Tag Archives: online marketing

How Much SEO Do You Need?

  
 

BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News!

…….
Contents:

o How Much SEO Do You Need?

o Google Ranking Factors

o Best Place To Learn SEO

…….

If you have a website you’re probably fussing over
your rankings in the search engines, especially Google.
The higher your rankings you achieve for your chosen keywords;
the more traffic you will get.

Many webmasters and companies spend thousands of dollars each
month in order to get their keywords and sites up to the
top of the list. If you’re into affiliate marketing, your daily
income will rise and fall almost parallel to your rankings.

Now, if my earnings increase, I know automatically my rankings
have gone up, especially in Google. If my earnings go down,
I know my rankings have gone south. Some times even a drop or
rise of one place on the first page SERPs will affect how
much you earn.

Obviously, because of this fact, SEO or how well I am optimized
for the search engines is very important to me. I am constantly
building quality links and quality content for my sites. Some
keyword battles you win, some battles you lose. I have been
fighting some keyword battles for over 3 or 4 years!

But how much SEO is enough? How much SEO should you do with
your sites? Many webmasters make sure all their on page set-up or
lay-out is done exactly to what the SEO experts say you should
do. This is not a bad idea. Make sure your Title, URL, Headlines,
Keyword Density… are all laid outright. These are things
we can control and adjust to meet the SEO standards.

Other SEO or ranking factors are much harder to predict, many
of them are simply out of our control. How other sites link
to us, what they put in the anchor text, what other sites
say about us… simply things we can’t control.

I believe the over-riding reason why your site is listed at
the top of any rankings has to do with the number, the quality
and the number of sites linking back to your page. The higher
the number of related quality one-way links you have flowing
back to your site, the higher it will perform in the rankings.
Your anchor text is very important (underlined part of a link)
it must contain your keywords or variations of it. The content
on the linking page should be related to your chosen keyword.

Get this part right and you will get high rankings.

Or at least this has been my experience – all the other ranking
factors do count but this is the over-riding factor in my opinion.

Another major ranking factor lately has been the importance
Google is placing on social media links. Get your content to
the first page of Digg with lots of diggs and it will rank high
in Google. This is not surprising when you consider the nature
of these social bookmarking sites… it really is an actual
“vote” for the quality of your content. Getting Delicious
bookmarks has a similar positive effect.

Now if you’re wondering about how Google ranks pages or your
keywords… Google has around 200 ranking factors (with filters
and penalties thrown in to make all our lives interesting)
which it uses to rank your keywords/pages.

Now the question still remains, how much SEO do you need?
How much time should you spend at optimizing, building links,
worrying your head-off over the latest Google Itch?

The answer always comes back to quality content. Create a site
that has quality content and the SEO will take care of itself.
People will link to your site, you will get bookmarks in all
the social media sites, Google will find your content and
rank it. Your SEO will grow naturally as your site grows.
Keep building more pages, keep targeting more and more
related keywords in your niche or subject and you will get
higher rankings.

Now, of course, some webmasters are a little more aggressive
in how quickly they want their rankings to rise in the
search engines. Here’s something you can do if you want
to go into the SEO battle full-force.

1. Download SEOquake and place this SEO toolbar plug-in on your
Firefox browser.

2. Go to Google and type in the keyword or keyword phrase
you’re targeting with your site or content.

3. Click on the number one ranking and observe how many
pages it has indexed, PageRank, how many links it has, age of
the site… and so on.

4. Then click the page info button and study all the on-page
factors this site has and notice what it’s doing with its page
and keyword density lay-out.

5. Check all the backlinks this site has in the different
search engines. Copy or try to get the same backlinks for
your site that your competitor has acquired. Then get more
backlinks and/or higher quality backlinks than your competitor.

6. Watch your rankings rise…

Just a few more words of wisdom and we’re done. Some battles
will be too tough to fight, the competition will be so
stiff you just can’t compete. Other battles will take a long
time; months, even years before you rise to the top.
Your best bet is to choose long-tail (multi-worded) keywords
that have little or no competition. You can rise to the top within
days, even hours. The sweet thing is this: long-tail keywords
are often the most lucrative and bring in the most sales.

For, in the final analysis, you just don’t want SEO, you want
smart SEO. And you will quickly learn, most times you can
out-smart your competition, even if you can’t out-rank
them.

………………………………………

  
 

This is probably the most comprehensive list of ranking factors
you will find on the web. Bookmark this page and refer back to
it often if you’re going heavily into SEO. Another great source
of current information is WebmasterWorld.

  
 


o Best Place To Learn SEO

Now, if you’re completely new at this web stuff, I would recommend
you try Aaron Wall’s Free 7 Day Course on SEO. Also, very good
and to the point – try SeoBook.

  
 

Kind Regards,
Titus
http://www.bizwaremagic.com

The 5 Pillars Of Google Search – Do You Know Them?

BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News!


…….
Contents:

o The 5 Pillars Of Google Search – Do You Know Them?

o Google Opens Twitter Account

o List Building Thru Twitter

…….

Most of the traffic to my websites comes from Google so
I try to be acutely aware of what Google is doing. More
importantly, I monitor on a daily basis, hundreds of major
keywords that I rank for in Google.

This close examination of how Google is ranking those
keywords have given me valuable information over the
years. I am constantly battling competitors for the
top keywords and it keeps me on my toes. Most times,
becoming successful on the web means picking your most
profitable keywords and concentrating all your efforts
specifically on those keywords.

Now, I have noticed that Google is gradually changing
how it is listing its search results. Once upon a time,
it was only information or sites dealing with or giving
information which was listed. But things have changed…

For many of the most competitive, profitable (I like to
call them moneyed keywords) Google is displaying a whole
range of search results that can be divided into 5 groups,
classifications, types of listings… knowing and targeting
these 5 different areas can make a big difference to how well
you rank in Google.

These 5 Pillars of Google Search also has many ramifications
for webmasters and especially for online marketers. I believe
they will be much more important as Google moves forward
and makes more changes to its ranking system and HOW
it displays those results.

Anyway, I have written a very detailed article on this
subject and placed it on my site. The piece discusses
these 5 areas and how you should both know and target
them in your own marketing or with your website. I believe
it will help you get better rankings for your site or keywords.

It’s too long to put here so you can read it here:

Five Pillars Of Google Search

o Google Opens Twitter Account

Google now has a Twitter account and has around 65,000
followers. Google’s first entry was on “8:34 PM Feb 25th
from web”.

“I’m 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110
01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011
01111001 00001010?”

Roughly translated means “I’m Feeling Lucky?”

o List Building Thru Twitter

As soon as any program becomes popular and attracts
huge numbers of users, online marketers try to milk
it for all its worth. Sadly, this is not the intended
use for most of these programs but that hasn’t stopped
marketers from taking advantage.

Twitter is falling to the same faith. Online marketers
and webmasters are exploiting this poor creature to
no end. The marketing possibilities associated with
Twitter are endless. Mainly…

Twitter is perfect for building your list.

Gathering a huge or even a small group of loyal followers
can make a big difference to how well you or your site
performs on the web.

As we can see from above, even Google is getting in on
the action. Since it is a great way to not only build
your list but also an easy way to stay in touch with
your contacts. No more spam!

Even Barack Obama has a Twitter account. He has over
375,000 followers and growing… so even elected officials
see the importance of building your list. Obama, more
than anyone else in politics, seems to get this importance
of building your list.

Anyway, if you don’t already have a Twitter account,
I would suggest you get one. Even if you just want
to use it for its original purpose – to keep in
contact with close family and friends.

Kind Regards,
Titus

Traffic Secrets Ain’t So Secret

Traffic Secrets Ain’t So Secret (An Honest
Assessment of John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0)

Just slogged my way thru John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0
– I had to read the badly transcribed Training Manual
because the slickly produced State-of-the-Art CD-Roms
wouldn’t work properly on my trusty Toshiba laptop. The
videos kept crashing – I finally read the minimum requirements
and you need Windows XP or greater, Pentium 4
2.4Ghz Processor with 512 DDR RAM… just to run
these CD-Roms. Geez Louise!

I did manage to watch a few of the opening videos – this
is the way this comprehensive training course on increasing
your website traffic should be viewed. Direct and immediate
instructions, as if you have the perfect view, looking over
John Reese’s shoulder as he goes about explaining all the
major techniques and factors for getting traffic
on the web.

Unfortunately, I had to slowly work my way thru a horribly
transcribed text made from the videos. Given all the
advice Reese gives about outsourcing and creating quality
content – a thorough proof-read and edit would have made
this $400 product more enjoyable if like me you couldn’t
get the videos to work. Reese must have used some kind of
voice to text software – for example, you get different
versions for Adwords such as “add words”, “ad words” and
so on.

Of course, this doesn’t subtract from the solid marketing
information being offered here – just makes it annoying to
absorb. But then again to be fair, this is a VIDEO course
and that’s the best way to absorb this information. Which
I quickly discovered after I upgraded to a new HP Elite Pavilion
PC with Quad Processors and 6 Gigs of RAM – I threw in a 24″
HDMI monitor just to be on the safe side. The CD-Roms worked
spectacularly on my new system.

In any case, no one should dismiss Traffic Secrets because
of a few jumbled words or dangling participles. John Reese
knows his stuff and in the end that’s all that matters.
You’re paying for the information and advice – not your
English teacher’s good graces.

If you’re new to web marketing, you may be wondering who
the heck is John Reese and why should I listen to him or
take his advice?

From running two web sites on Internet Marketing – I follow
most of the major names in online marketing. I first came
across John Reese when he was running a free advertising
site/program called Opportunity.com – which is now closed.
Lately, he has developed a similar type of program for blogs
called BlogRush – which is a free way to promote your blog
posts on other people’s blogs.

Most people know John Reese from when he made Internet
Marketing history by selling over one million dollars worth
of product in a day – that was way back in 2004 and that
product was Traffic Secrets.

Well, it’s four years later and this is Traffic Secrets 2.0 –
it’s a major update on the first TS product. (You get
access to this earlier product when you purchase his latest
offering.) The new traffic course concentrates more on the
new web media sites, social bookmark sites, video marketing…
where online marketing is heading in the immediate future.

I really like the way Reese explains these new ways of
marketing and how you must embrace them in order to fully
succeed on this new web. Reese gives concrete examples,
concrete ways to improve your traffic: go to this site,
check these stats, perfect this method, put this on your sites…
direct practical advice and directions that will help you
build your traffic.

Reese gives you a solid usable “Master Plan” which is composed
of 7 or 8 major areas or Blueprints you have to follow to improve
your traffic. These major areas are further divided into 10-15
steps you have to take to benefit fully from your online
traffic.

Reese describes all these steps in a very detailed fashion
in this traffic course, but don’t expect just one magic
bullet that will bring on the flood of traffic. Rather you get
a whole orchestrated array of tactics you should do to increase
your traffic, a very controlled approach that will get your
traffic numbers snowballing. You also get an online component
and forum to help you out with your traffic building tasks.

To be quite honest, I didn’t find Traffic Secrets 2.0 as
helpful as I expected, mainly because I already knew most
of the material from my own marketing. If you’re already a
full-time affiliate marketer using Commission Junction,
ClickBank, Adwords… with many SEO optimized niche sites
holding many top lucrative keyword listings in Google, much
of what Reese explains will not be new to you.

If you’re already have had a front-page listing on Digg and
know the SEO significance of WordPress blogs and the benefits
of using social bookmarking sites, you will be familiar with
many of the techniques and resources covered in Reese’s traffic
course.

However, even judging it from this perspective, I did gain a
lot of valuable knowledge about setting up and running your
own affiliate system, about creating your own video content and
your own software/widgets/programs – all areas that are relatively
new to me. This is where I gained the most knowledge from having
this course.

Guess, what I am saying, like any info product – Traffic Secrets
will only be as beneficial as your level of marketing. If you’re
a complete novice this is an excellent product on increasing your
traffic. If you’re a very experienced marketer, you will gain from
having this product but less so – in my opinion. Mainly, because you
will already be doing most of the things Reese advises you to do.

For me, there were two things that are worth the price of this
product alone – if you didn’t even bother with all the training
videos and manuals!

First, there are the 7 Master Blueprints listing all the steps
you have to take to master/conquer a particular area of Internet
Marketing, for example, “Adwords Attack Blueprint”. Each Blueprint
has around 10 to 15 practical steps you have to take to master
this area of your online marketing, which Reese fleshes out in
the videos.

These Blueprints are some of the best online marketing advice I
have ever seen – putting them all together in this Traffic Secrets
course was a masterstroke and well worth the price alone. Simply
brilliant.

However, even given how good this information is, the best part
of the Traffic Secrets for me had nothing to do with John Reese.
There were two bonus videos of Frank Kern that were simply
spectacular. He presents some ingenious marketing strategies
that any marketer can use… these videos, in my opinion, are
also worth the price of the product alone.

Now, Reese’s product did tell me countless ways to increase
my traffic over the long haul. However, my main beef is not
with Reese but with the whole concept of Web 2.0 traffic –
I really wonder or rather question the real benefits of this
traffic? Most of it is not targeted traffic; most of it is
just plain useless.

With one major important exception – the SEO benefits of
Web 2.0 traffic or listings. Web 2.0 is one way to quickly
get your content to the top of the search engines and you have
probably already noticed how many product videos, social bookmark
listings have jumped to the top of Google. Social media sites
in regards to SEO have become extremely important to anyone
doing business on the web.

I also know the importance of something like the very SEO
friendly WordPress blog software and I use it every chance
I get. I also know the simple power of just adding a simple
social bookmark button like the one from Addthis.com to all
your online content.

But how good is Web Traffic 2.0 in the first place?

I have been on the front page of Digg and gotten 70,000 useless
visitors to my site in one day. I have spent days analyzing
this traffic in Google Analytics. Most of it is very fleeting
and temporary.

This doesn’t mean getting all those social bookmark listings
are useless, just the opposite, for SEO reasons and especially
in Google, you will need those listings in order to rank high
for your keywords. Mainly because quite frankly, what is more
democratic than a link/vote from actual users of these social
bookmark/media sites?

But most of this media traffic is not targeted. It’s no way
near as good in quality as organic SERPs for your targeted
keywords. It doesn’t even come close to PPC from Adwords or
Yahoo! Marketing. If you’re marketing on the web, you want
quality traffic that will convert into a sale or a prospect.

Web 2.0 traffic can be useful but it usually takes a few more
steps to turn it into quality traffic, either thru SEO, or getting
subscribers onto your lists. It’s an indirect way of doing things
but this traffic is still important because anyone marketing online
today has to realize the whole web is changing with video marketing,
social bookmarking, blogging… the growing importance of sites
like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter… the ever-increasing SEO influence
of social media sites like Digg, Slashdot, Technorati… your web
marketing MUST change with the times or simply be left behind.
You must adapt to the new web or go the way of the DoDo bird.

John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0, while not perfect, will still
firmly place you in the “Know” and give you your own “Master Plan”
to acquiring web traffic as we move forward.