Well, if a natural link is from a content page to a content page, using different link texts then what do we do to get more links?
In reality, a link building program will go for links on pages of mass links and not look at all natural. There are ways around this, but they take far more effort and are less likely to actually get links. For the extra effort and less guarantee of people responding, it is usually seen to be the 'done thing' to join in with link exchanges.
Now as long as these aren't free-for-all, then the search engines will still put a bit of weight into what they find, just not as much as weight as natural links.
Avoid running a free-for-all links exchange at all costs - don't allow whatever scheme you use to accept every request. It's always best to check the requests and only accept the best. How the search engines detect the difference I don't know. But I suppose if there are a lot of spammy link swaps in your directory then they will harm you.
Do directories work? Well, they aren't usually one-way but they do help a little. The time that the links directory on CompareMortgageRates.co.uk jammed and wasn't showing any links (and I wondered why people were saying they couldn't find their links on the pages when I could see them on the database) the page rank of the site did increase.
So links from directories do help, just not as much as 'natural links'. But it's probably proportionally far easier to get directory links than natural links...
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Tuesday 29 April 2008
What's a ntural link?
Right, so a link in is a vote for a site, but what else did my example show us?
Well, for a start, 'natural link building' is not necessarily always on topic. Just because it's a hobby blog linking to a first aid site doesn't mean it's any less - it's actually natural. Especially if the recipients see the nice things he's written about them on his blog and then link back to the page saying about his recovery.
Second, link building isn't always from a content page to the home page. The rider wouldn't link to the home page - he links to the page showing the content that is relevant to him.
But the anchor text is is usually relevant to the linked-to site. His link text would probably be 'pictures of my accident' - relevant to a site about first aid. Also, it would be unusual for everyone linking to a content page to use the same text. His friends might link to it as 'Fred's accident pictures' etc.
Lastly, and this is important, if he's writing a blog then the post page is probably only going to have that link and maybe one or two other links on the content page. It's not a page of 50 to 100 links - just the one or two links.
So, assuming that search engines are doing their best to find 'natural links' rather than built links, what would they look like? Well, they would be on pages of only a couple of external links maximum, they would possibly point directly to a content page rather than a home page (but not always) and they would use different link anchor texts.
It's not necessarily true that the links would be one way - it could easily be reciprocated and definately not always within the same topics - off-topic linking is just as relevant as on-topic, maybe more?
Well, for a start, 'natural link building' is not necessarily always on topic. Just because it's a hobby blog linking to a first aid site doesn't mean it's any less - it's actually natural. Especially if the recipients see the nice things he's written about them on his blog and then link back to the page saying about his recovery.
Second, link building isn't always from a content page to the home page. The rider wouldn't link to the home page - he links to the page showing the content that is relevant to him.
But the anchor text is is usually relevant to the linked-to site. His link text would probably be 'pictures of my accident' - relevant to a site about first aid. Also, it would be unusual for everyone linking to a content page to use the same text. His friends might link to it as 'Fred's accident pictures' etc.
Lastly, and this is important, if he's writing a blog then the post page is probably only going to have that link and maybe one or two other links on the content page. It's not a page of 50 to 100 links - just the one or two links.
So, assuming that search engines are doing their best to find 'natural links' rather than built links, what would they look like? Well, they would be on pages of only a couple of external links maximum, they would possibly point directly to a content page rather than a home page (but not always) and they would use different link anchor texts.
It's not necessarily true that the links would be one way - it could easily be reciprocated and definately not always within the same topics - off-topic linking is just as relevant as on-topic, maybe more?
Monday 28 April 2008
Why link building?
Back to how to optimise your website in order to gain more website traffic. I've covered what you can do to your own pages, but what can you do aside from changes to your website - so called off page optimisation or basically link building?
Well there are various ways to get links in and I'll deal with these in due course. For now were looking just at link building campaigns. But why would you want to?
Take for example someone writing a blog about their hobby of motorcross riding. One weekend they are at an event and take a bad tumble and within seconds the local St John's Ambulance team are attending. They stop the rider from suffocating on his own tongue and save his life before passing him to the local hospital.
The guy recovers and is really thankful to the team that saved his life. Naturally, it's a major event and writes about it in his blog and recognises the efforts the St John's team put in. He finds the branch has a website, maybe with a page of pictures from the day of his accident and finds some pictures of his recovery. So he links to the page.
Now, the search engines sees him linking from his popular blog to this brand new page of pictures. They decide that if he's linking from his blog then the site and page he is linking to must be good. If he has decided it's a good page, then why not save themselves some effort and acknowledge that and also count it as good.
Therefore, links are like voting for the popularity of the site. Get the idea?
Well there are various ways to get links in and I'll deal with these in due course. For now were looking just at link building campaigns. But why would you want to?
Take for example someone writing a blog about their hobby of motorcross riding. One weekend they are at an event and take a bad tumble and within seconds the local St John's Ambulance team are attending. They stop the rider from suffocating on his own tongue and save his life before passing him to the local hospital.
The guy recovers and is really thankful to the team that saved his life. Naturally, it's a major event and writes about it in his blog and recognises the efforts the St John's team put in. He finds the branch has a website, maybe with a page of pictures from the day of his accident and finds some pictures of his recovery. So he links to the page.
Now, the search engines sees him linking from his popular blog to this brand new page of pictures. They decide that if he's linking from his blog then the site and page he is linking to must be good. If he has decided it's a good page, then why not save themselves some effort and acknowledge that and also count it as good.
Therefore, links are like voting for the popularity of the site. Get the idea?
Saturday 26 April 2008
ie_archiver, again
I wrote back in February about how ia archiver had got into a site's admin function and triggered the deletion of the entire database.
Well, it turns out that wasn't the only site affected. Just discovered another site that had the same problem. The other one is in development and it's really hard to get hold of the customer, so we hadn't noticed the problem.
The customer was supposed to call at 11:30 this morning to complete a few details, but as always, he failed to do so. But that didn't stop me having to spend the entire morning rebuilding his site from scratch!
Typical. Because it was in development and not moving when I checked all of the sites it was forgotten about. It's been around that long that the sample site is somewhere different to the rest of the ongoing samples.
You live and learn!
Well, it turns out that wasn't the only site affected. Just discovered another site that had the same problem. The other one is in development and it's really hard to get hold of the customer, so we hadn't noticed the problem.
The customer was supposed to call at 11:30 this morning to complete a few details, but as always, he failed to do so. But that didn't stop me having to spend the entire morning rebuilding his site from scratch!
Typical. Because it was in development and not moving when I checked all of the sites it was forgotten about. It's been around that long that the sample site is somewhere different to the rest of the ongoing samples.
You live and learn!
Friday 25 April 2008
Submitting Website To Search Engines
Do you think that submitting your site a lot to search engines is going to give your site a boost? Have you ever used the 'add url' form to submit a site to a search engine. Noticed how long it took to respond?
Have you ever seen webdesigners and the likes offering to submit your website to Google & hundreds of other search engines every month. Is it worth it?
Simple answer - Adding your url to a search engine is a waste of time. What's more, do it frequently and it can damage your search engine ranking.
Search engines find new sites themselves well enough if those sites are linked to from other established sites. This way the new sites can appear in a matter of days (but whether they remain listed is another matter...).
If you keep submitting your site via an add url page you are telling the search engine 'No-one links to me and I'm a struggling, unpopular site.' Does a car journey end any quicker when the child in the back keeps asking 'Are we nearly there yet?'
Do you get listed quicker / higher for saying 'I'm unpopular, please list me.'?
Don't do it, but then again I'm not encouraging link spamming. Contact a few site owners that have similar interests and see if they would be happy to link to you in return for you linking back. Get a few links sorted and then you'll get listed.
Have you ever seen webdesigners and the likes offering to submit your website to Google & hundreds of other search engines every month. Is it worth it?
Simple answer - Adding your url to a search engine is a waste of time. What's more, do it frequently and it can damage your search engine ranking.
Search engines find new sites themselves well enough if those sites are linked to from other established sites. This way the new sites can appear in a matter of days (but whether they remain listed is another matter...).
If you keep submitting your site via an add url page you are telling the search engine 'No-one links to me and I'm a struggling, unpopular site.' Does a car journey end any quicker when the child in the back keeps asking 'Are we nearly there yet?'
Do you get listed quicker / higher for saying 'I'm unpopular, please list me.'?
Don't do it, but then again I'm not encouraging link spamming. Contact a few site owners that have similar interests and see if they would be happy to link to you in return for you linking back. Get a few links sorted and then you'll get listed.
Thursday 24 April 2008
Sometimes, I wonder...
Sometimes I wonder just exactly who my sales guy is selling to. Far too often the site grinds to a halt about the time it goes live - we're forever having 'discussions' about whether he's chcasing people enough for payments. And he's constantly on the road chaisng clients.
I tell him he's spending too long with clients, especially given our charges. He says it's the 'personal' touch, but when that involves a dozen 60 - 80 mile round trips to a customer for a £500 site, then the petrol costs are quickly eating away at our profits! Why he can't email or phone some of the time, I still can't fathom.
His reason is that it can take a few visits to persuade people as the the benefits of a site. I always wonder how ethical his sales techniques are - what he's offering, what they think they are getting. But an email I've just read takes the biscuit - not only is he offering that we build the website, but he's also going to the wholesalers to advise what to buy as the guy has no knowledge of the game!
I do worry that he's offering an opinion that websites bring easy cash for their owners. Time will tell.
I tell him he's spending too long with clients, especially given our charges. He says it's the 'personal' touch, but when that involves a dozen 60 - 80 mile round trips to a customer for a £500 site, then the petrol costs are quickly eating away at our profits! Why he can't email or phone some of the time, I still can't fathom.
His reason is that it can take a few visits to persuade people as the the benefits of a site. I always wonder how ethical his sales techniques are - what he's offering, what they think they are getting. But an email I've just read takes the biscuit - not only is he offering that we build the website, but he's also going to the wholesalers to advise what to buy as the guy has no knowledge of the game!
I do worry that he's offering an opinion that websites bring easy cash for their owners. Time will tell.
Wednesday 23 April 2008
SEO Doesn't mean spamming
I've alredy mentioned that SEO should look at what search engines are trying to achieve, so what else should we consider?
Well writing good code for a start. Inaccessible sites are going to be difficult not only for those with accessibility problems but also for search engines. If your code uses hundreds of nested tables, like some 'website creation tools', then it will be very difficult for the search engines to follow.
So write neat code. Use plenty of CSS and put the CSS style sheets into stand-alone files that the search engines can ignore - this benefits you as the file sizes are smaller. Test what happens when you load a page with the style sheets missing - now you are seeing the site more like the search engines.
And although you should look at what techniques will help you rank higher, don't do too much. Writing a meaningful page that users will get information from will eventually attract the search engines. A page that suddenly appears and is well optimised, or even a site that does that, could be flagged as suspicious to the search engines and never rank well.
Think of the future. Sites that provide what search engines want whilst being optimised well have a far greater long term future than those that spam in some way to fight against what the search engines are doing.
Well writing good code for a start. Inaccessible sites are going to be difficult not only for those with accessibility problems but also for search engines. If your code uses hundreds of nested tables, like some 'website creation tools', then it will be very difficult for the search engines to follow.
So write neat code. Use plenty of CSS and put the CSS style sheets into stand-alone files that the search engines can ignore - this benefits you as the file sizes are smaller. Test what happens when you load a page with the style sheets missing - now you are seeing the site more like the search engines.
And although you should look at what techniques will help you rank higher, don't do too much. Writing a meaningful page that users will get information from will eventually attract the search engines. A page that suddenly appears and is well optimised, or even a site that does that, could be flagged as suspicious to the search engines and never rank well.
Think of the future. Sites that provide what search engines want whilst being optimised well have a far greater long term future than those that spam in some way to fight against what the search engines are doing.
Tuesday 22 April 2008
The long term SEO view
If you can't rely on them, then why should you try to rank highly with search engines? Well for a start, if will probably give yougood amounts of traffic, if only in the short term. And if you are able to do these changes yourself - that's effectively free.
But I mentioned yesterday that search engines change over time. How's it best to cope there? Simply subscribe to blogs like this and dedicated SEO blogs. We'll tell you what, in our opinions, are working well. I've tried a few SEO experiments in the past within this blog and they continue to run.
The aim of SEO should be to work with, not against, search engines. People have tried all sorts of spamming techniques in the past and been caught out. If the website isn't banned, then the technique is at the very least ignored.
So instead look at what search engines are trying to achieve. They are wanting to give their visitors the best possible results. These will be pages that give them the answers they are looking for and maybe somewhere to dig further into as the same time. If I'm researching a new fish for my tank I like to find an overview of that fish. If that page is interesting and informative and links to other sites then I'm likely to follow those links.
If the result is a forum, then I take what I read with a pince of salt, especially when the results link to the poster's own websites. Then I frequently ignore the links.
And this is what Google is starting to do. A link on a well structured content page will carry much more weight than a link on a forum page. Why - because in the first page the link has (probably) been loaded by the site owner after they have found the page interesting. In the second case, it's the owner of the linked-to page that has put the link up, not because it is necessarily good, but because they want more traffic.
This shows just one way that search engines are trying to copy what we as visitors actually experience. By thinking through you can see what is really needed.
But I mentioned yesterday that search engines change over time. How's it best to cope there? Simply subscribe to blogs like this and dedicated SEO blogs. We'll tell you what, in our opinions, are working well. I've tried a few SEO experiments in the past within this blog and they continue to run.
The aim of SEO should be to work with, not against, search engines. People have tried all sorts of spamming techniques in the past and been caught out. If the website isn't banned, then the technique is at the very least ignored.
So instead look at what search engines are trying to achieve. They are wanting to give their visitors the best possible results. These will be pages that give them the answers they are looking for and maybe somewhere to dig further into as the same time. If I'm researching a new fish for my tank I like to find an overview of that fish. If that page is interesting and informative and links to other sites then I'm likely to follow those links.
If the result is a forum, then I take what I read with a pince of salt, especially when the results link to the poster's own websites. Then I frequently ignore the links.
And this is what Google is starting to do. A link on a well structured content page will carry much more weight than a link on a forum page. Why - because in the first page the link has (probably) been loaded by the site owner after they have found the page interesting. In the second case, it's the owner of the linked-to page that has put the link up, not because it is necessarily good, but because they want more traffic.
This shows just one way that search engines are trying to copy what we as visitors actually experience. By thinking through you can see what is really needed.
Monday 21 April 2008
SEO - A word of warning
Whereas it is possible to get a site to the top, or near to the top of search engine listings, a business should never depend on that for its income. It's fine if it's an affiliate site like my mortgages website where it's an added bonus what I earn there, but I have a friend that I work with who depended a lot on his site being on the first page of Google for several major terms.
I know myself what a fall from grace feels like with a website, and although in the time since I've managed to get other sites ranking well, I've just been too busy to really work on that site and get it back.
So why can't you depend on search engines? Well, for a start, they are out of our control and are always trying to get better results. With tricks like improved duplicate content filters, it's getting harder for affiliates to rank near the top. That's just one area that suffers. But if your site is relying heavily on link exchanges and suddenly Google decides to ignore all 2-way links, what's going to happen to your site - it could take months to get it ranking well again, if ever.
If SEO is your business' lifeline then think again. Experiment with some of the other website marketing techniques to see what else works. It only needs your site to be down briefly when Googlebot comes to visit it and you could be dropped completely from the rankings.
I know myself what a fall from grace feels like with a website, and although in the time since I've managed to get other sites ranking well, I've just been too busy to really work on that site and get it back.
So why can't you depend on search engines? Well, for a start, they are out of our control and are always trying to get better results. With tricks like improved duplicate content filters, it's getting harder for affiliates to rank near the top. That's just one area that suffers. But if your site is relying heavily on link exchanges and suddenly Google decides to ignore all 2-way links, what's going to happen to your site - it could take months to get it ranking well again, if ever.
If SEO is your business' lifeline then think again. Experiment with some of the other website marketing techniques to see what else works. It only needs your site to be down briefly when Googlebot comes to visit it and you could be dropped completely from the rankings.
Sunday 20 April 2008
Google Search Engine Ranking Factors II
Continuing my review of what you can do to help a page acheive a goog search engine ranking - but don't forget to look at the post about what not to do!
Links to internal pages Include the keyword in the file name and in the anchor text, but keep the filename reasonable.
Site structure Keep the site easy to navigate. Ensure visitors and spiders can easily pass through the pages. Supply a usable site map and separate keywords in url with hyphens. Make the site map linked to from every page.
External links out Avoid link farms / free for all links - these will harm you. Check the Google Page Ranking of sites you link to and the popularity of these pages. Be ready to remove links to sites that suddenly drop or links that stop working. Include only relevant links on each page and keep the number of out links to less than 100 per page. Include keywords in the anchor text and deep link to relevant pages.
Updating pages Adding new information to a page / site indicates it's being maintained. It also interests visitors and keeps them coming back - so they don't need the search engines. But there is a ratio of new pages / existing pages to maintain. Frequent updates should also encourage frequent spidering.
Size & Age Large sites imply good organisation and a site the visitors will stay on for a while. Older sites are also preferred.
Links in Having at least one link from a quality site is essential. Through this you will get spidered and indexed far quicker than if you submit the site to Google. Then you need to arrange links from suitable other sites. These should be sites with a good Google ranking, not link farms etc, and related to the content of your site. Best links are from structured pages. The links on a links page should all be related, for example a page for mobile phone insurance, another for handset sales. Also, the less links on the page the better, plus if your keyword is in the title of the page, that's really good.
Specialist links Links from specialist sites and directories can give a lot of weight. But if you can find how to get listed in dmoz,let me know.
Link style If the site is offering links through an image map or using javascript, it might not be worth the effort. Go for a text link and include your keyword in the anchor text.
Links to internal pages Include the keyword in the file name and in the anchor text, but keep the filename reasonable.
Site structure Keep the site easy to navigate. Ensure visitors and spiders can easily pass through the pages. Supply a usable site map and separate keywords in url with hyphens. Make the site map linked to from every page.
External links out Avoid link farms / free for all links - these will harm you. Check the Google Page Ranking of sites you link to and the popularity of these pages. Be ready to remove links to sites that suddenly drop or links that stop working. Include only relevant links on each page and keep the number of out links to less than 100 per page. Include keywords in the anchor text and deep link to relevant pages.
Updating pages Adding new information to a page / site indicates it's being maintained. It also interests visitors and keeps them coming back - so they don't need the search engines. But there is a ratio of new pages / existing pages to maintain. Frequent updates should also encourage frequent spidering.
Size & Age Large sites imply good organisation and a site the visitors will stay on for a while. Older sites are also preferred.
Links in Having at least one link from a quality site is essential. Through this you will get spidered and indexed far quicker than if you submit the site to Google. Then you need to arrange links from suitable other sites. These should be sites with a good Google ranking, not link farms etc, and related to the content of your site. Best links are from structured pages. The links on a links page should all be related, for example a page for mobile phone insurance, another for handset sales. Also, the less links on the page the better, plus if your keyword is in the title of the page, that's really good.
Specialist links Links from specialist sites and directories can give a lot of weight. But if you can find how to get listed in dmoz,let me know.
Link style If the site is offering links through an image map or using javascript, it might not be worth the effort. Go for a text link and include your keyword in the anchor text.
Saturday 19 April 2008
Google Search Engine Ranking Factors I
I'm going to split this up into 2 posts. Makes for easier reading as the post is going to be long enough anyway!
Here's some factors to take into account when designing a website page or reviewing it for search engine optimisation. Please see the post with notes on what not to do as well!
Keyword in URL / domain name If you are lucky enough to be able to buy a suitable URL with your chosen keyword in it, this can realy help. Also, separate words with hyphens, for example, www.google-ranking.com would go very nicely! Including the keywords in the page names is even more important.
Keyword in title tag Keep the tag short (up to 60 characters) and do not include special characters, although the pipe ('|' - between shift and 'z') does seem to be ignored so can be used to make the title more readable. The earlier in the tag the keyword is included, the better. But make it readable - this is what people will see in search results.
Keyword in metadata First the description (max 200 characters) then the keyword metatag (max 10 words). Google is supposed to not use the description tag, but it does display the contents in some search results. Can the pundits be wrong? Maybe this tag is used. In the keyword tag, all keywords must appear in the main text, else you are penalised. Don't repeat words, but Google appears to ignores this field.
Keyword density Reports suggest that all keywords should make up around 5-20% of the total text, with each keyword 1-5% of the total. Some experts believe these percentages vary according to topic.
Header tags Include keywords in H1, H2, H3 etc tags.
Text decoration Highlight keywords using bold, italic, font-size etc.
Keyword positioning Keywords in the same order as the query will have more weighting than those that aren't. A search for "ranking factors google" should return different results to "google ranking factors". Also, the higher up a page the keywords are, the more weighting they are given.
Alt text Describe the image, don't fill with spam. Used to work, but doesn't seem to do anything any more.
Here's some factors to take into account when designing a website page or reviewing it for search engine optimisation. Please see the post with notes on what not to do as well!
Keyword in URL / domain name If you are lucky enough to be able to buy a suitable URL with your chosen keyword in it, this can realy help. Also, separate words with hyphens, for example, www.google-ranking.com would go very nicely! Including the keywords in the page names is even more important.
Keyword in title tag Keep the tag short (up to 60 characters) and do not include special characters, although the pipe ('|' - between shift and 'z') does seem to be ignored so can be used to make the title more readable. The earlier in the tag the keyword is included, the better. But make it readable - this is what people will see in search results.
Keyword in metadata First the description (max 200 characters) then the keyword metatag (max 10 words). Google is supposed to not use the description tag, but it does display the contents in some search results. Can the pundits be wrong? Maybe this tag is used. In the keyword tag, all keywords must appear in the main text, else you are penalised. Don't repeat words, but Google appears to ignores this field.
Keyword density Reports suggest that all keywords should make up around 5-20% of the total text, with each keyword 1-5% of the total. Some experts believe these percentages vary according to topic.
Header tags Include keywords in H1, H2, H3 etc tags.
Text decoration Highlight keywords using bold, italic, font-size etc.
Keyword positioning Keywords in the same order as the query will have more weighting than those that aren't. A search for "ranking factors google" should return different results to "google ranking factors". Also, the higher up a page the keywords are, the more weighting they are given.
Alt text Describe the image, don't fill with spam. Used to work, but doesn't seem to do anything any more.
Friday 18 April 2008
How not to optimise a website
First, a mini disclaimer! What should you not do when you are optimising a website?
Over optimisation Optimise a website 'too much' and you will be penalised for spamming. Don't use too many different keywords, nor include keywords too many times.
Bad external links Avoid link farms, free for all links etc. Check regularily that the sites you link to have not fallen into these categories. Also, if you are hosting several sites, multiple cross linking between them can be detrimental when they share a host.
Depend on flash Rely on flash or images and search engines won't be able to read your site. Google can't read Flash (yet) - so anything hidden away in flash won't be seen. Provide alternative text links when using flash. But, some people believe sites using some multimedia do have some extra weighting...
Frames As per flash, spiders tend not to be able to follow frames, although I have seen Google following Iframes.
Single pixel links Why would you have a link that visitors can't see? Because you are trying to trick the spiders. They will spot it and penalise you.
No good links Google will drop you.
Link Buying As this messes up the page rank, Google claims to class these against you when discovered. But then why are there so many Google Adwords adverts for these???
Over optimisation Optimise a website 'too much' and you will be penalised for spamming. Don't use too many different keywords, nor include keywords too many times.
Bad external links Avoid link farms, free for all links etc. Check regularily that the sites you link to have not fallen into these categories. Also, if you are hosting several sites, multiple cross linking between them can be detrimental when they share a host.
Depend on flash Rely on flash or images and search engines won't be able to read your site. Google can't read Flash (yet) - so anything hidden away in flash won't be seen. Provide alternative text links when using flash. But, some people believe sites using some multimedia do have some extra weighting...
Frames As per flash, spiders tend not to be able to follow frames, although I have seen Google following Iframes.
Single pixel links Why would you have a link that visitors can't see? Because you are trying to trick the spiders. They will spot it and penalise you.
No good links Google will drop you.
Link Buying As this messes up the page rank, Google claims to class these against you when discovered. But then why are there so many Google Adwords adverts for these???
Thursday 17 April 2008
More search engine visitors
I've talked about paid for online marketing enough, so now I'll look for what marketing you can do for free and off-line (non internet) marketing.
I mentioned a few posts back about getting search engine optimisation (SEO) 'experts' to workr on your site. But you have to be careful - a lot of the guarantees aren't worth anything. Guarantees to rank on the top page for worthless search terms etc.
So what can you do yourself? Well if you are able to update your website yourself then you can try some 'on page' optimisation - where you change the code to appeal more to the search engines.
You can also arrange some link exchanges. This requires you putting links on your own site, but you can do this with tools like link machine. So even if you don't maintain your website yourself, you can ask your webdesigner to install this for you. I use it on my own sites as well as customer sites, where either they or I can maintain the links for them. See it in action here.
Over the next few posts I'll look at these optimisation techniques.
I mentioned a few posts back about getting search engine optimisation (SEO) 'experts' to workr on your site. But you have to be careful - a lot of the guarantees aren't worth anything. Guarantees to rank on the top page for worthless search terms etc.
So what can you do yourself? Well if you are able to update your website yourself then you can try some 'on page' optimisation - where you change the code to appeal more to the search engines.
You can also arrange some link exchanges. This requires you putting links on your own site, but you can do this with tools like link machine. So even if you don't maintain your website yourself, you can ask your webdesigner to install this for you. I use it on my own sites as well as customer sites, where either they or I can maintain the links for them. See it in action here.
Over the next few posts I'll look at these optimisation techniques.
Wednesday 16 April 2008
Paid For Online Marketing
That's about it for the paid for online website marketing, so just a quick recap.
First, and what most people have tried, is the Google Adsense system and other pay per click systems. From a few pennies per visitor you get potentially unlimited traffic to your site from a source you can trust.
Then there's also popunder advertising, just watch exactly where you are buying this from and keep an eye on how successful it it.
Then in a similar vein there's expired domain redirects where visitors to another site that no longer exists are instead sent to your website. And the last source I took a look at was the paid directoy inclusion, where you get a banner or other form of link on someone else's website.
Regardless of what you are using now and what you used 6 / 12 months ago, it's always well worth reviewing what's available as as new technology and targetting come in everything does change and so can the success or not of these campaigns.
First, and what most people have tried, is the Google Adsense system and other pay per click systems. From a few pennies per visitor you get potentially unlimited traffic to your site from a source you can trust.
Then there's also popunder advertising, just watch exactly where you are buying this from and keep an eye on how successful it it.
Then in a similar vein there's expired domain redirects where visitors to another site that no longer exists are instead sent to your website. And the last source I took a look at was the paid directoy inclusion, where you get a banner or other form of link on someone else's website.
Regardless of what you are using now and what you used 6 / 12 months ago, it's always well worth reviewing what's available as as new technology and targetting come in everything does change and so can the success or not of these campaigns.
Tuesday 15 April 2008
Paid For Search Engine Experts
At some point as an owner of a website you will receive spam (although the sender will deny it's that) saying they have performed free SEO services on your website and identified that you don't have enough links. I had one just today for my web design site (which is purely a contact point - I don't have enough time to advertise as well!).
This looks liks a good offer and a long term investment. You hope the contact will optimise your site, get you to the top spot in Google and other search engines and you will reap the benefit for eternity.
I ask myself - if they are so good at Search Engine Optimisation, why are they sending me spam? I know from my own sites (e.g. CompareMortgageRates.co.uk) that if you get a decent site to the top of Google then you can get a good income. If they are such experts then why have they not just written a couple of sites like that and sit watching their income roll in? Are you telling me they would honestly prefer to sned out spam emails???
The answer is that what they are saying is basically the truth, but there's no guarantees of success and definitely no guarantee that once the site is 'optimised' that it will stay there. I've just moved a site from nowhere to page 1 of Google for logo golf balls, but I'm not guaranteeing it will be there next week.
For most people the tricks and techniques these guys are using are basic and if you can edit your own website you can certainly try them. Even if you can't edit your site, then you can use the lessons some of my own customers have used to try your own search engine optimisation.
A new customer recently told me that for his previous site he's responded to a spam email and was paying £60 per month to SEO experts. They promised him a first page listing on Google. They had never achieved this. Their guarantee just basically said that if it wasn't achieved, they would keep trying. That's £60 per month wasted on nothing.
If you really can't afford the time to try your own SEO then maybe look at these spam emails, but be very careful!
This looks liks a good offer and a long term investment. You hope the contact will optimise your site, get you to the top spot in Google and other search engines and you will reap the benefit for eternity.
I ask myself - if they are so good at Search Engine Optimisation, why are they sending me spam? I know from my own sites (e.g. CompareMortgageRates.co.uk) that if you get a decent site to the top of Google then you can get a good income. If they are such experts then why have they not just written a couple of sites like that and sit watching their income roll in? Are you telling me they would honestly prefer to sned out spam emails???
The answer is that what they are saying is basically the truth, but there's no guarantees of success and definitely no guarantee that once the site is 'optimised' that it will stay there. I've just moved a site from nowhere to page 1 of Google for logo golf balls, but I'm not guaranteeing it will be there next week.
For most people the tricks and techniques these guys are using are basic and if you can edit your own website you can certainly try them. Even if you can't edit your site, then you can use the lessons some of my own customers have used to try your own search engine optimisation.
A new customer recently told me that for his previous site he's responded to a spam email and was paying £60 per month to SEO experts. They promised him a first page listing on Google. They had never achieved this. Their guarantee just basically said that if it wasn't achieved, they would keep trying. That's £60 per month wasted on nothing.
If you really can't afford the time to try your own SEO then maybe look at these spam emails, but be very careful!
Monday 14 April 2008
Is Affiliate Marketing For Your Site?
Is affiliate marketing suitable for your site? Should you rush out now and choose an affiliate network?
Probably not! Networks fall into one of two categories - those that accept every merchant and charge set-up and monthly fees and those that are choosy and charge just commission levies.
The later case sounds far better - there's no risk, just pay for what you use. But these schemes have to ensure that the sites they are promoting are quickly going to recover their set-up costs. So they have to be very choosy on what sites they promote and will want to know what your conversion rate is and will want to get the best possible commissions out of you.
So are those with monthly fees better? Well if you are desperate to start a scheme they will probably accept you - but at a cost. And to be honest, if you haven't worked out your conversion rate and so on, have you really nurtured your site to the point of knowing how well it works?
When looking at a merchant and their static costs you must work out what this equates to per sale to build that into your cost model. Until you know how many visitors you need per sale and how many visitors they are likely to send you, you have no way of knowing how long the £500 set-up fee and £50 monthly fee (or whatever) will take to be recovered.
Probably not! Networks fall into one of two categories - those that accept every merchant and charge set-up and monthly fees and those that are choosy and charge just commission levies.
The later case sounds far better - there's no risk, just pay for what you use. But these schemes have to ensure that the sites they are promoting are quickly going to recover their set-up costs. So they have to be very choosy on what sites they promote and will want to know what your conversion rate is and will want to get the best possible commissions out of you.
So are those with monthly fees better? Well if you are desperate to start a scheme they will probably accept you - but at a cost. And to be honest, if you haven't worked out your conversion rate and so on, have you really nurtured your site to the point of knowing how well it works?
When looking at a merchant and their static costs you must work out what this equates to per sale to build that into your cost model. Until you know how many visitors you need per sale and how many visitors they are likely to send you, you have no way of knowing how long the £500 set-up fee and £50 monthly fee (or whatever) will take to be recovered.
Sunday 13 April 2008
Affiliate Providers
So who can you use as affiliate scheme providers? Well, here's what I know about some of them from the other side of the coin. I got into affiliate schemes when I wanted to make more cash on comparemortgagerates. I haven't experienced all providers and my experience is as an affiliate, but here's what I know:
Affiliate Window
This is the first scheme I joined. They charge a monthly fee and a levy on all commissions, but they do have a fantastic choice of merchants so your business will probably have company. Whilst this might sound like competition - it means that there are likely to be affiliates already signed up working with sites like yours. There is a choice as to whether you automatically accept all affiliates or whether you vet who can join.
Affiliate Future
Another early one I joined up for and again charging a monthly fee and commission levy. Not quite so many merchants as Affiliate Window and personally, the affiliate tools aren't as good, but they do have a very strong set of travel merchants. If you are travel related, this could be where to go. All affiliates are automatically eligible to promote your schemes - like them or not. Makes it quick for affiliates to sign up, but loses a bit of control if you want it.
Trade Doubler
A huge network with a very large range of merchants and again the monthly fee and commission levy. All affiliates have to be approved by each merchant. I've never really got to grip with their affiliate tools.
OMG
Originally a finance affiliate network but now spreading into travel and shopping. These guys charge only a commission levy - no set-up fees and no monthly fixed fees. This sounds like a benefit, but I've had a few customers try to join as merchants and had either no response to several emails or finally a 'sorry, but we're not taking any more in that category'. Not only do merchants approve affiliates, but all affiliate sites have also been approved onto the system.
ClixGalore
A large network with a choice of memberships - varying from just a commission levy through to levy, plus annual fee, plus signup fee. The more you pay the more you get. I did use ClixGalore as a merchant a few years ago to very little success. A businesses friend also had problems and another site I look after that is still advertised there gets next to no traffic from them. It all boils down to you get what you pay for. There's a good range of merchants, so presumably if you use the more expensive options you get better traffic.
There are more about, but these are the main ones I've used.
Affiliate Window
This is the first scheme I joined. They charge a monthly fee and a levy on all commissions, but they do have a fantastic choice of merchants so your business will probably have company. Whilst this might sound like competition - it means that there are likely to be affiliates already signed up working with sites like yours. There is a choice as to whether you automatically accept all affiliates or whether you vet who can join.
Affiliate Future
Another early one I joined up for and again charging a monthly fee and commission levy. Not quite so many merchants as Affiliate Window and personally, the affiliate tools aren't as good, but they do have a very strong set of travel merchants. If you are travel related, this could be where to go. All affiliates are automatically eligible to promote your schemes - like them or not. Makes it quick for affiliates to sign up, but loses a bit of control if you want it.
Trade Doubler
A huge network with a very large range of merchants and again the monthly fee and commission levy. All affiliates have to be approved by each merchant. I've never really got to grip with their affiliate tools.
OMG
Originally a finance affiliate network but now spreading into travel and shopping. These guys charge only a commission levy - no set-up fees and no monthly fixed fees. This sounds like a benefit, but I've had a few customers try to join as merchants and had either no response to several emails or finally a 'sorry, but we're not taking any more in that category'. Not only do merchants approve affiliates, but all affiliate sites have also been approved onto the system.
ClixGalore
A large network with a choice of memberships - varying from just a commission levy through to levy, plus annual fee, plus signup fee. The more you pay the more you get. I did use ClixGalore as a merchant a few years ago to very little success. A businesses friend also had problems and another site I look after that is still advertised there gets next to no traffic from them. It all boils down to you get what you pay for. There's a good range of merchants, so presumably if you use the more expensive options you get better traffic.
There are more about, but these are the main ones I've used.
Saturday 12 April 2008
Affiliate Marketing
Well I promised more expensive, long term, marketing strategies, and this is certainly one!
With affiliate marketing you are paying other people to market your site for you. If you aren't a big brand and are just starting out, then it's best to use an affiliate provider. There are plenty of these about, so pick the one that's most suited to you.
So what is affiliate marketing and what are the benefits? Basically, you the website owner get a team of marketeers who are working for you on a commission basis. If Joe Blogs generates £100 in sales, then he earns commission on that. If he just generates £1 then that's all you pay commission on.
Affiliates may market your site in many of the ways previously mentioned and many yet to come. A lot are experts in this field and earn substantial incomes.
The benefits for you - well commissions are only paid on confirmed sales, so your marketing costs are directly related to the sales generated. Affiliates can also give your brand some general advertising, so your brand awareness is increased.
Problems - well if you are using an affiliate scheme provider they might also charge fixed network costs. Also, if you are marketing your site using PPC etc, then you might find that your affiliates' adverts are also there and hindering your causes.
With affiliate marketing you are paying other people to market your site for you. If you aren't a big brand and are just starting out, then it's best to use an affiliate provider. There are plenty of these about, so pick the one that's most suited to you.
So what is affiliate marketing and what are the benefits? Basically, you the website owner get a team of marketeers who are working for you on a commission basis. If Joe Blogs generates £100 in sales, then he earns commission on that. If he just generates £1 then that's all you pay commission on.
Affiliates may market your site in many of the ways previously mentioned and many yet to come. A lot are experts in this field and earn substantial incomes.
The benefits for you - well commissions are only paid on confirmed sales, so your marketing costs are directly related to the sales generated. Affiliates can also give your brand some general advertising, so your brand awareness is increased.
Problems - well if you are using an affiliate scheme provider they might also charge fixed network costs. Also, if you are marketing your site using PPC etc, then you might find that your affiliates' adverts are also there and hindering your causes.
Friday 11 April 2008
Not so quick paid marketing
I've covered just about most of the paid for website schemes that you see in use, but what about those that are long term?
Google's Adsense gives near enough instant marketing - set up a campaign now and potentially, if your keywords are popular enough, visitors could be streaming onto the site within minutes.
Even expired domain traffic and popunders can give a fast source of traffic - depending on how long it takes to get your provider to set them up.
But just the same as they start off quickly, they also end quickly and instantly. Once they stop, they do virtually instantly stop.
There are ways to market your site that sometimes take a much larger investment on your behalf, but half a much larger potential return and can give long term results. That's what I'll look at in the next couple of posts.
Google's Adsense gives near enough instant marketing - set up a campaign now and potentially, if your keywords are popular enough, visitors could be streaming onto the site within minutes.
Even expired domain traffic and popunders can give a fast source of traffic - depending on how long it takes to get your provider to set them up.
But just the same as they start off quickly, they also end quickly and instantly. Once they stop, they do virtually instantly stop.
There are ways to market your site that sometimes take a much larger investment on your behalf, but half a much larger potential return and can give long term results. That's what I'll look at in the next couple of posts.
Thursday 10 April 2008
Paid Directories
This is one that you have to be very careful about. Again, for comparemortgagerates.co.uk I tried this out and ended up £1,600 out of pocket. Too keen, too soon. I've learnt my lessons. A business partner has also tried it for clickrentstay.com with similar poor results.
Basically, people with existing websites and lots of traffic offer to sell advertising space on their websites to other website owners. In the case of comparemortgagerates.co.uk I did get loads of traffic - I could see that by my server logs. But most of it was just looking for tools to display mortgage tables, which they found. According to the (well known) directory, other people were having loads of success with the calculators etc. They were getting the traffic and turning it into enquiries. When I looked at these other sites, they didn't actually have the tools so to get the answers the customers needed to fill in the contact forms. I suppose I was giving too much information (recently removed).
The moral of this story is that getting listed on other people's sites can bring you loads of traffic. Just make sure that the listing is good and that you give the customer enough, but not too much. In my case most people probably found the best deals and went directly to the banks - this is the reason that the provider has removed the tools (so he says...). Who am I to argue?
Basically, people with existing websites and lots of traffic offer to sell advertising space on their websites to other website owners. In the case of comparemortgagerates.co.uk I did get loads of traffic - I could see that by my server logs. But most of it was just looking for tools to display mortgage tables, which they found. According to the (well known) directory, other people were having loads of success with the calculators etc. They were getting the traffic and turning it into enquiries. When I looked at these other sites, they didn't actually have the tools so to get the answers the customers needed to fill in the contact forms. I suppose I was giving too much information (recently removed).
The moral of this story is that getting listed on other people's sites can bring you loads of traffic. Just make sure that the listing is good and that you give the customer enough, but not too much. In my case most people probably found the best deals and went directly to the banks - this is the reason that the provider has removed the tools (so he says...). Who am I to argue?
Wednesday 9 April 2008
Expired Domain Traffic
This form of marketing is farily 'new' and does seem to struggle a bit, especially within the UK.
Basically, someone has owned a website and built up a load of traffic. For whatever reason they don't renew the domain name. Maybe they forget. Maybe they just give up. Maybe they have too much on the go.
Whatever the reason, there's a good chance that if they have worked hard on that site that it is still receiving traffic. In that case, if it looks like the site is getting enough traffic, then traffic wholesalers will buy the domain name.
I've tried this with mixed results on my mortgage site - it very much depends on who you buy traffic from, luck and which way the wind is blowing!!! But what will happen is that I buy 10,000 hits from a financial category. The wholesaler will look at the campaign and decide that it's relevant to mortgages (obvious) and then when they next have traffic arriving at an expired domain that they have bought that was relevant to mortgages, they will instead send the visitor to my site.
The theory goes that the person was looking for a mortgage site so they now have a mortgage site. Perfect. But traffic in the UK is slow at the time of writing and it's hard to buy UK specific traffic.
Basically, someone has owned a website and built up a load of traffic. For whatever reason they don't renew the domain name. Maybe they forget. Maybe they just give up. Maybe they have too much on the go.
Whatever the reason, there's a good chance that if they have worked hard on that site that it is still receiving traffic. In that case, if it looks like the site is getting enough traffic, then traffic wholesalers will buy the domain name.
I've tried this with mixed results on my mortgage site - it very much depends on who you buy traffic from, luck and which way the wind is blowing!!! But what will happen is that I buy 10,000 hits from a financial category. The wholesaler will look at the campaign and decide that it's relevant to mortgages (obvious) and then when they next have traffic arriving at an expired domain that they have bought that was relevant to mortgages, they will instead send the visitor to my site.
The theory goes that the person was looking for a mortgage site so they now have a mortgage site. Perfect. But traffic in the UK is slow at the time of writing and it's hard to buy UK specific traffic.
Tuesday 8 April 2008
PopUnders
Popunders - there's a word that you either love or hate! Do you get annoyed that they keep appearing on the screen, or do you think they are the best form of marketing ever invented?
Well, so many people still pay for them, there must be some mileage. And one of my customers relies on them and says they bring him plenty of new customers. Other sites have tried them with little or no success.
I've said it before, and it's always worth trying new forms of marketing to see if they work for you. They might work, they might not. And the same as you should keep your eye on your marketing to ensure it is still working, if 12 months after a non-successful campaign you are looking to market your business, give them another go.
A lot of people use popup blockers. I am of the opinion that they actually help people using popunder advertising. How - well those people who don't want these adverts and won't be susceptible to them have the blockers in place. Nowadays, there are so many blockers available you probably need to actually allow them. Therefore, if you are opting in (or knowingly not opting out), that implies you are happy to receive these marketing materials and therefore more likely to use them.
For the price - usually around £20 or less for a small, 5,000 hit, campaign - they are worth a go.
Well, so many people still pay for them, there must be some mileage. And one of my customers relies on them and says they bring him plenty of new customers. Other sites have tried them with little or no success.
I've said it before, and it's always worth trying new forms of marketing to see if they work for you. They might work, they might not. And the same as you should keep your eye on your marketing to ensure it is still working, if 12 months after a non-successful campaign you are looking to market your business, give them another go.
A lot of people use popup blockers. I am of the opinion that they actually help people using popunder advertising. How - well those people who don't want these adverts and won't be susceptible to them have the blockers in place. Nowadays, there are so many blockers available you probably need to actually allow them. Therefore, if you are opting in (or knowingly not opting out), that implies you are happy to receive these marketing materials and therefore more likely to use them.
For the price - usually around £20 or less for a small, 5,000 hit, campaign - they are worth a go.
Monday 7 April 2008
Adsense Recap
My routine was broken the end of last week by a visit to the Grand National, so trying to get back on track here with a recap on Google's Adsense.
Personally, I think it can be a great tool. Not always, but given the right target website and audience and by keeping careful control of the keywords and adverts, it can reap rewards.
I have customers who's sites, even businesses, depend on the custom driven into them by adsense. Others top up customers through Adsense and others don't understand at all why anyone would use it, having tried and failed miserably.
You must get the keyword targeting done correctly. Then you must write a good adsense advert.
One point I didn't cover is where to send visitors. If you are selling and advertising hundreds of different widgets, then write different adverts for each (remember you have to target your adsense advert at the keywords) and that advert should send the visitor DIRECTLY TO THE RELEVANT PAGE. Not the home page, unless that product is displayed there. Get the customer straight to the information they want.
Tomorrow I'll start looking at other types of website marketing that I've found useful on CompareMortgageRates and customers' sites.
Personally, I think it can be a great tool. Not always, but given the right target website and audience and by keeping careful control of the keywords and adverts, it can reap rewards.
I have customers who's sites, even businesses, depend on the custom driven into them by adsense. Others top up customers through Adsense and others don't understand at all why anyone would use it, having tried and failed miserably.
You must get the keyword targeting done correctly. Then you must write a good adsense advert.
One point I didn't cover is where to send visitors. If you are selling and advertising hundreds of different widgets, then write different adverts for each (remember you have to target your adsense advert at the keywords) and that advert should send the visitor DIRECTLY TO THE RELEVANT PAGE. Not the home page, unless that product is displayed there. Get the customer straight to the information they want.
Tomorrow I'll start looking at other types of website marketing that I've found useful on CompareMortgageRates and customers' sites.
Wednesday 2 April 2008
Google Adsense
I've talked enough about Google's Adsense over the last week:
How to choose adsense keywords covered why you should be very careful when deciding what keywords to target.
What makes adsense special covered the advantages of adsense, and other Pay Per Click schemes, over other marketing methods.
How to write adsense adverts covered a few of the theories behind how to write a good adsense advert.
Adsense click fraud looked at what Google is doing to protect advertisers
And adense content network looked at whether the content network gets you value for money.
Do I think adsense is useful - yes, if you keep a close eye on your budget. Watch what's happening and it should be very useful, in most cases. If you haven't already tried it, give it a go. And if you have and didn't like it, check your keyword list against how to choose adsense keywords and the content of your advert against how to write adsense adverts.
How to choose adsense keywords covered why you should be very careful when deciding what keywords to target.
What makes adsense special covered the advantages of adsense, and other Pay Per Click schemes, over other marketing methods.
How to write adsense adverts covered a few of the theories behind how to write a good adsense advert.
Adsense click fraud looked at what Google is doing to protect advertisers
And adense content network looked at whether the content network gets you value for money.
Do I think adsense is useful - yes, if you keep a close eye on your budget. Watch what's happening and it should be very useful, in most cases. If you haven't already tried it, give it a go. And if you have and didn't like it, check your keyword list against how to choose adsense keywords and the content of your advert against how to write adsense adverts.
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