used to get their site to the top. I could not blame them because most of the SEO contestants have no actual experience in SEO before this contest and they are still learning the difference between ethical and unethical SEO.

In the end, only Google-friendly sites will remain on the top spot and black hatters will most likely be banned in Google in the awards night.

So what is the lesson here? For the 30 days, I have learned that SEO is not very hard to learn, but for a site to be on the top spot, it would need a lot of work and it takes time.

To learn more about this SEO Contest, please visit this site: Learn SEO Philippines

Alfredo Palconit is an outsourced web designer from the Philippines. You can visit his portfolio site at The Microhierax Chronicles and seo site at Learn SEO Philippines

Getting your Business Listed for Local Search is Just the First Step

2007-08-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

Getting Your Business Listed for Local Search is Just the First Step

The Public has Embraced Local Search and Want to do More

Although Local Search only caught on in the last year, such queries already account for over 36% of all search engine queries. When a person adds a geographic term (like city, town, or zip code) to their search query, the results only show them the small pool of businesses located within that area - and not necessarily all of them.

Entering the search terms: "garden supply" + Denver only returns gardening stores in Denver - rather than the many thousands listed in the Google database. They’re even shown clustered on a map, to help the searcher easily spot the closest ones.

That’s significant since people prefer to shop on the basis of convenience. Research shows that over 50% of Yellow Page directory users scan for location first, before deciding which ads to read or consider. Local Search simplifies that preference further.

Too Many Small and Mid-sized Businesses are Missing the Boat

Their widespread mistake comes from assuming that the Internet is not crucial for their brick and mortar operations. The main reason for people going online is not to buy online. They find it more convenient (that word again) and faster than the traditional methods like Yellow Pages or newspaper ads.

A study by ComScore Networks in December, 2004 showed that most people who research products online purchase them from stores in their own community. That study found that 25% of those searching for electronics or computers made purchases. But 92% of those purchases occurred offline. Nearly 40% of searches resulted in sales as much as five to 12 weeks after the initial search.

Getting Listed in Key Data Bases Give You a Shot at Being Found

You need to make it easy for buyers to find you and choose you when they search online. There’s not a single place to "sign up" because there are numerous search engines, Internet Yellow Pages (IYP), and industry-related data bases. Check our whether your business appears on various prominent sites, http://www.localsearchresources.com/listed.html. You do not need to be a techie or have a website to show up in Local Search results.

But you have to get into the game. Many small businesses don’t show up most places. And that’s frustrating for searchers and unwise for them.

Provide Precisely the Information that People are Looking for

What do people who buy what you provide look for? It’s up to you to supply the information they want - hours of operation, payment options, specialized services or credentials, brands carried, etc. What they need to know varies depending on your type of operation. Also, it doesn’t hurt to provide helpful buying tips and specifications, too.

Here’s how online searches are miles ahead of the Yellow Page directory. That’s printed just once a year and is out of date by the time it reaches the public. But the ad is small (even if it’s a large display ad) compared to what can be spelled out on a website.

So once you know your business is showing up in the searches, it’s time to beef up your website (or web presence on a portal) so that you stand out in the searches. Then you should start modifying your company policies and practices to make them mesh with your online activities.

You’ll Reach the Customers you Want the Most

Just to provide an additional incentive for you to wade into having an online presence, those who rely heavily on Internet searches are better educated, earn more, and make larger average purchases than those who rely on the Yellow Page directory. With a Yellow Page ad plus an online presence, you’ll be findable by most of the people who are at the point of making a purchase.

My future articles will show how to develop a Local-Search-friendly website or business policies. You’ll redefine how you provide customer service. Going to the trouble to better serve your Internet-savvy customers will give you an edge compared to your competition.

Your Need to Act is Urgent - Treat this as Front Burner

People prefer to spend their money close to home. But they won’t spend it with you if you don’t show up in the places where they’re looking. This trend is customer-driven. They like using Local Search, and just wish the information could be more complete. Even the search engines are scrambling to get ahead of this parade. And you need to do so as well.

About the Author:
Dr. Lynella Grant An expert in Yellow Page ads and Local Search. Learn to stand out online and offline, so you capture more Internet-savvy buyers for your brick and mortar business. Free resources http://www.localsearchresources.com 719-395-9450

Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing

2007-08-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

Search Engine Optimization

Each search engine has a database of all web sites. When you search for any term in search engines, they actually search in their database and show the results from their database. As a user, when you need to find information on a topic, you use search engines to get a listing of web sites related to the topic of interest. As a webmaster, you want your site to be one of the first ones the user will see. How can the web designer make sure you are noticed? That is where effective search engine optimization comes in.

Search Engine Optimization is the process where a website is optimized to get better ranking in search results in popular search engine. As a website owner, you must aim to get listed in top 10 results for your site’s primary keywords. You must do several optimizations in your website to appear in search results. This process is called as

Search Engine Optimization. Search engine works through the better understanding of algorithm, which are but the rules which governs and helps the search engine to rank the respective sites.

The ranking depends on various factors:

Keywords

Keyword is the term used for words included in a web page that would match words used by web surfers in finding that web page. Each web page has different ranking for different keywords. Search engine sorts the keywords and displays the results.

Keyword Research: The search for keywords related to your Web site, and the analysis of which ones yield the highest return on investment. The search engine research the keywords and rank the website. If your site has higher rank than other site, then your page will appear on top.

Keyword density: Measure of how frequently a given keyword appears within a given web page. Improving the keyword density on your website is one of the fastest and simplest ways to increase your site’s visibility in the search engine results pages. If your keyword occurs only once or twice in a page of 500 or more words, obviously it has a lower keyword density than a keyword that would occur six or seven times in a page of similar length. As far as search engines are concerned, if a particular keyword has a higher density on that particular web page, then the chances of that page obtaining a much better search engine ranking increases almost exponentially.

Optimized content

The success of website is changing and optimizing the content on a regular basis is important. Therefore, we must routinely change your web site to test and see what changes work and what changes do not work when trying to achieve top ranking.

Meta tags:

If the word or phrase appears in the HTML title tag, that website will be considered the most relevant. Also, if the word appears close to the top of the first web page, for instance, the home page, the relevancy will be ranked accordingly.

Meta tags are information inserted in the head title of your web pages.

Link Building Services

Evaluate the source page:- Before assigning a value for a link, the search engine evaluate the rank for the page itself. If you get link from site that are related to your content, it has more value.

Site Submission

If you have a web page that is not linked by any other page that page may never get indexed by any search engine.

Internet Marketing

E-mail: - It is always better to have an e-mail to link to other website to promote the products. When we promote products and services, the other website come to know about our site. By sending e-mail, you get some quality link to your sites.

Choose partner for online marketing and advertisement: Make use of the website to evaluate the marketing effectiveness. By giving advertisement also, you can promote your site.

Benefits:

Increased usability:- More people visit the site, which lead to increased sales and generation.

About The Author

EGB systems is a professional Copywriter of EGB Systems & Solutions Inc. He written many articles about Search engine optimization - For more information about software development and medical services contact him at linksdirectory@egbsystems.com.

http://egbsystems.com

source: ArticleCity

How To Generate Traffic Using Only Free Methods

2007-08-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

Putting up a company would of course require a lot of things, to get straight to the point, you need a capital. To make money requires money as well. But of course, with the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find that could help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating traffic.

While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites dont have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for your site. Well, you dont have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent. Now its a sure thing that many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines in how to generate traffic using only free methods. Because it is possible, you dont need to speed a single cent, it may take time, to say honestly, Im not going to beat around the bush with you. You get better chances by paying for your advertisements, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods Im about to tell you.

Take advantage of online forums and online communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss about lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer. Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.

With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.

You can also make use of newsletters. Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site increasing your traffic.

Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You dont have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. With exchanging links, the efforts both sites do will benefit both sites. Every traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same niche.

Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and theres a great probability that they will go to your site.

Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that a content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your on but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality.
Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.

All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.

Nicholas Tan

We provide free articles and information. Check us out at

Free Articles

The World of Duplicate Content - Use of a Filter

2007-08-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

The World of Duplicate Content - Use of a Filter

The World Wide Web is like a running race or marathon where websites compete to reach the finish line first. In this case the finish line is higher ranking. And in this race for supremacy it is important to avoid duplicate content and its penalties.

To facilitate the efficient functioning of directories search engines have been armed with content filters. This removes or filters duplicate content from pages it’s indexing. And the most hurtful penalty is lower rankings.

Unfortunately, these filters not only catch rogues but web pages that are genuine too. What webmasters need to do is understand how filters function and know what action is to be taken to avoid being filtered out.

When a search engine sends out spiders the filters leave out or sieve:

Websites that feature identical content. And when within a site the webmaster includes many copies or versions of pages to cheat the search engines. Filters are also extremely sensitive to “doorway” pages.
Content masked by different packaging. Known as “scraped content” this duplication of pages with little or no relevant changes falls prey to filters.
Product descriptions featured by e-commerce sites. Most e-commerce sites publish alongside a product the manufacturer’s description of the product and this content then appears on zillions of e-commerce sites falling victim to filters.
Articles distributed widely over the net. While some engines are programmed to find the origin of the article there are others who may not be able to source the origins.
Pages that are not duplicates but contain the same core material written by different people.

To get the better of filters you need to:

Use a tool like the Similar Page Checker http://www.webconfs.com/similar-page-checker.php to ensure that the pages in your site are not mirroring content from elsewhere. In case there are other URLS with similar or identical content the tool will reveal them to you and you will be able to make changes in your pages.
Be vigilant and know who has “helped” themselves to your content. By using www.copyscape.com you can determine which websites have stolen or copied your work.
Even if you do use distributed content you can add a commentary or make changes to the page focusing on its relevance to your site. By making any content your own you are making it unique and different and this will ensure that the pages are not filtered by search engines.
Even if you are running an e-commerce site you must include product descriptions that are distinctively yours and not run of the mill.

Lean as much as you can about duplicate content and its dangers. Read the issues that were discussed at the SES 2006 New York Session and other forums. Remember most search engines, Google, Yahoo, or Open Directory Project do not want to be flooded by duplicate content and web pages.

Jake Baillie, President of TrueLocal listed the duplicate content mistakes to be: circular navigation; printer friendly pages; inconsistent linking; product only pages; transparent serving domains; and bad cloaking.

It is important for sites to get high ranking through fair and not foul means.

About the Author: Aaron Brooks is a freelance writer for SeoServices, the premier website to find Seo consulting, link buildings and professionals seo training, online marketing tips, seo tools and more. He also freelances for the premier REVENUE SHARING Discussion Forum site.

SEO The Cheap Way

2007-08-13T15:12:00.001-07:00

SEO The Cheap And Smart Way

One of the best ways to drive targeted traffic to your website is through search engine optimization or SEO for short. Getting the most out of the benefits of a well-optimized web site will in turn result in substantial earnings for you the Internet marketer. But, optimizing your site can cost you hundreds and even thousands of dollars if you’re not skilled in this area YET. The good news is anyone can learn how to do SEO, it jus takes a little research, time and practice.

Truth be known, you can essentially get all the information you need on SEO in various places on the Internet but you have to really do your research. One of my favorite resources is Brad Callen’s E-book SEO Made Easy. You can download this e-book for free and learn some simple foolproof strategies that you can start using right away for search engine optimization success. To get a free copy, log onto: http://FrankSalinas.com/Recommends/SeoMadeEasy
Here are some things to keep in mind that will help you in search engine optimization success.

1. Good Meta Tags

Your Title, Description and Keywords are very important within your Meta Tags. One this is for sure, make sure your title has some of your top keywords in it instead of “Welcome to my site”. Just this one little detail could increase your page ranking tremendously. See Brad Callen’s e-book to learn more about Meta tags and how to optimize them.

2. Link exchanges

One economical SEO method that can get you good results is through link exchanges (linking to and from other web sites). Based on what websites you’d like to exchange links with, this tool can even cost you absolutely nothing at all. Get a hold of the author or owner of the web site you want to have a link exchange with and let them know you’d like to exchange links with them. Make sure the sites are related to your subject matter, in other words don’t try to get an inbound link from a fishing web site if your site has to do with candle making. You’ll be surprised with the eventual spiking up of your page rank using this method. If you can get one-way inbound links to your site that will be even better.

3. Write or obtain keyword-rich articles

Write information-filled and keyword-rich articles. This is a crystal-clear way to make your Internet business more noticeable than ever. You can write your own articles and also get them from article directories that let you to post the articles on your web site as long as you do not delete the resource box or the author\'s byline. Make sure your articles are full of useful information and not just a copy and pasted sales letter. That tactic won’t help you at all and probably get your article flagged and deleted. If you think you can’t write or simply don’t have them time you can always hire a ghost write. One more thing, take those same articles and submit them to article directories just like this one. That will help you with “back links” and your article might even get picked up by other publishers who will submit your article to their web site, ezine etc. that will ultimately get you more traffic. The bottom line is your web site’s content will keep your visitors coming back and even referring people to it if it is worth the read.

4. Organize your site navigation

Giving your visitors easy steps in navigating your site is one way to make them feel comfortable while visiting your site. This can, in turn, better develop the flow of traffic to your website. Think about creating a site map for your web site.

Search engine optimization is always changing but some things always stay the same. There are tons of ways to get you the top of search engines and yes even Google, but you must invest your time to learn what it takes to get your site there and take action right away. Some methods might cost you money but many are free like the above mentioned. Become a student of the game and get in the game and never stop learning.

Resource Box: Frank Salinas is a professional home-based business owner through MLM and affiliate marketing. He has a passion for personal growth and helping others, especially those that are new to the industry. Visit his web site to view valuable tools and resources and also some of the top home-based businesses: http://franksalinas.com

Page Cloaking - To Cloak or Not to Cloak.

2007-08-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Page Cloaking - To Cloak or Not to Cloak.

Page cloaking can broadly be defined as a technique used to deliver different web pages under different circumstances. There are two primary reasons that people use page cloaking:

i) It allows them to create a separate optimized page for each search engine and another page which is aesthetically pleasing and designed for their human visitors. When a search engine spider visits a site, the page which has been optimized for that search engine is delivered to it. When a human visits a site, the page which was designed for the human visitors is shown. The primary benefit of doing this is that the human visitors don't need to be shown the pages which have been optimized for the search engines, because the pages which are meant for the search engines may not be aesthetically pleasing, and may contain an over-repetition of keywords.

ii) It allows them to hide the source code of the optimized pages that they have created, and hence prevents their competitors from being able to copy the source code.

Page cloaking is implemented by using some specialized cloaking scripts. A cloaking script is installed on the server, which detects whether it is a search engine or a human being that is requesting a page. If a search engine is requesting a page, the cloaking script delivers the page which has been optimized for that search engine. If a human being is requesting the page, the cloaking script delivers the page which has been designed for humans.

There are two primary ways by which the cloaking script can detect whether a search engine or a human being is visiting a site:

i) The first and simplest way is by checking the User-Agent variable. Each time anyone (be it a search engine spider or a browser being operated by a human) requests a page from a site, it reports an User-Agent name to the site. Generally, if a search engine spider requests a page, the User-Agent variable contains the name of the search engine. Hence, if the cloaking script detects that the User-Agent variable contains a name of a search engine, it delivers the page which has been optimized for that search engine. If the cloaking script does not detect the name of a search engine in the User-Agent variable, it assumes that the request has been made by a human being and delivers the page which was designed for human beings.

However, while this is the simplest way to implement a cloaking script, it is also the least safe. It is pretty easy to fake the User-Agent variable, and hence, someone who wants to see the optimized pages that are being delivered to different search engines can easily do so.

ii) The second and more complicated way is to use I.P. (Internet Protocol) based cloaking. This involves the use of an I.P. database which contains a list of the I.P. addresses of all known search engine spiders. When a visitor (a search engine or a human) requests a page, the cloaking script checks the I.P. address of the visitor. If the I.P. address is present in the I.P. database, the cloaking script knows that the visitor is a search engine and delivers the page optimized for that search engine. If the I.P. address is not present in the I.P. database, the cloaking script assumes that a human has requested the page, and delivers the page which is meant for human visitors.

Although more complicated than User-Agent based cloaking, I.P. based cloaking is more reliable and safe because it is very difficult to fake I.P. addresses.

Now that you have an idea of what cloaking is all about and how it is implemented, the question arises as to whether you should use page cloaking. The one word answer is "NO". The reason is simple: the search engines don't like it, and will probably ban your site from their index if they find out that your site uses cloaking. The reason that the search engines don't like page cloaking is that it prevents them from being able to spider the same page that their visitors are going to see. And if the search engines are prevented from doing so, they cannot be confident of delivering relevant results to their users. In the past, many people have created optimized pages for some highly popular keywords and then used page cloaking to take people to their real sites which had nothing to do with those keywords. If the search engines allowed this to happen, they would suffer because their users would abandon them and go to another search engine which produced more relevant results.

Of course, a question arises as to how a search engine can detect whether or not a site uses page cloaking. There are three ways by which it can do so:

i) If the site uses User-Agent cloaking, the search engines can simply send a spider to a site which does not report the name of the search engine in the User-Agent variable. If the search engine sees that the page delivered to this spider is different from the page which is delivered to a spider which reports the name of the search engine in the User-Agent variable, it knows that the site has used page cloaking.

ii) If the site uses I.P. based cloaking, the search engines can send a spider from a different I.P. address than any I.P. address which it has used previously. Since this is a new I.P. address, the I.P. database that is used for cloaking will not contain this address. If the search engine detects that the page delivered to the spider with the new I.P. address is different from the page that is delivered to a spider with a known I.P. address, it knows that the site has used page cloaking.

iii) A human representative from a search engine may visit a site to see whether it uses cloaking. If she sees that the page which is delivered to her is different from the one being delivered to the search engine spider, she knows that the site uses cloaking.

Hence, when it comes to page cloaking, my advice is simple: don't even think about using it.

Article by Sumantra Roy. Sumantra is one of the most respected search engine positioning specialists on the Internet. To have Sumantra's company place your site at the top of the search engines, go to http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?3455_h For more advice on how you can take your web site to the top of the search engines, subscribe to his FREE newsletter by going to http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?3455_h&newsletter.htm

Tips for Search Engine Friendly Copy

2007-08-13T15:01:00.001-07:00

Tips for Search Engine Friendly Copy

We're all keenly aware that the success of most B2C websites depends on performance in the major search engines. Search engines play a major role in traffic to a website, which, ultimately, influences the number of leads and sales received through a website.

There are a number of factors involved in determining a website's search engine performance. With the possible exception of the number of links on the web that point to your website, the most critical component of search engine optimization is copy. Unfortunately, it's also often the most neglected.

You've likely spent days, if not weeks, composing, editing, and otherwise polishing your web copy. Search engines deserve the same amount of care and attention. Fortunately, well-crafted, customer-focused copy can be tailored for search engines with minimal effort. Here's how:

Identify Your Keywords and Phrases

If a prospective customer of yours visited a search engine to locate a website such as yours, which words or phrases could he or she be expected to search for? Put yourself in your customer's mind. We recommend trying the web-based keyword research tool WordTracker (http://www.wordtracker.com/free-trial.html). WordTracker generates a list of related keywords and phrases for each keyword or phrase you enter.

Be Specific

The more specific and targeted you make your keywords and phrases, the more successful you'll be. Lots of traffic's great, but it's meaningless if it's not the right traffic. Focusing on the phrase "home builder" will likely prove fruitless if you're an upscale homebuilder serving only the Greater Cincinnati market. Focusing on the phrase "Cincinnati upscale home builder" or "Cincinnati upscale homes" will be far more effective. Being specific will result in you connecting more often with your actual target audience, and will reduce the amount of competition you have on the web for that particular keyword or phrase.

Applying Your Keywords

A good rule of thumb when preparing web copy is to limit each paragraph to one thought or idea, and to include a specific keyword or phrase once per paragraph. Restraint is key - if you're too liberal with your use of a particular keyword or phrase in a given page or paragraph, many search engines will perceive it as spam, which might result in penalty. Readability will also be compromised.

Use Keywords Within Links

Search engines pay special attention to links that appear within your copy. Generally speaking, the more links that you include within your copy, and the more keywords and phrases that appear within these links, the better off you'll be. Just make sure that the links make sense within the context of what you're saying in that particular paragraph.

Use Keywords in Paragraph Headings

When applied properly, paragraph headings merit high consideration from search engines. As a result, it's a good practice to create paragraph headings as often as it’s appropriate, and to include an appropriate keyword or phrase within each.

The last tip we'll leave you with is to not overdo it - ensure that your copy remains customer-focused and conversational and you'll end up a winner!

About the Author:
Bill Judge is a search engine optimization professional with NetCrafters a Cincinnati Ohio web consultancy specializing in the development of updatable websites. Check out NetCrafters at www.NetCrafters.com.

The 3 Essential Components of a Search Engine Optimization Campaign

2007-08-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

The 3 Essential Components of a Search Engine Optimization Campaign

Everyday, the Search Engines average 300 MILLION searches. In a recent Forrester Research report 81% of consumers on the Internet find products and services by using the Search Engines. Search Engine Optimization allows you to achieve top search engine placement and a tap into a new source of qualified visitors who are actively searching for products and services on the Internet.

Unfortunately, only 7% of all websites are visible by the search engines according to a recent StatMarket.com study. The reason for this phenomenon is because most web sites are not properly optimized and promoted to achieve high search engine rankings.

The Top 3 Components Of Optimizing Your Web Site For Top Search Engine Rankings

To achieve the best overall, long-term search engine positioning, three components must be present on your web site:

Content component (Your web page text.)
Link component (How you link your pages together.)
Link Popularity component (The in-bound links to your site.)

The Content Component

The most important part of the content component (of a search engine algorithm) is keyword selection and where you place keywords on your web pages. In order for your target audience to find your site on the search engines, your web pages must contain keyword phrases that match the phrases your target audience is typing into search queries. Finding these keywords that your target audience uses to find your product is accomplished by conducting keyword research.

The Link Component - Internal Linking

The strategy of placing keyword-rich text on your web pages is useless if the search engine spiders have no way of finding that text. The way your web pages are linked to each other has huge impact on your site's search engine positioning. Be sure to link your pages together with your keywords within your links.

The Link Popularity Component - Acquiring In-Bound Links

The "Link Popularity" or Google "Page Rank" (PR) component of a search engine algorithm analyzes how many web sites link to your website.

95% of the battle of getting high rankings at the search engine is acquiring quality and relevant links pointing to your web site. Ever since Google entered the search engine market, all the major Search Engines have started using links as the primary way they rank web sites. This is known as your web site's "Link Popularity" or in Google's case it's called "PageRank" or "PR."

For example, the heart of Google's algorithm is PageRank, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University. Here is what Google says about their "PageRank" web site ranking algorithm at their web site.

"PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

As Google explains, Links and PageRank are critical to ranking high in the search engines. In fact, inbound links and the text within those inbound links account for 95% of effective search engine optimization.

Relevant Links

But, attaining optimal link popularity is not as easy as simply obtaining as many links as possible to your website. The quality and relevancy of the sites linking to your site holds more "weight" than the quantity of sites linking to your site. Since Yahoo is the most frequently visited site on the web, a link from Yahoo to your website carries far more "weight" than a link from a smaller, less visited site. Here's what Google Developer Matt Cutts has to say about links:

"Thematic incoming links from authority sites carry more weight than on-page optimization."

The Top 4 Strategies for Acquiring Links to Your Web Site

Below are the four critical steps for achieving high rankings by acquiring text links to your web site...

Get a higher Google PageRank score than your competition For any given keyword, there is a minimum PageRank required to rank at Google. In order to see what this minimum PageRank number is, search Google for your keyword and look at the PageRank of your competition's web sites that are ranked in the top 10 of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). An easy way to view the PageRank scores of your competition is to use Google Toolbar or the SEOChat PageRank Search Tool.
Get more relevant links than your competition All links are not created equal. The best links are "relevant" links from web pages related to your keyword.
Get more links on more different web sites than your competition Getting links on a variety of different web sites on different networks is crucial for high rankings.
Use the keywords you want to high rankings in the search engines as the anchor text of your in-bound links. "Anchor text" is the visible text within a hyperlink. Text links and anchor text are the two most important criteria for how Google and other top Search Engines rank web sites.

Here is an example of a link containing the keyword phrase "ERP Software" within the anchor text...

F*R*E*E ERP Software white paper shows how to increase profitability and reduce inventory.

Relevant Links and PageRank are critical to achieving high search engine rankings. Want proof? Do a search at Google for the highly competitive keyword "computers" and you'll find Apple and Dell computers rank numbers 1 and 2 in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Now, click through to the Apple and Dell web pages and look for the word "computers" in their web page text. What did you find? Neither www.apple.com or www.dell.com have the word "computers" in their text, yet they're ranking #1 and #2 at Google.

Relevant Links and PageRank Win!

The sites with the most relevant links and highest Google PageRank win every time and rank the highest at the top search engines. There are many methods you can use to acquire text links including buying links from a broker, Internet directories, reciprocal linking, Internet publicity, and others.

About the Author:
Matt Hockin is President of Interactive Marketing, Inc., an Internet marketing consulting company providing web site optimization and search engine marketing services that "tune up" web sites for increased conversion rates, traffic, qualified leads, and profitability.

How To Acquire One Way Inbound Links

2007-08-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

How To Acquire One Way Inbound Links

How can one get a good ranking in the major search engines ? This is a question, I'm sure, agitates the minds of every newbie as well as professional webmaster. Even those that are doing well are fighting to keep their place. But isn't there a way to consistently appear in a good position at the major search engines? I think there are ways to achieve this enviable position. One of the ways is what this article is all about. That is, consistently build one way inbound links to your site. Getting other webmasters to link to your site without you linking back.

Link Popularity, link prominence or link reputation is one of the most important elements search engines use to know if a site is an authority site. That is a quality site. However, like all other search engine ranking criteria, webmasters have found ways to beat this hurdle of link popularity. This they have done by exchanging links with one another. This is called reciprocal linking. You link to me and I to you and both of us have increased our link popularity by one.

Webmaster have realized the importance search engines attached to link popularity for top search engine positioning and have therefore resorted to reciprocal linking. However, in the near future this strategy will become obsolete, because these links are artificial links. Not generated voluntarily. And so they do not indicate a site as being an authority site.

The purpose of reciprocal linking is to increase link prominence for top search engine positioning and not necessarily for the benefit of web surfers. The search engines will recognize this. I predict that they will start taking this into account when they are changing their algorithms . The webmaster that will survive is one that consistently builds one way inbound links to his site. These types of links are the best. It portrays a site as being an authority site because the site is linked to naturally by other webmasters. Without reciprocal links.

Webmasters would not like to link to just any site unless there is some benefit for their site or site visitors. In this modern world nothing goes for nothing. A webmaster will only link to your site if there is some benefit for his site.

Why webmasters would link voluntarily.

Now in order for you to succeed in this one way inbound link building strategy, you need to know some of these benefits that lead webmaster to link voluntarily. If you like, call it the carrot. In accepting and eating the carrot the webmaster is led to link to your site. Let's look at some these benefits before we look at how they can be used to entice webmasters to link to you.

1. Webmasters would want to provide good, important and timely information for their visitors. If your site has this information, they will readily link to you. They could for example, point their visitors to a free resource at your site. 2. Webmasters recognize the fact that providing good information creates a good image for their site. Visitors will get to know that the site is a good resource site even though the resource might not be located there. This keeps visitors coming back again and again. 3. There is also the benefit of linking to an authority site. Search engines do award some points for linking to an authority site. Contrary to popular belief that this reduces the overall link popularity of a site, it actually benefits that page . This is my practical experience.

Now how do you acquire these one way inbound links?

1. Provide some useful resource at your site. This is a very powerful incentive for webmasters to link to your site. More so, if this resource is free. It could be a free tool , free software download, free content etc. This gives an incentive for webmasters to point their visitors at this resource. Some the resources you could provide are:

(a) Link popularity check tool

(b) Meta tag generator

(d) Free CGI scripts

(e) Search engine page ranking check tool etc.

For free and paid scripts go to Hotscript.com or Searchscripts.com. There you will find all kinds of scripts that perform specific functions. Or you can hire a programmer to write a custom script for you. You will find programmers at many sites such as Elance.com.

2. Write good articles and submit to article sites, article syndicate sites and ezine announcement sites. Your article will be published along with your byline with a link pointing to your site. Make sure that the text link has your keywords in it and not your domain name. For example, < href=" http://www.ebizstartups.com"> home base business ideas and not www.ebizstartups.com

Webmasters are always looking for good content for their websites . Stating in your article that your byline be left intact you will have many one way inbound links pointing at your site in no time. If you cannot write, hire a writer to write your articles for you. There are many places on the net where you can hire a writer for as little as $5 per article. This depends on the number of words per article. One of these places to hire a writer is Elance.com.

Writing in your area of expertise is better. Then you can present your own unique perspective to the topic. If it is not your area of expertise then be sure to research the topic very well . An incisive, well-written article will be snapped up and published by other webmasters, thereby increasing your link popularity considerably.

3. Another way to build your one way inbound link is to participate intensively in newsgroups and discussion forums. By making good and valuable contributions (postings) you establish yourself as an expert. Always try to be different and stand out. Others will see this and check out your profile. This will lead them to check out your site and eventually link to it. If signature files are allowed in the forum use a well-crafted signature file that will pull forum members to your site

4. Enter your site for an award at award sites. If your site is selected for an award, a link is placed to your site and this increases your one way inbound links.

5. You could also acquire one way inbound links by offering to provide testimonials for products you have purchased. Send the manufacturer of the product or service an email offering to provide a testimonial at his site or sales page in return for a link back to your site.

6. Submit your site to directories. Especially, niche or specialist directories. Regional directories are also okay. Submitting your site to specialist directories gives your site a greater chance of being picked up by the search engines than when you submit to a general directory. Also consider paying for submission to some important directories. For a fee, these directories will index your site in their database within two to five business days. For a list of search engines and directories you can submit to for free and for a fee go to add url to directories. Consider hiring a link building company to do your link popularity campaign for you. One of such company is linkexpress.com For a fee they will guarantee a certain number of quality one way inbound links to your site. This might be expensive but the investment will surely pay off with traffic from free search engines.

8. You can offer a discount to webmaster on services you provide at your site in return for a link from their sites.

9. If you have goods or services for sale consider setting up an affiliate program. This is a very good way of rapidly building your link prominence. Make sure your affiliate software is hosted on your server. This ensures that your affiliates' links point back to your site . Using an affiliate service will most likely mean affiliate links will be pointing at their server, thereby depriving you of links. One very good affiliate software is ASSOTRAC.

Some points to note when building one way inbound links.

Your link popularity increases as websites link to you. However, it must be said that it is not the number but the quality of the links that is important. That is, emphasis should be on quality and not quantity. Not all links are equal. Some are more favored (carry more weight) than others. Some of the things to keep in mind when carrying out inbound links are;

1. Look for quality sites to acquire links from. A link from Dmoz or Yahoo has more weight than one from a small private web site. Submit to free or paid listings in important directories.

2. The way other sites link to you is very important. Try as much as possible, to see that your keywords are in the text link that is linking to you and not your domain name. With your keywords in the text link it portrays your site as an authority site for the keyword.

3. Acquire links from complementary sites. Sites that are in the same industry as yours, but are not your competitors. Links from these type of sites have more weight than from those that are not related to your site.

4. Links from specialist or niche directories also carry more weight than those from less important general directories and your links are easier to find by the search engines. When submitting to directories, especially for a fee, be sure to choose a relevant category that is not deep down in the directory. Your listing should be at most three clicks away from the home page of the directory. Some engines will not spider deep down.

5. If you have several websites, link them together in such a way that the links are one way inbound links, and not reciprocal links. Also don't share the same IP address for the sites. All the sites should have unique IPs. This you can ensure by using a different host for each web site.

Conclusion.

Acquiring one way inbound links is the future of link popularity. Sooner the search engines will recognize the artificial nature of reciprocal linking in judging authority sites and will discount this in their algorithm or award less points (weight) to reciprocal links. The methods listed above in acquiring one way inbound links are basic, must do actions for every webmaster wishing to stay long at the top of the search engines.

About the Author:
The author has been earning his living online since 2000. For comprehensive home base business ideas check out one of his sites at http://www.ebizstartups.com There you will find solid, easy-to-do strategies for building a successful home base business.

5 Simple Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques

2007-08-13T14:02:00.001-07:00

5 Simple Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques

The lifeblood of any website/ecommerce business is traffic, and every webmaster knows the best type of traffic is natural, organic search engine traffic. There are two very important reasons for this: (1) it is extremely targeted, and (2) It is FREE! The hard part is getting top ranking for your sites keywords... or is it? The purpose of this article is to provide a few simple, effective, and most important, search engine friendly strategies to help boost your websites' ranking and ultimately your traffic.

1. We will start with the Meta Tags. I know you have already heard of, and are probably currently using meta tags on your site. This is great. I just want to make sure you are using them effectively. We will only go over 2 tags: the "title" tag, and the "description" tag. We will not go over the "keywords" tag, as the major search engines have placed less and less weight on this one, and some would argue this tag has no weight at all. I still use this tag however, as I feel there is some merit and no drawbacks to using this tag.

I have found it effective to use similar text in the "title" and "description" tags, and to place your keywords prominently in these tags (near the beginning and more than once). I have seen sites with "sitename.com", "New Page 1", or "Welcome to my site" in the "title" tag, which really does not help in their quest for higher rankings for their particular keyword. Also, try not to use words such as "and", "or", or "the" in these tags.

**Important note about your keywords. Search engines evaluate keyword prominence, keyword weight, and keyword density when determining a site's ranking. All three are calculated individually for the page, the title tag, the description tag, as well as other areas on a page. Keyword prominence means how close the keyword is to the beginning of your page. Keyword weight refers to how many times a particular keyword or phrase can be found on the page. Keyword density is the ratio of the keyword to the other words on the page. You do not want the keyword weight or density to be too high, as this can appear to the search engine as "keyword stuffing" and most search engines penalize sites that stuff their keywords.

2. Place your navigational links (and JavaScript) at the right or at the bottom, but not on the left, of the page. When the search engines "read" your site, they read from the top left to the bottom right. Search engines place an emphasis on the first 100 words or text on the site. You do not want these words to be navigational links or Javascript. Ideally, you want to have your heading tags with your keywords in the beginning of your page. This being said, placing your links/JavaScript on the right or bottom of your page ensures the search engine spiders get to the text first, giving more weight to what's important on your page.

3. Place alt tags on all of your images. Search engine spiders cannot "read" pictures or images. The only way a spider knows what an image is about is by reading the alt tag. This is also another chance to place more of your keywords in your HTML, improving your page's keyword weight/density. Alt tags are easy to make and they can make a big difference in your sites keyword ranking. A simple alt tag looks like this: alt="put your keyword phrase here." Search engines separately calculate keyword prominence, density, and weight in alt tags as well, so optimize your tags.

4. Place your keywords at the bottom of your page. Just as search engines place more weight on the first words of your page, they also do the same to the last words. The general thinking is this, if your site is about a certain subject, then the main points, or keywords, should, appear at the beginning, be spread throughout the page, and be prominent at the conclusion. But if you have all of your navigational links and JavaScript at the bottom, your relevant page text could end well before the HTML does. An easy way to have your keywords at the bottom of your page is to include them in the copyright information. For example, if you have a dog food website, you could have something like this at the very bottom of the page:

Search engines are not (as of this writing), penalizing sites using this technique, and it wouldn't really make much sense for them to do so.

5. The Anchor Text of your links. Anchor text is the actual linking text on a site. It is what the user clicks on to navigate to that particular site or page. If a search engine finds many links to your site using the term "dog food", then the search engine concludes your site is about "dog food". This is overlooked quite often, but it seems to have a very large impact on your search engine rankings for a particular keyword. Your anchor text needs to be the keyword or phrase you are trying to target. Try to avoid anchor text such as "Click Here" or "yoursite.com"

Also, if you're running a reciprocal link campaign, be sure to use variations of your text. If an engine notices every link to your site is identical, it could place less weight on these links or potentially penalize your site. This is because search engines generally give more weight to "naturally occurring" links, and less to "reciprocal link exchange campaigns". Using different, but relevant anchor text can dramatically affect your targeted keyword rankings, by making your links appear more natural.

Effective SEO may seem difficult at first, but as you have read above, little tricks that require little or no programming knowledge, can make a huge impact on your website's keyword ranking.

Noah Ulrich is webmaster of http://www.informativeresources.com His site maintains top rankings in all major search engines, and has maintained an online presence since 2001. His site provides top quality resale rights, guaranteed signups, and web traffic to businesses worldwide.

Increasing Link Popularity

2007-08-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

Increasing Link Popularity

Search engines are the gateway to the Internet; they are the first tool that potential customers use to find the products and services they need. This is why link popularity is so imperative. If the customers do not find your website, you have no possibilities of making any sales.

You're probably wondering what the blazes is popular about a link! Well, in a word - plenty! Link popularity refers to the ranking assigned to your website by the search engines, and it determines the ranking your page gets when keywords are entered into a search engine. So, you're probably wondering, how do I make my link popular?

Search engines are discretionary, giving status and ranking to sites that have links to their pages from related, quality sites. It's a simple formula, but a very important one. Google created the system, and now virtually all the most popular search engines employ it to rank your web pages in their indexes.

The more commonly used your keyword is, the harder it will be to achieve link popularity, but without achieving this step, it is almost certain your site will never rank highly on any search engine. But don't be discouraged; there are tried and true ways of achieving link popularity using the most competitive keywords.

There are a few things you should be aware of. The first is that just linking up with a large number of other websites will not achieve link popularity. In fact, it may have quite the opposite effect. This is particularly true when pertaining to websites that are nothing more than "link farms" - pages containing line after line of indiscriminate

links. Search engines may aggressively discriminate against your website if you are associated with a link farm, so steer clear of them!

The next thing to bear in mind is the quality of the site you are linking to. Never link to a page you have reservations about your visitors seeing. The last thing you want your website to appear as is indiscriminate and cheap. Linking to sites of poor quality will only lessen your link popularity, if not completely destroy it.

So let's get to what you need to do to achieve supreme link popularity and improve your rankings to stellar status on all the popular search engines.

The first step, and the fastest way to get your foot in the door, is to get a listing in a popular directory, such as Open Directory Project and Yahoo. If your site is business-related, you will want to be listed on Yahoo, and despite the fact that it will cost you around 300 a year, it will be money well spent. If your site is non-commercial, the listing will be free, but it will take time and follow-up to actually get it listed. Open Directory is gives you a free listing whether you are business-related or non-commercial, but be prepared to make a lot of follow-up inquiries before you see your site listed.

You are aiming to get listed in the highest level of appropriate category, and this just takes some common sense. For example, if your company ships Alpaca wool from an Alpaca farm located in the middle of Nowhere, Tiny State, do NOT submit your listing to "Retailers from Nowhere, Tiny State." BIG MISTAKE! All you have to do is look a little deeper - and submit your listing to the "Fine Alpaca Wool" category. You will not only associate yourself with culture and quality, but you will be listed in a national category.

The next step after you have attained directory listings is to locate other quality sites that will increase your link popularity. Try to find sites that are in some way related to yours, so not only will your link popularity increase, but your customer base may also be expanded. You want to avoid your competitors and look for sites that are useful to your site's visitors. Let's look at the Alpaca Wool site example. Linking up to a site that sells knitting supplies would be helpful to your visitors, and the chances of the knitting supply site wanting to link up to your site are also greater. By linking to a related site that will be relevant to your website's traffic, you are increasing both

of your site's business prospects - and both of your sites' link popularity.

Not all sites want to link to other sites, so you will have to do some research when you are looking for possible linking partners. Google is an excellent starting place for

your search. Make sure you enter keywords that you think quality customers will also enter to find your own site. Remember, your criteria are quality, highly ranked,

non-competing websites that have a links or resources page Go to these sites and objectively assess them. Look at the quality of the product, the graphics, and the ease of use. Then check out the other sites they are linked to, and determine if your own site would fit in with the crowd.

When you decide you have found a good prospect, you must set out to woo them. The first thing to do is to add a link on your own links page to their site. This is an essential first step; it shows good faith, and ups your chances significantly of their reciprocity. After you have added their link, you must contact the webmaster of their site. Since this is almost always done by email, you want to make sure it is immediately clear that your message is not junk mail. This requires that you tell them right off the bat that you have added a link to their page on your site. A hook like this almost always insures the reader will read on.

Next, be sure to be flattering and let them know how much you appreciate their website. Make sure you emphasize that you have actually visited their site, and that their site is not just a random pick. Give them the address of your links page, and ask them to check out the link for themselves. It's a good idea to mention that they will not only benefit from the increased traffic your website will direct their way, but you will also increase their link popularity. Briefly, explain why link popularity is so essential, but do this in a sentence or two so you don't sound like a professor! Finally, tell them you would greatly appreciate if they would reciprocally add a link on their own links page to your website.

Go through this process with as many appropriate sites as you can find, bearing in mind the criteria of quality and non-competitiveness. After you have emailed all relevant sites, be sure to check these website frequently to see if they have added a link to your page. Give it about a month, and if no link appears, try another charming email. Then give it another month, and if your site is still absent from their links page, it's time to remove their link from your own links page. The only time you want to pursue a link further than this is if you believe a site is crucial to your link popularity and your business needs. Just remember to keep all your communications complimentary and cordial.

Then set up a schedule to check your ranking in search engines frequently to see if your link popularity has improved. This is not achievable in the blink of an eye. It will take some time and a good deal of work. There is no way around the labor-intensive quality of improving your link popularity, which is why search engines regard it with such importance.

By the way - make sure you have a beautiful, streamlined site or you will never persuade anyone to link up to you. Be prepared to keep plugging away at this process, as long as it takes, until you achieve link popularity stardom!

Timothy James is the sole owner of http://www.timzbiz.com which is an information portal containing numerous articles for webmasters. He is also the owner of http://www.timbozone.com which is a sales outlet for games and software