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Internet Marketing

Introduction to Internet Marketing
Common Web Page Mistakes
- Hit Counters
- Background Music
- Website Best Viewed
- Slow Page Loading
- Right Click Disabled
- Using Free Web Hosting
- Using Free E-mail Addresses
Instilling Credibility in Your Website
- Stanford Guidelines
- Contact Information
- Privacy and Credibility
- Limiting Email Spam
- Controlling Phone Contacts
- Display Privacy Policy
- Display Familiar Logos
- Display Professional Photos
- Professional Web Design
Professional Business Email
Know Your Target Audience
Content Writing and Marketing
E-commerce Site Content and Marketing
Viewpoint Of Your Visitors
Headlines from a Marketing Standpoint
Using Pictures for Marketing
Marketing Benefits of the Title Attribute
Links Styles Impact on Marketing
How Can Blogging Increase Sales?
Designing for your Target Audience (Standards)
Does Content Formatting Impact Marketing?
Professional Business Email
Know Your Target Audience
Content Writing and Marketing
Ecommerce Site Content and Marketing
Viewpoint Of Your Visitors
Headlines from a Marketing Standpoint
Using Pictures for Marketing
Marketing Benefits of the Title Attribute
Links Styles Impact on Marketing
How Can Blogging Increase Sales?
Designing for your Target Audience (Standards)
Does Content Formatting Impact Marketing?
The Problem with Industry Specific Buzzwords
Make it Easy to Order Right Now!
Quality FAQ Pages Can Increase Sales!
Can I Trust You? (Contact Page)
Using Testimonials Effectively
Newsletters and Your Target Audience
Affiliate Marketing Strategies
The Risk of AdSense Revenue for Your Business
Increase Business Through Offline Marketing
Does Your Shopping Cart Cost You Sales?
The Surest Way To True Success

Buying links vs. PPC vs. link exchanges

administrator

Jun 19 |14:43

Last Updated on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:45

Text link ads - to buy or not to buy?

Buying text link ads in the hope of boosting search engine rankings has exploded in popularity in recent years, but is it worth it?

Buying links vs. PPC vs. link exchanges

Firstly, let's briefly distinguish between PPC advertising, link exchanges and buying text links.

PPC (Pay Per Click) is carried out in conjunction with search engine companies where you bid on key words or phrases. The highest bid gets the top ranking on the search results and then you pay the bid amount each time your link is clicked. You can learn more about this method of marketing in my PPC guide.

Exchanging links is usually a straight swap of links between sites. This method is a cheaper way to go in terms of capital outlay, but it does require a substantial amount of time and research to carry out a successful campaign. Learn more about link exchanges.

Buying text links is simply the purchase of a link on another site for a set period of time, usually cycles of one month.

Buying/selling text links

Buying

Selling

Why buy text links?

The main reason that site owners and marketers buy text link ads is to boost link popularity. Most search engines see a large number of links from quality sites as a "vote" for the site being linked to and this helps with boosting search engine rankings.

If the focus is link popularity, then whether or not the link itself actually brings in traffic is very much a secondary concern as a high search engine ranking can bring far more traffic than from a link from any site.

Some marketers do buy text links primarily for the traffic that can be gained directly from the linking site, especially if that site is a "hub" or an authority in it's field. With a well structured ad, many new customers can be gained in this way.

A link from an authority site also gives your own site credibility. Joe Surfer sees your link and thinks "hmm.. if X is recommending them, they must be good". Most people cannot distinguish between a paid link and a natural link and will see it as a recommendation, even if the site's disclaimer states that outgoing links are not necessarily a recommendation.

Why not buy text links?

While buying text links may seem to be a magical, no-sweat solution, there are a few things you need to bear in mind.

Firstly, it can get very expensive. A text link from a very highly ranked site can run into hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a month. You can buy on less popular sites, but you'll need to purchase more links. Also, it can take quite a while to see the benefits in terms of search engine ranking boost, so you'll need to commit at least 3 months on each site you buy a link from.

Secondly, it *can* harm your rankings if you don't go about it correctly. The golden rule of ethical optimization is quite simple: don't try to fool a search engine. For example, buying a slew of identical links on entertainment sites to a pharmaceutical site is sure to send up some red flags. I've provided a few more tips below to help keep you "clean" and maximize your chances of success.

Finally, it may not work. Search engines are complex beasties with ranking algorithms that change all the time. What may rank highly one month, may suddenly disappear the next. Search engine companies aren't big fans of sites that sell links and some are now penalizing sites that do. If the site you purchase from experiences a rank-tanking, then any benefit you may have received from that link may disappear.

It's not a cruel game played by the search engines for their own enjoyment, it's simply to try and maintain quality. If an algorithm remained static for any length of time, it wouldn't be long before spammers and SEOP's (Search Engine Optimization Professionals) nutted it out and dominated the rankings - to the detriment of everyone else. Joe Surfer would soon lose faith in the search engine and consequently the entire web as we know it would collapse in on itself :).

Anything to do with search engine optimization is part science, part art and part luck. It's a gamble, just like any other investment.

If you've decided that you do want to buy text link ads, here's a few tips that may help you, they are much the same as considerations for engaging in link exchanges.

Age of site

Is the site selling text link ads well established? If it's under 12 months old, their apparent success may be short lived. Search engines recognize the age of a site as a contributing factor of it being an authority.

Traffic and popularity

Get some figures from the site owner about current traffic to their site. Don't leave it at that, also check how many sites link to them by reviewing results in Google, Yahoo and MSN by running this query:

link:http://www.theirsite.com

Also check Alexa for their traffic ranking using this query:

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/?url=theirsite.com

The lower the Alexa rank, the more popular they are - a decent Alexa score is 100,000 or less. Check the results using Alexa's 2 year graph to get some idea of consistency.

Another indicator of popularity is Google's PageRank, available on the Google Toolbar, a free plugin for Internet Explorer.

Note: Alexa/Google Toolbar are great tools, but bear in mind they are only guides and the results should be considered in relation to other factors mentioned.

Relevancy

Most important - only buy links on sites and pages that are strongly related to your site's theme.

Mix it up

Even if you do have cash to burn, don't focus just on the top sites in your category, mix it up a little with less popular sites. Also provide some variety where links are placed (home page/sub-pages) and also where they link to on your site. Linking to your home page is fine, but if you have other important pages, throw in a few of these as well.

Straight through links

If you're buying the link with link popularity and ranking in mind; any link to your site should not be a redirect, it should be a plain text link directly to your site. Ensure that the link doesn't have the nofollow tag applied and won't be cloaked using JavaScript, i.e. that when you move your mouse over the link it shows www.yoursite.com in your browser status bar, but when you click it, a redirect URL is displayed in the address bar.

How many other outbound links?

Regardless of how popular the site is, it's unwise to purchase a link on a page that basically just consists of other outbound links, or more than a couple of dozen outbound links scattered in the content. This is because each added outbound link "bleeds" a little more ranking potential from the pass-on.

What is the quality of other sites linked to?

Are the other sites that are linked to of good quality? Bear in mind it's not only the quality of the content on a site or the links pointing in that determine their ranking, it's also where the site links to. Excessive linking to bad neighborhoods is thought to incur ranking penalties.

Structuring a text link ad

Text links ads are usually quite restrictive in terms of length. You may only get 25 characters for your pitch. That being the case, you need to maximize effectiveness. An added consideration that search engines factor into ranking is not just who is linking to you, but how you are linked; i.e. anchor text.

For example, if I were to use TamingTheBeast.net for anchor text, it wouldn't be anywhere near as effective as "Web marketing resources" as the linking text.

The idea is to pack as many related keywords and terms into the anchor text and description as possible, while keeping it human readable. This will also help human visitors to the site determine whether what you offer is of interest to them.

Tip:

When linking, maintain consistency - either use http://www.yoursite.com or http://yoursite.com. The reason for this is it's rumored that some search engines see these two prefixes as separate sites and will rank accordingly, therefore diluting your campaign.

Where and how to buy text link ads

You can waste a lot of time in hunting down sites that offer text link ads to buy, so I suggest using a reputable broker. Not only will they streamline the transaction, they'll also provide you with tips, help ensure that advertisers are of sufficient quality and abide by a code of ethics.

Buying/selling text links

Buying

Selling

The big question to ask yourself

If you're on a very tight budget, another determining factor in deciding your purchase should be to ask yourself this question. Would I still buy the link even if it didn't boost my rankings? This is especially important given the move by some search engines to purposely penalize some sites selling links. You may get caught out at a time when that occurs to the site you buy a link from.

If you feel that you'll get enough quality traffic directly from the link to at least offset the cost, then it's a worthwhile gamble.

The final consideration

While inbound links may improve your rankings, that's only useful to you if your site is decently presented with valuable content and already optimized for search engine placement. Otherwise it's a little like putting gas into a car that's already wrecked. In fact, this *should* be your primary focus before considering buying links. If you improve your content, you may find other sites linking to you naturally and you'll never have to buy a link :).

Related learning resources

Anchor text optimization

Link exchange guide

PPC (Pay Per Click) guide

Search engine optimization and submission

Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content, tools and software.
Web Marketing, Internet Development & Ecommerce Resources
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Linking to bad neighborhoods

administrator

Jun 19 |14:19

Last Updated on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:20

Linking to bad neighborhoods

Did you know that linking to questionable sites can have an impact on your rankings? Don't just take my word for it, you can check this yourself in Google's Webmaster Quality Guidelines

Quote:
"In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links."

What is a "bad neighborhood"?

A site considered to be in a bad neighborhood would be one that has been banned or penalized by search engines. This ban could have occurred for a number of reasons; such as spammers and link farms. A link farm site is one that links to a variety of other sites that all link back. This goes beyond natural linking in that the sole purpose of the link farm arrangement is to attempt to boost search engine rankings. Often the sites within a link farm are not related by theme.

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How to determine a bad neighborhood

Before linking to a site, it's wise to check if the site may fall into the category of being in a bad neighborhood. This can be done in a variety of ways; but it needs to be approached holistically. Any one flag may not indicate that the site is a search engine ranking time bomb.

- Firstly, visually inspect the site a little more thoroughly - look for unrelated outbound links on the pages, then follow those links. Check to see whether the sites they link to are linking back.

- Take a closer look at the pages of the site - do they seem "spammy"? Go a little deeper and view the source code and look for issues such as keyword stuffing and hidden text.

- In Google, type site:www.theirsite.com; where theirsite.com is the name of the site you are considering linking to. If there's none or just the home page listed, it's possible the site has been banned or penalized by Google.

- Take a section of text from the site, from an article and see if it appears elsewhere and who the author is. It's possible that the target site may be a "scraper" or plagiarist site.

- Go to http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/ and type link:http://www.theirsite.com - see what types of sites are linking to them. The reason I suggest using Yahoo! search instead of Google for this is that Google only shows a subset of links pointing into a site using the same command. Yahoo! will display a great deal more.

As mentioned, you do need to approach determining a bad neighborhood rather holistically. For example, if the site: search brings up none or few listings; it may be that it's a new site and hasn't been fully spidered yet or there's a glitch. If the link: search brings up questionable links pointing in, that may be no fault of the webmaster.

All things considered, go with your gut vibe. I've linked to sites that have thrown up red flags, simply because I felt the information I'm linking to would be of great value to my readers and I believe whatever issue the target site is experiencing is due to a search engine ranking or listing glitch.

I don't believe linking to a single bad neighborhood could see your own rankings tanked in most cases. It's down to intent, volume and a variety of other factors that are all part of the complex ranking algorithms used by search engines these days.

Buying/selling text links

Buying

Selling

3 way link exchanges

I mentioned earlier on the issue of link farms. Search engines are becoming increasingly adept at detecting link farms and some people try to get around it with 3 way link exchanges.

I receive quite a few emails along these lines:

"I'm writing to see if you would be interested in setting up 3-way link with us. By doing this we can avoid Google's reciprocal link penalty."

From the outset, that tells me the person knows that what they are doing is probably an SEO no-no; aka a "black hat" strategy; frowned upon by search engines.

A 3 way link exchange works like this:

Site A - their site
Site B - another of their sites
Site C - your site

Site B links to Site C, Then site C link to Site A.

Seems pretty clever doesn't it? The thing is, Google can pick up on this sort of linking activity. Any benefit you get from such arrangements will probably be short lived. So the question to ask, is it worth risking your site's existing rank? People who send out these link exchange proposals usually do so en masse, so if their sites aren't considered a bad neighborhood by search engines currently, chances are they will be soon.

If you should get emails like this encouraging you to participate in such exchanges, my advice is to ignore them.

The best way to get links is to write compelling content and then letting other site owners know about that content. While one-way links are best, also bear in mind that linking out to good quality sites can also help your own search engine rankings. It is a factor in determining rank, albeit probably a minor one.

Getting inbound links

administrator

Jun 19 |14:14

Last Updated on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:15

Getting inbound links - offer original and exclusive content

Getting links into your site, quality inbound links, can be a difficult task these days.

Good link exchanges are getting harder to come by with webmasters becoming increasingly fussy about who they link to and concerns about paid links invoking search engine wrath.

Coaxing a site to provide you with link love can take more than money or just having great content. Be prepared to invest some serious time into your link building strategy.

How much would you pay (if you could afford it) to get a link from a related, high-ranking authority site? Some people pay hundreds of dollars a month.

A strategy that some savvy site owners are using successfully to gain inbound links is totally legitimate, won't cause search engine rankings to tank, doesn't cost oodles of cash and gets them onto sites that may never have considered linking previously.

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The strategy is pretty simple - content reproduction with a slight twist.

Allowing people to republish some of my articles was one of the ways that Taming The Beast.net achieved the success it has. My articles appear on literally thousands of sites, all (well, most) linking back to TTB. There are a few disadvantages in allowing article reproduction, but it still remains a good way to build up inbound links to this day.

But there is a better way to approach this if you have some time to invest - offer target sites original content.

While smaller sites and article archives are happy to publish content that appears elsewhere; the larger and better known sites in any genre crave original content - article exclusives.

A few weeks back, I was approached by a site owner who was offering me a couple of totally original articles for another site of mine. I was promised the articles would be very relevant, useful and will not appear anywhere else - I would just need to keep the included links back to their site.

I must admit I was a little suspicious of the offer; after all, anything that seems too good to be true usually is. I had a very pleasant surprise when I received the articles though.

The two articles sent to me were around 500 words each, very well written and totally relevant to the theme of my site. I ran through a series of checks to ensure that the articles weren't carbon copies or were even close to anything else published in terms of phrasing. It turned out they *were* original and informational rather than a sales pitch for the other site's wares. The back links were well placed, subtle and linked back to a site that was well presented and related.

Getting these articles was a huge plus for me as it saved me a couple of hours work during what's been a very busy time.

This strategy is a win-win-win-win situation

- The other site gets a link back to their site in perpetuity

- I receive quality, original content; saving me time in developing articles

- My visitors get a truly useful article to read

- Search engines also have original content to chew on

Sure, there's an investment of time on the other person's part in prepping the article or paying someone to write it; but it all goes back to the question I asked at the beginning of this article - How much would you pay (if you could afford it) to get a permanent link from a related authority site?

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If you're hungering after links from specific sites in your industry; give this strategy a whirl. Just remember not to crank out garbage articles, but something truly useful and unique. You don't have to reinvent the wheel - use current articles you have but totally rewrite them, perhaps adding some additional points or simplifying a lengthy article you have already published.

If you don't have the time or skills to write articles, you can always try outsourcing the work by posting a project on freelance marketplaces like Elance - but do take some precautions when outsourcing projects to ensure you don't wind up with junk or articles that have basically been stolen from other sites. Also be sure to specify that any articles created that you pay for you have exclusive rights to.