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Best Linking Strategies

Search engine ranking experts will attest that acquiring in-bound links to your website is the best way to improve ranking. Although any link is better than no link, certain types of in-bound links are worth more weight in search engine ranking algorithms and better for link popularity. Read on to learn which types of links will shoot your website to the top of the searches.

Use the Best Linking Format
First things first. When obtaining a link from another website it is essential that the link is in the proper format for it to do any good for your link popularity. Links must be TEXT links with your keywords in the title of the link. For example you would use the following URL and title for a good link back. Link: http://www.website-url.com, Title: Keywords Go Here. Using the keywords in the title recommends your website as an authority for those keywords.
Good Links, Better Links
Though acquiring thousands of links is a good thing, a website would be better off by getting ten really good links. What is a good link? Webmasters should seek out link exchanges and one-way inbound links from authority websites, websites with complimentary (not competing) content, and niche directories (as opposed to general directories).
Your Own Links
If you have several of your own websites you can link from one site to another to improve ranking. Be sure if you use this method that linking websites have differing IP addresses, or are hosted with different web hosts to give the links more importance.
One-way Inbound Links vs. Reciprocal Links
Webmasters have banded together to improve search engine ranking through reciprocal linking efforts. Many believe, however, that reciprocal links will be inferior in the future to one-way links. These are links from websites that you don’t link back to. One-way inbound links carry the greatest weight and importance for link popularity. To generate more of these kinds of links read about Attracting In-bound Links.

Initiating Link Exchanges

Initiating Link Exchanges
Exchanging links has become an essential and important step in driving traffic to a web site and getting listed (and ranked higher) in major search engines. Soliciting link exchanges from fellow webmasters can be frustrating (and often, a total waste of time) if you go about it the wrong way. Here are some tips for increasing your success with link exchanges.

Step 1: Do Your Homework
You can’t get thousands of qualified link backs to your site by spamming every webmaster you can find an address for in one weekend. (Believe me, I tried it. It doesn’t work.) A more successful method is to choose a handful of sites that you would really benefit from having a link on their site. Study the site. Read the content. Figure out how your web site relates and where your link would fit in. Note: If there is a link on the site for submitting a URL use that instead of the contact email.

Step 2: Construct the Request
Creating a professional and successful email for a link exchange request can be tricky. Webmasters, especially ones with high ranking sites, are hit up for link exchanges daily. Your link exchange request will go straight to the trash if you don’t construct it just so. Here are some tips for constructing the request:

Be Professional- Above all be a professional. Use full sentences. Do not misspell words or use poor grammar. This instantly discredits your site.

Be Polite- You are asking a major favor of this webmaster and you had better ask nicely and ‘kiss up’ as much as possible.

Be Concise- Remember webmasters are busy, already have their finger on the delete button, and don’t want to waste time on link exchanges. Your email should be quickly scanable by the reader.

Make it Easy- Make linking to your site easy by supplying the necessary code and sample text in the email. Suggest URL’s you want to be linked from. Don’t make the webmaster think or work harder than necessary to add your link.

Bribe and Flatter- Webmasters will be much more receptive to your request if there is something in it for them. Reciprocal links, exchange services, affiliate programs, and payment are tantalizing offers for webmasters. Your link exchange request will be much more successful if you make it worth their while to link to you.

Step 3: Be Patient
Do not expect immediate results. Webmasters are busy people and may not have time to add your link the minute the email hits their inbox. Give at least two weeks before considering another request. If you choose to contact a webmaster for a second time reread their site. Think again about how your site relates and suggest another location where your link would fit in. Don’t send the same email twice. It will look like spam. Reconstruct, send, and move on if you don’t get a result the second time.

If you need help constructing the email, below is an example of an effective link exchange email request. If you can be even more concise and to the point than this, great! But this will at least get you started in the right direction:
[Webmaster Name],
I visited your web site, [Web Site Name Here] and found great information regarding [Insert Very Specific Subject Here so they know you really read their site- do not be vague or general or you are trashed!].

[If you have added a link to their site already, mention it here and give the URL of the link - ask them to approve your link to them or to recommend editing suggestions]

We have a web site dedicated to [Your Site Topic - special points of interest].

We were hoping that you’d consider linking to us and invite you to review our site at your convenience.

[If you have something to offer them in return, e.g. reciprocal link, banner ads, exchange of services tell them about it here.]

If you determine that a link to our site is appropriate, please add it at your discretion. May we suggest the following link and description:
[Your site name and URL] – [Your site description - keep it brief and focused, no fluff]

Please feel free to contact us at [Your contact details] if you would like to discuss this further.

Thanks!
[Full official signature lines here]

Calculating Keyword Density

Webmasters who have studied search engine optimization know that using keywords in Web page copy is important. But knowing about keyword density- how often to use keywords phrases and where to use them on a page can greatly affect search engine ranking. Read on to learn about optimizing your keyword content.
What is Keyword Density
While using keyword phrases in Web page text is important, what is more important is using keywords in the right relationship to other words on the page. This is called keyword density. Search engines have determined optimal keyword to content ratios and rank pages higher that use these ratios.

How Keyword Density is Determined
Keyword density is figured by using a simple formula:
Number of times keyword is used / Total word count on page = Keyword Density
How Keywords are Counted Up While the formula is generally simple, there is a variable that keeps determining keyword density and optimizing for engines an exciting game. How keywords are counted up varies depending on the search engines criteria.

For example: some engines count keywords used in the meta descriptions, image tags, title tags and the text on the page while others count up keyword usage from the body copy only. (We’ll leave the discovering of which engines count which ways up to you.)

The Right Ratio
The most essential part of optimizing keyword density is using the correct ratio of keywords-total words on your page. Keyword density ratios are discussed as a percentage. A good range for keyword density for a target keyword is 2% to 6%. Meaning, when you divide the number of times you used a keyword on your page by the total number of words on your page you should get a percent somewhere between 2 and 6.

The Wrong Ratio
Having a too high or too low keyword density can be to your page’s detriment. If the density is too low your page will be considered an irrelevant result for that keyword phrase. But don’t be fooled into thinking a higher keyword density equals a more relevant result. Search engines combat spam pages by penalizing pages with a too high keyword density, or keyword:total word ratio.

Help for Figuring Keyword Density
Calculating keyword density can get to be a real chore if you are trying to do it by hand or with a calculator alone. Luckily, there are keyword density services online that can help. There is software you can purchase, however we like to use the free service,

Meta Tag Basics

Meta Tag Basics
Understanding Meta tags is an important first step in optimizing your Web sites for search engines. Learn about the construction of Meta tags and how they are used so you can author the most effective Meta tags for your Web pages.

What is a Meta Tag?
Meta tags are commands in the HTML code, residing in the header, that instruct the browser or search engines to perform specific tasks, identify keywords, site definitions, page authors, plug-in requirements, etc. These tags are not visible to site visitors. They are only visible in the code. Simply, Meta tags describe the content of the document in which they’re written.

Where are Meta Tags Found?
Meta tags are author generated source code that is placed in the header section of an HTML document. They always go in the [head] section of the document. For example a simplified version of your HTML code may look something like this:

[html]
[head]
[title]Title Goes Here[/title]
[meta name="description" content="Description of Web Page"]
[meta name="keywords" content="keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3…"]
[/head]
[body]
[/body]
[/html]
As you can see, the Meta tags go inside the head tags along with the title tag.

Parts of a Meta Tag
Meta tags are constructed of three main parts: Meta ‘type’, ‘name’ and ‘value. And look something like this:

[meta type="name" content="value"]

The Meta ‘type’ defines whether the Meta tag will be speaking to search engines or browsers. The ‘name’ refers to what type of tag it is and the ‘value’ is the actual content of the tag.

Meta Types- NAME and HTTP-EQUIV
There are two different ‘types’ of Meta tags- “meta NAME” and “meta HTTP-EQUIV”. Meta tags with the ‘HTTP-EQUIV’ attribute are for web browsers, and Meta tags with the ‘NAME’ attribute are used primarily by indexing and searching tools like search engines.

Meta HTTP-EQUIV
Meta HTTP-EQUIV is for the web browser. These tags can indicate to the web browser how to display the page. Webmasters can specify through Meta HTTP-EQUIV tags if they would like the page to be in a specific language, cached, redirected, or refreshed after a given amount of time. (We won’t cover the specifics here, but the Emirates Network had a good article on the browser Meta tags.)

Meta NAME
Meta NAME tags are for search engines. Current popular Meta name tags that can affect search engine rankings are keywords and description:

The Meta KEYWORDS tag is used to group a series of words that relate to a website. These tags can be used by search engines to classify pages for searches.

The Meta DESCRIPTION is used to describe the document. The Meta description is then displayed in search engine results underneath the link to a web page.

An example of the meta keywords and description might look like this for a page about blue widgets:

[meta name="description" content="Blue Widgets Inc. reviews and sells blue widgets."]
[meta name="keywords" content="Widgets, blue widgets, widget sales, widget reviews"]

You don’t need to use every type of meta tag on every page, but for your general reference here is a template of the main ones:

[title]Blue Widgets for Sale[/title]
[meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"]
[meta name="description" content="Description"]
[meta name="keywords" content="keywords"]
[meta http-equiv="expires" content="30 days"]
[meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"]
[meta name="author" content="Bob Widget"]
[meta name="distribution" content="global"]
[meta name="copyright" content="Copyright 2004 www.widgets.com"]
[meta name="robots" content="index, follow"]
[meta name="revisit-after" content="30 days"]
[meta name="rating" content="Safe For Kids"]

Note to Newbies
If you are using the above code in your HTML exchange the brackets [ ] for alligators, <>.

For a more in depth discussion on how to use Meta tags for search engine optimization purposes check out our article below.

SEO with Meta Tags

SEO with Meta Tags
As the search engine optimization pendulum swings, webmasters scramble to keep on top of latest trends and methods of optimizing their web pages. Well, for all the webmasters who gave up on search engine optimization with meta tags when Google began ignoring meta descriptions and keywords, its time to put those tags back in!

While it is true that in the past meta tags were sorely abused by greedy webmasters and thus discounted by major search engines, you’ll find that meta tags, the bits of text in the header tags invisible to viewers, are still important in smaller search engines and gaining relevancy again in search engines like Google, and the comeback kid, Yahoo. For newcomers and those who have ignored Meta tags for so long they forgot the best methods for using them, here are some essentials on utilizing meta tags.

A Webmaster to Webmaster Tip
If you are creating good web pages for people (not search engines) you will succeed in the search engine optimization game. Don’t get so caught up in optimization strategies that you forget your audience, the real people who will visit your site. Chant to yourself, “People not engines, people not engines”. Make it your mantra. With that tidbit in mind, consider the following tips for making your Meta tags count. We’ll start with the three most important Meta tags- the description, keywords, and robots tags.

Writing Good Meta Descriptions
While you are still chanting, “people not engines” we’ll discuss meta descriptions. The Meta description, while not seen on the actual web page, is seen as the link description in most search engine results pages. So this description is vital for convincing viewers to click on the link. Think of it is your one-chance sales pitch.

Make the description a concise, keyword rich summary of the page.
Convince readers your page is what they are looking for rather than the 10 other links that came up in the search result.
Use keywords in a logical sentence structure, rather than a list
Be concise- search engines have maximum character allotments for descriptions.
If your description is long, make sure the keywords appear at the beginning.

For example: [meta name=“description” content=“Widgets Express sells low cost blue and gold widgets.”]

Effective Meta Keywords
This is where not following the directions can hurt. Do not keyword stuff! Your site could be banned from search engines for filling your Meta keyword tag with senseless repetition of keywords or the inclusion of irrelevant words. The object of the keyword tag is to summarize what is on the page with a list of keywords. There is also an indexable character cap for engines on the keyword tag so pick your best words. Using the Overture keyword search tool can help if you aren’t sure which words you should use on your site.

If you are in a very heated category and need the edge on your competitor you may include a few commonly misspelled keywords along with the others to catch the misspelled searches. However, misspelled words are taking up characters where you could have better keywords, so use with caution.

Robots
The other important Meta tag for webmasters to consider is the robots tag. A robots tag might look something like this: [meta name=”robots” content=”index, follow”]. The robots tag speaks specifically to search engine spiders to tell it whether or not to index a page. If you have web pages that you don’t want to be spidered, then you need to use a “no follow” tag in your Meta robots tag.

Other Meta Name Tags
Some other [Meta name= ] tags that are common are the “author” “copyright” “rating” and “distribution” tags. While these tags are useful for viewers they have no bearing on search engine optimization so we won’t worry about those in this article. Just know they exist and are basically optional for you to use. If you are considered about clogging up your HTML code with needless Meta tags, don’t use them.

A Note about Title Tags
While title tags are not actual Meta tags, they are included with Meta tags in the HTML head tags. Title tags are very important for search engine optimization. The title tag of a web page is displayed as the link on search engine results pages. Smart keyword use in title tags is very important as readers will use the title tag to decide if they will click on the link or not. For more on title tags, read our article on creating good title tags.

Advertising with Opt-in

Online advertisers are finding opt-in email marketing the smart way to reach customers, increase traffic, and save on advertising expenses. Learn how opt-in advertising works and some of the benefits for advertisers.

What is Opt-in?
Opt-in is an approach to e-mail marketing in which customers must explicitly request to be included in an e-mail campaign or newsletter. The people subscribed to a mailing list have asked to receive the information or advertising. Double Opt-In means the person requesting information must confirm their desire to receive it by responding to an email message after subscribing.

How You Come In
During the data collection process, subscribers voluntarily disclose their personal information, and have access to view a privacy policy stating that their information could be shared with third parties that have “customer relationships” with the individual. You can become that ‘third party’ by purchasing lists from email brokers.

Some of the Benefits:

Cost
Opt-in is a very cost-effective form of marketing. It costs significantly less than direct mail or telemarketing. Example: Direct mail costs between $.70 and $1.00 per contact whereas Opt-in email only costs from $.05 to $.20 per contact using opt-in brokers. Using email marketing is also much easier than time-consuming search engine optimization and banner ad campaigns for a web site.

Speedy
Not only does Online Marketing yield a higher response rate, but you can see the results almost immediately. Opt-in email campaigns are quick! From concept to final transmission, an entire email campaign can take as little as 2 days. (Imagine creating a brochure, mailing it and receiving feedback in a day. Impossible!)

Qualified Audience
Unlike any other media, opt-in email is sent only to individuals who have asked to receive information about their specific areas of interest. It is strictly permission based and demands the readers’ sole attention as it communicates to users when they are interested and ready to read on their own time. Because of the willing audience, Online marketing can yield substantially higher response rates than traditional mail or telemarketing efforts. Response rates of opt-in email campaigns (generally 3-5%) are much higher than direct mail response rates (1-2%).

Traffic
Well-executed Opt-in email campaigns with effective text, creatives, and copy can increase traffic to your web site as customers click hyperlinks to read more, learn more, and see more of your products.

Utilize Multi-Media
Opt-in email allows for some awesome advertising possibilities through multi-media and hyperlinks. Unlike ad banners or regular old brochures, opt-in emails allow for multiple links to your Web site. You can send prospects to various pages, sections and offers throughout your site. You can also use flash, audio, video, or other multi-media forms in your email to make an even more impressive presentation.

Customer Relationships
Most importantly, you can establish online relationships with your customers, resulting in a higher return on your marketing investments. Customers will hear from you often, staying informed of product changes, new services, and company news as you send out monthly e-zines and newsletters.

Where to Get Lists If you don’t already have an opt-in list to send to, you can become a third party partner for a company who does have a list. OptinInc specializes in this sort of marketing and matching up advertisers with lists. They also provide real time stats so you can monitor the effectiveness of your email campaigns

Opt-in the Spam Alternative

Webmasters, Web users, and advertisers alike can benefit from opt-in email advertising- the alternative to spam. Learn what permission based email has to offer you.

What is Opt-in?
Opt-in is an approach to e-mail marketing in which customers must explicitly request to be included in an e-mail campaign or newsletter. The people subscribed to a mailing list have asked to receive the information or advertising. Customers can easily choose to be removed from a mailing list if the advertisements are unwanted, eliminating unsolicited emails from their inbox.

Double Opt-In means the person requesting information must confirm their desire to receive it by responding to an email message after subscribing.

Opt-in Benefits for Webmasters
If you have a web site you can benefit from the use of opt-in email as a method of keeping in touch with your site viewers and driving qualified traffic to your site. Visitors to your web site could sign up for your email, opt-in newsletter to be notified of additions or changes to your service.

Since the visitors ask to receive email from you, they are willing to establish a better relationship with your site and are likely to read and respond to your emails. Webmasters who use opt-in newsetters, or e-zines, effectively can encourage visitors to check out new services, products, upgrades, etc.

Opt-in Benefits for Web Users
Say goodbye to spam and hello to newsletters and advertisements that you request from companies you care about and services you enjoy. You can sign up to receive email from individual agencies, or the third party partners of a Web service to be notified of news, changes, and other updates. You will be the first to hear about sales, deals, and news and often advertisers include coupons, or discount codes for users who respond to opt-in emails.

Caution: Unless you want a lot of ‘requested’ emails, be very cautious when agreeing to receive email offers from ‘third party partners’. Find out just who those third party vendors are and if you want to hear from them, or you may end up consenting to receiving too many offers and feel like you are back in the world of spam.

Opt-in Benefits for Advertisers
There are many benefits in conducting advertising via opt-in email. Its cheaper, faster, and more effective than other online (and traditional) marketing methods. Opt-in email lists are usually categorized for special groups, interests, and demographics. Sending out an email is free if you own your own list, or cheaper than mailing if you purchase a list. The returns are better since your audience is willing to be contacted and you can send email only to customers who are interested in your type of product.

If you are considering using pre made opt-in email lists to advertise your service see below for more on advertising with opt-in email campaigns.

FFA – Bad Neighborhoods

There are many ways to get traffic to your web site. Some ways, however, are more risky than others when considering the consequences. Included in the dangerous traffic driving methods (along with sending SPAM) is submitting your URL to FFA, or free for all sites.

What is FFA?
FFA is an abbreviation for “Free for All” and often called a “link farm”. A FFA is a links page where anyone can add a link. FFA’s utilize webpage scripts that automatically update a links listing when someone submits their URL to it- usually in hopes that either someone will view the page and click on their link, or search engines will index the page with their URL. These are often submitted to by automated programs which submit to hundreds of FFAs at a time.

Since webmasters know the best way to get listed in Google is to get their URL ‘found’ by the spider on another Google listed site, FFA’s were invented to help everyone get listed. And it wasn’t a bad idea- at first. While some webmasters have found short term success generating site link backs from link farms, the consequences of using FFA far outweigh the benefits. Here are some reasons why:

Little Traffic
Because FFA’s are a massive pile of unordered links there is little hope of getting relevant traffic from actual viewers. If you are still hoping to generate search engine traffic from a link farm, think again. Any search engine worth being listed in is already onto link farms and discounts any link relevancy from such sources.

SPAM Attack
In order to submit a URL to a link farm you must submit a valid email address. Those who have submitted to FFA’s have learned the hard way that those email addresses are sold to and violated by spammers.

Tainted by Association
Search engines are now considering link farms a violation of good search engine optimization strategy and are penalizing domains that participate in free for alls.

Stay Away from FFA
Obtaining relevant link backs from similar web sites is still the best way to improve search engine rankings and page rank, and increase the relevancy of your own site. Don’t let smooth sales pitches lead your advertising campaign into no good “free for alls”. The adage is still true, ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’, and free for all’s will definitely cost you.

Affiliate Match-up

So you have a web site, you have traffic, you have affiliate links on your site, but you are not making money. What are you doing wrong? There are many factors in creating a successful affiliate revenue earning web site, but one area many webmasters overlook is choosing the right affiliate programs to recommend from their site. Here are a few tips to help you choose the most effective affiliate programs for your web site.

Choose Complementary Products
While placing any affiliate link on your web site has the potential of making money, site visitors are not going to click on a link or banner of something they are not interested in. You can improve how often users click your affiliate link and if they will purchase, if you recommend products/services complementary to your own sites’. That way you know they will be interested in the product. For example, advertising 1-800-flowers.com on a web hosting site may not be as profitable as having an affiliate link for flowers on an online gifts web site.

Just a reminder: Don’t recommend affiliates offering the same service as your site- unless you would rather have your customers go to your competitor. This seems like common sense, but webmasters can be distracted by offers of high affiliate commissions.

Check Out the Competition
If you don’t know what types of sites would complement yours check out your competitors’ sites. Do they have affiliate links? What types of products are they recommending? Study up on the competition and see if you can improve on what they have done to provide better recommendations.

Less is More
When you sign up for affiliate networks, like CJ or Linkshare, it can be exciting to see all the affiliate programs available and the revenue you could earn from referrals. But don’t go overboard and create a “link farm”. Affiliate ‘shopping malls’, where the entire web site consists of affiliate links, are not as profitable as web sites that recommend one good product. Choose one product/service with a high bounty, that you can recommend highly. Then, steer your site visitors to affiliate links through careful copy and design.

As you choose your affiliate programs know that advertisers/merchants are usually willing to increase commissions for top referrers. You will develop a better relationship with the merchants you recommend if you are dedicated to recommending their product from a relative and relevant web site. You will see better results and have higher click-to-sales conversion rates if you choose your affiliate programs carefully.

Affiliate Tracking with Cookies

If you decide to use affiliate links on your web site you may wonder how the merchant can track the referrals and sales you send their way. How do they keep track to credit you for sales? This is done through the use of cookies. In this article we will learn more about cookies and tracking software and how to make sure affiliates get credit for their clicks.

What are Cookies?
These aren’t the kind your grandma makes. Cookies in the computer world are small text files that Web sites place in your computer to help your browsers remember specific information. For example, they might store your passwords and user IDs. They are also used to store your preferences for content or personalized pages. Most shopping carts use cookies. These allow you to choose items and leave the virtual store, then return later and find that all the items are still in your shopping cart.

Cookies are also used to build a profile of which sites you visit and which banner ads you click on. Advertisers use this information to deliver targeted ads directly to your computer. Some sites save your preferences on the cookie itself. Other sites assign users ID numbers or encoded passwords and keep records of your preferences at their end. Some sites use temporary cookies (called session cookies) that are deleted when you exit your browser. Others place persistent cookies, which stay on your hard drive for long periods. These are the kind that you hope your affiliate programs are using.

Keeping Track of Cookies
The data from these cookies is collected and automatically analyzed by affiliate program software. Tracking provides the frequency control, accounting, stats data and anti-fraud components of a campaign. Actions such as clicks, leads, sales, impressions, and returned sales can be tracked with good tracking software. Merchants with private affiliate programs may not offer tracking data for their affiliates. It is up to affiliates to make sure that they choose honest merchants to work with who will credit them for all sales in a timely manner. Trusted third parties, like Commission Junction can take care of this for both parties so cookies are tracked in a professional manner and no sales or traffic goes unaccounted for.

Cookie Duration
How long affiliates receive credit for a sale after the initial click is determined by cookie duration. This means that if a visitor clicks through an affiliate link but doesn’t purchase anything at the merchant site, and then comes back later you will still earn money for the sale. Obviously, the longer the cookie duration lasts the better for affiliates.

Commission Junction calls this the “Action Referral Period” and defines it as “The amount of time an advertiser allows their cookies to remain active for visitors that you refer to their site. Commission Junction is able to credit a referring publisher (you) for a configurable tracking duration period. This means that if you refer a visitor to an advertiser’s site, a tracking cookie is set on that visitor’s machine. Then, if that same visitor decides to buy something at the advertiser’s site or fill out a lead form within the life span of the cookie, you will still get credit for the referral. The standard duration is 45 days; however, the cookie can be set from between 1 and 120 days.”

Cookies all Around
To sum up, you make more money as an affiliate with longer cookie durations, and with affiliate programs that have effective tracking systems in place. Use trusted third party affiliate networks if you are concerned about payment and tracking. Make sure you know the cookie duration of the affiliate programs you sign up for to get maximum credit for your clicks. – All this talk of cookies calls for a glass of milk. Cheers!

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