Showing posts with label adwords. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adwords. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

AdWords/Google Management Techniques

If you want to find success in PPC advertising, then you need to know the right AdWords/Google management techniques. While it's tempting to dive right in and get going, if you start using AdWords without knowing what you are doing, you will be throwing money away and not seeing any return for it. Most people who are just starting out with AdWords/Google management don't realize how fast you can run through your weekly, monthly, or even yearly budget if you don't know what youëre doing. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, make sure to follow these simple techniques.

Are you one of those guys that never reads the manual when you put something, be it a toy or a BBQ or a dresser? Then this advice is especially for you. The first, and possibly the most important AdWords/Google management technique that you can learn is to read the manual before you try to put the machine together (the machine, in this case, being your AdWords campaign.) Google offers a vast amount of information about how AdWords works, and if you want to be successful, then you need to know the ins and outs before you start running your campaigns.

The second AdWords/Google management technique that I'm going to share with you is to run separate campaigns for all of your different products/services. A lot of people, when they are starting out with AdWords, will try to put all of their different campaigns together in one big campaign. Don't do this. In order to give each of your campaigns the attention that they deserve, you need to put them into separate campaigns. That way, you can manage them better, pay more attention to which keywords are performing and which aren't, and keep a better eye on your cost per clicks.

The third and last AdWords/Google management technique I'm going to share with you today is to keep your eye on your conversion rates. It's not just clicks that count. You could have an ad that's getting you great cost per clicks, but it's not resulting in any sales for you on your site, which means it's a waste of money. But an ad with a lower click-through rate, that costs a littlem more, but that results in more sales once they reach your site, is much more valuable to you.

Remember to keep your goals in mind - your ultimate goal is to get sales.

For more great AdWords/Google Management techniques and if your want to get serious about PPC marketing and AdWords, Click HERE Now to claim your $1 FULL ACCESS to PPCKahuna Now!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

What Is AdWords and How Does it Work?

"What is Google Adwords, and why should I spend my money on it?"

You know if someone asks that question, "What is AdWords" then they are definitely very new to PPC marketing. Because what is AdWords but pretty much the backbone of the entire PPC marketing industry. For a strict definition, AdWords is Google's flagship advertising product and main source of revenue, according to Wikipedia, offering pay-per-click advertising in the search network and site-targeted advertising in the content network.

But more importantly, what is AdWords to you? It is the chance to really make some money online. It is easy to get traffic with AdWords, but what you need to make sure that you're doing is getting the traffic that will make money for you. After all, when it comes right down to it, with all the guides and information out there, it all boils down to the fact that what is AdWords but another way to make you money. You just need to know how to go about it.

What is AdWords going to do for your business?

If you handle it right, it can make you a lot of money. What you need to do is get started correctly for that to work. One of the most common mistakes people make when starting out with AdWords is to put all their products into one big ad group. This is wrong – in order to maximize your profit, you need to have a separate ad group for every product you want to promote. This will let you very specifically target your campaign to the people who you are trying to get to buy your product, which will make the most out of your PPC budgets.

Another common mistake people make when starting out is that they think that they have to compete on the most popular, most expensive keywords to get anywhere. What AdWords can do is suck out a lot of money in a very short period of time if you go about bidding that way. For someone just starting out, or someone with a very small budget, it makes sense to buy smart, not popular. Look for related keywords that are much less expensive, or look for very targeted keywords that, while they offer a smaller market, may be much more targeted and open towards your product.

What AdWords newbies need to understand is that, while it is very possible to make a lot of money online, it is also possible to spend a lot of money with little results if you don't do it carefully. When just starting out, move slowly but surely, and don't get sucked in by the competitive environment. Make sure that you're making business decisions that are right for you.

If you want to get serious about PPC marketing and AdWords, Click HERE Now to claim your $1 FULL ACCESS to PPCKahuna Now!

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Google AdWords How-To Tips

You may think that in order to make money using Google Adwords, that you need to spend a lot of money, but that simply isn't true. While it is a little harder to turn a profit than in the heyday when you could spend pennies and make thousands, if you follow the tips in this Google AdWords how-to guide, then you will be able to be successful without breaking the bank.

Here are the Google AdWords how-to tips that you need to know, whether you're just starting out, or if you've been using AdWords for a while.

Google AdWords How-To Tip #1: Make sure your ad is relevant to your keywords. It seems like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised at the amount of people who run the same ad over multiple keywords. It is imperative that you write a new ad for every keyword that you use, even if it's just a slight modification you make to the ad. When people search on something, they want to see those exact words in their search, and they won't click on an ad that doesn't match their search terms.

Google AdWords How-To Tip #2: Write good ads. While it is important that you use the keywords in your ad text, the ad must also be good. It has to be compelling, and it has to give the reader a reason to click on it over the other ads as well as the natural search results. So why should they choose you? You need to make your case, using your keywords, in very few words. If you can develop this skill, it will be a very valuable thing to have.

Google AdWords How-To Tip #3: Mix up your bidding strategy. Don't think that the same style of bidding applies to all situations. When you first start out, you may need to bid a little higher on the more competitive keywords because your click-through-rate and standing with Google isn't so high; but don't forget this Google Adwords how-to - as your standing with Google increases, to go back and lower your bids ñ there's no point in spending money when you don't have to. Conversely, you also need to bid differently on less popular keywords ñ in that case, you start low, and slowly increase your bid in small increments until you have the position you want on the first page of results. By increasing your bid slowly, you'll get the best possible placement for the least possible amount of money.

For more Google AdWords how-to tips, and if you want to get serious about PPC marketing and AdWords, Click HERE Now to claim your $1 FULL ACCESS to PPCKahuna Now!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

How to Use AdWords - a Definitive Google Guide to the Content Network

You may have already been using Google Adwords, but have stayed away from the content network because you weren't sure how to use it properly, and were worried about losing money. Well, here is how you should be using AdWords, a definitive Google guide to using the Content Network.

First off, you should absolutely be using the Content Network; that's the first piece of advice in this AdWords definitive Google guide. But you have to make sure that you're doing it right. The Content Network is not the same as search, and you have to approach it in a different way.

Although I think that you should, at some point, use the Content Network, and that it definitely can help bring in new customers and make you money, if you are just starting out with AdWords, the definitive Google guide advice is to turn it off in the beginning. Instead, just concentrate on learning how to use search, what ads and landing pages work, and you're getting a profitable conversion rate out of it.

Now, here's an important tip from the AdWords definitive Google guide – don't assume that you aren't using the Content Network when you plan your first search campaign. The default setting in AdWords is for the Content Network to be ‘on', so you'll have to go in manually and make sure that it's turned off.

Which brings us to the most important tip in this AdWords definitive Google guide to the Content Network: when you are ready to run start using the Content Network, you need to do it as a completely different campaign from your other AdWords campaigns.

So start a new campaign, enable the Content Network, and disable search. Then, start out with your chosen list of sites, or categories, and start low. Bid at $.02 a click, and see how that runs for about a day or so. You'd be surprised at how many clicks you can get for that low rate on the Content Network, but that's the point of this Adwords definitive Google guide for the Content Network – to tell you things that you don't know.

Once you've started getting clicks from your Content Network campaign, start monitoring your conversion rate. Depending on how your ads are performing, you may want to either adjust your category list or change your cost per click. And that's the final point of this AdWords definitive Google Guide - by treating the Content Network as a separate campaign and using a different strategy, you will ensure that no money will be wasted.

If you want to get serious about PPC marketing and AdWords, Click HERE Now to claim your $1 FULL ACCESS to PPCKahuna Now!

Friday, April 27, 2007

LinkWorth. More than an AdSense alternative

Here's another Google AdSense alternative to explore. LinkWorth is a one-stop advertising portal which provides advertisers a good range of marketing services, and publishers multiple choices in terms of monetizing with ad spaces and Text Link Advertising.

LinkWorth goes a step further than just offer advertising links and space. It also offers a paid blogging programme similar to PayPerPost, in addition to paid marketing services that publishers may like.

LinkWorthHow It Works

1. Sign up and submit your site for approval.
2. You can sign up either as an advertiser or publisher and convert later.
3. Select the types of ads you are willing to display on your site.
4. Select the prices you want to charge (minimum $10/month) for the various types of ads in the different locations of your website.
5. You can choose to have ads only on the homepage, a particular page or sitewide.
6. You earn 70% of each transaction your account receives. So you Make Money Online.
7. Each new Advertiser approved and published on your website will be renewed on the 1st of each month for the full price you charge.
8. If you sign up as a 'Preferred Partnerî, LinkWorth will sell your links for you, giving you a higher chance of getting advertisers, however you earn only 50% revenue in this instance.
9. You can also sign up for their 'LinkPostî programme where you set an amount to charge for a blog post.

Requirements

1. Sites must be complete, working sites without broken links.
2. Sites must contain relevant content, and not be empty sites.
3. Sites must not use framesets, flash or redirect URLs.

Payment

Payments are made on the 10th of each month by PayPal, cheques, wire transfers and direct transfers (US banks only). Lowest amount for payout is US$25 but relevant bank fees apply.

LinkWorth offers several useful services to publishers. You can purchase their directory submission service which manually submits your site to leading directories, or their article submission service.

LinkWorth also has free tools for publishers, such as Meta Tag Generator to help optimize your site, Keyword Density Analyser, Anchor Text, Search Engine Marketing which shows your site position for a relevant keyword, Site Link Analyser and a Price Quote tool to help determine ad prices to charge.


Saturday, December 09, 2006

How to Select Keywords - An In-Depth Guide

When beginning a Search Engine Optimization campaign, there are a few basic steps that every SEO knows to take before they begin. The first is always to build a keyword list of which there are varying methods of doing so. The right methods will aid you in creating and supporting a site-wide SEO strategy. The wrong methods will run you in circles, wondering what went wrong.
It is the intent of this article to teach an effective method of keyword selection that will enable you to land more keywords on the first page with less work.
Getting Started: Know the Site
To create a great keyword list, you will need to know your website backwards and forwards. You should know what the site features, and just as importantly, you should know what it doesn't feature.
The first step is to brainstorm a list of somewhat generic keywords. For example, if you are a shoe store in Poughkeepsie, the temptation will arise to try and rank number 1 for the term "shoes." Well, that's a start, but ranking for the word "shoes" is probably aiming a little too high for a mom and pop shop in Upstate New York, which is why it's very important that you know the site well enough to come up with a good list of pseudo-generic "modifiers" for your keyword:
* Location (Poughkeepsie shoes, shoes upstate New York, shoes 12601)
* Price (cheap shoes, affordable shoes, quality shoes, comfortable shoes etc)
* Types (running shoes, walking shoes, jogging shoes etc)
* Industry specific (anti-pronation shoes)

Lengthening the List

At this point you should have a good list of pseudo-generic keywords. The next step is lengthening that list using your favorite Keyword tool (I will be using Overture in this example).
Each time you plug a keyword into your tool of choice, it will return the number of searches conducted for that term over a given period of time. It will also suggest keywords from the tool's database that are similar to the one you entered.
The basic idea now is to go through the list returned by the keyword tool and copy any and all similar terms as well as their corresponding search values, which relate directly to the site you're optimizing. Then, paste them to a spreadsheet program so that they can be further edited later.
Once you have copied and pasted, just go through the list row by row. Delete keywords that don't have to do with the website you're optimizing (which is why it's important to know what the site doesn't feature) and repeat with the next pseudo-generic keyword on your list. The idea is to identify as many keywords as possible.

Narrowing the List

So you have a long keyword list; it's time to narrow it down. I narrow my lists by deciding if the potential gain for a keyword is relative to the competition. In order to make that decision, I need to know three variables:
1. The number of searches on a particular keyword (already got those from Overture)
2. The Amount of Competition (I'll show you how to find your competition in this section.)
3. Will the keyword lead to conversions (this is up to you)
Below is a method for thoroughly determining competition for various keywords:
1. Do a search for one of your keywords
2. On the first SERP find the last listing with the keyword in the title tag that is either a homepage of any kind or is a sub-page which is not associated with a domain whose Pagerank is greater than 6. (This is the page you will need to beat, if one does not exist, ranking will generally be easier)
3. Find out how many unique links with the keyword in the anchor text whose linking page has a Pagerank of 1 or higher for the competitor (This is how many quality backlinks you'll need to acquire)
The aforementioned is a meticulous method for determining the competition for all of your keywords, and unless you're planning on building a tool that will automate this process, I would suggest taking a more general approach by using advanced search strings in the search engine of your choice.
The technique that I am about to demonstrate uses the following string:
intitle:"Keyword Phrase" inanchor:"Keyword Phrase"
This string will return the total number of pages with, largely, the two greatest factors contributing to ranking for a keyword:
* Having the keyword in the page title
* Having the keyword in anchor text pointing to the page
It's a down and dirty method for assessing competition. This is how it's done:
1. Go to http://www.startlaunch.com/research/.
2. Copy your list of keywords into the box, click "submit".
3. Click on each link.
4. Find and copy the number of pages that the search engine returns for this query from the top right of the SERPs to a new column next to the corresponding keyword in your keyword list spreadsheet (this is your competition).
5. In another new column, divide the number of competitors by the number of monthly searches for each keyword.
6. Sort the table from low to high (ascending) using that column.
What you have done is created a ratio of competitors to searches. When determining competition, you generally want the keyword to be searched on more times than there are competitors for that word. So the closer the ratio is to 0, the better the keyword.
These techniques will point out which terms have the most competition, but competition alone should not dictate which words make the final list.

Keyword Layout

Remember when selecting keywords: words on a higher competitive level should be placed on pages that will receive deep links in groups of 2 or 3 where all of the keywords are very similar like:
*Running shoes, Shoes for running and buy running shoes online
*Web design in Atlanta, Atlanta Georgia web design, Atlanta web site design
This way, you won't have to remove highly competitive, but potentially lucrative terms from your list, provided that you make a concerted effort to perform link-building for the pages on which those terms reside.
For smaller terms, in my opinion, the more the merrier. They can be given their own pages or be mentioned on other highly trusted pages of your site.
That's it. You should have all the information you need to select a strategically viable keyword list. Remember, keyword research is the cornerstone of a successful SEO campaign. Knowing the competition for your keywords will aid you in site layout, as well as focusing effort on SEO only where it is necessary. Ultimately, it will make your optimization process more efficient, allowing your sites to rank for more keywords with less work, which is a goal that all SEOs strive to attain.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Looking Beyond SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is one of the most highly talked about topics between Webmasters and marketers. It is probably also the single topic that more webmasters obsess over than any other (in terms of their website anyway!). However, while SEO can be an excellent resource for targeted traffic, all website owners should concentrate their efforts on more than trying to squeeze one more percent out of keyword density, or beg one more PR5 link from an authoritative site. As well as sapping energy, causing breakdowns in family relationships, and being responsible for the onset of male pattern baldness it also causes us to lose sight of our ultimate goal.

You Mean There's More To Online Life Than SEO?

The ultimate goal for the vast majority of websites is to either make money or promote a service that makes money. How the site goes about it is entirely up to the Webmaster. Whether you choose to make money through affiliate links, PPC advertising, product sales, dropshipping, or any other method the single most important aspect of your website is your visitor. Visitors are those people that you attempt to attract to your site and they are the ones that will essentially make you some cash.

Don't Forget The Real People

The biggest problem with concentrating on SEO is that while the search engine spiders might be difficult to please they are a walk in the park, a piece of cake, and an absolute breeze when compared to real-life, living, breathing, walking, talking visitors. Search engines rely on mathematical algorithms to determine the quality of your site whereas the visitor relies solely on personal opinion. The next time you're attempting to inject 2 or 3 more instances of key phrases like "California Mesothelioma lawyer attorney" into your content try to remember that some poor soul might actually have to try and make sense of what you're writing.

Some Search Engines Are Complying

Fortunately for you and I, of course, some of the mathematical search engines are also coming round to this way of thinking. Google, in particular, want to offer users natural search results. They want to promote natural web pages, with natural content, using natural keywords, gaining natural links. This means that Webmasters are able to start obsessing over a number of other factors now instead:

Optimizing Your Content For Conversions

Conversion rates are not a part of SEO but should be a part of your business strategy. Consider how many people visit your site and the percentage of those people that either click through the links on your page or purchase a product. It is virtually impossible to predict with any certainty what your conversion rate SHOULD be but you should always strive to improve it. Your content should convert, your newsletter should convert, your mailing list should convert, and your emails should convert.

Improving Customer Retention Rates

Customer retention is also important. Once you sell a product or provide a service, even if you persuade a visitor to click a link and make a purchase you should do everything you can to ensure that you retain your customer base and they return to make purchases again. A big part of every successful business is repeat custom and without it you will always be fighting an uphill struggle to generate new leads and convert those leads into customers.

Ensuring that you offer the best service, the best prices, the best results, or the best information and help can generate good customer retention. However this isn't all of it. Company or website branding also plays a part, and following up with after sale emails and contact is also vital if you have the relevant information to hand. Use business cards and compliment slips whenever possible and always ensure that you include a company signature in all your email communications.

Generating Sales And Marketing Methods

Sales are obviously vital and without sales you will never achieve customer retention. In order to make sales it is important to acquire or generate leads. SEO is obviously a very beneficial way of generating leads but it isn't the only way. PPC, or Pay-Per-Click, advertising is a good way to instantly drive traffic to your site. SEO can take months to begin to generate results whereas you can truly hit the ground running with an effective PPC campaign. Ensure that you have a compelling advertisement lined up and also ensure that your website content is geared toward the conversion of any visitors you do receive.

Banners And Text Ads

Banner advertising and text advertising (I'm trying to ignore the temptation to mention their use in SEO) have taken a back seat to SEO and PPC, but for some sites they still have their uses. Find websites or newsletters that offer information relevant to your product or your service and then try out a small advertising campaign before you inject large amounts of money in a campaign that may not bear any fruit whatsoever.

Offline Advertising Methods

Offline advertising is also an option, though it can prove costly. For geographically targeted campaigns it may prove particularly beneficial. Local radio stations, local newspapers, and even billboards are options that do still generate results. These can cost money though. Bear in mind that some websites have been known to take this a step further with skywriting and other unusual tactics. These are best left to the behemoth sites like Ebay in all honesty.

Conclusion

SEO is not the be-all and end-all of a website. It is a powerful online marketing technique that can in time generate large amounts of targeted traffic. However, it is important to remember that once that traffic arrives your site must be optimized for conversions and sales. You should also consider using other forms of advertising in order to gain more site visitors and a more diverse range of traffic.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Effective SEO Through Good Code Structure

For a successful Search Engine Optimization strategy, take into consideration that search engines look at content and also at the structure of the markup. They emphasize the importance of text content, page titles, keywords rich text, meta descriptions and information architecture. A website where quality of content and code prevails will rank higher in the major search engines.

There are many Search Engine Optimization tactics, but try to find the best combination and don't sacrifice the usability and performance of your website. Here is some basic information about improving your source code from an SEO perspective:

Avoid Classical 404 Error Pages

The 404 - File Not Found - page is presented to the user by the server as an error page. The user gets this message directly from the server of the website he is trying to visit. This error page is supposed to appear only when the server cannot find the requested location and is unsure of its status.

In the vast majority of cases, the 404 error emerges for pages that were moved or even deleted or the layout of the site or page information changed.

Many hosting companies offer a 404 redirect page. This means that when a user enters the URL of any page of your domain, and that page does not exist or can no longer be found, you can automatically redirect the user to a specified page - usually your home page or your sitemap.

Pay special attention when you decide to delete certain pages. Remember to redirect them to a main page of your site using the 301 (Moved Permanently) HTTP response code.

You can greatly improve the user friendliness of your website by creating a custom 404 page.

- Present a message of apology for the inconvenience;
- Try to ease the user's way back to your site. Introduce error messages and include evident links to the home page, sitemap, and contact page;
- Offer assistance and encourage the user to continue to search for the information he needs on your site. You could even include a search box right on the error page;
- Keep the same design for the error page as for the rest of the website.

But remember that the best strategy for a 404 error page is to prevent it from coming up altogether, as many customers might be left with the impression that the whole website does not exist and not just the specific page they were trying to access.

Keep Away From Orphan Pages

An orphan page is a page that is not linked to another one and thus cannot be found by spiders. To avoid having orphan pages on your website, check regularly that all your pages are linked to each other.

Search engines consider sites with orphan pages to be unprofessional, and not worthy of getting a high rank. This kind of website is under construction or is the result of a poor design process. If your pages aren't linked properly search engines won't index them and will consider them irrelevant for the search.

Pay attention to the fact that some search engines don't correctly index websites that use HTML frames. When spiders crawl through your internal pages, they index each individual page and display them as orphan pages in search results. Most frame designs include a content frame and a navigation frame.

Visitors require both frames to navigate through the site. Create a JavaScript to check if the page is loading correctly, and load the frameset. In this way, users won't be able to open pages outside the frame. This is a very easy way of losing clients.

Use 301 Redirect Pages

To avoid displaying a 404 error page, set up a 301 redirect page. The code 301 means "moved permanently" and it's the easiest way to preserve your search engine rankings for that page.

There are two ways of generating proper 301 redirect pages. If your site is hosted on a Linux or Unix server create a .htaccess file to add the redirect to your server's web root.

The .htaccess file contains specific instructions for certain requests, including security, redirection issues and how to handle certain errors. If it is hosted on a Windows or IIS server then the 301 redirect can be set up in the Administrator's section of the server software or through the DNS (Domain Name Server) zone.

Make a habit of reviewing the log files which contain data sent by your server. Search engine spiders often make critical decisions based on what your server tells them through the server's headers.

Pay attention, an improper 301 redirect can cause you big problems, since your website might fail and users won't be able to visit your pages. Setting up a correct "301 redirect" assures that you'll stay high in search rankings.

Create a Sitemap

A sitemap is a web page that lists all the pages on your website. They are intended both for users - to find easier the information they need, and for search engines to index pages.

Your sitemap link should be right on your home page. In this way spiders are sent directly to the place where all your content information is gathered. Sitemaps can improve SEO, however, be advised that they only take into consideration a limited number of links to those pages.

To make sure that spiders check your whole site and have more chances to get indexed, it would be a good idea to use a sitemap generator. You can use ROR sitemaps that are readable by all search engines.

ROR is a sitemap tool that uses XML feeds to describe your website. ROR sitemaps allow search engines to match text search with structured information, thus obtaining more relevance for your site. This kind of sitemap helps search engines to better understand your website content - products, services, images, articles, etc. By creating a file with product names, descriptions, prices, images, availability, affiliate programs, and any other relevant information customers can find you easier.

Don't Overuse Dynamic Pages

Dynamic web pages include dynamic content - images, text, etc - which change without the page being reloaded. Client-side languages like JavaScript and ActiveX are usually used to create these types of web pages.

Search engines don't rank dynamic pages with many parameters well. If you choose not to turn your dynamic URLs into static ones, at least put the most important parameters in your URLs first and try to limit dynamic parameters to no more than two.

Spiders can't read the text rendered as graphics. Any text that you want the spiders to read and index should be written out as text. At the very least, put any text that appears in graphics into the images' ALT attribute.

A slightly better alternative is to write your text in Flash, but remember to have a "Skip this intro..." link that takes visitors (and spiders) to the text-rich content of your site. Don't neglect this information if you want to optimize your search engine strategy.

Put .CSS and JavaScript into External Files

For a search engine, improperly formatted code will have a negative impact on your rankings. Since search engines read only a certain amount of information on a web page, you should try to increase the text content to HTML tag ratio.

If you have too much HTML code, the text content won't be seen entirely. For reducing HTML code, utilize hand coding using external .css files and Javascript.

Make Sure You Have Well Formatted [X]HTML

Try to fix as many of the HTML errors as possible. Although the search engines don't rank websites that have standard compliant code better they tend to "read" them easier. Use the W3 HTML Validator to check the validity of your code.

For a successful Search Engine Optimization strategy, take into account all of the aspects presented here. It takes time, effort and patience to achieve a higher rank in the main search engines. The idea is to have a long term strategy that makes your website stay on top for an extended period of time.

Top Ten SEO Factors

These are what I believe to be the top 10 most important things (not necessarily in order) that you need, in order to get your website found in the search engines.

There are many other factors as well, but if you follow these guidelines, you'll stand a much better chance, and you'll be off to a good start.

1. Title Meta Tag

The title tag is what displays as the headline in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). It's also what displays in the top blue band of Internet Explorer when your site is displayed.

Your title tag of your website should be easy to read and designed to bring in traffic. By that, I mean that your main keyword phrase should be used toward the beginning of the tag. True, there are websites being found now that do not use the phrase in the title, but the vast majority still do as of this writing.

Don't make the mistake of putting your company name first, unless you are already a household name, like Nascar or HBO. People are likely searching for what you have to offer, not your name.

Your title tag should be written with a capital letter starting the tag, and followed by all lowercase letters, unless you're using proper nouns. Some people prefer to capitalize every word, too.

2. Description Meta Tag

The description tag is the paragraph that people will see when your page comes up in the search results.

Your description tag should be captivating and designed to attract business. It should be easy to read, and compel the reader to act right now and follow your link. Without a description tag, search engines will frequently display thefirst text on your page. Is yours appropriate as a description of the page?

A proper description tag is what people will see below your title. You should make proper use of punctuation, and with readability, use your subject and geographical references.

3. Keywords Meta Tag

The importance of Meta keyword tags fluctuates from month to month among different search engines. There is a debate in the SEO community as to whether or not they help at all on certain search engines. In fact, in the summer of 2004 it appeared as if they were losing importance altogether.

However, you'll NEVER be penalized on any search engines for using relevant targeted keywords in moderation, and they can only help you with most, especially Yahoo.

Avoid stuffing your keyword metatags with too many keywords. Just use relevant tags that apply directly to the content of that particular page, and don't overdo it.

4. ALT Tags

The small yellow box that comes up when your mouse cursor is placed over an image is called the ALT tag. Every relevant image should have an alt tag with your keywords or phrases mentioned in the tag.

A proper ALT tag goes after the file name, and before the Align indicator.

* - The ALT tag is no longer being considered for ranking purposes by some search engines. That said, it still cannot HURT you, and will still help you with some engines. My recommendation is to continue to use them, but be sure to avoid keyword stuffing. Besides, who knows when the pendulum will swing back the other way?

5. Header Tags

The text of each page is given more weight by the search engines if you make use of header tags and then use descriptive body text below those headers. Bullet points work well too. It is not enough to merely BOLD or enlarge your text headlines.

6. Link Text

Search engine spiders cannot follow image links. In addition to having image links or buttons on your web pages, you should have text links at the bottom or elsewhere. The text that the user sees when looking at the link is called the link text. A link that displays products does not carry as much weight to the search engines as a link called oregon widgets. Link text is very important and is actually one of the most frequently overlooked aspects of web design that I've seen.

7. Site Map

Using a site map not only makes it easy for your users to see the entire structure of your website, but it also makes it easier for the search engines to spider your site. When the search engine spiders come to visit, they will follow all of the text links from your main index page. If one of those links is to a site map, then the spiders will go right to the sitemap, and consequently visit every page you have text linked to from that site map. On the site map page, try to have a sentence or two describing each page, and not just a page of links.

8. Relevant Inbound Links

By relevant, I mean similar industry or subject related sites. Right now, no single strategy can get your site ranked higher faster than being linked to by dozens of other relevant websites. It used to be that the quantity of incoming links mattered most, but today, it's much better to have three highly relevant links to you from other popular related websites than 30 links from unrelated low ranked sites. If there are other businesses in your industry that you can trade links with, it will help your site enormously. Link to others, and have them link to you. It's proven, and it works. To see who's linking to you, in Google type the following...links: yourdomain.com

9. Your Content

Not to be forgotten of course, is the actual content of your webpage. It must be relevant helpful information that people want to read. These days, each webpage should be laser focused on one specific product or subject in order to rank highly for that search phrase. The days of writing one webpage to appeal to dozens of search terms are long gone. Ideally, each page should have between 400 to 650 words on it. Too few, and the search engines won't consider it to be relevant enough. Too many words and the search engine spiders may have a hard time determining the actual subject or focus of the page.

Use your keywords or phrases often, and use them at the beginning of your paragraphs wherever possible. Don't overuse them and make the page sound phony, but don't write a page about a certain subject, and not mention that subject repeatedly either. Reading it out loud to yourself is a great way to judge how natural your text sounds.

Concentrate on writing quality pages that actually appeal to the human reader. Write pages that provide the reader with exactly what they are looking for; that is, information about the exact search phrase they've entered.

10. Avoid Cheating

With all of these tidbits of information, it's tempting to think that you can stuff 100 keywords into your title, or create a page with the phrase oregon widget company being used 100 times in headers, text links, ALT tags, bullet points etc. but that cannot help you. In fact, it can penalize you, and get your site banned from certain search engines.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

An Inside Look at Google - recruitment video




Maybe some of you wondered as I did: "What’s it like to work there at Google?"

If ALL people in Romania (job seekers and employers) would see this video I can put a bet that our daily life would definetly improve it’s quality. Take a look at this extraordinary piece of work. That’s why they are THE BEST team at this moment.