SEO Blog

The Next Big Shift In Web Marketing

2009-05-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

The article is about how the internet appears to be going through its next big shift. It is moving towards becoming a stream of immediate information. The web is being organized by "nowness"
This real-time stream has been building for a while. It began with RSS, but is now so much stronger and swifter, encompassing not just periodic news and musings but constant communication, status updates, instantly shared thoughts, photos, and videos.
I thought the article gives us a compelling way to think about this shift:
First and foremost what emerges out of this is a new metaphor — think streams vs. pages. In the initial design of the web reading and writing (editing) were given equal consideration - yet for fifteen years the primary metaphor of the web has been pages and reading. The metaphors we used to circumscribe this possibility set were mostly drawn from books and architecture (pages, browser, sites etc.). Most of these metaphors were static and one way. The steam metaphor is fundamentally different. It’s dynamic; it doesn’t live very well within a page and still very much evolving. A stream, A real time, flowing, dynamic stream of information — that we as users and participants can dip in and out of and whether we participate in them or simply observe we are a part of this flow.
But isn't this just social media marketing? We've known about that for a long time now. Yes. But the concept of "nowness" and immediacy give us a great way to make sense of it, and a better understanding of how to make it work for us.
One of the criticisms we often hear about search engines is that a lot of the information is outdated. Google has tried to address this problem by focusing on sources such as Wikipedia, that have a community of updaters, or pointing you towards news content, if your search is time dependent, or allowing you to sort by date. Search is also rather anonymous, as opposed to personal.
The appeal of Facebook/Twitter is that they provide an immediacy of information. There is a constant flow, updated often. They also provide this information in the context of a trusted filter i.e. your friend network. That's a big shift in how information will be accessed, especially as more and more people come to view the web from this perspective.
If the web is indeed a place, it is starting to look less like a library, and more like a river.

What Does This All Mean For The SEO?
It means SEOs will need to think more about what traffic is, where it comes from, and how to hook it.
Look at where people are spending their time. Increasingly, it isn't on web pages or sites. It's within a trusted channel that provides a flow of information. So a site owner needs to think about how to direct these streams towards a site, and make sure people hang around long enough to buy what the site owner is selling before they move on.
Obviously, search engines aren't going to disappear. Nor are people going to stop publishing web pages. Nor are they going to stop visiting web pages. But what are the characteristics of social media activity, and how does it differ from search visitor activity?
I think the main characteristics of this channel are immediacy, the fleeting visit, trust, relevancy, and remarkable-ness.
So:
• Encourage user registration on your site to help lock people in
• Offer time-limited membership deals
• Offer forums, tools, multiple content formats, and other interactive elements that mimic the appealing aspects of social media
• Be unique, memorable and remarkable so people talk about you to their friends
• Go niche. Me-too and generalist is unremarkable
• When going broad, leverage existing networks to facilitate faster growth
• Focus on establishing trust
The Twitter/Facebook/Social Media streams are like the rest of the web in that most of it is junk. So how do people filter the noise and focus on the good bits? Trust is one aspect.
Do people say "Hey, look at this great secured loans site?". They don't. We'll, not unless they're pimping for said secured loans site. The stream is not going to favor the me-too approach, either. It's going to favor the remarkable approach. Do people on social media sites point out the mundane?
Incidentally, when asked about Twitter today, Larry Page had this to say:
I have always thought we needed to index the web every second to allow real time search. At first, my team laughed and did not believe me. With Twitter, now they know they have to do it. Not everybody needs sub-second indexing but people are getting pretty excited about realtime.
Google aren't asleep on this issue.
Courtesy : http://www.seobook.com/blog

The 11 Deadly Sins of Search Engine Optimization

2009-05-25T05:30:00.000-07:00

(Common mistakes and misconceptions about search optimization and marketing)
There is so much misinformation floating through the internet regarding search engine marketing and optimization that it’s important to shed some light on a few common errors and misconceptions. The following list highlights some of the most critical issues involved in determining the success or failure of a web site’s search engine optimization and marketing strategies.

1. Lack of "Search Friendly" Content.
Every week I review web sites with no real search engine indexable content. Web pages composed mostly of graphics, flash and other bells and whistle are commonly over-looked by the search engines. Search engines determine what content is of value per web page based on the text used on that page. A truly optimized site should contain at least 200 words of keyword-dense text. There is some debate among experts on exactly how many words should be used, but generally 200 words will suffice. As a point of reference this paragraph contains about 200 words. It is equally important for text content to contain keywords that match the page titles. For example, a site selling peanut butter owned by a company called "ACME Foods" might have a title of "Acme Foods, Inc. Wholesale Food Products". We have to consider how many people are likely to search for the term "Acme Foods, Inc. Wholesale Food Products" it is much more likely that people will search for the term "peanut butter". Knowing this, we can say with confidence that it would be a wiser choice to title a page, "Peanut Butter, ACME Foods" and the page content should reflect this same keyword strategy.

2. Insufficient Link Popularity.
Search engines make every attempt to qualify the results which are displayed in search results. One of the ways that they do this is by tracking the number and quality of the incoming links to a web site. A site with a large number of incoming links from quality sites is given a higher ranking in search results. This is an important consideration that is sometimes over-looked by those attempting to market web sites. Services that promise to link your site to thousands of other sites are far from productive; in fact they can sometimes do more harm than good. Most search engines these days consider services like this to be spam, so called "link farming" and often give sites with these types of links a low ranking or drop them all-together from the search results. Incoming links to a site that compliment it and are relevant to the site contents are golden and can greatly boost a site's ranking. Google's page ranking system is a good example. A site with a page rank of 1 if given a link from a site with a page rank of 8 can see its page rank boost to 4! Link popularity is one of the most time consuming and difficult aspects of search engine optimization. It's no wonder that many of the search engines give so much importance to this web site measurement.

3. Lack of Keyword Research And Updates
So, you have a web site. Do you know what pages in your web site are generating the most interest? Do you know what terms people are searching for that result in them finding your site? Probably not. Let’s use the peanut butter analogy again. You own a web site that sells peanut butter. You spend some money on paid search advertising, logically; you assume that the key phrase "peanut butter" is a prime candidate to target. What happens? usually one of two things, one, the term peanut butter is such a popular search term that thirty million other web sites are competing for the same key phrase. Two, the term peanut butter is so unpopular that it’s unlikely that it's searched for more than once in this lifetime. Proper keyword research can solve these problems. Let’s say for the sake of argument that keyword research is performed and that it is determined that a significant number of people are searching for "organic peanut butter". It just so happens that our peanut butter company manufactures a whole line of organic, all natural peanut butter. We have discovered a niche. The right amount of people searching for the specific product that we want to sell. It's the perfect match. So, what must be done to capitalize on our findings? First we optimize our web pages for our target keyword, we change the title, and the content so that they include the term "organic peanut butter", then we scrap all of the paid search advertising that wasn't working and focus on targeting our "organic peanut butter" market. The point is, successful search engine marketing relies on constant research and updates the internet is fluid and evolving. What works today might not work tomorrow, we have to be able to identify strengths and weaknesses in our internet marketing campaigns and must be prepared to research, update and adapt.

4. Designing First, Optimizing Later
I have seen this mistake repeated hundreds of times. Even experienced web designers fail to consider the results of design decisions on search optimization until it’s too late. What is the point of spending thousands of dollars for a well "designed" web site if nobody ever sees it? Consult a search engine specialist early in the design process. Even if your web site marketing strategy relies heavily on paid search advertising a consultation with a professional optimization expert may expose flaws in your site's layout. Points in the flow of information that tend to cause users to lose interest or become confused may become apparent, better to address these issues early on.

5. Relying Too Heavily On Paid Search Advertising
This is a mistake made by Fortune 500 companies and small businesses alike. The fact is that most businesses, small and large aren't getting it right.
The rationale is that since search advertising can be purchased it isn't necessary to focus on search optimization techniques. On the surface this might make some sense, you can buy certain keyword phrases that people are searching for, so why bother optimizing your site for the search engines? For a company with a huge internet advertising budget this means spending huge amounts of money to drive traffic to their sites, when, if their site had been properly optimized from the beginning, these costs might be half as much for the same amount of viewers. For many smaller businesses trying to compete in the internet marketplace simply becomes overwhelming. While paid search advertising is a highly effective means of targeting an audience, organic search optimization greatly increases the chances of success for any web site. Make sure that the site you are advertising is one that people can find easily without the assistance of a paid search campaign.

6. Not Supporting the Conversion Process
A few weeks ago my wife decided that she wanted to buy some Australian made baby clothes that we can't find here in the states. So being the internet savvy father to be, I decided to have a look on the internet for the particular brand she was interested in. I surf to a search engine and type in the brand name. A few seconds later I'm greeted with a list of web sites that supposedly have what I'm looking for. I click on the first site in the list. I find myself at the site of a clothing importer based out of California. There are links to several categories of clothing, none of which seem to have anything to do with babies, eventually after a lot of searching I find a link on the children's clothing page for infant garments. The infant garments page has a few images of clothing but not the brand I'm looking for. I look to see if there is way to search for clothing by brand name. There isn't. I look to see if there is a list somewhere on the site of brand names carried by this distributor. There isn't. I look to see if there is a toll free number to call. There isn't. The internet optimization part of my brain is boiling by this point, so to add insult to injury I go back to the children's garments section of the site. I click on a link to purchase a bright green jacket. I’m confronted with a page that is requiring me to fill in a bunch of personal details. Ok, so I fill in the details and click submit. Now I find myself back at the bright green jacket page. Apparently now I'm qualified to purchase something. I click the "check out" button. The web page goes blank. I know that this is the result of bad programming. I know what's going to happen next. "Error 404 page not found". Has this type of thing happened to you? If you have ever tried to purchase something on the internet, I'm sure it has. This is an illustration of a web site that is well ranked in the search engines but has not taken the time to create a site that is designed for its users. I was forced to hunt through the web site to try and find what I was looking for. The flow of information was counter-intuitive. There was no online support. All-in-all the whole site was a joke. I would be surprised to learn that the site in question made any sales at all, ever. There were several points in this online experience that I felt like giving up. In the industry this is known as ”abandonment", This is a critical point in what is known as the "conversion process", the act of turning web site viewers into online purchasers. This is an issue that should never be underestimated. In fact it is the number one factor that determines a web site's success or failure. A web site with a million dollar marketing budget and millions of visitors will not succeed unless it serves to understand its user’s needs and anticipate its viewer’s questions.

7. Graphics Used For Text Links.
Web designers often use graphics to represent a link in a web site. There are many reasons for this choice. Unfortunately for web designers, the major internet browsers display web pages in different ways. Since fonts display differently on individual computers and in different browsers, it is a much simpler proposition for designers to create graphic links than it is to attempt to create cross-browser text links. The downside to this work-around is that search engines have no idea if a graphic link relates to a specific web page or a link to download the latest Britney Spears MP3. For search engines to understand what a link is truly representing, they need to find words in plain, good old fashioned text. If a web site must use graphics for navigation it is important to include a set of plain text links somewhere on the web page, usually at the bottom of the page.

8. Use of Frames.
Search engines have a hard time indexing sites that are created in frames. Framed sites use several html files to display one page. Search engines are often confused by the frames method of creating web sites, usually only indexing the first html file within the framPages that aren't indexed will never show up in search engine results. Also, many people that use the internet regularly for research and purchases, so called "power users", tend to avoid sites built with frames, especially those sites which require the user to scroll content in separate frames. Simply put, frames are bad.

9. Splash Pages.
Entry pages that instruct the user to "Enter", usually decorated with a large graphic or a flash animation. The index page of a web site is the one that search engines read first. More often than not the only readable content on this type of page is a link that says, “skip intro" Splash pages lack indexable content, usually contain no links and often contain a "redirect" to the real home page. Search engines do not like redirects, they want the real thing. Avoid splash pages unless you aren't serious about being found by search engines.

10. Submitting To 10,000 Search Engines
I sometimes have a difficult time believing that these services are still making money, more importantly that people still think that they work. The fact is that a handful of search engines account for about 90% of all the web traffic generated and the rest comes from people typing in a web site's URL indirectly into their browser's address bar. The amount of viewers generated from these Mega-Search Submittal services is so negligible that it's hardly worth consideration. Don't waste your time or your money.

11. Not Clearly Defining Action Points
Another mistake that is repeated quite is often is the failure to clearly define what the objectives of a web site are. What are the main goals of a site? Who will the primary audience be? What actions are desired of the site’s visitors? If these questions aren’t answered prior to designing a site they will reflect a poor user experience in the final result. Action points or calls to action are a terminology handed down from the traditional marketing world. They serve to define a desired action and are often supported by persuasive sales copy. Though the basic concepts are the same as traditional marketing, calls to action can take many different forms on the internet. Often they appear as links or as part of a shopping cart. The nature of a web site determines its type of action point. The most important thing to consider is that without them, viewers have little or no idea what the purpose of your site is. Imagine an infomercial running a half hour long advertisement on television, yet the commentator says nothing during the whole ad, just stands there holding a cardboard box, you are left trying to guess what’s inside, the advertisement offers no explanations or means of contacting the company involved. Pointless isn’t it? This is exactly what a web site without clearly defined points of action accomplishes; nothing. It’s an exercise in futility.
Courtesy: http://www.webworldindex.com/articles/The-11-Deadly-Sins-of-Search-Engine-Optimization.html

Latest Celeb and other News

2007-03-23T00:42:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears goes home after a month spent in the luxurious rehab of Malibu. "She is doing fine" a magazine reported, and so did her manager in an announced statement late last night that she “has been released by the Promises Malibu Treatment Center after successfully completing the program.

Make a search about the latest adoption of the famous couple BRANGELINA, or the latest news, - Angelina and Pax Thien have just left Vietnam to come home.

When looking for dedicated news and reports in a number of different subject areas, such as health/wellness, real estate & mortgage markets, banking & investing, and general business, than this is The site for you.

Waste Management – Is your business throwing away more than just rubbish?

2007-03-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

Waste management is an issue that virtually all businesses have to deal with in some form or another. As with many services, the cost of waste management can vary considerably between different companies and different geographical areas. It is around this time of year that many businesses will be receiving notification of an increase in their waste management costs from their waste contractor. This is due to increased operational costs and the annual increase in landfill tax which occurs at the beginning of April each year.

This is a good time for businesses to review their existing suppliers, as by simply shopping around businesses can save up to 40% on their waste disposal costs. When considering waste management suppliers, some businesses will only take into account the well known national companies. There is sometimes a presumption that these companies must provide the best service and the most competitive prices. This however is not always the case. There are many small regional companies that can often provide a cheaper and more customer focused service.

Another option for businesses is to use a waste management broker, such as Utopia Waste Management. Utopia Waste Management organises waste management and recycling services on behalf of businesses throughout the UK. This provides businesses with several key benefits. Firstly due to the volume of business that waste brokers put through regional suppliers, they are able to secure more competitive prices, which can then be passed on to customers. Another key benefit is that due to a large network of suppliers, waste brokers can provide a complete range of waste management services. Whether you require hazardous waste disposal, recycling collections or confidential waste destruction, a waste broker will be able to locate the most cost effective service that meets your specific requirements.

Link Price Calculator

2007-03-16T12:10:00.001-07:00

Establishing the correct price for a link is always a complex task: you never know how much to ask if you are selling links and you sometimes have the doubt that you paid too much for the link you just bought. Moreover, there are so many factors to count that most of the times people get lost in the calculation and end up paying or asking extremely high or low prices.

These problems are now (virtually) over: thanks to the CelebrityContest.net Directory link price calculator webmasters and SEO operators have a tool which produces significant and objective prices for links - counting all the most important factors like the PageRank, Yahoo! backlinks, domain age, number of outbound links and overall quality of the page where the link will be placed.

Therefore, if you are buying or selling a link, don't wait to visit
CelebrityContest.net Directory link value calculator: it will sure help you!

Celebrity Contest Directory

2007-03-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

All webmasters know how hard it is to find good niche directories,
especially in the entertainment and celebrities area, that are really helpful for your site and that don't cost too much: so it's very good news to know that CelebrityContest.net, the first and only celebrities stock exchange, created a clean, uncluttered and SEO friendly entertainment directory giving all celebs/entertainment webmasters a useful tool for boosting their page strength and increasing their traffic. From fashion to celebrities galleries, you'll find here all the important categories where you can add your entertainment website and watch it gain PageRank and web recognition.

Why Choose Freezone.co.uk

2007-03-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

Freezone.co.uk is a great domain site that offers much more than the usual site bragging to offer consumers the best in internet domain space and email capabilities. Freezone.co.uk offers its users with 50 MB of starting UK web hosting space, which is enough to perform many abilities and functions for the user’s own web space. Next, Freezone.co.uk offers the user 5 email accounts, which is quite a few for those who may have a need for dynamic actions and other capabilities due to large amounts of incoming or outgoing mail. Freezone.co.uk also offers 1 GB of data transfer, which is practically unbeatable. A Gigabyte is a lot of information and to offer that much in a transfer is very generous.

Freezone.co.uk also has much more to offer other than just space and email accounts. They offer website development consultation and will help develop people’s websites for those who are not as technology-inclined as others, and although the website development is not free, it is done by professionals who are there to ensure that the user’s website will get plenty of attention and will be as professional or entertaining as the user wishes it to be.

Freezone.co.uk is also one of the best in providing consumers with internet service. Freezone has many different users from all over the world and is definitely not the usual kind of internet service provider. Freezone.co.uk offers the best that an internet provider can offer. They give the best in internet service, because they do so much more than internet service. Freezone.co.uk offers free domains to its members and then offers them the access to a plethora of internet options: space, transfer space, email accounts, website development, and etc. These various reasons are why Freezone.co.uk should be chosen by internet users as their service provider, not just as a service provider, but as an internet enthusiast willing to help the common internet user through the technological wilderness of the worldwide web.

Mac Blog

2007-03-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

I spend most of my time online, and I am always looking for new technologies and web sites that will help my life run smoother. I have nearly 100 RSS feeds I follow each day, mostly to keep me up to date one what is happening. The other day, I ran across a new mac blog that covers cool new sites that work well with macs, and I had to add it to my list.

MacShout covers just about everything to do with Apple, iPhone macs and iPods, but their focus is on new utilities and web sites that make your life easier. If I am not asleep, I am on my computer, either working or playing. MacShout is my kind of site, their life seems to be the same as mine, and they spend a good portion of their time finding those new sites that will help me get my work done faster, and give me a little spare time to do something other than work or sleep. Who am I kidding, I will just sleep more!

If you are looking for apple rumors, new mac announcements, apple insights, iPod news or cool new technology sites, MacShout is for you.

Free Property Ads

2007-03-14T13:11:00.001-07:00

Finding a place to rent in the UK can be a nightmare with so many websites offering services, however if you are a private landlord its even tougher. Most websites charge to place ads for your property to let, but not all, new sites such as www.simple2rent.co.uk are now providing these services for free. At the time of writing most of their properties to let were in the London area but the site is growing rapidly and now carries ads for properties to rent in Leeds, or ads with properties to rent in Manchester and many other UK cities and towns. But being free is not enough, you also need functionality that makes the service worth using, and Simple2rent is not short in this department either. Advertisers not only get free ads but they can list multiple properties to let and can upload images for each property. For tenants searching for properties to rent in UK there is also a facility for them to save their last search parameters and get an automated email as soon as a new property is advertised matching their requirements. Not bad for a free service?

Pet Owners Information

2007-03-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

If you are a pet owner then I am sure you will have the need to find pet services, the problem is (mainly in UK) that there are so many websites its hard to find one place you can go to search for your current pet service needs. An interesting UK website that has set up is www.allpetservices.co.uk, its free for service providers to place ads and free to search also. Service providers post their free ads in the relevant service category and select the location that they cover. The website has an interesting design, they have many categories such as pet sitters or dog walkers, dog training, kennels and boarding, etc. The categories also have cute pictures, check out the one for dog grooming - well at least it makes the task of finding a pet service provider more amusing. Not bad for a free pet services website, check it out for yourself.

How to choose the best insurance company

2007-03-14T03:06:00.000-07:00

Insurance offers peace of mind to millions of families and businesses. It's not always required but good to have if you can afford it. Here are some tips to hire the best insurance company for your family or business needs.

First decide what kind of insurance you are looking for? Car insurance? Home insurance? Health Insurance? Or a combination of all the above. If you purchase more than one insurance policy from the same insurance provider, you are likely to get some good discounts.

Homework is essential in selecting the right insurance company. Search on the web or ask your friends for referrals. You do not necessarily have to go with the cheapest of all insurances you are offered but strategically you will have to make a decision on which suits you the most and are comfortable dealing with.

Some insurance companies give you the window to cancel your insurance policy. You might want to consider such services simply because if for some reason you are not happy with their services, you can cancel them during the window.

To sum it all up, there are plenty of good insurance companies and some bad eggs as well. If you stay clear of the bad companies and get your polices with companies you like and trust, you should be in good hands.

Smack Debt

2007-02-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

While browsing the other day on the internet, I came across a cool finance website called Smack debt. Smack debt provides debt consolidation and debt articles to help you get out and stay out of debt. If you are buried in debt and cannot find a way out, feel free to visit this debt management website and get to learn the basics on debt. They have done a great job in explaining various facets of debt and discuss debt management plans in detail as well. It is important that individuals understand the difference between secured and unsecured debts before aiming for debt consolidation.
Credit card has been another killer in recent times. Credit card debt has been on the rise and is one debt you want to stay away from and pay off your credit cards as soon as possible without incurring any further debts. Infact, experts go above and beyond in telling clients to cut their credit cards and swear never to use them again if they want to get out of debt. By visiting the article section, you will also learn about credit repair and how basic budgeting can make a world of difference in your financial life. As always, make sure to consolidate your debts with the right company and avoid the sharks!
Smack debt also offers a free link checker to check and fix broken links. From an SEO perspective, this will help you fix your 404 errors without losing rankings.

Youtubevideos.Biz

2007-02-14T04:39:00.000-08:00

YouTube, as you all know, is a one-of-its-kind type of video sharing website that lets netizens watch, upload and share video clips liberally. Owned by search giants’ Google, it is one of the fastest growing websites in the world. Statistics show that over a million people visits its pages daily and around 65,000 new clips are uploaded everyday into its server. Given this sheer number of video clips that the You Tube server has, it is very likely that netizens might find it hard to dig out the funniest of videos or something interesting in less time. Who knows, some less interesting video clips also could have made its way into the YouTube collection.

Youtubevideos.biz tries to solve this issue by stream lining things a bit and handpicking only those videos that has a good entertainment value or those are in good demand. This will come really handy for those busy souls who may not have the time and will to scan the entire Youtube.com website for some funny videos or sports clippings. Further, YouTubeVideos.biz are updated frequently that visitors always get to watch something interesting and different every time they log in. To know more, go straight to the Youtubevideos.biz and see it for yourself.

Best Of You Tube Videos

2007-02-13T00:08:00.000-08:00

YouTube is a service which has enabled people to share their emotions with others by making their private videos available to the whole world. If there is anything you would like to show to every man in the world, you can always do this on YouTube.com - fast and, most importantly, without any hosting charges.

BestYouTubeVideos.com will bring You to the most exciting, funny, amazing and interesting You Tube videos all over the world! Feel free to watch and enjoy our YouTube Videos Collection!

HD-DVD - the nextgen video

2007-02-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

It is not clear yet whether it will be Blu-ray or HD DVD that will be the next generation high density DVD discs to dominate, and they could even potentially coexist through combo players.

So for those of you that want to get the latest high spec media center PC (a much better solution than Akimbo) that takes advantage of these new generation HD discs then you will need one that supports both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Such a media PCs do exist and come in the form of the VidaBox LUX or MAX. These combination Media Center PCs boast both HD DVD and Blu-ray compatibility and up to a whopping 3.75TB of storage. Whether or not you are a fan of Akimbo, SearchVideo or BBC iPlayer then a Media Center PC like the VidaBox is definitely suitable. As well as hedging your bets this is a good way to see how the two competing formats compare on the same hardware. However, it comes at a hefty price tag with the 3.75TB LUX costing $4399.

These media center PCs would be great for taking advantage of the internet TV revolution and to SearchVideo and watch TV using the BBC iPlayer.

BlueSEO Web Directory

2007-02-12T03:26:00.000-08:00

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) have today gained the cult status of being an art in the online community. The benefits of having your site listed by a popular web directory are enormous. It does not only serve the purpose of getting a higher pagerank but also increased traffic. BlueSEO Web Directory offers you the latest information about developments in the SEO and SEM domain in addition to providing a backlink to your site You can get a Premium listing for just $25.95 an be at the top of your category listing or an Express Listing for as low as $3.95. The Reciprocal Listings are ofcourse free.
One example of the transformation of SEO into almost a sport is a contest organized by SEO Philippines Group. The contest participants must optimize their site for the keyword Ituloy Angsulong and be at the top of search engines.This is a good initiative to promote SEM in the country and increase awareness The D-Day is on February 23rd 2007, so keep watching.

Cruise Vacations

2007-02-11T05:38:00.000-08:00

Going on a cruise is a wonderful vacation full of many great things to do. Selecting where you want to take your cruise can be a hard decision. Going to Alaska or the Caribbean are popular choices. Alaska is very pretty with beautiful glaciers to look at. The area is also rich in history. The Caribbean cruise is a perfect choice if you want to spend time relaxing in the clear water or visiting the various Islands in the area. You can choose from an Eastern or Western Caribbean cruise destination.It is a good idea to choose a cruise line that has a good reputation for being fun, clean, and dedicated to customer service. You may also want to base your cruise line choice on the type of ships they have to offer. Some ships are huge and others are quite small. You will want to check out the accommodations as well aboard the ship. Taking a cruise vacation is a great way to enjoy your time off. Take the time to select a quality cruise line that offers the type of ship and activities you are interested in. Selecting your destination should be based on what your interests are as well as where you want to depart from.

DM Web Directory

2007-02-11T05:37:00.001-08:00

Web directories are an essential part of any websites linking strategy when trying to achieve a high search engine rankings. There are several key elements to look for when choosing a web directory to place your link in.

Look at the page rank of the page that your link will appear on. You want to make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck when it comes to passing Pr.

Another important aspect of a web directory is the page strength of the web directory. Semoz offers a tool that will calculate the strength of the directory on a scale of 1-10,ten being the best.

Last I like to look at the number of outgoing links on the page that my link will appear. The less links the better because it will pass more Pr to you.

Dm web directory offers all of the features above for a very reasonable price. Also offered is an article directory for you to browse through.

The overall experience of the Dm Web Directory is very pleasant and easy to navigate.

If you are interested in becoming a reciprocal link partner of the DM Web Directory feel free to drop us a line.

Using web directories to build both Page rank and backlinks can prove to be a wise investment if used correctly.

Selecting the Right Web Hosting Company

2007-02-11T05:36:00.001-08:00

Finding Quality Web Hosting can be a very difficult and daunting task. Search around and you’ll be floored by the amount of web hosting companies there are waiting to take your money.

Be realistic and wise, steer away from providers offering huge hosting plans at a monthly rate of less than a meal at McDonald’s because you’ll be placed on an overloaded server with your pages taking forever to load and more downtime than you’d like.

Instead, look for a provider with realistic plans, fast, friendly customer service and uptime. Before you sign up, email them to check their response time. Ask them for their uptime statistics, a good hosting company will provide them. Also ask how long they have been in business. If it’s less than two years be cautious. Look for a telephone number, even if they don’t provide phone support, you may want to get in contact with them incase of an emergency or billing issue.

If you are after a good web hosting provider, have look at this Texas Web Hosting Company their plans are realistic and they offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Rest assured, RelyHost will not only fulfill your web hosting needs but surpass them.

Better Search results with Canadian Hosting

2007-02-11T05:34:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed at Google.ca, Yahoo.ca and MSN.ca; you have a choice of limiting your search results to Canadian sites only. There is only one of two ways to appear in the Canadian only sites results. The first is to actually be hosted on a Canadian based server; the second is having a domain that ends in a dot CA, extension.

If you are targeting a Canadian audience, you may want to consider finding a Canadian Web Host with servers located in Canada because you can rank better for Canadian search results in turn increasing your potential sales.

When searching for a Canadian web host, lookout for providers claiming to be Canadian. Their office and support staff might be located in Canada however their servers are not. Most likely the servers are located in the United States. Why are their servers located in the U.S.? Plain and simple Canadian bandwidth costs more.

PrimeHost.ca is a good Canada Web Hosting provider you will want to consider. They offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee with servers located in Canada and prices in Canadian Dollars. They also offer Canadian Reseller Hosting with packages starting as low as $24.95 per month.

Amazing YouTube Videos

2007-02-10T06:24:00.000-08:00

The website www.topyoutubevideos.com provides a one-stop destination where you could find the best and interesting You Tube video clips. Our team daily search amongst the millions of video clips available in Youtube.com and categorizes and lists only the best, latest, and funniest amongst them for the netizens to watch and enjoy. In that respect, topyoutubevideos.com can be viewed upon as a free video website that provides only the selected best from Youtube's ever expanding database of amazing videos. Also, all the amazing videos that are listed under the different categories are updated daily so that the user would get to watch the latest additions to the funny Youtube videos database all the time. You won't be disappointed or bored at the variety and freshness of entertainment you could find in TopYoutubeVideos.com !

Importance of submitting to web directories

2007-02-10T03:30:00.000-08:00

We all know how important links are when building a site and optimizing it for higher search engine rankings. However, building links is not an easy thing to do, especially given the fact that many website owners realize that links are a precious commodity and will not give them out easily – they would rather sell links from their sites than just give them out freely. So to obtain natural links is difficult. However, this is where web directories can play a role. Having your site submitted to web directories is one of the easiest means of getting one way links to your site.

There are plenty of web directories out there that are free to submit to and will list your website in a relevant category of your choice. However, given the huge number of directories, it would take a lot of time to go about manually submitting your site to each of these directories. This is where directory submission companies come in. There are plenty of companies out there who have large teams of directory submitters to do the job for you. So if you’re serious about building your site and increasing your backlinks, directory submissions is something you should consider doing. Directory links are known to count and will definitely have a positive impact in your search engine rankings.

Spongy Web Directory

2007-02-10T02:55:00.000-08:00

After building back quality links and other methods of promotion, Spongy Web Directory is now launched and ready for all submissions. This site has a clean interface and an attractive design. Users can easily locate information they are looking for, and webmasters can submit their sites for very moderate prices on this PR 4 directory.

Free - Add a reciprocal link to spongyweb.com and get your site listed for free.
$2.39 - Add a regular, permanent listing for this low price.
$5.39 - Add a featured, permanent listing for this very fair price.

SpongyWeb promises to be a great marketing tool for webmasters wishing to promote their sites. You get exposure on what is sure to be great directory along with search engine ranking position points that may increase your position and PageRank. Spongy Web will remain a clean, family friendly, and spam free directory to ensure your listing’s quality will remain high. So, what are you waiting for? Absorb your site into the web with a listing at SpongyWeb.

SEO for Local Search Terms

2007-02-08T00:14:00.000-08:00

A local search term usually consists of a local name (state name or city name, for instance) plus a general search phrase. Boston Internet marketing is a local search term, where Boston is the city name and Internet marketing is a general keyword phrase. In general, local search terms aren’t competitive and easy to rank on top 10 on major search engines. For instance, if you want to rank search term "Boston movers", you can do this by just submitting to a list of free directories plus a few strong paid directories. Links from a directory aren’t as strong as links from content page because a directory often has thousands or even tens of thousands of links. All links in a directory will share the strength of that directory, and page content from directories aren’t as relevant as pages from content sites either.
The major competition of local search terms come from the portion of general term. For instance, not many sites compete for "Boston Internet marketing", but Google would rank a page well if the page is strong for the general term "Internet marketing" and uses the word Boston on the page.

Effective Business Card Design for SEO Professionals

2007-02-08T00:12:00.000-08:00

SEO professionals spend most of their time online. They could run PPC to acquire new clients, and bounce emails for link building, or on-page SEO. If business cards are a must for traditional business service ventures, they're optional for Internet marketers or SEO professionals. It's another story if they target local market which involves face-to-face meeting with clients.
A SEO professional wants to put some emphasis on his email and the URL of his website. This information is even more important than the offline contact information. The idea is to direct the customer to his online site for additional information. He is going to want the customer to access the site and not rely too much on the business cards. Website URL and email address are considered the most important part of the business card design. You need to make sure that this information stands out on the card.
In case you don't use your business cards often, a business card aside your computer will remind you that something is going on outside the virtual world.