Posts Tagged SMO
7 Costly Link Building Mistakes
Posted by admin in SEO, Social media on September 3rd, 2010
7 Costly Link Building Mistakes
1. Linking to sites with bad reputations. Linking to sites with bad reputations isn’t a costly link building mistake – it is a deadly one! Since linking to a site is considered a form of “voting” for it, when you link to all kinds of illegal sites, this means you support them and search engines certainly won’t love it.
[Note: There may not be much concrete evidence that linking to bad sites is bad, but common wisdom still says not to.]
2. Buying and selling links. Paying for links is another deadly sin and it can get you banned from search engines. There are many paid link sites and if you are tempted to buy links there, this can have an adverse effect.
3. Getting nofollow links. It is true that it is hard to get free quality one-way dofollow backlinks, but unfortunately nofollow links aren’t good.
4. Wasting your time with many low PageRank (PR) sites. Similar to nofollow links, links from low PageRank sites aren’t your best bet. Links from low PR sites aren’t totally useless but it is much better to get a few higher PR backlinks than a ton of low quality ones.
5. Getting backlinks from irrelevant sites. A quality backlink is a dofollow link from a high PR site within your niche.
6. Getting links without your keywords as anchor text. The anchor text of the backlink is also very important. The best case is when the backlink has your keywords as anchor text. This isn’t always possible to achieve but when you are negotiating link exchanges, for example, you can say what anchor text to use, so pick a good keyword and use it as anchor text. Anchor texts, such as “click here,” “check this,” and the like lower the value of your link a lot and you should avoid them.
7. Backlink spamming. Backlink spamming is also another practice, which might not you get banned from search engines but in any case it is an inefficient use of your time and money.
How to Search Engine Optimize Wordpress
How to Search Engine Optimize WordPress
SEO Factors
1. Title tag
Title tag or the article title is one of the most important SEO parameters. That is what appears as the title of the post in search engine result pages (SERPs) and hence you should make sure that it’s relevant, has keywords, is neither too long nor too short, and accurately conveys what the content is all about.
2. Meta description
The meta description for your blog or a blog post is a short description that appears below the content title in SERPs. If the description is precise and informative, a user is more likely to click on the post title and hence end up on your site.
3. Content
Content, obviously, is the heart and soul of SEO. Great content can attract attention and links, and hence search engines would prefer showcasing it too. Plus, it is what your readers would like to read, isn’t it?
4. Keywords
Having a general understanding of keywords (words, sentences, or phrases) relevant to the content on your site and how to use them properly always helps.
5. Web host
The web host is what your site calls home and where the Googlebot comes knocking on the door whenever you publish articles. Hence, be careful while choosing a host for your site.
6. Site loading speed
Site loading speed is something bloggers recently started focusing on when Google announced that it would be treated as one of the ranking factors. The faster your site loads, the better.
7. Robots.txt
Robots.txt is a text file on your server that tells search engine bots what to index and what to skip. It’s better to create one and place it in your root directory. Here’s a guide to create a simple robots.txt file.
8. Sitemaps
A sitemap is basically a list of pages or URLs that the search engine’s crawler can access. Ideally, you should have both XML and HTML sitemaps on your site. WordPress users can use Google XML Sitemaps plugin to create an XML one.
9. Permalinks
The default permalink structure in WordPress isn’t that good. You can customize permalinks according to your preferences and for better search engine optimization.
10. Headings and Post Slugs
Headings and sub-headings in an article are important for readers as well as for search engines. Use them wisely. Regarding post slugs, you should make them short and keyword-rich (don’t overdo it though).
SEO Tools
1. Plugins
WordPress bloggers have this advantage when it comes to SEO. They can select from a wide range of SEO plugins that are built for WordPress. Some of the popular ones are All in one SEO, Platinum SEO, and Robots Meta. There are many more.
2. Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools let you know if Google is able to successfully crawl your blog, and about other issues it might encounter with your site. Upload your sitemap in the webmaster dashboard to get started. It is recommended though that you do it only after your site has some content.
3. Browser Extensions
There are a lot of browser extensions that help you to analyze your WordPress blog and optimize it better for search engines. SEO Site tools for Chrome and SeoQuake for Firefox are two of them that I use myself.
4. Google Adwords Keywords Tool
The Google Adwords Keywords Tool can show you the keywords relevant to your article along with the number of times they are searched for every month.
5. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a must-use tool for WordPress bloggers. Apart from showing general traffic stats, it’ll tell you what search engine keywords are driving traffic to your site, which you could further capitalize on.
Other SEO Tips
1. Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs refer to a chain of links that directs a visitor back to the main page. You could install Yoast Breadcrumbs for WordPress to get them on your blog.
2. 404 pages
404 or “Not Found” pages shouldn’t be ignored. Use them to lead the visitor to other parts of your blog. Here’s a guide to creating great 404 pages for WordPress.
3. Images
When it comes to images, you need to keep in mind mainly the alt and title tags (apart from relevancy of course). Descriptive alt tags are recommended by Google.
4. Linking
Linking to your own blog posts as well to other blogs not only provides more information to your readers, but is a good SEO step too. Do it as often as possible.
5. Anchor text
Anchor text refers to the text on the page which is being linked to a different page. The more connected the text is to the link, the better it is for your blog and the other page.
How Much Should You Focus on Search Engine Optimizing?
If you are newbie when it comes to WordPress and SEO, you might find all this a bit overwhelming. Well, SEO is a time-consuming process so I won’t say that you could get it done quickly. But here’s the thing: Don’t consume your days tweaking your site just for the search engines. You should instead focus on producing great content and building relationships.
While SEO is important, it depends on the content and not vice-versa. If the content is good and you can promote it well, it will attract links automatically.
Hope you found the above on-site optimization tips for WordPress useful. Do share your SEO tips in the comments.
via How to Search Engine Optimize Wordpress | The Netsetter.
Nofollow vs. Dofollow:
Nofollow vs. Dofollow:
Not all links are “follow”. Some links will permanently remain rel=”nofollow”, including:
- Links found within comments
- Our automatically generated links to “similar content on the web”.
- Brand new pages and recently-added authors are liable to remain “nofollow” for a period of time.
Beyond that, the rules determining which links and pages use “follow” vs “nofollow” will change over time as we adjust our policies to find the right balance for users and search engines
Example
For those of you who are technically inclined, here is an example. Visit this high quality sample knol on Backpacking, and select “View Source” in your browser. Search for where “follow” and “nofollow” appears on the page. You should see that the page itself gets a global “follow” directive, but certain individual links get rel=”nofollow” directives.
FAQs
- Follow our Content Policy
- Follow our Best Practices
- Beware of performing behavior that is “spammy”. Produce knols that serve the public and not a narrow commercial interest. Avoid bulk uploading of non-unique content.
- Be patient, as our signals do fluctuate over time, and it may take a while for a new user to accrue some trustworthiness.
- If you know that you satisfy all of the above, you can contact us at knolhelp@google.com and report it as a possible bug.
source: http://knol.google.com/k/follow-vs-nofollow-links-in-knol#
Create Traffic from Facebook
Posted by admin in Social media on August 24th, 2010
Facebook is the largest social network in these days.
A Profile page
first you should make good profile, this issue worth a thought because this profile will serve you as a main tool to lead traffic inside facebook (for example to your group) and outside facebooke to your site tell people more about you ,write bio,background and don’t forget to remind your site escorted with link. put some good content in it so it will irritate the readers to join your network use attractive picture and don’t exaggerate it should be reliable
Build a network
friends are the most important thing in facbook. if you create a page and forget about it , it will be useless for you. invite as many friends as you can each one of them is a potential visitor to your site which can easily convert to money to your pocket. people prefer to connect to people that have similar interests and ideas try to collect friends with similar interests to your profile, it will make it easier for you to led them to location that you want and make sure that you don’t spam,this is not the proper way to encourage people to join your network.
Create Posts
posting regularly is a good way to success ,you most understand that if you don’t post it’s like try to sale product without showing that it exist, and your facebook traffic will slow In parallel to your web site traffic. so try to post as much as you can.make sure that your post content interesting and useful, dont forget your readers point of view, they have enough attractions so they can easily skip on your post if it’s not contain good content start agroup starting a group is very effective way to collect targeted traffic which have similar ideas to the topic of your group that means that you should open a group with topic that have connection to your site,you can almost manage it as subcategory of your site which will increase the chances to drive traffic from your group to your site. Of course again don’t forget to add links to your site in your group content.
Facebook social ads
this step is not for free but in some of the cases it worth the time and the effort that it can save you. it is very effective way to get targeted traffic, it works just like ppc ads and starting a campaign is very similar to google adwords campaign give away free stuff everyone like free stuff ! you think at this like fishing when the bait is free plugins,reviews or any thing that means some value to your readers it doesn’t have to be to big but it will be better if it will be something original
5 Reasons Why Twitter’s Growth Cannot Be Stopped
5 Reasons Why Twitter’s Growth Cannot Be Stopped
1. Consistent growth
2. Gaining approval from big companies
3. Twitter is the number one most social brand
4. Twitter receives millions in free media coverage
5. Continued growth internationally
read entire articel here 5 Reasons Why Twitter’s Growth Cannot Be Stopped.
10 Steps for Successful Social Media Monitoring
Posted by admin in Social media on August 5th, 2010
1. Define an Objective
2. Decide Where to Monitor
3. Decide What to Monitor
4. Prioritize
5. Develop a Plan
6. Involve Others
7. Listen First
8. Inbound vs. Outbound Conversations
9. Build Relationships
10. Select Tools that Match your Strategy
Read entire story at :mashable.
10 Strategies to Promote on Social Media Channels
Posted by admin in Social media on August 4th, 2010
1. Create and Upload Custom Facebook pages - Facebook allows the hotel to customise the tabs to tailor it to your specific hotel or business. Some best practices to follow while creating Facebook page are:
a. Integrate Reservation widgets
b. Have event pages
c. Create custom tabs to highlight hotel specific items such as meetings and conferences, things to do, etc.
d. Sample Facebook Pages for a hotel
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Lion-Hotel-Denver-Southeast/167741797528
2. Create/ Promote Destination Blogs showcasing local events, news, and specials. Information posted on the blog gets index right away.
a. Example of Destination Blog - http://blog.aquaresorts.com/
b. Example of destination blog – http://blog.rivernorthhotel.com/
3. Search Optimised video
a. Create and promote a search optimised video about your destination, local attractions and upload them on Video Search engines such as Youtube. Youtube is the fourth largest search engine and drives significant traffic.
b. Example of search optimized video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HraOIiqdIn4/
4. Photo Sharing
a. Create a channel or an account on photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Picassa and post hotel and destination photos on the sites. Tag the pictures with relevant keyword phrases. Pictures about the destination that convey information to potential viewers are more likely to produce better results
b. Example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8209088@N07/
5. Twitter
a. Create Custom Twitter Profiles with hotel phone number in the background
b. Example: http://twitter.com/vallartagv
Manage and Promote
6. Integrating and Cross-Linking Channels
Once your channels are set up, it is crucial to integrate and cross network all your channels. Make sure that the social media icons are displayed clearly on your website so that consumers can get to those channels. Cross-link Flickr, Twitter and YouTube to your Facebook account. Integrating and Cross-linking the channels will help you in optimisation, keeping it fresh as well as in expanding your network. Bring live feeds from your social media channels into your website. Example: http://www.nickhotel.com/html/social-media.asp
7. Grow Fan-base
a. Facebook – Be My Friend - Become friends with organisation which are most important for your business
b. Promote Facebook Profile Page - Upload email list of your customers, business associates and ask them to become friends with you on Facebook
c. Convert your friends on Facebook by offering time sensitive specials
d. Network with local organizations and grow fan base
e. Twitter Follow - Stay connected and current by finding out relevant businesses in your area and following them
8. Press Releases and Articles - Using online news channels such as Business Wire and PR Web to release Articles and news information enhances search engine optimisation and web.
Monitor
9. Create Social Media Reviews Platform on your website to encourage users to upload viral content on your website. Example: http://www.nickhotel.com/guestreviews/orlando-hotel-guest-reviews.aspx
Figure 4 Encourage users to post viral user generated content on your website
10. Monitor Social Media Channels and Review Site
We recommend hotels should actively monitor social media channels and review sites. The success of social media efforts can be measured in many different ways:
a. Awareness
- Number of friends & followers
- Social media mentions
- New relevant links
b. Conversion
- Track through promo codes
- Google Analytics
c. Relationships
- How much interaction
- Who is initiating
d. Engagement
- Unique visitors
- Time on site
- Frequency of visit
There are many options available for hoteliers to monitor the social media activity.
a. Analytics –hotels can integrate Google Analytics code on Facebook pages, blog pages and track the activity on these channels. In addition, Youtube, Flickr, provide reporting tools that can help you gauge activity on those channels.
b. Using sophisticated social media and reputation management software such as eBuzz Connect. These tools tell you what people are saying about your property on different channels, video views, photo views, etc., and can benchmark your performance month-over-month to determine whether the social media strategies are effective. These tools also help in proactively respond to negative /positive reviews and minimize the risk of not knowing what people are saying about your hotel online. Here is a screen shot of one such tool from Milestone Internet Marketing, Inc. http://www.milestoneinternet.com/html/online-social-media-management-system-for-hotels.asp
Summary
Social Media is an integral part of the real-time search algorithm. Social media creates real connection between companies and customers, and that connection equals purchase intent. Ongoing connection and relationship with your customers will eventually turn them into a volunteer marketing army. Make sure that social media is an integral part of your overall marketing plan. If you are limited on budget and resources, still keep monitoring the social media domain and do the best you can. Hoteliers who want to be ahead of the curve, should invest today in the media that is fast emerging as the future of internet marketing.
Twitter Boomark scripts - SELECTED TEXT - QUICK TWEETS
Posted by admin in Social Bookmarking, Social media, Twitter on July 3rd, 2010
Twitter Boomark scripts QUICK TWEETS
A bookmark toolbar button which gives you the ability to post to your twitter account from any website. Which will indeed make your twitter posting life a whole lot easier and quicker. Hence the name: quick tweets
The evolution of Social media
Posted by admin in Social media on June 23rd, 2010
Developing mobile sites - Webmaster Tools Help
Developing mobile sites
We believe the mobile web is becoming increasingly important, but it’s not always easy to know where to start. So, we’ve put together this page of tools available for developers of mobile content, to help ease the way.
Mobile markup
Mobile web pages come in several markup dialects, including WML, XHTML Basic, XHTML MP and cHTML. WML is an older standard that is supported by many browsers, and still widely used in some markets. cHTML is used primarily in Japan, but also some parts of Europe. XHTML Basic and XHTML MP are almost identical subsets of HTML, used globally, but particularly in North America and Europe. XHTML dialects are the newest and most expressive of markups, and are gaining usage. XHTML Basic 1.1 and XHTML MP 1.2 are a good choice for new development, but your choice will vary according to your target market.
Validation
Valid pages are likely to render correctly on more mobile devices.
Published mobile markup standards include:
Validators include the following:
- Mobile-friendly XHTML Validator (W3C)
- Mobile-readiness checker (.mobi)
- mobileOK Basic Checker (TAW)
- WuRML (shadowplay.net)
Emulation
You may be confident that your page is valid XHTML or valid WML, but are you certain that it’s going to look right on a real phone screen? Use an emulator to test your page, and avoid the hassle of buying them all.
- Phone Simulator (Openwave)
- Mobile emulator (.mobi)
- i-mode emulator (DoCoMo)
- User-Agent Switcher (Firefox plug-in)
- wmlbrowser (Firefox plug-in)
- XHTML Mobile Profile (Firefox plug-in)
Google resources
Other resources
