SEO The Old School Way

There's been a lot of changes in search engine optimization at least over the past 9 years that I've been doing it. Back in 1999 keyword stuffing was considered, if not white hat, then a reasonably grayish-white way to get a web page to the top of the rankings. Back then, you would come across many websites where the tops of the pages (above the fold as they say) were for the visitors of the site and keywords stuffed at the bottom of the page were for the search engines.

But, over time a consensus among webmasters, SEOs and the search engines emerged that this method was not preferable. What developed as preferable over time was writing complete sentences for the visitors of the website without any regard to the search engines. But, for a while the search engines lagged in rewarding this behavior ahead of the keyword stuffing behavior.

It was only after this reward system took hold, and the ranking algorithms became savvy to this trick and delivered a consistent reward-punishment system to shall we say, good pages versus bad pages, that webmasters and SEOs had a playbook in which to follow. Of course, many years ago, much of this was unspoken.

There was no Matt Cutts from Google or Google Guy giving SEOs hints here and there of what behaviors were considered white hat, black hat, gray hat or snow cone hat. Before the days of Matt Cutts, SEOs had to guess and talk to each other on message boards to compare, confabulate and surmise what was going on with the latest algorithm change or anomaly (of course this still goes on today).

But, just as the search engine algorithms evolved so have the black hat SEOs who have kept one step ahead of the search engines (or tried to) and have become even more sophisticated at gaming the system. Cloaking, sophisticated redirects for siphoning Page Rank (PR) or cheating link partners have abounded.

An entire industry has evolved around buying and selling text links for the purposes of passing PR from one site to the next. The buyers want to buy enough PR to get their websites up in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and those doing the selling are happy to make a profit doing just that.

But, even throughout all the efforts to game the search engines, old school SEO hasn't changed that much over time. The basics of keyword research, on-page optimization, link-building and tracking results, which is the core of SEO has stayed the core.

Sure, there are new wrinkles as to exactly how to do this core of white hat search engine optimization. Within the past couple of years, blogs and social media have both come on strong and evolved. Old school SEOs have had to be flexible and adapt to new market conditions and even embrace the new online media.

But, when one gets lost in the new and shiny techniques (which is easy to do) it is important to pull back a while, gain some perspective and realize that old school SEO will still get a website where it needs to be. And, as trust is important in any business relationship, clients can rest assured that their white hat won't get their website dumped at the drop of a hat for using black hat techniques that the search engines have caught wind of and penalized.

Old school SEO still rocks and there is no reason to believe that this will change anytime soon.

Copyright SEO Services

Tom Stevens writes about and practices search engine optimization, Internet marketing and advanced SEO services for many clients who prefer going old school.

Article Marketing - Cracking the Code to Success!

Article marketing is still one of the most widely used forms of promotion by website owners. There is no doubt that it holds many benefits, but it is important that we understand the right way to approach article marketing and don't fall for the same mistakes that many seem to make.

The basic concept of article marketing is to submit an article on a chosen topic and to receive exposure and promotion for our business in return for syndicating to article directories. The amount of exposure and promotional benefit our business can receive depends on how well we use article marketing.

In order to benefit from article marketing as much as possible there are a number of things that we should consider. In this article I will touch on several of them.

Spelling and Grammar

For some authors this isn't a problem. However, for many others it could be one of the reasons why article marketing is a method that they try to avoid. This shouldn't be the case as a simple spell checker can solve most errors.

Article Title

This is arguably the most important part of the article. The title is what grabs the readers initial attention, and in conjunction with correct keywords holds the key to the amount of traffic that articles can receive.

Keywords

Following on from the point I've just made about the title, the correct use of keywords is what influences that amount of constant traffic that we can possibly receive from our article ranking in the search engines. Related keywords are also important with recent search engine algorithm updates.

Knowledge

In order to make the most of the readers that choose to read our article it is important to show our knowledge. By demonstrating how much we know about a certain topic we can gain the trust of the reader before they have even visited our website link. This is highly important as it can affect how the visitor reacts to our website (reading more content, opting in to a newsletter, buying a product).

Resource Box

Having successfully managed to get the reader to read our article it is now time to create a "call to action" in our resource box. This is where we ask the reader to do something by following the website link that we provide. This could be to go and sign up for an eCourse, download an eBook, buy a product, or to simply visit a website to read more articles on the topic.

Although I've only touched briefly on a number of points about successful article marketing, I cover much more in my Article Success Strategies eBook. Download your copy at http://www.articlesuccessstrategies.com and share with others for 100% commission!

A Need for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Have you ever heard about stories on those online entrepreneurs who hit it big after getting a #1 rank in several popular search engines? You must be wondering what it would take for you to achieve that #1 spot in the search engine result pages (SERPs). Search Engine Optimization, or commonly known as SEO plays an important role to ensure that your business gets the best possible search engine ranking. This will eventually leads to increased sales for your online company.

So, what is exactly Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search engine optimization is the process of amending the content and the meta-information (i.e. Meta-information includes certain HTML tags such as title, heading, emphasized text, keyword and description meta-tags, as well as the internal [links between pages on the same site] and external [links between pages on different sites] link structure of a web site). This is to improve the search engine ranking of the page.

What will be the sales impact if my website is being listed as one of the High Search Engine Rank? Do you know that Internet market research estimates that between 70% and 90% of online shoppers use search engines to find a specific product or service. As such, you can see how effective search engine optimization can boost your revenues.

There are a total of three metrics to forecast online sales. They are the average ticket, the conversion rate, and the amount of web site traffic. Lets me explain each of the metrics to you. The average ticket is the amount of money spent by a customer on a typical transaction. Typically, bookstores have low average tickets while on the other hand computer and electronics stores have high average tickets.

Web Site traffic is measured by the number of site visitors. It is normally expressed as the total number of page views per month.

Conversion rate is expressed as a percentage and was calculated through the number of sales divided by the number of page.

As such, achieving a high search engine rank will definitely increase the number of page views, and could therefore increase sales. Bear in mind that a high search engine rank will produce a measurable increase in traffic only if there is significant marketplace interest in your product / service. Note that search engine optimization is not going to help to produce measurable results if there is very little demand on your product or service. Lets us look into this way, the #1 spot in search engine result pages is not particularly impressive if only two people search for your product or service each month.

What is the role of keywords being used in the Search Engine Optimization?

Keywords are words or phrases users provide to search engines to locate information. Search engines examine page content to determine whether a specific page is relevant for a particular search word or phrase. Thus, effective keyword selection is one of the keystones of search engine optimization.

Each keyword is characterized by supply and demand. Supply refers to the number of search engine result pages and demand refers to the number of searches.

The easiest way to improve search engine rank is to select keywords that have favorable supply-demand characteristics; that is, ones with a relatively high demand and a relatively low supply. It is much more difficult to improve the search engine position of a page on a high supply, competitive keyword.

Good keywords should be relevant to your product line and your line of business. For example, a #1 rank for health supplement product is worthless if you sell Health equipment. A potential customer will find your page, quickly discover that you don't sell any Health supplement product, and promptly go elsewhere. In effect, the conversion rate for irrelevant search engine hits is very close to zero.

Choosing a set of target keywords is the first step in search engine optimization. The second step is using them in the body, title, headings, and meta-tags of a page.

Do not overdo it by including target keywords in the text of the page. The keywords should fit smoothly into the surrounding text. Search engines are smart enough to detect excessive keyword density, or too many keywords stuffed into very little supporting text. It will definitely reduce your page ranking accordingly.

The title tag should contain information that describes the page. Unless you operate a multi-national corporation that is already a household name, your company's name should not be a descriptive title. Most search engines use the title tag as the first line of your listing in the search engine result pages.

Incorporate keywords into the headings on the page, as well as into emphasized sections (bold or large text). Even though search engines are de-emphasizing descriptive meta-tags, include keywords in them nevertheless. The description meta-tag should have an accurate description of your page, and the keywords meta-tag should contain a set of keywords (separated by commas) that list key concepts mentioned on the page.

This will help you to understand the basics of search engine optimization and it is an important first step in creating an optimized, well-positioned web site.

Patrick Sia is the man behind Income-Internet-Business.com. He's a passionate believer in the power of technology to better the lives of everyone and his passion and drive are hallmarks of his attitude to doing business.

Check out more about him @ http://www.income-internet-business.com/blog and http://www.income-internet-business.com for his step-by-step guide to startup a successful internet business.

Article Marketing - What Is It And How Can You Benefit?

Article marketing simply refers to using articles about a specific topic to act as a marketing tool.

As a business owner or seller of a product/service, you write articles that are relevant to your industry and you provide useful information that your customers would benefit from. This can benefit businesses both online and offline. That is right, we are not just talking here about online marketing.

If you run an offline business, you can use article marketing. The internet simply offers a different form of distribution - it does not change the fundamentals behind the idea.

The point of article marketing is to build credibility and trust between you and your customers. You offer them free, useful information that is relevant to them and you look like a hero. They respect you for it.

Because an article provides useful information to your reader, they are more likely to read it than to look at a simple advertisement. You may get an opportunity to present yourself or your product/service in a way they would otherwise not experience.

If you are working an online business, you can distribute the articles through blogs or article directories or a monthly newsletter. Other sites pick these up because of the information in the article (the benefit to them) and happily allow you to display your contact information on the bottom of the article (the benefit to you).

If you are working an offline business, you can submit your articles to community newspapers or trade magazines - again displaying your information on the bottom. You can also use your articles as a monthly newsletter you mail out to your clients. Again, they are more likely to read it because it offers them value. It also keeps your product or service right in front of them each month.

The articles you use don't have to be great novels or anything like that and you don't have to be an expert writer to create an article. The fact is that you are in the business you are in because you know something about that industry or provide a service that people need. So already have a lot of information you can share. Give hints and tips on how to better use a product, share experiences or give advise as it pertains to your industry. Write it down and get it out there.

Your customers will thank you for it - likely with more sales.

Jonathan Hook offers to send you articles that you can use for yourself and on your website. Sign up today at http://www.articlesinyourinbox.com

Images and Search Engine Optimization

Keywords to images are just as important in your Search Engine Optimization process as keywords to content. Many forget about images, thinking only textually when considering the Search Engine Optimization process.

Image to Keyword Marriage

When you think of images and websites- you may assume as many that the purpose of an image is to add a little aesthetic beauty to your site. It can and it does, but images can do much more.

Labeling your Images

If you have a catalog or Ecommerce site it can identity the product or service to the visitor and to the search engine. With the proper label the visitor can, of course, identify what the product is, as can a search engine. But you should also identify your image within your coding as well.

With proper labeling of your images with the "alt" tag, along with a visual front-end caption you will give yourself a better chance of getting your images/content indexed by the search engines.

Thumbnails

If you do have a lot of pictures, it is also wise to use thumbnails where possible. This will help to speed up your load time, for those with slower Internet connections. On the Internet, people seem to be a little more in a hurry-and will not hesitate to click the mouse to move on to another site.

In fact, some directory sites are becoming more image-based, giving the person an image to look at, before sending them to the site.

Note: Be aware that there are image-based robots that can hit your site. Their purpose may be to scrape your site of images, and while doing so, steal your bandwidth. If you find a strange robot hitting your site, it is always wise to do a Google search on the robot in question. If the robot has any scruples at all, they will have a website stating who they are, what they are doing, and if their robots are not behaving to your liking, how you can stop their robot from visiting.

Accessibility

Here is another reason for identifying your images-through alt tags, captions and labels- it's called accessibility. It is not only the sighted that will view your site, but the unsighted as well.

For example, some of the software used by blind individuals are, Text-to-speech software. And, the text-to-speech software does utilize "alt tag" for images, as well as properly named links. So, if you're not utilizing the alt tag, you're missing out on a ready market.

To conclude, images can be asset to your site, not only giving you the aesthetic look that you want, but also helping you to reach a large visitor base, and just as importantly, making your image site search engine friendly.

Vickie J Scanlon -- Visit her site at: http://www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, ebooks, how to info, travel and tech accessories, software and computers for the online business. Or check her blog - My Affiliate Place Blog (http://myaffiliateplace.blogspot.com/) for articles.

AIDA - The Secret Formula To Article Marketing Riches!

First, let me tell you that you don't need to be a professional article writer to churn out killer articles that make your bank account happy. It's really easy to write a good article when you follow these simple steps.

All you need to do is understanding these four letters: AIDA

What does it mean?

A = attention
I = Interest
D = Desire
A = Action

Now let me explain each of the point above.

1. Attention

You need to write a killer title that stops your visitors and tells him: "read this article right now". For example, if you are trying to sell an ebook that help athletes to run faster, your title could be:

"4 Simple Tricks To Effortlessly And Naturally Always Be In Your State Of Peak Performance."

Do you think that a title like this one will work?

The truth is that you won't know until you split test this headline with a second one a finally find the winner.

2. Interest

Now that you got your visitor's attention, be sure to write an interesting article on the topic. If you are not an expert in your niche market, you have two solutions.

a. You can make a quick search about your topic on Google, and read whatever comes on the first and second page of results.

b. Hire a ghostwriter to carry out the research for you and write the article on your behalf.

3. Desire

Now you want to speak to the readers emotions. You want to put him into the emotional state that will make him click the link in your resource box.

It's not easy. This is an art called copywriting. If you have good copywriting skills, you have what it takes to make full living online.

4. Action

Naturally, this is where you want to lead the reader. You want him to click on the link in the bio box and finally visit your website.

Now that you know the meaning of these four letters, and literally force those who take the time to read your article to your site, you need to understand the marketing and website conversion basics to close the sale.

To learn more, download my Free Guide: "How To Earn $100K Per Year With Article Marketing".

Franck Silvestre makes thousands of dollars a year from affiliate and article marketing. Wonder what the secret to his success is? Discover how he does it at: http://www.mynetmarketingland.com/article-marketing/

Article Writing Methods that Grab Their Attention

One of the best ways to promote your business online is to write articles and distribute them to thousands of publishers across the internet. Publishers and website owners are constantly looking for good, original content for their websites, and chances are pretty good that if you've submitted your article to various article directories, that your article will be read and used in someone's newsletter or on their blog. This is a fantastic way to get the links to your website in front of the public's eye, which leads to clicks, which may lead to sales. This is why article writing is so important to your online business.

A good article should have a title that captivates those who see it. There are millions of articles circulating around the internet and posted in article directories, so you want to make sure that your title stands out from the rest and makes a reader want to click on it. The title should cover the main topic of the article, but it's also a good idea to include relevant keywords in the title that you use to promote your website. For example, if you have an article-based website, and one of the keyword phrases you use in your site's meta tags is "writing articles", then you should have the term "writing articles" in your title which will help it get picked up and indexed by the search engines.

I cannot over-state the importance of keywords when writing articles. It's great to sit down and write an article about anything and everything, but if you want your article to be easily found, you want to include good keywords throughout your article. What do I mean by "good keywords"? Good keywords are keywords that people use when they do a Google, or other search engine search to find what they are looking for. For example, "make money online" is a popular keyword phrase that people might type into the Google search box. If this is one of the keywords you are targeting, then it's a good idea to include this in your title and throughout your article.

However, if you want to avoid competition for over-popular terms such as this one, you may want to use a keyword research tool to choose keywords that get 5000-10000+ searches per month. "Money making ideas", for example, is popular, but not so competitive that you can't achieve a higher rank in the search engine listings if you use it in your title and throughout your articles. You can go even more specific than that and find lesser searched terms that you will have little competition for.

The introductory paragraph should include your chosen keywords at least once. Remember that you don't want to clutter up your article with your keywords just to get noticed by the search engines because those search engines will know what you're up to and it may backfire on you with the opposite results of what you expected. You don't want to get penalized for trying to get noticed! The main body of your articles should also have your keywords scattered throughout, and your concluding paragraph should again state your keywords once.

Article writing is not only about keywords. It's a great idea to write in a style that comes naturally to you, as if you were almost talking or telling your own story, in your own way. This is what really separates original articles from the rest. An easily flowing, conversational style of writing is best, which shows your own unique character. The articles written by ghostwriters may sound like they are generated by a machine rather than by a live person with personality. This may turn out looking more like duplicate content, which you definitely want to avoid.

Remember that the main elements of a good article are a captivating title, an introductory paragraph with good keywords and a bit of a teaser to make readers interested in reading more, a main body scattered with good keywords written in a conversational tone, and a concluding paragraph that includes your keywords once. If you can do all that in about 600 words, and write as many original articles as possible, you've found the key to promoting your business online!

About the Author: Liane Bate owns a Plugin Profit Site web business, and is a member of the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs (IAHBE). Visit: http://www.HonestMoneyMaking.com and HonestMoneyMaking.com's Home Business Blog

What is SEO?

When creating a website we always seek to find free traffic to that website without having to work too many hours to achieve that free traffic. By successfully developing a good SEO strategy you can increase your rankings within the Google and Yahoo searches and top your competitors.

First we need to understand how SEO is determined by the search engines. The search engines determine placing your website on the first two pages of a searched keyword by these main criteria:

Relevance
Popularity or rankings
Link connections
Viewings online
Good content

Relevance

The more narrow a search is the more likely your website is likely to be called up for specific searches based on relevance. It is therefore important to include a lot of content within your website.

The more content you have the more likely you are to stumble upon people searching for obscure keyword searches which will only be determined by content within a site or blog pages.

Popularity

This is determined by how often your website is viewed and also if it registers with any major other websites or social marketing means. These can substancially increase your seo as they are often owned by the same search engines - hence blogging and UTube have become so successful.

Link connections

The more companies you link with the better. It is all about who you know. (as in real life!) The more highly ranked those websites are that you link with, the better it is for you. By ranking with a website that achieves a ranking of 4, you are almost guaranteed a top ranking within a short 48hrs!

Viewings online

By placing your website address on various different forums and chat rooms owned by the various different search engine companies, you are almost guaranteed to increase your rankings. Get involved in as many forums and chat rooms as you can (specific to your industry) and you are likely to gain an increase in SEO and natural traffic from those viewers. Google and Yahoo search through each others sites to determine SEO by popularity and how often your website is seen on the world wide web.

Good Content

Google and Yahoo want to give their searches a solution to their search. By offering good relevant content which really solves the readers problems or answers their questions, you are giving their readers what they want. Don't just write arbitrary information - you never know who might be reading it and making a judgment call on your website. It could be the difference between a sale or not!

SEO is a much more involved concept and there are software tools to determine rankings, anchor text and how many linkages high ranking websites have.

All tips and advice are given to aid internet marketers and business owners. For a full review of how to market your website, design it, research your market and earn an income from your website, please visit http://www.monkey-marketing.com Easy to follow chapters guiding you through the process step-by-step.

Get Listed on Page One Using The Best Article Submission Sites

Article directories have recently become very popular. There are over 600 directories on the Internet and more are appearing every day. Unfortunately, the average life of a new directory site is about three months. Within six months, over 80% of them will close their doors. I suppose it is because they were not making as much money as they hoped. Or perhaps it is because these sites are fairly time intensive, requiring an editor to review each article before it is published. It is probably a combination of these two factors.

For that reason, it is important to submit your articles to the best article submission sites. These are the biggest directories that have been around the longest and have the highest Page Ranks. I have submitted a number of articles on this subject in the past. In this article, I want to talk about backlinks and getting your website listed on page one of the search engines.

Backlinks are very important if you want to improve your website's Page Rank. The Page Rank of your website is one factor that determines popularity of your site. The more popular your site, the higher it appears in search results. The most popular site will appear as the first listing on page one of a search. The second most popular site will get the second listing, and so on. Ideally, you want your website to appear on the first page of search results. This can bring you tons more traffic than if your site shows up on page 150 of search results. If your site appears on page 150, you will see little if any traffic from the search engines.

One way to improve your Page Rank is by getting links from larger Page Ranked sites that point back to your website. An easy way to accomplish this is by submitting articles. Each time you submit an article, the article directory will post your links on their site.

But, it does you little or no good to list your articles with directories that have low Page Rank numbers. That is why it is important to submit to only the best article submission sites. I classify the best submission sites as directories with a Page Rank of 4 or higher. (The Page Rank of the article directory must be higher than the Page Rank of your own site.)

By consistently submitting articles to The Best Article Submission Sites, you will see the Page Rank numbers of your site slowly improve. And, as your Page Rank improves, your site will creep up in search results and you will develop more search engine traffic.

Do you want to know how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide on submitting articles to promote your site and make money.

Make Money And Promote Your Site!

Make Money Every Day - It's easier than you think!

Search Engines - Inside Out

Term 'search engine' is generally used to describe search engines based on crawling technology and human edited web directories. Both the search engines operates differently.

Search Engines Based on Crawling Technology

Search engines like Google is considered as Crawler based search engines and they build their listings automatically. They "crawl" or "spider" the web pages, then people search through what they have found.

If you change your web pages, search engines operates on crawling technology, eventually find these changes automatically. They will rate your website based on the changes you have made and that can affect how you are listed. Page titles, meta tags, header, body and all other elements plays the major role in your website listing.

Human Edited Web Directories

A human edited web directory, such as DMOZ - Open Directory, depends on humans for its listings. You submit a link with short description about your website to the directory, human editors review your website and list you on the directory. A search looks for matches only in the descriptions submitted.

Changing your web pages has no effect on your listing. Things that are useful for improving a listing with a search engine have nothing to do with improving a listing in a directory. The only exception is that a good site, with good content, might be more likely to get reviewed for free than a poor site.

Hybrid Search Engines

In the web's early days, it used to be that a search engine either presented crawling based results or human edited listings. Today, it extremely common for both types of results to be presented. Usually, a hybrid search engine will favor one type of listings over another. For example, MSN Search is more likely to present human-powered listings from LookSmart. However, it does also present crawler-based results (as provided by Inktomi), especially for more obscure queries.

The Parts Of A Crawling Based Search Engines

Crawler-based search engines have three major elements. First is the spider, also called the crawler. The spider visits a web page, reads it, and then follows links to other pages within the site. This is what it means when someone refers to a site being "spidered" or "crawled." The spider returns to the site on a regular basis, such as every month or two, to look for changes.

Everything the spider finds goes into the second part of the search engine, the index. The index, sometimes called the catalog, is like a giant book containing a copy of every web page that the spider finds. If a web page changes, then this book is updated with new information.

Sometimes it can take a while for new pages or changes that the spider finds to be added to the index. Thus, a web page may have been "spidered" but not yet "indexed." Until it is indexed -- added to the index -- it is not available to those searching with the search engine.

Search engine software is the third part of a search engine. This is the program that sifts through the millions of pages recorded in the index to find matches to a search and rank them in order of what it believes is most relevant. You can learn more about how search engine software ranks web pages on the aptly-named How Search Engines Rank Web Pages page.

Major Search Engines: The Same, But Different

All crawler-based search engines have the basic parts described above, but there are differences in how these parts are tuned. That is why the same search on different search engines often produces different results. Some of the significant differences between the major crawler-based search engines are summarized on the Search Engine Features Page. Information on this page has been drawn from the help pages of each search engine, along with knowledge gained from articles, reviews, books, independent research, tips from others and additional information received directly from the various search engines.

Paras Shah
Webmaster & SEO Expert
Web Directory - Add Link - Submit Article - Online Store - Forum
http://www.itsallaboutlinks.com

Article Marketing Secrets - How to Market Your Articles in Your Own Blog

One of the best ways to market and repurpose your articles is to use them in your blog(s). Here are three ways I use regularly to market and repupose my articles that will work for you all day, everyday.

3 Ways to Blog with Your Articles

1. Parts of articles - Because blog articles are intended to be shorter than the average article, you can start an one in your blog and finish it somewhere else. Create a post using the first few sentences of your article, and then create a link for the reader to click to read the rest. This link can take them to another page in your blog or to your web site.

2. Article Series - You can post a series on the same theme or topic or challenge. You can create a nice following with your readers as they look forward to returning to read the next article in the series. You can build the anticipation a bit at the end of each installment by letting the reader know what is coming in the next one.

3. Break up the article - Tips articles are great for breaking up your writing into different posts. For example, in this article I'm giving you three tips for repurposing your articles in your blog. I could very easily, and probably will, take each one of these tips and create a post with it. At the end of each post, I will give the reader a very brief preview of what to expect in the next post, again to build the anticipation.

And now I would like to offer you free access to 2 of my Instant Article Templates when you subscribe to my free Article Marketing Minute, a 52 week audio/video newsletter on Article Marketing. You can get your instant access at http://www.ArticleMarketingMinute.com

From Jeff Herring - The Internet Article Guy & the Great Article Marketing Network

Optimizing Your Link Profile

Quality versus quantity is a debate that has loomed over the link building stage for some time. It is hardly a well-guarded secret that link quality is, now more than ever, more important than the sheer weight of links a site has. The algorithms that the search engines use have evolved greatly from their first incarnation. Primarily the focus was on link numbers, sites with a greater number of links from any source were deemed to be sites of value. However, where it was once necessary to concentrate on building links you should now be geared towards building a link profile.

The web, according to Google and other major search engines is intended to be a holistic collection of informative websites. The sites themselves should not appear as though they are pampering to the needs of the search engine algorithms but instead, god forbid, bowing to the whim of visitors. Aside from over optimizing the pages of your site, having a link profile that appears unnatural is one of the most obvious indications that a site is attempting to manipulate the algorithms.

A link profile is essentially one huge balancing act where (almost) everything has its place. Reciprocal links might not provide the value they once did but in moderation they can still benefit many websites. Similarly, while it won't do your site much good to have one thousand links from ten unique IPs, you should try to avoid having one thousand links from one thousand unique IPs.

So, the most sensible approach, then, would be to utilize various link-building techniques to optimize your link profile. Diversify your link portfolio. As well as submitting (manually, of course) to a hundred web directories try submitting articles to article directories. As well as a raft of one way inbound links consider a few well-placed and relevant reciprocal links with valuable sites. But always make sure that the link provides something genuinely useful to your visitors. Be an active member of forums and blogs, and always include your link in your signature. Syndicate content and submit it to syndication services.

These are all genuine ways to build links to your site and, therefore, optimize your link profile. Doing so will, in most cases, not only benefit your SEO efforts but it will also provide your inbound visitors with an easier experience, your existing visitors with quality resources, and your traffic stats should see an improvement too.

There's a lot to be said for natural links, and a lot of what is often said is that they are incredibly difficult to get. This is certainly true and in many cases, when other sites link naturally to our own site we don't have the level of control we would ordinarily demand. Do go in search of links to your website but don't concentrate on one single method.

When you're looking to diversify your links you should also attempt to diversify other factors. You may believe your homepage to be the most important page on your site but you should attempt to gain links to your homepage and deep links to the individual pages of your site. Initially, this may make it more difficult to rank highly for your keywords but you will benefit in the long run because you will receive improved results for a variety of topics.

Also vary your anchor text, always ensuring that it is relevant to the page it points to. It's a common mistake that many make when attempting to optimize their page for a certain keyword to continually batter that page with links using that one single keyword. Keyword synonyms, stems, and inflexions can all be used to great advantage and enable you to offer variety and sensible linking text.

When you first establish a site it is an understandable mistake to take any link going. After all, links can be at a premium with a lot of sites. However, it is important to remember that the decisions you make at the beginning of your SEO campaign can have an adverse effect for months or even years to come.

Matt Jackson is an SEO copywriter that specializes in crafting compelling website content.

Expert Panels, Quality Control Boards and the Future of Online Articles

It has been surmised that a panel may be needed to check into the credentials and expert status of online article authors to see if they pass the proper standards test or can cut the mustard. Many seasoned experts are a little miffed that some online article authors write "thinly veiled" content. A few have floated the idea of setting a panel or quality control board to serve this process.

But is that even feasible? Some of the top online article writers believe that it is not such an easy task and perhaps may not even be feasible. Indeed, I think I agree with this line of thought in that a quality board is way out of the question as some days there are well over 1,000 articles submitted in a single 24-hour period on one top online article submission website and thus it is simply outrageous how much work that might be.

Indeed I also agree that the "human innate characteristics" of small panel group participants is a given, thus a panel in itself would be problematic. For instance who watches the panel and then are their disputes on rulings, thus rules. And once you make "one rule" well you got em' lifetime job security? And even if a panel could decide what an expert is, that would be a definition. Which brings up an interesting question?

Definitions and rules is a similar process, in that if you make one definition, you are forever further redefining it and creating more. This leads to bureaucracy which is indeed leads to less fluidity of motion, and less agility, thus ruins all the good that is. If you have more definitions, rules and panels all you have created is more minutia and less efficiency, to what avail?

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

Article Marketing Service - Put the Niche Lock on Your Competition with Articles

Article marketing service is defined as a simple form of advertising used by many businesses that write short articles which relate to their industry and its functioning. Although this term may sound new, let me assure you it isnt. In fact, it is used by almost all professionals and is old as the mass print media itself.

You can find niche marketing articles, article marketing websites, article marketing net etc and many more , each having their own specific features . For e.g. Niche marketing articles bring down the focus of the huge population on very specific products or services that are being offered. Many businesses adapt to niche marketing services to explore the untapped potential of their products/services in the highly competitive markets. There are niche marketing service providers offering their services .

Well, if you may be thinking, How do I practice article marketing for my service? then here it is. First, you need to challenge yourself to organize and keep the content very simple and easy to understand. Next, it is important to remember that those visiting your article marketing content on the web have to get the maximum information needed. Finally, every article should have a bio box and a by line which helps the reader to get in contact with the authors business.

Thus, we can say that article marketing service can bring big fortunes to the authoring business and amass new clientele. So what are you waiting for? Pick up your pen, put on your thinking hat and start writing. Of course, if you would rather leave it to the pros

ArticlesInMyInbox is the world's premier original content marketing articles service provider and your unfair advantage in creating original articles,search engine optimized for top placement in Google, in order to secure the search engine daily visits to your website as being listed #1 in your niche for all of your niche's most searched keyterms and phrases. Also, your customers will be pre-screened before coming to your website because they have just read an article that targets them to what you provide and have decided to click on the link in your resource box to take the next step. To make your next step the next level for your business by putting the professional team of writers at ArticlesInMyInbox to work for you, just visit http://www.ArticlesInMyInbox.com

Five Easy Article Marketing Tips

Article marketing is a very diverse world that many people often gain great success in. This success however does come with great effort. There is not one thing in Internet Marketing that does not take effort. Everything you earn will be the result of how much effort you put into it.

Today the subject I will be writing about will be about Article Marketing. Article Marketing is one of the best marketing tactics that a person can have. Article Marketing can be a valuable asset that could make you lots of money in the long run. Here are five tips that can improve your efforts...

1. Select A Good Niche

The Niche that you write about can make a big difference in how you operate your Article Marketing enterprise. First, select a niche that you can really write about without sounding like an idiot that does not know what they are writing about. If somebody reads something that sounds like the writer knows nothing about the topic, what would that look like? It would look like the writer is a liar and we don't want that.

2. Proofread Everything

If a reader sees that you have poor handwriting, why would they even see your website? Something small like handwriting can make a tremendous effect for the better good or bad. Always spell check everything that you place on a article distribution website. A potential customer could look at an error in your spelling and turn away from what you are offering without thinking twice.

3. Research Your Topic

Make an attempt in giving your reader time-saving information that they could use. This includes actually researching the topic you are writing about. If a reader receives valuable information you will be repaid for it by being called an expert. This title will create many new leads that pay for your advice. So when you make the effort, you will get something in return. This return could be anything from new leads to affiliate income.

4. Choose Your Article Distribution Service Carefully

The distribution service will determine how your articles are viewed by readers. If you have your articles on a highly respectable website, it will do better because the author put the article on a higher quality website instead of another website. If the reader finds the article on a lower site, that would look like the author does not pay attention to where they submit their articles to. So that is why I suggest that you never use article submitters because your articles might show up on junk sites. Google might also look at where you place your article and make a judgment that your site is good or bad.

5. Choose The Right Keywords

The entire world of Article Marketing revolves around what kind of keywords you use for your article. If you use the wrong type of keywords, your article could up in a place that is unrelated to your niche. This could be a problem if Google is searching for websites that are relevant to your website link. If you have a article that is related to health care and it ends up on a website that is dedicated to travel, Google will see that and will make the conclusion that the article is on a unrelated website. So it pays off when you choose the right kinds of keywords.

Hunter is a Internet Marketer that runs a blog called Internet Wealth Creators This blog helps other marketers in their efforts in marketing. It includes time-saving information that any marketer could use.

Internet Wealth Creators

Article Marketing The Easy Way

If you've been involved with internet marketing for a while, you've probably heard of the technique of article marketing or article submissions as an effective way of driving traffic to your web site. It used work like gang busters, and was a pretty much guaranteed way to generate almost insane amounts of highly targeted traffic to your web site. Then when the search engines started using duplicate content filters it pretty much died overnight.

But the good old days are back again. The problem with the old system of submitting articles to article directories was that whether you performed the process manually, or used automated systems and software to do it for you, each article directory got the same copy of the article. So you literally had hundreds of copies of the exact same article all over the internet.

When people first started using this method, all those copies of your article counted as a unique backlink to your site - and the more backlinks your site had, the better it faired in the search engine results pages (SERPs) - and better rankings meant more free traffic.

Up until recently, this technique was working extremely well, but it's now becoming less and less effective since the search engines started filtering out duplicate content. What this means is that each time the search engine finds a new copy of your article on one of the many hundreds of article directories online, they will simply ignore it as they are already aware of that article and are only logging the first version they find.

So what we really need now is an article submission system where we can upload a new article, and have that system submit a totally unique copy of that article to each and every article directory it submits to. But what we don't want is for the submission system to create unreadable crappy content for our article - it needs to be just as good as our original.

If that software could also submit our article to several hundred different article directories as well then, and use a different version of our resource box on each article (which would allow us to vary our anchor texts) that would really be the icing on the cake.

Well, the good news is that there is such a system now available. It has only recently been released as an answer to the duplicate content filters the search engines are now using, and it does everything we wanted above plus a whole load more besides. There's no "underhand" techniques involved which would go against search engines terms of service. I've tested it out for the last few weeks and to be quite honest it's way over delivered on all my expectations except one - and that is that the owners web site doesn't really do it justice - it's way more powerful than he lets on.

I have posted a more in depth review of the software on my website called Unique Content Article Marketing which explains in greater detail how it works.

Mike freely shares his tips and techniques for making money online as a super affiliate. Learn how to make money using the latest automated article submission software and get access to the latest internet affiliate marketing tips

Breakthrough Article Marketing - Discover 3 Key Secrets to Jumpstart Your Article Marketing

Nervous about starting your article marketing campaign? Don't be! Because technically, you have got nothing to lose in this technique. So long as you know how to produce quality articles or you have the resources to pay somebody to do it for you, you will surely rise above the rest. Here are the 3 key secrets to jumpstart your article marketing:

1. Do your research. What are the topics to write about? Well, the best topics for you are those that concern your potential clients and are relevant to the products or services you offer. Some of the best article marketers go to forums and they communicate to their potential buyers. Through this, marketers will get an idea about the pressing issues that their customers are facing. Then, they create articles based on the data they gathered and present their products as solution. This is a foolproof method in making sure that your articles are targeted to your chosen niche.

2. Consider some important elements when writing your articles. This is to make sure that your articles will be accepted by most publishing sites. Make sure that you don't use too many keywords or your articles will be rejected for keyword abuse. Also, make your articles at least 250 words and ensure that all links on your resource box are working. Lastly, never insert hyperlinks on the body of your articles. This is one of the common reasons why articles are rejected by publishing sites.

3. Write articles that are easy to understand. Your success in article marketing will largely depend on how well your readers can understand you. So make it a point that you make it easier for them to digest the information you are presenting. To do this, you can use various formats like questions and answer, how-tos, and numbered list when presenting your ideas.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

SEO Strategies - Getting Links And Writing Good Content

The process of search engine optimization or SEO, shows to be of great help in improving a Web site's search engine rankings, as well as improving the site's overall health, standing and profitability.

This process is known to take some time, and may not give overnight results, however it is an interesting, and fun-filled approach. With this method, there are always new things to learn, because most search engines change their algorithm every once in a while, and by far, according to analysts, Google is the most complicated search engine one to analyze at present.

Getting Relevant Links Is Vital

There are some important steps that Web site owners need to take into consideration, so that so that search engines will not think of your Web site as spam, or worse ban it on their search engines. Probably the most important thing you'll need are links. And more links from relevant sources will help your site figure in the top of search engine rankings, so it's better to do the best methods that would not be penalized by main Search Engines.

So, where should you get your links from? You could get links from Web directories, article directories and from link exchanges with other related Web sites. When submitting to online directories, search for the category or niche most relevant to your site, and verify how many outgoing links the directory has per page. It would be quite senseless to submit to directories that do not follow the Google Web master's guidelines.

Also find out if the directory is indexed by Google. Getting link partners is the most arduous and time consuming aspect of your link building campaign. Most websites will not be very keen to exchange links if they are in the top 10, and you are sadly not. You should also need to look for Websites that are most relevant to yours, for example, you have a Web design site, so it would be best to exchange links with templates or SEO related Web sites, or just about any site that is related to stuff like Web design and development.

Writing Articles Helps

Writing good-quality and interesting articles also helps you get backlinks. How does this happen? When you write one or two article about your Web site's subject, ensure that you include your main keywords in the article, and make it fun but direct to the point as well. Do not write as if you sound like too authoritative or you're the best, as this will only work to scare away your readers.

Include examples, where needed, to back up your ideas, as this will ensure that you look more credible to the reader. If you are not sure about something, search about it if you can't find better not write about it. Be sure to include a link to your website in the author's note, or else the whole process will be useless.

The art of SEO is not that difficult, however not that relatively easy either, there are some stringent rules that you need to follow to rank well on most Search Engines. The problem with search engines like Google, is that it values old pages too much, so whether you have a quite new and informative Website, it would still not be a guarantee that you will probably rank in the top 10 of a search engine, if your main keyword is not a very competitive one.

http://7seo.com - 7 SEO

Vanessa A. Doctor from Jump2Top - SEO Company

Article Marketing - How You Can Massively Increase the Effectiveness of Your Articles

Article Marketing is something that thousands of people do to drive traffic to their websites. It's no secret that a well written article can be thought provoking enough for readers to want to know more about either you or your services. So, what do they do? They click on your link in your resource box. But are you making effective use of understanding the conversion rates for the clicks that you get?

From my own perspective, my main interests are in motivation, wealth creation and self defense. These are the subjects that I write about most often. However, I am departing from that here because I have discovered something that I think will be of benefit to all article writers.

I don't write about things like "the best sexual positions" or "cell phone number spying" or "how to increase your penis size" or "how to shave your pubic hair" or "how to tell if your spouse is cheating on you" or any other such subjects that get tens of thousands of hits. Why? Quite simply I don't have a website on any of those things that could take advantage of the traffic it would bring.

Now here is something that you will probably find interesting...

I have over 250 articles all over the web in hundreds of "far-flung" places and in many different languages. This number of articles will show significant trends when viewed in terms of statistical anaysis.

I know which articles are "ball-bursters" and which are complete flops. So, what does that tell me? Write more articles (in my domains of knowledge and interest) that are popular - obviously! What is the point of writing articles that nobody else wants to read? Now here comes the interesting bit...

By analyzing the results of these articles I am able to see which ones are giving me the most click-throughs to my websites. Time for a little mathematics...

If I have 1,395 click-throughs from 170,424 views of my articles then my conversion rate is 0.82%. That tells me that for every thousand people who read my articles only 8 will be interested enough to go to one of my websites. Pretty horrendous huh? Then again, there are millions of articles on the web and people's time is at a premium. A reader has to be REALLY interested to make that click.

So, if I have some articles - which I do - that are returning the following statistics, what does that tell me?

• 8 from 23 ( conversion rate 34.8%)
• 400 from 2,667 (15%)
• 28 from 154 (18%)
• 191 from 1736 (11%)
• 23 from 81 (28%)

That tells me that these particular articles SMASH my average. Hmm. So, what else does that tell me? Here is what I think...

1. - The headline REALLY worked because it attracted attention
2. - The article summary/teaser REALLY worked because it made people curious
3. - The copy (article body) REALLY worked because it contained good information
4. - The resource box REALLY worked because people wanted to know more.

So, now, what do you think I should do?

1. - Write more headlines like that
2. - Write more summaries/teasers like that
3. - Write more articles like that
4. - Write more resource boxes like that

The other thing - which I have not yet analysed in depth - is that the keywords REALLY worked. I need to look at that more.

So what is my point is this?

Watch what your statistics are telling you. Once you get the "formula" correct then all it requires is for you to stick with it and you will see a LOT more click-throughs to your websites than you thought was possible. I may have more to say on this later. Stay tuned...

This has been a "Public Service Announcement" from me to you purely for your benefit because I don't have an Article Marketing website. But if you want to know how to make a lot more money and increase your personal wealth then click HERE

Profitable Article Marketing - Uncover Outstanding Steps to Breakthrough with Article Marketing

In a nutshell, article marketing is a simple and cost-effective marketing tool. It is the process of writing and publishing quality articles to educate your readers while establishing your expertise at the same time. This, when done perfectly, can lead to customers' trust and loyalty which are the best two stepping stones in persuading online users to purchase from you.

1. Know how to build up your products without resorting to blatant advertising. As you know, you need to keep your sales pitches off your content to avoid annoying your readers. Although you can't directly market your products on your content, you can do it in a subtle way. How? By creating a need for your product. For instance, if you are selling teeth whitening toothpaste, talk about the how white teeth can affect your potential clients' social lives, how white teeth can improve their appearance, etc. This is a good way to build up your product and make your readers feel that it is a necessity that they need to get it ASAP to improve the quality of their lives.

2. Make your articles search-engine friendly. Sprinkle generous amount of keywords and popular search terms on your content to make your articles easy to find online.

3. Find your voice. Don't be somebody's copycat. Be unique and be known for it. Develop you own, unique writing style that your potential readers will identify you with.

4. Publish your articles. Manually submit your articles to leading publishing sites that have huge, steady traffic and have impressive page ranking. In doing so, make sure that your article summary and your resource box are powerful enough to convert your readers to potential clients.

To learn more, download my free guide, "How to Generate $15,000 Per Month Online" here: "How to Generate $15,000 Per Month Online"

Sean Mize is an internet marketing mentor who teaches people to generate over $15,000 per month online via automated systems and product funnels.

Article Marketing is Frustrating

So once again I am sitting here trying to figure out what to write and hoping that something insightful will come to my mind. So far it is not going very well but I have made very few grammatical or spelling errors. I'm trying to write another article about ice fishing but there is only so much that I can actually put into words. I have created a website all about it and now I am just trying to get the word out about it. If you type ice fishing pro into google you will find it and I'll definitely add a link at the end of this article. It is so tough but I guess I just have to put in a lot more hours into it.

Something that I have notice about letting my articles freely propagate throughout the net is that some webmasters are so rude that they will just post it up on their crappy sites without giving me proper credit and a link. I don't think that it is so much to ask and I would definitely give credit for the work that some poor sucker did. All I could do was just ask them to add my link. I was polite. But I just did that this morning and will probably never get any responses.

I have been at this article marketing thing for about two months now and have posted four articles online. I'm quite pleased with my work and it has actually gotten me about six extra hits a day but only one back link. I don't know if that is any good but I'm going to keep at it for as long as it keeps increasing my traffic. I really want this to work. Sitting in front of a computer and watching money roll in is my idea of the perfect job. I have signed up for quite a few of those make money online programs but the problem with those are that they all say the same thing, post online advertise and make money. Well that is a bloody brilliant scheme but it is not quite that easy. If it was, everyone would be millionaires. That would be a pretty scary world to live in.

Back to article marketing. I have found about a hundred or so site that will accept my submissions but when I check search engines I find no trace of my submission through their site. I have whittled it down to about a half dozen site that I submit to. I do this not to limit my exposure but to prevent myself from wasting time.

Article marketing can be a double edged blade. One side is the bit of added exposure that your site will get but the other side is the amount of time and creativity that it takes to actually make these silly things. Oh well, I'm going to keep at it until I figure out a much easier legal way to spread my messages across the net. I think you should too, although it may be frustrating it is definitely worth the small amount of work that you actually have to do.

Justin has not written many articles but would like everyone know that he is an up an coming web designer with dreams of ruling the internet from behind his computer. You can contact him through his website at icefishingpro.com

The Top 3 Ways to Fail at Article Marketing

Everyone seems to agree that articles are a phenomenal way of getting a good foothold in your online niche space - with all of the tips, tricks and fads, it seems pretty certain that article marketing will be a solid and secure strategy for years to come, right? What amazes me nonetheless is how SO many people seem to take a simple and straightforward strategy and just muck the whole thing up in the name of a few quick bucks and a quick end around approach to building a real business, rather than simply putting in the effort to make it happen.

The good news it this: If you aren't one of the sheep at the back of the pack buying into all of the boisterous buffoonery that the guys at the top want you to believe, and are willing to work hard, articles that you write for both content, and promotion are going to give you a HUGE leg up on your lackluster competition. For the rest of you who are going for the quick fix, here are a few of the TOP ways you should keep in mind as you strive to chase your tail for another few years..:-)

1) Don't write ANY of your own content. Simply spend your paycheck buying PLR memberships, article spinners and content creation programs. The guys selling all of these programs REALLY appreciate your patronage, and should you make the rash decision to actually create some unique, valuable content, many of these guys would have to find another meal ticket to milk. This wouldn't be nice to do, especially around the holidays.

2) Mass submit all of your articles to EVERY directory on the net. The more times your exact article shows up in every PR 0 and 1 directory online, the more of an authority you appear to be. Remember, all of those splogs that are carrying your content is a good thing - and paying that service to ensure that your apple pie recipe shows up in the travel directories database does help too. The more the merrier.

3) In your resource box - make sure you talk A LOT about yourself. Share all the awards you have won, and make sure to post a picture of yourself with a tank top on, because that REALLY juices up your click through rates. ( no pun intended) If you've got a cool pair of sunglasses, make sure you have them on when you take the picture to include in your bio, too. Also - if you have 20 free blogs, make sure to list at least 10 of them here, preferably in alphabetical order.

That's it! If you follow these three simple steps, well - let's just say you'll join the hundreds, if not thousands of other article marketers following these sure fire strategies for an ignominious end to their internet marketing aspirations. Or - you could simply roll your sleeves up, give up on the gurus, and get to work..:-) Either way, have fun and good luck!

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