What's Wrong with Reciprocal Links

Reciprocal links are not dead. Weren't dead before. Aren't dead now. I know it and you know it. But for just a second let's pretend otherwise.

A while back there was quite a bit of scare mongering going around the SEO industry about how reciprocal links were dead. I had a potential client once tell me that o and so big name in the SEO industry told them that reciprocal links were dead. I've said this before and I'll say it here again.

There is nothing wrong with reciprocal links. It's all about how you use implement them that matters. No, reciprocal links are not dead and now I have the proof. Last year I decided to run my own test so I could refute what I already knew to be true. Yeah, I know who cares about reciprocal links now, right?

The fear tactics have run their course and, frankly, nobody is engaged in old school mass reciprocal link swapping reciprocal link test. There you go:

Setup
Sting
Result

If all you do is look for low-quality reciprocal links that ad no value to any user's experience then, yes, that can, and should do you some harm. But don't be afraid of reciprocation. If someone links to you out of kindness, feel free to link back to them out of gratitude. It's not going to hurt you one bit and the link to you won't be devalued. Just be sure you're adding value, not reciprocating for the sake of reciprocating.

Being Listed on the First Result Page

High search engine rankings are important if you want to get more customers and more sales. Is it important to be listed on the first result page or is it enough to be listed in the top 30 results?

If you want to get visitors, you must be listed in the top 30 results A study about this topic was released last year:

"Key among the findings relating to the current search engine user community is that 62% of search engine users click on a search result within the first page of results, and a full 90% of search engine users click on a result within the first three pages of search results... Fewer search engine users are willing to click on results past the third page now (10%)."

It's time to act now

The study confirms the importance of being listed on the first result page. If your web site is not listed on the first result page, changes are that web surfers won't see your site. Many webmasters still believe that they can get top 10 rankings just by submitting their websites to search engines. This might have been true several years ago but now you have to do a little bit more to get high rankings.


How to get listed on the first three result pages on Google

Start by choosing the right keywords
This is very important. It makes no sense to target general keywords such as "business" because you have no chance of getting the number 1 listing for such a keyword. In addition, general keywords usually don't convert to sales.

The best keywords have little competition and a high conversion rate. Use this keyword analysis research tool to find these keywords.

Create a content rich
Web site that can be optimized for many different keyword combinations is site that have a content rich. The more different web pages you have the more likely it is that search engines will list your web site on the first position for a keyword and that web surfers will find your web site relevant to their needs.

Get inbound links to your web site
High search engine rankings are the result of optimized web page content and good inbound links. If you want to have rankings, your web site must have both.

Top 30 search engine rankings will bring your website more visitors and more sales if you target the right keywords.

Paid Search for the man who have 50 disruptive Internet Companies

Bill Gross has more than 50 disruptive Internet companies under his belt. Now he's looking for moneymaking opportunities in the physical world.

Some people can't stop thinking about food. Bill Gross can't stop thinking about new businesses. One of the world's great serial entrepreneurs, he's launched more than 50 startups through Idealab, his incubator in Pasadena, Calif. His track record includes both winners (CitySearch, Cooking.com, NetZero/United Online) and losers (eToys, Eve.com, Free-PC). But he's best known for inventing the pay-per-click advertising model behind Overture Services (formerly GoTo.com), the pioneering search engine he sold to Yahoo! in 2003 for $1.6 billion.

Now, after more than a decade of launching dotcoms, Gross has rediscovered the pleasures and profitability of the physical world. Idealab's current lineup is crowded with companies that make actual products: robots, 3-D printers, electric cars, rooftop solar collectors. As Gross puts it, he's much more interested today in "atoms businesses" than "bits businesses."

Become the basis for paid search
Paid search has had an impact for Google (Charts, Fortune 500) and Yahoo (Charts, Fortune 500). But it's had an impact as well on many small publishers. Just as eBay (Charts, Fortune 500) empowers people to make a business online, so many publishers use AdSense and the price-per-click model to earn money online.

About bringing search into the next phase
Cost-per-click judges how many visitors you get, but it doesn't measure how effective those visitors are. Do they actually complete a transaction at the end? Do they become a customer of your Web site? We started Snap with the explicit purpose of introducing cost-per-action into search. An action could be anything the Web site cares about: a visitor signing up for a subscription or buying a book or deciding to become one of your customers. Since we introduced Snap, other search engines are starting to blend measurable actions into their final results.

Google's controversial paid links report

It's been a couple of weeks since it became apparent that Google was penalizing link directories, at least a few of them, knocking them out of the SERPs even for their own business names. There's still no official word from Google on this, but there is plenty speculation that it wasn't algorithmic.

Editor's note:
The directory earthquake expected never really came, the penalties laid limited to a select few. Let the theorizing begin as nobody at the Googleplex is talking about it. A horse head in the directory bed; a message? Or do you think this is the direct result of selective enforcement via paid link reports? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

The reason that speculation has arisen is that though there was a seeming spate of directories hit, the number of them; up to 60 or so that we know of; is relatively small compared to the number of directories out there, hundreds or thousands passing on PageRank.

One theory suggests that people are using Google's controversial paid links report form, implemented last spring to a furious response. However, shortly after Matt Cutts' invitation to report instances of paid links, Cutts clarified that he and Google's webspam team weren't interested in reports on directories, only instances similar to what he cited on his blog.

Nevertheless, Cutts followed up that question with some rules of thumb for evaluating a directory's value:

• Does the directory reject urls? If every url passes a review, the directory gets closer to just a list of links or a free-for-all link site.
• What is the quality of urls in the directory? Suppose a site rejects 25% of submissions, but the urls that are accepted/listed are still quite low-quality or spammy. That doesn’t speak well to the quality of the directory.
• If there is a fee, what’s the purpose of the fee? For a high-quality directory, the fee is primarily for the time/effort for someone to do a genuine evaluation of a url or site.

That may or may not be a lot to consider, and given that a select few directories have been affected, it may be a cue that Google is considering it more than before. It may be just a strong message being sent, a warning to clean things up.

Avoid Stressful in Business Travel

In this view weeks, business travel is stressful. That’s a given. So how can you manage the wear and tear on your body and soul? Here are some tips from road warriors.

Exercise
You don’t need to do a full-fledged workout. Go for a walk or take the hotel stairs (unless you’re on a really high floor). If your hotel doesn’t have a fitness center, find a local gym that accommodates walk-ins.

Get a massage
Sitting in a plane, car or train for hours does take its toll. A massage works out muscle strain, improves circulation and promotes relaxation.

Tune out
Bring along an iPod or noise-canceling headphones, such as those made by Bose.

Have some fun
See a movie you wouldn’t ordinarily get to see; check out the local theater or comedy club; or go to a museum exhibit, zoo or aquarium.

Spam makes the Opportunies Gone #1

Today, spamming is a serious offense especially in the world of information technology. Because the Internet is such a wild place, most authorities regard the privacy of each person as valuable and they continue to uphold this thinking even on the Internet.

With this, the creation of opt in list had gained tremendous acceptance. Because of its viability and feasibility to most online businesses, a lot of people have realized how important opt in lists are in email marketing.

Basically, opt in list refers to the list of email addresses of people who have agreed to subscribe to your mailing list. In this way, you can freely send emails that entail promotions, brochures, new product announcements, and every aspect of your marketing campaign.

When you build an opt in list, you do not only increase the probability of being successful in email marketing but also boost your sales and profits as well. This is because building an opt in list will give you the chance to stay in contact with your customers by getting their email address.

In this manner, you can continue to promote your products and services in which they are interested in because they have opted to subscribe in your mailing list. Hence, whatever it is that you feed them, chances are, they will most likely respond positively.

In reality, building an opt in list is actually letting the people realize the charisma and magic of email marketing. In this way, spams will be avoided, if not eliminated, and will not ruin the positive image of email marketing.

Got Google's Filter Trust

It's very difficult to get high rankings before Google trusts your website. For that reason, do things that make your website trustworthy:

Start with the right keywords
It's not possible to get a top 10 ranking for highly competitive general search term such as "cars" for a new website. However, it is possible to get high rankings for terms such as "used car dealer Atlanta".

It's not just easier to get high rankings for more specific search terms, these terms are also much more likely to convert to sales. Take some time to find the right keywords for your site.

Get links to your website
It is not possible to get high rankings on Google without good incoming links. Try to get as many links from related websites as possible. If the right websites link to your site then Google will trust your website more quickly.

Optimize your web pages
While more links to your website greatly increase your chance of getting high search engine rankings, you must also tell search engines for which search terms you want to have high rankings. Optimize the content of your web pages to make sure that Google lists your website for the right search terms.

Search engines should be able to parse the content of your web pages easily. Consider this when creating a new website from scratch.

Wait and See
A website that has been online for several years is much less likely to game Google's ranking algorithms than newer sites. For that reason, your Google rankings will also increase just by waiting (given that you followed the steps 1 to 3).

If you do it correctly, getting high search engine rankings for brand new websites is possible. It's important that you do the right things in the right order.

Plan to Stay

For many entrepreneurs, growing a business from scratch is akin to raising a child, which is perhaps why so many are reluctant to let go, according to a new survey.

Of 201 business owners whose companies have at least $10 million in annual revenue, 32 percent said they have no plans for choosing a successor, according to the survey conducted by GFK Roper Public Affairs for SunTrust Bank Private Wealth Management.

While 44 percent plan to pass their business on to a family member or promote someone within the company, only 14 percent plan to sell their business to a third party.

In addition, about 70 percent of respondents expect they will remain tied to their business in some capacity, mostly as consultants or board members' even after handing over the reigns to new leadership, the survey found.

Hobbies for your business

Here is something that you should always remember for pay per click search engine (PPCSE) ideas. A wise man once said "If you make your hobby your business, you will never have to work a day in your life". I don't know about you, but I'm doing something that I love doing, like writing. It never seems like a chore, even if I'm writing about the most mundane subjects.

So if you have a basket addiction, why not setup your own PPCSE on sport. You would get thousand of advertisers in all sorts of field in the sport industry, and you might never know, promote it right and a bigger comp-any might just want to buy your small niche PPC for big bucks.

Keeping Online Businesses Profitable

Since the advent of the information technology, the Internet had been a valuable commodity to most people. Here, they find ways on how to earn more money even without having to spend more capital on building a business. Nowadays, many business people are realizing the importance of email marketing. Through emails, an online business can market their product directly through their customers.

Generally, the main purpose of email marketing is to reach their target audience as quickly and as direct as possible. They need to reach their target market so as to promote their products and services that would benefit their customers. However, some businesses use email marketing in order to maintain their contact and relationship with their customers.

The reason why email marketing has grown in such unprecedented rate is based on the fact that people in the virtual community are always hungry for information. They subscribe to information that they are interested in.

On the other hand, not all people are willing to subscribe to such information. They may be interested on your products once but may no longer be interested to buy again. Moreover, when you continue to send those emails that do not have their permissions, you can be accused of spamming.

Focus on Niche Marketing

Once upon a time there were two soft drink companies. With the names Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, each tried with all its might to lure consumers to drink its product.

A more contemporary name for segmentation in today’s business environment is niche marketing.

Why is segmentation or niche marketing important to small businesses? If you were Wal-Mart, you could conceivably be all things to all people.

But as a small business, can you afford to serve the needs of everyone? What are some other reasons to focus on niche marketing?

• Inventory costs
• Availability
• Customer service
• Separation
• Creativity

To read more about each reason, go here.

Get Ranking on Google

It is also a good idea to make sure you write in complete sentences and make your content read well. This is not just a good idea for search engine consideration but also for the reader of your page. You want them to find the page informative and easy to read. Having them come back and telling their friends about the page is important. If they find it interesting enough, they may just give you that all-important link to your page.

Here are some other things to consider about content.

The content of your page is not just limited to the words written on the page. Search engines also look at how you present your content and what you say about it. For example, every page in your site should have a title. This is the first thing written on the page such as the title to an article. When you present a title you place it as a heading. Heading tags are a way to tell the search engines this is what my page is about. To be effective your heading needs to be about the same thing as the rest of the content of your page. You can also put sub headings on the page. You can title different sections of the page with heading 2 or heading 3 tags.

Search engines also give you two places to tell them what you think your content is about. This is done through your meta title and description tags. These are the only two meta tags that most search engines look at so far as determining how they are going to rank your page. I do not even add a key word tag to any of my pages. The meta title is the place where you tell the search engine what your page is about. It can be exactly the same as the title on the page itself (your H 1 tag or page heading). Your description tag gives you the opportunity to describe the content of the page to the search engine. The description needs to be short and to the point. It should be no more than two sentences but preferably only one sentence. There is no reason a good description of a page cannot be made in one simple but complete sentence.

Last but not least is the overall content of the page. Make each page about one thing. The more topics your page talks about the less credit you get for each topic. For example you want to make a page about the three most influential people in medicine today. You can make your first page generic and mention the names of the three people and their general contributions to medicine while concentrating on making sure every paragraph is about the main topic of "most influential people in medicine". Then, if you want to go into detail about the three individual people, make a separate page about each and have them linked to from the "most influential" page.

Manage the target audience with PPC

PPC means Pay Per Click. It gives way advertising on a search engine. These are sponsored listings that you see whenever you make a search. There will be a charge whenever a visitor or web surfer clicks on any of your ads. There will first be a bidding process. The highest bidder for the price per click will definitely get the chance to be first listed in the search engine.

With this kind of advertising, you can still basically control your campaign as you get to create your own ad. You will also manage the target audience and still stay within the bounds of your budget. Most of the providers of PPC advertising will allow you to specify the target market, either by topic, industry or geographical location. You can also very well check if your ad gets to be shown at all and if it is competitive with the rest.

There are some guaranteed benefits when you get to maximize the PPC strategy.

PPC lets you advertise to the whole of the online community. It is also relatively easy to set up.

At first glance, PPC advertising may seem very expensive. Could it possibly happen that someone out there will go on clicking on your ad? This will definitely give you a large bill without the expected profit on your part. If this provides a lot of worries, be rest assured that there is a protection for you. Networks are able to recognize fraudulent clicks.

You can also set a budget for a certain period. The moment your budget has been used up by the target number of clicks, your ads will no longer be displayed until the next period you want it again displayed.

You will also be able to adjust well to changes in market demands and trends.

Get a search engine optimization - SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Some researches indicate that 60% - 70% of internet surfers and users actually resort to using the Google search engine to find and locate web sites and pages, for any topic they desire. SEO is the process taken to make sure that the internet uses will find your website when ranked among the top results of a search. This way you can make sure that you will be visible and can clearly stand out from the rest.

To get a search engine optimization, you will have to build on your own internet site frequently hit internet links to web site pages. The process will involve IBLN or Independent Back-Linking Network, wherein hundreds or even thousands of pages will be utilized to promote a particular website of a client.

In SEO, there is no need for you to pay for the clicks although it will require you to spend time doing research to get a favorable combination of ads and target audience. The SEO process is a long term one. It requires months, 6 months at the least, before the proper outcome is fully achieved, but once the goal is accomplished, you will definitely get a steady source of profit.

The figure of 50 cents per visitor

Another advantage is the simplicity of the pay-per-click process. You just bid and you're up and running. It doesn't demand any specific technical knowledge, though the more you know about search engines and keywords, the easier and more effective the process will be. The downside is that pay-per-click is essentially a bidding war. A higher bid than yours will lower your position on search engine results. This means that you will have to raise your bid to regain your position which can obviously become quite expensive, especially if you are bidding on a popular keyword.

In order to determine if pay-per-click is a cost effective form of marketing for your business, you must do some computing to figure out how much each visitor to your site is worth. You can compute this value by dividing the profit you make on your website over a given period of time by the total number of visitors for that same time period. For example, if your site made $5,000 in profits and there were 2,5000 hits, each visitor would be theoretically worth 50 cents. The basic formula is profits divided by visitors.

The figure of 50 cents per visitor is the point at which your business breaks even. The idea, of course, is to show a profit, not to merely cover your costs. Therefore, you are aiming at a figure less than 50 cents per click. Be aware that the most popular keywords often cost considerably more than 50 cents a click. The only way around this is to bid less for these phrases or you will be paying too much for each individual hit.

Between SEO and PPC

The online community is definitely a large market place that you cannot ignore, especially if you have an internet business. There are thousands if not millions of consumers that you can tap in the internet.

At the same time, the internet also poses a quite different challenge. The easy access that internet provides also gives you as much competition as you can imagine. It is too crowded and congested.

Having a website is not enough to make your business running and able to compete. You must take other alternatives to give way for the online community to access your website at any rate or chance possible.

You have to expose your website. Make it known. It has to be visible. It has to be frequently targeted by consumers and surfers.

Invest in marketing your internet site. There are basically two options available to you, the SEO and PPC. These two are probably the most desirable alternatives you can get for your internet business as strategy for search engine marketing.

• SEO
• PPC

In deciding which of the two strategies will work right for you, think of your goals and of your resources. They definitely offer benefits and advantages that will work for your good. The better way to approach this two is to evaluate according to your short term and long term plans. Take the PPC course for your short term goals and choose SEO if you have long term ones.

There world is out there for you now. Just make sure you do what will work best for your entrepreneurial endeavors and visions. The secret to success lies in your hands. Just study your options well and you’ll get exactly what you want.

PPC on Search Engine Optimization

Advertising your services or products on the Internet is both extremely effective and extremely competitive. There are several ways to go about attracting traffic to your website; PPC or Pay Per Click is one of the options you can choose from, along with developing an SEO, or search engine optimization campaign. Both pay-per-click and SEO are targeted to get your website placed as close to the top of earch engine results as possible. One of the differences is that it takes minutes to set up a pay-per-click campaign versus months for a good SEO campaign.

Pay Per Click is a simple type of paid advertising that most search engines, including some of the largest ones, now offer. It requires a bid for a "per click" basis, which translates to your company paying the bid amount every time the search engine directs a visitor to your site. There is the added bonus that when a per-click site sends your website traffic, your site often appears in the results of other prevalent search engines.

As with all marketing campaigns, there are advantages and disadvantages. If you understand the process and monitor your pay-per-click campaign frequently, it can be very effective. One of the greatest advantages is that you never have to tweak your web pages to change your position in search engine results, as you must do in a typical SEO campaign. What you do have to do in a pay per click campaign is pay a fee.

Viral Referral Traffic

I have seen this to some major sites. They have a referral script to implement a "refer a friend" feature. Remember, for this to work with great success, you have to give some form of incentive in exchange for the referral.

Viral Affiliate Program Traffic

If you have your own product or acquire a resellers right of the product made by others, opening your own affiliate program is a good traffic generator. The profit incentive is built in and you pay nothing for the publicity until an actual sale is made.

You can also consider implementing a multi-tier affiliate program with an attractive incentive plan. This will build your affiliate base like crazy and generate traffic on steroids for your site.

Viral Subscriber List Traffic

If you have built your subscriber list, not put it to work for you? Again, all you need to do is offer an incentive. One great example is for you to announce to your list that one lucky member can receive a high ticket items from you for free if they can refer say for example X number of new subscriber to your list.