Posted At : September 3, 2007 8:41 AM
Related Categories: Online Marketing

Having your site penalised in the biggest search engine in the world is no laughing matter. One day you can be ranking well for your most important key phrase and the next, you're gone, nowhere to be seen. A deep search may reveal you languishing around the 450 or even worse 950 mark and that means no one is ever going to find you. This usually happens as a result of an algo tweak but what you've done with your site in the past is what's being reflected by that algo tweak now.

Clean up

The first thing to do is clean up your site. Thoroughly check for broken links, duplicate content and anything else that could be considered irrelevant or unhelpful to site visitors. Make sure that your titles and descriptions are unique to each page. Make the necessary changes to make the site as 'clean' as possible.

Content

As an ongoing process you should be adding relevant new content to your site. This content will not only keep the site fresh in the eyes of the search engines but will improve the site for your visitors and keep them coming back for more. Make sure that your content is not 'over optimised'. It's really simple - write your content for your visitors, not the search engines.

Links

Let's make no mistake here - this is what it's all about. The more relevant links to your site from good quality sites that are 'trusted' by the search engines the more chance you have of ranking well. There are 2 factors in play though - the quality of the links and the number of links and ultimately a combination of both. Extensive testing has shown that as part of the algo there is some kind of ratio 'number of quality links vs number of links'. Get this balance right and your site will fly but get it wrong and you're gone. Good quality one way links are more important and can save you from a multitude of sins including getting your site ranking well again.

Sitemap

There's no harm in adding the Google site map. If anything thing it gives you a clear indication of indexing problems that your site may have - but keep it updated. If the site map's not updated regularly and the site appears to have become stale with old content Google may reduce its indexing and caching frequency which could be an indication of loss of trust.

Re-evaluation Request

It seems that every 6 months or so Google will automatically review your site status. In your Google webmaster tools dashboard you also have the ability request a re-evaluation if you believe that your site has infringed the Google guidelines. As long as you've made the necessary changes and you're honest about the mistakes you've made you'll find your site popping back in where you expect it.

Stop changing things

Now you've made the changes (or not) forget the site. Don't be reactive to every fluctuation in the SERPs you see. Improvements don't happen overnight and you shouldn't expect to see stable results return for 6 months or so but it will happen. Be realistic and most importantly keep building quality inbound links from trusted resources and adding new unique content.

Posted At : August 29, 2007 12:09 PM
Related Categories: Online Marketing

DMOZ, the Open Directory Project or ODP, has long been considered a valuable directory from which to get a link. The process of obtaining one is, in theory, straight forward; use the submit link on the most appropriate category, enter your site details and wait for your site to be reviewed by the category editor. And wait. And wait. And wait. Once your site is reviewed, if the content is unique, appropriate and deemed to be of value to the directory users it will be included.

DMOZ forms the basis of the Google Directory and there are many clones which means getting your site listed can lead to many on-topic back links. Understand that on-topic links are the basic building blocks of good SEO and you can see why webmasters are eager to be included.

So, in theory, it's great. The problem is in the practise. DMOZ is owned by AOL and operated by a small number of paid staff and numerous volunteer editors. Because the number of submissions are so high, waiting for your site to be reviewed can take years. The limited communication between editors and submitters and the finality of editorial decisions can make it a very frustrating process. In addition, accusations of corruption, bribery and extortion taint the idea of even obtaining a link. Certainly, there are cases where some sites seem to receive preferential treatment; Wikipedia points to Topix.net, a site operated by ODP founder Rich Skrenta having over 10,000 listings.

Personally, I've had mixed experiences with DMOZ:

• I've submitted sites with informative, useful and unique content that have never been included (unless they are still waiting to be reviewed after more than 5 years)
• I've had sites removed from categories for no legitimate reason (i.e. a site being dropped from it's regional listing when the bricks and mortar address hadn't changed)
• I've had a site included in a fairly high level category in less than 24 hours. The latter was accompanied by a very helpful email from the editor offering praise and constructive criticism

Mixed experiences indeed.

So is it worth taking the time to submit? Yes. The process is straight forward and if your site is eventually included you've gained a number of valuable links and possibly some visitors (the ODP is, in places, an excellent resource). It's certainly not worth stressing over though. Asking for status reports at Resource Zone, the ODP's link to the humble submitter, achieves little and at the end of the day your site will either be included or it won't; you're better off spending your time looking for other links. Is it worth paying for a listing? I suppose that would depend on the category and the asking price. Obviously, the ODP are rigorously opposed to editors accepting money for listing sites but it stands to reason that it happens. After all, greed is a much older concept than the back link.

Update: In an interesting move, DMOZ have started a blog. The stated aims are to:

• Provide authentic messages about DMOZ and the efforts of their volunteer community
• Highlight enhancements, both current and future
• Allow editors to showcase their categories and describe, in their own words, why DMOZ is so important
• Recruit new editors

The first two points should have been available for a long, long time and, while they may provide some information of interest, don't appear to directly benefit the users of the directory or those who submit to it. The third point strikes me as total and unnecessary self-indulgence. Perhaps for the fourth they could publicise the going rate for back-handers? :)

Posted At : August 16, 2007 11:52 AM
Related Categories: Online Marketing

A re-evaluation request can see your site pop back into the index. If you think that you may have infringed the terms and conditions laid down by Google then this is your chance to own up and get things moving again. The best thing, as advised by Matt Cutts, is to be honest; they already know what you've done wrong.

Below is an example of a request sent for a site that had knowingly participated in some border-line acceptable practises but had since been completely cleaned. Obviously, not all points will be relevant but this open and honest approach worked and the site re-appeared in the SERPS within about 8 weeks.

"My site [sitename.com] in the past has participated in automated link networks which is why I believe the site is being penalised. This happened as a result of bad judgement on my part being a new webmaster at the time.

The site has moved on and a great deal of work has been done over the last 12 months to both eradicate elements that violate Google's terms and to build an ethical and reliable information resource for the UK. Work has been done for both 'on' and 'off' page elements of the site including:

On page

• Complete rework of titles and descriptive elements removing any that could be considered spam, making them more relevant to the user
• Source code has been 'cleaned' to remove any javascript elements that may be causing problems - this included a javascript banner rotator on each page
• Pages that contained unrelated links - both one way and reciprocal have been removed from the site
• During the last year over 100 unique articles covering current & relevant topics have been crafted and added to the site
• Content is updated regularly - once a week to keep the site fresh and informative
• The blog has be moved and incorporated into the rest of the main site giving visitors the opportunity to leave comments
• Server headers have been improved to include additional information

Off page

• The site & blog have been moved to a new server on a new IP address hosted in a secure datacentre
• Bad links / redirects have been removed from other sites
• Genuine ethical link building has been carried out using a combination of article submissions, press releases and site & directory submissions.

A huge amount of time and energy has been made over the last 12 months to build the site in an ethical manner. All elements that I'm aware of that could have infringed guidelines have been removed / rectified. We've learned from our experience and mistakes and will only continue to build the site in a fashion that will ultimately benefit the end user."

Posted At : June 15, 2007 4:24 PM
Related Categories: Online Marketing

One key element to any online strategy is developing affiliate programmes to help you sell your services or product. Affiliate programmes are an ideal, affordable way to increase your sales as well as to generate more income for your business. Whether you develop affiliate programmes to sell your own product through others, generate income by selling the products of others through your web site, or use a combination of both, affiliate programmes are an excellent way to generate multiple streams of income from your web site.

What are affiliate programmes?

Affiliate programmes are advertising programmes under which the owner of one web site pays other webmasters to drive traffic to his or her web site. Usually, you only pay (or get paid) if a sale results from the referral.

Why use affiliate programmes?

Using affiliate programmes is rather like employing an entire work force of commissions-only sales people to sell your product. It's an extension of word-of-mouth advertising, and a step up from simply placing paid adverts on someone else's web site. A good affiliate seller can generate hundreds of sales a week for your company by recommending your product to their web site's visitors.

Good affiliate programmes are designed to keep track of your affiliates and follow their referrals from the moment they click into your site until they leave, hopefully having made a purchase. As experts in the field of affiliate programmes, we can help you design a programme that is attractive to good affiliate marketers-those that will generate high revenue for your web site.

We'll steer you toward affiliates and affiliate programmes that are a good fit for your company, and help you avoid those affiliate markets and marketers who can ultimately damage your brand with shady tricks and dealings. We'll help you with all the software that you need to track earnings and expenditures and create special programmes for high-earning affiliates.

Posted At : June 11, 2007 3:25 PM
Related Categories: Online Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most cost effective methods of marketing - when it's done right. We'll help you fine tune email marketing campaigns to reach your most likely prospects with information that will propel them from being 'leads' to being 'valued customers'.

Many people are resistant to email marketing as a selling technique because of its association with spam, but there's an enormous difference between spam mail and a well-conceived and executed email marketing campaign to people who have readily 'opted in' to receive your mail. Done the right way includes researching your market, developing opt-in mailing lists, creating content that's relevant and interesting to your intended customers and using existing email newsletters and subscription lists as resources to get your message out to those who'll buy from you.

In order to be successful, an email marketing campaign needs to do three things:

• It needs to reach the right people
• It needs to bring a message engaging enough to capture their interest
• It needs to bring them to your web site for more information

In these days of spam blockers and email spam protection, reaching your intended market is easier said than done. It's not enough to send out thousands of emails to a random list of prospects. Email marketing campaigns that bring results start with careful research to develop targeted opt-in email lists. Why waste your time and money sending blind emails to people who'll never read them? We'll show you how to find your market and develop your own mailing lists so that every email you send lands in the mailbox of a potential buyer.

We'll also introduce you to the wide range of tools available for developing newsletters, finding newsletters to sponsor, creating opt-in mailing lists and tracking the returns and results of your various email marketing campaigns.

Posted At : June 6, 2007 3:20 PM
Related Categories: Online Marketing

What is search engine marketing?

Search engine marketing is the ever evolving art of bring traffic to your web site by ranking well in search engines. The goal of search engine marketing is to get your web site listed high in the search engine results when someone is looking for the services or products that your business provides. In order to do this, search engine marketers use a wide variety of tools including:

• Paid Placement – paying for ads (Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing) and links to be placed on search engine results pages
• Search Engine Optimisation – structuring and designing your web site and contents to attract the attention of search engines
• Link Generation – getting high value, relevant links to your web site from other web sites
• Content Generation – placing content on your web site that people want to read in such a way that the search engines find it and serve it to searchers
• Viral Marketing – the use of consumer generated content to increase your web site's visibility

One of the most difficult and confusing aspects of launching a new Internet marketing campaign is search engine marketing. How much to you optimise? What's the best way to build incoming links? How important are keywords and which ones should you choose? Every question that you answer leads you to yet another question, and tracking down the right answers can easily become a full time job in itself.

The problem is this: if you're making a full time job out of developing and implementing your search engine marketing strategy, who's taking care of your business? That's where we come in. As experts in the field of search engine marketing and optimisation, we know what it takes to get your web site noticed by the search engines, and we understand the best – and worst – ways to do it. We'll devise a search engine marketing strategy that works best for your site.

Why use search engine marketing?

Let's answer that question with a couple of statistics:

• 70% of Internet users actively block direct advertising
• 60 million people per day use search engines to find information
• 55% of Internet users use search engines to find information about local firms

In short, search engines like Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Windows Live have taken the place of the local telephone directory when people are looking for information about your business. If you want to be found, you need to put your business out there where people are looking.

We'll design a search engine marketing campaign to help you meet your goals so that you can harness the power of the Internet to power your online business.