SEO: Stop Driving Yourself Crazy and Get Results

Do you drive yourself crazy trying to keep up with the latest SEO trends? If so, Stop! Please. You have enough to worry about already. Quit running yourself ragged or spending a fortune trying to keep up with the latest and greatest SEO tricks and tips. The truth is search engine optimization has not changed nearly as much as experts (trying to sell you something) might want you to think.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

To be perfectly honest getting to the top of Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine is largely dependent on the quality of your Web pages. There's no magic formula you must follow to the letter but there are a number of simple things you can better understand and do to help get you to the top of ANY search engine. It's a lot easier than most people think.

First and most importantly, remember that search engines only care about your Web pages, NOT the whole site. If you end up with enough high ranking PAGES from a single site on Google, you can become a what it considers to be an "authority site" which can automatically double your top ten rankings. Here's what I mean...

If you do a search on Google.com and search for "SEO partner" (without the quotes) you will see that number one looks like a normal return while number two is indented. You have just witnessed an authority site's usurping of an extra top spot. There is a good chance that the indented one was actually number six or even fifteen. But since it is from an authority site it got to cut the line and push everybody else's listings down one.

Secondly, the biggest and most important search engines use something called a natural text algorithm. This means they can tell when you are writing text that is intended more for search engine spiders than for actual people, and they will ding you for it. So to keep quality high, simply write your page text as if you were describing your goods or services to a good friend. Let the words flow and don't get hung up on things like keyword density and ideal placement. We've got a great technique for that coming up next.

Keyword density is an outdated concept for the most part. As long as you don't spam the text by having your keyword blatantly repeated or inserted in areas that don't make sense, you will be OK. If having a guideline helps, plan to use each keyword about five or six times on each page and no more than twice in a single paragraph.

Keyword proximity is another concept that is a bit outdated but still somewhat valid. What that means is you should be aware of where your keywords go but you do not need to follow a strict formula of placing them in exact locations. Just be strategic. Put them where they make the most sense in context. Don't force them to fit in one location just because it is the first sentence of the third paragraph or whatever. It helps the reader and the search engine if you can mention your main keyword toward the beginning of the page text and toward the end, but this is not a hard and fast rule. It's just a suggestion.

As for the number of keywords you optimize a single page for, do what makes sense for the page length. If the page is really long and you have room for several keywords to be featured with good natural ext, go for it. As a rule of thumb I try to limit each page to about three keywords but that's just because it helps me stay better organized and does not confuse the readers by splitting their focus too much. The other reason is because I really want it featured prominently in the page title.

Speaking of the title, this is one of the few META tags we care about and it's a pretty big deal. Use the title as your chance to show off your keywords. After all, this is what your visitors searched for. Don't feel that a page title needs to be clever and captivating like a book title. In fact this is probably the easiest part. Just take your keywords, in order of importance, and separate them with a comma or pipe (the vertical key over the enter key.) That's it! Just remember most search engine will only count the first 64 letters.

So if you did a page on search engine optimization tips with the following keywords: "SEO, Search Engine Optimization, SEO Tips" your title could be just that. Or you can use my favorite and it would look like this "SEO | Search Engine Optimization | SEO Tips."

And by the way, when Google sees "SEO Tips" it is counting the word SEO and Tips as individual words so the title text "SEO, SEO Tips" has the word SEO repeated. Just two instances of one keyword so close is not really SPAM but it's good to be aware of.

I mentioned that the Title tag is one of the few META tags we care about. Another is the Description tag. No magic here. Just be sure to write it naturally and include a couple of your keywords if they fit in well. And you can make this as long as you like but most search engines don't use more than the first 250 characters. Most importantly, think of the Description as your big chance to get people interested enough to visit your page. This is sales copy first.

Once someone lands on your page they will be looking for a little guidance. Give it to them with Headings (H1, H2, etc.) Think of a heading as an on page title use a similar keyword strategy, just not as cut and dry. Here it is a good idea to have not only your keyword but also some descriptive supporting text. Something like "SEO Tips That Really Work" is a good example. We have our SEO Tips keyword and reinforce it with a statement that the information they are about to read actually works. Too simple? Yes. It really is.

While headings are your first visual cue to the reader, links are the ones that really draw them in. Make sure your on page links stand out and contain relevant anchor text (clickable keywords.)

If you really want to get the most out of your online real estate consider dedicating one page to each major keyword and linking to it from the anchor text on another page. For example, the words SEO Tips would be great anchor text to a page titled "SEO Tips | Search Engine Optimization Strategies."

The final piece of this SEO puzzle is linking. Quality inbound links will account for most of your success on Goggle and several other top search engines. You need to get the highest quality links possible and build optimal reciprocal linking partnerships. This is HUGE!

The final piece of this SEO puzzle is linking. Quality inbound links will account for most of your success on Google and several other top search engines. You need to get the highest quality links possible and build optimal reciprocal linking partnerships. This is HUGE!

You can do it all manually or use an inexpensive SEO software tool like the one found at http://www.SE0elite.com. I've done it both ways and find that good software saves me about 10 to 15 hours each week, per site. But either way, manually or with a tool, focus your efforts on linking as much as possible. While onsite optimization is a one time (or at least limited) thing, linking should be part of your weekly routine.

This post provided by Scott Jason who has 10 years experience under his SEO belt. Scott Jason started http://www.BestSEOcopywriting.com in 2006. Since then he has helped dozens of client as an SEO copywriter and specialist with hundreds of top rankings to his credit on Google, MSN and Yahoo. To receive a special offer on top selling SEO software and receive FREE SEO Lessons, click here.

How To Get The Most From Web Directories

Using directories in your SEO efforts is an essential part of optimizing your site. However, doing so requires a basic understanding of which directories to submit to and how to submit to them. Yeah, I know… how tough could it be right? Well, there are some things to consider… and we’ll be looking at them today.

I was recently working on a new edition of my ebook which will be focused on the fine art of link building. This got me thinking about publishing some posts on some of the basics; and so the next few posts will be geared towards just that – foundational link building.

All directories are not created equal

For starters, one should never simply go running about dropping submissions to every directory is site… Nope, that ain’t gonna cut it. You should first be hitting some of the more well known general directories and not some list of 2000 crap locales. For me, any link building activity needs to also have the potential for actual traffic. This is why targeting is an important aspect – though serious traffic is generally not likely.


Then you would be looking for directories in your niche. Topically related directories can be more effective and build relevance (as far as links are concerned). It is important to evaluate a given directory to establish if it’s a target worth having. What I mean is that we want to ensure we’re not wasting time with a submission. Some of the common factors we can look at are;

Indexation – what is the sites indexation on the major engines (Google, Yahoo, Live)?
Domain Age – older domains tend to have more trust from search engines.
PageRank – not the greatest measure, but a minor metric in the mix.
Backlinks – are there many backlinks? What quality are they?
Domain information – has it been moved many times? Ownership changes?

By looking at some of these factors we can begin to get a feel for which directories are worth targeting and which ones aren’t. Be sure to take the time involved for ensuring submission is not a waste of time.

I would also suggest looking at some of the many paid directories out there as search engines tend to value these higher and the links tend to be of greater value. Either way, always look to establish some value to the asset.

Submission strategies make the difference

Now that we have a list of directories we are interested in (and associated values) it is time to get busy with the submission process. Now, this isn’t as simple as creating a Title and Description for the listing and hammering away. What we want to consider is link text diversity and timing.

Timing, in that link profiles will degrade over time and as such we want a nice steady stream of links. This means I would work on the process a few times per week over a 6 month period to ensure we get timed velocity. Each market will be different, so spend some time monitoring top competitors link profile growth rates before starting your own campaigns.

Also, we want to have diversity in the Title text (usually the link) and the description. You will have to take your keyword research and look at which target terms are most in need of links at the time of submission. These are often the core money terms, but often there will be the need for targeting lesser terms that are underperforming. You would want to use some variants of semantic phrasings to further balance out the diversity of link texts in your profile.

By controlling the rate of submissions and the diversity of the listing titles and texts, you will be able to get the most from the exercise.

The lazy man’s submission services

And yes, there are submissions services out there… most simply don’t seem to have enough of a clue for me to get behind them. There are so many factors to be considered (such as we’ve outlined here) that one can’t reproduce it on a larger scale effectively. Because there needs to be diversity across multiple keywords and semantic concepts, it would be an expensive undertaking for most providers.

They offer maybe 2-3 varied titles and descriptions across hundreds of directories. Furthermore, because they don’t let us at the lists (business intelligence.. bah) we cannot ensure that we are actually hitting the cream of the crop. Also not a good thing. And what about timing? Will they be able to understand each niche/market well enough not to over do it? - Problematic on many levels.

Can you see what I was saying about doing it wrong? The difference between SEO geeks and the rest of the peeps – is in the strategy. Even from the most basic levels of foundational link building there is every opportunity to do it wrong…or at least not as well as you could.

Make sure that directory submission is part of your overall search engine optimization plan. Building one way links to your site is essential for top search engine rankings. To download the directory submitter I use, absolutely free, click here

SEO Elite Product Review

As and SEO consultant and author, I'm often asked which search engine optimization software I recommend. SEO Elite is now in its 4th version. It has come a long way since its first appearance (it was called Link Proctor back then).

The author is Brad Callen, and being an SEO himself, he has made sure that this tool contains everything needed to simplify the tasks required to get a site ranking well.

Imagine a piece of software that can:

1. Analyze backlinks at the following search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN, All the Web and Altavista

This will allow you to find out why a page is ranking well, and then beat the competition and take their top spot.

The information that SEO Elite retrieves for each of the backlinks includes: the URL, Google PR, Alexa Rank, page title, anchor text, number of outbound links on the page, total links on the page, Whois information for that page, Contact e-mail, and Link
popularity.

All I can say is WOW! Imagine being able to type in a competitors URL and getting all of his/her link partners handed to you on a plate with all the information you need to evaluate the partners and then request a link of your own if they are any good.

2. Get links to your pages

SEO Elite can find, and contact high ranking authority sites to exchange links with. SEO Elite will even submit your site to link directories and will even build and maintain your links page for you.

3. Analyze Allinanchor, allintitle and allintext

These three types of searches will tell you where you need to concentrate your optimization efforts.

Allinanchor will rank the websites in order of importance by the websites with the most backlinks containing the specified keyword.

Allintitle will rank the websites in order of importance by the websites with the most optimized page title for the specified keyword.

Allintext will rank the websites in order of importance by the websites with the most optimized on page text for the specified keyword.

4. Verify that link partners are still linking back

Want to make sure that your link partners still have a link to your site? SEO Elite can automatically check them, and let you know.

This was the original purpose of Link Proctor which made it so valuable. As you can see, it is now just one of many important features of this superb software.

Check up on your link partners. See valuable information like whether they still link to you and from where on their site. What link text do they use to link to you (very important for link reputation of your page), what PR does that page have (important not to link to penalized sites), what is the Alexa rank of that site linking to you, the page title of the linking page, the number of links on the linking page and much more. The information you get from this feature of SEO Elite will put you way ahead of the competition in the linking game.

5. Find out where your site is ranked for a given word

Check your Google, Yahoo, MSN, All the Web and Altavista rankings automatically. SEO Elite will tell you daily, weekly and monthly changes to your rankings.

6. Find out how many pages are indexed

Which search engines have your pages in their index, and why are some pages not getting in? This tool can help you find which pages need more effort.

7. Find authority websites

Find the best possibly potential link partners, and get SEO Elite to gather the contact information for you. Links from these sites are essential for top rankings in competitive niches.

8. Article Submitter

That's right. SEO Elite will even submit your articles to article directories.

What It Means for You

SEO Elite is a phenomenal value for the money. Any SEO worth his salt will tell you that incoming links are vital to high rankings. SEO Elite gives you every bit of information you need to evaluate not only your own linking campaigns, but reverse engineer the linking strategies of your competitors, and then beat them at their own game.

This software is an absolute must for anyone serious about their online business. SEO Elite will save you many hours a week and will make you a better SEO. I cannot recommend this tool highly enough. Great job Brad!

FREE SEO Lessons From SEO Elite

Improve Rankings by Understanding Types of Web Traffic

Where does traffic come from? Now I'm not talking about that stuff we all get stuck in during rush hour. Website traffic is essential, if you have no traffic to your website you are not going to get anyone buying your products or reading your articles. Traffic is one of the key components of your website and is available in these three forms.

1. Pay For It.

You can buy traffic typically using what is known as Pay Per Click advertising. The major names in this market are Google and their AdWords program and Yahoo Network Sponsored Search. There are many smaller companies around also but they all follow the same premise.

You create your account, grab a bunch of keywords and create your adverts. You can define the amount you want to spend per click or per day, what geographical areas you want your adverts to appear in and even what time they should appear.

When someone types one of your keywords into for example Google your advert will be displayed down the right hand side of the natural search results. If the searcher then chooses to click on your advert and gets forwarded to your website you will get charged for that click.

The price you pay for each individual click depends on a variety of conditions such as how many other people are competing on that keyword. The more competition the more it costs to be higher up the ranks. The position you want to occupy. The percentage of people who click on your advert, the list goes on.

Pay Per Click advertising can be very successful but has a steep learning curve, it is essential that you do lots of research into your chosen Pay Per Click vender and in the niche you are in.

2. Borrow It.

This option is not for everyone, but in certain niches it can be effective. The first method of borrowing traffic is what is called link exchange. This is where you put links to another website on your site and they put links back to you on theirs. This can be beneficial as you can get traffic from a more successful website reasonably quickly. However this traffic is not always targeted.

The second option in the affiliate marketing world is called a joint venture or a JP. This is essentially where you would contact another marketer or company who had products that complements yours. If they are interested they may send a mailing out to their list or put an entry in their blog alerting their visitors about you and your relevant products.

The key things to remember about borrowing traffic is that you have to give something in return. This can make it tricky when targeting very successful websites.

3. Create It.

Creating your own traffic is one of the best ways to start bringing people into your website. There are literally hundreds of ways to start creating your traffic but I'm just going to tell you about two of the most popular.

Articles are a great way of generating traffic. You can write your articles about your chosen niche, offering advice, definitions, explanations, news, reviews just to name a few. Once you have created your articles you can put them on your website or blog as content. You can also upload them to article directories or even assemble a few of them into a white paper or ebook to give away to visitors.

Video is currently the big thing on the internet world. Everywhere you look there are videos for everything. 50% of all web traffic is video and YouTube alone receives 12.5% of all the traffic out there. YouTube has made it possible for anyone to upload their videos for the whole world to see. Just as you can create an article about anything you can do the same thing with video. The best option is to do both: Create it in print and create it in video.

Post Provided by: Mark Voce - I hope you found this article helpful. Check out my blog to get more advice, tips, secrets and the latest news on Google AdWords and Internet Marketing.

Special Offer: SEO Elite

"Purchase the World's Leading SEO Software and Receive The Internet's Top Selling SEO eBook of All Time -
Absolutely Free! (a $67 value)"

If you've reached this page, that means that you you're serious about improving your website's search engine rankings. To help you achieve the #1 ranking on Google for your website, we've put together this exclusive offer.

SEO Elite - BUY NOW!
Learn how this revolutionary software can be used to consistently average over 15,000 visitors to your website, per day - Using only FREE search engines traffic from Google, Yahoo, and MSN!

EXCLUSIVE OFFER
To rank on top of the world's largest search engine, you need more than just plain luck. You'll need the right tools used by today's top Webmasters for reaching the #1 position and staying there. SEO Elite and The Webmaster's Book of Secrets are today's top selling SEO products because they work and have been proven effective by thousands of website owners.

If you're serious about reaching #1 on Google for your website, you'll need the most effective search engine optimizaiton software on the market, SEO Elite. For anyone purchasing SEO Elite from this site in the next 30 days, we will throw in the top selling SEO ebook of all time, The Webmaster's Book of Secrets, absolutely FREE - a $67 value.

That's right, purchase SEO Elite and receive The Webmaster's Book of Secrets at no cost - no strings attached. This tell-tale guide is your source for everything SEO as it reveals powerful SEO techniques that have helped thousands of website owners reach the #1 position on Google for even the most competitive keywords and keyword phrases.

TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OFFER

Simply visit and purchase SEO Elite by Clicking here. Once you receive a payment confirmation, send an email with your purchase details to support@marketingscoop.com with "SEO Elite BONUS" in the subject line.

We will email you your very own copy of The Webmaster's Book of Secrets absolutely free. If you have any questions about this offer, email us at support@marketingscoop.com

All the best,

Michael Fleischner
Professional SEO expert

P.S. This offer won't last, purchase SEO Elite from this site today and receive your free bonus - a $67 Value!

SEO Copywriting Is Important In Today's Search Engine Wars

Why is SEO Copywriting important? How can SEO copywriting improve your website’s ranking?

You can have a killer website design and you can employ the latest technologies to make your visitors say "wow!" but unless your web page copy is compelling enough, and unless it gets the right traffic to your website, the only business you do will be accumulating the "wows!". No doubt, you must have a good-looking website (strangely, even lousy-looking websites do great business sometimes) but along with that you also need to speak smartly and convince your visitors to do business with you.

So how is SEO copywriting different from normal copywriting?

Before we have a deep insight into how SEO copywriting can improve your site’s ranking, let’s have a very brief explanation of exactly what is SEO copywriting. In simple words, SEO copywriting is presenting or writing search engine friendly content. SEO copywriting is all about placing your keywords at the right spots and amidst the right tags on your web page. The keywords should be relevant and should be able to connect, inform and convince the search engine spiders, AND the human readers.

Although the ranking procedure is quite complex and makes use of numerous parameters, one important factor is how your pages are spidered or crawled (sounds creepy, isn't it?). Sprinkled with keywords, your web page text should be strategically used to convey to the search engine that your web page really contains information relevant to the keyword in focus.

So SEO copywriting is all about creating a content to ‘impress the search spiders’ and assist them. Keep in mind that search engine robots do not consider “websites” but consider the “web pages” of those websites.
But does SEO copywriting only cater to the search engines?

If SEO copywriting is all about getting ranked higher, then what about your visitors, the humans who will actually do business with you and give you money? Herein lies the real importance of SEO copywriting.

As an SEO copywriter always focus first on creating content useful for online users and not for gaining higher search engine rankings. SEO copywriting plays a vital role here. It helps your website not only ‘catch the eyes’ of the search robots but also get it ‘picked up’ by those spiders.

Don’t ever stuff your web page copy with your keywords and key phrases because it works, but doesn't actually work. You may find many websites getting a good rank just because they have written nothing but a long concatenation of keywords as anchor texts, or in the header tags. These websites eventually get blocked because in the name of relevant content they provide nothing. Want to rank well? Want to convert leads into customers? Then you need SEO copywriting.

Here are the main points quickly revisited:

* SEO copywriting helps your site to compatible in both ways i.e both from viewers and search engines point of view.

* SEO copywriting helps your site by placing keywords at the right places in the web pages. As I mentioned earlier, the keywords should be relevant and should be able to connect, inform and convince the search engine spiders.

* SEO copywriting helps your site maintain correct “optimal length”.

Irrespective of your area of business, SEO copywriting helps your site attain the right and exact balance of getting relevant traffic to your website and converting that traffic into business.

Online Tracking for Your Website

One of the biggest mistakes that newbies make when taking their first steps into Google AdWords is not tracking the results. But this doesn't only happen with Google AdWords but with all new types of marketing. The majority of people and companies do not track their results or do not track properly.

When people start tracking their marketing it is all too common that the wrong results are being monitored. For example if you start a new marketing campaign and notice that your website traffic increases by 50% this must be a positive result... Not quite. Just because your website gets more visitors doesn't mean that you get more money.

When monitoring your marketing it is vital that you monitor your profit, not your turnover or the number of visitors to your website. The only true representation of how successful your marketing has been is how much profit you have made.

There are many ways you can start tracking your marketing, if your customers phone you up to place an order or enquire about your products. You can simply ask them, how did you find us? Which search engine did you use? What search term did you use?

Using this method you can generate good results although you allways get some customers who was handed your info by someone else and some people just don't seem to remember how they found you.

If you are selling your products online using a e-commerce shopping cart or even a service like Paypal you can track every step a visitor makes all the way through to purchase. Google has their own monitoring tool called Google Analytics. This tool allows you to monitor every visitor into your website, you can see what traffic sources provide your visitors, how many pages they visit, which page do the leave on.

Google Analytics has a powerful tool called Conversions, you can define what you class as a conversion for example this maybe the thank you page after someone has purchased one of your products, it may be the thank you page after someone has joined your mailing list or subscribed to your newsletter.

You can then take this a step further and create a sequence of conversions, this is often called a sales funnel. You may for example set up a conversion for when someone enters their name and email into your squeeze page. A second conversion may then exist on the page containing how to buy your product and finally and conversion at the end of a shopping cart.

Using this method you can see how many people get to your squeeze page, who then goes on to find out more and finally the percentage of visitors who go on to purchase one of your products.

When you are successfully tracking your marketing campaigns you will always know which keywords from which traffic sources are generating you the most profit. You can identify what does not work, ignore it and then concentrate on your marketing that gives you the best results.

About the Author: Mark Voce - I hope you found this article helpful. Check out my blog to get more advice, tips, secrets and the latest news on Google AdWords and Internet Marketing.

SEO Made Easy: Improve Your Search Results

Search engine optimization, aka SEO is the most important element in building a successf

ul website. Most people online have heard the term SEO and have some idea of what is involved yet it

 remains a mysterious process to many. One of the reasons SEO is so mysterious is that it can be a

 complicated endeavor and search engines are constantly changing the way they rank sites and the way th

e recognize the many tools of SEO.

At the forefront of the SEO check and balance system is the leading search engine Google. They have pretty much set the standard for technology in search engine algorithms that can track the relevancy of a website to its content and SEO efforts. Their ranking system remains one of the most popular methods of determining a web site's quality because of their diligent efforts of weeding out the bad apples that have little to offer a consumer other than skilled manipulation and the ability to 'play the system' to their advantage.

Of course taking advantage of the system makes perfect sense from a business standpoint but from the search engine outlook of wanting to provide the best quality sites on their results for the viewer it can become difficult to differentiate the site that is good quality wise from the site that is good because it has a very manipulative operator at the helm.

Because the rules for SEO evolve and change rapidly the mystique of search engine optimization continues to confuse website owners. Many people build their websites thinking the only S

EO tool they need is key word density. While key words are an important aspect in SEO they are not the only means to an end, they are simply a part of the puzzle. There is another tried and true method of SEO that is as relevant today as it was at the start of the concept of web 2.0 marketing and that is back linking. While back linking remains one of the most successful ways to get your site to rank high on the search engines it also has undergone some changes making the types of links important so that search engines do not penalize a site for bad incoming links.

The term "back link" refers to an outside link on another site that points to yours. In the past any link

 from another site would have a positive impact on your site by the search engine

s. Because there were so many gimmicks developed in the last few years

 to garner massive back links to websites such as link farms, and irrelevant

 reciprocal linking Google began to develop a way to weed out links that

 were purchased, or had little meaning or

 relevancy.

Even though back

 linking is used to manipulate search engine popularity there are

 many very legitimate reasons for using the system of back linking. Findin

g web sites that have a common interest to your own who are willing to place

 your link on their site can get you extra

 exposure. When their visitors come to their site they will see your link and

 likely visit your site as well.

The fact that onsite links like that have such a perceived relevance to the visitor makes them a valuable marketing tool, but that

 perception of quality is also why Google works so hard to be sure they are real quality links. You will get higher ranking on a search engine for a number of truly

 appropriate back linking partnerships however if the sites linking to you do not

 share any common information or products Google will penalize you for the

 link. There are new programs in the works with Google where your site could even be devalued if the site that links to you is determined to be bad quality so it is important who you choose to link to, and also who links to you.

In the past many web site owners would open up multiple websites with the sole purpose of promoting one principle site. They would use the extra websites as a means of placing back links to the main site. Google now watches for sites that are created with the same IP address. Creating a large number of websites on the same IP address and putting back links on them to quickly develop a number of links is known as link bombing. That is not to say that you cannot ever link to your own website from a site you own. If there is a reason to show your visitors some additional information a few well placed back links are fine. It is when there are many links from each site all pointing to a single 'main' site that the search engines look at them suspiciously.

The system Google is working hard to put in place to discount a link from a bad site is why it is very important to know who is linking to you and if their site stacks up to your standards. It is no longer true that all inbound links to your site are good links. There are very good tools available online for free that can show you who is linking to you. If you find a site that is linking to you that you feel is questionable in terms of how they relate to your website either in information or product you should contact the webmaster of the site and demand that they remove the link to your website to avoid being penalized by the search engines.

Probably the best way to obtain a back link to your site is through anchor text. That is when you have another website with content that is relevant to your own (relevancy is ALWAYS important) including your site in the actual content of their site with a hyperlink inside the text. These back links are valued much higher than a simple sidebar link as long as they appear in the text in a way that has a fluid and meaningful association with the content of the article. There are several ways to get such back links.

Providing articles to content sites with your link built into the article is one method. If you write very compelling information on your website is another as someone else with a similar site may wish to point it out on their own. You may not even realize they are doing it unless they tell you about it. This is one of the main reasons it is important to keep an eye on who is back linking to you. While the majority of those types of links are wonderful and you should thank the site owner for their inclusion, if you feel the site that is linking to you does not meet your standards, have similar information, or the content is not relevant to your site you should definitely ask them to remove your link.

Back linking is an extremely important aspect of SEO development and it is something you need to understand well in order to implement and control it properly. There are many secrets and mysteries in the SEO world that diligent study can clear up. Keeping your website in good standing with the search engines and popular with your visitors is the best way to ensure a vital and profitable future for your business online.

This post provided by Rick Youngblood, the web designer and owner and operator of Spyglass Studios, Website Design. 

7 Tips to Improve Your PPC Results

Pay Per Click is one of the easiest and most accessible forms of web marketing. It's an excellent way to promote your business, gather some quick market research, or get quick presence on the search engine rankings pages while you wait for a new site to appear naturally in search results. Paid search advertising is also an easy place to spend a lot of money without results if you go into it unprepared. Here are our seven most important pointers to get the most out of your PPC advertising budget:

1. Be Specific
It pays to come up with long lists of more specific keywords and organize them into ad groups. Plurals, geographic modifiers, and common misspellings are all things you might want to consider including in your lists. Not only will you save money, but you'll get a better idea of what terms people are using to find your products and services.

The more general the term, the more competitive the ad space, and the more you pay for good placement. The more specific the term, the less competitive the ad space will be, and you'll pay less for prominent placement.

2. Think Like a Customer
If you were shopping for what your company sells, what words and phrases would you use? Would you add modifiers like "discount", "sale", or "best"? If your target audience is looking for information rather than a product, "white papers", "reviews", and "information" are things you might want to include.

3. Stay on Target
Make sure to set your campaign targeting for the languages and geographical regions you want to reach. No sense paying for your ads to run in Europe if you only cater to Atlanta or San Diego. The people you want to reach will be able to find you, and you won't pay for wasted clicks from potential customers who can't shop with you because of geographical distances. Within your ad groups for a targeted region, you can use the broader terms, like "homes for sale," and not just "San Diego homes for sale." Lots of people don't understand how search really works, so they don't include locality.

4. Motivate Customers to Click
Free shipping? 20% off? Having a sale? Mention whatever special offers you have going in the ad copy. Then make sure that the same offer is clearly displayed on the page customers land on when they click the ad. People are looking for a bargain when they shop online, so be sure to let them know when you're offering one they won't want to pass up!

5. Take Control of Your Spending
You set the daily budget and cost per click in your campaigns. Figure out how much you can spend, then figure out which ad groups are the most profitable and allocate more money to them. You can also set up day parting to make sure that a smaller budget doesn't get spent all on the east coast while the west coast is still on their first cup of coffee.

Turn off content matching. Most people are unwilling to click on content ads, and there's no sense paying for impressions that won't deliver. You might try running it for a week if your product appeals to a broad audience and you have a compelling offer in the ad copy. You can always turn it off if your money isn't being put to good use.

6. Point Them in the Right Direction
Think about where you want your ads to put people on your site. If you have an ad group all about the swimsuits that are on sale, people want to see swimsuits immediately after clicking on your ad. Make them navigate the site to find them, and most people are going to hit the back button on their browser and buy elsewhere. Nobody likes to feel like someone's pulling a bait-and-switch on them, which is what it looks like if your ads point to the wrong place on the website.

If you need customers to take a specific action as the goal of your PPC campaign (like submitting their email address), landing pages are in order. The fewer choices you give people, the more likely they are to take the path you want them to take.

7. Testing, Testing
Write more than one ad per ad group, then toss the ones that don't convert and refine the ones that do. It's a great way to see which offers and wording are better motivators and converters. Make sure to use keywords in your ad copy!

Post provided John Rasco, founder of RefreshWeb. John has an entrepreneurial gene, a creative bent and a passion for challenging projects. More at http://www.refreshweb.com