Monday, July 19, 2010
Google's Matt Cutts | How to Get Better Visibility on Google
USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham interviews Google engineer Matt Cutts on how to get your site to the top of Google with 5 basic, common sense SEO tips. Matt Cutts guests on the USA TODAY Talking Tech web video show. New episodes air weekly at http://tech.usatoday.com
Monday, May 17, 2010
Importance of Backlinks
Importance of Backlinks
Article reposted from Seo Traffic Spider (http://www.seotrafficspider.com/importancebacklinks.html)
"For an effective SEO strategy quality backlinks is important to increase website traffic and build link popularity."
If you have gained an insight into the SEO world, you would have come across the word “backlinks” several times. For those new to the SEO industry, you might wonder what backlinks are and how essential they are for the success of websites.
In short, a Backlink indicates a link from another site to your website. These are also known as inbound links and their number indicates the popularity of the website. Backlinks are considered as votes by search engines: more the number of votes (backlinks) your website has, and based on the importance of websites linking back to yours, your site is assigned a trust rank.
Backlinks today are an important part of the SEO process because when you build quality backlinks, your website stands a higher chance of getting indexed faster by the search engines. Also, from the long term perspective, it will help in boosting quality traffic to your site. Apart from this, building backlinks serves your bottom-line of website visibility by improving your page ranking and ultimately your ranking in the search engines.
Additionally, it is not just enough to have lots of backlinks, but, it’s also the quality of backlinks that helps in achieving a better ranking in search engines. When calculating the relevance of a website to a particular keyword, search engines usually take into consideration the number of quality backlinks to that website.
Search engines like Google give a lot of importance to websites that contain more number of quality backlinks and also consider those websites as more relevant when compared to others in search results.
A backlink is considered as a quality link if:
a) It links back to your site with the keyword which you are optimizing for.
b) The website linking back to yours has the same theme as your website – this means that when your website contains an inbound link from another site, and that site has content related to your website, this inbound link will be considered as more relevant to your website. However, if this inbound link comes from a site that is totally unrelated to your site content, then it is considered as a less relevant backlink. Therefore, higher the relevancy of backlinks, the greater will be their quality.
For instance, if you have a website about furniture and you receive an inbound link from another website also containing furniture, then this backlink will be considered more relevant and of higher quality when compared to a backlink from a florist website.
Today, search engines watch out for websites that build quality backlinks slowly over time. Though it is quite easy to maneuver links on webpage's in order to attain a high ranking, it is much tougher to manipulate search engines with inbound links from other sites. This is also one of the reasons for backlinks gaining increased importance in search engine algorithms. Recently, search engines assessment for quality backlinks has become even tougher as there are many webmasters out there who make use of unethical techniques and deceive search engines to attain a higher ranking. These techniques are not only illegitimate but can also lead to your site getting banned.
Lastly, building quality backlinks could be a very time consuming and tedious process requiring a lot of patience, efforts, and also funds. However, it is a crucial step in creating blogs or any website since the quality and relevancy of backlinks can determine the success or failure of the site. Therefore, it is very important that you prioritize this in your SEO activity and hire professional SEO experts to whom you can outsource this task and achieve a better search engine ranking.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Come Up With Memorable Domain Name Ideas
Reposted from Easily.co.uk on January 28, 2010
Original Article can be viewed at: http://easily.co.uk/blog/2010/01/come-up-with-memorable-domain-name-ideas/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=easily
What is in a domain name? Apparently many things, it is your internet identity, a marketing resource and it is where people will find you. As it is with a physical business address, more business comes to those who have addresses that are easy to find and remember; otherwise the potential customer will take their business to somewhere more convenient. So it is with domain names, they are very important addresses that web users use to find you. Your address has to be just right to reflect what your business is about and to attract traffic.
Lower level domain (LLD) names are very important, they can be the driving force that motivates web surfers to visit your site and influence search engine rankings. Creative thought should be placed to this endeavour.
Your name should be appealing and not too hard to spell, otherwise you may drive traffic away from your site. Hard to spell names and names with dashes or unusual spelling can be a deterrent to potential users. If you realise that your particular name is already in use and you want to differentiate with dashes, exercise caution while doing so, web users may not remember to put in the dashes and may visit your competitor instead. So my-name.com will probably not be a good domain name idea if myname.com is already taken.
Another option, if your name is already taken, is to shorten your company name but make sure that it is catchy and conveys your business idea. So if bricklayers.com is already taken you could consider bricklay.com. Another great idea for a domain name is to include key words that your audience may be searching for, so if your business is about pets, a great idea would be to include ‘pet’ in your domain name e.g. petsrus, petfood, petnames. As part of the ranking process search engines will often credit words in the domain name. So if your domain name includes popular keywords that your target audience is searching for, you will have that added advantage.
If you are starting a new business, a good idea is to research popular keywords. This will help you to analyse what names you can register before you brand your new business. This takes the hassle out of the process of registering your business first and then finding that your domain name is already taken.
After you have put much thought into both your top level name and your lower level name, and you’ve paid attention to your spelling and what you want your name to convey about your business to web users, you may want to search that someone else hasn’t beaten you to registering the name. If no one has, then congratulations, you now need to register your domain name through an accredited domain registrar or your ISP provider.
There are many reputable companies that offer domain registration services; a simple search for such services will reveal many options. You can either use your name instantly or ‘park’ (reserve) it until you are ready to use it.
Original Article can be viewed at: http://easily.co.uk/blog/2010/01/come-up-with-memorable-domain-name-ideas/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=easily
What is in a domain name? Apparently many things, it is your internet identity, a marketing resource and it is where people will find you. As it is with a physical business address, more business comes to those who have addresses that are easy to find and remember; otherwise the potential customer will take their business to somewhere more convenient. So it is with domain names, they are very important addresses that web users use to find you. Your address has to be just right to reflect what your business is about and to attract traffic.
Lower level domain (LLD) names are very important, they can be the driving force that motivates web surfers to visit your site and influence search engine rankings. Creative thought should be placed to this endeavour.
Your name should be appealing and not too hard to spell, otherwise you may drive traffic away from your site. Hard to spell names and names with dashes or unusual spelling can be a deterrent to potential users. If you realise that your particular name is already in use and you want to differentiate with dashes, exercise caution while doing so, web users may not remember to put in the dashes and may visit your competitor instead. So my-name.com will probably not be a good domain name idea if myname.com is already taken.
Another option, if your name is already taken, is to shorten your company name but make sure that it is catchy and conveys your business idea. So if bricklayers.com is already taken you could consider bricklay.com. Another great idea for a domain name is to include key words that your audience may be searching for, so if your business is about pets, a great idea would be to include ‘pet’ in your domain name e.g. petsrus, petfood, petnames. As part of the ranking process search engines will often credit words in the domain name. So if your domain name includes popular keywords that your target audience is searching for, you will have that added advantage.
If you are starting a new business, a good idea is to research popular keywords. This will help you to analyse what names you can register before you brand your new business. This takes the hassle out of the process of registering your business first and then finding that your domain name is already taken.
After you have put much thought into both your top level name and your lower level name, and you’ve paid attention to your spelling and what you want your name to convey about your business to web users, you may want to search that someone else hasn’t beaten you to registering the name. If no one has, then congratulations, you now need to register your domain name through an accredited domain registrar or your ISP provider.
There are many reputable companies that offer domain registration services; a simple search for such services will reveal many options. You can either use your name instantly or ‘park’ (reserve) it until you are ready to use it.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Creative Twitter Uses: TweetTracker Map
I recently ran across two fun articles that listed creative uses for Twitter. The first, 10 Examples of Creative Twitter Uses and the follow up article, 10 MORE Examples of Creative Twitter Uses written by a company called Search Engine Marketing Group. Both of these blog posts contain interesting and sometimes even amusing utilizations for marketing tactics via Twitter.
For those of you just getting into the social networking scene, Twitter is a free social networking and status update service that enables its users to post and view messages known as tweets which has been gaining daily popularity exponentially. Twitter's core functionality is simply a way for a company, group, organization or individual to comment on their passing musings or microblog about their daily details. However, with any great utility it ultimately inspires creative reinvention. The Twitter service it seems has become a muse.
On reflection, I decided to share some of my recent finds from across the globe of other creative uses for Twitter.
TweetTracker Map:
Stamen Design, a San Francisco based design and technology studio, that has been developing some truly innovative interactive projects is responsible for the TweetTracker map that displays recent tweets about Hope For Haiti Now and mentions of Haiti from around the world displayed from MTV's website. The animated map serves as a powerful visual representation on global awareness and as a creative way to showcase the essence of viral conversation globally using data from Twitter posted tweets.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Written by Jaime Palmer, Website and Creative Director for Black Kat Studio on February 3, 2010.
For those of you just getting into the social networking scene, Twitter is a free social networking and status update service that enables its users to post and view messages known as tweets which has been gaining daily popularity exponentially. Twitter's core functionality is simply a way for a company, group, organization or individual to comment on their passing musings or microblog about their daily details. However, with any great utility it ultimately inspires creative reinvention. The Twitter service it seems has become a muse.
On reflection, I decided to share some of my recent finds from across the globe of other creative uses for Twitter.
TweetTracker Map:
Stamen Design, a San Francisco based design and technology studio, that has been developing some truly innovative interactive projects is responsible for the TweetTracker map that displays recent tweets about Hope For Haiti Now and mentions of Haiti from around the world displayed from MTV's website. The animated map serves as a powerful visual representation on global awareness and as a creative way to showcase the essence of viral conversation globally using data from Twitter posted tweets.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Written by Jaime Palmer, Website and Creative Director for Black Kat Studio on February 3, 2010.
Monday, November 23, 2009
How to Start Driving Traffic to a New Website
How to Start Driving Traffic to a New Website
Posted by Nicole Levin on Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 08:51 AM
Reposted from: http://www.matchedmarketing.com/Blog/bid/23623/How-to-Start-Driving-Traffic-to-a-New-Website
Admit it, you're pretty proud of your new website and you CAN'T WAIT to show it off! You probably spent days (or even months) designing it just how you imagined it would someday look, and now that is looks absolutely fantastic, you are ready for the world to see it. So how exactly do you make sure your target audience knows it's out there? If you've been learning about search engine optimization (SEO) then you know that it takes time to have your site indexed (listed) by the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing), and even more time before your website has built enough authority to appear at the top of a keyword search. But you've already spent too much time designing the site and you don't have any more time left to waste before you need the sales to come in...you need to get ahead of the competition today! Luckily, there is something you can do for a quick result. You can buy your way to the top.
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a great option for a new website for many reasons:
Even if you haven't earned your placement organically yet, you can still compete by purchasing ad space that will put you at the top of the search engine list.
Developing PPC campaigns will also help you to do some research on what keywords perform the best for you. This is because with each PPC campaign you run, you will have access to a report that will show you what keywords were typed into a search engine and resulted in someone clicking on your ad. Having that information will empower you to create new content and ads that are more targeted for your audience and takes the guess work out.
Visits you get to your site not only help build awareness of your company, but they also build the number of page views your site attracts which is a factor considered for organic rankings.
If you're going to give PPC a try, remember to keep these things in mind:
Make sure the ad you create relates closely to the keywords you are choosing for your listing (i.e. a keyword of “florida hotels” would closely relate to an ad about “vacations in Florida”). The closer they are related, the more google will like your ad. This will help your ad to rank higher for your chosen keywords even if you are paying less per-bid than the next ad.
Create several unique ads to see which works better to drive more traffic. Be sure to follow the keyword matching options of “exact match,” “broad match,” “phrase match,” or “negative match.”
Drive clicks from your ad to a landing page that contains a form. Visitors that complete the form will help you to realize which keywords are attracting the right leads for your business, and it gives you an opportunity to build a contact database.
Monitor your ads closely! When you set a budget for your ads, be sure to watch daily to see how they are performing. You may think a certain amount is enough for your ad placement only to find your entire budget exhausted in one day. Make sure to set a limited for what you are willing to spend per month.
While pay-per-click advertising is a great option for a new site, you should also aim to eliminate your PPC spending by increasing your rank for keywords organically. Spend even more time implementing on-page and off-page SEO tactics to help you save your money on PPC. But until then, enjoy the opportunity to beat the competition by putting your new site at the top of the list!
Posted by Nicole Levin on Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 08:51 AM
Reposted from: http://www.matchedmarketing.com/Blog/bid/23623/How-to-Start-Driving-Traffic-to-a-New-Website
Admit it, you're pretty proud of your new website and you CAN'T WAIT to show it off! You probably spent days (or even months) designing it just how you imagined it would someday look, and now that is looks absolutely fantastic, you are ready for the world to see it. So how exactly do you make sure your target audience knows it's out there? If you've been learning about search engine optimization (SEO) then you know that it takes time to have your site indexed (listed) by the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing), and even more time before your website has built enough authority to appear at the top of a keyword search. But you've already spent too much time designing the site and you don't have any more time left to waste before you need the sales to come in...you need to get ahead of the competition today! Luckily, there is something you can do for a quick result. You can buy your way to the top.
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a great option for a new website for many reasons:
Even if you haven't earned your placement organically yet, you can still compete by purchasing ad space that will put you at the top of the search engine list.
Developing PPC campaigns will also help you to do some research on what keywords perform the best for you. This is because with each PPC campaign you run, you will have access to a report that will show you what keywords were typed into a search engine and resulted in someone clicking on your ad. Having that information will empower you to create new content and ads that are more targeted for your audience and takes the guess work out.
Visits you get to your site not only help build awareness of your company, but they also build the number of page views your site attracts which is a factor considered for organic rankings.
If you're going to give PPC a try, remember to keep these things in mind:
Make sure the ad you create relates closely to the keywords you are choosing for your listing (i.e. a keyword of “florida hotels” would closely relate to an ad about “vacations in Florida”). The closer they are related, the more google will like your ad. This will help your ad to rank higher for your chosen keywords even if you are paying less per-bid than the next ad.
Create several unique ads to see which works better to drive more traffic. Be sure to follow the keyword matching options of “exact match,” “broad match,” “phrase match,” or “negative match.”
Drive clicks from your ad to a landing page that contains a form. Visitors that complete the form will help you to realize which keywords are attracting the right leads for your business, and it gives you an opportunity to build a contact database.
Monitor your ads closely! When you set a budget for your ads, be sure to watch daily to see how they are performing. You may think a certain amount is enough for your ad placement only to find your entire budget exhausted in one day. Make sure to set a limited for what you are willing to spend per month.
While pay-per-click advertising is a great option for a new site, you should also aim to eliminate your PPC spending by increasing your rank for keywords organically. Spend even more time implementing on-page and off-page SEO tactics to help you save your money on PPC. But until then, enjoy the opportunity to beat the competition by putting your new site at the top of the list!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Black Kat Is All About Teamwork
Over the years we have tried many project management softwares and none have been a good fit for our users and style of business. Teamwork, work management software, and winner of the 17th Annual Productivity Award, offers a web-based sharing space that allows us to manage multiple projects, their shifting deadlines and constant communication with ease, while documenting the entire process easily for users of varying levels.
Some of Teamwork’s features include:
• Each Project is structured as a task tree
• Each task can be assigned to users (resources)
• Active work log recording
• Cost Control
• Personal dashboards for users
• Project support for milestones, dependencies, issue tracking, scope creep and more.
• Microsoft Project import/export functionality
Teamwork software allows us to keep track of your project and deliver on it deadline.
Want to know more, check out: http://www.twproject.com/
Some of Teamwork’s features include:
• Each Project is structured as a task tree
• Each task can be assigned to users (resources)
• Active work log recording
• Cost Control
• Personal dashboards for users
• Project support for milestones, dependencies, issue tracking, scope creep and more.
• Microsoft Project import/export functionality
Teamwork software allows us to keep track of your project and deliver on it deadline.
Want to know more, check out: http://www.twproject.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
