Coaching For Success
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
For or Against Bothering with a DMOZ Listing!
Jul 14th
For or Against Bothering with DMOZ?
This post picks up a little from the last post on DMOZ as looking online we noticed a debate going on about whether having a DMOZ listing was still worthwhile. So we decided to do a quick post discussing the points for bothering with a listing and those against it as a summary round up of the views being put across on the subject by big players like SEOmoz who we would like to thank for their inspiration on this post. If you have a point of view on this subject we would love to hear it.
As stated in the last post, DMOZ was once seen of the mother of all Directories, The queen, the must have important link to obtain and many people still hold this view. The point for having a listing as discussed in various articles and forums are as follows:
1. Google had the directory copied originally as the Google directory, which was once linked to from their home page, it is still listed but now you have to find it in their large service list – but it is there
2. DMOZ brings direct traffic as their pages ranked well for search queries and were used directly by web visitors before Google basically cornered the market in search.
3. DMOZ received many new inbound links on a regular basis making it extremely valuable in the eyes of the search engines
4. DMOZ was an active place that was regularly used to add, review and modified links making it relevant and up to date.
5. DMOZ is still regarded as desirable by many as it seen as a status symbol, badge of honour for your website.
However the people who are not so thrilled with DMOZ arguements are equally compelling as many feel it is outdated, out of date and rendered practically useless. Below are the points made by the against camp:
1. DMOZ is practically inactive – The basis of this arguement is that many new sites aren’t being accepted and those listings that do exist are typically quite old and many just do not exist any more.
2. Big players like SEOmoz have listings in DMOZ and are not receiving more than 10 visitor a day, which only goes to prove how few people are using DMOZ.
3. The number of inbound links has dropped as people use different sources to gain links.
4. The number of people who no longer regard DMOZ as a worthwhile place to link to has increased with many companies doing very well using other link strategies with less wait time and restrictions, this includes paid directory submissions.
5. The shear number of failed submissions, due to any number of reasons including, no one to review that category and the fact that many editors are now worried about accusations levelled at them for reasons from being bribed to keep people out to bias.
6. The ROI in terms of time and effort to get a listing with DMOZ is not worth it.
These are the arguements for and against, we would love to hear your point of views on it now.
Tips For Getting Listed With DMOZ
Jul 13th
DMOZ was once regarded as the queen of all directories and is still widely regarded as a favourite by all top Search Engines. Google see sites that are listed in DMOZ as a positive thing as all sites in it are hand picked and reviewed strictly on conditions set by its editors.
It is not easy to get a listing in DMOZ and many people constantly try for many years without success. There are many people who dislike DMOZ and claim among other things bias in terms of getting listed being used.
There really is no short cut to getting listing in DMOZ, if your entry was not accepted look at the issues that may have caused this on your website. DMOZ likes good quality sites to be listed that satisfies their quality guidelines.
Here is a quick list of what it takes to get listed on DMOZ and even if you follow all of them you may still not be listed.
1. Make sure your site doesn’t violate the DMOZ guidelines. There is no point in submitting if it does or it is a duplicate site with mirrors or an affiliate site full of links. Also in keeping with this guideline make sure your site is complete and that contact details can be found. Do not try to get a listing for a multilevel marketing site or one that promotes illegal or immoral activites.
2. Contact Information: For credibility purposes this is a must, it must also be verifiable, easily found on your site and accessible.
3. Value for users: If your site is providing value for its users by having good quality articles a forum, reviews or community area then it may have a better chance of getting a listing.
4. Find the right category: Many people find they cannot get listed because they submit to the wrong category, make sure you find the right one to submit to, if there is no one category you fit into try find the most appropriate one for your sector or suggest a new category – but remember it takes time. It is also worth remembering that it may be easier to get a regional listing rather than a general one.
5. Submission Guidelines: Have a well written title tag and a good descriptive description tag. The best title tag will be your company name itself. When writing your description make sure it is not an ad, the best description will be something which falls into the category you have opted for using the DMOZ submission guidelines. Here is a link to them http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/describing.html
6. Multiple listings: Are generally not allowed.
7. Patience: After you submit your site wait for at least a year before checking again, look for anything which would have caused you not to get listed and fix them before resubmitting.
Three Tips on Search Engine Optimization especially for Small Business Owners
Jul 7th
Starting an Internet business is an exciting adventure. It requires a small initial investment, which gives Internet business owners with bright, creative ideas a good chance of success. If you are a small business owner, these three Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tips will be of great help.
Develop Great Website Content
If your website content is bland and generic, people will consider your product bland and generic. Too many sites think they can get away with writing robotic articles filled with little more than keywords, but they are wrong and it will hurt their business. This strategy will get people to their website, and get them off the website in a matter of seconds.
If you are targeting specific keywords (and you should), centre your content around those keywords. Use grammatically correct English and make the tone of your writing conversational. Also, submit articles to other websites to build your expertise.
Use Social Media
When you provide great content, you also have to provide a way for visitors to share your articles. Visit some popular websites. How many of them have Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, and other “tell your friends” links below every article? This simple feature allows your visitors to spread the word of your business just by clicking a link.
Analyze Your Success
If you have a successful Internet business, do you know if you are earning as much as you should be? A tool for analyzing visitor statistics, like Google Analytics, allows you to see how many people are coming to your site and, more importantly, from where. If you use pay-per-click campaigns, this will allow you to see how many people are coming to your site. Additionally, you will see how many of those visitors end up buying your products. This will allow you to change your ads and your landing page to see how different marketing messages, page layout, and page content affect your income.
6 Top SEO Myths Dispelled
Jul 6th
There is a lot of info out there online, some great some not so good. Online just like life there are folk tales, myths (no Dragons 
) that never seems to go away and in some instances have gained such momentum that some swear it is the truth. This post seeks to dispell some of the common SEO myths in the pursuit of clarity for the already information overloaded internet business owner. In reverse order:
Myth #6 – JavaScript links cannot be crawled
This is not really true Google and many other top search engines now go out of there way to spider JavaScript-based links and pass PR through them. If you are attempting to hide pages from being crawled, you will have to format links that you don’t want crawled for PageRank in a much more complicated way using iframe elements or generate them with JavaScript that is defined off the page. Remember to disallow the /iframe, iframe source file or .js file in your robots.txt file.
Myth #5 – 404 pages are significant to your SEO
Ok this one just keeps coming back like bad Freddie Kruger movies, Yes it is important but it will not help your SEO. Usability is important for all sites but this is not SEO, a search engine will stop when they get a 404 whether there is anything on the page or not so basically does PageRank and any link benefits attached to the page.
Myth #4 – XML sitemaps help improve site rankings
XML site maps like 404 pages are really for usability, for that purpose do create them. Many people would say they are important to SEO as it might help you get your site indexed which has merit, however for the effort you put in it will not improve your sites rankings or increase keyword relevance and does not pass PR.
Myth #3 – Being W3C compliant aids SEO
This one is always interesting as in the pursuit of a good site, we do believe your site should be compliant, however it seems at odds with search engine providers logic to only list pages based on compliance rather than relevance and hence give a PageRank according to that sites compliance. Providers such as Google are more likely to consider on-page factors, link importance and link relevance. This may not be the case for mobile web users as in that instance it would make more sense to make the results shown based on friendliness of the pages using valid XHTML documents.
Myth #2 – there is an ideal keyword density
This one is a biggy as lots of SEO tools claim the ability to determine what keyword density should be used on a landing page. This software will usually look for sites ranking well for a keyword/phrase and average the density of those pages to give you a score. Many of the tools do not take into consideration off-page factors which may well increase the pages popularity. It is best to keep your keyword density around 2 – 3% although there is no particular percentage that you should target.
Drum roll please
Myth #1 – Duplicate content will get you penalized
This is the biggest myth out there in SEO and is the most misunderstood issue. Many SEO articles and people will say that duplicate content can hinder your rank and get you penalised.
Don’t get me wrong here it is not really a good thing to have duplicate content and it could potentially hurt your rank, however it is not that simple. Anyone writing content knows how hard it can be to write a totally original piece as so much information on many topics is already out there. Unique (i.e not found in that format) content is best but really this is a grey area.
When Search Engines find pages with the same content they will attempt to find the original source using factors like PageRank, domain age and trust, the site determined to be the original source will then get the SEO benefits from the content. Basically leaving the duplicate content site owner with no ranking or being indexed in supplementary pages essentially making the content of no use to the that site owner.
Only in extreme cases like whole sites or parts of whole site duplication (cloning) will your site be penalised and or removed from search engines.
Really this problem is easy to avoid as there are many article twisters/spinners out there; most are free, that will allow you/ help you rewrite the duplicate content. Equally sites like copyscape.com can also help you ensure that your content is as unique as possible.
Hopefully this post will help business owners put aside some of the myths so they can continue to build a successful business without worrying too much about the SEO myths whilst concentrating on the real job of Search Engine Optimisation.
Internet Marketing Service Experts: Should You Hire Them?
Jul 2nd
An Internet Marketing Service Provider Can Help You Put The Internet Business Puzzle Together for Success.
Should you hire Internet marketing service experts or not? The correct answer is – it depends. Think about the following issues and you will come up with the right answer on your own.
How Internet savvy are you? If you can honestly say you are an expert user, doing Internet marketing on your own will be much easier. From a purely technical point of view, understanding tools and methods such as Facebook, Twitter, search engine optimization, pay-per-click and analytics tools is a challenge. Even if you are a proficient consumer of Internet services, you will find yourself confused when it comes to being a provider of online services.
How familiar are you with marketing? Even if you know how to use all the different tools, you will not be able to use them well for your Internet business if you do not understand marketing. Knowing the basics – price, products, place, and promotion is good. Then you need to have a well-designed marketing plan. Finally, you need to combine that knowledge with technical know-how to design ads and campaigns that will appeal to your target audience.
How interested are you in Internet marketing? If you are the kind of person who just wants to use Internet to do business, learning how to market your products can be a time-consuming endeavor that just frustrates you and drags you away from what you really enjoy doing. You will find yourself learning how to do things you would rather have somebody else do, while the thing that really gets you excited is pushed in the background.
To make the right choice for yourself, make a quick cost-benefit analysis. Assess your current knowledge of Internet technologies and marketing. Then find out how much time you would need to learn to do that job on your own. Include the cost of any books or seminars you would need to purchase. Then calculate how much money you would make doing the job you are actually good at. If, after all this, it makes more sense to focus on your core business and leave Internet marketing to an expert, hire one. Otherwise, do it on your own.
For a small business owner looking to start an Internet business, it can be hard to add the cost of hiring an Internet Marketing Service provider to all the other costs. But good services of a qualified professional will soon pay off and end up saving you a lot of money.
