Search Engine Optimization

People in all walks of life wanted to get the most from things they have 'Imagine a car' In order for someone to get most out of its speed you have to modify it and change some things from it do this so it would be better than the standard production line. Then there are those botanists who do things with fruits say a grape vine to produce the most juicy, sweet grapes you can taste. In order to maximize the potential of something you will have to 'tweak' it. Or in other words you will optimize it. According to eLook.org optimization means 'getting the most out of (something); modifying to achieve maximum efficiency of (something)'. Say, you want to advertise whether it is something you want to sell or you just want to be plainly heard or you want to promote something, one of the ways if not the best way to promote them is through the web.

S.E.O - Search Engine Optimization

If someone wants to find something in the web, they will go to their Search Engine (Google, Yahoo!, MSN live, Netscape) and type their key words and a bunch of sites will pop up. The common practice of viewers/surfers will take over and will then click the top spot, if that does not satisfy them, they will click on the second one and so on - Now if you are the one promoting such things, of course, you want your site to be the ones they visit, so in order for people to visit your page, you have to be on those top spots. That's where Search Engine Optimization or SEO comes in.

SEO is the process that will take your page to get to that top spot. Simply put Search Engine Optimization will give you more visitors as you rank high in those search engines.

Basics of SEO

Search Results will be presented in two forms - One is what is called 'The Sponsored Links' (these are paid ads, and pays the search engine money for their space), and the other one the natural search results which is in rank order (the top being the most visited). Search Engine Optimization will deal mostly with what we call as natural search results.

Search engines will have different methods of ranking up the search results (so for example the term that you entered in Google at times will give different sites that will pop up in Yahoo!)

Another thing that has more impact on Search Engine Optimization is the 'term' - it is the word you used to start your search. The term will be the deciding factor in which your SEO will be ranked up against other websites.

Uses of Search Engine Optimization

The most basic use of SEO is of course in advertising. Advertising means you want something to be sold. Simply put most of the things are better in numbers - so the more people visit your website, the more chances that you will sell things that you offer. And as web-users go, they will click on the top results of their searches before going to another page of results (if they even bother), thus Search Engine Optimization greatly enhances your probability of transaction Another use is when you want to be heard, there are terms or things that people search other than consumer things. As seen in the above example when your site is staring at them in the face as soon as they click their mouse or hit the 'Enter' button, again SEO will give you better chance of conveying your idea on whomever search for the things you want to be heard!!!

An HTML tag that is used to define the top line of a web browser, the search engine considers this as the most important part of text on the web page, as they base their natural results here.

Title tag optimization

There is not a single webpage in the top rankings that does not include their main keyword in their title tags. A web page may not use the keyword in their main body instead they use inbound links to rank well, but still in the title tag it is very critical to include it. There are several things to consider for title tag optimization:

1. Important keywords must appear in the title tag

2. Title tags should not exceed the length of 60 characters and must have only 7 to 10 words

3. It should be easily read by the web-surfer (user- friendly)

4. Stop words must be used sparingly and avoid dead weight words altogether if possible

5. Keywords must be as close together as possible (keyword proximity)

6. Put the keywords as close to the title tag's beginning as possible

7. Proper word order of the title tag must be maintained

8. Repeating the keyword in the title tag should be very limited

Important keywords in the title tag

Title tag optimization requires that the most important keyword be placed in the title tag. Search engines are geared to look for keywords in the title tag that is why it is very critical that they are here. Title tag is also the part that web-surfers browse in the search results to see if the thing that they are looking for is somehow in that page. It is also a good idea not to put irrelevant words to your title tags so as not to dilute them in the search results, whereas, it is more advisable to include some more of your keywords instead.

Length of the title tag

Optimized title tags never exceed this length because some search engines will chop off the phrases over their limit. User-friendly

Though title tag optimization requires your title tags to be search engine friendly, but your main target are the web-surfers. Title tags must be made as very simple and as easily understood as you can.

Stop words/ dead weight words

Dead weight words (i.e. Home page, web, web page) are ignored by the search engine spiders, and though the stop words are also ignored (i.e. the, is, of, that, is, etc), you still need some of them for your title tags to be easily understood Keyword Proximity

Search engines ranks webpage who have their keywords that is very close to each other and has almost no stop words between them. Near the beginning

Title tag optimization encourages that your keywords be near the beginning of the title, as the search engine do their search pattern in a linear order (top to bottom, left to right). Word Order

Most of the time people input their keywords in the proper order so it is a good idea to follow the proper word order (i.e. Mitsubishi Lancer is better than Lancer Mitsubishi) Repetition of Keywords

Do not repeat keywords. Not only does it look ridiculous there is not a single top ranking web page that have them.

It's no secret that a lot of blog readers prefer to read your blog through RSS. These readers may never see your blog but crafty bloggers know how to make RSS subscribers come to their blog. So don't ignore RSS subscribers, they can be the difference between a profitable blog and a ho-hum blog. Your RSS subscribers can be your ticket to making quick online cash.

Here are 7 tricks to increase your RSS subscribers:

1. Start a contest for RSS Subscribers only. Many bloggers have used this technique very successfully. People will want to take part in the contest and sign up so they can participate.

2. Publish RSS Subscriber only post. Other bloggers have used the this baiting technique to get people to sign up to their RSS feeds. All you do is every once in a while, publish a list or a list of tips only to your RSS subscribers. Make sure you post about these "special tips" to your regular readers on your blog. This will make them sign up so they don't miss out on the special tips.

3. Submit your RSS feed to RSS directories. There are many RSS directories out there. You need to submit your RSS feed to each of them. To find them, just go to Google and type in 'list of RSS directories'. It will be time consuming, but well worth it!

4. Use those RSS Subscription icons. Yes, they do help! These icons make it very easy for readers to your blog to sign up under their favorite RSS reader. If you make your readers work to get signed up to your RSS feed, many won't go to the trouble.

5. Publish your feed count. If you have over one hundred RSS subscribers, show the feed count. Other bloggers seeing that other people have signed up to your feed feel that they should also. It's a funny thing, the more RSS subscribers you have, the easier it is to get them.

6. Use Full RSS feeds. If you make your RSS subscribers click on a "more" link to finish reading your blog post, many will unsubscribe. Make it easy for them to read your entire blog post by publishing full RSS feeds.

7. Use FeedBurner and sign up email subscribers. I use FeedBurner so that my readers can sign up with their email. Some just prefer to read the post in their email, so I make it easy for them. It only takes a second to put a sign up form on your blog.

RSS subscribers are a very profitable part of any blog. Learn how to increase your RSS subscribers and watch your profits go up. Overlooking RSS Subscribers can be a very costly mistake...it's like walking past a bag full of money and not picking it up because you have your hands full...not smart at all!

The only way to keep up with the latest about RSS is to constantly stay on the lookout for new information. If you read everything you find about RSS, it won't take long for you to become an influential authority.

When you're learning about something new, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relevant information available. This informative article should help you focus on the central points.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a tool useful for saving or retaining updated information on websites that you frequently visit or websites that are your favorite. RSS utilizes an XML code which scans continuously the content or subject matter of a certain website in search for new informations then transmits the information updates by way of feeding the information to subscribers.

RSS feeds are generally being utilized in blogs or news sites, though any website wanting to broadcast and publish information can use them. Once new information is sent, it will contain a headline, a little bit of text, and either a rundown or a brief review of the news or story. A link is needed be clicked upon to read further.

So as to accept RSS feeds, a feed reader is needed, called an aggregator. Aggregators are widely and freely available online, and all that is needed is a bit of searching, you will be able to locate a certain interface that best interest you. What's more, RSS feeds can likewise be read and retrieved from cell phones and on PDAs.

Once you encounter upon a website that you want to add or insert to the aggregator, the process can be done in two ways. Almost all sites offering an RSS feed displays an "RSS" or "XML" button in their homepage and with one click, it promptly add that particular feed to one's aggregator. Some aggregator however, requires the need to copy and then paste the URL of the feed unto the program.

Whatever the method used, you can be certain that the feed will be accessible soon as you have inserted it, likewise, in just seconds, the next update can arrive. In the event that you do not anymore would want to accept or take in updates, you may simply delete or erase the feed from the aggregator.

Through e-mail subscriptions, you can receive newsletters. RSS feeds on the other hand, can be more convenient in keeping up with newsletter updates since they are prompt and available in an instant; you no longer have to wait for a scheduled time or day to obtain a news summary, plus, these news will never be detained through a spam filter. RSS feeds are widely used everyday by individuals who understand and appreciate the accessibility of fast reports and news that can be readily read and only read certain updates that appeals to them.

Aggregators

If you find yourself confused by what you've read to this point, don't despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.

How can you put a limit on learning more? The next section may contain that one little bit of wisdom that changes everything.

Aggregators are popular use of feeds, having several kinds. Web aggregators or portals as they are sometimes called, create this view which is then made available in a Web page. Also, Aggregators have been incorporated into e-mail patrons, users of desktops, or dedicated and standalone software.

Offering a collection of special features, such as combining more than a few related feeds in just a single view, hiding certain entries or statements that has been already viewed, and classifying entries and feeds, the aggregator is a versatile component.

Why make a feed available?

You will have more viewers, since now, your viewers can conveniently see your site without even going out and looking for that certain site. While at first, it may seem corrupt, it will in fact enhance the visibility of your site; this is so because users can easily keep up or keep tract with your site, to allow them to view in a way that they want to; it's more probable that guests are aware should something that is in their interest is available or accessible on your site.

For instance, every month your website broadcasts a new feature. Having no feed, your viewers will always have to keep in mind to go to your site in a certain time to see if they discover something new; that is, if they can remember, and if they still have the time. However, if you supply a feed for your viewers, they can just point to their aggregator and it will instantly provide them a link along with a description of happenings or events at your site immediately.

What format to choose?

Syndication is very confusing as it uses a lot of formats that can usually be come across in the web. However, this can easily be solved as in general, syndicated libraries are used by aggregators which conceptualize a particular format that a feed is in, in order that they can utilize a certain syndication feed.

With this, whatever format to pick is just a matter of personal preference. RSS 1.0 is far reaching, and practical should it be integrated into Semantic Web systems. RSS 2.0 is very easy and simple create by hand. And atom is an IETF Standard, does it brings constancy, stability and a natural and accepted community to support its usage.

When word gets around about your command of RSS facts, others who need to know about RSS will start to actively seek you out.

Author: - Articles for Website Content

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BEIJING (Reuters) - Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual Olympic gold medal on Monday with a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the men's 10m air rifle.

Bindra had been fourth after qualifying but had a brilliant final round and the Indian, the epitome of tranquillity, hit a near perfect 10.8 on his last shot to pull in front of Henri Hakkinen of Finland, who fell to bronze with a poor final shot.

That late stumble by the Finn allowed China's Zhu Qinan, the defending Olympic champion and heavy favourite, to salvage a bitter day with silver. Zhu sobbed uncontrollably on the podium and again at a news conference.

"I can't describe how happy I am," the ever-calm Bindra told journalists. "It's the thrill of my life. That's about it. It's hard to describe. I just went for it. I knew I was lying in fourth. Thankfully it went my way and I just went for it."

Zhu suffered a lapse in concentration in the qualification earlier when he had to rush his final shots to make the time limit, dropping to second behind Hakkinen ahead of the final.

"I was under tremendous pressure and at times I felt really agitated," Zhu said just before stepping on the podium and breaking down in tears. "But I tried my best."

Moments later at the news conference Zhu was crying harder.

"I've been through a lot of hardship and shed a lot of tears in the last four years, there have been successes and failures," he said. "After 2004 my only aim has not changed. I had so very much wanted to be a champion at the Beijing Olympics."

He added: "In the last two rounds I made several mistakes because I had used up all my physical and mental energy."

Bindra, who faced criticism for failing to deliver on the great promise he showed as a child, said he was not thinking about making history in India with a first individual gold medal. In fact, he said, he was "not thinking about anything".

"I was just trying to concentrate on shooting," he said. "I wasn't thinking of making history. I was two points behind the leaders. I was just trying to shoot good shots. I wanted to shoot well and shoot aggressively. And that's what I did."

His 10.8 of a possible 10.9 on his final shot sparked loud celebrations from group of fans from India.

Hakkinen, who was even with Bindra before his mere 9.7 on his last shot, said that crucial shot felt like the nine before it.

"It just wasn't my turn," he said. "It shows that shooting is a sport from the first to the final shot. Every one counts."

Randhir Singh, Indian Olympic Association secretary-general and former shooter who was present at the range, was stricken by nerves as the competition reached its climax.

"I haven't prayed so much in my life. With the second last shot they tied together and then he (Bindra) shot a 10.8. It couldn't have got better," he told Indian television.

Bindra won the 2006 world championships and finished seventh in Athens four years ago.

Where did RSS come from? How long has it been around? RSS has had quite a history, some of which is shrouded in folklore, so I can't guarantee that my understanding of RSS history is 100 percent flawless. In fact, even what RSS stands for has changed over the years! There are three meanings for RSS and the version in which they were introduced:

• Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)
• RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.90 and 1.0)
• Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)

Today, the most common meaning is Really Simple Syndication.

So where did the idea of syndicationsubscribing to a site's contentcome from? Long before RSS, there were various other formats (you couldn't quite call them languages) that supported syndications. You might recall Microsoft's Channel Definition Format (CDF), which worked with the Active Channel feature of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Using CDF, you could subscribe to various online publication sites. Internet Explorer would check those publishers regularly and download new data as it became available. CDF was introduced in 1997, and in the same year, a developer at Userland.com, Dave Winer, introduced his own XML-based format for syndication in his Scripting News Web log. Userland.com, which first appeared in 1997, specializes in Web publishing software, and figures heavily in the history of RSS.

The first true version of RSS was created by Dan Libby of Netscape. Created in March 1999, it became known as version 0.90 (and was designed to be used with the My Netscape portal). In July 1999, version 0.90 was modified, and version 0.91, the first popular version, appeared. At that time, RSS stood for Rich Site Summary. Version 0.91 adopted parts of Dave Winer's Scripting News format and has become one of the major versions of RSS.

However, Netscape abandoned RSS not long after that, so although RSS was in some use, no one was in charge of it. Chaos resulted, as you might expect. Here's what happened: A mailing list named RSS-DEV appeared and became popular. At the same time, Dave Winer created a modified version of RSS 0.91, which was already being used in Userland's software.

Eventually, the approaches to RSS from the RSS-DEV group and Dave Winer diverged, creating what became known as the RSS fork. The RSS-DEV group created RSS 1.0 in December 2000. This version of RSS was quite a departure from the earlier versions, and was strongly based on the XML-based language Resource Description Format, or RDF (www.w3.org/TR/rdf-primer/), especially the RDF extension Dublin Core (http://dublincore.org/). Thus RSS 1.0 was named RDF Site Summary.

Only about three weeks after RSS 1.0 was announced, Dave Winer released RSS version 0.92. RSS 1.0 was also a major RSS version, but its syntax is so different from that of the other RSS fork people were used to, that many found it hard to use.

Then things got a little turbulent. In April 2001, Dave Winer came out with RSS 0.93, which was similar to version 0.92. A draft of version 0.94 appeared in August 2001, which removed the changes made in version 0.93 and made a few minor changes.

Finally, in September 2002, Dave Winer released a successor to version 0.92, which he called version 2.0, because the version 1.0 name was already taken. At this time, RSS started being known as Really Simple Syndication. (In fact, things were pretty turbulent then too, because a few versions of RSS 2.0 appeared; but things have now settled down.) RSS 2.0 extended RSS 0.92, adding ways for people to extend RSS on their own. RSS 2.0 has since become a major versionthe major versionof RSS.

In July 2003, Dave Winer passed ownership of RSS 2.0 to Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/), where he was working at the time. That move calmed things down quite a bit, and RSS 2.0 has been stable ever since.

Things are still happening with RSS. In January 2005, Sean B. Palmer and Christopher Schmidt released a draft of RSS 1.1, which simplifies the language somewhat. However, as of this writing, RSS 1.1 has not taken off. In November 2005, Microsoft proposed some extensions to RSS, informally named Real Simple Synchronization.

About five years ago, a number of developers, including Sam Ruby, offered a new format named Atom (first called Echo, then Pie, and then Atom) as a replacement for RSS. Atom is based on XML, but is quite a bit more difficult to learn and is more complex than RSS. Atom improves RSS by adding internationalization, standardizing the syntax, and allowing people to add their own features. Atom has yet to catch on in a really big way, however, compared with RSS

When doing search engine optimization (SEO), there are many aspects to consider. A good keyword selection process is important, choosing a good domain name for your site, link building, writing press releases and articles that promote your website, etc.

Another aspect that is important is page optimization. You need to make sure that your web site's pages are "bot friendly". Meaning that your pages should organize and display the information in a manner that the bots used by the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) will recognized your targeted keywords and give more weight to your site based on them.

Here are 15 tips to optimize your pages.

1. Make sure each page have a title tag. Your targeted keywords should be as much as possible at the beginning of the tag. You can leave your web site's name in the title, but it is recommended that you leave it at the end.
2. Have a meta keywords and descriptions. Although, not as important has other aspects, the description text is often used in the search engine results pages to describe your site. It should be well written and also not too long.
3. Meta keywords should contain your primary keywords as well as common typos and grammatical errors.
4. Use only one H1 tag by page with keywords similar to the title tag.
5. Use sub-titles (H2 and/or H3) before each paragraph or logical section of your page. This helps readability and helps define your content for search engines.
6. Use bullet and numbered lists and bold text to clean up the page's content and make it easier to read.
7. Use text links as much as possible. Image and Flash links should be avoided when possible.
8. Include a site map with links to each of your web site's pages.
9. Make sure each page is unique. Don't duplicate your content!
10. Write content for your visitors, not for the bots! If not, your site might become difficult to read and it could get penalized.
11. Images are never read by the bots. Avoid using images for text and titles. The same goes for Flash.
12. When using images, always add an alt tag to describe the image. The alt tag should contain keywords related to the image and the page.
13. Your page's content should always contain some of your keywords. Always make sure the content of your pages remain relevant.
14. Your home page should have links to the most important pages of your site. These links should also contain your keywords.
15. Your site should be easy to navigate for visitors and for bots. Place links at the bottom of each of the

I been doing SEO for a very long time now so I thought of helping webmasters with a very common issue. The problem is that most webmasters see their site jumping in and out of the indexed. Today you check and your website is in the index. Next day you wake up in the morning and guess what, your website is no longer there. So why does this happen?

You are not giving spiders what they want.

A similar thing happens when sometimes you are ranked on page three for a keyword, then you go back to page nine, then again to page three and so forth. Your rankings sort of play around, you never know where your website really ranks.

In both cases above one very common thing is happening which I refer to as spibalance.

Just like a balance calculates which side has the largest weight so do spiders. The balance in our case has your website on one side and what spiders require in order to index your website on the other side. When you give them enough of what they need the side with your website on goes down. In other words you get indexed.

If you do not give spiders what they want, the balance will remain neutral and you do not get indexed. So what is that they want to index your website?

It is backlinks.

Now at first you start getting backlinks bit by bit, so the balance starts moving from side to side, sometimes you hit the target and you get indexed. But then again you get de indexed until you have completely out weighed the spiders requirements to index you. Think of the requirements as lots of backlinks located on the other side of the balance.

This same thing does apply to your rankings as well.

But instead of just backlinks, there are other factors that you need to give spiders in order to get the rankings and keep your position. Then improving as well your rankings. In this case the requirements to improve your rankings may increase as well, depends on what your competitors are doing. If you are going to outrank them, you need to get more links then they are getting. Aim to do better then what they are doing because on the balance spiders requirements most often are exactly what the websites that are in the number one position have.

This means the number of links, the quality, the anchor text they use and so forth.

To get indexed for example you do not need to worry about what anchor text to use.

However understand the concept, give the spiders what they want and remember when this happens it is because you are on a spibalance. You learn how many backlinks is enough by experience. Usually doing article submission to a hundred websites is enough. Directory submission less powerful so you may want to do more submissions than just a hundred, probably a thousand.

Article submission can be done using software. This should be done on regular basis, because it is not just good to get indexed but also to improve your rankings.

This is easy, the bottom line is the more backlinks you get the better. Then it depends on you and the amount of work you can do.

What is a domain name?

Millions of domain names have already been registered and finding the 'perfect' domain name will be tricky. Unless you have a deep pocket and bother to buy a very very brandable domain name, you'll have a hard time getting the best domain.

Here a a few things you need to consider when picking a domain name.

Branding and SEO

In business, branding is the representation of what a company or organization stands for. It is also the same for a websites.

Choose a domain that is well brandable - It should be conveniently easy to associate it with any product or service you are offering. For a blog, it should be very easy to connect your domain name and your content.

Your domain should be short and memorable - A very long domain may cause your readers to forget and the chances of word-of-mouth marketing gets lower. The easier people remember your site, the better.

Go with a .com domain name - People always assume that a website always has a .com extension. You probably know why I have the .org extension. (hint: the .net and .com versions have already been registered)

Choose a very 'typable' domain name - Imagine yourself typing, "forxchngtips4u.com". Ok, that's a bit sarcastic but you know what I mean.

Your domain should be unique - I cannot tell you how difficult it will be if you have a similar domain name with a popular website.

Although there are successful bloggers who have parodied famous domain names, I still believe that you should choose a unique domain name.

Have keywords in your domain name - Having your exact keywords in your domain name will help with search engine optimization.

Country specific domain extensions - If you are targeting a country specific audience it would be safe to register country specific domain name along with the domain name with the .com extension.

Hyphen-filled domain names - Domain names that have more than two hyphens may be regarded by users as spam sites and quickly forget about your website.

This short article discusses two ways in which smart operators are making money from the domain names of others. Neither method is, in my opinion, unethical and can lead to a sound income stream.

Introduction

Do you know what the one thing is that online businesses need, a topic that seems to occupy more space in ebooks, conferences,blogs and fora than any other topic?

If you said, "getting traffic", you are spot on. Traffic is obtained through a variety of ways including search engine optimization, linking, advertising, running competitions, blogging etc. But, as noted Internet marketer Ken Evoy reminds us, it's not simply traffic we need, it's targeted traffic. That is, traffic looking for our products or services.

This article discusses two ways in which you can leverage targeted traffic from other peoples' domain names.

Method One

Say for example you have an online mortgage brokerage operation. You are looking for a constant stream of people comparing mortgage fees and charges who might sign up with you and earn you your commission. However, your firm is small and most of your traffic comes from advertising, which is expensive, and referrals from existing customers. You know that there are numbers of large financial institutes in your region who provide mortgages and you'd like to tap in on some of their prospects.

Here's what you do for method one. Use a domain name identical with the domain they have, but change the suffix. For example, if the firm's URL is amazingbank DOT com, buy a domain called amazingbank DOT ws or with some other suffix that is legally acceptable to your country of registration. You will need to make sure the name is not a Trademark Registered Name which it is illegal for you to use and your domain name registration authority should advise you how to do that in your country.

Next, set up a redirect page on your site. This is a page in a sub-directory called index.html which, when loaded into a browser, redirects users to the home page (also called index.html) of your main business site. And guess what? Because your domain name is almost identical with the financial institution that gets all the traffic, you will get a good place in the search engines.

Numbers of people who do a search will click on your link that will highlight the word mortgages. Others will type the incorrect domain name leading to your domain, the redirection page and eventually your home page.

What will they see? A whole lot of information about your mortgages ... just what they were looking for.

Before you do this, it will be a good idea to check out the Google Page Rank of some of the sites in which you are interested. Do that by installing Google Toolbar (free from Google) and then visiting the site. Google Toolbar shows the Google Page Rank in the toolbar. The page rank refers to popularity. Obviously the more popular the site is, the better it will be for you to mimic.

Method Two

A variation on method one is this method that relies on people making typing mistakes. Instead of typing CNN DOT Com to visit the well known media site, a small percentage of people will type CNM DOT com. You provide a domain called CNM DOT Com and pick up some of the mistake makers. However, you do need to provide a product the same as the site you choose to imitate or else people won't stay long.

So, find a major player who sells the same or similar products or services to you and register a domain name similar to theirs.

Before you do that, visit Overture or use some other method eg, the free software program Good Keywords, to find out how many searches each month are made for the original site and the misspelled derivations. Choose a domain name that reflects the one people are mistakenly entering and every time they enter it they will get your site or any site to which you redirect them. It could even be an affiliate site or someone else's sales page.

Summary

Using either of these methods will increase your targeted traffic and because the traffic is targeted, many of your visitors will buy your goods or services. If you were starting from scratch and wanted to know what type of business to go into, you could research some existing, successful businesses and check out the common spelling mistakes people make. If there were numbers of common mistakes, you could create as many domain names (these are generally very cheap) and redirect all of them to your home page with just the right products or services people were looking for.

Every day there are hundreds of website owners who have purchased a domain name only to forget about it and then let it expire. For those investors who are well informed about such names they can snap these up and therefore capture a huge amount of existing traffic even though the site is considered to be brand new. This has resulted in a large number of owners of websites losing out and those who investing in such domain names to become richer.

All websites only survive if they have regular amounts of traffic being directed towards their site each day. So often when a site which has a memorable domain name and constant traffic going to it becomes available they will quickly be snapped up by some of the more savvy domain name investors around. Then often within a matter of days they have sold the domain name on for a profit.

Let us say for example a sit has become available which sells bridal gowns and other wedding paraphernalia but because the site is not user friendly or it has been poorly designed. Or because the products it is selling are over priced and has now done as well as the owner had expected so they have allowed the domain to expire.

When the domain does expire a smart person will be informed of this through the use of a domain watchdog service. These services will automatically advise their members of any domains which have become available that they are interested in immediately. Then once notification has been received they have the chance then to buy up this domain for no more than $6.95.

Within a matter of minutes you could find yourself being the owner of a site that has plenty of traffic being directed towards it. But what you will then need to do in order to generate cash flow for it is to build a new website page with a number of related ad links placed upon it. Doing this will help to better monetize any existing traffic that is being directed towards the site.

As time passes then you as the investor have the choice of either building up the site even further which will in turn help to generate more cash for you. Or you can simply choose to resell (flip) the side to another domain name investor, domain name broker or a person who is actually interested in owning the website for themselves.

Therefore if you have an old domain name which you are considering either retiring or flipping then the first place you should consider putting it up for sale is on eBay or a popular domain name auction service. Many people are actually pleasantly surprised at how much they have made by selling off a domain name using these particular services. On eBay alone there have been some very unusual domain names go up for sale and which have been sold for more than $500.

Ever wonder what the biggest SEO myths are? I have taken the most prevalent myths that seem to be constantly resurfacing and examined them for you. This is a must read for anyone looking to hire an SEO firm or someone looking to do SEO for themselves.

Myth #1 All meta tags are of equal importance
Some meta tags are useful while others are not. I have stated this many times. Search engines are relying more and more about what is on the website than what the tags are telling them. The description tag is used by some (but not all) search engines. The same goes for the keyword tag. Keyword tags are used more by spammers and people using software to find you as a link partner than the search engines. In my opinion, the only tags you should concentrate your efforts on are the robot tag and the description tags.

Myth # 2 You should submit your site to search engines weekly or monthly.Honestly, I never submit any site more than 1 time and sometimes I don't even do that. If you submit your site once, you're good. The engines will come back on their own. You can sometimes speed up the process of getting your site indexed by linking it to a high traffic or high PR site. The search engines will find the URL to your site and index it automatically.

Myth # 3 SEO is too expensive
Actually, SEO is probably the most cost effective form of online marketing. Organic SEO is cheaper to set up and maintain than a PPC campaign or banner advertising. With PPC and banner advertising, you pay for clicks or impressions. With SEO, all clicks are FREE. You simply pay for the set up and monitoring of your site's pages.

Myth # 4 PPC is more effective than natural SEO
In the short term...true. In the long term...false. Why, you ask? Organic SEO is preferred by traffic over 5 to 1 to PPC. People trust organic searches to return relevant results. People also know that the ads to the right of the page are sponsored ads. They have long ago figured out that anyone can bid on any term they want, as many often do, without even a hint of relevance. So, long term SEO structuring can indeed be more effective than PPC, especially when considering the preferences of search traffic. A top 5 ranking may take some time to get, but once you are there (and provided you can maintain it), you will get better results than from a PPC ad.

Myth # 5 Hiring an SEO specialist "in house" is cheaper
The problem with hiring someone in house is, they are paid hourly or by salary. Most SEO firms (Mr-SEO included), charge per item or project. It doesn't matter how long it takes us, you pay a one time charge. When you hire a firm, it's like having a team of SEO experts on your payroll. Paying a flat rate saves you money and speeds up the time it takes to complete a job. Additionally, most SEO firms (again, Mr-SEO Included) have specialists who write, submit, redesign sites, post pages, etc... Hiring one person who can do all these things competantly is highly unlikely.

Myth # 6 I can only optimize my homepage for keyterms
You can and should optimize every page on your site. Each page should have it's own keyterms, with no more than three phrases per page (preferrably one).

Myth # 7 All I need to do is write content with the correct keyword density and my site will rank well
Wrong...especially if you want to rank on Google. You will need off site SEO as well as onsite SEO. Keyword density may work on MSN (for now), but it will take more than that to rank well for all search engines.

Myth # 8 I shouldn't aim for the most competitive keywords and phrases
If the keywords you are competing for are very competitive, should you optimize your site for them? Of Course! I would optimize for some high, medium and low competitive keyterms. Cover all your bases. The worst case is that you won't rank well for the high competitive keyterms and that's ok. You can always work to improve them. Don't shy away from top keyterms just because they are competitive. You may never know how close you could rank for them unless you try.

Myth # 9 Only work with companies that give you a guarantee
Guarantees would be nice if they were worth the paper they are printed on. In fact, most guarantees from SEO firms have the same stipulation in them. This stipulation usually states that as long as they get one of your keyphrases to the top of any major search engines, they have fulfilled their end of the agreement. This is irrelevant to the competition of the term. In other words...it's easy to be number one for terms no one is competing for. Don't be deceived by high rankings listed on SEO sites as they can be misleading.

Myth # 10 SEO requires a 1 year commitment on my part
It certainly shouldn't. Don't lock yourself into a year contract with any company unless you already have an established, favorable business relationship. SEO, in most cases, should be performed on a month to month basis with a mutual understanding of the objectives and relative timetable. Often, both the long and short term maintenance contracts that many firms insist on including with each job are unnecessary. As an example...If you have a new site optimized, especially right after an update, you may not see results for three months. Why pay for maintenance in the interim time? Additionally, you may not be happy with the results of an SEO firm or even the level of service. A long term contract may only ensure that you receive a full year of bad service. So, don't lock yourself in with a year contract, at least until you are comfortable with who you are dealing with.

Hopefully, I put a few common SEO myths to rest. Feel free to contact me with questions you may have regarding these or other SEO myths you want more information on. If you post this article on your site you must link back!

How to get your pages out of Google's supplemental index - Mr SEO

There have been many inquires as to what supplemental listings are in Google
and why so many sites are effected. I put together this simple Q and A that
will help you find and correct problems your site may encounter with the
supplemental index.


What are supplemental results?

Supplemental results are Googles way of preventing questionable pages from
being found in the main index. Supplemental results are usually shown
after the main results. Supplemental results are crawled less and not
trusted by Google, which is why the are supplemental.


How do you know if any of your pages are in the supplemental?

Go to Google and use site:www.yoururl.Com. Look at all the urls of your
site. Supplemental results will indicate they are such next to the URL.


Can pages in the supplemental index rank on Google?

Yes, they can. But only if there aren't any other results available for the
phrase being searched.


What can cause a page to be added to the supplemental index and not the
main?

Supplemental status, the majority of the time, is something new sites
encounter. However, if you have given Google a reason not to trust your site or content, you can also be placed in the supplemental results. Any of the following can also cause you to hit the supplemental results:

Not enough content on the page
Duplicate content
Too many query strings in the URL
Orphaned pages... Pages not linked to any other inside your site
Titles and descriptions the same on every page
All links to your site are reciprocals and possibly to bad neighbors
A page that no longer exists may have an old cached version of itself in the
supplemental listings

Any of these alone or a combination of these can cause your pages to be in
the supplemental index. Keeping these factors in mind when creating pages
will help you avoid it. A good example of a site that is a prone target for
getting into the supplemental is an e-commerce sites. These site's generally
have have long query strings and are filled with duplicated product listings
on different pages.

Facts:

If you are in the supplemental, you are being crawled.
You are not in the main index.
You need to take action to get out of the supplemental index.

Once you have made the corrections, be patient. Google indexes supplemental
pages less. Working in backlinks to these pages may help. If you have any
other problems getting out of the supple

Blogs are a great tool. They allow you to add new, fresh content to your site. They are also a great way to build readership. Think about all the blogs you read. I'm sure that if you're reading this, you're also likely subscribed to a few or at least check them on a daily to weekly basis. Why? Is it because it is entertaining, informative or both? Blogs have been given a bad name because of splogs. Darren Rowse has a terrffic blog (http://www.problogger.net.) where he posts daily with tips for bloggers. Darren has discussed the "Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers", which consist of tips from highly successful bloggers who tell you what they do and make suggesstions as to what you should do.

So, how does all this help you get one way backlinks. Preferrably, you want people to link to you naturally. The best way to do that is to give them something worth linking to. Let's say I was an MS Office guru. My blog might be about relatively unknown tips and tricks on how to use MS office or for creating calenders and spreadsheets. Many people who work with MS office would be interested in that. They may like the tips so much that they list it on their blog or site.
What makes a good blog? Information? Yes! Consistency? Absolutely! However a great blog has to have its own style and flare. A blog that invites its readers to participate in the post is a golden rule. That's almost a guaranteed way to ensure that people will be coming back for more.

If you want to get traffic to your blog, one of the best ways is to leave comments on other blogs. Keep in mind, however, that it has to be done in a smart way. People can always tell when something is spam, so avoid being so obvious. Limit your posts to those blogs that are at least somewhat related to your blog. If a blog is about automobiles and you try to plug your aquarium business, you'll do more harm than good. Go to blogs that are related and take part in the discussion. The more informative and intellectual your comments are, the better chance your post will stay around long enough to be read. That is how you can start to build your readership. If you can convince people what you have to say is worth reading, they will come and read it.

Regardless of what you do to get people to your blog, the proof is always in the pudding. If you can't keep them coming back, all the advertising and work you put into creating traffic will mean nothing.

Linkbaiting is a big topic for discussion lately. Everyone wants and needs links. We can ask for links, buy links or create articles and submit them for one way links. Linkbaiting is about getting links without doing any of these. Linkbaiting is essentially baiting people in by creating something they want to link to. So, what could we use to bait people into linking to you?

Podcasting: Creating a podcast that discusses news, tips or information on your industry is great baiting tool. Making your podcast unique and consistent is the key to steady stream of new links.

What’s more important? Creating sites for users or the engines? The answer is both.

Primarily a site should be designed for the user, with search engines in mind. Google tends to talk out both sides of their mouth when they say, “Don’t do anything special for the engines”. Yet, they create a webmaster tool center where you can submit a sitemap, and get information about how the engines see your site, errors and what key phrases your site ranks for. That gives new site owners a little bit of confusion.

I like sites that are easy to navigate, pleasing to the eye and that help sell whatever it is you need to. Pages should be set up as landing pages. This way you can give the visitor everything they need to make a purchase or fill out a form. At the same time you can optimize these pages for the engines and use the pages for your PPC campaigns. I believe in doing sites this way. It brings the visitor a much better experience.

The perfect site is not only user friendly, but optimized for the engines. You need to target where people go to in order to provide them with the information or product they need. There is nothing worse than having people landing on a page that is optimized for a phrase but offers no information about it.. It brings the user a bad experience and you a missed sale or lead. Once you have a page optimized, you can streamline the transition from viewing what you have to offer to facilitating a purchase. You can also provide related content and links. This, in turn, will help with you PPC because Google is now checking to see how relevant your landing pages are to the keywords you buy.

In the grand scheme of things, you do need to optimize your site. However, if you do not have usability for the user, your traffic won’t convert. Non-converting traffic is worse than having no traffic at all. It’s a webmasters nightmare.