No problem. A real business takes time, unlike those get-rich-quick schemes floating around on the Net. So while you’re waiting, build more content pages and obtain some quality in-pointing links. These efforts will hasten the listing process along.
How can you tell when a spider visits your site?
The answer is simple. Each SE’s spider has a name, which shows up in your log files when it visits your site. For example, Google’s spider is called “Googlebot”.
Yahoo!’s is called “Slurp.”
So keep your eyes peeled for a visit from one of these friendly little creatures in your log files. Although a spider visit does not mean your page has been added to an SE index, it does mean that the SE has not forgotten about you! Your site is probably queued for addition.
If you don’t see an engine’s spider within a certain amount of time after submitting (varies for each engine), you can resubmit according to each engine’s acceptable limits. Generally though, if you haven’t been indexed and listed with 6-8 weeks, do the following…
1) Resubmit according to each SE’s protocols.
2) Build your link popularity. Quality in-pointing have a credentializing effect.
Without a few to validate your site, some SEs may be hesitant to list you in their 111
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indices. If you have no links, and you can’t seem to get listed, this is very likely the issue.
Even if you aren’t listed immediately, don’t lose heart. Every new Web business has to go through the hassle of establishing itself with the SEs.
That’s true whether you have $100 to invest in your business, or $10,000.
Keep your focus on the “C” of…
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… and making your site THE authority on your theme.
7.1.3. Check And Monitor Presence
First, the good news… you’ve been spidered! That means you’re in, right? Not necessarily. However, it does mean that the Search Engines know about you.
Yes, you are on their radar, but you may not yet be included in the databases from which they draw their results. So that leads you to your next mission…
Monitor each engine to ensure it lists your pages. Once your pages start showing up in each SE’s database, they are ready to be delivered to an eager search audience.
Hooray! Targeted traffic!
The best way to check your listings is to use Search It!…
Search It! > Indexed Pages (STEP 1) > Pages in Google (STEP 2) This query will show you every page of your domain that is listed in Google.
Repeat this search to check your presence at each of the other engines.
7.1.4. Evaluate The Performance Of Your Pages
At this point, your pages are spidered and indexed. But there is one small catch.
In order for people to visit your site, they must find it first. Being indexed is not enough. Ideally, you need to have a Top 10 listing on a SE’s search results page to get any exposure at all. Most surfers will not check out more than ten listings in their search for information.
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Luckily, you are way ahead of the curve, and miles ahead of your competitors due to this course. By building a comprehensive list of niche-focused, profitable and “in-demand” keywords, your ranking potential gets off to a roaring start and can only go upwards!
Now let’s see how you can evaluate the performance of your pages…
1) Manually -- Surf to each SE, and search for each of your KFCP’s Specific Keyword (just as a prospective visitor would). For example, let’s use this keyword, “dangers of high cholesterol,” to illustrate. Check to see where it shows up and in what position. Keep track of your results in a simple database.
2) Automatically -- Use specialized software to automate the evaluation process.
Site Build It!’s Search Engine HQ provides ranking reports for all your KFCPs.
And for any poorly performing page, SBI!’s Analyze It! tool shows you how to optimize it better.
3) Through the use of log files -- Use log file analyzer software (server or client side) to identify the keywords that people used to find you. Check with your Web host to see what kind of online traffic statistics they can provide. More than likely, though, they will not give the keyword stats that you need.
Tracking your rankings can be a long and tedious affair. If you’re not careful, it can eat into a lot of time. Instead focus your attention on those efforts that will bring your affiliate business the best results, the fastest.
7.1.5. To Tweak or Not to Tweak?
How to Avoid the SEO Quagmire
Many Webmasters, experienced and otherwise, fall into the trap of excessively adjusting or tweaking their Web pages in order to improve SE rankings. (I use the term “tweaking” to refer to the constant experimentation with keyword density and keyword placement in the various page elements.) It is absolutely essential that you avoid the quagmire of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and focus instead on building your business.
Never, except in extreme circumstances, tweak your low-performing Web pages.
If a page isn’t ranking for its Specific Keyword, don’t worry about it.
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Follow the guidance outlined so far in this course and get your on-page criteria correct (Analyze It!’s job). As you build pages, you might try experimenting by increasing or decreasing keyword presence. But once you have optimized your page as best you can, it's time to move on. Focus on creating new pages.
In the “good old days” (circa 1996-2001), the SEs were relatively simple to reverse-engineer. Tweaking efforts were generally rewarded with higher rankings, and an accompanying surge of visitors. Today, however, it’s a different story altogether.
Due to the SEs’ increasingly complex ranking algorithms, and a heightened focus on off-page criteria (which collectively form an important indicator of human approval of a Web page), the practice of “tweaking” has become a low-yield affair. The key to top rankings lies off-page (ex., credible in-pointing links from recognized authorities in your field) and not on-page with the manipulation of keyword densities.
Bottom line?
Tweaking diverts you from more fruitful efforts -- the creation of more optimized content, the acquisition of some credible in-pointing links, the establishment of joint venture partnerships, building some word-of-mouth buzz, and so on. Keep in mind that each new optimized Keyword-Focused Content Page that you create represents another opportunity to rank well at the SEs.
I'm going to repeat that last sentence because it’s such an important concept...
Each new optimized Keyword-Focused Content Page that you create represents another opportunity to rank well at the SEs.
What do you think an engine ultimately is going to prefer? 200 “Analyzed” pages that humans love or 50 pages that you've tweaked like mad?
Important Tip… We are finding evidence that the sheer size of your site counts as an “off-page” criterion. The total body of your work counts. It’s a waste of time to tweak your pages when the key to a top ranking may lay off-page, not on-page.
Trust the process. Build a content-rich site, and deliver great information about the theme related topics (keywords) that your brainstorming has found. Create Content, Content, and more Content. If you do that, your pages will deliver all the off-page criteria you need!
It always boils down to the same four letters, and “C” starts it all...
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Leave the tweaking to your competitors. Let them “fiddle while Rome burns.”
Your main priority is to build a vibrant, profitable business!
But let’s suppose that not a single one of your pages is ranking at the SEs for any of your keywords. Is there a time when tweaking your pages is appropriate?
Sure but please do run through this short checklist first before you tweak…
1) Review your keywords. Have you targeted generic, highly competitive terms (ex., health, travel, or worst of all, “Web marketing”)? If you've done your research and brainstorming well, you should have a nice blend of keywords --
from the more general, “bigger-topic” keywords (ex. “Anguilla”) which are generally best used for a home page to a range of keywords appropriately planned for TIER 2 and 3 pages (ex. “best Anguilla restaurants”).
Do not expect to rank highly for the most competitive keywords at first. They will be the last to rank well. Generally, the most focused, specific keywords will start ranking first. And that first trickle of traffic, combined with securing a few inbound links, is what starts momentum building.
Proper keyword research is one of the most important elements of building a profitable Web business. Keywords are the lynchpins to your success.
Target the wrong keywords, and you’ll get the wrong results. If all your keywords are highly competitive or generic, you’ll find it very difficult to start the momentum. Traffic starts by “eating at the edges.” Win the battles for the less competitive words first (generally TIER 3 pages, but occasionally TIER 2, depending on how the topics layout best for your site).
As your site grows, as off-page criteria grow, your overall rankings for all keywords rise steadily over time. For example, anguilla-beaches.com initially never ranked in the Top 1000 for “Anguilla.” Over time, as the site grew, more and more people found and loved her site and gave her links from other sites about Anguilla. As a result, the off-page criteria grew.
Build your site. Deliver great content for a wide variety of keywords, including some easy-to-win ones that fit with your site. Good things happen as this interview about “The Long Tail of Marketing” explains…
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OK, you have a good mix of keywords and over 20 pages, yet not a single keyword is ranking yet. What to do?
2) Double-check that you heeded all the recommendations outlined in this course. Assuming that you have and all is OK...
3) Build your site's link popularity by securing some quality in-pointing links from related credible sites. (More on this in the next section.) Still not ranking? Not even for your easiest keywords? Now's the time for some tweaking... but do not tweak existing pages. It’s still not worth it.
Instead, experiment as you build new KFCPs for easy keywords. Add an extra keyword to your Title. Increase the keyword density of your page copy. Vary the keyword prominence somewhat. Don’t be afraid to push the envelope a bit --
add here, subtract there.
Every site concept sits in its own “microenvironment.” You are not competing against every Web page in the world, just those in your particular niche. So it may take a bit more or less to “find your sweet spot.”
Before long, you will begin to rank well. Stick to the easier keywords and experiment until you do. It’s critical that you do not veer away from...
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Do not let SEO dominate your thoughts. The CTPM process simply works Some businesses start the traffic trickle within a month’s time. Others may take six months. Certain businesses take longer to mature in the SEs. What does it matter? You are building a long-term business.
Simply keep doing what you are doing. Patience rules. Every business has a hump stage... a period where you seem to be stagnating. But it will pass.
To sum up everything… Content drives the C
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Content builds authority with the SEs, garners in-pointing links from Webmasters, and builds your credibility with your visitors. Every newly optimized page offers another opportunity for top rankings.
Tweaking diverts you from creating new content. It is a low-yield, time-consuming process that derails your business, is frustrating, and puts your focus on all the wrong things.
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Your business is not SEO... it’s generating revenue from something you know and love!
SBI!’s reporting tools provide you with an informative snapshot of your site. Take the Quick Tour to see first-hand examples of the different reports…
http://quicktour.sitesell.com/
7.2. Improve Your Link Popularity…
Build Incoming Links
“Pleasing” the Search Engines and your human visitors is why it’s important for you to develop an effective linking strategy. Links are one kind of off-page criteria that measure human reaction to your content.
The more sites that link to your site, and the more important the linking sites are, and the closer the linking sites are to the theme of your site (even to the topic of individual pages), the more “popularity points” Search Engines award to your site (and page).
This chapter provides a brief introduction to link popularity. For the full overview, download the free Make Your Links WORK! available at…
http://value-exchange.sitesell.com/
Get the jump on your competition!
Search Engines consider the number of in-pointing links to a site as a way to…
1) Establish credibility. An in-pointing link from a quality, related site tells the Search Engine that another Webmaster thinks highly enough of a site to link to it.
See how the link becomes representative of human feedback? The link constitutes a vote of confidence.
And the more highly a Search Engine regards the site that provides the link, the more powerful that “vote” is! For example…
Suppose you have a Web site all about porcupines. The Web authority on porcupines decides to link to your site. In essence, this tells the SEs…
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“This is a credible porcupine resource. As such, it deserves to be listed in your database.”
This recommendation carries weight because the Web authority on porcupines already has established credibility with the SEs. Obviously, there’s no better judge of the quality of a porcupine site than a porcupine expert. Links from lesser authorities or from sites with related themes or topics (i.e., zoo, or animal sites) are helpful they don’t carry the same weight.
And what about off-theme links? Do not attempt to solicit links from sites unrelated to your topic or theme. Why would a Web site about Viagara or online casino games link to your site about porcupines? Usually it’s because they want to artificially increase link popularity, and manipulate the SEs.
The SEs don’t like to be manipulated, as it jeopardizes the integrity of their search results. So you can expect them to ignore, and at worst, penalize you for off-theme links.
2) Formulate ranking algorithms. More and more, Search Engines are factoring link popularity and link credibility (i.e., where your in-pointing links originate from) into their ranking algorithms. That’s why it’s so important not to fall into the trap of continuously tweaking your on-page criteria.
Without a few credible links, you may find it difficult to get listed in some of the major SEs (especially Google). And of course, your site won’t make it into the databases of SEs that do not permit site submission. Their spiders must find your site on their own.
The good news is that for most businesses, a very small number of credible links will do the job. 99% of most Web sites do not have many in-pointing links. (If the SEs were to weigh in-pointing links too heavily, they’d make 99% of the Net disappear!)
Of course, if your topic is much more general in scope (i.e., “e-commerce,”
“computers,” “sports cars,” and that sort of thing), obtaining links becomes more and more important.
Some people misunderstand the role of links. While links will bring in some traffic, it is a miniscule amount. A properly optimized KFCP wins hands down.
Creating content should always remain your #1 priority. Use links to build your site’s credibility with the SEs. Content is what builds traffic, not links.
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Question: When do I start building my link popularity?
That’s a good one! Don’t worry about link popularity until you have built at least 20-30 content pages. Why?
Webmasters will link only to sites of value. Quality content is the currency of the Web so you will need a sufficient amount of it before you go link hunting. To get a Webmaster’s “vote” of confidence, your site must provide some benefit to his/her audience.
Directories too, are only interested in adding Web sites of substance and value.
A more mature site will also help you impress a human editor and secure a major directory listing.
Directories Are Different From Search Engines
Think of directories as gigantic bookmark lists, organized into categories and sub-categories, and sub-sub-categories, etc. They do not spider pages. For many directories, humans review and decide what “gets in.”
If a directory was a nightclub, the editors would be bouncers. If you don’t add to the scene, you don’t make the scene!
The major directories drove significant amounts of traffic in the “good old days.” Yahoo!'s directory sent as many visitors as Google does today.
Today, you pay the $299 (commercial site fee) for Yahoo!’s directory (not their engine) mostly for the quality of the link, not for the traffic (although certain less crowded niches may still send some traffic).
The directory model has faded badly because it is human-compiled. That is simply too slow and inefficient to keep up with the rapidly growing Net.
Very few surfers use directories to perform their keyword queries because they cannot provide the breadth of diversity and relevance of search results that the major SEs can.
Bottom line? A directory listing's value today is not the traffic it brings, but the quality of the inbound link it provides.
The best directories to be listed in are managed and maintained by human editors. Every site in these directories has met a certain minimum standard of quality. If a major free Search Engine finds your listing in DMOZ.org (Open Directory Project) or dir.yahoo.com (and, to a lesser extent, the second tier human-reviewed directories), it knows your site belongs in its database as well, and deserves a couple of “quality kudo points,” too.
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credibility for a new site. Unfortunately, DMOZ is slow and Yahoo! costs $299/year for a commercial site, as much as all of SBI!.
How To Maximize Your Chances Of Acceptance
Note: These comments apply to both major directories and second tier ones (discussed in the next section).
1) Increase Number of Pages
Wait until you've built your site up to at least 20-30 pages before you submit to the directories (free and paid). Anything less is likely to be rejected for reasons of insufficient content.
2) Follow the Requirements
Each directory has a set of requirements you must follow when submitting your site. Failure to follow them can mean an immediate rejection.
Always submit to the correct category, and do not submit to more than one category.
3) Delay Monetization
Apply before monetizing (especially before you add Google/Yahoo! ads and affiliate links). Many Tier 2 directory editors are anti-commercial, as if making money somehow lessens your site. So patience pays...
Some SBIers have tried to apply to Yahoo!'s directory as non-commercial, but it’s not wise to try to fool Yahoo! this way. Since you should apply as a commercial site ($299), it’s fine to have some monetization. But don’t cover your site in Google AdSense ads. Remember, editors are human!
If you are receiving 50 visitors per day, and already have a few non-directory in-pointing links, don’t wait… Monetize!
What To Do If Rejected By A Major?
Keep things in perspective. The editor system is a subjective one. Do not let it bother you. Instead, learn.
Apply again to a month later, this time in a different category (hopefully with a different editor). But only do this after improving your site. (More details to come.)
Once you have your 20-30 high value pages, build a simple inbound link program, sprinkled with a few high-quality value exchanges (be patient) and even a couple of super-high-quality outbound-only links.
Here’s how to get your link program rolling along…
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#1) Get IN-coming links from the major directories, and second tier directories.
Second tier directories are not quite on par with the majors. That shouldn't deter you, though. Remember, you are not after the traffic from these directories. You want the valuable in-pointing link.
There are other advantages, too, that make a 2nd tier directory a valid option to consider...
• Entry is easier.
• They are also relatively cheap.
• You can generally get a good link in a relevant category, at a higher level than you would in a major. (Generally, links closer to the top level directory are worth more -- i.e., a listing in Shopping > Clothes is worth more than one in Shopping > Clothes > Women’s Clothes.)
• Your listing is not diluted by a million other links in the same category, making it more valuable to a Search Engine (the more links on a page, the less value is bestowed to each link).
Look into theme directories for your niche, along with local directories for your state/province or region. Start with these two resources...
1) Strongest Links is a list of directories that you can sort by name, Google PR, Alexa ranking, whether they have free submissions, and the cost of paid submissions.
http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php
Click on the link at the top of each column to sort the list. When you're done with that list, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link to the geographic and niche directories.
2) InfoVileSilencer is another site with a list of directories (many are not included in Strongest Links).
#2) Get IN-coming links from theme-specific sections of the major free directories.
Explore Search It!’s Inbound Link Opportunities category…
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#3) Participate in SiteSell’s Value Exchange. It is the simplest, fastest, most efficient, and (most importantly) most real way to identify high-value sites that want to link to your site.
It's also a true ethical use of the Net, exactly the way Search Engines want you to do it -- relevant sites linking to relevant sites only. See this blog post…
http://blog.sitesell.com/sitesell/2008/07/in-my-previous.html
#4) OUTbound-link with high-quality theme-related, non-competing sites as you happen to discover them in the course of normal business or surfing --
exchange links with them, if possible.
Linkage counts both ways, IN-pointing and OUT-pointing. If your outgoing
“linkees” go to an income-generating source for you, even better!
Links OUT count with the human editors of directories and your visitors, too. If directory editors see that you provide bona fide links to other quality sites, your site is more credible, a more valuable resource for their directory. Visitors appreciate being presented with quality, credible links to related material that further enhances their surfing experience.
On the other hand, nothing is more damaging to you, your credibility and your ability to build your business than linking to an inferior Web site. By providing a link, you are in essence placing your seal of approval on the linked Web site.
Should that site be of low quality, visitors will question your judgment.
The SE’s will not take a positive view of such practices either. Should you link-out to a low quality site that practices deceptive linking strategies, the SEs may penalize you. After all, you are in essence condoning such activity.
What’s the take-home message here?
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