Thursday, March 28, 2013

Search Engine Optimization Explained" Optimize, if it can be searched it can be Optimized


Optimize is one of the best books that I have read recently on the subjects of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Optimization (SMO) and integrating social media and all you efforts to bring potential customers to your webpages, online stores, and help you to generate cash from your online presence.



Optimize:
Lee Odden

 
Lee Odden has many years experience in online marketing and has worked extensively in Search Engine Optimization. He is also a successful blogger on the subject as well as a public speaker and advisor to several corporations on the subject of building consumer recognition of their brands through internet marketing.

In this book Odden, tells us that all we think we know about SEO from the past is gone. The old methods of keyword stuffing and writing for search engines is over. Apart from providing bad content where neither consumers nor those selling products really gained anything, the content of the past has now only created confusion and a mountain of poor quality ads and data which the consumer must now wade through to get to the really valuable material which carries the best value.

Lee Odden's main principle is that any item that can be searched can and must be optimized not for the search engines but for the Consumer.

If you take anything away from this book it is to change almost everything you think you know about SEO and begin to optimize all your web based endeavors from now on.

He includes tips on using video on sites such as Youtube and also sites such as Twitter and Facebook. He does not use vague claims but highlights his conclusions with case studies from the real world, corporations such as Ford Motor Company and small businesses figure throughout the book.

When you create any content on the web, never forget the purpose nor the audience and that no matter how small you are you are a business in the market of providing information and looking for a returm on your efforts.

Optimize: : How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO Social Media and Content Marketing,

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Should You Consider a Blog?

In the Questions and Answers section on HubPages and also on several forums, the questions of creating your own blog is an evergreen topic.

For my two pennies worth there are a few good reasons to have a blog as opposed to writing for HubPages.

1. You have full Editorial Control: If you are writing on your own blog you are not tied to the limitations of HubPages. You can post what you want, within reasonable boundaries, most hosting services have rules on what canbe posted on sites but they are very unlikely to pull your content because you have been idle for a few weeks.

2. Hosted Blogs are very inexpensive these days. A blog on Go Daddy or Host Gator can be had for about $6 per month.

3. You can monetize your own blog and NOT share your income with HubPages. When you publish on HubPages all ad revenue and revenue created by people viewing your work is shared with HubPages. Also items sold on your Amazon and eBay links are shared with HubPages. Fine you are happy sharing your revenue for free hosting, but revenue sharing is not really free, and if you are not a member of Google AdSense scheme you are giving your revenue to HubPages for free.

Having your own blog may not give you access to Google AdSense, but there are other cash per click options out there who might be more suitable fir your content.

4. You are responsible for your own reputation. As HubPages becomes seen as a place for poor content and marketers and spam your reputation becomes tarnished. With your own blog, you are the controller of your own public persona. You can keep your own reputation squeeky clean, and wholesome.

Ask yourself if you may reach a wider audience and make more money, being your own independent blogger.

It does take some time, two or three years to start to build a strong blog, so its not for everyone, with perseverance though blogging can be much more satisfying, publishing for yourself rather than for another organization like HubPages.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Google Panda and its Repurcussions: Two Years On

I recently came across this article by Matt McGee on the Search Engine Land website.

The article reflects on the Google Panda Algorithm release in early 2011 and examines how it affected rankings, and quality on websites such as HubPages.

I think the article will be an interesting view into the relationship between Google and HubPages.

To read the linked article click  HERE to go to Search Engine Land This is the third of three articles by Matt McGee, if you want to read the first two articles there are links on the Search Engine Land page.

I hope that you will find the article as interesting as I did.

Did Panda affect you badly?
 
Have you recovered from Panda yet?

Please feel free to leave comments and answers in the comments section below.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Many of Your Visitors are Blind to Your Advertisements

A recent report commissioned by the internet advertising specialist  Infolinks found that very few visitors to internet websites actually see your adverttising links.

As Sherlock Holmes once said to Dr. Watson, " You see but you don't observe."

Like Watson and unlike Sherlock Holmes your readers see your page but do not observe all the material on your page.  86% of people observed in the study were unable to recall advertising links even moments after they had seen a website.

What is most concerning for us who rely on advertising revenue for income is that many of those who took part in the study did not even see advertising which was directly aimed at them.

If you expand the findings this means only 14 out of 100 visitors to your site will even notice your advertisements and of these only 3 out of 100 visitors might see an advertisement and think it is relevant to their needs and possibly click through.

Infolinks are continuing the study throughout this year.

You can read a more detailed account of the report at  adotas Internet Marketing News

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Search Engine Optimization Keep Up To Date With Techniques

Probably the most important method of driving traffic to your web pages, websites and hubs is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) .

Search Engine Optimization is not a static thing. It is a constant battle between the Search Engine designers such as Google, Bing and Yahoo! and us those who post items and articles on the web.

Like in nature it is the survival of the fittest. They adapt their search engines to make it harder for us to gain a place on the top most pages of their search results. Those who care about driving traffic to their sites adapt and recreate their websites to maintain market share.

Those who ignore SEO, merely sit back and DIE.   Their websites doomed to disappear into the lost vast blackness of cyberspace only to occassionally reappear when a miraculous glitch throws them onto the unsuspecting websurfers screen.

It is therefore very important for you to stay up to date with the latest ideas on improving your SEO.

We have compiled a list of some of the very best Search Engine Optimization solutions available at this time.

These books are available from Bretsuki's Search Engine Optimization Store at Amazon

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Effect of the Loss of the HubPages RSS Feed

It is just about a month now since HubPages removed the RSS feed capsules from the sites web pages.

There is some loss of traffic to my blogs from that source. I had expected that my blogs would suffer a loss of views with the removal of the feeds to particular hubs.

Before the removal some of my blogs were receiving 70% of views from HubPages via the feeds. Now HubPages shows up as a source site in about 5% of statistical reports. So I am getting less traffic directed from there, but the real surprise from my point of view is that views have only declined by about 10% from  on some blogs 30 views per day to just 27.

The majority of traffic is now coming from Google and other search engines and more of myviews  are from non-US sources. The trend to increasing views outside the US is very strong and remains positive even after one month.

Having considered the removal of RSS Feed capsules in the light of these figures, I am changing my feelings towards HubPages.

It seems that they wanted to remove the capsules not in order to clean up the site, it seems to me that their idea was to hold readers on the site.

While my viewing figures on HubPages are rapidly declining, my blog figures are climbing.

So from here on in. I will remain as a blogger looking to control my own destiny rather than feed HubPages with posts  to promote their site over my own.

So Thank you HubPages for removing the RSS capsules. You have made my life much easier.