KEI Observation Deck: Recent Search Engine Articles Archives

March 06, 2010

12 Best Tips to building a new career in SEO

Are you in transition of careers. Maybe you've thought about starting a brand new SEO business...

What are the 12 Best Tips to building a new career in SEO?
http://www.searchengineacademyqld.com.au/12-tips-seo-careers.html

Posted by John at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)

June 16, 2009

Are you Starting Your Own New SEO Business?

Here are a few more thoughts to ponder in preparation for a career change.

Let's face it, the SEO or SEM industry continues to grow and there are a lot of people that have Web site that just do not work very well in term of traffic or in terms of visibility on the major search engines.

10 years ago, I shifted completely out of one field and started my own business as an Internet Consultant. Now back in 1997, there was very much around in the way of e-commerce Web sites. But it did not take long for me to realize that many of the people who were on the Web in them days, were really only interested in one thing.

They wanted to find a way to make a profit and have their Web site become an asset instead of being an expense. Fair enough, but those were nearly like the early days of the pioneers. Everything was so new to everyone. Nevertheless once I adjusted my business model, that is what I tried focusing on - always making the client's Web site:

1. Extremely visible (in terms of search engine rankings)
2. Creating unique and compelling content
(that would compel someone to buy.)

I realized that you nearly always needed both of these elements happening before the profits would come. Of course while this is still true today, the methods and the way search engines work are significantly different.

These days, you need to lift your sights a little higher than just obtaining good rankings. You need to know that with each client you take on, you can learn many different ways that will make them profitable.

So don't just aim for top visibility these days. Focus on your client becoming profitable (that's really why they hire you.) If you make that one of your main objectives you will be applying the beginning of wisdom as part of the foundation for your new SEO business.

This can really accelerate the popularity and the reputation that follows your work. Your client needs profitable results in sales and conversions too. Being able to make a client profitable is what can build YOUR reputation ultra-quickly.

Fulfill this objective over and over again and your services and your demand for services will spread quickly. If you'd like a few more of my tips on how to fast track a new SEO business then here is:

The Smartest Tips for Starting a New Career in SEO

Best wishes,
John Alexander

Posted by John at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

June 11, 2009

Is LSI Latent Semantic Indexing Fact? (True or False)

LSI Latent Semantic Indexing Fact? (True or False)

There has been much discussion lately about content relevancy and the relationship between Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and search engine optimization. Some say LSI has nothing to do with how Google scores pages. Others hail LSI as a powerful method of optimizing or theming your content and leads to marked improvement in natural search results.

What do you think? To answer this question, it's alway best to approach someone who is an expert and knows about everything involved mathematically. You'll appreciate reading Semantics and SEO expert, Michael Marshall's response to this question.

If you've ever heard Michael speak on the subject of SEO or Google and Competitive Intelligence, you'll know that he is a mathematician who has actually built search engines before. He often teaches on the road with us in our Advanced SEO Mastery Workshop but as an associate SEO educator with Search Engine Academy, he also delivers training to the US Patent office.

Please read the recent post called:

SEO, Latent Semantic Indexing and Natural Language Processing
By Michael Marshall

Posted by John at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2009

Author Daniel Pink explains why "right-brainers" will rule this century

In regard to the Art of SEO as opposed to the "science" of SEO. Any work that involves right brain creativity will become much more important to North Americans in the coming years.

In the recent article interview, author Daniel Pink points out:

Here is a snippet from Author Daniel Pink:

"In the same way that machines have replaced our bodies in certain kinds of jobs, software is replacing our left brains by doing sequential, logical work. And that brings us to Asia, to where that work is being shipped. In Asia you have tens of millions of people who can do routine tasks like write computer code. Routine is work you can reduce to a spreadsheet, to a script, to a formula, to a series of steps that has the right answer."

-----End of snippet----

Highlights of this full interview can be read at the link below:

-Author Daniel Pink: Right brain skills will be crucial in coming age
-Those skills include design, storytelling, empathy, creativity
-Says left-brained skills --accounting, computer programming can be
all be outsourced
-Says it's harder to outsource creativity such as design and
storytelling

Please read the May 7th article entitled:
Why Right-Brainers will Rule this Age

For those of you who have experienced the SEO Mastery Workshop in the last few years, you'll begin to see how important your creativity will become to Internet marketing.

Original creativity as well as creative right brain thinking renders very powerful results in delivering a message and in story telling and reaches far beyond the technical mechanics of optimization or link building.

Do you think the study of search engine optimization is limited to left brain thinking only? Guess again. While most people focus on the left brain side (technical aspects) it's the right brain side (artistic) side that will put your services in demand in the future.

Find a local Search Engine Academy in a community near you.

Posted by John at 09:56 AM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2009

Part 4 - Simple Ways To Attract New Web Visitors

Learn how to explore peoples interests and then try shifting the focus of your message to an opposite approach.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to always consider taking a reverse approach or a look at an old topic through a new angle or view. People are interested in a wide array of topics but don't just explore the obvious ones.

Always see if a reverse spin might make a better story or deliver a truth that people have not considered before.

What are topics of interest?

It might be fashion, crafts, sports, classic movies, biographies around someone's life. It might be something around reading interests or writing interests or perhaps the study of electronics or something like singing, movie direction or piloting an aircraft. Whatever your topic of interest, try to apply a reverse approach to see if it makes better reading or will attract that new audience.

If you are writing content on the top tips for successful Bass fishing, what would happen if instead, you identified and wrote about the 10 most common mistakes made by new Bass fisherman. If you are writing content on any subject always consider looking at the possibilities of writing from either an opposite or a different point of view to deliver your message.

In summary:

Learning to shift your focus from the natural approach to provide content with a slightly different focus will also attract a slightly different audience. Maybe an entirely new audience or several new audiences that will ultimately translate into new business for you.

But it can never happen unless you provide content that reaches beyond your own selling objectives or your Web site's initial reason for existing.

You have to be willing to explore data and consider taking an entirely new creative shift from time to time which usually means accurately understanding what your marketplace is doing. Not by guessing but through genuine research of accurate data. Of course none of us ever say that we are guessing, but that is exactly what you are doing when you let your focus remain limited to the one audience that we are " in the habit of serving" from our past experience instead of exploring the wealth of data and research intelligence that is available to us today.

Be encouraged and remember that IF your Web site is a great success.....keep doing what you are doing. But if you are not experiencing success, it may be time to try a whole new approach.

If you want to experience top visibility on the major search engines, higher conversion ratios with fresh multiple new audiences, we teach the full scope of SEO skills at our local Community based hands-on SEO Mastery Workshops and Mentoring program now available across the US, Canada and in Asia through the Search Engine Academy.

Best wishes for ongoing success!
John Alexander
http://www.SearchEngineWorkshops.com

Like the only REAL magic - the magic of knowledge

Posted by John at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)

Part 3 - Simple Ways To Attract New Web Visitors

Part 3 - Simple Ways To Attract New Web Visitors

Shift your focus in creating a brand new Blog on a specific topic.

Blogs are nearly like living breathing entities with bloggers discussing every topic under the sun.

Have you thought about starting your own blog and getting some discussion going on a topic based on an interest you have and on a topic that has some purpose. This purpose is what you want to give some initial thought too.

Ideally you want to Blog about a topic that you have some experience in and are knowledgeable about. Choose a topic that you feel you have some original views about.

But then shift the focus to make it interesting and different than what your competitors are doing.

Read the article of Robin Nobles called, Blogs with a purpose.

Part 4 and Summary coming right up.

John Alexander
http://www.SearchEngineWorkshops.com

Posted by John at 01:27 PM | Comments (0)

Part 2 - Simple Ways To Attract New Web Visitors

2. Shift your focus by exploring complimentary products and services through affiliate marketing.

If you are already attracting a specific type of visitor to your Web site to purchase your product or service, then the competition may not always be your enemy.

Watch for products and services that are complimentary to what you offer through a generous affiliate program.

Did you know you can be earning additional income streams by simple adding useful content and links to your Web site? You promote complimentary products in exchange for an affiliate commission.

Try Clickbank.com for a range of digital products.

Try NeverBlue.com (for a variety of interesting products)

Also remember to shift your focus by learning to explore hot topics of interest through Wordtracker.com
Did you know that you can use

Wordtracker as your window on the world of search behavior? I'll keep this short. It's much more than keyword research. Its about exploring the hidden evidence that 99% of most Webmasters miss. Be sure to read up on Keyword Forensics.

Listen to a few Wordtracker Magic audio tips here.

Part 3 coming up shortly

Posted by John at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)

Part 1 - Simple Ways To Attract New Web Visitors

For many folks here is what the main challenge is in attracting new visitors.

It is in seeing beyond the product or service we are trying to offer and expanding our scope of research beyond our own objectives for our Web site. If I sell insurance, what else is there beside "insurance quotes?"

The challenge for most of us is that we can't "shift our focus" to something that does not seem to immediately serve our interest. If it does not make sense and tie in directly with the sales objectives for our Web site, why even bother exploring it, right?

Think about this. Many of us only tend to focus on the audience that we are "in the habit of serving" from recent and past experiences.

The truth is that we often may not give all future potential prospects our full availability (or visibility) because of the very narrow focus that our recent experience tends to limit us to. Now think about this for just a minute or two.

Do you just have one specific audience? There may be some who feel they have a product that only services one audience. In fact I know some who may be convinced of it. But with a little brainstorming and research, you can explore and find entirely new audiences that need your product or services. There are new audiences out there right now that are searching for your solution, but the only trouble is, you are not making it very easy for them to find you because the focus of your Web content may be far too narrow.

Part 1. Simple Ways to Shift Your Focus and Attract New Web Visitors

1. Shift your focus by stopping the hunt for "keywords" and start thinking about "behaviors."

Realize that people are using the Internet to perform research on topics that are "important to them" and "based on the conditions and circumstances in their lives." Stop thinking so mechanically about "what keywords people are putting into that search box in Google" and begin to understand that it is the conditions in the searchers life that are dictating how the searcher is using the Internet. It is fascinating research!

For Insurance Web sites - Perhaps all you've been thinking of is trying to optimize for a phrase like "insurance quotes."

Instead, you consider exploring other terms like VIN (Vehicle Identification Numbers) and ask yourself how this might fit into your Web. Ask yourself "Is it not likely, that people searching for a VIN number, probably own a vehicle?" Then why not create a helpful database to identify where those VIN numbers are located on various vehicles. (This is just meant to be a simple example, there are many other behaviors you can learn from.) But serve the needs of the searcher first and in the meantime, if they want an insurance quote, they can request it with the right type of compelling ad copy contained in the site. Trust me it works. Focus on satisfying the searchers needs before your own objective. That can be hard to do if you don't perform excellent research and stop relying on guess work.

For Travel Web sites - Perhaps you've continually focused on keyword phrases involving "travel" or "cheap airfares." You think to yourself that this is all there is. Expand you scope of research and begin to explore other topics and alternatives that can bring you a whole new world of travelers (who are not necessarily looking for the cheapest flights.) What else might they be looking for? Think behavior. One of the things travelers might like to search for are "Things to do in Toronto" or Things to do in Alaska or wherever their destination is. They might be looking for directions or maps or even reviews on entertainment. By creating alternatively focused content that is researched and well written, you will attract people to your travel center that you would otherwise completely miss.

For Solutions based Web sites that are selling a product or service. If you selling an SEO tool that is made for the Webmaster community, that's great. But what about the other businesses that could benefit from your tool? You won't attract them with a bunch of SEO related jargon. Let's say you are trying to attract people to your health product? Okay, so it's a new vitamin supplement that helps provide some kind of solution (let's say it helps fight off symptoms of depression.) Is your only buying audience the "heath food" conscious crowd? Not at all. You might want to explore the search habits of those who are going through some trauma in their life. Mortgage foreclosure, relationship breakups or even those who have recently been downsized from their job. Don't you think these people might have the use for a health product that helps fight depression?

If you are a Real Estate agent who is convinced that the only valuable search terms that are available are MLS Listings or other industry related jargon, listen to this short interview on "Keyword Forensics" which includes many tips for Real Estate Agents.

There are nearly always more than one audience for your product or service or information. Sometimes multiple audiences that could benefit from what you have to offer. Want to read more about expanding your research capabilities based on user search behavior?

Read Keyword Forensics 2.0

Stay tuned for another 4 parts to this article coming up next.

John Alexander
http://www.SearchEngineWorkshops.com

Like the only REAL magic - the magic of knowledge

Posted by John at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)

March 12, 2009

15 Keyword research Tips for finding the Hottest Niche Phrases Quickly

15 Keyword research Tips for finding the Hottest Niche Phrases Quickly

These days most professional search engine marketers all have access to the most common research tools. For this article, we'll explore one of my favorite research tools, Wordtracker.com.

But before we get started, have you ever wondered why some people experience limitations initially in performing effective keyword research? What are the most common elements can that block some people from doing fast and effective keyword research? Why can't some people find the best results as quickly as others?

Let's talk about this first. Then I'll share some quick and easy "how to" tips that I hope will help you.

A few years ago, I wrote an e-book called Wordtracker Magic and now I have just completed volume two which is called, Wordtracker Magic 2.0 - Keyword Forensics .

I've spent time helping to teach students about how to quickly tap into the best keyword phrase trends and niches very quickly. Let's start by outlining a couple of the more common errors some people can make initially, when first using Wordtracker.

For a while, I actually had the privilege of working with Wordtracker support and answering peoples keyword related questions on a regular basis, a few years ago. That was a great learning experience.

What I learned was that often, people were sometimes not finding the best niche phrases available, simply because many people naturally tended to want to "guess" at keywords, rather than fully explore the existing fresh data.

Some people say and use the word "research," but then tend to want to rely on their own "logic" or recent real world experience to examine specific phrases. In short, whether we admit it or not, there is a tendency for some of us to "guess at the keywords" that we *think* that make the most sense, but at the same time we miss a wealth of information in the process of having such a narrow focus.

First tip: Stop guessing at what keyword phrases people "might" be entering into the search box.

One of the biggest blocks to the process of exploring the fullness of Wordtracker's available data, is simply that most people naturally tend to guess at keywords, rather than explore all of the data. Many Wordtracker users start out with the idea of trying to dictate to the tool, which keywords that they ***THINK*** are most relevant. But the truth is every time we guess at the terms that make the most sense, we are not really letting Wordtracker reveal its best information.

Think about the process more in this way....The more you "think like everyone else thinks" (usually drawing keywords that are already lodged into your mind based upon your experiences)....then the more you will be thinking like the rest of your competition. The more our eyes and our thinking and our ability to observe is attracted towards keywords that "make the most sense" to our brains the more we tend to discover exactly the same keywords as the rest of the world are discovering. So we can get disappointed real quick and have the feeling that there just are no real "niche phrases" available anymore. In this mindset, we only find limited results based on logical guess work.

What this usually means, is huge numbers of competing pages all trying to rank for deadly dull, obvious phrases.

Of course you can build your skills so you can compete with highly competitive phrases and you can win the game too, but that's not the point. A much wiser approach is to learn how to "think differently" in order to allow yourself the ability to explore the data that 99% of your competition never will see or find.

Why not tap into important keyword phrases that are legitimate (with fair to high usage but that have MUCH lower competition because most competitors never even find it or often they never even see it?

The focus of genuine keyword research is not to guess at keywords, but to learn how to quickly explore the best data, OTHER than the common logical keywords that are already lodged into our minds.

Second Tip: Stop relying on allowing your "logic" and your "experience" to dictate how you will explore data.

This is easy to say but in the beginning it takes a little practice to do.

Sometimes when you research single keywords using Wordtracker's powerful comprehensive search functionality, you will discover multiple instances of how a specific word is being used within a phrase, but without any guess work at all. Try working with a single, action related "root word."

Now listen carefully.

It does not have to be a word that your logical thinking dictates. For example, what happens if you research a term in its most generic form and let Wordtracker piece together exactly how that word is being used. This is one of the rare times when using human brilliance or natural logic can actually prevent you from seeing the most powerful truths in your process of research. By avoiding "logic" you will explore more legitimate working data than 99% of most other Webmasters ever do.

Let's give you a few creative examples to get you started.....

1. If you are a real estate agent, instead of using an obvious logical phrase like "real estate" (with 323 million competing pages on Google) or using a keyword acronym such as MLS (over 40 million competing pages on Google.)

Let's try a researching a single "root word" term like "listing" just all by itself.....leaving Wordtracker to do the hard part.

Here are a few examples which I grabbed in under 3 minutes of Wordtracker research:
(each example here with under 1000 competing pages)

At the time of writing this article.....

"house listings parry sound" -
Currently only has 90 competing pages for this exact phrase.

"Wyoming MN home listings" -
Currently only has 197 competing pages for this exact phrase.

"michigan real estate listing" -
Currently only has 197 competing pages for this exact phrase.

"Wisconsin Home listings" -
Currently only has 697 competing pages for this exact phrase.

"Central Virginia land listings" -
Currently only has 95 competing pages for this exact phrase.

"north oaks minnesota home listings" -
Currently only has 233 competing pages for this exact phrase.

2. If you are an affiliate marketer.

Instead of researching the exact product you want to explore in a phrase (for example "candlestick holders,") try using a single word like "holder" to determine exactly what type of "holders" are in highest demand with lowest competition.
You may discover many other products with much better windows of opportunity.

Examples using a root word of "holder"....(my research time here was 90 seconds - each phrase under 10 competing)

"motorcycle wheel holders" KEI 676.0
Competing pages on Google 1

" southwest pot holders" KEI 768.0
Competing pages on Google 3

"hanging vine holder" KEI 924.5
Competing pages on Google 2

"folbe fishing rod holder" KEI 1156.0
Competing pages on Google 9

".30 Remington shell holder" KEI 1444.0
Competing pages on Google 1

3. Try working with descriptive verbs.
Instead of researching a specific product using comprehensive search, try researching descriptive verbs like "new" or "old" or "rare" or "limited" or "reconditioned" or "polished" or "bronzed" or whatever...? Try using any type of descriptive terms to explore all kinds of interesting data.

4. Did you know there are differences between the written word and spoken dialog?

Instead of researching common descriptive terms, try exploring natural sounding "dialogue." Try to remember to explore "words" based on dialogue, not just on written copy. Your customers often will say things to you in their dialogue that give you a great starting place to explore data.

5. Don't forget to research and explore the world of color.
What happens if you enter a single term representing a color like "red," or "aqua" or green or any color?

6. Explore any type of data at all in terms of a root word.

Don't forget to explore everything and anything that comes to mind. From a topic you notice on the news to something that may not even be a word at all. What happens if you try to explore a number or a price like $9.95 instead of a word?

7. Instead of just thinking of your research as "keywords" try thinking in terms of your audience's "topics of interest."

8. Instead of researching keyword phrases try watching for "behavioural trends" or keywords that "tell a story."

Examples of keywords that are telling:
"miniature doll instructions" KEI 961.0
"golf swing instruction dvds" KEI 1741.0
"how to build secret compartments" KEI 280.3
"building a basement in your home" KEI 512.0
"easy build shed kit" KEI 520.0
"How to Build an Icehouse" KEI 661.0
"build a reptile rack" KEI 676.0
"how to build military bunkers out of sand bags" KEI 729.0
"how to build custom furniture" KEI 1444.0

9. Consider any type of tools that you might research using terms like "calculator" or "maps" or "directions."

10. Consider exploring topics related to specific seasons, which may be appropriate for your Web audience.

11. Consider exploring common acronyms (related to your industry) to open up more "unexplored data."

12. Try to discover and satisfy the searcher by delivering up highly valuable content that meets their needs first.
Make your objectives come second and give the searcher what they are looking for first based upon your research.

13. What if you are feeling stumped...about keyword research? Try a reverse approach.

If you feel challenged because the keyword you're researching seems to have no potential, try and explore your audience's "searching behaviour" first to see what else they want or need based on the conditions, then create the exact high quality content that they're looking for.

Examples:
Instead of common terms like "Web design" try to chunk it down to the services or special aspects you offer as a designer. You might try root words like "database" or "content" or other aspects that you offer in your services.

14. Develop your lateral thinking skills to press beyond a keyword hunt mindsest.
While most people are thinking about what keywords to use, try to expand your scope to focus on discovering the fullest possible picture of what your customer REALLY wants, what they really are doing, by simply studying their searching behavior on the major search engines.

15. Don't forget to explore the most common, everyday type single terms that most people will assume have no potential.

Example: From exploring a boring sounding word like "word"....in 90 seconds I found:

"free wedding program word template" KEI 289.1 1 competing page in Google
"Words to a Spanish Song" KEI 462.3 4 competing words in Google
"What Does the Word Hinder Mean" KEI 841.0 4 competing pages in Google
"WORD TRIVIA QUIZZES" KEI 5712.0 10 competing pages in Google
"Words That End with Letter Q" KEI 53,730.0 10 competing pages in Google

Is there any greater discovery than having an understanding of a target audience's "search behavior"?

Best described, if you are researching your data well, it's like a light coming on in your mind. It's like flipping a switch on to an huge "idea generator!" Truly it is like looking through a porthole on the world's searching behavior.

Wordtracker will give you absolutely AMAZING detail if you take time to think about it laterally and outside of the context of just a "keyword hunt." Don't let the natural tendency to "guess at keywords" stop you from exploring all of the hidden evidence that just needs a little practice to uncover. I never get tired of exploring behaviorally related trends that are easy to gather like "low hanging fruit."

READ Wordtracker Magic Volume 2.0 - Keyword Forensics for SEO

Enjoy the Best SEO Educational Resources - at a very affordable price!

Access a wealth of SEO resources, live instructional Webinars, Instructional Archives, Basic and Advanced SEO self-study courses and access over 1000 pages of detailed strategies by Robin Nobles and John Alexander in a community of SEO Professionals.

Visit the Workshop Resource Center or attend a Search Engine Academy for the ultimate in SEO Skills Accuracy.

Read a few recent SEO student success stories here!

Posted by John at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)

7 Tips to Help you improve Relationship building using your Web site

7 Tips to Help you improve Relationship building using your Web site
By John Alexander

* TIP 1: Help build relationships with your writing style.

Consider places in your Web site where you might mildly re-write your text so that it flows in a much more natural sounding dialog.

Most of us do not tend to communicate in the same way we write. Natural flowing dialog means that your reader will feel like the Web copy is "speaking to them" in a natural way. This is especially important when you are trying improve your response rate. Tiny little changes in the way your content reads can have a huge impact. The placement of important information or even the size of the font being used can make an impact. How many people could improve their business just by using their log analysis statistics to make decisions on the placement of important information.

-How long are readers staying your pages?

-Could you benefit by bringing more of your deep content to the home page so people can see what you have to offer?

-Are your Toll Free numbers big enough to be easily read?

-Could you shift a compelling offer to page that already has high visibility and get immediate benefit from it?

All easy little things to do that can make a huge difference. Communicating things in a different flow or in a different tone (especially with your specific audience in mind) can make a difference in your visitor responses and initiate more relationship potential. Have you ever tried giving your readers a non-threatening reason to respond to your page by leaving a bit of information out? The beginning of business only occurs when you are easily found and ALSO once someone chooses to respond or is compelled to respond.

* TIP 2 : Automating communications while keeping "relationships" in mind.

Many people are familiar with using a sequential auto responder, but don't think of it as just a tool to push sales.

Use your auto-responder like aweber.com to deliver communications that ad value and serve your readers or fulfill some purpose and don't forget that if you write naturally and ask for a response, you'll often get it. Even if the visitor knows it is an auto-responder if you take time to prepare quality communications and write plenty of opportunity to respond into the messages, you'll find that it works. Check out Aweber as a good tool.

* TIP 3: The XHTML Friends Network is one simple way to represent human relationships in your hyperlinks.

XFN™ is the acronym for XHTML Friends Network.

Developed by Matthew Mullenweg (who also is the developer of the semantic blogging software WordPress) along with Eric Meyer and Tantek Çelik, XFN is conceptually like other aggregation technologies, except it uses HTML vocabulary, not other markup languages.

XFN™ is a very simple way to allow you to add in how another site might be related to you when you create a hyper link.

Example of an XFN Link:

Search Engine Academy Tampa Florida

This link is stating that the Search Engine Academy South Carolina is also a friend, co-worker and colleague of Search Engine Workshops.

Here are some simple definitions:

acquaintance - is someone who you have exchanged greetings and not much (if any) more — maybe a short conversation or two.

friend - Someone you are a friend to. A buddy, home (boy|girl) that you know.

co-worker - Someone a person works with, or works at the same organization as. Symmetric. Usually transitive.

colleague - Someone in the same field of study/activity. Symmetric. Often transitive.

For more help with XFN™ visit the XHTML Friends Network.

Here is a handy XFN™ tutorial on how to get started.

Here is a XFN™ creator tool to help you create your XFN™ friendly links.

* TIP 4: Join a few Social type sites such as Digg or Del.icio.us

Join a few Social Web sites and start getting involved.
Try using OnlyWire.com which will allow you to bookmark a page with 20 different services with just one click.

* TIP 5: Build some value related lenses using Squidoo. It's 100% free!

By creating articles and content on Squidoo you can link back to your main site but also participate in the Squidoo community. Read my last article on using Squidoo.

What kind of creative strategies can you employ using Squidoo to help build your profile?

o publish an Interview
o talk about your hobbies or talk about your career
o do some affiliate marketing
o highlight an eBay auction
o sell things from Amazon
o Gather customer feedback at no cost with your own free guest book
o Incorporate visitor voting
o Choose to create content on nearly any topic you wish
o All 100% for free

* TIP 6: Join Facebook as a tool to re-establish old time friendships with people.

Facebook.com is pretty cool as a tool for connecting with old friends as well as new ones. Loads of wild and crazy time wasting applications which you may not want to activate, but I've been very interested in how people connect in Facebook and your list of contacts and networks can potentially grow very quickly.

* TIP 7: Watch this video describing the Social Graph API with Google code.

Basically the Social Graph API makes information about public connections between people easily available and useful. Watch this video.

In Summary About Using the Web for Relationship building

I have had the tremendous privilege to work with and become friends with students, webmasters and professionals from well over 87 different countries. Many of these folks have made the trip to over to attend our little hands-on SEO workshops from places as far away as Asia, Australia, Israel, London, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Africa, Spain, Norway, Japan and of course across the US and from Canada.

We have had the pleasure for many of these students of watching them grow their businesses and many of our students have made a habit of coming back for a refresher class each year just to keep up with the newest skills.

Robin Nobles and I are very privileged that many of our original students have also joined us as professional SEO associate educators and are now opening localized Search Engine Academy Workshops within local communities.

High performance SEO skills are now being taught on a steady basis right from local communities so that students can gain the freshest research, updates, re-certification of skills without needing to travel or make any lengthy trip out of town.

But none of these things would have been possible in such a young industry as the Web (when you think of how short a time the Web as even been around.) The ultimate direction that the Web is taking us, is back to the very roots of relationship building and communicating effectively with individuals and communities around us.

Every time you establish a new relationship on the Web, you never know where it will lead to or what new opportunities it will position you for. Explore all the ways of making your Web site or Blog more relationship effective and continually strive to build better long term relationships with your customers and you will take your business to new levels of exposure in so doing.

Wishing you the best of continued success. Coming up next, more keyword observations. Stay tuned!

This article was published first on Search Engine Workshops.

John

Posted by John at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)

Questions and Answers About Link Building

Questions and Answers About Link Building
By John Alexander

Question:
I know that having a continual plan to get new links to my site is very important to help my Web site be found. What is the ideal number of new links I should be trying to achieve on a monthly basis or is there an ideal number?

Answer:
One of the first things to remember is that the number or quantity of links coming in to you should not be your first consideration.

Years ago it was all about the "quantity" but these days, it is also about the "descriptive text" in the link that counts along with the authoritative aspect (how busy the site is) as well as getting links from locations that suit your audience.

Lot's of times you can benefit with links that are not huge in number, but are from authoritative sites using good descriptive link text in the link.

Question:
But are there a maximum number that I should not exceed?

Answer:
Google has said that it's best to keep the number of links on a page to 100 or less.

If you are talking about inbound links that are coming into your site, there is not a maximum number, but the one thing to keep in mind is to build your links so they are growing in moderation, in a very natural way. You would not want to have anything to inflate the volume of links coming in by a few thousand over night. That would send up a red flag.

Question:
What about building outgoing links from one of my pages. Is there a maximum number there that I should not exceed?

Answer:
One thing to remember is that while their are SEO influences realized by different aspects of linking, try and build your outgoing links so that they make sense to your readership. You are not just building links for search engines.

100 links on a page is a good maximum. Obviously you don't want a page that goes on forever with links.

Question:
I have heard that it can be a bad thing to "buy links." Is that true.

Answer:
That is true. Here is a video of what Matt Cutts has to say about buying links.

At least Google has warned about buying links on high PR sites which we have never recommended doing anyways. Basically, you don't want to do anything for the purpose of "manipulating rankings." You can buy advertising from people, but don't buy links. There really is no need to because there are so many other strategies you can use that won't get you in trouble.

Question:
Is SEO not all about manipulation of rankings anyways?

Answer:
I'm sure there are some that may think that way. But we believe that search engine optimization is simply about building high quality content that is truly relevant and useful. Content that merits good visibility because it satisfies the reason why the searcher searched.

Question:
You mentioned that there are other easy ways to build linking. It seems to us that it is an awful lot of work these days. Can you share some examples of easy ways to build links?

Answer:
Absolutely. In our Search Engine Academy Workshops we teach students lots of important ways to build genuine link reputation and link popularity as well as specific strategies in more detail. But let's give you some easy examples that really are pretty basic, but it's amazing how some people don't think about the basic things.

You may want to start by submitting your sites to directories, since directories do not involve search engine robots. Some directories pass more benefit back to you than others, but basically you want to get into a few directories even before the search robots come by. We do not recommend submitting to robots at all, that's another story. But the only way to get into a directory, is to submit to them.

TIP: Here is one stress free way of looking at directories and determining the good ones that pass benefit from the bad ones that pass know benefit.

Drop by this Web site where someone has tested all the directories and made plenty of notes for you. Just follow in the footsteps and take the advice of Martin Preece and it can save you a lot of time.

Check out this information on the best free directories and paid directories (as well as the duds)

Question:
Do you have any other basic reading or suggestions directly related to link building tips?

Answer:
We had written an e-book loaded with tips, but the book became a little bit dated so we removed it from service. We reserve our very best SEO skill building strategies for our hands-on SEO Workshop students but you can also find a wealth of material in the Workshop Resource Center Online too.

You will find a particularly revealing Webinar that you can watch with Mike Marshall throwing some new light on old myths.

Here is Robin Nobles short list of Dos and Don'ts for Link Building.

Posted by John at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2009

Things you Should Know About Google PR and Site Links

Things you Should Know About Google PR and Site Links
By John Alexander

One of the things to remember about Google PageRank is that it does contribute to relevancy in a number of ways, but it is only just one bit out of a huge range of influences. Did you know the Google PR number is somewhat out of date (usually by about 3 months) so what you see reflected in the bar does not always represent your current PR.

How high should your PR be in order to rank well?
That depends on your keyword phrase, the competitive volume for that phrase and for which industry you are using that phrase. Don't forget that Google themselves tell you there are "200 ranking signals" and PR is only just 1 influence.

Best advice is to have a PR of 4 or 5 and then stop obsessing over the PR factor.

Google PR is important primarily for in-coming links. The Google PR of the page itself does not have as much influence as it once had to for help in ranking for specific keyphrases. However, the PR of an in-coming key word phrase-relevant link does help with ranking for that specific keyphrase.

About Google site links:

What are they?

Sometimes when you do a search on Google for a phrase, you'll occasionally notice a collection of links which will appear below the result of a website.

Example: If you search for the phrase "Search Engine Workshops" on Google, what you see displayed in the search results is:

TITLE: Onsite search engine workshops taught by industry leaders Robin Nobles & John Alexander

SNIPPET
Onsite search engine workshops offer personalized SEO training and certification in search engine marketing strategies.

URL: searchengineworkshops.com - 42k

But then now note the additional Google site links that show up below the snippet description that appear as follows:

View the 5-Day Agenda Our Partners
Register Now Start-Up Tools Arsenal
Workshop Dates Articles
Student's comments here
More results from searchengineworkshops.com »

Each of these are additional links are to main pages of the website.
Theses extra links are randomly and automatically chosen by Google.

Tips about sitelinks:

-Google seems to prefer links near the top of a web page.

-Sitelinks usually only appear for more general search phrases.
(in other words for phrases being searched)

-Sitelinks show up more often on brand related searches.

- Unpopular Keywords that are not searched too often don't get
Sitelinks.

- Older Web sites seem to be awarded sitelinks more than newer sites.

-It also seems that your website has to get a certain volume of
clicks for the searched keyword.

Although theses extra links are randomly and automatically chosen by Google there is a place in Googles Webmaster tools where you can select which pages you prefer to be displayed. But there is no way to guarantee you'll get the site links as it is at Google's initiative.

Posted by John at 03:52 PM | Comments (0)

Will Future of 3D Technologies affect the SERPS?

Will the coming of new 3D Technologies Change the SERPS?
By John Alexander

Now before you think I've been watching too much science fiction, realize that these things could very well be experienced in the near future with the advent of new monitor screens, new flat screen TVs, Cell phone screens, movie theatres that are currently being worked on and being made "3D ready." The 3D process creates an image that now has some depth of field and can cause images to appear to come closer toward you or appear further in the distance somewhat replicating the natural vision we have.

There are a whole variety of applications involving "Stereoscopy" which involve the concept of showing the right eye slightly differing images than the left eye, which replicates the 3D "field of depth." It's not too far off in the distance at all.

Will the SERPs pages really display on our monitors in 3D
someday?

If we are eventually viewing video, TV and traditional advertising with a whole new world of 3D, then it is not hard to reason that the search engines will not be far behind. Anything that has had a a 2D viewing screen will be a candidate for 3D in the future.

Traditionally we saw still images in black and white. With the advent of movies, those pictures appeared to come to life because of a little thing called "persistence of vision." Then movies evolved into full color, adding another depth of realism. Then came much clearer movies with High Definition TV and the next phase is 3 dimensional images for literally anything that can be viewed on a screen. It sounds like science fiction or something out of star trek, but it's here now.

So How might the coming of 3D affect your search engine results pages?

See if you can imagine this for a second. You do a search on your favorite major search engine and watch the results come up as usual.

In the typical Golden triangle or letter "F" pattern that most of us view the SERPS in, the PPC ads are generally to the top "sponsored" area, to the extreme right side (beyond the letter F pattern) and sometimes along the bottom. But since this is just a only projection of what might be possible in the near future, let's take some liberty here.

Let's say as you view the SERPs in the future but something different begins to happen because of new 3D technology and of course assuming the search engine has applied what is needed. You are up to date with the latest 3D ready monitor screen and what you experience in the search results tomorrow, might initially be jolting to the way the average searcher views their monitor today.

Just suppose those PPC ads on the right side of the screen became even more visible by actually floating right off the screen toward you in 3D?

Suppose the top ad was closest to you and the lower ads were all just slightly off the screen. Would that not give the PPC ads even more notice?

Or alternately, just suppose certain keywords (based on your search) hovered in your face based on the SERPS allowing emphasis on topical subject matter that could be selected.

What other changes to search results might the 3D factor change to traditional 2 Dimensional viewing?

Of course this is just a simple thought, but who knows what a search results page might look like when it is occupying 3D space. The actual concepts would be up to the search engine to design and employ and we know how creative they can be with new ideas. Think about advertising and logic all mashed together with 3D technology where you don't need to wear polarized lenses, or the old red/green filters.

The magic of 3D is built into the screen and requires wearing no silly glasses to experience the effect.

The company that is making these products have developed a method for 3D that requires wearing no 3D glasses of any kind. The technology is here now and is being rolled out to all types of applications from movie theaters to video game systems and computer monitors and even cell phones. Who knows how long before it becomes the norm, but don't be surprised if you begin to see 3D being applied to cell phones soon.

My question is that if there are industries where traditionally, it has always been normal to view a 2D screen, how long will it be before a major search engine jumps on the 3D bandwagon and is creating interesting new visibility strategies and opportunities right from within the SERPS in 3D?

This article was originally published on Search Engine Workshops.

Posted by John at 02:44 PM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2009

Personalization of Search Part 4 - A Solution

Personalization of Search - A Helpful Solution to a Complex Challenge
Part 4 in a series by John Alexander

"Ranking" is not dead - it just needs to be understood in a different light.

I'll say it again, ranking is not dead - it's just different than you may have traditionally thought it was. In the future, it will continue to become more different and for SEO professionals and business owners to be truly successful and maintain visibility, it will no longer be a question of how your Web pages ranks on a traditional scale from 1 to 10, but in the future the question will be where do your pages rank for the biggest percentage of the most correct audience AND for what percentage of the time?

Read the full article in the 4 part series on:
Personalization of search - a helpful solution.

Check out our next SEO Mastery Workshop Agenda.

Save $500 on early registration if you register before Mar. 6.

Posted by John at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2009

Part 3 - Are Your Rankings Soaring - while your sales die?

Welcome to this update and several SEO related articles and tips
this week include:

1. Gain high-performance SEO skills at the next SEO Workshop Apr.
20-24
2. Part 3 - Are Your Sales Dropping as Your SEO Rankings "Soar high?"
3. Grab a Free SEO Tip of the Day
4. Find new SEO Workshop Locations in Communities across US, Canada
and in Asia
5. For United Kingdom Readers - Feb. 25, Mar. 4th and Mar. 11th
High Performance On-Screen 3-Week SEO Series
6. On-site Advanced SEO Skills Training For your company in-house

-----------------------------------------

1. Gain top high-performance SEO skills at the next SEO Workshop Apr. 20-24

Now is the perfect time to equip yourself with the most accurate SEO skills ever possible. Come join me, Robin Nobles and Michael Marshall in Philly on April 20-24.

What's new on the agenda?

--Discover what the biggest future changes are to SEO as well as the
solutions you need to implement immediately in 2009.

--At Search Engine Workshops, you gain more than "how to" knowledge
you also learn the all essential "why" elements. Now much more
than just a step by step process, but you also gain an understanding
of "why" you are doing things in a specific way. If you understand
why, you'll never fall behind.

--Discover how to conduct deadly accurate research for optimizing
any page even within the highly competitive phrases.

--Now you can discover (without guessing,) how to know exactly
which secondary and supporting terms are boosting the genuine
relevance of your copy for any targeted keyword phrase.

--How you can overcome an extremely important challenge posed by the
Personalization of Search with minimal fuss.

--How to make a significant impact the Quality Score of any PPC
landing page.

--Discover Social Media Strategies that finally make sense.

Check the newest Full 2, 3, or 5-Day Agenda here:
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/workshop_agenda.html

---------

"John, what we learned when you were here has been priceless. We set
a record day yesterday and had a record month for January. Great
stuff! I hope you are well. I would have been in touch sooner, but
our business has exploded and we have not had a free second until now."

Best Health & Regards,
Bryce Purvis - Cincinnati, Ohio

Read dozens more SEO Students success stories about this Workshop:

Get ready to take your SEO skills to a whole new level?

Make a decision to excel and SAVE up to $500 when
registering before March 1.

Registration Info:

----------------------------------------------------

2. Part 3 - Are Your Sales Dropping as Your SEO Rankings "Soar high?"
By John Alexander

The "personalization of search" is described by distinguished IBM
Engineer and first class co-author of Search Engine Inc, Mike Moran
as: "One of the biggest changes in the SEO industry since the
introduction of PPC."

You may be convinced that all looks great with your rankings but
think about it again. Are your "rankings" accurate? Are rankings
really dead as some proclaim?

No, they are just completely different than you may have thought.

Please read Part 3 of a 4 part series:

Part 3 Are Your Sales Dropping as Your SEO Rankings "Soar high?"

-----------------------------------------------------

3. Grab a Free SEO Tip of the Day

Which of these influences are most important?
They all have some importance, but if you were to pick one that had
the most influence, which would it be of these factors?

Do you know the correct answer?

A. Keyword Meta Tag
B. Keyword proximity
C. Keyword density
D. Keyword rich Domain name

The answer is at the very bottom of this newsletter.

Want a Free SEO Tip daily?

-----------------------------------------------------

4. Find new SEO Workshop Locations in Communities across US, Canada
and Asia

Check for a Search Engine Academy in your local community:
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/workshop_dates.html

-----------------------------------------------------

5. United Kingdom High-Performance On-Screen 3- Week SEO Series
Coming Next Wednesday Feb. 25, Mar. 4 and Mar. 11

Join Robin Nobles, Michael Marshall and John Alexander live on your
screen each week for the the United Kingdom SEO and Optimisation
Skills Booster Classes for 3 Wednesdays in a row:

Wednesday February 25 at 2PM to 5PM GMT
Wednesday March 4 th at 2PM to 5PM GMT
Wednesday March 11 th at 2PM to 5PM GMT

This class is for United Kindom participants only:

----------------------------------------------------

6. On-site Advanced SEO Skills Training For your company in-house

This month I have a couple of open spots for SEO consultation.
If you would like me to come to visit your organiztion to deliver
a training on-site to your team, just write to:
john at searchengineworkshops.com for a quote.

Each of our local SEO associate trainers are also pleased to quote
you for on-site projects too.

That's about all for this week. If you enjoyed this newsletter or
our free SEO tips, please feel free to pass this newsletter on to
someone, if you think they might enjoy it.

Until next time...

I wish you the very best of success in your business.

Highest regards,
John Alexander
http://www.SearchEngineWorkshop.com
http://www.SearchEngineAcademy.com
http://www.SEW-WRC.com

SEO TIP ANSWER: - Did you know the CORRECT ANSWER - B. Keyword proximity

Keyword proximity is about how closely keywords are positioned together and it is quite influential. From this small set of influences, it scores high.

While A. Keyword Meta Tag - is Of least importance to the major
search engines

and C. Keyword density - not as important as it once was - but has
some influence

D. Keyword rich Domain name - some influence but not as important as
most people tend to think.

Like the only REAL magic - the magic of knowledge.

Posted by John at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)

December 31, 2008

Easy Tips For Adding Some Zest To Your Click Through Ratios

Next a suggestion for working with your Titles that I have for you.
It is not just about rankings or visibility, but it's about improving the click through ratio for your pages.

These are just a few quick tips that you may find helpful. Try these 3 tips on some of your pages which you feel need improvement or could use a higher percentage of visitors.

Read Adding Some Zest To Your Click Through Ratios here.

Are you looking for Free SEO Tips each day? Grab them now.

Posted by John at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

Google SEO Tips On Pagerank And Site Links

One of the things to remember about Google PageRank is that it does contribute to relevancy in a number of ways, but it is only just one bit out of a huge range of influences.

Did you know the Google PR number is somewhat out of date (usually by about 3 months) so what you see reflected in the bar does not always represent your current PR.

How high should your PR be in order to be more visible?
Read Google SEO Tips on Page Rank and Site Links here.

Posted by John at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2008

Personalization of Search Video with Mike Marshall

Are you prepared for the future SEO challenges posed By the Personalization of Search?"
By John Alexander

There are 3 types of responses that we hear expressed from the professional SEO community with respect to how the personalization of search will affect the average business owner's profitability and traffic. In just a minute, I'll let you watch a video of Michael Marshall explaining these 3 responses.

But if you are wondering what all of the controversy over the issue of personalization is about, let's touch on that for a moment first.

Most of the major search engines have been gravitating towards providing a much more user friendly experience by offering enhanced personalization which can be switched on or off. The result of switching it on is that the search engine begins to gather data about the type of information you search for over time and then it has the effect of "personalizes" the search results by delivering up the most pertinent data based on an individuals search preferences.

The advantage or benefit is geared toward the benefit of the user. Over time the specific search engine seems to be able to shuffle through search results and quickly deliver the best information based on the independent searcher's interests. Not only that, but the results are shuffled based on each users interests even if 3 or 4 people are all searching on the same machine.

What this means is that the aspect of traditional "rankings" or where a Web page shows up in the results will totally depend on who is doing the search. The same search for the exact same keyword phrase, will no longer produce the same exact results to different searchers because results will be shuffled and delivered up according to each searcher's interests. Much of how you performed SEO and traditional rank checking will become obsolete since over time, you can no longer assume every user sees the same results for a specific search term. In fact as personalization becomes more widely adopted, the traditional forms of rank checking will eventually become meaningless. In the future, traditional SEO software tools for rank checking will no longer help you determine how well you are doing or what percentage of your audience is even seeing your page.

What is your reaction to the personalization of search?
What are other people saying about the "personalization of search" and it's implications to traffic and business.

Mike Moran is an IBM Distinguished Engineer, expert on Internet marketing, and the author of Search Engine Marketing, Inc., the best-selling book on search marketing.

Mike Moran has stated that:
"Personalization of search, is the biggest change to come to search marketing since pay-per-click."

SEO educator Mike Marshall, with Search Engine Academy also recently addressed the topic explaining some of the most common perceptions that are being reflected about the changes to come. Watch this short video of SEO educator Michael Marshall as he explains the 3 most common responses from people about the impact personalization will have on SEO for the future.

Watch the Video of Michael Marshall here

Posted by John at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)

December 04, 2008

7 Common Misconceptions To SEO

Today, I wanted to review 7 long held SEO misconceptions and discuss the truths. In order to separate the SEO truths from traditional misconceptions or errors, you always must first examine the truth.

For example, if an expert is trying to determine a counterfeit $100 dollar bill from a real $100 bill, he only gains insight by examining the real bill first. You could examine many different counterfeit bills for a long time and never gain any ground at all. But once you know and understand the real government issued bill, then you can spot the false things much more quickly.

This first misconception is a major misconception.

Here it is...

Misconception 1. You are "at war" with the search engines to gain top visibility. Therefore you must learn to do sneaky tricks to outsmart their algorithm. Therefore you must learn ways to beat the search engine to gain top visibility in search results.

Have you heard this story before?

While this whole concept (probably created by some marketer years ago) cleverly appeals to a perhaps a somewhat carnal side of being "sneaky" or being able to beat the search engines at their own game by using "secrets" and "tricks."

Even though the pitch may appeal to some people, the only trouble is that the concept is 100% FALSE from beginning to end. Some of you may be disappointed to hear this because for years, you thought you were at war with the search engines.

Think a little bit more and let's separate marketing pitches from the real truth.

Truth 1: The truth is that you have never been at "war with the search engines." You are not required to "outsmart" or fool" the search engines at all to gain top visibility for your Web pages.

The only one you are truly competing with for visibility is your competitors, NOT the search engines. The whole idea that you must "beat" the search engines or "outsmart" the search engines is a completely false concept.

You never need to compete with any search engine. You never need to trick it or even try to "fool it" in order to get excellent visibility.

A search engine does not really care whether you rank number 1 or not. They are fine with it, so long as you are offering relevant content that is useful and satisfies the reason why the user searched. Obviously any search engine does not want junk showing up in the results.

The only competition you have now or you have ever had, or will ever have in the future is with other competitors pages, not the search engines.

Being "sneaky" may appeal to some emotionally in a marketing pitch. It may make you even feel like the service or the course or publication will ultimately "make you smarter" somehow. But people need to learn to distinguish truth from error and you'll be blowing far less money on e-books, tool sets and memberships that appeal to the emotion but are founded on untruths.

Many marketers come across with this anger or emotion in their messages using words that are planted to trigger your emotions.

You can be sneaky...
I am angry because...
I am so embarrassed by what happened...
You are going to learn a secret...
I am going to show you something exciting!
etc...

Don't let your emotions be exploited.

Learn to recognize a marketing mailer that is attempting to exploit your emotions. Recognize these types of messages. Separate them out from communications that offer advice based on truths. I'll do an article on this in the future.

Misconception 2: You must submit your Web site to the Search Engines, therefore you need to buy our services and we will submit your site to 30,000 search engines for only $29.95 per month. The misconception here is that a submission to a search engine is beneficial.

Truth 2: You are far better employing strategies that allow search engine robots to find your pages on their own (without submitting.) Any company that bases their whole concept of traffic or SEO on submitting does not understand how search engines work themselves. If you are using this type of service, save your money. There is no valid reason to be using a submission service for search engines. It is still being offered today widespread because there are always new people coming online to be exploited.

Misconception 3: If a Web site has been banned, the person must be an evil or unethical person.

Truth 3: Search Engine Workshops reject anything related to Spam or short cuts or tricks that are outside of the search engines guidelines, but we do not believe people are "always evil." Many people that get banned or penalized by the search engines, are not even aware of SEO best practices. The only thing they turn out to be guilty of in the end, is of never having had any real structured SEO skills training.

In other words they were listening to some bad advice or perhaps were not even aware that each search engine has guidelines.

In some cases it's their Webmaster that may have gotten their site banned. Every situation is different but ultimately it's far better to gain your skills sooner than later. It is not always about good and evil but there most definitely is always a story behind the story and it boils down to user intent.

Misconception 4: SEO is a nightmare to try and learn.

It is extremely important to measure each SEO influence and get each factor exactly right. Therefore you need to research how many characters go in a title tag, keyword density, keyword prominence, keyword placement, how many keywords can go in a Meta tag plus all of the other factors for each individual search engine. This concept is what people seem to talk about because it's what some people are selling, but it is also completely false.

Truth 4: Sure you can spend your days measuring these types of things, but chances are you will be burning out after a while and getting very few success stories. This is because there are for more important things to understand that have an extraordinary impact in the results. SEO influences all affect one another, plus each search engine grades on a curve based on each specific industry.

Any researcher that tells you he is giving you the latest criteria based on these old fashion units of measurement will not make much impact. These days you are looking for the big picture, not individual influences one at a time. We have seen cases where people spend hours working on one page, when they could have dozens of pages performing for them in minimal time with much less stress. Yes I mean all 100% white hat strategies too, because these are all that we teach our students.

Misconception 5: You need to spend hours tweaking your source code each month to keep those top ranking positions. Therefore you cannot possibly manage your own in house search marketing. False again.

Truth 5: There are advantages to having your SEO handled by a professional firm that has been structurally trained. But don't buy it if someone says they must continually "tweak your code" to keep you in top place. It is just not true.

Yes, you may want them creating fresh new content. Yes, you'll want continued practices if you're Blogging maybe for example. But if a page is ranking in top spot, leave it alone. If you do look at making changes, make sure you are grabbing a look at the entire search landscape for your industry.

Misconception 6: SEO is Dead. This myth makes a great attention grabbing article headline although in my opinion it has been a little bit over-used. If you've read it, it is completely false.

Truth 6: SEO is merely more competitive these days but SEO is far from being dead. SEO is alive and well! Traditional rank checking may be dead, but SEO is most alive.

Misconception 7: There is only one correct solution to solve a specific SEO challenge. If it is not "my way," then it is the wrong way. Needless to say this is also false.

Truth 7: For any specific SEO challenge there are often multiple solutions to choose from. In many cases there are alternative strategies that are all white hat and yet very solid solutions. Don't let anyone tell you that there is only one way. Every Web site is different with different challenges and you need to be equipped with the full range of solutions.

Posted by John at 07:50 AM | Comments (0)

December 03, 2008

Will the coming of new 3D Technologies Change the SERPS

Will the coming of new 3D Technologies Change the SERPS
By John Alexander

This is a different kind of article in which I'm just posing a question to see if you think that viewing Search Engine Results in 3 Dimensions might be something that the major search engines adopt some day?

The 3D process creates an image that now has some depth of field and can cause images to appear to come closer toward you or appear further in the distance somewhat replicating the natural vision we have.

See if you can imagine this for a second. You do a search on your favorite major search engine and watch the results come up as usual.

Just suppose those PPC ads on the right side of the screen became even more visible by actually floating right off the screen toward you in 3D?

Suppose the top ad was closest to you and the lower ads were all just slightly off the screen. Would that not give the PPC ads even more notice?

Or alternately, just suppose certain keywords (based on your search) hovered in your face based on the SERPS allowing emphasis on topical subject matter that could be selected.

What other changes to search results might the 3D factor change to traditional 2 Dimensional viewing?

The magic of 3D is built into the screen and requires wearing no silly glasses to experience the effect.

Want to read more about the future of 3D coming soon?

Posted by John at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)

SEO Recon - A Completely New World of Competitive Intelligence

Chances are that if you get advice or counsel or mentoring for example from one source - and that information turns out to be powerful and effective, that you will tend to listen to that same source. Who do you choose to listen to in a myriad of conflicting opinions? The way you make choices is entirely up to you.

Do You Remember the Movie "The Matrix" (1999)
If you have watched the original blockbuster film "The Matrix" which was released back in 1999 (it's hard to believe it was that long ago) you'll recall that in the film, there was a main character named Neo, who was forced to make a choice between taking a red pill and a blue pill. Depending on Neo's choice of color, it would change his understanding and way of seeing the world.

He made his choice and what an adventure it was, based on that choice.

Read the full article about SEO Recon here.

Posted by John at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

Three Magical Keyword Research Tips for Exploring Wordtracker Data

3 Magical Keyword Research Tips for Exploring Wordtracker Data
By John Alexander

Sometimes, when we suddenly get serious about our research to meet a demand, that is the point we feel we absolutely must be as “logical” as possible. Thus we can stifle the creative latent potential that is lying available but dormant as we force ourselves to think logically.

Here are 3 great tips for using Wordtracker. These are a small portion from the E-book Wordtracker Magic 2.0 - Keyword Forensics for SEO.

Tip Number 1: Stop putting yourself under pressure.

When exploring Wordtracker data, you need to stop putting your research up against the clock and stop feeling like you need to be extremely logical. Release yourself from stress and treat it more like a mission of exploration. If you remove the pressure it will often make room for you to think much more creatively.

Allowing ourselves to be creative when exploring human behavior can open up huge rifts that might otherwise and often go completely undiscovered. Hang on to your hat, because as you allow yourself the liberty to be creative and reduce all of the usual stresses of a client’s expectation of high performance, there is new liberty to observe things that you might have ordinarily missed.

Tip Number 2: Stop thinking about keywords alone

I’ve said this before but you absolutely need to stop thinking about keywords! Sure you are going to discover important keyword phrases in the end result, but don’t start by going in exploring for specific keywords that are already pre-programmed into your mind because you *THINK* they are most important or you may just spend your time seeing only what everyone else sees.

When you are exploring or when you’re in “exploration mode” you want to discover the big windows of opportunity that most people hardly EVER see. Stop guessing and look at more than the first bit of data that makes the most sense.

Tip Number 3: Explore every notion that naturally comes into your mind.

Allow yourself to focus on "how people dialog with you." Think back to any conversations you’ve had recently with a customer. Can you recall that conversation? What did they say to you and how did they say it?

What did they ask you and how did they ask it. Let these ideas begin to come into your mind through a natural creative progression from one thought to the next.

Are you jumping off topic? It does not matter.
Our minds naturally go off topic when in a creative state. Let it happen.

Are you not thinking logically enough? It does not matter.

We are often not logical when we are in a creative state. Exploring true keyword data is one action in life where it actually pays not to be so formulated and logical. It takes practice, but once you are on a roll you won’t need me or anyone else to tell you that you’re finding especially and useful results. Before we get too deep in practice, I want you try the following short exercise to demonstrate something to you.

Quick Exercise:
Let’s demonstrate how your own creative mind works.
(You won’t get anything out of this, unless you actually try it yourself)

In three minutes see how many objects you can sketch out on a piece of paper, in which “a circle” is the main element within the design. Just use a few lines on the circles on the page to identify your ideas, which might start with maybe a wheel, a tire, a steering wheel, and so on.

Notice how your mind leaps from category to category.
Is it always logical? No.

For example, your exercise might start with a wheel, a tire, and a steering wheel; and then move into another new category, like a speedometer, a watch, and a clock; and then to still other items like a doughnut, a cookie, and a pizza; then make another leap to a plate, a saucer, an orange, a basketball, a pill, and so on.

Now this is a most natural response when we are being creative.

If our minds worked logically, we would exhaust every category and list hundreds of types of wheels before we moved on to clocks, and then list dozens of clocks. But instead, notice that our minds bound forward. In some small way this illustrates the leaps which have measured our progress. But recognizing that this is naturally the way the mind works, I encourage you to give yourself permission to explore Wordtracker in the same fashion.

Let your mind be free to observe landmarks along the way and then dig into those landmarks to reveal several levels of search behavior beyond what others are seeing.

Why are others not seeing what you will see?

The answer is simple. Their minds are pre-loaded, pre-programmed, and totally fixed on a “keyword hunt” for the keywords they are convinced are important. They do not understand the value of exploring what an audience of searchers truly want.

I call this limitation the “keyword hunt” mindset.

Don’t go into Wordtracker with a pre-established list of keywords that are subconsciously stored in your mind, but instead, go into Wordtracker with a clean slate. Learn how to let the tool sort all of the best data and then reveal the best windows of opportunity based on searches within the last 90 days.The above tips are a short excerpt from Wordtracker Magic Volume 2 - Keyword Forensics for SEO

Do you need to speed up you research skills and save hundreds of hours searching for the very best niches?

The keyword research book is available for instant download here:
http://www.Wordtracker-Magic.com