Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Most Powerful SEO Tips, Also White HAT Tips by Matt Cutts of Google

Matt Cutts’ Lecture - Whitehat SEO tips for Bloggers - One Mans Blog

I just checked Google Adwords to see how much traffic the keyword “SEO Tips” was getting. It was much, much more than I thought. 968848_drops-from-sxchu-photo-blog.jpg I changed the Title Tags of this blog a few days ago to include “SEO Tips“, I felt that we really were passing on little tidbits all the time, and they really should be called SEO Tips. I knew not that it’s actually a keyword that people are searching for. Let alone, and long behold, there is actually a video (Whitehat SEO Tips) out there some where, well now you can access it here too, from the link above. If it’s coming from our main man Matt Cutts and and it’s SEO Tips, you better know them, inside out. And, I have to thank this nice man who’s blog’s titled “One Man’s Blog.com“, his name is John P. and I think you should visit his blog to watch the video. He is probably pretty happy that I am giving him a very powerful link. Why? It’s because he also helped me realize “I don’t know much”.

I also had no idea that there is such a thing as WordCamp, I guess he is speaking there. Way to go John, i wish I could come and visit Dallas, and see this Wordpress and WordCamp. We are huge fans of Wordpress as you all know. I have to try to make it to Mexico before I get to Dallas, budgets have been tight around here, since the housing crash. More about budgets later, Yes I am going to take a vacation soon. 955441_noelia_7fromsxchu-photo-blog.jpgBut this SEO Tips idea came to me today. Well before the John P. and Matt Cutt’s video thing, so I can’t give them credit. But I do have to say, keep on watching kids, you will soon see us and join us to do something special. Hint, hint, it will be within the b2b, business social networking, and SEO Consultants, and search marketing professionals space. It’s apparent today that his blogging fool (moi), doesn’t know as much as he thought. But thank God he has the Barter folks helping him blog and setting up a professional b2b business social networking site. Yes, it will probably promote barter to businesses, but you expected that. It’s going to be a great resource to promote your online businesses and especially in the professional b2b environment.

So do watch the Video above at John P’s OneMansBlog.com with the link above, as I am sure that is the mother of all mother SEO Tips. check back soon, as I will start out with SEO Tips #2 probably tomorrow?

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

SEO for Bloggers Part 2 of 6: Link Baiting for Fun and Profit by Mytypes.com

March 19th 2008 Posted in Linkmint.com News

We have been stuck at #13 for the keyword B2b now for about 2-3 weeks. This is after steadily growing down from over 100 to 91 to 51 and so on. Every week we expect to inch closer, to be specific we have been inching closer. What makes us stuck at #13, actually feels like an eternity, but it’s only been a few weeks. When you are competing for major keywords such as B2b, the thing that separates you from the top is the number of top quality links versus your competitors.

Therefore after most SEO basics such as site structure, content, and many other non-trivial things for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), what you need to rank #1 is lots of Links and LinkBuilding is the key. Even when you have top links, some one else may have more than you, as is the case with our b2b SEO rankings. We also found this to be the case with being stuck at #4 for the keyword Barter. Though we have found this to be imperative, content is still key to get smart and powerful links from blogs and news sites. B2b or Barter we expected the keyword SEO to be tougher, and we found out that it is, but we did crack #10 for it:-(. I am only saying that SEO rankings for very competitive keywords can be very, very tough, and it changes all the time. Here is the great article from our previous blogging coach, part 2 in our series.

SEO For Bloggers: Link Building and Link Popularity (Part 2 of 6)

Search engine optimization is not all about keywords and optimized site design, although those are certainly essential. However, the number of incoming links your site has also matters. I’ve touched on the matter of incoming links before, but I didn’t mention how important they were to your blog’s rank.

Link Building and Link Popularity

Link Popularity is a score based on the number of incoming links pointed at your blog. Clearly, the more incoming links you have the better, but link reputation and page importance play a role as well.

You’re nobody until somebody links to you - link building is the single most important part of achieving a high ranking website in modern search algorithms. I repeat, link building is the single most important part of achieving a high ranking website in modern search algorithms.

So how do you get other bloggers and webmasters to link to your blog? First of all, create compelling content that others will be interesting in linking to - content is still king. Secondly, participate in the blogging community. Be active in relevant discussions, leave substantive comments on other blogs, post on related forums (as always, be sure to place a link to your blog in your signature), and trade links with topical hubs and related sites.

Third, link to other blogs in your niche - you can trade links, or just reward other bloggers with links and it’s likely they’ll return the favor. Fourth, write glowing testimonials and reviews of services and products related to your blogging topics - chances are they will link back to you when they post them on their own sites.

The Role of Keywords in Link Building

Think of each post and page on your blog as a building block - each is its own unit and has it’s own ranking potential and relevant keywords. Use some of your keywords in each post’s title (search engines index posts by title) and resist the urge to write cutesy or attention grabbing headlines that have little to do with the actual content. You may be successful at gaining some traffic, but it might not be the valuable kind that’s targeted to your blog.

Writing keyword rich titles and headings that are also crisp and concise can do wonders for your blog’s rankings. Not only will descriptive titles let search engine readers know they’re in the right place - they’ve found what they’ve been searching for - it will also help you out when others link to your site, even if they use the whole URL to cite your blog. Basically, you want people to know what they are clicking on, so you want your keywords to be part of the links that point at your blog.

The next post in my SEO For Bloggers series will cover link baiting and how to use your content as bait to lure in the linkers and readers.

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Link Baiting is huge for SEO by MyTypes.com

SEO For Bloggers: Link Baiting For Fun and Profit (Part 3 of 6)

Link baiting is a term that comes up a lot in SEO discussions, and it can be a very powerful component of your SEO strategy. Link bait is used to describe any sort of linkable content - a blog post, an image, a special feature - within a site that’s meant to catch attention and invite others to link to it. At the most basic level, link bait is something bloggers and webmasters deem interesting enough to share with their own readers. Successful link baiting can be an extremely potent form of viral marketing.

Despite the fact that link baiting is sometimes referred to in a negative manner (i.e. you’re “tricking” people into linking to you and coming to your site), it’s really about establishing yourself in your niche, creating useful and compelling content, and getting your ideas out there by reaching people who might be able to use them.

There are six basic types of link bait, or hooks

1. Breaking News - Be the first to break a major story or to share a unique piece of news, or just write up it in the clearest, most compelling manner.

2. Humor - People like to laugh, plain and simple. If you can make them smile, they’ll reward you in the form of links and clicks.

3. Inspiration - Uplifting quotes, stories, and personal triumphs can all inspire people to link to your site.

4. Controversy and Attacks - Stand out from the crowd by being contrary or negative, by being the only one in your niche to dislike something, or by straight up slamming someone or something. This is difficult to do well without reflecting poorly upon you and your brand, so it’s probably best left to the non-business or anonymous bloggers.

5. Flattery - Will get you everywhere. Write positive and genuine posts praising other bloggers, new products, and services, and anything else you really like. Be sure to link to whatever it is you are writing about, and they’ll probably return the favor. You can also create a comprehensive list of websites, blogs, and other online resources for your niche (this technique combines #5 and #6).

6. Resources and How-tos - Teach your readers how to do something, give them something valuable, make your blog benefit them in some way, shape, or form. This is probably the best form of link bait for a business blog to employ - you’ll get to show off your expertise to a whole bunch of potential new clients and customers.

Remember, the more incoming links you have, the higher your blog will rank in the search engine listings, so be sure to include a little link baiting in your overall SEO plan.

**Below is a blog highlight from our business blog section, rarely will I post one from our business blogs here, but you should go read it, here is an excerpt:

The blog covers an article from the Wall Street Journal on the topic of “Attention Bloggers: For small businesses that can’t afford a lot of marketing the blogsphere offers a cheaper alternative. 731244_social-high-society-photo-blog.jpg
What Shelly (The author) is saying is that you should try to get professional bloggers in your target business community or topic to blog about your product. This is not easy, but by giving stuff away free stuff to them, by visiting their blogging site and commenting on their blogs, you can get their attention. And, their exposure is very valuable as these blogging communities are very active and can help spread the news about your products. The goal here is to be a participative member of the community where your potential customers are spending time online.

This to me is why business social networking makes sense, which truly is a B2b exchange is not? Not just a whole, but has to be for each niche industry. So imagine a business social network for each industry such as Dentists social networking, Lawyers social networking, massage therapists social networking? I think people in each professional industry do want to connect with each other, and usually do, especially as they have something big in common? 730389_amigos_socializing-photo-blog-from_sxchu.jpg

This can be done by commenting on major blogs, blogging about your businesses on a regular basis, on your separate domain, but we recommend doing it on MyTypes.com, Blogger.com, and on Wordpress.com. I actually just mentioned our website on the author of this article’s blog at WSJ, I actually posted a link to MyTypes.com too, by simply writing http://Mytypes.com just like it’s done here. If you comment on a news site or a major blogging community site, they will probably let you link back to your site, but you have to do the link back properly. The easiest way to add a link is by adding the URL such as http://www.ITEX.com, as in this case I did it for ITEX.com. Some times, you can also do links with hyper text to just the keywords without the www or http, this is preferred by most blogging sites don’t allow this with the html code. Link back from these sites are not only great for mention and a link back to your company, but they are the most important factor in Google’s view of the value of your site. We talk a lot about this in our SEO blogs site and I am sure you have read about this, if not just read any of our articles on SEO & blogging coach from our main page. 703984_ayvalik_coast-from-sxchu-photo-blog.jpg

This article is interesting because matching businesses with other businesses (b2b) is what we are all about because of our relationship with the Barter company ITEX. We are actually in the process of building a b2b marketing and b2b business social networking site for them. We are in the final design and coding phases. The business social networking concept is nothing new, but it’s still not being full leveraged, we hope take our expertise with MyTypes.com blogging Social Network in to the business segment. We will see how this works, so do stay tuned…

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

SEO for Bloggers, Part 1 of 6: Getting Started with SEO

This is from our SEO Blog Templates website, enjoy:

SEO for Bloggers, Part 1 of 6: Getting Started with SEO

Our previous blogging coach wrote this series of articles back in June of last year. This series may have been her best work. It’s quite lengthy so I won’t do much of an introduction, but I am curious if any one has feedback on our new look of promoting premium blog templates and SEO tools on the front page? Do let us know what you think of the buttons on the top bar, and or any other comments on this SEO Blog Templates sites design as a whole. Enjoy this great series, I am going to republish the series all week, as I am spending most of my time doing design work for our B2b, Business Social Networking site.

SEO for Bloggers: Getting Started with SEO (Part 1 of 6)

You’ve probably heard the term search engine optimization , or SEO, being used before, but you might not have realized how simple it is to apply some of the techniques to your blog. By choosing the right platform, much of the nitty-gritty design work will be done for you, but it’s up to you, the blogger, to create quality content that uses SEO to target new readers and promote your brand.

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site via search engines and search results. The goal is to achieve a high ranking, or to show up early (ideally in the top five) in the listings for relevant search terms, or keywords. Many SEO techniques can integrated in your blogging to ensure that your blog ranks highly in the search engine results for the keywords that are most important to you and your business.

Although SEO isn’t the only thing to consider when setting up your blog, it’s important to keep it in mind from the very beginning. First of all, you need to make a comprehensive list of all the potential search terms, or keywords that people could use when searching for your business, product, or service. Pay particular attention to synonyms, alternative phrases, and even misspellings (www.thesaurus.com is your friend here).

Next, you want to place your most important keywords in title and tagline. For instance, if you’re a real estate agent based in Chicago, use those words in your title - a possible title and tagline would be “A Chicago Real Estate Blog: From Lake shore Drive to Wicker Park”. Not only is the title the first thing your visitors notice when they come to your blog, it’s what the search engines display in their results listings. Be sure to place your text before your logo or any other images in order to maximize your site’s findability.

Once you’ve started actually blogging, be sure to use your chosen keywords liberally in your posts, categories, and tags. A high keyword density is key to search engine optimization. To continue with the Chicago real estate agent example, some obvious keywords for that blogger would be Chicago Real Estate, Chicago Condos, Wicker Park Real Estate, South Loop Condominiums, and other related terms.

If you’re blogging about your business, it’s fairly easy to place keywords within the content naturally, because you’d probably use the phrases while discussing those topics anyways. Aim for organic, natural usage instead of just repeating keywords for the sake of placing keywords amongst other keywords in your content (see how annoying that is to read?). You don’t want to counteract your SEO skills with unhelpful content.

Combining SEO techniques with compelling content will make your blog a powerful component of your brand. The simplest way to do this is to put yourself in your readers’ place - you want to make your blog easy to find (the SEO aspect) and beneficial for your readers (the compelling content). Quality content will also inspire other bloggers and site owners to link to you, and link building - getting others to links to your site - is absolutely vital for SEO success.

Organic keyword use in the context of interesting, informative posts is especially important in regard to link building, the next aspect of search engine optimization that I’ll be covering as part of my SEO for bloggers series, so be sure to check back soon!