Tuesday, November 27, 2007
How to Write Effective Articles and Blog Posts
In this article, I'm going to give you tips on how to write an effective article for a blog or any other web site. Not one of those I'm-all-emo and need-to-vent diary blog posts or articles, but an organized methodology you can use to quickly and effectively communicate, the type of post written by marketers who approach writing articles as a business communication.
As a military officer, I'm often called upon to write memos and briefs. Most of these memos are intended to pass important information to higher ranking officers. Here's an interesting fact about high ranking military officers (and anyone in a senior position): they are notoriously short on patience.
It's not because they are impatient, mind you, it's because, in the course of a day, they have a lot to do. The must sift through an enormous amount of information and be able to intelligently discuss that information with their bosses and make appropriate decisions. And the higher you go in the military (or any other organization), the more demands there are on the person's time and the less patience they have for unimportant information.
You can think of visitors to your blog as the people you work for. They want the important information and they want it now! If you don't give it to them, guess what? There are a gajillion other sites in the search engine results they will go back to.
So here's the secret to writing effective articles:
1. Tell the reader what you are going to tell them ("In this article, I'm going to give you tips on how to write an effective article for a blog or any other web site.")
2. Establish your expertise and justification ("As a military officer, I'm often called upon to write memos and briefs....")
3. Tell them ("So here's the secret to writing effective articles...")
4. Tell them what you just told them (coming up)
In this article, I told you about the secret to writing effective articles. I talked about why it's important to be organized and concise in your written communications by making sure you present the information using an easily understood methodology that reinforces the information.
The easier you make it for your "bosses" to understand what you're telling them, the more likely they are to return to you in the future to learn more.
As a military officer, I'm often called upon to write memos and briefs. Most of these memos are intended to pass important information to higher ranking officers. Here's an interesting fact about high ranking military officers (and anyone in a senior position): they are notoriously short on patience.
It's not because they are impatient, mind you, it's because, in the course of a day, they have a lot to do. The must sift through an enormous amount of information and be able to intelligently discuss that information with their bosses and make appropriate decisions. And the higher you go in the military (or any other organization), the more demands there are on the person's time and the less patience they have for unimportant information.
You can think of visitors to your blog as the people you work for. They want the important information and they want it now! If you don't give it to them, guess what? There are a gajillion other sites in the search engine results they will go back to.
So here's the secret to writing effective articles:
1. Tell the reader what you are going to tell them ("In this article, I'm going to give you tips on how to write an effective article for a blog or any other web site.")
2. Establish your expertise and justification ("As a military officer, I'm often called upon to write memos and briefs....")
3. Tell them ("So here's the secret to writing effective articles...")
4. Tell them what you just told them (coming up)
In this article, I told you about the secret to writing effective articles. I talked about why it's important to be organized and concise in your written communications by making sure you present the information using an easily understood methodology that reinforces the information.
The easier you make it for your "bosses" to understand what you're telling them, the more likely they are to return to you in the future to learn more.
Labels: Writing
Monday, November 19, 2007
How to Choose a Good Blog to Advertise On
Blog advertising is still a fairly well-kept secret in the Internet marketing landscape. Used properly, blog advertising can be very beneficial to the Internet Marketer. The key to blog marketing (and, in fact, the key to most marketing) is to do your research.
Here are some you can use to help you find the best blogs to advertise on.
Niche
Blogs are typically organized around a niche and usually maintained by people who have expertise in that niche. Readers of such a blog tend to be interested in that subject - that's why they're reading after all!
So before you contact a blog owner about advertising on their blog, make sure it's related to what you want to want to advertise. Advertising your Web Design business on a site about parenting probably isn't going to bring the return you're looking for. You'll get a lot more bang for your marketing dollars if you focus your marketing within the niche of your product or service.
As far as any sort of boost to your organic search engine position, links from related sites are much more likely to show a positive influence than links from unrelated sites.
Integrity
A blog should have - or at least give the appearance of - integrity. Read a few of the posts. Are they convincing? Do you believe what the blogger has to say? Does it sound truthful? Honest? Are they well written?
If you answer 'yes' to these questions, most other visitors to that blog are probably answering 'yes' as well. That's the kind of blog you want to be on.
Writing Style
A blog with a clumsy writing style, full of grammar and spelling errors will negatively impact a reader's perception. How can you build trust of expertise when the individual writing can't even spell?
Read a few of the posts to make sure the blogger knows how to write correct English (or whatever other language you are marketing in).
Web Presence
Do your research! Check the blog's Page Rank, Alexa Rank and other factors that let you know how well trafficked the blog is.
You should also check search engine indexing factors for the Big Three (Google, Yahoo and MSN), such as the number of pages indexed and the number of back links.
The greater presence a blog has, the more potential there is for your advertising to generate positive results.
Remember, blog advertising is more than just putting as many links or posts on as many blogs as possible. It's definitely a case where quality os much more important then quanitity.
These tips can help you make sure you get the most of your advertising dollars!
Here are some you can use to help you find the best blogs to advertise on.
Niche
Blogs are typically organized around a niche and usually maintained by people who have expertise in that niche. Readers of such a blog tend to be interested in that subject - that's why they're reading after all!
So before you contact a blog owner about advertising on their blog, make sure it's related to what you want to want to advertise. Advertising your Web Design business on a site about parenting probably isn't going to bring the return you're looking for. You'll get a lot more bang for your marketing dollars if you focus your marketing within the niche of your product or service.
As far as any sort of boost to your organic search engine position, links from related sites are much more likely to show a positive influence than links from unrelated sites.
Integrity
A blog should have - or at least give the appearance of - integrity. Read a few of the posts. Are they convincing? Do you believe what the blogger has to say? Does it sound truthful? Honest? Are they well written?
If you answer 'yes' to these questions, most other visitors to that blog are probably answering 'yes' as well. That's the kind of blog you want to be on.
Writing Style
A blog with a clumsy writing style, full of grammar and spelling errors will negatively impact a reader's perception. How can you build trust of expertise when the individual writing can't even spell?
Read a few of the posts to make sure the blogger knows how to write correct English (or whatever other language you are marketing in).
Web Presence
Do your research! Check the blog's Page Rank, Alexa Rank and other factors that let you know how well trafficked the blog is.
You should also check search engine indexing factors for the Big Three (Google, Yahoo and MSN), such as the number of pages indexed and the number of back links.
The greater presence a blog has, the more potential there is for your advertising to generate positive results.
Remember, blog advertising is more than just putting as many links or posts on as many blogs as possible. It's definitely a case where quality os much more important then quanitity.
These tips can help you make sure you get the most of your advertising dollars!
Labels: Blog Advertising
Friday, November 16, 2007
Inbound Links Part 4: Link Prices
So how much should you pay for a text link? Most links are sold on a monthly rate, although you might occasionally see weekly. Many webmasters offer package deals, like a discount if you buy more than one month at a time.
It's important to remember that the length your link is on the page makes a difference in how much value it brings to your site in terms of assisting your search engine ranking. The minimum you want to keep a link in place is 3 months; I recommend 6 months or even more to get the maximum search engine benefit.
But how do you know you're getting a good price? Links aren't like going to the store and buying something off the shelf, where you already have a good understanding of its value. How do you value a link?
There are a number of factors to consider when trying determining how much you should pay for a link:
Traffic
How much traffic does the site get? The more traffic, the higher the price the site can get. One place you can check is Alexa. Although Alexa traffic numbers are skewed toward the types of site webmasters and Internet marketers visit, it can still give you a general idea of the traffic the site is getting. Another place to check is TrafficEstimate. Simply enter the URL of the site you want to check and it will return an easy to read graph charting that site's traffic.
What Page is the Link on?
Home page links are almost always more expensive than interior page links. Is the link only on one page or on every page in the site? Run of site (ROS) links are usually more expensive than single page links. Keep in mind a lesion from my Part 3 article though: ROS links probably won't be much help when it comes to enhancing your search engine positions. However, if your goal is pure advertising (getting people to click the link vice a link to enhance your search engine positioning), ROS can offer an economic solution, especially if they're on a site very closely related to what you are advertising.
Location of the Link
Where the link is located on the page can affect the price. The most visible spots (header, left or right column above the fold) cost more than the less visible (footer and below the fold). Above the fold means visible when the page loads, below the fold means visitors would have to scroll to see that part of the page.
What is the Site About?
If the site is a very competitive niche (poker, travel, electronics for example), the links might be more expensive to a site with similar stats, but a different topic.
PageRank
Although you should always consider relevancy first when purchasing a link, the PageRank of the site and/or page will definitely affect the price. The higher the PageRank, the higher the cost. Are higher PageRank sites worth the higher price? Some say yes, some say no, which leads me to think that sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't. You'll have to experiment for yourself. My personal technique is to go for lower PageRank (3 - 5) at lower prices.
The Number of Outbound Links Already on the Page
The more outbound links there are on the page, the less the link should cost. Too many outbound links can dilute the referral power of the page and result in search engines not valuing the links. I'd recommend not putting your link on a page that already has 10 or more outbound links. There's also the risk that too many outbound links, especially links aggregated in one place on the page, are easily identified as paid links, and you want your link to appear as natural as possible.
All of these factors contribute to the pricing of a link. Just as with any purchase, you should shop around. You'll probably find a wide discrepancy between link prices even though site might have similar statistics.
If you are purchasing links for their advertising effect, you can quickly determine if they work or not. Purchase the link and then see if anyone is clicking it. If not, no need to renew it.
Links purchased to help with search engine positioning are harder to evaluate. First off, you'll have to keep the link in place for a more extended period of time (at least 90 days). Then you'll need some way to see if your site is climbing the rankings for the search terms you're targeting. Even if it is, you probably won't be able to assign a specific benefit to any one link.
As I mentioned in Part 3, a hand tool is DigitalPoint's keyword tracker.
Once you register, this tool lets you enter your keyword phrases and monitor their position in the top three search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Add your site and then add your top keyword phrases. Run a report BEFORE you start your link building campaign. As you execute your campaign, run the report on a regular basis to see if it's having any effect on your positioning.
Here's another tool you can use use to get a rough idea of link price. Although I wouldn't take the prices it suggests as gospel, it provides a way to compare prices among different sites and can give you some idea of link cost to start with.
Do your research, consider the factors I wrote about above, use the tools I recommend, and you're sure to locate some good linking deals that will benefit both your marketing and search engine positioning efforts.
It's important to remember that the length your link is on the page makes a difference in how much value it brings to your site in terms of assisting your search engine ranking. The minimum you want to keep a link in place is 3 months; I recommend 6 months or even more to get the maximum search engine benefit.
But how do you know you're getting a good price? Links aren't like going to the store and buying something off the shelf, where you already have a good understanding of its value. How do you value a link?
There are a number of factors to consider when trying determining how much you should pay for a link:
Traffic
How much traffic does the site get? The more traffic, the higher the price the site can get. One place you can check is Alexa. Although Alexa traffic numbers are skewed toward the types of site webmasters and Internet marketers visit, it can still give you a general idea of the traffic the site is getting. Another place to check is TrafficEstimate. Simply enter the URL of the site you want to check and it will return an easy to read graph charting that site's traffic.
What Page is the Link on?
Home page links are almost always more expensive than interior page links. Is the link only on one page or on every page in the site? Run of site (ROS) links are usually more expensive than single page links. Keep in mind a lesion from my Part 3 article though: ROS links probably won't be much help when it comes to enhancing your search engine positions. However, if your goal is pure advertising (getting people to click the link vice a link to enhance your search engine positioning), ROS can offer an economic solution, especially if they're on a site very closely related to what you are advertising.
Location of the Link
Where the link is located on the page can affect the price. The most visible spots (header, left or right column above the fold) cost more than the less visible (footer and below the fold). Above the fold means visible when the page loads, below the fold means visitors would have to scroll to see that part of the page.
What is the Site About?
If the site is a very competitive niche (poker, travel, electronics for example), the links might be more expensive to a site with similar stats, but a different topic.
PageRank
Although you should always consider relevancy first when purchasing a link, the PageRank of the site and/or page will definitely affect the price. The higher the PageRank, the higher the cost. Are higher PageRank sites worth the higher price? Some say yes, some say no, which leads me to think that sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't. You'll have to experiment for yourself. My personal technique is to go for lower PageRank (3 - 5) at lower prices.
The Number of Outbound Links Already on the Page
The more outbound links there are on the page, the less the link should cost. Too many outbound links can dilute the referral power of the page and result in search engines not valuing the links. I'd recommend not putting your link on a page that already has 10 or more outbound links. There's also the risk that too many outbound links, especially links aggregated in one place on the page, are easily identified as paid links, and you want your link to appear as natural as possible.
All of these factors contribute to the pricing of a link. Just as with any purchase, you should shop around. You'll probably find a wide discrepancy between link prices even though site might have similar statistics.
If you are purchasing links for their advertising effect, you can quickly determine if they work or not. Purchase the link and then see if anyone is clicking it. If not, no need to renew it.
Links purchased to help with search engine positioning are harder to evaluate. First off, you'll have to keep the link in place for a more extended period of time (at least 90 days). Then you'll need some way to see if your site is climbing the rankings for the search terms you're targeting. Even if it is, you probably won't be able to assign a specific benefit to any one link.
As I mentioned in Part 3, a hand tool is DigitalPoint's keyword tracker.
Once you register, this tool lets you enter your keyword phrases and monitor their position in the top three search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Add your site and then add your top keyword phrases. Run a report BEFORE you start your link building campaign. As you execute your campaign, run the report on a regular basis to see if it's having any effect on your positioning.
Here's another tool you can use use to get a rough idea of link price. Although I wouldn't take the prices it suggests as gospel, it provides a way to compare prices among different sites and can give you some idea of link cost to start with.
Do your research, consider the factors I wrote about above, use the tools I recommend, and you're sure to locate some good linking deals that will benefit both your marketing and search engine positioning efforts.
Labels: Link Building
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Inbound Links Part 3: Buying Links
In Part 1: The Factors I wrote about the factors behind why inbound links are so valuable to your web site. In Part 2: Reciprocal Links, I explained why reciprocal linking has pretty much gone by the wayside as an effective link building strategy. Here, in Part 3, I'll offer some considerations to maximize your return when it comes to purchasing links.
Relevancy
The site and page you're buying the link on should have relevancy to the page you're having it link to. Buying a link to your Internet Marketing site from a Real Estate site won't give you nearly as much bang for your buck as the same link purchased on a site about Internet Marketing. The site you are buying on doesn't have to be exactly the same topic as your, but it should be related.
An additional bonus of a link on a related site is not just that it can help your search engine placement, but can also result in visitors who click the link and visit your site. Why? Because it's related to why they are there in the first place.
Lastly, making sure your link is relevant lowers its profile and the chance that the search engines will think it's a paid link. A link from a home improvement blog to a power tools review site seems reasonable from e thematic point of view, while a link from that same home improvement blog to a site about skin care does not. Such a link would be more vulnerable to search engines classifying it as a paid link and degrading any positive influence it might have on your site's search engine ranking.
Anchor Text
The anchor text is the readable part of the link (<a href=http://YourSite.com/>Anchor Text</a>). When purchasing links, you should use your top keyword phrases as the anchor text for the links. However (and this is a big however) be sure to vary the anchor text.
When people naturally link to your site, they will use a wide variety of anchor text words and phrases. You want to mimic this randomness as much as possible. Pick the top ten, or twenty (or even more) keyword phrases and focus on and making those the basis for your links. Change the order and add other words to mix it up as much as possible while always keeping the focus on the main words you want to rank for. Say your site is about Blue Widgets. You might vary the anchor text as follows:
Blue Widget Reviews
Buy Blue Widgets
Blue Widgets for Sale
Blue Widget Model #44554
Blue Widget
Blue Widgets
Retailer, Blue Widgets
Blue Widget Store
Get Blue Widgets Here
Blue Widget Sale
Etc...
Occasionally using the URL of your web site as the anchor texts works too, since that's what many people use when they put a link on their site.
The last thing you want to do is buy a bunch of links all with the same anchor text! Having the appearance of a naturally occurring linking pattern will give your campaign the best chance of success.
Site-wide Links
Site-wide links are also called Run of Site (ROS) links. ROS links are a link on every page in the site. There's a general agreement among webmasters that ROS links are not as beneficial as a link from a single page.
Nothing signals a paid link so much as a link in the footer of every page on a site pointing to an off-site location. The other disadvantage? ROS links on a site with thousands of indexed pages can suddenly show up as thousands of links to your site, indicating an unnatural linking pattern. You usually can't vary the anchor text on site wide links either, so that could trip another flag.
Rather than ROS links, I recommend sticking with one link from one page.
Where the Link Leads
When buying links, not only do you want to mix up the anchor text, you also want to vary the URL the link points to. Have some links lead to the home page and others to interior pages. A good, general ratio to follow would be 60% pointed to your home page and 40% pointed to interior pages.
When you purchase a link and point it to an interior page, make sure the anchor text is relevant to the content of the page.
IP Address
Back in the day, when the Internet was young (and I was younger), one of the more common tricks was to buy a bunch of domain names and host them from the same IP address using host headers. The enterprising webmaster would then interlink those dozens (some times hundreds) of sites. The result was instant back links from a bunch of different sites.
When the search engines caught on, webmasters got smarter. They put their sites on different servers at different locations across the country. Although this method could (and still does) work, it requires dozens of sites on dozens of geographically separated servers, all with different WHOIS info (since it's suspected that search engines consider WHOIS info now). All those sites won't be of benefit if the WHOIS info shows they are all owned by the same company or individual.
Search engine algorithms are smart enough to look for relationships between IP addresses and WHOIS registration information, so when you purchase your links, make sure you purchase them from a variety of owners with a variety of IP addresses.
Link Age
For the most part, natural links don't come and go in a short span of time. Once a webmaster links to a site, that link tends to remain there a long time.
Purchased links, on the other hand, tend to come and go with more frequency, so search engines might follow a new link, but not yet count it when it comes to your ranking. If you're purchasing links for their search engine affect (and not just for pure advertising) and you're buying them on a monthly basis, I recommend a minimum of 6 months.
I've read the opinion in a few places that the suspected 'golden' age is 90 days, so I'd go twice as long to be sure. Even better are permanent links, but most sites don't sell them. Why? Because they make their advertising dollars by selling links, and if the links they sell are permanent, that limits their revenue potential.
PageRank Considerations
Webmasters have a tendency to go for sites with a high page rank, but picture this: After a few months, your new site has six inbound links, all from PageRank 6 sites or higher. Does that sound natural to you? Me either.
So when buying your links, my suggestion is to not even consider PageRank other than to make sure it's not a 0 or grayed out. There are a lot more PageRank 3 and 4 sites out there than 6, 7, or 8, so it would make sense that the majority of inbound links to your site come from sites with a lower PageRank.
What about Directories?
If the directory isn't a PageRank 0 or grayed out, I say it's OK to submit to. It might not help, but it won't hurt.
Topical directories are your best bet. Don't pay for a directory link unless the site is several years old, has a Page Rank of 5 or higher, and is very well indexed. If you know which page your link will be on, check to see if that page is indexed in the search engines and if it has a PageRank.
Some directories are so big and have their sub-sub-sub pages buried so deep in the site structure that your link might not even be discovered by the search engines. Check the listings already there too: make sure they are good, clean listings. Human edited directories are the best.
Number of Links on the Page
Google comes right out and says in their guidelines to limit the number of links on a page to 100 or less. There's a lot of discussion in the marketing community about just what they mean. But it's not too hard to find well ranked pages with more than 100 links.
What you want to check for is the number of links on a page that lead off site. If a page has more than 10 or 15 links leading off site, I'd be reluctant about putting my link there as well. Not because I think it would hurt, but because I'm not sure it would help; the links on such a page might be devalued because the search engines would suspect the links of not being natural.
Is Your Link Campaign Working?
Before you begin your link purchasing, go here:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/keywords/
Once you register, this tool lets you enter your keyword phrases and monitor their position in the top three search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Add your site and then add your top keyword phrases. Run a report BEFORE you start your link building campaign. As you execute your campaign, run the report on a regular basis to see if it's having any effect on your positioning.
Another thing you want to do is track the traffic coming to your site. There are thousands of traffic tracking sites and software packages out there, but here's a free one I use:
http://www.statcounter.com/
Register for your free account, add your site and add the code to your site. Now you can see the traffic coming to your site and where it's coming from. You can see what search terms people are using to get to your site. All this will be useful in helping you fine tune your keywords, content, and future marketing efforts.
If done right, link purchasing can significantly enhance your search engine position, resulting in a significant boost in traffic to your site.
Keep at it, keep optimizing and one day it will be YOU who's selling the links and making the advertising dollars!
Relevancy
The site and page you're buying the link on should have relevancy to the page you're having it link to. Buying a link to your Internet Marketing site from a Real Estate site won't give you nearly as much bang for your buck as the same link purchased on a site about Internet Marketing. The site you are buying on doesn't have to be exactly the same topic as your, but it should be related.
An additional bonus of a link on a related site is not just that it can help your search engine placement, but can also result in visitors who click the link and visit your site. Why? Because it's related to why they are there in the first place.
Lastly, making sure your link is relevant lowers its profile and the chance that the search engines will think it's a paid link. A link from a home improvement blog to a power tools review site seems reasonable from e thematic point of view, while a link from that same home improvement blog to a site about skin care does not. Such a link would be more vulnerable to search engines classifying it as a paid link and degrading any positive influence it might have on your site's search engine ranking.
Anchor Text
The anchor text is the readable part of the link (<a href=http://YourSite.com/>Anchor Text</a>). When purchasing links, you should use your top keyword phrases as the anchor text for the links. However (and this is a big however) be sure to vary the anchor text.
When people naturally link to your site, they will use a wide variety of anchor text words and phrases. You want to mimic this randomness as much as possible. Pick the top ten, or twenty (or even more) keyword phrases and focus on and making those the basis for your links. Change the order and add other words to mix it up as much as possible while always keeping the focus on the main words you want to rank for. Say your site is about Blue Widgets. You might vary the anchor text as follows:
Blue Widget Reviews
Buy Blue Widgets
Blue Widgets for Sale
Blue Widget Model #44554
Blue Widget
Blue Widgets
Retailer, Blue Widgets
Blue Widget Store
Get Blue Widgets Here
Blue Widget Sale
Etc...
Occasionally using the URL of your web site as the anchor texts works too, since that's what many people use when they put a link on their site.
The last thing you want to do is buy a bunch of links all with the same anchor text! Having the appearance of a naturally occurring linking pattern will give your campaign the best chance of success.
Site-wide Links
Site-wide links are also called Run of Site (ROS) links. ROS links are a link on every page in the site. There's a general agreement among webmasters that ROS links are not as beneficial as a link from a single page.
Nothing signals a paid link so much as a link in the footer of every page on a site pointing to an off-site location. The other disadvantage? ROS links on a site with thousands of indexed pages can suddenly show up as thousands of links to your site, indicating an unnatural linking pattern. You usually can't vary the anchor text on site wide links either, so that could trip another flag.
Rather than ROS links, I recommend sticking with one link from one page.
Where the Link Leads
When buying links, not only do you want to mix up the anchor text, you also want to vary the URL the link points to. Have some links lead to the home page and others to interior pages. A good, general ratio to follow would be 60% pointed to your home page and 40% pointed to interior pages.
When you purchase a link and point it to an interior page, make sure the anchor text is relevant to the content of the page.
IP Address
Back in the day, when the Internet was young (and I was younger), one of the more common tricks was to buy a bunch of domain names and host them from the same IP address using host headers. The enterprising webmaster would then interlink those dozens (some times hundreds) of sites. The result was instant back links from a bunch of different sites.
When the search engines caught on, webmasters got smarter. They put their sites on different servers at different locations across the country. Although this method could (and still does) work, it requires dozens of sites on dozens of geographically separated servers, all with different WHOIS info (since it's suspected that search engines consider WHOIS info now). All those sites won't be of benefit if the WHOIS info shows they are all owned by the same company or individual.
Search engine algorithms are smart enough to look for relationships between IP addresses and WHOIS registration information, so when you purchase your links, make sure you purchase them from a variety of owners with a variety of IP addresses.
Link Age
For the most part, natural links don't come and go in a short span of time. Once a webmaster links to a site, that link tends to remain there a long time.
Purchased links, on the other hand, tend to come and go with more frequency, so search engines might follow a new link, but not yet count it when it comes to your ranking. If you're purchasing links for their search engine affect (and not just for pure advertising) and you're buying them on a monthly basis, I recommend a minimum of 6 months.
I've read the opinion in a few places that the suspected 'golden' age is 90 days, so I'd go twice as long to be sure. Even better are permanent links, but most sites don't sell them. Why? Because they make their advertising dollars by selling links, and if the links they sell are permanent, that limits their revenue potential.
PageRank Considerations
Webmasters have a tendency to go for sites with a high page rank, but picture this: After a few months, your new site has six inbound links, all from PageRank 6 sites or higher. Does that sound natural to you? Me either.
So when buying your links, my suggestion is to not even consider PageRank other than to make sure it's not a 0 or grayed out. There are a lot more PageRank 3 and 4 sites out there than 6, 7, or 8, so it would make sense that the majority of inbound links to your site come from sites with a lower PageRank.
What about Directories?
If the directory isn't a PageRank 0 or grayed out, I say it's OK to submit to. It might not help, but it won't hurt.
Topical directories are your best bet. Don't pay for a directory link unless the site is several years old, has a Page Rank of 5 or higher, and is very well indexed. If you know which page your link will be on, check to see if that page is indexed in the search engines and if it has a PageRank.
Some directories are so big and have their sub-sub-sub pages buried so deep in the site structure that your link might not even be discovered by the search engines. Check the listings already there too: make sure they are good, clean listings. Human edited directories are the best.
Number of Links on the Page
Google comes right out and says in their guidelines to limit the number of links on a page to 100 or less. There's a lot of discussion in the marketing community about just what they mean. But it's not too hard to find well ranked pages with more than 100 links.
What you want to check for is the number of links on a page that lead off site. If a page has more than 10 or 15 links leading off site, I'd be reluctant about putting my link there as well. Not because I think it would hurt, but because I'm not sure it would help; the links on such a page might be devalued because the search engines would suspect the links of not being natural.
Is Your Link Campaign Working?
Before you begin your link purchasing, go here:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/keywords/
Once you register, this tool lets you enter your keyword phrases and monitor their position in the top three search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Add your site and then add your top keyword phrases. Run a report BEFORE you start your link building campaign. As you execute your campaign, run the report on a regular basis to see if it's having any effect on your positioning.
Another thing you want to do is track the traffic coming to your site. There are thousands of traffic tracking sites and software packages out there, but here's a free one I use:
http://www.statcounter.com/
Register for your free account, add your site and add the code to your site. Now you can see the traffic coming to your site and where it's coming from. You can see what search terms people are using to get to your site. All this will be useful in helping you fine tune your keywords, content, and future marketing efforts.
If done right, link purchasing can significantly enhance your search engine position, resulting in a significant boost in traffic to your site.
Keep at it, keep optimizing and one day it will be YOU who's selling the links and making the advertising dollars!
Labels: Link Building
Monday, November 12, 2007
Inbound Links Part 2: Why Not Reciprocal?
In Inbound Links Part 1: The Factors, I wrote about the main factors that apply to inbound links: anchor text, link quality, link volume, time to appear, and link age. I also briefly discussed the catch 22 of launching a new site: how can you get inbound links if you can't get ranked so people can find it?
Ultimately, to rank well in search engines, you want lots of inbound links from quality, established sites with varying anchor text. You want these links to build up over time and not all at once.
The traditional method of link building was reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking is where webmaster trade links: you link to me, I'll link to you. There are three main problems with this approach:
1) Search engines degrade the value of reciprocal links because there is a very high probability that such links are not natural.
2) Reciprocal link building takes a lot of effort. You have to research to get a list of sites similar to yours, check their stats to make sure they are a good sites, initiate contact requesting the link, confirm the link goes up, put a link on your site, and occasionally go back to check and make sure the site hasn't taken your link down.
3) It's generally accepted that inbound links can't harm you (although they might not help), where you link to definitely can. Just because the site you are linking to now has a good status in the search engines doesn't mean it will later. If one of the sites you link to ends up getting slapped with the 'bad neighborhood' penalty, the outbound link on your site can cause you some damage.
A few years ago, reciprocal link exchanges were all the rage. These services enabled you to easily find willing link partners as well as way to confirm link placement and permanency. As the value of reciprocal links decreased and the threat of 'bad neighborhoods' increased, these services shrank or disappeared all together.
In today's Internet marketing landscape, the one-way, purchased link has replaced the reciprocal link as the main tool of effective link building.
Stay tuned for Part 3, where I'll write about the methodology behind effective link buying....
Ultimately, to rank well in search engines, you want lots of inbound links from quality, established sites with varying anchor text. You want these links to build up over time and not all at once.
The traditional method of link building was reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking is where webmaster trade links: you link to me, I'll link to you. There are three main problems with this approach:
1) Search engines degrade the value of reciprocal links because there is a very high probability that such links are not natural.
2) Reciprocal link building takes a lot of effort. You have to research to get a list of sites similar to yours, check their stats to make sure they are a good sites, initiate contact requesting the link, confirm the link goes up, put a link on your site, and occasionally go back to check and make sure the site hasn't taken your link down.
3) It's generally accepted that inbound links can't harm you (although they might not help), where you link to definitely can. Just because the site you are linking to now has a good status in the search engines doesn't mean it will later. If one of the sites you link to ends up getting slapped with the 'bad neighborhood' penalty, the outbound link on your site can cause you some damage.
A few years ago, reciprocal link exchanges were all the rage. These services enabled you to easily find willing link partners as well as way to confirm link placement and permanency. As the value of reciprocal links decreased and the threat of 'bad neighborhoods' increased, these services shrank or disappeared all together.
In today's Internet marketing landscape, the one-way, purchased link has replaced the reciprocal link as the main tool of effective link building.
Stay tuned for Part 3, where I'll write about the methodology behind effective link buying....
Labels: Link Building
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Inbound Links Part 1: The Factors
It's no secret that inbound links are what make or break a site when it comes to search engine positioning. The more inbound links you have from quality sites, the higher your own site will rank. If the anchor text of those links and the theme of the sending site are related to the theme of your site, you'll get even more of a boost.
But building links is tough. In today's competitive market, you have to do something to get your site noticed. Once your site has been noticed, judgment will be made by the court of public opinion. If your site gives visitors something they find valuable, they will tell people and, occasionally, link to your site.
When it comes to inbound links, there are five main factors:
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the actual words that make up the link. These words are very important. They should relate to your web site and, most important, should vary. A lot of links with the same anchor text gives them the appearance of not being natural links, but rather links that have been purchased, swapped for, or automatically generated.
To keep search engines from mistakenly (or correctly) classifying your inbound links as not natural, use as much variation as possible in the anchor text of those links. When a thousand inbound links to your site show up, all with the anchor text of "buy widgets here", it's pretty apparent to the search engines that these links aren't natural.
When I do link building by commissioning blog posts, my preference is to not make any anchor text recommendations at all. I like the blogger to check out my site and come up with his or her own anchor text. In cases where the blogger is insistent that I proved anchor text, I provide a list for him or her to choose from instead of giving the same links every time.
Link Quality
Where a link originates from is very important. A link from a popular, well-trafficked site that's been online for years and already ranks well in the search engines is worth a lot more than a link from your friend's new blog. A few 'quality' links will do a lot more for your rank than a bunch of links from newer, less established sites.
PageRank is factor link builders use to determine the 'quality' of a site. Other things to look at are how long has the site been around, how many pages does it have indexed, and how much traffic it gets.
Link Volume
Link volume is the number of inbound links. Generally, the more inbound links a site has, the more important it's determined to be, as long as it doesn't run afoul of the two factors mentioned above.
Time to Appear
There's discussion among webmaster about whether or not how quickly links appear is considered. If a few thousands back links to your site appear all of a sudden, all with the same or close to the same anchor text, it will probably send up a red flag.
Other factors come into play here as well: is it just a link? What's the content around the link? What the quality of the site it appeared on? How does the theme of the site it appeared on related to your site? Did the links show up all in a clump (over a day or two) and then nothing? These are all reasons why you have to be careful with any sort of automated link building approach because natural links tend to build up over time and typically don't come all at once.
Link Age
How long a link has been around is also a factor. Links that are only there for a month or two will probably not help when it comes to enhancing your site's search engine position.
When most search engines discover a link, they'll keep an eye on it for a while before they give any credit too it. This is specifically to combat link buying, so that you can't buy a link on a highly ranked site and see an immediate result. There's no consensus on how old a link needs to be before it counts, but there is consensus that the longer the link has been there, the more value it has.
Summary
It's easy to find discussion on whether or not inbound links can hurt a site's ranking. The generally accepted theory is that they can't, since a web site owner has no control over who links to them. Personally, I'm not so sure. It never hurts to be careful, so before you purchase a link on any site, check the stats on it: Page Rank, Alexa Rank, number of pages indexed in Google, Yahoo and MSN and the number of back links showing in Google, Yahoo and MSN. I recommend staying away from sites that don't have good numbers.
Although ranking sites using inbound links as a factor on the surface seems democratic enough (the web community votes for what it likes by linking too it) it creates a catch 22: if you can't get your site ranked so people can see it then how can they link to it so it can rank?
Enter the process I'll discuss in Part 2, link building.....
But building links is tough. In today's competitive market, you have to do something to get your site noticed. Once your site has been noticed, judgment will be made by the court of public opinion. If your site gives visitors something they find valuable, they will tell people and, occasionally, link to your site.
When it comes to inbound links, there are five main factors:
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the actual words that make up the link. These words are very important. They should relate to your web site and, most important, should vary. A lot of links with the same anchor text gives them the appearance of not being natural links, but rather links that have been purchased, swapped for, or automatically generated.
To keep search engines from mistakenly (or correctly) classifying your inbound links as not natural, use as much variation as possible in the anchor text of those links. When a thousand inbound links to your site show up, all with the anchor text of "buy widgets here", it's pretty apparent to the search engines that these links aren't natural.
When I do link building by commissioning blog posts, my preference is to not make any anchor text recommendations at all. I like the blogger to check out my site and come up with his or her own anchor text. In cases where the blogger is insistent that I proved anchor text, I provide a list for him or her to choose from instead of giving the same links every time.
Link Quality
Where a link originates from is very important. A link from a popular, well-trafficked site that's been online for years and already ranks well in the search engines is worth a lot more than a link from your friend's new blog. A few 'quality' links will do a lot more for your rank than a bunch of links from newer, less established sites.
PageRank is factor link builders use to determine the 'quality' of a site. Other things to look at are how long has the site been around, how many pages does it have indexed, and how much traffic it gets.
Link Volume
Link volume is the number of inbound links. Generally, the more inbound links a site has, the more important it's determined to be, as long as it doesn't run afoul of the two factors mentioned above.
Time to Appear
There's discussion among webmaster about whether or not how quickly links appear is considered. If a few thousands back links to your site appear all of a sudden, all with the same or close to the same anchor text, it will probably send up a red flag.
Other factors come into play here as well: is it just a link? What's the content around the link? What the quality of the site it appeared on? How does the theme of the site it appeared on related to your site? Did the links show up all in a clump (over a day or two) and then nothing? These are all reasons why you have to be careful with any sort of automated link building approach because natural links tend to build up over time and typically don't come all at once.
Link Age
How long a link has been around is also a factor. Links that are only there for a month or two will probably not help when it comes to enhancing your site's search engine position.
When most search engines discover a link, they'll keep an eye on it for a while before they give any credit too it. This is specifically to combat link buying, so that you can't buy a link on a highly ranked site and see an immediate result. There's no consensus on how old a link needs to be before it counts, but there is consensus that the longer the link has been there, the more value it has.
Summary
It's easy to find discussion on whether or not inbound links can hurt a site's ranking. The generally accepted theory is that they can't, since a web site owner has no control over who links to them. Personally, I'm not so sure. It never hurts to be careful, so before you purchase a link on any site, check the stats on it: Page Rank, Alexa Rank, number of pages indexed in Google, Yahoo and MSN and the number of back links showing in Google, Yahoo and MSN. I recommend staying away from sites that don't have good numbers.
Although ranking sites using inbound links as a factor on the surface seems democratic enough (the web community votes for what it likes by linking too it) it creates a catch 22: if you can't get your site ranked so people can see it then how can they link to it so it can rank?
Enter the process I'll discuss in Part 2, link building.....
Labels: Link Building
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Blog Editing Functionality
I've added blog editing functionality!
To edit any of your blogs, click on the 'Manage Account' link. You'll see a new selection in the left hand column of management page when it loads: 'My Blogs'.
Clicking that link will list any blogs you've added to Bloggertizer. Each listing has an edit button which, when clicked will take you to a form where you can make any changes to your blog listing.
To edit any of your blogs, click on the 'Manage Account' link. You'll see a new selection in the left hand column of management page when it loads: 'My Blogs'.
Clicking that link will list any blogs you've added to Bloggertizer. Each listing has an edit button which, when clicked will take you to a form where you can make any changes to your blog listing.
Labels: Bloggertizer
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Why You Should do Blog Marketing
Blog Advertising is a very effective way to reach online audiences and compared to other forms of online advertising can be very economical.
A post, link, or other ad on a popular blog can be viewed hundred, if not thousands of times a day. If you do your research and advertise on blog related to your website, product, or service, this could mean reaching a huge audience of customers interested in what you offer.
Yet online advertisers still seem to be wary of blog advertising. Considering the facts, this seems a strange position to take:
Fact: Many blogs can deliver over a million impressions a week.
Fact: A blog with 1,000 (or even fewer) readers a week can be influential if one or more of its posts spreads through the blogosphere.
There are three types of ads you can run on a blog, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Links
Topical, on-target links can not only drive traffic, but - if you target your anchor text - also contribute to organic rankings. In order to provide a boost to organic results, a link usually needs to be present for a minimum of three months... the longer the better.
Links are typical sold (on blogs and elsewhere) on a weekly or monthly basis. A link on a very popular site can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month. Good deals are available though, if you do your homework. Text links on moderately trafficked blogs with a PageRank of 3 or 4 can be had for as little as $10 a month.
Articles
It's a not-so-well-kept secret that many bloggers will 'sell' posts on their blogs. A typical paid post will run from 100 - 300 words and contain from 1 - 3 text links to your site.
The power of a blog post can be immense: a post typically lasts for the life of the blog - that means links in posts are permanent. Visitors to the site might not realize the post is actually a paid article. A positive 'review' article on a well trafficked blog can add some serious buzz to any marketing effort.
Some blogs are willing to post articles you've written yourself, others prefer to write them from scratch. While usually more expensive than links, articles can be had for anywhere from $5 - $100, depending on the popularity of the blog and whether or not you are requesting an original article.
Some bloggers consider posting for hire as selling out and refuse to do it. Others will only write a review about a web site or service they believe in, and then there are some who will write anything for pay. Do you research to make sure the blog is right for you before you contract for a post on it.
Banners
The banner ad has been around almost as long as the Internet. There's a reason for that: banner ads still work. You have to be creative with placement and the message, but a targeted banner ad on a niche blog can yield good results.
Banners, like links, are typically sold on a recurring fee basis, with prices differing according to the size and placement of the banner, as well as how long it will run. Some blogs charge by the month regardless of impressions, others charge by impressions. Banner ad prices tend to be similar to that of link prices when bought according to time. Impression pricing can run from a dollar or less per thousand impressions, up to $8 - $10 dollars.
Blog advertising should be a part of any online marketer's arsenal. Find blogs related to your niche, try a few links, posts or banners, and watch the traffic roll in!
A post, link, or other ad on a popular blog can be viewed hundred, if not thousands of times a day. If you do your research and advertise on blog related to your website, product, or service, this could mean reaching a huge audience of customers interested in what you offer.
Yet online advertisers still seem to be wary of blog advertising. Considering the facts, this seems a strange position to take:
Fact: Many blogs can deliver over a million impressions a week.
Fact: A blog with 1,000 (or even fewer) readers a week can be influential if one or more of its posts spreads through the blogosphere.
There are three types of ads you can run on a blog, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Links
Topical, on-target links can not only drive traffic, but - if you target your anchor text - also contribute to organic rankings. In order to provide a boost to organic results, a link usually needs to be present for a minimum of three months... the longer the better.
Links are typical sold (on blogs and elsewhere) on a weekly or monthly basis. A link on a very popular site can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month. Good deals are available though, if you do your homework. Text links on moderately trafficked blogs with a PageRank of 3 or 4 can be had for as little as $10 a month.
Articles
It's a not-so-well-kept secret that many bloggers will 'sell' posts on their blogs. A typical paid post will run from 100 - 300 words and contain from 1 - 3 text links to your site.
The power of a blog post can be immense: a post typically lasts for the life of the blog - that means links in posts are permanent. Visitors to the site might not realize the post is actually a paid article. A positive 'review' article on a well trafficked blog can add some serious buzz to any marketing effort.
Some blogs are willing to post articles you've written yourself, others prefer to write them from scratch. While usually more expensive than links, articles can be had for anywhere from $5 - $100, depending on the popularity of the blog and whether or not you are requesting an original article.
Some bloggers consider posting for hire as selling out and refuse to do it. Others will only write a review about a web site or service they believe in, and then there are some who will write anything for pay. Do you research to make sure the blog is right for you before you contract for a post on it.
Banners
The banner ad has been around almost as long as the Internet. There's a reason for that: banner ads still work. You have to be creative with placement and the message, but a targeted banner ad on a niche blog can yield good results.
Banners, like links, are typically sold on a recurring fee basis, with prices differing according to the size and placement of the banner, as well as how long it will run. Some blogs charge by the month regardless of impressions, others charge by impressions. Banner ad prices tend to be similar to that of link prices when bought according to time. Impression pricing can run from a dollar or less per thousand impressions, up to $8 - $10 dollars.
Blog advertising should be a part of any online marketer's arsenal. Find blogs related to your niche, try a few links, posts or banners, and watch the traffic roll in!
Labels: Blog Advertising
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