The Value of Linking Out

April 18th, 2011

You probably already know that when it comes to link building, it is the number of quality links pointing to you pages that matter. Google and other search engines will not count the number of pages you link too, nor will they notice the quality of those pages. In short, there is little or no value in linking out to other pages – at least if you view it purely in terms of helping your ranking in SERPs.

What people miss out when they dismiss linking out to other sites is that it provides value in another sense. The most important value it provides perhaps is the easy accessibility to relevant information that you give to your visitors. While this will still do nothing to directly improve your ranking in SERPs, it will obviously directly impact user satisfaction. By linking to pages, both internal and external, whenever it will be helpful to your visitors, you will improve their experience, increasing the likelihood that they will come back to your site for another visit without even using a search engine as a portal to seek the information they need. This is very important because while search engines provide you more first time visitors, what counts in the end in keeping things going is the number of loyal or return visitors.

Note though that as much as you want quality sites to link to your pages, you also only want to link out to quality sites. Linking out to spam sites or excessively linking to a site you are an affiliate of can impact the user experience negatively. By linking out only to relevant sites that provide quality content or information, your visitors will see that you really are trying to provide better value to them by being helpful, and not just trying to cash on your site by linking to affiliate sites.

Aside from the positive experience it can provide to your visitors, linking out to other pages , particularly blogs, can also help increase your traffic indirectly. The key is to find a blog that has a good number or readers, but is not too popular for your link to get lost in the sea of bloggers linking to each post. Mention a particularly post that caught your interest and discuss it a bit. The aim is to get the blogger’s attention and hopefully get a link back in a future post. Don’t be to obvious in wanting a backlink and just send out your link love to a deserving blogger. This might or might not get you a link in that blog but at least you tried, besides you will again have provided value to your visitors by doing this.

Another way linking out is beneficial is that it helps you avoid the big “P” called plagiarism. Always give credit where credit is due. Even if you don’t quote a whole sentence or phrase, you should credit people for their ideas. In the web, this means linking to the pages where you read something that gave you an idea for a blog post. This will help you avoid plagiarism and also showcase your integrity to your visitors.

Vic Carrara
MasterWebSoftware.com

 

 Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Tags: ,
Posted in General | No Comments »

Do You Run a Scavenger Website

April 13th, 2011

With thousands of online businesses striving on the internet nowadays, it may be difficult to develop something unique on your own. Although scouting the internet for ideas and checking out the competition is normal, overdoing it may get you tagged as an internet scavenger. Below are some indicators on how to determine if yours is a scavenger website.

Your website has content scoured from your competitor’s most prominent ideas

In most cases, creating your own blog posts and articles can take too much time and effort. Since content sharing is a valid internet principle, this is often used by website developers to make life easy for themselves. However, this principle can be abused when writers (or re-writers) “borrow” content word for word from their competitors. It is often justified by the fact that the original writers will never know, and what they don’t know can’t hurt them.

Your website accomplishes phoresy by “hitching” a ride from others

Phoresy, in zoology, is a special kind of commensal relationship in which one organism attaches itself to the host for the purpose of mobility and transfer. In internet terminology, this can refer to online hitchhiking, where one website or developer “attaches” itself to another website to move forward. One way of accomplishing this is by adding all followers of a competitor blog site to yours. It is an easy way to create followers who are most likely to accommodate your request given that your website is similar to the competition. 

You mimic other people’s website

When somebody thinks of an original idea and beats everyone to it, the applause usually dies down ten seconds later after another website uses the same idea and starts getting even more attention. It may be discouraging to know that nobody really pays attention to who did it first, so mimicking websites is a temptation you may not be able to resist. You may oftentimes wait for your competitor to think of something great, and then convince yourself that your “adjustments” made the idea so much better. 

You ambush-attack your competitor’s website

If you wait for your competitor to make minor mishaps, then pounce on them as soon as they do, then you have gotten yourself a window of opportunity to bring the competition down and promote yourself. Although this may seem a little too cynical, you have somewhat convinced yourself that online business is a cut-throat industry, and that only the fittest will survive. 

You blacklist your competition out of their client’s list

An attack on the mother ship can be the last course for most people. Like in the other instances mentioned above, it is easier to destroy your competition’s relationship with its client than to build and strengthen your own. It is almost never a fair game to play, but experience and lack of internet ground rules may justify for this action.

Although all these cases do happen in real life, it doesn’t mean that we are all apt to follow. The points mentioned here are given to serve as an eye-opener to things that should be avoided to bring about good karma to your business. Confusius’ Golden Rule is always a wise advise to follow, “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you.”

Vic Carrara
MasterWebSoftware.com

Tags: ,
Posted in General | 1 Comment »

SEO for 2011

April 7th, 2011

Out With The Old, In With The New

Buzzwords, also know as fashion or vogue words, are technical terms often used imprecisely among non-specialists in any given field. They differ from jargon in use, as jargon is a precisely defined terminology that is used in communication between specialists. Although these buzzwords are commonly used, probably even more than some jargons are, they can go out of style or get worn out from overuse. Below are some examples of social media buzzwords and their definitions, that need to be put to sleep.

  • Synergy

Generally speaking, synergy is defined as two or more elements working together to produce a more desirable result, usually unattainable by the individual elements alone. In a technical context, synergy is used to combine different “parts” to create a relationship among them, and bring about inter-connectivity to produce system-level results. Although this principle is still very much in use today, the terminology, however, is ready for retirement.

  • Optimization

In Information Technology, optimization is the process of modifying a system to make some parts of it work more efficiently, usually with the use of lesser resources. This process makes the overall system work faster and use less memory storage, or even use less power.

  • Sync-up

This term does not refer to the sharing of information between two gadgets. Sync-up actually refers to the sharing of information between two or more people. It can be used as a suggestive verb for “getting together”, or on a more professional level, it can suggest a meeting. For example, “We should sync-up to discuss the status of our project.”

  • Social Networking

Although this terminology is used to define the relationship and inter-connectivity between social structures composed of individuals, this term is now more associated with a specific networking site, a.k.a Facebook. It is not uncommon for brand names to be used as common nouns, like toothpaste and photocopy machines in the Philippines are referred to as “Colgate” and “Xerox”, respectively.

On the other hand, here are some Internet buzzwords that are still hot in 2011.

  • Social Media Marketing

This term describes the process of gaining an audience of interested people who are willing to checkout a certain product, event or idea. Social media marketing enables people to interact, connect and engage not just with a particular company, but with other people who are in the same boat as well. It allows people to share relevant and useful information to improve customer loyalty and broaden marketing horizons for the company.

  • Viral

Viral is an adjective used in marketing and on the internet that means self-replicating promotion, usually by word of mouth. Viral promotions take the form of video clips, blogs, emails, and networking sites, that aim to increase traffic or bring more visitors to a certain website.

  • Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is similar to outsourcing in such a way that the work load is given to people outside of the existing workforce. Crowdsourcing, however, uses a wider range of resources, literally gathering them from all over the world. A good example of crowdsourcing is how Wikipedia gathers information to be published on their website. They rely heavily on a large number of people from different continents to contribute articles and other information.

  • Microblogging

Microblogging differs from regular blogging in the length of content. Microblogging is used to publish information with more frequency, in smaller bulk. A popular microblogging service is Twitter, which has a 140 character limit for every article.

Vic Carrara
Masterwebsoftware.com

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Tags: , ,
Posted in General | 1 Comment »

Increase Website Traffic

March 5th, 2011

Keeping People Interested – Achieving High Traffic Using SEO Services

Obtaining traffic for your website can be a challenge at times. It takes time, money, and a lot of elbow grease to keep and maintain a website. However, here are some ways on how to increase website traffic for free using Search Engine Optimization services.

     1 Get free website promotions for yourself and others

There are different ways to promote your website at minimal cost, or even at no expense at all. Look for sites that accept advertisements for free and have your website posted there. You can also have yourself included in listings and directories to maximize cyberspace exposure. These techniques, however, will work best if done the other way around as well. Allow other websites to get promoted on your site for free, and you can automatically add up their traffic volume to yours.

     2. Include practical, current and original contents to your website

A website that people usually flock into include articles that are useful, up-to-date, and can provide fresh ideas for self-improvement in any given area of life. For example, practical and easy-to-follow instructions on how to fix a leaky faucet can generate traffic not just from households with this problem, but from environmentalist and educational institutions as well. Having free products and services are also a great way to attract traffic to your website since basically all people love freebees. These methods will not only please your regular viewers, but will help increase search engine ranking as well.

     3. Make use of social networks

Facebook, MySpace and Twitter has helped to jump start thousands of businesses online. The same principle of online promotion and network generation can apply to you to increase your website traffic for free. The online demographic in these social networks can generate virtually millions of views to your website.

     4. Attach viral contents

Viral contents like videos, images and articles can also catch people’s attention and generate free traffic for your website. A “Funny Animals” video in YouTube, for instance, has generated 10,800,000++ views and ranked #6 for Most Viewed (All Time) in the Netherlands. Take advantage and utilize these hot stuff as links in your website.

     5. Enhance your site to improve search engine ranking

Enhancing your website to improve search engine ranking doesn’t mean you have to burn money. Choosing the right keywords for your website is one of the steps to make sure your ranking stays on top. Relevance and importance of the website to the search also affects ranking. Some contributing factors are the number of times and different ways the keyword shows up in the text, ample text content, and the number of incoming and outgoing links to the homepage. Once your website has reached the top rank, traffic will flow in more easily.

With the many ways to achieve high traffic volume, keeping people interested in your website is a challenge you can overcome. Search engine ranking is a highly competitive world, and commitment is key. So make sure  you use these free SEO services to your advantage.

Good luck!

Vic Carrara
MasterWebSoftware.com

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Tags: , ,
Posted in General | 1 Comment »

Google Adwords Explained

February 28th, 2011

Google’s AdWords program is one of the most effective tools that internet marketers can use in ensuring that there is a steady influx of traffic that is targeted specifically to their affiliate web site.

How Google AdWords work is a bit of a mystery for many web site owners, but the whole process is quite simple. Upon signing up and creating an AdWords account, internet marketers will bid on keywords depending on how much they want to pay if their advertising is clicked by someone. Creating and setting up Google AdWords is very easy and you have the power to set the limits on the amount of money you can spend on a keyword. You can even set a cap for your daily spending limits.

How does Google AdWords help your search engine optimization plans?

We all know that search engine optimization strategies are effective especially for a well- established web site that aims to get a large amount of traffic (both targeted and non-targeted) to the site. But SEO strategies are “slow-burn” solutions. You will not immediately realize the effectiveness of the strategies. It will take months to achieve results. Besides, SEO is generally considered an expensive proposition especially if an SEO company is hired. This can put pressure on the available capital of a web site owner that’s just starting out. Google AdWords is an otherwise effective and cost-efficient solution for web site owners who are just beginning to build their web site. With AdWords it is possible to actually see the results immediately by way of increased web site traffic. This can happen in mere minutes after one has set up the Google AdWords account. The same thing happens when the web site owner creates ads that would effectively address more specialized searches.  This service is so effective that one can directly address particular audiences or visitors that will be more receptive to a product or service being offered by the web site.

It should be noted that expertise in using Google AdWords is not something that can be developed overnight. It still takes time to become more proficient in using AdWords. But this is really not a matter of deep concern. Because of AdWords implementation of the ability set very low spending limits, marketers who are just beginning to implement their web site promotion strategies can learn as they go about marketing their web site without fear of spending too much. The web site owner can learn at a pace he is comfortable with while at the same time being able to learn first hand which strategies and campaigns will be best for his business.

Google AdWords could still fall under the category of pay-per-click advertising and even if there are other programs out there that offer the similar services, it should be noted that Google’s service is still the one to beat in providing the best possible results for internet marketers, regardless of the level of their experience in internet marketing and promoting a web site.

Vic Carrara
MasterWebSoftware.com

 

 Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Tags: , ,
Posted in General | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Make Viral Videos - VideoGoRound

Affiliate Management Software

Search the Blog

Recent Posts

Archives

WEBMASTER SOFTWARE & SCRIPTS

LATEST WEBMASTER ARTICLES

FAVORITE WEBMASTER SCRIPTS

sliding footer popup script article spinner secure download script video posting software articles to videos build niche sites rss feed submitter ad tracking software tag cloud generator website translation script article rewriting software build a video website rss feed aggregator comment widget for websites