Archive for April, 2010

April
22

Can Title Tags (Page Titles) Boost Rank?

Some SEO “pros” are advising that adding exact keyword phrases to your Title Tag will get you top rank. In fact, some SEO sites will tell you that without a doubt the Title Tag is the most important tag in terms of rank. Really? Is top rank that easy? Does it all come down to a 65 character line?

Well, let’s take a look at a few random Google searches and see if the exact keyword phrase appears in the title.

Real estate refinance (Only result #9 uses this exact phrase in the title).
Online flower delivery (You won’t find this phrase until after position #5).
Medical coding courses (None of the top 10 sites use the exact phrase).

Of course there are exceptions where almost every result has the exact phrase in the title, for example real estate leads. If the Title Tag is the most important tag and adding the keyword phrase will get you top rank as some SEOs state, then why isn’t result #9 for “real estate refinance” #1? It’s the only site with the exact phrase in the title, yet it’s at the bottom. Likewise, none of the top 10 sites for “medical coding courses” use that phrase in the title.

According to my testing, you can rank #1 for Google for a phrase without including it in the title. (more…)

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Posted in SEM/SEO, Webmaster | 13 Comments »

April
12

Unconvententional Ways to Get Links

Unconventional Ways to Get Links

Unconventional Ways to Get Links

When it comes to SEO, the main question that is asked over and over is, “How can I get more links to my site?” Of course, there are many ways to get links but i have preferred over the years to seek out unconventional ways of getting links. So, what does link building have to do with a signed copy of Steve Vai’s CD? Let me tell you.

A few weeks ago I received the CD in the mail from Ed Shapiro, who owns Sensory Edge. I’ve known Ed for years and I even own one of his products, which my son loves … his own personal recliner. Ed knows I’m huge fan of 70s and 80s rock, and thus, he sent the CD. He didn’t ask for anything, nor expect anything.

Well Ed, you’re getting a link of out it as an example of an unconventional way of getting a link … without even trying. Nice. It is called improving your business relationships. And guess what? It doesn’t matter how great technology gets on the web. Business gets done the old fashioned way. Relationships. Great Service. Continued Follow-up. It doesn’t matter how many emails you send out. If you don’t have a great relationship with your customers or key figures in your industry, your business will never hit its peak. In my opinion, a personalized email beats an autoresponder, a phone call beats an email, and a face-to-face meeting beats a phone call. Every time.

This is NOT a solicitation for gifts to me … no. This is an example of how someone went out of their way to improve a business relationship. How many business relationships do you have that need attention? Do you realize the link potential you have with just the circle of business owners that you know? Stop contacting strangers and work with people that you know.

Unconventional may soon turn into conventional …

Posted in SEM/SEO | 7 Comments »

April
10

PayPal Fees: Tips to Put More Cash in Your Pocket

If you are using Paypal for receiving store payments, or for paying your affiliates, you know the fees can be exorbitant. But did you know that Paypal offers different payment options, depending on the amount of the payment?
PayPal is a great option for many business owners that don’t want to go through the approval process for a merchant account, but the fees can really add up and squeeze margins that are already pretty tight in this rough economy. So here are some tips to put more cash in your pocket if you use PayPal.

The only time Paypal does not charge fees is when the money is being transferred from a Paypal balance, or directly from a bank account; any other time, the fees range from 1.9% to 2.9%, plus an addition 30 cents per transaction. Doesn’t sound like much until you start having large numbers of transactions; then these fees add up really quickly, and it gets sick to the point of causing indigestion.

Paypal now offers a different payment fee structure for payments made that are less than $12. Under their micropayment structure, Paypal has changed its fees to a total of 5% plus 5 cents per transaction for smaller payments, whereas payments over $12 will incur the smaller fees of 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction.

Micropayments are only available to business or premier account holders in select countries. It also requires you to have 2 accounts: one for micropayments and one for macropayments.

The money you can save by taking advantage of micropayments with Paypal can add up. Many webmasters have saved between 11-13% per month, which is significant. Depending on the amount you are paying out, this can be a considerable amount of profits.

Posted in Webmaster | No Comments »

April
9

Site Speed Now a Ranking Factor

Well, they’ve foreshadowed this for over a year now, and today Google made it official. About three weeks ago, your website’s speed became one of over 200 signals in the search ranking algorithms that affect your rank. The Google announcement continues that page speed is still a new signal and doesn’t hold as much weight as relevance of the page.

The follow tools are excellent for assessing your site’s speed:

• Free Google Page Speed Tool (Firefox/Firebug Add on)
• Yahoo! YSlow (Firefox/Firebug Add on)
• Google Webmaster Tools (Go to Labs and then Performance)

Posted in Google, Webmaster | No Comments »

April
9

Yahoo! Bails on Another Program

I know I am late on reporting this one, but it is mainly because I don’t care, and you probably don’t either…

Yahoo! has announced that they are closing the Yahoo Publisher Network beta program as of April 30, 2010. Yes, their “beta” program. They have been in beta for 5-6 years. I know what you are thinking … “Yahoo! had a Publisher Network?” Yes, they did and if you don’t know what a Publisher Network is just think of Google AdSense – that’s a Publisher Network.

Yahoo! stated that publishers will receive their final payments no later than May 31st, 2010. To replace Yahoo! ads on your site, Yahoo! is suggesting using Chitika. That is a riot that aren’t recommending AdSense. Is there something more going on behind the scenes?

Posted in Yahoo | 1 Comment »

April
3

Google Toolbar PageRank Update – April 2010

Fortune Cookie = WIN

Fortune Cookie = WIN

You’ve heard the jokes: “Never eat Chinese food when you are starving because you’ll just be hungry in an hour”. And here is this fortune, opened by my daughter last night. Perfect. Truth that is simple and plain often is the most well received.

So, what does this fortune have to do with the new Google Toolbar PageRank update? Plenty. Are we every fulfilled with information? No. It seems that once we get a data update, all we can talk about is the next one. This one is no different. If you have been following my link building advice, you should have achieved a nice push during this update. My inbox is flooded with reports of higher PageRank. How much better? The majority of my readers had an increase from a PR4 to a PR6. A pretty significant jump. In fact, my main site, Web Marketing Now, has a PR6 for the first time since 2003.

What can you do to improve your PageRank for the next update? Here are a few tips:

1) Review my SEO Tips for the New Year which covers some link building strategies.

2) Submit your site to Best of the Web directory. And yes, if you submit there I will get paid a commission, but my testing proves that it is by far the best directory. I list all of my sites there and it is a strong reason why my sites all received an increase in PageRank during this update.

3) Get a press release written by Dr. Kevin Nunley and distribute it with your favorite service. My testing doesn’t show one better than another, but Kevin is a great writer and great writers are very hard to find these days.

If you didn’t get a nice push this time around, or if you lost PageRank, you can always review my Google Best Practices Guide. While it is more of an SEO guide than a complete link building tutorial, the information in it will improve your site.

Posted in Google | 36 Comments »