Search Engine Optimization Success: 12/13/06

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Turn a one-night-stand with Google into a long-term relationship

Google is like a girlfriend who won"(tm)t talk. You"(tm)re dying
to woo her, but when you ask her what she likes, she bats her
eyelashes and keeps quiet.

Now of course, Google isn"(tm)t going to talk anytime soon about
what goes into (and comes out of) its notorious algorithm "" its
proprietary secret formula for calculating which pages will get
listed when someone types in a search phrase.

Ah, but we SEO specialists and experts have our ways of figuring
out what that seemingly fickle gal named Google likes and what
she could care less about.

And, ahem, things have changed since 2001.

Google seems to be a lot more subtle and isn"(tm)t charmed by
obvious overtures like:

* Keyword stuffing "" Yes, an alarming number of webmasters
still do this and think they"(tm)re getting away with something.
If you haven"(tm)t been penalized yet, it"(tm)s because
you"(tm)ve moved onto other tactics that your competitors are
also employing. But it"(tm)s only a matter of time before what
separates you from the competition will come down to keyword
stuffing"¦and guess who ain"(tm)t gonna get asked to dance
anymore? Hint: It"(tm)s spelled Y-O-U.

* Reciprocal linking campaigns "" If you"(tm)re still relying on
this, trash it right now. You"(tm)re wasting time, money and
server space. And you"(tm)re spamming. You"(tm)ve probably got
hundreds of worthless inbound links from PR0 sites. And Google
will (if it hasn"(tm)t already) recognize the "˜footprint"(tm) or
template left behind by your link exchange software. Maybe you
think you"(tm)re being creative by naming your link pages
something like "Cool Stuff I Really Like." But once the clothes
come off and Google inspects the actual page, that savvy
gal"(tm)s gonna know she"(tm)s seen this one-trick pony before.

* Article exchange programs "" Strip it down and what you"(tm)ve
got is a ramped up link exchange program, with a bunch of extra
words around the links. Keep chasing this one and you"(tm)ll end
up right back where you started when mass link exchanges started
to crumble. Yeah, Google"(tm)s been around the block before on
this one. Think you can fool Google by doing 3-way linking, 4-way
or even 5-way linking "" if you can manage it? Don"(tm)t take
this the wrong way, but Google is smarter than you. By a
landslide.

* Article and content spinning programs "" If you think software
that spins articles into "˜unique content"(tm) will fool Google,
keep dreaming. But please, keep your fantasies to yourself. The
idea of writing just one article, popping it into a software
program that will generate new phrases and shuffle around
paragraphs, then spit out 100 versions of the same article"¦well,
that"(tm)s a brilliant idea. But Google is even more brilliant.
Check out anything written on the shingle theory and you"(tm)ll
know that Google is no dumb blonde. Shoot. There"(tm)s nothing
more deadly than a desirable female with brains, is there?

So what"(tm)s left? Well, in today"(tm)s competition to seduce
Google, the web sites that radiate natural charm and staying
power will win in the end.

Natural charm means that you appeal to both visitors and spiders.
This isn"(tm)t a new idea, but it"(tm)s more important than ever.
Because while the search engines get savvier and savvier, so do
Internet users and shoppers. And there are plenty of sites out
there who deliver the best user experience while attaining high
search engine rankings.

You can "" and should "" do the same. Instead of spending 3 hours
trying to adjust your title tag just so"¦why not write one so
that people who are looking at a search engine results page will
actually click on your link. That is the first of many obvious
goals, isn"(tm)t it?

There"(tm)s also a lot to be said about staying power. After all,
you are in this for long haul, aren"(tm)t you? If you"(tm)re
looking for a short-term relationship with Google, there are
plenty of tricks to get ranked fast and then drop like
yesterday"(tm)s drawers.

But staying power"¦ahhh, that"(tm)s what Google is really into
these days. Register your domain for more than a year or two.
After all, if you"(tm)re planning to be around for a while,
you"(tm)re going to want your domain for a long time.

Of course, we now know that Google likes combing through domain
registration information. And we really think that certain
subtleties like age of domain are becoming not-so-subtle factors
anymore in the race for first-page rankings.

Finally, think about all that time you"(tm)re investing "" I
mean, wasting "" on tactics like article exchanges and linking
programs. Instead, spend that time hunting down sites that will
actually want to do one-way links to you. They do exist, but you
have to find them yourself, not with a program.

Yes, this will take a little bit of work, and you may actually
have to pick up the phone to negotiate with a real person. But a
one-way link from even a lowly PR2 site or page will carry more
weight than 5 dozen 2-way or 3-way links from PR-whatever pages.
Trust me, those pages that are involved in mass linking programs
"" I mean, schemes "" will eventually drop to PR0 if they
haven"(tm)t already.

So that"(tm)s it. Be honest, charming, hard working"¦and stick
around for a while. You"(tm)ll win the girl "" er, Google ""
every time.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact author & SEO specialist Diane Metz to write free,
exclusive content for your website. Her sites include
Crown CD Duplication (http://www.crowncd.com/),
which also specializes in CD replication
(http://www.crowncd.com/cd_replication.html)
for online and offline marketers.

Writing Search Optimized Web Pages

One of the most common inquiries and frequently asked questions I receive
regarding writing effective internet web pages is about the optimization
requirements. Uniquely, web pages require careful forethought and "design
with a purpose".

Not only do the pages have to sell the product to internet visitors, they
also have to be structured in a way that allows the site to be "search
engine friendly" and "optimized" to take full advantage of natural search
traffic.

Having "search engine friendly" web pages increases your potential to move
up in natural search traffic rankings.
The higher a web site moves up in the search engines the more traffic is
driven to a specific site. In the long run, this translates into "free" web
traffic for your site, versus a life-time of paid advertising and
pay-per-click traffic.

What then are the common elements needed that web owners must carefully
incorporate into their respective pages? The following are the basic
elements:

The first and most obvious place to start is to ensure the "Title Tag"
contains your most important keyword phrase(s).
Ideally, 1-3 keywords should be used. Beyond this number, the density ratio
of the overall page becomes diluted.

Also, do not put the name of your business in the Title Tag. This is one of
the single most common mistakes online marketers make.

The focus of the search engines is on the keyword(s) and the products users
are searching for. Unless your company is one of the Fortune 500 firms,
users most likely will be searching for the product or service you are
selling, not the name of the company.

The "Description Tag" gives users a brief descriptive overview of what your
site or a particular page is about and why users should visit. If you have
ever noticed, the first portion of your description tag (approximately 158
characters) is displayed in the search engine results when a user executes a
search query.

For web site owners, it is a great opportunity to be brief, to the point,
and help users quickly find out if your site has what they are looking for.
Therefore, you will not waste either their time or yours.

The "Headings and Subheadings Tags" should be used sparingly within your web
text to highlight important sections or topic areas within the page. Within
the text a "H1" heading tag should be used at the top or heading of the web
page.

And do not forget the use of "H2" or second level heading tags used in the
body of the page. Ideally, you should use the heading tags surrounding your
keyword text as headings within the page.

The "Body Tag" text is the primary reading material of the web page. The
text used should match the overall tone, marketing message, and theme of the
product. Keywords used in the body of the web page should never be forced or
blatantly repeated, just for the sake of increasing the use of the keywords.
They should have a natural flow with the content and context of the other
text on the page.

The "Hyper Links" are incorporated into the web page throughout as needed.
Consistently, users like the ability to simply "click" on hyperlinks to take
them to an expected destination of interest, rather than a copy/paste or
worst case ---having to manually type a url link to follow a desired
direction. Likewise, the "Alternate Text" for the hyperlinks are ideal
places to include additional words to encourage or direct users.

Image "Alternate Text Tags" are not only ideal places for "advertising
space" they also are great opportunities for placement of phrases that
include keywords for users to see when they hover over the image.

Additionally, alt tags provide added benefits from the search engines which
give extra credit for additional usage of your keywords within the page.

This is hardly a comprehensive list of all the other elements, but at least
it gets you started with the fundamental features and components. Additional
details and specifics for a full and wide range of search engine topics can
be found in "Search Engine Optimization Made Easy", which can be found in
the "about" section below.

Armed this information, you will be writing web pages that are optimized
with customers sales in mind, but also designed for moving your website up
the natural search engine rankings as well.

----------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Stephen Wright is President & CEO of
http://www.InternetMarketingUSA.com
Pick up your no cost copy of SEO Made Easy today at:
http://www.internetmarketingusa.com/files/SEO_MadeEasy.pdf

Getting Noticed On Myspace

Getting noticed on MySpace is very similar to getting noticed in real life.
Those who want to create a great deal of interest in their MySpace website
should create an appealing website, offer something unique to visitors and
make a concerted effort to meeting others on MySpace. Additionally, MySpace
members should optimize their website for keywords they wish to be
associated with to ensure other members will find their website when
searching for these keywords.

Creating an Appealing Website

The most important step to being notices on MySpace is to create a website
which is both aesthetically appealing and interesting to visitors. This is
necessary because otherwise, members are not likely to spend a great deal of
time visiting your website. Those who find your website will likely only
spend a few moments on your website if you use garish colors or fonts which
are difficult to read.

Conversely, websites which are designed to be appealing to the eye are more
likely to hold an audience's attention. Likewise websites filled with useful
information related to a particular subject are much more likely to be
interesting to visitors than websites which do not offer much useful
information and are not really focused on a particular subject.

Offer Something Unique

A MySpace website can get noticed by offering something unique.
Websites which are created with the help of a template can seem somewhat
boring and may not really stand out among other websites on the community.
Try investing in an original design to attract more interest on MySpace.
More advanced website design on MySpace requires basic knowledge of HTML.
Information on this subject is readily available in a number of locations.
Those who are interested in learning more about HTML to create a more
interesting MySpace website can find useful information on the Internet or
in books. This information can be used to design a MySpace website in a way
that will be unique and attention grabbing.

Those who do not have any design skills or the desire to learn about website
design can still find a way to offer visitors a unique website experience.
Websites which are designed with templates can still stand out by providing
unique content.
Members who are able to provide in depth information on a particular subject
or a unique take on a situation in their blog can help themselves get
noticed on MySpace.

Meeting Others on MySpace

Another way to get noticed on MySpace is to visit other members' websites
and place comments or send messages to these members. They will be more
inclined to seek out your MySpace website if you left a message on their
website than they would otherwise.

Those who make an effort to meet other members of the MySpace community are
much more likely to attract a greater interest in their own website. The
concept of friends on MySpace includes those who visit your website. Besides
commenting on the websites of other members, MySpace users can also promote
their MySpace website on other Internet locations. Including a link to the
MySpace page in the signature line on discussion forums is just one way to
promote your website.

Optimize Your Website on MySpace

Another way to create a greater interest in your MySpace website is through
search engine optimization (SEO). This includes incorporating relevant
keywords into your website in the hopes of making your website one of the
first ones noticed by members who search for particular keywords. This not
only helps to get a website noticed on MySpace but makes it much more likely
that the website will be noticed by members of the target audience. Those
who are searching for information on particular keywords featured on your
website are those who are also more likely to be interested in the content
of your MySpace website. The SEO step is very important for those who want
to attract a particular audience but for members who are just interested in
making a large number of friends through MySpace, SEO is not really
necessary.

About The Author: David Riewe is the webmaster of
http://www.daves-inforama.com. Read more articles about MySpace by visiting
http://www.daves-inforama.com/myspace

Search Engine Optimisation - The Top Ten Ranking Guide

Search Engine Optimisation - The Top Ten Ranking Guide Search engine
optimisation is all about achieving a top ten ranking on the major search
engines. This is a fiercely-contended task and to stand a chance of
succeeding you need an internet marketing agency or SEO Consultants that can
implement an online marketing strategy that will deliver not only traffic,
but targeted traffic to get the results you require.

In highly-competitive industries such as recruitment, travel and insurance
etc, you would not succeed without a comprehensive search engine marketing
strategy.

Using only proven, ethical methods, an SEO consultant will bring targeted
traffic to your web site and generate leads or sales for your business and
with over 75% of the internet's searches coming from Google, Yahoo and MSN,
your business cannot afford to miss out on the vast numbers of potential
customers looking for your product or service.

One of the key elements for a rock solid internet marketing plan is good
quality content focused on your business and it's industry. Literally the
more quality and unique content there is on your site, the better off your
site will be, in terms of rankings.

Another major factor for your marketing plan is the coding and search engine
optimisation of your site. Whether you have an html, dynamic or a
flash-based website, there are important steps that your SEO consultants
should take to ensure your site is search engine ready.

Flash web design may look good but are notoriously poor for top ten search
engine rankings, thankfully there are steps you can take to still get your
site listed and ranked on the major search engines. The same applies to
dynamic web sites that are written in programming languages such as PHP, ASP
and .NET.

Once your site is search engine optimised, your internet marketing strategy
will can commence and you can then start to work on one of the other more
important factors that search engines look for, which is the trust factor of
your site. This can be achieved by partnering with other web sites that are
regarded as trusted and have a good rank on the search engines already. This
will give you that all-important page rank that will start to increase your
website's listings in the search engines.

After performing all of these steps, your internet marketing agency or SEO
consultants will have your site well under way to achieving a top ten search
engine ranking and you can sit back and watch your website receive targeted
enquiries, leading to increased turnover and ultimately increased profits.

----------------------------------------------------
Lee Smith is a London SEO consultant that writes articles for many agencys
and has a passion for search engine optimisation and Internet marketing.
View more articles at:
http://www.utopiawebdesign.co.uk/articles

5 Terrific Traffic Ideas That Don't Include SEO, JV's and PPC

Traffic. It's the all-important piece of the marketing puzzle that faces
all web owners. Your product may cure cancer but unless there are people
reading your information it won't matter. And not just any traffic. You
want laser targeted, highly motivated customers ready to whip out their
wallets and input their credit cards. You are searching for El Dorado. You
know it's there. You've read that others have found it. There is a path
and it starts here.

SEO, JV's and PPC traffic will all deliver targeted customers. These
techniques require specific knowledge too lengthy to discuss in one sitting.
Below are five diverse methods that you start to use to drive targeted
customers to your site with the knowledge you gain here.

1. Join the world and start blogging! Blogging is an online weblog or
diary that can be easily updated. Your readers can even leave comments or
answer polls.
Blogger.com, a large server based blog, is owned by Google.
Although there are great advantages to posting to a Blogger site you always
want to have a blog hosted on your own site. Blogger will take down sites
and sometimes for no apparent reason. You can lose all your data and
traffic in seconds. Use Blogger to point to your primary site. This gives
your site one more back link, another source for traffic and a reason for
Google to spider and index your primary site following the links from
Blogger. You can post the same content on both blogs and redirect people to
pick up an RSS feed from your primary blog.

2. There are people talking about your niche on any number of forums and
groups. Join several and provide accurate content rich answers to their
questions. Be seen as a helper, someone who is truly interested in the
topic and the people. Do not spam. Do not advertise but place your site in
your signature line. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the number of good
customers you'll receive.
If people are motivated enough to join a forum or group to discuss their
issue then they most likely are motivated to find good information.

3. Article marketing has been a topic of conversation for several years
now. People seem to attempt this particular avenue and get discouraged
easily. Although this type of marketing will economically generate targeted
customers it is a time consuming job. The best technique to use is to post
at least three to four articles per week to two or three of the top article
directories. It's not necessary to post to 300 directories, just the ones
with high page ranks like ezinearticles.com. These article postings do
three things. You have back links from a site with a high page rank; you
have access to publishers and your content will be found on organic searches
based on the keywords and phrases you enter when you post to the directory.

4. Viral marketing has a mystique about it. The first site that
accidentally took real advantage of this method was Interview With God. The
owner of the site published a public domain poem on the net just a couple of
months before 9/11. His site was 'discovered' by many people who took
solace from the poetry and began sending the site to all of their friends.
The rest was history. The essence of viral marketing is sharing information
with people you know. There are several avenues open to you and even more
if you use your imagination. You can take advantage of social networking
sites and social bookmarking sites where you can share your information with
all of your new 'friends'. Tell a friend scripts on your site can encourage
your current visitors to tell their friends.
You'll find that people will tell their friends if your site is funny,
touching or if you offer incentive. Another technique is to offer free
information through ebooks with links back to your site.

5. Do you have expert knowledge on a particular subject that relates to
your website and business? You not only can share that knowledge in groups
and forums but also by using answer sites through Yahoo Answers or eHow.com.
In these arenas people post questions and others post answers.
People who read the answers rate them. Your site gets traffic when people
perceive that you are giving high quality answers.

You have the knowledge to drive traffic to your site. This may not be the
flood of traffic that dreams are made of but they are targeted customers,
the most important kind of traffic. As your skill using these techniques
improves so will the number of buying customers visiting your site.
And isn't that the point?

Jo Han Mok is a #1 bestselling author and frequent featured speaker at
Internet Marketing bootcamps and conferences.
Visit his website for a simple step-by-step plan to profit online in 21 days
or less!
http://www.SuperFastProfit.com

Mortgage Marketing Online Vs. Offline

Many mortgage originators debate whether to market on-line or off. But the
real question should be which marketing methods and strategies work best
on-line, and which work best offline? Let's take a closer look.

Direct Mail & Telemarketing

Direct mail campaigns can be expensive with all the printing and postage
costs, so use a combination on-line / offline promotion with these.

Begin by fine-tuning your postal mailing lists, then use targeted mailings
to borrowers for special promotions over mass mailing everyone general
reminders; smaller mailing can reduce your costs. Then for your larger mass
mailing, use postcards, black/white printing or other less expensive means.
While you are designing your direct mail, make sure to add your web site's
address (URL) so your prospects can go on-line for even more marketing and
sales opportunities.

Then on-line, market with interactive devices like forums or blogs, asking
for comments/feedback from your readers.
Offer downloads: reports, ebooks, etc to build relationships with your
potential mortgage customers. These can either both be free to entice
visitors to your site, or carry price tag and develop additional revenue
beyond the mortgage transaction.

Establish telemarketers to get more leads for your on-line and offline
marketing. Don't' worry about "getting the application" necessarily. Just
get lead information for follow up, then put the prospects in a system where
they will receive regular mailings.

Websites and Email Marketing

Websites today cannot be static HTML sites. The days to set it and forget
it are over for all practical purposes.
Sites that are gaining readership and converting to leads are ones that are
interactive and constantly changing, like blogs.

Whatever you have, make sure to set up an auto-responder form to capture
leads for an on-line mailing list. (This form can do double duty and ask for
postal mailing addresses, too). Then conduct regular email marketing
campaigns targeting particular mortgage needs in conjunction with your
offline promotions.

Benefits and Disadvantages

Benefits of on-line marketing - Get more for your marketing $$! Ability to
update your content instantly and change your target market overnight.

Disadvantages of on-line marketing - Email spamming is not allowed & many
forget they sign up and report you as a spammer; keeping up with SEO (search
engine optimization) is an art, as the search engines change their
algorithms and requirements daily at times; technology - what work today
may not tomorrow, so you need to keep up - not always easy time-wise or
money-wise with software and learning systems.

Benefits of offline marketing - People get to "keep"
something and often do, refer to it years later and showing their friends,
etc.

Disadvantages of offline marketing - Higher printing and postage costs.

So the next time you are debating whether to market your origination
business on-line or off, ask yourself which marketing methods and strategies
would work best on-line, and which would work best offline for your
particular items for sale. Then nix and match accordingly.

----------------------------------------------------
Doug Frye is a Mortgage Consultant who mentors mortgage professionals to
career success throughout the US. Follow Doug's business ideas, strategies,
and recommendations at Origination Club..."Marketing, Training, and
Origination Solutions for Mortgage Professionals." Click Here =>
http://www.OriginationClub.com .

Finding a quality & professional content site web writer

In today's world of internet, content websites are a very popular form of
websites. Millions of people are surfing the internet daily to get quality
information in their interested areas. So, if you can provide quality
content for your target visitors and if you can update it quite frequently,
then it is rest assured that you get high quality traffic on to your
website. With programs like Google Ad sense, Yahoo small publisher network
and many others; you can convert that web traffic into great revenue. There
are people on the internet who are getting $50,000nevery month quite
consistently, just through Google Ad sense.

Normally, webmasters write the content for their sites on their own.
However, it is not advisable to do so. The main reason for this is that the
web masters normally are not professional content site web writers. Even
though, they are very clear with their target audience and with the type of
information their visitors would love to have on the website, the webmasters
fail quite dramatically while writing the content for their sites. The main
reason is the lack of experience. So, as a webmaster you should go for a
professional content site web writer to make your site rich in content.

These professional content site web writers will have great proven track
record. They are very knowledgeable about issues that are related to search
engine optimization and content writing. Hence, they will be able to
generate good amount of web traffic from search engines and at the same time
they will be able to make the visitors quite interested in your website,
with their quality content writing.

Normally, business owners feel that the professional content site web
writers are very costly. Even though, it is a correct statement; you can get
professional content site web writers at very competitive prices as well.
One good place to find such professional content site web writers is the
freelancing websites. These websites act as a platform between the
professional content site web writers and the webmasters. If you can find
professional content site web writers from emerging markets like Brazil,
India; then you are definitely going to save very much on money; but get
quality content.

It is always advisable to go with a same professional content site web
writer for a website or for similar websites. While updating the content on
a site, it helps quite a lot. As a guy who knows the website well, the same
content site web writer is going to provide you quality updated content in a
very fast way.

----------------------------------------------------
Darren Dunner is the author of this article. Find more information on the
subject at http://www.the-content-writers.com/. Also feel free to check on
their website http://www.buildpr.com

SEO - Choose The Right Keywords

Choosing keywords is one of the most important tasks when it comes to SEO;
it falls only behind link building on a scale of importance.

You need to think very carefully about what keyword phrases and word choices
people would use when looking to buy your product or service.

Knowing what keywords people are using for searches is fundamental to your
sites success.

Firstly, you need to construct a big list of words that relates in anyway to
your product or service, these keywords or phrases need to cover every
aspect of your business or products that are related to your business.

I would also suggest choosing keywords that are also related to your keyword
phrases.

Therefore, one step away from being directly related to your business, this
will help catch a bit more traffic.

Put yourself in your customers shoes - What search phrases would you type in
if you were looking for your service.

Think about your business as an outside that knows nothing about your
business or industry.

The next step is to judge how valuable and competitive the search terms are.
The higher the numbers the harder is going to be to rank for a particular
search phrase.

You can do this with a variety of tools free and paid for. They
include: Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery Google Adwords and the Overture
tool. I would suggest using the overture tool and choosing phrases that have
between 3000 - 10000 searches per month, any more searches and it's going to
take a long time to rank and any less and you won't get enough traffic.

Now narrow down your list to about 70 keyword phrases and scatter them
across your websites content. Choose three or four of the most competitive
keyword phrases and have them on your home page copy. Repeat your "Top
Three" keyword phrases at least ten times on your home page.

About The Author: Chris Angus is a freelance writer and journalist. He is
available for hire and website promotion.
http://www.seocompanyuk.com
http://www.mdhsasbestosconsultants.com
http://www.everest-oxfordshire.co.uk

SEO - Choose The Right Keywords

Going Broke on Google Adwords?

You've heard the stories. Click fraud has run rampant on
Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This is evidenced by the numerous
law suits that have been filed.

One of the most notable cases occurred this year when Google
settled their own click fraud case to the tune of 90 million
dollars (http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/live/articles/
google-vs-lanes-gifts--settling-for-better-or-f.asp/3201/).
In fact, Google and Yahoo have each settled a class action
lawsuit filed by marketers.

Click Fraud - What It Is

So, what is click fraud and how does it occur? Wikipedia
provides us with a definition:

"Click fraud occurs in pay per click online advertising when a
person, automated script, or computer program imitates a
legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the
purpose of generating an improper charge per click. Click fraud
is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due
to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud
whether they like it or not."

However, I would like to simplify this definition. Click fraud
is a crime, plain and simple. Cybercrime, however, is hard to
track. Law enforcement has only just recently started focusing
on the threat of click fraud.

Click fraud is now being targeted by some of the industry's
biggest names. This movement has both the American court and
government system involved. Business Week recently announced
(http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_40/
b4003001.htm?chan=innovation_branding_top+stories)
that major brands including Expedia.com and mortgage broker
LendingTree.com planned to go public with their disputes
over click fraud in late September.

Who can blame them? When it's your money that's going out the
door, you need to be asking questions. Unfortunately, Google
and Yahoo haven't come up with many answers.

They have certainly paid lip service, indicating that they have
systems in place to deter it, but the click fraud numbers
continue to rise.

The Threat to a Popular Advertising Model

The Interactive Advertising Bureau estimates that 20 to 35
percent of ad clicks are fraudulent. The multi-billion dollar
search industry is under attack and the problem is not going
away anytime soon.

Advertisers are being cheated and the search engines appear to
be sitting on the sidelines, leaving much of the responsibility
for detecting click fraud with advertisers, the majority of whom
lack the tools and knowledge to detect it.

The high level of click fraud has undermined advertisers'
confidence and some have even pulled their entire ad campaigns.
For small to medium-sized businesses click fraud effectively
erodes ROI, impacting the bottom line and future marketing
initiatives.

Click fraud is also the single biggest threat to companies like
Google and Yahoo, whose digital empires are largely dependent
on their advertising revenues. Google's $6 billion-a-year
advertising business is especially at risk. Despite the threat,
or maybe because of it, Google is saying little about click
fraud and the pay-per-click concept as a whole.

While Google maintains its silence, many advertisers and savvy
online entrepreneurs wonder where pay-per-click is headed. Click
fraud threatens to destroy the very business that Google thrives
on. In fact, click fraud losses have surpassed the total loss
attributed to credit card fraud in the U.S.

Do the current click fraud problems have the power to slow the
growth of pay-per-click search advertising or even bring it to
a screeching halt?

Well, that's hard to say, but the industry as a whole is
certainly being crippled by this problem. Pay-per-click may
not be the future. Many advertisers are now starting to look
at advertising options that offer an uncorrupted alternative.
Flat-fee advertising, pay-per-percentage, and pay-per-action
are all possibilities, but there is one alternative in
particular that deserves attention.

This search engine advertising model was first put forward by
ExactSeek.com (http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html)
and then promoted through the ISEDN (Independent Search Engine &
Directory Network) which ExactSeek founded in June, 2005. The
model promulgated by ExactSeek and the ISEDN does not eliminate
click fraud but does eliminate the cost associated with it.

How the ISEDN Model Works

The ISEDN charges a flat fee for advertising, making click fraud
a pointless endeavor for scam artists, "paid to read" rings and
cutthroat competitors. Your competition could click on your ISEDN
listings all day long and it wouldn't cost you a single penny
more than what you originally paid.

$3-$4 provides you with an entire month's worth of advertising
across a network of 235+ search engines and web directories. If
you choose to buy in volume, you can even expect some significant
discounts.

Let's face it, pay-per-click advertising is expensive. There are
a number of companies who spend $5,000 to $10,000 per month on
paid search marketing. Competition is fierce with many keywords
costing $5 per click or more.

The problem is then compounded when you consider that 20 to 35
percent of those advertising dollars are wasted on fraudulent
clicks. Just imagine. If you are paying $1,000 dollars per
month to advertise on Google, $200 - $350 of those dollars are
wasted on click fraud.

If you want to lower your click fraud costs, you need to buy
click fraud monitoring software, which is quite pricey.
Unfortunately, few click fraud monitoring companies target
small to medium sized businesses.

The ISEDN offers an affordable alternative that charges a
one-time, flat fee. The initial cost is the only cost.

Within this unique advertising model, the sale of any keyword or
phrase is limited to 30 advertisers. Regardless of whether a
keyword term is sold 5 or 30 times, ads rotate within the SERPs
and throughout the ISEDN. The rotation ensures that every ad
appears in the top 10 search results. In the worst case scenario,
a listing would appear on the first page of results approximately
once out of every 3 searches.

Of course, you can't expect the same exposure provided by Google
or Overture. Google alone receives millions of searches per day.
However, if you are looking for a consistent return on your
investment without wasting a penny on click fraud, then the
ISEDN provides an affordable and lucrative solution.

Not to mention, the ISEDN is growing every day. An average of
3- 5 search engines are added every week. As the network
continues to grow, your ad automatically receives more exposure.

This program gives advertisers the benefit of advertising with
smaller search engines on a massive scale without the fear of
click fraud and without the hassle of managing multiple
advertising accounts. For more information on the ISEDN, visit
http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html.

Summing It Up

The rules in search engine advertising are shifting and the
winners are adapting.

As for Google, Yahoo, and MSN, you can definitely expect to see
some changes being made with their paid search programs in the
near future. Cybercrime is still a crime and law enforcers are
finally starting to take these problems seriously.

The pay-per-click model is inherently flawed and must be altered
to survive. Google and the other major search engines know that
their business will be crippled if they do not adapt. The
challenge for them is how to adapt and still maintain those
multi-billion dollar bottom lines.

Fortunately, there are individuals, groups, companies and
organizations more interested in finding and providing
solutions to the problem of click fraud than in propping up
a flawed concept. Those leading the fight against click-fraud,
like the ISEDN, may never see 10 figure bottom lines like Yahoo
or Google, but the revenue they do make won't be based on
fraudulent clicks and at your expense.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews
(http://www.sitepronews.com) & SEO-News (http://www.seo-news.com)
newsletters. You can also find additional tips and news on
webmaster and SEO topics by Kim at the SiteProNews blog
(http://blog.sitepronews.com/). Kim's email is:
kim @ seo-news.com

Seo - Copywriting For Results

In order for a website to have good results in the search engine results it
needs to have a number of key elements.

The first element is copy, without much copy your website will never rank
anywhere.

This is because search engines have programs called spiders which go out and
scour the web - they read and index text.

The spiders cannot read pictures, flash or pretty designs. Many website
owners or website designers are obsessed with creating sites that look good.
Unfortunately, a great looking website with no visitors is worse than a bad
looking website with lots of visitors.

As previously mentioned search engine spiders recognise certain text, this
text is called "Keywords".

Keywords are individual words or phrases that you would like your website to
rank for.

Now everyone wants their website to rank for single words like:
"Watches". However, this is not suggested because single word phrases are
too generic and competition is fierce for single word search terms.

So, apart from not being able to rank for the word, you won't get the right
type of customers ringing you.

Instead of people wanting to buy a cheap watch, you will get people ringing
you wanting to buy a Rolex.

The best advice is to go after two or three word search terms that are
specific to your business.

Now chose as many keywords as possible and spread them throughout your
website text. I would suggest repeating your primary keyword phrase at least
five times throughout your copy. The ideal number should be between ten and
twenty times.

Your website should be content rich, you need it to have many pages with
text that has your keywords spread throughout your website.

There is one last formula that you need to consider and that is keyword
density.

This is how many times your keywords appear on a page.

For example: If you have 300 words on a page, and your keywords appear 50
times your keyword density of 15%. I would not suggest having a keyword
density of more than 20%.

About The Author: Chris Angus is a website promoter and SEO. He helps to
promote a number of sites He can be contacted at
sales(at) brilliantseo.com http://www.seocompanyuk.com
http://www.mdhsasbestosconsultants.com
http://www.everest-oxfordshire.co.uk

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

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