demo.free-blog-software.com RSS Edit-X CMS 10 2008-06-16 08:25:24 <![CDATA[This is a test]]> http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ 9 2008-06-05 03:17:22 <![CDATA[agahinameh]]> http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ 5 2008-01-31 12:12:28 <![CDATA[Who Made Google Web God? Paid Linking is Legit, Even Google is Doing it]]> Debunk the Link Authority Algorithm and Send Search Engines Back to the Drawing Board

Face it, paid links are not going to go away. Why can't we pay someone to link to our sites? I can pay them to blog about my site or pay for an image ad.

What is the difference between a story link, a text link or a banner image link? How is that any different than a quarter page ad in a magazine or the newspaper classified or a 30 second spot on a TV show? Is the magazine and newspaper not advocating the product in their ad the same way a web site suggests a sponsor? Google even holds a double standard as they pay for links on MSN, Yahoo and many other sites. Just check the top of the page in the blue or grey box marked "Sponsored Links".
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It will have to become an unwritten rule (not published on your site) that any web site is willing to link to another and all you will have to do is contact them and ask. Everyone has a price. If a competitor is asked for a link and the price was right would you give it to them? I get offers for domains I own and if the price is right I sell them. I would let go a link before a domain any day.

Google does not like paid links because their algorithm now places such a high emphasis on links as a quality indicator, and paid linking subverts their system's integrity. Is Google performing a service to the internet community by cracking down on paid links and thwarting Internet spammers? Or are they making a big mistake using links as a top measure for authority? Does Google practice what they preach? Notice how the right half/third of the search result page is called "Sponsored Links". Those are all Google Adwords customers paying for links to their sites. Heck, Google will even pay you to put paid links on your web site using Google Adsense.

Do you want to sabotage your competitor? You can sign in to Google's webmaster console and use the authenticated spam report form, then include the word "paidlink" (all one word) in the text area of the spam report. Or use the unauthenticated spam report form and include the word "paidlink" (all one word) in the text area of the spam report.

So here we are trying very hard to be the best we can be, optimize our sites for keywords related to our products and services and being penalized for advertising them. The very authority handing down punishment is guilty of the same crime and makes 99% of its billions in revenues with "Sponsored Links".

Ok, let’s take money out of the equation. All web sites stop accepting money for the links. Everyone would still work with respective web sites to obtain the links because it is the method for improving rankings. The same linking would exist only no one would have gotten paid for it, including Google. Problem is, Google would no longer exist as we know it and its “Web God” status removed. We would likely then, not be so concerned with linking and use other search engines like MSN who do not hold such a high authority on linking. "MSN isn't exactly following Google in this regard. They obviously aren't going to recommend anyone use cloaking and paid links, but they don't discount either practice as forbidden." Mike McDonald - Web Pro News. One of my favorite articles on the paid link topic is How to Profit from Google's War on Paid Links and A pragmatic defense against Google's anti paid links campaign.

google-monopoly.jpgMaybe this whole paid linking algorithm is a temporary solution to a bigger problem. What if Google could not keep up with spammers and this was just a quick way for them to fix their search results to buy more time to come up with a better, more legitimate method for assigning authority. Certainly Google does not want the public to learn they are hypocritical when it comes to paid links. Or maybe they are just upset others are stealing their own business model.

When I look at the right hand side of my search results I consider that spam. Rarely are those links even helpful, maybe one out of 100 is what I am looking for. I do a lot of searches each day. I have almost trained myself not to even look at sponsored links much like we all did with banner advertising. Eventually the majority will do the same and Google has noticed this as a trend as they have started moving the sponsored advertising into the natural search results. Hence the blue and yellow box just above all natural search results.

How is this any different than Yahoo selling paid links within the natural search results? Didn't know you could pay to have your site ranked in Yahoo? Contact me at 720-982-7770 and I will get it all setup for you. Google claims to be the all mighty figure in the world of search. They also claim not to tamper with the natural search results but, they do.

The following is a question posed to Matt Cutts regarding what is considered a "paid link" to Google...
    Q: That paid link example was helpful. Can you give me another example?

    A: Sure. This one also has "paid advertising" as an image, but our existing algorithms still discount these links:

If you follow the link you will find an image example of a site that uses sponsored links much in the same way Google does. If I were Matt Cutts I would penalize my own company (Google) for being a spammy paid link site.

What are we to glean from this extremely political and controversial topic?

  • Google practices paid linking. It is their whole business model.
  • Google does not discredit all paid links. They look specifically for sites that "look" spammy.
  • Use common sense when buying links and try to get links from trusted sites and names that are well known.
  • Get as many non-paid links as possible before opening your wallet.
  • Try not to overpay for links, make sure there is value.
  • Do not focus so much on linking but making the content on your website something others will want to link to for Free.

If you have any questions regarding a paid link, feel free to contact me and I will review with you any benefits or potential problems. If you haven't started blogging yet you are missing out on yet another non-paid link to your web site. Download Free Blog Software.

]]> http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ 6 2007-11-30 12:21:57 <![CDATA[Top 10 Things to Watch for in Selecting Blog Software]]> 1. Quick and Simple Installation

2. Spam Control, Comment Workflow and Filtering

3. Ease in Publishing Blog Entries

4. Ease in Uploading Images

5. Ease in Placing Images in Blog Entries

6. Ease in Locating and Editing/Formatting Blog Entries

7. RSS Syndication Options

8. Search Friendly and Optimization Controls

9. Templating System or Ease in Customization

10. Community and Support

Edit-X has just released the Edit-X Blogger software for Free. Download it for yourself here...

http://www.free-blog-software.com

]]> http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ 1 2007-11-20 09:37:12 <![CDATA[Login to the Administration panel to add Blogs...]]> So I guess that this is how this works..... ]]> http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ 2 2007-11-18 11:27:24 <![CDATA[Measuring Online Success: Evaluating Your Cost per Conversion]]> A conversion is simply when a user takes a desired action within your web site. You can further analyze conversions through funnels or simply a series of desired actions. It is important to know what your funnels are so you can monitor which ones are working, which ones are not and why. This way you can make modifications to improve conversions within a particular funnel.

You must first determine what a conversion is to you. Is a conversion a sale, a lead, or both? If both, then you would have a separate cost allowance for each action. If you offer multiple products or services at varying levels of price your cost per conversion should vary by individual product or service price level.

Finding the cost per conversion can be tough to figure out and can be very complicated. Depending on how your business is organized, you may or may not be able to come up with an exact figure. If you are unable to come up with an exact figure you can at least come up with a rough number or a range. This is better than not knowing at all and applying increased budgets to the wrong campaigns.

evaluating-your-cost-per-conversion.png

It is also important to understand the stages of your users. Customers who are in research phases are still valuable to you as they are gathering information in order to compare and make a decision to buy. However, you would assign a lower cost per action in acquiring them as they would not be likely to spend money in the short term and chances of a sale are lower. Also, pay attention to what actions these types of users take over the ones who actually purchase. This will help you create user specific funnels.

Measuring the performance of your campaign can be gauged in many ways. Overall you can get a quick glimpse based on traffic, which most web site owners are familiar with. This generic statistic by no means is the only method for determining success. Did you know you can see what web sites send you the most traffic? It is typically called Top Referrers. You can even see the top search engine keywords used to find your web pages. This data can be used to help you understand what your users are looking for and how to shape your site to encourage more traffic and increase conversions.

Be sure you are not comparing apples to oranges by determining what a conversion is to you. Break products and services into categories based on price points. Associate various funnels or actions with the types of users who use them. Use analytics to help determine if you are focusing on the right campaigns. You have to come up with your own cost per conversion before you can measure your campaign success.

]]> http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ 3 2007-10-26 11:27:24 <![CDATA[Is Your Web Site Ready for 2008?]]> Tips for Preparing Your Site for the New Year web20in2008.png As 2007 comes to a close, most businesses have spent time planning ahead: new products, new markets, and acquiring new customers. Those who have not had the time for formal planning have thought about the kind of growth they want to in 2008. Whether your planning is formal or informal, there is a critical question all businesses expecting growth in 2008 should ask themselves: Is our web site ready?

Web sites have become one of the leading engines behind business development. Your web site is the window into your company through which your audience sees you. It is the way most economic way to acquire new customers, drive sales, build credibility, get out your message, and enhance customer retention and loyalty. Your organization's web site should be an essential part of your plans for 2008.

How Can You Get Your Site Ready for 2008

The top web sites have the following in common:
  • Have many methods for converting visitors.
  • Simple navigation and simple language.
  • Unique and interesting content.
  • Contain fresh and innovative components.
  • Encourage users to bookmark and return.
Converting Visitors
The most important thing your web site can do for you is convert prospects into sales. But is your web site built to do that? Strong web sites have success funnels, resources, registrations, and conversion tools all over them to make sure they are giving their visitors plenty of opportunities to give their information, purchase a product, request more information, or sign up for a newsletter. Focusing on site conversions means increased sales and maximized return on investment for each marketing and advertising dollar spent. Good site conversion strategies take time and planning to make sure the user gets exactly what they want from search to submit.

Navigation and Language
Understanding what users want from your site, and designing the site to get them where they want to go can be a complex task, and User Experience planning is critical to the success of your web site. You can have the best product or service on the market, but if a customer can't get the information they are looking for when they're looking for it, they will click the back button. Using simple language and short sentences can encourage longer user sessions. Building your site around helping users to navigate and easily understand what you're offering and how they can be an important step towards online success.

Unique Content
Statistics show that users spend about 3 seconds deciding whether they want to stay on a site or move on. Is your content compelling enough to catch a user's attention in just 3 seconds? Building the right content and message, and displaying it in a way that is going to interest your visitors is a very difficult. If your web site content is not regularly updated, periodically overhauled, and constantly measured against the competition you are loosing potential leads to your competition.

Innovative Components
Most organizations think their site has to look just like all the other sites in their industry. They add the tools they see others have, they use content everyone else has, even choose colors and designs of related web sites. There's more to your customer than this! Innovation and creativity across the web are producing powerful sites with high conversion rates. Your site can have the same results if you broaden your thinking to draw inspiration from a wide variety of sources. Video, blogs, Flash, landing pages, dynamic content, targeted messaging, RSS feeds, articles, whitepapers, affiliate tools, cross linking - these are all examples of business building tools. Consider a creative facelift to your site that goes beyond your competitor.

Repeat Visitors
Aside from a converted sale, one of the most important metrics in measuring web site success is the number of repeat visits. Well designed, finely crafted, and simple messaged sites all find ways to keep their visitors coming back. Incentives, resources, news, updates, newsletters all keep the visitor interested and wanting more. What does your web site do to promote repeat visits?

Many Edit-X customers have contacted us already and asked what they can do to improve things and get their sites updated. Most thinking some costly work but you will be amazed how adding a simple form, revising the homepage, changing a few graphics, writing a couple article, optimizing a few pages are all great and simple ways to get started preparing for 2008. ]]> http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ 7 2007-09-15 12:24:27 <![CDATA[Content, Content, Content not Location, Location, Location]]>
How old is your content? Where did you get your content? Did you write it? Did you have someone else write it? Did you copy it from a manufacturer or a competitor? Did the person who wrote it know what they were doing? Did they research your industry keywords and did they optimize your content for the top performing and top converting keywords?

Keyword traffic is based on popularity, buzz, product release date, and current events. This means that what worked three months ago is not always working today. This could be the difference in 1,000 clicks or 10,000 clicks in a given month on a single page. If you are not paying attention to your content you are missing the keyword trends and traffic.

Google Trends shows Keyword Comparison and Popularity

Keyword popularity and density get users to your pages via search result ranking but what about keeping the user on your page and encouraging them to take an action. Most web site content is stale and lacks the energy required pull the user in, keep them from clicking back and better yet, convince them to continue browsing or fill out a form. Creating intriguing content is a complicated matter and often times require a 3rd party to assist in this process.

We always recommend working with copy writers to help boost your content and they often have great new and innovative ideas since they are looking at your content from the outside. This is important as many organizational and user action strategies are overlooked internally.

Is your web site built for location or content? Working with so many web sites means we work with just as many copy writers. We have access to a network of individuals who will be able to help you attract not only more visitors but convert them into customers. Consider your content, not your location.

Google Trends If you haven’t already… check out Google Trends.

http://www.google.com/trends ]]> http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ 8 2007-09-15 12:35:39 <![CDATA[What is a Blog? or Corporate Blog?]]> Wikipedia has a great definition of a corporate blog:
    "...a publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services (or the end of old products), to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. It also allows a window to the company culture and is often treated more informally than traditional press releases...in some corporate blogs, all posts go through a review before they're posted. Some corporate blogs, but not all, allow comments to be made to the posts."
A corporate blog is simply a "web log" or web site published in conjunction with your corporate web site where you become the expert in your field and provide important information about your industry and your product or service that your readers and customers will find useful. It also provides a informal identity of the company as well as a way for your readers to comment back on what you provide according to what is important to them.

Free Blog Software: Movable Type, WordPress, Blogger, Edit-X Blogger why-blog.jpg

Why Blog? Who has the Time?

    Search Engine Rankings - Each entry of your blog will have it's own index within the search engine's and can have top rankings on key topics.

    Back Linking - The more you link back and forth to your corporate web site could yield increased rankings for both sites. Blog surfers will link to your blog further increasing your polarity.

    Networking - Build a rapport with the other leaders in your field. Not only can you develop relationships with industry leaders, you yourself can become one...

    Categories - Classify each post or "tag" them with a popular keyword(s) or categories for the search engines. Entries can be classified on multiple categories so they can have multiple tags.

    Customer Feedback - If you allow commenting it is a great way to start discussions related to your entry which will be chock full of relative keywords.

    Polling - If you need a quick answer to questions, throw up a poll on your blog. Your readers will answer your question and the answer will often surprise you.

    Comments - Moderating comments in general is a good idea because of spam. You will get many great comments either supporting or disagreeing with your entry. It's wonderful to get customer opinions on certain topics, but better yet, have them comment on each other's comments.

    Grow Your Business - Blogging has brought increased inquiries from many over the last few years. Blogs build familiarity and positive branding. Customers do business with you because they know you, like you and they trust you.

    Unique Content - No where can content be found like your own personal blog entries. Search engines find unique text and gobble it up. This will increase rankings.

    Self Promotion - Avoid too much "shameless self-promotion" if you can, unless that's what you want your blog to be. People are less likely to link to your blog if it's more about you and less informational. A blog should be used for marketing but should be weighted toward information.

    Search Engines - The more content you have on your blog the more the search engines will index keywords on your entries. It's both quantity and quality they look for.

    Be The Expert - Research similar blogs and see whats out there. You might find very little or you might find a lot. Either way if you talk about the right the right stuff you will create a following. Write about what you know the best and be sure you can back up what you say. You will become the expert to your readers.

    Reusable Content - From time to time our PR folks will use our content as the idea for a story that a publisher might find interesting.

    Syndication - Use RSS to allow others to publish feeds of your latest posts. It can support what you sell if your readers think you're the industry expert. This will also drive traffic back your blog so that your readers can get more information.

    Enhance Resume - A successful blogger with a considerable following is a powerful addition to any company, particularly one who's seeking to build branding over the web.

    Make Money - If you're blogging as a business, it can be an excellent investment with a very direct effect on a financial return.

Why Do I Blog?

I started bloggin' many years ago before they called it blogging. I used the first version of Edit-X to get down my personal thoughts (rants) and beliefs and publish photos and cool things found on the web. This is mostly now managed by your choice of social network like Facebook and MySpace or Photo printer like SnapFish or Shutterlfy.

It always amazed me how many individuals would find my blog (personal site) outside of my friends and family. At one time someone had taken a photo of me from the blog and posted it to a profile in Yahoo called Abercrombie and Fitch Guy and linked back to my site. I received a lot of traffic from that and to this day have people from all over the world checking out my galleries from 1996. How boring.

I was very late in the game to corporate blogging, I never early adopt. If anyone is to say they don't have time they should check my schedule. I make time for this blog and after my first post I never thought about it again. It comes naturally, an idea pops in my head and I roll with it on the spot.

I just take my experiences from each month and write something that will help my customers and readers with the questions or problems they have. After each post I actually get some relief knowing I helped people out. You will too. Especially when people thank you for the advice. It is a great feeling the first time you find out people are actually reading your blog. That is all the momentum you will need. ]]> http://demo.free-blog-software.com/ http://demo.free-blog-software.com/