Friday 27 March 2009

Search Engine Optimization Do's and Don'ts

The simple rule of thumb is that content matters. Google and other search engines base their query results on website content. If the content isn't there, neither is the high ranking. Plus, it's always good to be on top! Put your most relevant keywords and search terms in the title, description, and first few lines of your website text and content. However, Google will penalize your site if you overload it with irrelevant keywords or hidden search terms. Also, Google is a stickler about the rules. They make the rules and if you want to improve search rankings then you MUST play by them. Here are some guidelines:

DO'S

1. Make your website easy to navigate. Have a plan for your page hierarchy and make sure your links are clearly defined.

2. Create a site-map so to insure quick and accurate indexing of your websites pages.

3. Come up with essential and precise keywords. Use them as link anchor text. If you have a blog, use them as the "category" titles and in your individual post titles.

4. Make sure plain text image tags use your relevant keywords as well. Search engines only index plain text tags and not keywords or text embedded in image files.

5. Make sure you have no broken links.

6. Make sure your HTML tags are accurate.

7. The "robots.txt" file should be updated and accurate and not block the Google Crawler Bot.

DON'Ts

1. Do not put irrelevant content on your website as a way to improve search engine rankings. It will do the opposite. All keywords and content must be related and add value to the search.

2. Avoid tricks and "link schemes" designed to improve search engine rankings. They don't work and many are just a way for someone else to make money.

3. Do not include "hidden links" or hidden text."

4. Do not send automated queries. Websites should be manually submitted to search engines for optimum results.

5. Do not create "doorway pages" filled with repetitive content that are used to push users to an affiliate program or other sales page.

If you want to improve search engine rankings start with these simple guidelines. Search engine optimization is not an exact science and the rules are constantly changing. However, the list of "do's" and "don't" above will never change.


Useful Link:

Search Engine Marketing service

Factors You Need To Know About Search Engine Marketing

If you were to talk with a search engine marketing counselor, they would have certain tips to give you. There are many websites these days are not optimized for the search engines. This is important because if you do not have a website which is optimized and shows up in search engine results, you cannot get traffic to your website without having to buy it and this gets expensive.

If you are concerned about how your website shows up in websites, you may inquire about search engine marketing services. These services will usually focus their scrutiny upon three main areas: incoming links, your content, and your keywords. These are factors which are important for the search engines and will result in your website being placed higher in results if you focus on these propositions. This article will talk more about this.

The first of the six aspects a search engine marketing services company will examine is competitive analysis. This is done to see how your website stacks up against the competition along with which companies are in the top ten results and why they are there.

The second component often examined is keyword research. This is used to determine competition for keywords and how you can make sure you are receiving as much traffic for various keywords as you can.

A search engine marketing consultant will also examine page optimization of your website. This is all-important because your website will have a set of different keywords and certain keywords are used for certain pages.

Search engine marketing services companies place great emphasis on site usability. Without a site that is easy to get around, your audience will become disenchanted and exit your site quickly which is not good for your business.

Off page optimization such as link building is the next area which will be focused on by search engine marketing services companies. Link building is important because this is a factor in search engine rankings.

You can also think about using paid search engine marketing such as Adwords. This is an option some search engine marketing consultants will recommend because you can get your website in front of your audience faster than organic search engine marketing optimization efforts.

Can you not see the significance of these operations if you were a search engine marketing consultant? There are established steps that must be done to develop a highly successful website and this website covers many of those steps. Be sure to use these to maximize your website's chances for success.


Useful Link:

Search Engine Marketing service

What You Need To Know Before You Begin Searching For Any Business For Sale

Entrepreneurship doesn't come without risks, and the needs to maximize the security of the investment is to get proof that the business for sale that you want to purchase is operational and profitable.

There is a price to pay when you make a buy a successful business for sale; the costs are a lot higher than if the company would have been on the verge of bankruptcy. Moreover, it takes more out of the pocket to buy a business than to actually start it.

The real process behind such a transaction has very complex mechanisms that have to be checked and investigated so that no problems occur.

Before looking for any business for sale, it is important to know what you want. How much do you know about that business?

Can you be totally committed to it? Can you handle difficult situations without losing your temper? Can you handle the financial risk that comes with the purchase of a business for sale?

Analyze all the arguments for and against the purchase and even ask for some expert opinion. Some people just need a business for sale to practice a hobby in the spare time or after retirement, others want to give a kick to their competition and last but not least, many entrepreneurs are simply after an opportunity to get in control of their destiny.

The next step to take is to check several sources where you can find a good business for sale. Consider the necessity of relocation, in case the business activity is carried on in another city you should either change your home or move the business; the owner's relocation or the transfer of business to a different site therefore remain important decision making factors.

The first place to look for a business is in newspaper classifieds as they are one way to identify a business for sale in large metropolitan areas.

Another viable source of information comes from brokerage newsletters and all sorts of publications. If you want a professional opinion for the purchase of a business, then brokers are the specialists to talk to. Sometimes, if the entrepreneur is not satisfied with anything in the offer, other brokerage agencies are contacted. In fact the circulation of the business listings among brokers is nothing new or restricted.

Useful Link:

Online Business-Start & Learn for free

Fundamentals of Free Online Coupons for First Time Users

The reason people enjoy shopping online is because you can comparison shop; select your products on your time; locate specific items; and purchases are delivered to your home.

Online coupons are an aspect of online shopping that all online shoppers should know about. This article explains the basics about getting free online coupons and using them to the best advantage. Many online shoppers have used a promo code, but some of them may not know how to search and find free coupons online.

Printable coupons that resemble traditional paper coupons that you print them from your computer and redeem them in-store and coupon codes also known as promotion codes that are used only for online shopping, there are two basic types of Internet coupons. Some of the specialty coupon websites will send the coupons to you in the mail. Some grocery store websites and discount websites even let you download coupons electronically directly to your grocery store shopping card.

Top places to look for online coupons:

* You can visit a company's website to find coupons for specific things that you may want to buy from a particular company. There are some manufacturers, Procter & Gamble as an example, who offer printable coupons that you can redeem in-store and there are others who will email you their coupons. Simply type the name of the product you need in your Google or Yahoo search bar.

* The second place to look for online coupons is retail store websites. But you can also find printable coupons, coupons found on these sites are especially useful if you are shopping online. Online coupons are issued by Target, Walmart and Kohl's and other big retailers that can also be used while buying household products.

* Store coupons, of course, offer discounts at specific stores. If you are looking for a product coupon, enter specific search terms, in quotes, such as "online toilet paper coupons" in your search bar.

To find these, use appropriate keywords in your search bar, online coupon websites. If you type in "free printable coupons" or free coupon deals" you will get a website that offers printable coupons, promo codes, and discounts as well. A great way to get online coupons is to visit a legitimate coupon website, because they a many different kinds of coupons and this will make it easy for you to see different product coupons in one place. Deciding which of the many coupon websites to use depends largely on your personal taste, but it is always helpful to consider the following:

- Whether the website keeps coupons up-to-date and well-organized.

- If the website says that the coupons offered will be acceptable to security guidelines.

- You are required to provide, the kind of personal information.

You can also find out the excellent coupon deals by visiting the forums of coupon savers, newsgroups and various internet communities. Websites like coupon forum. Others let you share coupons with others on the Internet and exchange information on specific discounts or online coupons.

You will quickly learn where to access the coupons that will provide you with the best savings, and whether you shop online or offline, the Internet is an excellent source for coupons. Below are a few tips on how to make best use of online coupons:You will quickly learn where to access the coupons that will provide you with the best savings, and whether you shop online or offline, the Internet is an excellent source for coupons. Below are a few tips on how to make best use of online coupons: Make sure to create a separate email address account for this purpose and if you expect to receive coupons in your inbox.

* To make sure you can use them your area and check the zip codes on printable coupons.

* Always check the expiration date of you coupons.

* Always use reputable online coupon websites and, once you have found coupon websites you like, bookmark them for easy access.

* Always read the terms and conditions of the coupons.

* If you use a coupon that is printed, take the whole sheet of paper to the store so they can see the name of the website it came from.

* For maximum savings, look out for coupons that allow multiple discount codes and promotions and remember to pair coupons with sale prices.



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FREE audio & web conferencing coupon

Child Internet Safety: What You Should Know

We all know that the net is filled with data, most of it good and accurate, and some of it is utter scrap. Since the net is bit by bit growing to be a storehouse of usable and trusted information, you need to be worried about the safety of your child while he or she is on the world wide web. These resources are great for young people researching for their homework, but the world wide web can be a dangerous place for youngsters.

The biggest danger for minors surfing the net is that they might chance upon material unsuitable for them. With one misspelled word typed into a search engine, your youngsters could easily become exposed to adult or violent material. People are always talking about youngsters net safety issues and you could start immediately to offer protection to your child as he scans the net.

Parents are the first people who must offer the necessary security to the child and for this you should always keep a vigil on the child as he spends time on the computer. Just make sure that the child is using the net for reasons which have been approved by parents, like searching for information to do homework or chatting with friends. In case you find that your youngsters is talking to somebody online, ask him to reveal his identity, and if he or she is a stranger, then you need to limit his net usage.

Many web browsers come with the system of parental blocks for several Internet sites so in case you want to prevent your child from visiting any site, clamp a parental block on such Internet sites so that they can never view these websites. There are several types of on-line tools which can help you keep your kid from visiting adult and unsuitable websites. It is even possible to find programs that will allow you to monitor your child's activities on-line. This gives you the guarantee that your child is working on the net according to what is good for him and what he has promised you that he would be doing.

Internet safety laws are currently in place to protect your youngsters as well. If there is anyone out there seeking to collect your youngsters's personal information, that person can get into serious trouble with the federal authorities. Ask your kids to be cautious about shelling out personal info to anyone, even when the person is known to the youngsters well.

One of the bet options is to get familiar with the accompanying tools which are tagged with your computer and this way you could block a lot of unsavory info from your youngsters as they use the computer. You will also want to learn about software programs specifically designed to block offensive Internet sites. The websites and programs that your youngsters uses, such as social networking sites, email programs, and chat programs are especially important to know about.

Make sure that you take the simple precautions to help children stay out of trouble like keeping the computer in a general area of the house, forbid children to take part in a chat room, and talk to your child often about net safety. If there is frank and free communication between you and your youngster, you would soon find that the kids are open to your suggestions and views regarding their safety.

The Advantages Of Using Online Conference Calls

Nowadays both individuals and companies have a lot of choices when it comes to making conference calls. They can, of course, take the traditional route here and make an audio conference call via telephones, take up the option of video conferencing or look at online conferencing as an option.

Given that even the smallest business has access to fairly powerful computers, state of the art technology and a robust Internet connection nowadays it's hardly a surprise that many of us are choosing online conference calling options to meet our needs here. This can simply be the cheapest, quickest and easiest way to communicate with other people without getting them all together in one room.

Like any kind of conference calling, online conference calls allow you to bring together a group of people no matter where they are located in the world. So, you could have a single conference call that involves people in your town, in your country and even in other continents.

As you can appreciate the biggest advantage here is cost. If you can bring together 5 people from different areas or companies in an online conference then you will be saving the costs of them all traveling to the meeting in the first place. You can also save on time costs here as well -- the less time people are away from their desk/offices, the more time they can concentrate on their work.

Another of the big advantages of online conference calling is that the people participating in this kind of call do not need access to a range of expensive and highly specialized equipment. In its simplest terms an online call here simply needs each participant to have access to a computer with a microphone and loudspeakers and an Internet connection.

And, you can add elements of 'real' meetings here by adding a web camera or other form of video conferencing. This allows participants of the meeting to actually see and talk to each other in real time giving them virtually all of the advantages of meeting face to face. It is also possible to record/transcribe online conference calls relatively easily which can make it easier to record meetings for future reference.

More complex online conferencing options really can take conference calls on to another dimension into the bargain. You can, for example, use this kind of conference call to have a 'real-time' meeting where everyone is online at once. Or, you can use it to set up longer term conference calls where people participate at various times on a specific conference forum or topic.

Online conference calling also allows you to use specific software packages as part of your call. So, for example, all participants can access slides and see projections, presentations and charts at the same time. In some cases you can even set up interactivity for the call which allows people to use virtual 'whiteboards' to put down their thoughts or to outline options. All in all these kinds of conference calls can be just as effective (if not more) than traditional meetings and conferences.


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Wordpress or Blogger - How To Get The Right Blogging Platform

Choosing the right blogging platform is very important when you start a blog. It is as if you are finding the right car for perfect driving experience. With so many platforms available, there is no doubt that each and every one of the platforms will allow you to achieve your goal but then again some of the platforms are better than the others. You need a reliable platform if you are serious about blogging.

The first kinds of blogging platforms are the free versions of popular software. Blogger.com is the one that is owned by Google and it's very easy to use and completely free. The only issue is that you don't really own your blog as it is hosted by Blogger. While the software is great, you're pretty much out of luck if they decide to pull the plug on you.

Another free version blogging platform would be Wordpress.com. Just like Blogger, Wordpress.com is totally free and your blog is hosted on Wordpress.com. The only problem is you cannot place advertisements in the blogs that are hosted on Wordpress.com or else, Wordpress would delete those blogs without notifications. Be sure to read through the rules and regulations before you start a blog on Wordpress.

As you can probably tell, it is generally a better idea to self-host your blog so you have total control over it. As you start getting good traffic you'll definitely want to ensure that there is nothing anyone can do to take your blog away. Setting up a free hosted blog is like putting all your eggs in one basket, and that's never a smart idea. Of course that doesn't mean you can't set one up that is secondary and meant to help you get backlinks.

Hosted blogs are much better for most people. One of the oldies but goodies is the Moveable Type software. You do have to pay for this, but many people think it's worth it. It's a very powerful way to blog.

You can also try Wordpress.org that is available for free. You host the blog on your own server but you use Wordpress.org blogging platform to manage your blog. It is easy to use and the most popular blogging platform apart from Movable Type.

There is a huge community set up based around Wordpress. You can find plugins to help you with SEO, to run a membership site, to backup for you, to sell eBay items, and a lot more! There are also an incredible number of themes you can choose from to make the blog completely your own.

Have you decided which one to use for your blog? Wordpress is possibly the best if you want to earn money blogging. Besides, you get everything you need with Wordpress. It takes a short time to set up and blog so you can run your blog instantly.

It is also important to note that most tutorials written in the IM arena are focused on Wordpress. It seems to be the gold standard for bloggers, and you might want to select it if only to avoid the hassle of trying to learn another system that not many people use.

How Do I Start Blogging?

Presently, we can unquestionably say that online communications are in all likelihood the most successful and effective ones all over the world; they save money, time, while also allowing transactions, commercial ads and even business administration. Blogging is part of this general trend of adding everything on the web, regardless of whether we are discussing about business, hobbies or personal stuff. There are some beginner guidelines that go at the foundation of any blogs; therefore, we could say that you need the ABC of blogging before really start to enjoy it. The most significant thing for the entry of the blog is the purpose:what am I going to blog about?

There are some people who choose to create a blog on by themselves, whens others select to pay for some professional person to set things rolling. The first thing, before begining the actual blogging project, you'll need to make up a detailed plan in which to include: objectives, investment with the analysis of money and earnings, targeted audience, blog updates and administration and monitoring tools. Blogging is a very approachable thing to do for both business and personal reasons, nevertheless, its real value is visible when it brings in relevant audience.

There are all sorts of issues you need to take into consideration; search for special software that helps you track the best keywords you should include in the articles posted on the blog! This means of attracting the audience by identifying the keywords that are the highest in demand goes hand in hand with special devices that help one evaluate the keyword operation over a specific period of time. Therefore, all Internet users interested in blogging, especially business owners who use blogs for promotinal campaigns, need to learn as many SEO secrets as they can, since they have to optimize not just the blog content as such but the ads that will show up on it as well.

Another crucial thing when begining a blog is the content; keep in mind that the best sites of this kind are the ones with highly interesting information. Search engines love great content and visitors lurk more on your blog as well if the content, the videos or the pictures are catchy. For those bloggers who are also running their business online, words of advice here is the combination of informational articles and e-news letters. The users that subscribe to your blog should be offered all sorts of promotions and special contests to keep the interest alive. More such tricks can be learned if you take the time to learn something on Internet marketing, it could mean a great deal for any new blogger.

Save Money on SEO for Your Small Business Website

Some people are frightened of search engine optimization. Maybe it's just that so many small business owners, especially those still in start up mode are overworked already. And because it sounds so alien and they're pressed for time, they don't get around to investigating search engine optimization for there websites. It's a shame really because it is totally necessary and not really all that hard to do.

One of the biggest problems facing new website owners when they actually choose to try and take a look at what SEO can do for them is that there are so many companies competing in the SEO market it's hard to get a straight answer on anything. Everyone is trying to carve out their own unique market niche and in doing so they muddy the waters about what needs to be done and when. By the time you've been pitched by a half dozen of them - and believe me they will find you, it's almost impossible to figure out where to start.

The many different SEO service providers will all go about it in different ways. A big part of each presentation will be to demonstrate that they have the best approach - usually presented as the ONLY viable approach and since so few small business owners have any idea what they're talking about, they can pretty much say whatever they want. So you can be told that press releases are all you need, or totally useless, maybe you should blog - or maybe not and now that social networking is enjoying its 15 minutes of fame the companies who specialize in it claim that everything that went before it is now a waste of time. The conflicting input can freeze you in your tracks.

But since you need a place to start, make it keywords. These are the words or the combinations of words that your customers will enter into the search query that " eventually, will lead them to your business. So, what would you type into the search engine if you wanted to buy the product or service you're selling and sorry " it won't be the name of your business. You've probably already given this some thought when you were trying to decide if there was a market demand for your business idea.

Your keywords ( and most will be phrases- not single words) need to be those that people are already using. I've found that if you search carefully you should be able to find a range of phrases from 5,000 maybe if you're lucky up to about 25-30 thousand monthly searches, but be happy with 3-4 phrases per main page that average about 12,000 searches per month each. At the most basic identification of the level of competition for the phrase you'll want to have less that 300,000 pages returned in a search for your keyword phrase and be sure to wrap it in quotation marks when you're doing your estimates.

Different pages in your site need different levels of search volume to be successful. Your biggest phrases - the ones with more than 50,000 monthly searches will probably be for your home page, because your home page is the broadstroke sweep of everything you sell - and lets be honest - it's going to take you a while to get anywhere on the really big searches and competitive terms. But as you look at the categories of products or services you sell- for instance if you're selling patio furniture your categories might be wicker, wood, teak, wrought iron....those more targeted terms will have smaller search volumes and less competition- until you get right down to the products themselves.

There will be a hierarchy of keywords and phrases for your site - hopefully all of them will be buying terms. Going back to patio furniture the first thing that might come to mind is "backyard". But backyard is not a buying term - its so broad that its almost meaningless. But the heirarchy will dictake that the broader the interest of any single page the bigger the main search terms will be and as you move into your site and your information and/or your products become progressively more focussed, so too will the keywords you use to position those pages on the web. Just remember, you're going to have lots of keywords, not 1 or 2, but depending on the size of your site anything from 12 to 40 main phrases and literally dozens of variations and long tails. And if it all looks like too much to keep straigh, just pull back from it for a minute and focus on picking the words page, by page. In spite of saying that you want people to find your site, the don't need to find the whole thing - just one page of it!

WordPress SEO Tips To Higher Rankings

WordPress is an excellent blogging platform. WordPress itself is a pretty well structured and optimized. It does a good job at allowing every single page to be indexed by search engines easily.

However it can still be improved further to get higher rankings in search engines. Here are 5 simple yet important SEO tips.

1. Optimize Permalink Structure

There are some debate which permalink structure is the best for SEO. Whichever you choose you must include the title of the post within the URL. It is no point in creating keyword rich titles if they don't actually show up in the URL.

2. Create Keyword Rich Post Titles

The 2nd tip is to create keyword rich post titles for every post. The keywords must be relating to the content that you have written. It is important that you make the title interesting to attract people clicking on it.

3. Include Meta Description Tag

Meta description is one of the important element in SEO process. Basically it is allowing you to control the words appear in search engine result pages. Usually it is a summary for your content with keywords included.

4. Generate XML Sitemaps

XML sitemaps is essential for search engines to know how many content in your blog. It doesn't help your search engine rankings but it helps search engines to index your web pages.

5. Optimize Your Post Content

The last tip is to optimize your content with your targeting keywords. The keywords should be repeated several times in your post, such as beginning, middle and the end of the post.