Step By Step Page Optimization

Starting at the top of your index/home page something like this:
(After your logo or header graphic)

1) A heading tag that includes a keyword(s) or keyword phrases. A heading tag is bigger and bolder text than normal body text, so a search engine places more importance on it because you emphasize it.

2) Heading sizes range from h1 - h6 with h1 being the largest text. If you learn to use just a little Cascading Style Sheet code you can control the size of your headings. You could set an h1 sized heading to be only slightly larger than your normal text if you choose, and the search engine will still see it as an important heading.

3) Next would be an introduction that describes your main theme. This would include several of your top keywords and keyword phrases. Repeat your top 1 or 2 keywords several times, include other keyword search terms too, but make it read in sentences that makes sense to your visitors.

4) A second paragraph could be added that got more specific using other words related to online education.

5) Next you could put smaller heading.

6) Then you’d list the links to your pages, and ideally have a brief decision of each link using keywords and keyword phrases in the text. You also want to have several pages of quality content to link to. Repeat that procedure for all your links that relate to your theme.

7) Next you might include a closing, keyword laden paragraph. More is not necessarily better when it comes to keywords, at least after a certain point. Writing “online education” fifty times across your page would probably result in you being caught for trying to cheat. Ideally, somewhere from 3% - 20% of your page text would be keywords. The percentage changes often and is different at each search engine. The 3-20 rule is a general guideline, and you can go higher if it makes sense and isn’t redundant.

Finally, you can list your secondary content of book reviews, humor, and links. Skip the descriptions if they aren’t necessary, or they may water down your theme too much. If you must include descriptions for these non-theme related links, keep them short and sweet. You also might include all the other site sections as simply a link to another index that lists them all. You could call it Entertainment, Miscellaneous, or whatever. These can be sub-indexes that can be optimized toward their own theme, which is the ideal way to go.

Now you’ve set the all important top of your page up with a strong theme. So far so good, but this isn’t the only way you can create a strong theme so don’t be compelled into following this exact formula. This was just an example to show you one way to set up a strong site theme. Use your imagination, you many come up with an even better way.

Ranking Rules Of Thumb

The simple rule of thumb is that content counts, and that content near the top of a page counts for more than content at the end. In particular, the HTML title and the first couple lines of text are the most important part of your pages. If the words and phrases that match a query happen to appear in the HTML title or first couple lines of text of one of your pages, chances are very good that that page will appear high in the list of search results.

A crawler/spider search engine can base its ranking on both static factors (a computation of the value of page independent of any particular query) and query-dependent factors.

Values

§ Long pages, which are rich in meaningful text (not randomly generated letters and words).

§ Pages that serve as good hubs, with lots of links to pages that that have related content (topic similarity, rather than random meaningless links, such as those generated by link exchange programs or intended to generate a false impression of “popularity”).

§ The connectivity of pages, including not just how many links there are to a page but where the links come from: the number of distinct domains and the “quality” ranking of those particular sites. This is calculated for the site and also for individual pages. A site or a page is “good” if many pages at many different sites point to it, and especially if many “good” sites point to it.

§ The level of the directory in which the page is found. Higher is considered more important. If a page is buried too deep, the crawler simply won’t go that far and will never find it.

These static factors are recomputed about once a week, and new good pages slowly percolate upward in the rankings. Note that there are advantages to having a simple address and sticking to it, so others can build links to it, and so you know that it’s in the index

Query-Dependent Factors

§ The HTML title.

§ The first lines of text.

§ Query words and phrases appearing early in a page rather than late.

§ Meta tags, which are treated as ordinary words in the text, but like words that appear early in the text (unless the meta tags are patently unrelated to the content on the page itself, in which case the page will be penalized)

§ Words mentioned in the “anchor” text associated with hyperlinks to your pages. (E.g., if lots of good sites link to your site with anchor text “breast cancer” and the query is “breast cancer,” chances are good that you will appear high in the list of matches.)

Here are some of the important tips and tricks that can be employed while dealing with Google.

Do’s

· A website should have crystal clear hierarchy and links and should preferably be easy to navigate.
· A site map is required to help the users go around your site and in case the site map has more than 100 links, then it is advisable to break it into several pages to avoid clutter.
· Come up with essential and precise keywords and make sure that your website features relevant and informative content.
· The Google crawler will not recognize text hidden in the images, so when describing important names, keywords or links; stick with plain text.
· The TITLE and ALT tags should be descriptive and accurate and the website should have no broken links or incorrect HTML.
· Dynamic pages (the URL consisting of a ‘?’ character) should be kept to a minimum as not every search engine spider is able to crawl them.
· The robots.txt file on your web server should be current and should not block the Googlebot crawler. This file tells crawlers which directories can or cannot be crawled.

Don’ts

· When making a site, do not cheat your users, i.e. those people who will surf your website. Do not provide them with irrelevant content or present them with any fraudulent schemes.
· Avoid tricks or link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking.
· Do not employ hidden texts or hidden links.
· Google frowns upon websites using cloaking technique. Hence, it is advisable to avoid that.
· Automated queries should not be sent to Google.
· Avoid stuffing pages with irrelevant words and content. Also don’t create multiple pages, sub-domains, or domains with significantly duplicate content.
· Avoid “doorway” pages created just for search engines or other “cookie cutter” approaches such as affiliate programs with hardly any original content.

Do You Know The GOOGLE Dance?

Because of the nature of Page Rank, the calculations need to be performed about 40 times and, because the index is so large, the calculations take several days to complete. During this period, the search results fluctuate; sometimes minute-by minute. It is because of these fluctuations that the term, Google Dance, was coined. The dance usually takes place sometime during the last third of each month.

Google has two other servers that can be used for searching. The search results on them also change during the monthly update and they are part of the Google dance.

For the rest of the month, fluctuations sometimes occur in the search results, but they should not be confused with the actual dance. They are due to Google’s fresh crawl and to what is known “Everflux”.

Google has two other searchable servers apart from www.google.com. They are www2.google.com and www3.google.com. Most of the time, the results on all 3 servers are the same, but during the dance, they are different.

For most of the dance, the rankings that can be seen on www2 and www3 are the new rankings that will transfer to www when the dance is over. Even though the calculations are done about 40 times, the final rankings can be seen from very early on. This is because, during the first few iterations, the calculated figures merge to being close to their final figures.

You can see this with the Page Rank Calculator by checking the Data box and performing some calculations. After the first few iterations, the search results on www2 and www3 may still change, but only slightly.

During the dance, the results from www2 and www3 will sometimes show on the www server, but only briefly. Also, new results on www2 and www3 can disappear for short periods. At the end of the dance, the results on www will match those on www2 and www3.

Here’s some resources to help you out when
buying or selling your websites.

Website Auction Sites:

Sedo - http://www.sedo.com

Website Brokers - (brokerage, not an auction) - http://www.websitebroker.com

Domain Appraisal Sites:

GoDaddy - http://www.godaddy.com

Sedo - http://www.sedo.com

Swift Appraisal - http://www.swiftappraisal.com

Name Boy - http://www.nameboy.com/nameboyappraisal/order.php

Content Check Sites:

CopyScape - http://www.copyscape.com

Escrow Services:

Internet Escrow Services - http://www.escrow.com

Attorneys:

Internet Litigators - http://www.internetlitigators.com

Esqwire - http://www.esqwire.com/

Legal Document Templates:

Law Depot - http://www.lawdepot.com

Other Useful Links:

Whois - To check the age and owner of the website - http://www.whois.com

Alexa - To check the rankings and inbound links - http://www.alexa.com

Hope you find these helpful.

Once there is an agreement in place, and your funds have been sent to the Escrow Company, the changes are ready to begin. Here are some guidelines to follow, after which the escrow company will release the funds to the buyer:

1. The seller will transfer the domain name either to you or to the escrow company, depending on the agreement that you have made.

2. The seller will sign the contract, giving all rights to all content on the site over to you.

3. The seller will give you or the escrow company all needed passwords, such as passwords to the server.

4. When the funds are released to the seller, the escrow company will turn the domain name, as well as any passwords, over to you.

5. You should immediately change all passwords, and use complicated passwords that include numbers and letters.

6. You should immediately make backup copies of all content on the website – whether you are moving the domain to your own server, or leaving it on the existing server.

7. If the website is remaining on the existing server, the web hosting company must be contacted – by the seller – to let them know of the change, and then you should be in contact with the web hosting company to give them your own details.

8. If the website is being moved, you should immediately point the domain to your name servers, through the domain registrar, and upload all pictures, videos, audios, and web pages to your own server. Moving databases is more complicated, and may require the services of a professional.

9. You will need to change some information on the website, such as the copyright information. Get that done immediately.

10. Make sure that you have passwords to the mail server as well! Get the email addresses set up in your own email client, and of course, change the passwords.

Once all of these things are done, the transaction is complete, and you are the proud owner of a new – or used – website that will hopefully bring you the pot of gold you expected. Enjoy!

A long with a good attorney, you also need a dependable escrow company to help handle the transaction of buying a website and domain name. An escrow company protects you and the buyer, ensuring that each party gets the right thing - in the right amount and/or condition that it is supposed to be in.

Escrow companies are often used for large Internet purchases, such as many made through eBay’s website. An escrow company should be bonded and licensed, and of course should have an outstanding reputation.

It is vital that the escrow company has a good reputation, in fact, because the money that you are paying for the website will be transferred to them. In some cases, the website and domain will be transferred to the escrow company as well, however this is not usually the case for these types of transactions.

The way that it most likely will work for you is that you will transfer the funds to the escrow service. The escrow service will then let the seller know that they are in control of the funds. The seller will then do everything that he has agreed to do, such as turning over passwords and handing the domain over to you, as well as control of the website, and then when you notify the escrow company that all is in order, they will release the funds to the seller.

In some cases, however, the seller is very cautious, and wants everything transferred to the escrow company, instead of to you - with the funds being released to him, and control of the domain and website being released to you, at the same time. The good news is that it doesn’t matter which method is used - everybody will be happy in the end, because you are using a reliable escrow service.

The seller may want to have a say in the escrow company used. If this is the case, recommend the one that you have chosen, and if he doesn’t agree, find out why. Check out his reasons for not wanting to use the company, and if he suggests a different escrow company, check out that company. It could be a scam - be careful. If you feel wary, choose an altogether different escrow company, and if he doesn’t want to go with that one, and refuses to budge from the one he has chosen, walk away from the deal - something fishy is going on.

Your best bet is to go with an escrow company that is well-known for trustworthy service, such as Internet Escrow Services, which is a subsidiary of the famous - and trustworthy - Escrow.com. IES specializes in Internet transactions, and can be found at http://www.escrow.com/company/index.asp.

Note that IES will only take possession of the funds, not the domain name or website. Some escrow companies will take possession of both - but not IES. They accept and hold the funds until you are in possession of the domain and website, and anything else agreed upon, and then release the funds to the seller.

If IES is your choice, your seller should not have a problem with this. If they do, there most likely really is something strange going on, and you need to re-evaluate the deal and the situation before moving forward. Again, IES is one of the most well known and dependable escrow services in existence.

How much does an escrow service cost? Escrow services charge a fee based on a percentage of the amount of the transaction. For example, if you were using IES, and the total of the transaction was $36,000, you would be charged $320.40. The site offers a calculator to figure the cost of the escrow service for you - before you ever even contact the escrow service.

The party responsible for that fee is up to you and the seller. Some buyers and sellers will split the fee. Sometimes it is agreed that the entire fee is deducted from the total sales price. Sometimes, the buyer is totally responsible for the fee, and sometimes the seller will pay the fee, or reimburse you for the fee. Most of the time the seller pays the fee and it is taken out of the funds before he ever receives them.

In the case of domain transfers, IES will verify through the registrar that the domain name has been transferred to the buyer before releasing the funds to the seller. If they cannot verify this through the registrar, they will contact you to confirm that you are actually in control of the domain name.

Note that if the transaction is cancelled - for any reason - the escrow fee must still be paid, and the buyer becomes solely responsible for paying that fee. Escrow services typically accept payment via check, money order, credit card, PayPal, or wire transfer.

Not all escrow services will handle the transfer of digital or virtual property, such as websites and domains, but many do. You need to read the fine print, and if you still aren’t sure whether the escrow service of your choice will handle your transaction or not, contact them and ask.

Just as it costs money to hire an attorney, it does cost additional money to use an escrow service, but just as you cannot afford not to have an attorney, you also cannot afford to not use an escrow service. Again, the escrow service protects both you and the seller, and it is a vital service in the website and domain purchase.

Before we get into placing value on the content that already resides on a website, let’s clear up one myth right away. Advertisements and affiliate program advertisements that already exist on a website do not, in any way, add any value to a website. We will discuss why later on - for now, you just need to know that what you are valuing right now is strictly content - not advertisements.

So, what makes up content? Just about anything. Content includes text, video, audio, images, and databases of any kind that reside on the website. This does not include any type of content that is merely linked to from the website. It must actually reside on the domain, or it doesn’t count for our purposes.

The first thing you want to know is if the content is original. If it exists somewhere else on the internet, its value is absolutely zero. You can easily check each page of the site, using CopyScape at http://www.copyscape.com, which is a free tool. If it is a large site, this may take a while, but it is worth doing, as unoriginal content is a point that you can use in negotiations.

The fact is that you really can’t place a dollar value on content. It, again, is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. Instead, you must go by the income that the site generates each year. Ideally, the value of the content is based on 3 times the annual income of the site.

For example, if the site earns $500 a month, currently, you multiply that by 12 to get the annual estimated income, which is $6000. You multiply $6000 by 3 years, which gives you a total of $18,000. This is the value of the website. You will need to see proof of earnings from the seller - don’t settle on a price without that!

If the website does not currently make any money, you can essentially name your price. It isn’t doing the owner any good, since it isn’t generating revenue, and the domain name itself may be of more value than the actual website. Be careful! You need to figure out why that site isn’t generating any income!

If it is because the content is poor, it isn’t search engine optimized, or there is not revenue source on the site, go ahead and buy it. If everything does appear to be okay, and there are sources of revenue on the site, there may be a problem, and you need to find out what that problem is.

With all of that said, one must also look outside the site, to add to the value. Links that point to the site, from other websites, may be worth a great deal of money - especially if those links are on authority sites that have page ranks of five or higher. For such links, you should probably add about $100 to the price of the site, for each authority link.

How fast the site runs and how dependable the server is play no role in determining the value of the website. The fact is, after you have purchased the website, you will either be moving it to your own server or taking over the monthly or yearly payments on the existing server. If the current owner has already paid for a year in advance, the remaining months of that paid year should, however, be added into the value of the website.

There will be those sellers who want to price each page of content. Don’t fall for it! Again, original content is easy to come by these days, and while it may be valuable to its owner, an actual dollar figure cannot be placed on each page of content. You don’t really know which pages of content are bringing in the sales. You don’t know what the content cost the original owner either. You can’t place a value on it realistically, and therefore, you must go by what the site is earning - not what each page of content is worth.

Once the seller has proven his or her earnings from the site, and you have a domain appraisal in place, you can easily figure out the fair market value of the site. Add the value of the domain to the value of the website, including the value of each inbound link. Is the website worth more than you originally thought? Is it more money than you are willing or able to spend? Don’t walk away just yet.

The next question you want to ask the seller is how much his expenses are each month for the site. This should include the cost of the server, the cost of services used to keep the website up to date and running, and the cost of promoting the website. Now, multiply that by twelve, and multiply that number by three, and subtract it from the previous value of the site and domain name.

It does require money to keep a site up and running. It costs the current owner money - and it is going to cost you money as well. Not all sellers will be open to deducting three years worth of expenses from the cost of the domain and website, but many will - and this can really add up.

For example, if the total value of the domain and website is $36,000, but the current owner is paying out $2400 a year in expenses, the value of the website and domain together may only amount to $28,800 - a savings of $7200

36,000 - (2400 x 3) = $28,800

With this new dollar figure in mind, you are ready to approach the current owner of the site to negotiate the purchase. If he has done a proper appraisal on the domain, and figured his earnings times three years, he will most likely start out with $36,000. But you can negotiate with him to get that cost down to the $28,800 ball park.

The chances are good that if you are reading this, you’ve already started looking around for a website to purchase. If this is the case, you are probably wondering how value is placed on a website and domain. First, let’s note that there are two things that you are looking to purchase here: the domain name, and the website that already goes with that domain name.

You should always start by determining the market value of the domain name, since the domain name can’t be changed - but the content can. Because the content can be changed, you can easily change the value of it. So, let’s find out about placing a value on a domain name.

Any domain that is just three characters - www.att.com for example - is more valuable than a longer domain name. Any domain that has more than twelve to fifteen characters in the main word (the att part of the domain) will always be worth less. It is important to keep this in mind - three character domain names are very high in value.

These are the things that you want, which place a higher value on the domain:

1. Is it a top level domain name? It should end, preferably, with .com. The second choice is .net, followed by .org.

2. The domain name should contain the keyword for the site. For example, if the keyword being focused on is flowers, the domain name should contain the word ‘flowers.’

3. The domain name should be easy to remember. It is hard to remember domain names that have hyphens and names that are long - or names that have all sorts of additional letters or characters. It is very easy to remember www.att.com.

4. While three letter domain names are very high in value, three word domains or less are also high in value, as long as the three words combined do not exceed 12 to 15 characters.

5. The popularity of the keyword used in the domain name also matters. How many searches are performed for that keyword monthly?

6. Numbers in the domain name are not desirable.

7. Hyphens should also be avoided.

8. The age of the domain matters. The older the domain is, the more it is worth.

9. It is good if the domain can be easily pronounced.

These are the things that you should look for in a domain name that you are planning to purchase - but what is each item on this list worth - in dollars and cents? The truth is that there is no one formula to use to determine what each feature is worth. The domain name is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it when it is all said and done.

With that said, there is a way to get a dollar value for a domain name. You can use one of the many domain appraisal services that exist, and have the domain appraised. The list above is used in the appraisal process. There are two stages for domain appraisal.

The first stage is to do an automatic appraisal. This can be done for free at http://www.swiftappraisal.com. Just follow the directions for each step, and in less than a minute, you will have a starting dollar value to use. It is a good idea to have the domain name appraised at a couple of different automated appraisers, so after you get a dollar figure from Swift Appraisal, surf over to Name Boy at http://www.nameboy.com/nameboyappraisal/order.php for another free appraisal.

Now, you have a starting dollar figure, but this is not by any means what the domain name is actually worth. It may be worth more or less, and a human appraisal is needed now. Again, there are many appraisers, and some are good, and some are not worth anything at all.

Because GoDaddy is a big company that has a good reputation, it is a good idea to get a professional, premium domain appraisal through them. You can order the domain appraisal at https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/dna/appraisal.asp. A premium domain appraisal costs about fifteen dollars - and it is well worth the cost. Again, GoDaddy has credibility, and therefore, a domain appraisal through them counts for something.

If the party selling the domain is serious about selling it, you can bet that they have already done a domain appraisal - probably through a reputable company. If they went through a different appraisal company, however, their appraisal may not match yours. This can work in your favor, however, and will be discussed later.

Of course, valuating the domain name is the easy part. The hard part is valuating the content that already exists on the website, which we will be discussing next. The value of the domain name is then added to the value of the content, for the fair market price of the domain and website.

Here are tips to help you blog professionally - whether you are operating your own blog or using one of the paid-to-blog companies. Many of these points are what separate the professional bloggers from the amateurs.

1. Never publish a post without ensuring that every single word is correctly spelled, that the words are used correctly in the sentence, and that the grammar and punctuation is perfect. Believe it or not, your readers will call you on poor spelling and grammar - and advertisers may as well.

2. Never publish a post unless you are absolutely sure that your facts are correct. Failure to do proper research can result in ruining your reputation - not only in the market that you are blogging in, but also in the blogging community as a whole.

3. While SEO is important, your first goal should be to turn out a great blog - a blog that people want to read, and can easily read. If you don’t have the ability to produce a blog that has the potential to gain readership, your blogging efforts are a waste of your time - and theirs.

4. Pay careful attention to the template or design that you choose for your blog. You don’t want anything on the page that may irritate or distract your readers. The page should be laid out in a clean and organized fashion.

5. Lighter backgrounds with darker text are easier to read. Experts recommend white backgrounds with black or navy blue text. You don’t have to go with the black/white advice, however the lighter background is highly recommended for easier reading.

6. Use the category feature of your blog! If you don’t use this feature, your visitors will not be able to find past posts that interest them easily - and in most cases, they won’t even try. They may not be interested in today’s post, but they may be highly interested in a post you made three months ago. Make it easy by setting up and using categories.

7. Make sure that your content is original. You can get free content from numerous sources. Unfortunately, it is content that is being used on other websites and blogs. This hurts you in terms of search engine optimization, and it fails to give your readers ‘fresh’ material.

8. Choose a tight niche for your blog. This will eventually provide you with a closer following of dedicated readers. It also makes it easier to keep your blog organized, and you will find that your blog makes more money this way. It also reduces the amount of competition that you have overall.

9. While the niche for your blog should be tight, each blog post must be even tighter. Stick to one topic in each post that you make. Don’t drag your readers all over your blog topic. Keep it tight and stay focused - so that your readers can also stay focused.

10. Expert Opinions vary on the length of the post. Some say that you should keep it short - around 300 words. Others say that you should post between 750 and 1000 words per post. Research leans towards shorter posts, because of people’s attention spans. However, this is really dependant on your topic.

11. Keep paragraphs short and easy to read. A paragraph that covers ten lines won’t do. Keep paragraphs under five lines, if possible, but avoid paragraphs that only contain one or two sentences as well.

12. Spice up your blog with videos. You may even consider adding your podcast to your post. The videos and podcasts don’t have to be your own - but they do need to be relevant, and you do need to add textual content as well.

13. Make your content scannable. Many people don’t want to take the time to read - but if they can scan the post, and see that it will interest them, they will take the time to read it. You can make the post scannable by making important words bold.

14. Your blog should not be one bold page of advertisement. Use images that relate to your posts, but avoid the use of banner ads. If you use AdSense ads, don’t overwhelm the reader with the ads. The blog should be useful to the readers first and foremost - not to the advertisers.

15. Shoot for a lower amount of traffic. You may think this is an insane concept, but it really isn’t. What you want is quality traffic - not unqualified traffic in droves. The qualified traffic is where you will make your money.

16. Unless your blog does not have any other form of revenue, do not have buttons that ask for ‘donations’ or ‘tips.’ This works well only on blogs that are really not designed to be income producing blogs.

17. Know when to start a new blog, with a new topic. If after three or four months, your blog isn’t earning enough revenue, you have a problem. Either the topic isn’t profitable enough, you aren’t promoting the blog in the right way, or you aren’t producing a high enough quality blog. Either make changes, or move to a new market.