Written By: Sujan Patel On September 27th, 2007 | No Comments
There has been a lot of information floating around the Internet regarding dashes and underscores. A writer at CNET reported that he heard Matt Cutts speak at WordCamp 2001 in July and Matt said that underscores in URLs were either “now†or “soon to be†treated as word separators by Google.
However, on August 10th Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land reported the Matt Cutts was informing everyone that reports of Google treating underscores as word separators is not yet happening.
Matt Said: “I wouldn’t consider it a completely done deal at this point. But note that I also said if you’d already made your site with underscores, it probably wasn’t worth trying to migrate all your URLs over to dashes. If you’re starting fresh, I’d still pick dashes.”
So, Dashes and Underscores Are Not the Same
On August 10th Matt Cutts discussed this issue in his blog and said that they had someone looking into it, but it was not a done deal. On August 25th Matt discussed the issue again and recommended people continue to use dashes
Why Does This Even Matter?
You need to see an example to understand. If your URL says http://blahblah/purple_widgets Google will not see the word “purple†or “widgetsâ€. It would see purple_widegts as one word, so essentially someone would have to search for “purple_widgets†to find you in the SERPs.
What About the Other Search Engines?
On August 2nd Barry Schwartz reported that he contacted the other search engines to see how they handled underscores and dashes/hyphens. He said that Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask.com confirmed that they do treat underscores the same as dashes.
Web sites need Google to do well, so obviously optimizing for Google is very important. The best thing we can do, for now, is to continus to use dashes/hyphens as word separators.
Written By: Sujan Patel On September 26th, 2007 | 2 Comments
Search engine optimization is great in that it can create nearly instant results across some major platforms. Imagine, you can add a page of content to your site and have it up in the rankings in literally weeks at most across Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and others…
Hold it. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Let’s dissect this a bit and integrate the age old proverb of “Haste Makes Waste”. With SEO, if you try too hard and go too quickly, you’re going to regret it.
First Things First
You should never create a page for the purpose of ranking in the search engines for one specific term. Sound crazy? That may be the case, but effective SEO has to be available from the ground up. Posting new pages without first thinking things through will result in some serious long term issues.
You site can become a bear to navigate… There will be a dozen pages speaking to the same exact issue, all focusing slight variations on what should be there and available for content. In short — you’re going to ruin your site if you’re too aggressive.
So let’s relax and develop a plan…
1. Design with optimization in mind: Design your site’s architecture such that text links are available as a form of navigation. When you post a new page of content, make sure it has the basics in place like complete META tags, page titles, etc. In other words, do the dirty work right out of the gates!
2. Check everything twice: Imagine having a great page, optimized well, with strong content and backlinks in place — only to find it not appearing in the results. After months of effort, you go back and realize that you’ve coded something like the title tag incorrectly, or worse yet, had a misspelling sitting there in plane site in a major area of site content. It can be disastrous, but it can also be easily avoided. Spell check your work. Check the validity of all pages you launch… and make sure you’ve done your due diligence on gaining inbound links from the most appropriate sources.
3. Use Sitemaps and a Robots.txt: There are to major protocols that you should use actively to help your search needs. The first is to police where spiders can grab content from on your site — and it’s called the robots.txt file. Next are sitemaps like Yahoo’s Site Explorer and Google Sitemaps available in Google Webmaster Tools. Both of these services help to show where all of the pages are on your site while also offering up direct links and proprietary scoring to each individual page.
4. Focus on your users: Google tries to hammer this point home in their guidelines, but it really is true after a certain point on your site. If you want to create a great online experience and have people coming back often — do your best to improve things. Ranking in the engines may help get you more visitors — but there is little good in more visitors who are uninspired to take action.
Written By: Sujan Patel On September 24th, 2007 | No Comments
4 tips to consider if you want your articles to do well on Del.icio.us:
1.Creating lists about your niche and inform the reader as much as possible.
2.Create “How To†articles and consider making it a list. Lists to really well on Del.icio.us.
3.Discuss your success in grand terms, “How I increased my income by 47%!â€
4.Funny lists and humorous articles tend to do well.
Tips to on How to Become a del.icio.us Power User and Increase Your Traffic!
1.Bookmark everything you like - The more marks the better, but you don’t want to just bookmark anything. As with all social media sites, del.icio.us users are looking for good information
2.Tag Effectively - del.icio.us is all about the tags and the tags are going to help you find articles later. You can use multiple tags, but don’t stuff this section.
3.Add Your Favorite Bloggers to Your Network - When people check you out they tend to look at your network.
4.Use Your Inbox - you can get subscriptions in your inbox, add favorites and network through this area. The inbox is your central command.
5.Get some Subscriptions - You can use tags, such as SEO, and you will get articles on SEO. When you subscribe you find great articles and begin networking with others. You get your name and site out there. So, subscribe to tags that relate to your blog or business.
6.Browse - when you have time browse for interesting articles. This will help you add more favorites, find great writers and network.
7.Share Your Links - Share links you find with people that will be interested.
8.Add a Link Roll to Your Blog - You can add a link roll to your blog and publish your bookmarks or you can publish some of the RSS feeds you read. Remember, you are trying to establish yourself as a power user and when you feature bookmarks and RSS feeds from other sites/blogs people will appreciate it.
9.Add a Del.icio.us Badge to Your Site - The badge will display your username, your bookmarks and it quickly lets people add you to their network.
10.Stalking Others Can Be A Benefi t- If you know who is watching you and or what articles people admire are reading you can learn more and network more effectively. You can either check other user’s inboxes. Just use this url- http://del.icio.us/inbox/Username. You will be able to see what they read, what subscriptions they have and who they have bookmarked.
Written By: Sujan Patel On September 20th, 2007 | No Comments
Pay per click advertising is a necessary evil, even for the most experienced search engine optimization professionals. From geo-targeted to advanced site targeting, paid search campaigns are becoming increasingly important to the success of marketers everywhere. Running a successful campaign is not enough. Running a successful campaign while eliminating useless keywords and pricing issues is more important now than ever.
Quality Score
Proprietary scoring systems like Google’s quality score cause headaches for many advertisers. Expressing your concerns with Google (or others) directly is a great way to get some one on one time on how to make the most of your paid search campaigns.
Turn Off Content Matching
If you’re on AdWords, be sure that you have opted not to use content matching. It tends to be used primarily for branding, and any clicks you do generate tend to cost a bit while also serving as unproductive traffic.
Use Position Preferences
If you’re trying to test out a campaign without breaking the bank, be sure to use the position preferences to your advantage. Find out what it’s like to be the fourth advertiser down in your market versus being at the top. You will not only save some money, but you may be able to reflect back on the information and decide which keywords and phrases performed best for you.
Don’t Rule Out Secondary Engines
Secondary engines like MIVA and ABCSearch are both great examples of how you can generate cost effective listings (usually $0.05 to $0.10 per click). Use these services to test out larger and more natural search terms that would otherwise break your bank on Google, Yahoo or MSN.
Have Quality Analytics in Place
While this should go without saying - it needs to be said. Quality web analytics, especially those that will interface with systems like Google AdWords, are key. Analytical reports and data will help you to see where people are coming from, what they’re interested in, etc. More importantly, if you can begin to identify keywords that aren’t producing results - you can remove them in pure confidence.
Written By: Sujan Patel On September 19th, 2007 | No Comments
Most of us know Facebook as a social network to connect with our college friends. Now that Facebook is open to everyone, how can businesses benefit?
Is Facebook is succeeding as entertainment and as rolodex for your friends, or is it serving a useful business purpose? Business users are joining it because it is the hot new platform and everyone is talking about it. So, how do you leverage it for business?
1)You can create applications using the Facebook Platform. This is a great viral marketing platform and proves very effective for 1-to-1 marketing.
2)You can use Facebook as a focus group to evaluate ideas and to your Facebook applications. Also Facebook groups allow you to create groups for your organization.
3)If you rely on access to people, Facebook is for you. You can build your network and leverage your friend’s network.
4)A blog is a business card whereby Facebook is a rolodex. Did you meet a prospect at an event or social gathering and then add them as a friend? Now you can see what their interests are, and more importantly, see a picture of them so next time you meet them you will be able to recognize the face and the name. You will also be able to get introduced to new prospects via your friends.
5)One to one marketing is possible on Facebook. You will know your friend’s demographic as well as psychographic information.
6)Do you have a business blog? You can now import your posts directly into Facebook via Facebook Notes
7)But, I think the best business feature is market research. Following the interests of your friends and the groups that you join, allows you to spot trends. Ask questions and tap into the collective intelligence of Facebook.
So, if you are not using Facebook for business now is the time to start.
Written By: Sujan Patel On September 17th, 2007 | No Comments
Netscape is a socially driven web site that has over 5,000,000 unique visitors every month. You can participate in Netscape four different ways:
- Read the Content – There are many ways you can find articles you are interested in:
- Netscape has “Netscape Anchors Recommend…†which is typically hot world-wide news stories and it is located at the very top of the page. Tabs with different subjects allow you to scan through subjects quickly.
- There is a “Today’s Hot Stories Submitted and Voted by You†section and the stories with the most votes are located on the home page.
- On the far right there is a “Channel†box with many subjects to choose from. You can find specific articles you are interested in with this feature. You can also sign up to receive an RSS feed from the channel you are interested in. An RSS feed of the home page is also available.
- Vote or Sink Content – It is very easy to vote. You either click “Vote!†or “Sinkâ€.
- Comment on Articles – You will see a link to “Discuss†on the list of search results you receive. If you click on the title of a story you will see the discussion below the article summary.
- Submit Content Yourself - This is as simple as adding the URL, a title, a quick summary of the article and then choosing the right subject area to submit it to. You will want to add some tags, but don’t make the tags too specific. For example, “HP Pavilion Entertainment PC†will not be searched for very often, if at all, but “Laptop†or “Notebook Computer†will. When you are done filling in all of the information your only option to click on will be “Check My Storyâ€. Netscape checks to see if the article has already been submitted; if it hasn’t your done with the submission process.
Additional Information About Netscape
- Netscape offers “Site Mail†which allows you to easily keep in contact with your Netscape buddies. However, there have been reports that the mail system is being abused by spammers. People will become your friend and then bombard your mail with their articles hoping you will vote for them. So, be careful choosing friends. Any success with socially driven web sites depends on creating “friends†and supporting one another. It is the same for Netscape, but you also want to avoid spammers at all cost.
- Netscape is upgrading their video sharing feature. Once the process is completed you will be able to upload video and tag it with the appropriate keywords. Video Search Optimization (link to other article) is an important aspect of social media and should be considered when submitting a video.
- My Netscape is a customizable Netscape page that integrates content, mail, account settings and more.
- Netscape is also an ISP with unlimited usage.
- Netscape APIs help you use their system more quickly and effectively.
Written By: Sujan Patel On September 14th, 2007 | No Comments
Written By: Sujan Patel On September 13th, 2007 | No Comments
Recently, Google released a feature in the Google AdWords members area that allows you to “optimize campaigns”. While search engine marketing firms claim to have been optimizing paid campaigns for years now - Google’s stepping up and providing the service to advertisers at no cost.
Of course, if you optimize your AdWords campaigns - you’ll end up spending more money, so Google’s happy to help out there.
Just what does this new optimization tool allow you to do though?
Optimizing your Google AdWords campaigns allows you as an advertiser to more easily reach your goals. Whether you’re out to improve your ROI, increase you click through rate - or simply get more clicks - Google is providing a seven step process for you to use in your AdWords campaigns.
Furthermore, the Campaign Optimizer tool makes proactive suggestions such as changing your daily budget, adding new keywords, changing current keywords, configuring matching options, altering the max CPC and finally revising your actual ads. All of these options could apply and help you out, but in some cases - they just don’t make sense.
Remember too, the Google AdWords Campaign Optimizer is a free tool that is being made available to you by Google. Taken with a grain of salt, these suggestions may do little more than help you burn through your allocated ad spend.
Finally, please consider Google’s recommendations on using these tools. On their site and in their help files, they offer the following information:
You can use the Campaign Optimizer as often as you wish. However, to receive an optimal proposal for your campaign, we recommend using it no more than once every two weeks. This allows the Campaign Optimizer to draw upon two full weeks of your campaign performance.
Written By: Sujan Patel On September 10th, 2007 | No Comments
Tapping into social media and social bookmarking is quickly becoming a critical element to any site promotion plan. But when it comes to using these sites, how do you know which ones are worth using - and which ones are just a waste of time?
Today, I’ll dissect the major players and give you a quick recap of how to make the most of them…
Wikipedia - Wikipedia and other wikis are treated like gold when it comes to Google rankings. In short, if you can get some long term links from wikis and Wikipedia specifically, you won’t have any problems ranking in the engines.
YouTube - Now that YouTube is a Google property, you can bet everything you own that it’ll play out as a necessary tool to comprehensive marketing plans. Videos used on your site and added to the YouTube network, along with descriptive tags and commentary, will go a long way in helping out your Google rankings.
MySpace / Facebook - These powerhouses (and others in the same mold) are traffic goldmines. Creative use of their features like comments, friends, groups and blogs can all tie into making your web sites more successful. Here’s a tip… For every site you’re trying to market, go ahead and open up a new profile for it on these sites. It’ll allow you to have an offsite factor in rankings and traffic, and will help to personalize the site a bit.
Digg / Reddit - These news aggregators are two of the most popular available. There are people who do nothing but submit and Digg stories all day long. That alone should tell you how much value is out there - but here’s the kicker… Using these services and encouraging others to tap your RSS feeds is an instant way to upgrade your inbound link campaigns.
StumbleUpon - StumbleUpon allows you to quickly “stumble” your way onto sites that match your preferences. A handy toolbar add on for IE and FireFox also allows you to post opinions more quickly. In turn, you’re leaving your fingerprint all over the ‘Net and allowing others to find their way back to you.
There are other players out there, but if you can begin to use the above to help your cause, your overall web site marketing plan will go a lo
Written By: Sujan Patel On September 7th, 2007 | 6 Comments
- Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
- Movie nudity is virtually always female.
- You know stuff about tanks.
- A five day vacation requires only one suitcase.
- Monday Night Football.
- You don’t have to monitor your friends sex lives.
- Your bathroom lines are 80% shorter.
- You can open all your own jars.
- Old friends don’t give you crap if you’ve lost or gained weight.
- Dry cleaners and haircutter’s don’t rob you blind.
- When clicking through the channel, you don’t have to stall on every shot of someone crying.
- Your ass is never a factor in a job interview.
- All your orgasms are real.
- A beer gut does not make you invisible to the opposite sex..
- You don’t have to lug a bag of useful stuff around everywhere you go.
- You understand why Stripes is funny.
- You can go to the bathroom with out a support group.
- Your last name stays put.
- You can leave a hotel bed unmade.
- When your work is criticized, you don’t have to panic that everyone secretly hates you.
- You can kill your own food.
- The garage is all yours.
- You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
- You see the humor in Terms of Endearment.
- Nobody secretly wonders if you swallow.
- You never have to clean the toilet.
- You can be showered and ready in 10 minutes.
- Sex means never worrying about your reputation.
- Wedding plans take care of themselves.
- If someone forgets to invite you to something, he or she can still be your friend.
- Your underwear is $10 for a three pack.
- The National College Cheerleading Championship
- None of your co-workers have the power to make you cry.
- You don’t have to shave below your neck.
- You don’t have to curl up next to a hairy ass every nite.
- If you’re 34 and single nobody notices.
- You can write your name in the snow.
- You can get into a nontrivial pissing contest.
- Everything on your face stays its original color.
- Chocolate is just another snack.
- You can be president.
- You can quietly enjoy a car ride from the passenger seat.
- You never have to worry about other people’s feelings.
- You get to think about sex 90% of your waking hours.
- You can wear a white shirt to a water park.
- Three pair of shoes are more than enough.
- You can eat a banana in a hardware store.
- You can say anything and not worry about what people think.
- Foreplay is optional.
- Michael Bolton doesn’t live in your universe.
- Nobody stops telling a good dirty joke when you walk into the room.
- You can whip your shirt off on a hot day.
- You don’t have to clean your apartment if the meter reader is coming by.
- You never feel compelled to stop a pal from getting laid.
- Car mechanics tell you the truth.
- You don’t give a rat’s ass if someone notices your new haircut.
- You can watch a game in silence with you buddy for hours without even thinking (He must be mad at me)
- The world is your urinal.
- You never misconstrue innocuous statements to mean your lover is about to leave you.
- You get to jump up and slap stuff.
- Hot wax never comes near your pubic area.
- One mood, all the time.
- You can admire Clint Eastwood without starving yourself to look like him.
- You never have to drive to another gas station because this one’s just too skeevy.
- You know at least 20 ways to open a beer bottle.
- You can sit with your knees apart no matter what you are wearing.
- Same work….more pay.
- Gray hair and wrinkles add character.
- You don’t have to leave the room to make an emergency crotch adjustment.
- Wedding Dress $2000; Tux rental $100.
- You don’t care if someone is talking about you behind your back.
- With 400 million sperm per shot, you could double the earth’s population in 15 tries, at least in theory.
- You don’t mooch off others’ desserts.
- If you retain water, it’s in a canteen.
- The remote is yours and yours alone.
- People never glance at your chest when you’re talking to them.
- ESPN’s sports center.
- You can drop by to see a friend without bringing a little gift.
- Bachelor parties whomp ass over bridal showers.
- You have a normal and healthy relationship with your mother.
- You can buy condoms without the shopkeeper imagining you naked.
- You needn’t pretend you’re “freshening up” to go to the bathroom.
- If you don’t call your buddy when you say you will, he won’t tell you friends you’ve changed.
- Someday you’ll be a dirty old man.
- You can rationalize any behavior with the handy phrase “F*#k it!”
- If an other guy shows up at the party in the same outfit, you might become lifelong buddies.
