» Internet Marketing

GoDaddy Coupon for $1 Domain Names

Jeremy L. Knauff — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:03:32 +0000

If you’ve been planning on registering any domain names, now it the time to do it because GoDaddy is running a special for just $1 per domain!

You simply have to enter the coupon code “ACES1″ at checkout.

Why Linking Out is Good for Your Website

Sarah Whittmore — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:14:12 +0000

We all know that links are one of the most important factors in ranking, which has lead to a lot of misguided strategies as well as a fair share of myths.

Is Linking Out Bad?

Years ago, the myth that linking out to other websites was somehow bad for your website started, and that myth quickly spread through the SEO community like some nasty virus until it was pretty much accepted at face value.

On the surface, it seemed to make sense, especially considering that it was born right around the height of reciprocal linking. The idea behind it was that since one way links had already be proven to be more effective than reciprocal links, it should be beneficial to have more one-way links, but that created an entirely new problem. How do you get webmasters, who have become comfortable with the concept of reciprocal links, to link to your site with no incentive?

The Downside to the Myth…

The answer for some of the less ethical webmasters was basically to lie, as some of your link partners probably did to you. They would offer a reciprocal link exchange, but then use all sorts of tactics to hide the outbound link from the search engines, or make it useless for SEO purposes, such as:

Using JavaScript links to prevent bots from even seeing the link
Adding the “NOFOLLOW” meta tag to the page to prevent bots from following the link
Hiding the link in an iframe, which bots can’t access
Adding the “nofollow” attribute to the link to prevent bots from passing value through the link

Is This a Blessing in Disguise?

Most of these tactics no longer have the affect of hiding or blocking outbound links. The search engines have evolved, and can now see and pass value through JavaScript links, the “nofollow” attribute on links has been dead for a long time and many search engines reportedly ignore the “NOFOLLOW” meta tag, making it virtually useless.

Despite the fact that hiding or blocking outbound links never really had any positive benefit and most of the tactics for doing so no longer work today, webmasters will continue to do so for years to come. That’s good news for you, because all of the data that the search engines have compiled over the years enables them to quickly identify both natural and unnatural patterns.

That means shady webmasters trying to hoard their link equity lose trust and rankings because it’s obvious that they’re trying to unfairly take advantage of the search engines, while honest webmasters like you who link out to useful, relevant web pages become more trusted and rank better. In fact, a survey of major newspapers on the web showed that those who link out tend to outperform those who don’t.

Aside from earning some feel-good karma, by linking out, you’re also:

Providing additional information to your visitors
Gaining exposure to other website owners
Increasing the likelihood of others linking to your website
Encouraging participation from your visitors

Is the Attorney General going to censor YOUR website?

Jeremy L. Knauff — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:46:47 +0000

Imagine this…

You’ve been working hard on your website, steadily filling it with lots of useful and informative content; well within the right to free speech that has protected Americans for hundreds of years under the First Amendment.

And then, BAM! It’s gone!

You weren’t hacked. You didn’t accidentally delete everything and your web host didn’t somehow lose all your files.

No, instead, the Attorney General, with virtually no oversight or check and balances simply “deemed” your website to be “infringing” copyright, requiring domain registrars/registries, ISPs, DNS providers, and others to block users from accessing it.

Sound impossible? Considering some of the stunts our government has pulled lately, I’m actually surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.

This blatant abuse of power was introduced yesterday by Senator Patrick Leahy and 13 co-sponsers, as the “Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act” (COICA).

Essentially, the bill would create two Internet blacklists. The first list would be all of the domains that have been issued a censorship court order from the Attorney General. The second, is simply a list of domain names that the Department of Justice has determined, without any judicial review or oversight, are “dedicated to infringing activities.” The bill requires all domains on the first list to be blocked, but also strongly suggests that domains on the second list be blocked, while providing full legal immunity for Internet intermediaries, such as domain registrars/registries, ISPs, DNS providers, and others who decide to block domains on the second blacklist. It’s pretty easy to predict that there will be tremendous pressure to block these “deemed infringing” sites on the second blacklist.

So who really benefits from this bill?

As with most legislation, the politicians have the most to gain because it gives them the ability to dole out special favors to their donors and other supporters, such as adding the competitors of a large donor to one of the blacklists. Obviously, the donors and other supporters of these politicians have a lot to gain too. But the American public, including hard-work small businesses all across the country have absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose because of the unchecked power this bill provides.

Allegedly, the intended targets are those who are guilty of copyright infringement, but is it much of a stretch to think that over-zealous politicians will use it for their own personal gain? Alan Grayson has already shown that he’s not above abusing the power of his office in an attempt to silence those who disagree with him, and unfortunately he’s not the only politician who wants to control free speech.

In essence, this bill will allow the Attorney General and the Department of Justice to instantly shut down any website they chose, and at this point, it’s not clear what a user would see when that happens.

Would it look like a 404 error, saying a website couldn’t be found without explaining why? Will potential visitors receive a notification that the site they are trying to access was made inaccessible at the demand of the government? Or will users simply be whisked away to a website/web page that the government “deems” to be more “appropriate.” The truth is, no one knows yet, but I personally doubt there will be any transparency to it.

How to Write a Killer Resource Box

Sarah Whittmore — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:30:06 +0000

The resource box is one of the most critical parts of your article marketing strategy.

A killer resource box will drive visitors to your site while improving your ranking, traffic and ultimately, your sales. A mediocre one will just be ignored.

You should include enough information in your resource box to catch readers’ interest, along with a strong call to action that will motivate them to follow your link to your website. No matter how great your article may be, if your resource box isn’t compelling, you won’t receive the results you could.

Here are a few tips for writing a killer resource box that delivers results:

Never begin your resource box with your bio. This tells the reader that they’ve reached the end of your article and can stop reading. Instead, start with a question or statement that will entice them to continue reading. For example: “Want 45 more ways to make more money from your website?”
Don’t include your full bio. Most people don’t care about your life story. In fact, most people will skim over it and lose interest before your call to action and link.
Always include at least one link, or more if allowed. Take a look at the guidelines for each directory to find out what you are allowed to include. All allow at least one link, some two or more.
A strong call to action is a must. Include a statement that tells readers what they will get when they click on your link and how it will benefit them. For instance, “Your step-by-step checklist for a website that gets more traffic and makes more money!”
Answer the burning question. When crafting your resource box, think about the one question all readers will ask (even if only subconsciously)… “What’s In It For Me?”.
Create an original resource box for each article that you create. If your article is about legal matters, then tailor your resource box to that industry with an appropriate offer and link. If your next article is specific to decorative window film, adjust your resource box accordingly. You can save yourself time and effort by creating a file of resource boxes so that you can copy an appropriate one without recreating it each time.

The resource box is your opportunity to tell readers what you have to offer and what they should do next. If you can show them that they have something to gain by clicking on your link, you’re almost guaranteed to increase your website traffic with the articles you write and distribute.

Five Tips for More Exposure from Your Article Marketing

Maria Santos — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:14:35 +0000

After you’ve written and submitted a few articles – hopefully several – it’s time to start promoting them. While it’s great that your articles are out there for people to read and republish, to get the best results, you’ll need to do some promotion. There are five main steps you should take to get the most traction from your articles:

1. Tweet about your article

Let people know when you have posted a new article in a directory by tweeting a link to your followers. Letting them know about new information available from you is a quick and easy way to spread the word. A simple tweet should include the topic and the link, but try to stay under 120 characters so people have room to retweet your message without having it get cut off.

2. Post a link on your own blog

While you don’t want to post the entire article, you can mention it at the end of another post. For example, “Want to read more about how to train your puppy in a week or less? Check out my new article, “Tricks and Treats for Puppies,” and then link to the page.

3. Create a reprints page

Create a list of the articles you allow others to republish on an individual page within your blog or website. Link to it from the main page with a sentence that says, “Would you like to reprint my articles on your site? Click here for more information.” Then include links to your list of articles, as well as how interested parties can contact you for more information.

4. Promote them through other channels

Tell your audience about the articles you have available at every chance you get. This is why it’s great to have multiple articles out there — you can mention a different one in your newsletter, on your Facebook page, in your signature line on your emails, in forums, etc. If you’ve created targeted, useful content, people are going to want to know about it!

5. Combine and package them them

Once you’ve authored 10 or 20 articles on a similar theme, combine them and edit them into a guide, an e-book, a special report, or an e-course. Add more information, create transitions, toss in a resource or two, and you’ve got a product that you can give away or sell indefinitely.

Writing and publishing your first few articles is just the beginning of your marketing cycle. Think creatively about who would like the information you’ve written, and how you can get it to them, and you’re on your way to creating a steady stream of traffic to your site.

50+ Blogs That Accept Guest Posts

Jeremy L. Knauff — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:44:37 +0000

Anyone who has taken on the task of driving traffic to their website knows how tough it can be. You can blog all day long, churning out post after post but you’ll still face the same challenge; if people don’t know about your website they can’t link to it or send traffic your way, no matter how great your content may be.

So what can you do?

For starters, you need to keep producing fresh content for your own website because that’s what will keep people coming back once they know about it, but you should also invest some time writing quality guest posts for other sites related to yours. This is an easy way to tap into an established group of visitors while building relevant backlinks. Keep in mind though — it’s not all about you! Your guest post should be well-written, informative, useful and not overly self-promotional. Darren Rowse has a great article on How to Guest Post to Promote Your Blog that you should definitely read before getting started.

Now, on to the list:

Mashable – Guest writer
Page Rank: 7
Alexa Rank: 345
SmashingMagazine – Become a Author
Page Rank: 7
Alexa Rank: 796
ProBlogger – Guest post
Page Rank: 6
Alexa Rank: 1,999
Digital Inspiration – Write for DI
Page Rank: 6
Alexa Rank: 2,446
SearchEngineJournal – Seo blog guest posts
Page Rank: 7
Alexa Rank: 3,335
DailyBlogTips – Guest post
Page Rank: 6
Alexa Rank: 4,673
QuickOnlineTips – Guest blogging
Page Rank: 6
Alexa Rank: 6,847
JohnChow – Guest post
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 7,527
Techie-Buzz – Write for us
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 7,668
ShoutMeLoud – Join ShoutMeLoud
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 7,687
BloggingTips – Write for us
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 15,480
ProBlogDesign – Write for us
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 17,256
Blogussion – Write for us
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 17,591
SearchEnginePeople – Submit guest post writer
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 22,863
CourtneyTuttle – Write a post
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 24,593
MoneyMakerInfo – Looking for guest bloggers
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 26,830
The Web Squeeze – Write For Us
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 34,311
TechieBlogger – Write for Techie Blogger
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 39,873
Men with Pens – Guest post
Page Rank:5
Alexa Rank: 39,513
ReveNews – Write at ReveNews
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 52,009
Seo-Scoop – Send guest post
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 52,038
The Net Setter – Guest post
Page Rank: 5
Alexa Rank: 96,990
Techpp – Guest blogging
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 9,723
Teck.in – Guest blogging
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 19,943
HowToMakeMyBlog – Write for us
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 23,964
TricksDaddy – Submit guest post
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 28,862
DailySeoTip – Contribute an seo tip
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 24,669
SmartBloggerz – Write for us
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 35,909
BashBosh – Guest post
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 42,674
Carlocab – Write for this blog
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 56,786
CanIMakeBigMoneyOnline – Guest blogger
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 105,013
DazzlinDonna – Guest PostsPage Rank: 4
Alexa Rank 151,767
SearchAnyway Blog – For writers
Page Rank: 4
Alexa Rank: 285,569
CatsWhoCode Blog – Contribute post
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 11,933
FreelanceFolder – Write for us
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 11,997
Caroline Middlebrook Blog – Invitation to guest posters
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 21,978
FamousBloggers – Submit your article
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 23,806
EarnersBlog – Submit post
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 19,493
BlogSolute – Guest post
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 27,452
BlogGodown – Write for us
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 28,456
TechCats – Guest blogging
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 46,201
eBlogTip – Guest blogger
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 48,939
MyBlog2Day – Guest blogger
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 52,443
WP Blogger – Submit a Guest Post
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 65,230
Teenius – Guest post Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 107,253
DaneBlogger – Write For DaneBlogger
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 115,454
TechnoGati – Become guest writer
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 153,207
Technotip – Guest post guidelines
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 159,897
BetterBloggingforBloggers – Open for guest bloggers
Page Rank: 3
Alexa Rank: 227,196
Business Consulting Buzz – Write for us
Page Rank 3
Alexa Rank: 305,608
ScopeForMoney – Submit post
Page Rank: 2
Alexa Rank: 55,989
Serradinho Blog – Submit guest post
Page Rank: 2
Alexa Rank: 57,979
MillionClues – Guest blogging
Page Rank: 2
Alexa Rank: 97,056
E-MoneyMarketing – Guest bloggers wanted
Page Rank: 2
Alexa Rank: 200,758
Gdiworkathome – Write for us
Page Rank: 2
Alexa Rank: 289,977
JackNguyen – Be a guest blogger
Page Rank: 1
Alexa Rank: 114,995
Hospitality Writers – Write for HW
Page Rank: 1
Alexa Rank: 496,498

6 Keyword Research Tools You Can’t Live Without

Jeremy L. Knauff — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:34:29 +0000

Building a successful website takes a lot of work, and the lion’s share of that work is writing content that keeps your visitors engaged and coming back. To do that, you have to know what they’re looking for, which means you have to invest some time in keyword research. Below is a list of keyword research tools to help you find the right topics to write about, but be careful not to rely on any single tool; you should always check several sources before making any major decisions. Ok, now on to the list:

#1. AdWords Keyword Tool

This tool is based on search queries, but for some keywords, the search volume is way off. Particularly for popular, high-volume keywords. I’ll go out on a limb and speculate that comes from SEOs and website owners obsessively checking their ranking, which inflates the search volume. In any case, the AdWords Keyword Tool gives you a great starting point and some relative data to compare, along with plenty of keywords you may not have thought of.

#2. Google Wonder Wheel

The Google Wonder Wheel tool has the potential to dig up lots of semantically connected keywords, but it also has some serious drawbacks; mainly, the fact that there is no easy way to export the keywords and there is volume data. That means you have to manually retype any keywords you want to research further, and find volume info elsewhere. In my opinion though, it’s worth the effort.

#3. Wordtracker

Unlike the keyword tools provided by the search engines, the data from Wordtracker usually more accurate since the keyword data is their core business model. In the right hands, this tool can yield amazing results, and that’s why it comes highly recommended by SEO experts like Aaron Wall.

#4. Thesaurus.com

Not all keyword research has to come from SEO tools. Thesaurus.com can provide a wealth of new ideas if you’re willing to do a bit of digging, and the best part is you may stumble onto untapped keywords. The only downside is since there’s no way to export the data, you’ll have to copy and paste.

#5. Search Suggest

All of the major search engines these days offer related suggestions when you begin typing your query into the search box, and you can and should use that information in your keyword research.

#6. SEMRush

Along with search volume and related keywords, SEMRush also gives you information on trends so you can decide if a particular keyword is worth pursuing, and unlike most of the other tools, their data is compiled from a variety of sources.

Yahoo! Publisher Network gets axed

Wildfire Marketing Group — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:42:43 +0000

Dear Publisher,

Yahoo! continuously evaluates and prioritizes our products and services, in alignment with business goals and our continued commitment to deliver the best consumer and advertiser experiences. After conducting an extensive review of the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program, we have decided to close the program effective April 30, 2010. We expect to deliver final publisher payments for the month ending April 30, 2010 to publishers no later than May 31, 2010. All publishers eligible for 1099s for the 2010 tax year will have those mailed by January 31, 2011.

Because our content will no longer be delivered to your ad unit spaces after April 30, 2010, we recommend removing all YPN ad code from your pages by that date.

For the opportunity to continue earning revenue, we suggest using Chitika, a leading advertising network that syndicates Yahoo! Content Match and Sponsored Search ads. Chitika has set up a special process for YPNO beta publishers to participate in its platform.

Advertisers using PPC will soon have one less option since Yahoo! has decided to close their Publisher Network beta program. Unfortunately, the pay-per-click market is already dominated by Google, and this just makes it easier for them to jack up prices because they know there are so few viable alternatives.

Oddly enough, they (Yahoo!) are reccomeding Chitika, rather than PubCenter, which is owned by their new partner, Microsoft. What is their motivation? Here are a few theories:

They will take what they’ve learned from both beta programs, and develop a more effective program to compete with Google’s AdWords & Ad Sense
They will cut PPC all together and focus on dominating organic search with Microsoft’s Bing
They will acquire Chitika and relaunch a new PPC program.

SEO in an afternoon – 4 quick fixes you can make in about 30 minutes

Jeremy L. Knauff — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:30:06 +0000

Learning SEO can seem like a daunting task. It doesn’t take long to realize there is a lot to learn, and it takes quite a bit of research to separate fact from fiction. Fortunately, you don’t have to become an expert to get results. You can build a solid foundation in about 30 minutes by focusing on these four factors:

1. Title tags

Optimizing your title tags is probably the single most effective, yet simplest part of your SEO efforts because:

It helps the search engines see each page as unique content
It’s where the click-able “headline” people see when using a search engine comes from
It helps to influence the anchor text when people link to your web pages
It carries a lot of weight in the algorithm that search engines use to determine where your page ranks

You can find your title tag within the HTML source code of each page, and it will look something like this:

Your page title here...

Your first step is to ensure that each page has a unique title, preferably beginning with relevant keyword phrases. If you must include your company name or tag line, it should appear after any other relevant information, but keep in mind that the search engines generally only index about the first 70 characters.

*Note: If you are using a content management system, you will need to modify your titles through your admin area.

Don’t go overboard with keyword phrases because it won’t help, and more importantly, people will be less likely to

2. Description tags

Along with your title tags, your description tags help the search engines to see each page as unique content while giving visitors a better idea of what they can expect to see when they click through.

You can find your title tag within the HTML source code of each page, and it will look something like this:

To optimize your description tag, provide a brief (about 155 characters, or 25-30 words) description of the page, preferably containing relevant keyword phrases.

Note: As with your title tags, if you are using a content management system, you will need to modify your descriptions through your admin area.

3. Site map

The larger your website is, the more important your site map becomes. Although it doesn’t guarantee ranking, indexing or even crawling of your web pages, it does help search engines to easily find all of them, which makes it more likely.

If you’re using a content management system, there is likely either the functionality built in, or a free plug-in available to dynamically generate an updated site map any time you add, edit or delete content. If your website is coded in static HTML, you’ll have to use a service such as XML-Sitemaps.com to generate your site map.

4. Canonicalization

Canonicalization simply means transforming data that has more than one possible representation into a standard, or canonical form. As it relates to SEO, canonicalization means resolving the issue of multiple URLs for the same content because they can cause problems for search engines – specifically in determining which URL should be shown in search results. For example, all of these URLs point to the same page, but a search engine will only consider one of them to be the canonical form of the URL:

www.example.com
example.com/
www.example.com/index.html
example.com/home.php

You can fix your canonicalization issues by:

301 Redirect non-www to www , or vice versa

Edit (or create) your .htaccess file, using mod rewrite to either add the www to, or remove it from your domain.

To add the www:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} example\.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

To remove the www:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} www.example\.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Consistent linking practices

Your linking practices should utilize which ever version of your domain you chose to use (non-www or www)

Then ensure that your internal linking structure is uniform by linking to pages in the same manner throughout your entire website. Check the link to your home page throughout your site – is index.html (or something similar, such as index.asp, index.php, etc.) appended to your domain name? If so, get rid of it. You should also make sure that any forum, e-commerce or other software running on your site uses SEO-friendly links rather than session IDs because they may cause search engines to believe that there are several versions of the same content on your website.

Standardize internal linking structure