Metaphorical Web

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Author: namada

Back in the “old” days of a couple of years ago, search engine optimization (SEO) was all about keywords. Repeat the same phrase fifty times on your homepage and your site would pop up when that phrase was searched in Google. Thankfully for consumers and entrepreneurs alike, the search engines have wised up to such practices. With the creation of more detailed and precise algorithms, Google has come up with better ways to highlight the most relevant and trusted websites.

Just Because You Build It…
Creating a beautiful website with groundbreaking information does not guarantee high site traffic. Once the website is ready to be unveiled to the public, it is time to begin a serious marketing campaign to attract the eyes and ears of interested consumers. The best way to get this kind of exposure is to rank high in the search engine results pages (SERPS), and the best way to climb in the SERPS is to build backlinks.

Backlinking to Your Site
A “backlink” is a link from a website that leads readers back to your website. Sometimes it is a highlighted link in the middle of an article. In other cases, it may be the link in your Resource Box, at the end of an article you have written. When that article is distributed and published on other sites, the link leads readers back to your site.

The importance of backlinking can’t be over-emphasized. When a backlink to your web site from a popular and relevant site is created, Google tags a date to it, and records the actual phrase used in the link. Google then saves this information in order to establish rankings.

Getting the Most Out of Backlinks
It’s important to understand that backlinking is more about quality than quantity. The search engines operate under the assumption that not all links hold equal weight, and a backlink (also known as an “inbound link”) from a highly popular or well known site has more clout than a link from your Uncle Ted’s garden photos.

Here’s what Google has to say about how it uses backlinks to determine your page rank:

“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves ‘important’ weigh more heavily and help to make other pages ‘important’.”

So while having every member of your extended family create a link to your website from their own sites might be a great way to keep Aunt Alice up to speed, it won’t get you much love from the search gods.

How to Get Other Sites to Link to Yours
So you know how Google uses backlinks to come up with its search engine rankings. You also know that backlinks on popular, respected sites will boost your SERPS. Now the question is: how do I get those sites to link to my site?

Article marketing is an incredibly effective way to do this. When you create informative, unique content in the form of reprintable articles, websites pay attention. Plenty of well-established websites publish content from article marketing databanks, to constantly offer their site visitors fresh information. When one of these sites, or any of their visitors, publishes one of your articles, an automatic link back to your website is included and bingo, a backlink is born.

Distribute more and more articles around the Web, and you gain a steady stream of fresh, highly relevant backlinks over time. The search engines will notice, and you page rank will go up. It’s that simple.

And higher search engine ranking means more eyeballs on your website. Link simple.

Author: gaia22

Rather than creating a bogus link directory and filling it with 25,000 links, link to partners with pages that are actually indexed by search engines and have page rank. Additionally, ask them for inbound links from their pages that are indexed and have page rank. Both of you will gain more from this exchange.

There are two major ways in which you can use links. You can use them to improve your natural search engine rankings. You can do this through reciprocal link exchanges, triangular link exchanges, and viral techniques that get your links on sites. You can also purchase links on other sites or exchange links to get traffic.

While Google claims that your competititors cannot negatively affect your search engine ranking positions, there is considerable evidence to the contrary. Some unscrupulous webmasters will use a technique called ‘Google bowling’ which involves sending an unnatural amount of links to your site to knock out of a good position. If this happens, contact Google directly with a petition.

Always avoid bad linking neighborhoods when working on a link exchange campaign. In general, if the site contains spam content (i.e. generated content), too many links per page, or a massive, irrelevant link directory, it might be part of a bad neighborhood. Setting up a reciprocal exchange with such a site could get your site de-indexed or at least penalized.

Exchanging links with other webmasters to increase your page rank is an excellent way to build an asset that you will later be able to sell or to use to generate revenue. Simply creating a high page rank site qualifies as an ‘asset’, which other webmasters will be interested in purchasing or at least purchasing links from it.

If you have a high page rank, but little traffic, you can use that to barter link exchanges with sites that have a lot of traffic, but need better links, so they can switch over to receiving more natural search engine traffic. The best way in which you can do this is to seek out webmasters who own low PR sites with low alexa ratings.

The real purpose of a link directory is not to slam random links into a page, so you can make exchanges with every site on the Internet. Instead, it should be to provide an actual real, useful resource for your site visitors. If you create your directory with this in mind, it will help you improve your search engine rankings. Otherwise, it may get you banned.

If you have an usually low alexa ranking (i.e. a lot of traffic), but a low page rank, you can leverage your alexa rating to get high page rank links. You can do this by contacting webmasters will reciprocal link exchange offers and you can explain to them that they will get actual traffic by linking to you, rather than page rank.

Backlinks are an often-discussed, but rarely fully understood topic. Your site’s reputation and Page Rank depend very greatly on backlinks, so knowing what makes your backlink reputation for your site more important and have more value is the next logical step.

So, you might ask then what things affect how much a given backlink is worth towards your reputation, and what can you do to maximize your backlink value.

While there are many things that affect how much a backlink is worth to your website, many are unknown to the world that search engines, especially Google, take into account. Thankfully, we know the 5 main things that make up most of your backlink score.

Page Rank.

The page rank, or reputation, of the webpage that links to you giving you a backlink is the biggest factor. Page is ranked per page, not per website, and page rank is spread through outgoing links.

Anchor text.

This is the text showing as the link text, the underlined text you click on (not always underlined, but you get the point). This text can have a very large impact on your backlinks. Google expects to see varied link texts in a normal situation, and it has been said that Google will only count a certain number of backlinks with the same exact text. Optimally, you want your keywords are you aiming for on your website to be in your backlink text if you can help it.

Relevant sites.
it’s
Especially with Google’s Jagger update, backlinks from relevant-themed websites is worth more than from unrelated websites. This means if you have a website about cars, backlinks from other car-type sites will give you more value than backlinks from a cooking website. This makes sense, as each backlink is a recommendation or a vote, and related recommendations have more authority or hold more importance.

Location.

The location of the backlink to your website also makes a difference. The farther towards the top of the page, the more the backlink is weighed.

Age.

The age of a backlink makes a difference. It may take up to 6 months to see the full effect of a backlink. This makes it a great reason to exchange backlinks with sites whose PR has not yet gotten to where it will, as you will get even greater advantage once they do reach that level.

So, the question of the day is what stuff can you help in reality.

Page Rank may or may not be an issue, as getting in a backlink while a website is newer will gain you a good advantage in the age category once they have grown to their potential. The main to remember here is to make sure they are a website that you would want to trade links with regardless of page rank.

Location you usually do not have much of a say in, and the age is out of your hands. So, the best concept is to concentrate on trading with websites whose content compliments your own, or is at least similar in theme for the best gain. If you can, try to get your target keywords into the anchor text if at all possible. Google definitely looks at the anchor text and takes this into consideration. Varied link text has been proven to give an added edge to a website and put it over the top into the lead.

Website templates are the best way to keep a consistent standard website that makes things uniform and visually appealing to website visitors. Website templates make the starting of a new website easy and they freshen up an old website not so mind numbing.

The first step getting one of these off and running is to look at your template options. There are many online companies that offer templates that can be downloaded and used for just about any website. The choices that are out there are endless. However, you must choose the template that will be right for you and your website.

There is the standard option: The basic website template that offers no bells and whistles for the viewer. These website templates are mainly just text and pictures. This type of website template is good for websites that are designed to be informative and down to business.

Another common type of website template is that of the flash template. These come in many shapes and forms with many different varieties. Many typically have some sort of movement or visual effect that catches the observer’s eye some with sound effects. Don’t forget whenever you buy a template to ask for the source files, so in case you want to make any changes on your template in future, it is will be easier for you.

However these standard website templates may not be enough for the casual website designer. If a top of the line no holds bar check me out website is what is desired than the desired website template is going to be something along the lines of a flash with animation or 3D effects.

If there is a specific style desired then there is a website template that has it. From flowers and bunnies to military themed ones you are sure to find the template that will best suit your websites needs. The cost to download one of these templates varies based on style and source of the download. The average cost for a website template being upwards of fifty U.S. dollars.

The cost of a website template is well worth the look that can be achieved when it is used. Website templates help create an image of professionalism that will make website viewers take that website seriously. The organization that is gained from the use of these consistent website templates will keep viewers coming back for more and will allow a business to grow.

When it comes to linking strategies for your website you need to concentrate on one word. Backlinks! A backlink is defined as having your website address on another website. This creates a link pointing your visitor or a search engine back to your website. If you were in a game and were keeping score every backlink gives you a +1. An outoging link is the link of another website on yours pointing back to theirs. You would score this a -1.

If you were playing a game to win you would want the most pluses you could get. So it is with linking strategies. Here are some basic ways to get backlinks to your website.

1. You can buy a text link. Websites that get high amounts of traffic and are ranked high with the top search engines will let you pay them to put your website link on their site.

2. Forum marketing is a way to get a backlink. If the forum let’s you create a signature file you can hyperlink you website to a keyword phrase pointing back to your website. You can also list your website in your online profile and get a backlink that way,

3. Writing and submitting articles is a quick way to get alot of backlinks. Create a bio box at the end of each article with a linkfor your website . Then submit your article to as many directories as possible. Or even better yet use a software of article marketer to submit your articles for you.

These articles can be picked up by other directories, webmasters, or online newsletters and spread all over the internet giving your website a viral marketing benefit.

4. Place classified ads with popular directories like USFreeAds or AdlandPro. Upgrade to paid member and you can place unlimited ads with links pointing back to your website.

5. Blog and ping. In each blog post include a sort resource box with your website address. If you archive you posts this gives you backlinks for years to come.

6. Trade links with quality websites. We are not talking about reciprocal linking to directories with thousands of worthless links. A better strategy is to trade a link with a website that closely mirrors your site without being in direct competition to it. Also look to place their link on one of your pages that has the same page rank as the link they are giving you.

7. Post comments on other peoples blogs. Take the time to read the post before you make a comment. Don’t write something worthless like ” I like your blog.” Make your comments informative and relate to the blog post you just read. Then include yourwebsite address along with your name.

8. Internal linking can bring valuable backlinks to your home page. This would be when you put your website address in a hyperlinked keyword phrase and point it back to your home page. This is a great way to build keyword relavancy along with building up your backlinks.

These are a few linking strategies that work. There are many others. Just keep it simple and remember this simple formula.

Source: Easy2usesites KZN

Interestingly there are many people who still doubt the significance of having a business website. “Our customers don’t use the Internet,” they often claim, oblivious to the fact that a website is not just to facilitate online sales. A website performs multifarious operations right from non-stop promotion, advertising, customer relations and public relations, e-commerce, information dissemination and social media awareness. Some of the primary functions of websites are briefly mentioned below.

Customer service

As a business you constantly need to interact and communicate with your customers and clients. Your customers and clients should be easily able to contact you or avail crucial information about your business on time, and you should be able to convey important messages and make announcements in a timely and efficient matter. A website facilitates two-way communication between your business and your customers and clients.

Through contact form or e-mail present on your website your customers and clients can get in touch with you with great speed without having to be put on hold upon making a phone call. Similarly, whenever there are important announcements or product launches you can publish the updates on your business website. Every message that can have an impact on business-customer relationship can be immediately published on your business website. There are no working hours when it comes to your website; your website is accessible to your customers and clients 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

Public relations

This is somewhat similar to the point discussed above. Your customers and clients, and even journalists and analysts, can access your corporate literature at the convenience of a few mouse clicks. In case there is a misunderstanding or miscommunication you can immediately do the damage control through your business website. If some misinformation is being circulated regarding your company you can immediately clarify by publishing your side of the story on your website.

Many companies provide highly useful information on their corporate websites and this really boosts the public relations. For instance during the recent cyclone there were many business websites that actively published important phone numbers and contact information on their websites.

Leveraging existing, ongoing advertising

Your advertising effort should always be complemented with the presence of your website URL. You should make sure that the URL of your corporate website is prominently displayed whenever you publish an advertisement — whether to promote your business or to seek employees. People can go to your website for further information at their own convenience this way. The advertising space is limited but the space on your website is not. You can even encourage people to subscribe to your mailing list so that you can send updates to them now and then. If you are already publishing an electronic newsletter make sure that your website URL always appears in the newsletter.

Another great way of promoting your website URL is by printing it on your stationery. Your website link must be prominently displayed on your visiting cards, letterheads, brochures, mailers and folders; wherever they go they will have your website URL on them.

Making money

As mentioned above trillions of dollars are being spent on online transactions. Why not become a part of this massive economy? The greatest advantage of having a business website is that you can sell products and services all over the world from a tiny office in your basement. Doing business from a website is the quickest way of launching a new business and making money. Advanced and innovative websites created by Easy2usesites KZN makes sure that their clients reap great rewards by partnering with such a leading edge company.

Cost-effectiveness

Starting a new business these days is as simple as getting a website developed and then promoting it sufficiently. You don’t have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars opening an office and hiring people. Since most of the tasks are automated when you conduct business from your website there are hardly any operational costs.

Customer-demand

These days every company worth its salt has a website. This means if you don’t have a website then your competitors definitely have one and your customers are aware of that. Your customers demand that you have a website so that they can access it whenever they need to obtain information, contact you or carry out a business transaction. They deem it highly objectionable if you are reachable only during the working hours and after that you are totally gone. Agreed, that you can’t be available all the time and this is a fact that your customers are aware of too but they want your website to be available at every hour. They consider a business extremely archaic and outdated if it does not have a website.

Tracking customer trends

It’s all about information these days; those who possess data wield the real might. Your website helps you gather critical customer data by running interactive applications on your website. Your customers can immediately give you feedback and this can help you carry out modifications, with alacrity. User forums on your website allow your customers make recommendations and interact with other customers and clients. By going through their posts and replies you can make out what difficulties your customers face and what changes they want in the products and services you are providing.

You can even conduct polls on your website and offer questionnaires to your visitors to obtain their direct feedback.

Leveraging the democratic nature

The Internet is highly democratic; it doesn’t matter whether you are a small business or a big business. Everybody gets a fighting chance on the Internet. A great thing about the Internet is that although money matters, it doesn’t matter much because eventually it is your website and your perseverance that opens the doors to success. Provided you are innovative and hard-working everybody can initiate a great venture on the Internet.

Projecting a favorable image

Having a business website can work wonders with your corporate image. You can gain lots of traction by having a good-looking and highly functional website. Your website layout and structure gives an indication of your attitude towards your visitors and consequently, your business. Using latest technologies and tools to create your website conveys to your target market that you are totally at ease with contemporary technologies and are ready to invest on your online visitors.

Remember that there could be thousands of people every day searching for websites similar to your website and all these websites are competing with you in terms of looks, layout, functionalities and content. Doing well in all these sphere can really boost your corporate image.

Expand your market

The world is a global village now and everybody can participate. Stop being confined to your local market and reach out to the global market. It is as simple as launching a website. To an online customer it doesn’t matter if you are sitting next door or in another country or on another continent; he or she can simply log onto your website and carry out business with you within a couple of minutes. You don’t even have to open a local office.

On the Internet there are no barriers. People running businesses online experience the true freedom. There is no bias, there is no discrimination and nobody can particularly create hurdles. By having a website, especially a website created by Easy2usesites KZN, you can be sure of being in the driving seat of your destiny.
(ArticlesBase ID #810406)

Source: articlesbase.com

In the first few days of September, just as kids were beginning to head back to school, something rather remarkable happened: Microsoft lost its hegemony. In a vote by the various members of the ISO standards committee, managing only to come up 53% of the votes it needed to fast track the Office Open XML format for consideration as an ISO standard.

On Sept. 7, the US House of Representatives passed sweeping legislation to overhaul the US patent system by a vote of 220 to 175. The Patent Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1908), authored by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., seeks to try to restore some balance to the patent system in the face of radical changes in information technology by introducing a number of changes increasingly sought by the software industry in particular:

I have a confession to make. I’ve never had a formal class in C++ (though I’ve written quite a few). At no point did I ever get a professor spend several days trying to make me understand the significance of *,**,*void, &, ., -> or all those other rather strange glyphs that make reading C++ much like trying to understand the Chicago Manual of Style with 95% of the words removed.

A few days ago, Bank of America announced that they were raising ATM fees to non-customers to $3 in about 70% of their ATMs. No doubt this is well within their rights, but because of its unique position, for BofA to raise their fees basically gives carte blanche to most banks to raise theirs an equal amount (or more).