Coaching For Success
Posts tagged Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
‘Backlinks and SEO’
Jul 20th
Backlinking Building
Whether a newbie or an old hat online, most business owners are familiar with the concept and importance of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), if your not sure on this topic check are past posts on the subject. Basically SEO is the technique used to get the natural traffic to your website and Search Engines the cost free carrier to increase traffic to websites.
When your internet business site is ranked highly within natural/ organic search results your business recieves more traffic and hopefully more leads, sales etc. A major tool to help you achieve good SEO is ‘Backlinks’. Today’s post looks at what Backlinks are, how they can be used to benefit your business?
‘What is a Backlink?’
Basically a backlink is an incoming link to a Webpage on your site for example which is navigated through/from some other Webpage on the internet. It is a link coming into your site which does not neccesarily navigate to any other external link. Many search engines use an algorithm which gives weight to the amount of Backlinks a Webpage has, while assigning the page rank, ranking of your page on a search engine is determined by the number and quality of backlinks to your site. Hence Backlinks are a great tool for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
The Backlinks of a Webpage indicate the characteristics of the visitors and hence you can develop improved content on your Webpage according to the type of visitors. So Backlinks can act as guides for content development as well, also If lots of other websites provide links to your internet business website, a natural increase in traffic will occurs.
‘Why build a backlink’
It is an fairly obvious that the greater the number of Backlinks your Webpage has on external websites, the better your chances are of getting more visitors, however backlink building is not so much about quantity (although important) it is more about the quality of the links as poor link quality can have the opposite affect to the one you desired.
‘How to get good backlinks’
The basic pre-requisite for getting a backlink is putting up ‘quality content’ on your website. It is important in getting people visiting you, especially when they are visiting an external site having similar topic to yours. So, ideally it is easier to establish this type of backlink. But that does not mean you don’t have to put in any effort because you do.
The first thing to do is find places on the web which contain content related to your Webpage. This can be accomplished by doing some research on search engines using relevant keywords. You can also make use of automated tools like ‘Backlink Builder’. Some sites allow the links to be added externally, so from a list of websites of your interest, go to those ones and post your link.
A Backlink can become popular giving even more reasons for another site owner to post your link, you can post your link on relevant discussion forums, blogs etc. You can also provide free RSS feeds on different websites to attract more traffic. If your Webpage contains exclusive news then you can get a number of Backlinks naturally using this method.
‘Things to avoid’
In the pursuit of getting better ranks in SERPs some websites owners resort to ‘linkspam’, which refers to an attempts to place as many inbound links as possible regardless of the context and content of the originating site. Another poor choice to use in many cases is ‘link exchanges’, this is you put my link on your site and in return I put yours on mine.
Do not get me wrong here if both sites can mutually benefit each other by a link exchange and are of similiar standing in SERPs this could be a brilliant match, however many people simply use link exchange purely for linkings sake and to their deteriment as these types of link exchanges or link exchange sites are banned by many search engines.
Finally you should never put links on illegal websites such as child pornography, illegal download sites etc as it could earn a bad name for your business. Backlinks are one of the strongest tools for online promotion. All you need to do is to generate good quality content, promote your links and constantly monitor the traffic being generated from them.
In tommorows post we will look more closely at how to acquire good quality backlinks, the do’s and don’ts.
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.
