It is estimated that Internet advertising will become the largest ad medium, at nearly $63 BILLION by 2011. You read correctly - BILLION!
Compare that to a measly $16.9 billion for the full year of 2006 or lame $7.134 billion in 2001 (Industry Survey Conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Sponsored by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)), and you can’t ignore the Internet advertising tsunami on the horizon!
The shift of advertising dollars to the Internet marketplace has the media business turning on its head!
Newspapers as well as electronic media are scrambling to promote and monetize their online presence. The marketing landscape is in upheaval and changing so rapidly, that if you ignore the obvious signs, you’ll feel sideswiped and dazed when your business legs start to buckle.
What does this mean for advertisers currently using the traditional media of radio, television and print? Simply this: If the Internet is not part of your advertising arsenal, you are losing business to those who are aggressively using online marketing to promote their goods and services. I say “aggressively” because if you believe as many website owners do, that “if you build it they will come,” you are hugely mistaken. Check these numbers. Here’s what the Internet universe looks like:
Using 2006 numbers, there are approximately 100 MILLION WEBSITES serving up somewhere between 15 and 30 BILLION web pages. It is estimated that over 30,000 web pages go up every single day. Not only is it difficult to wrap your head around those statistics, but it is currently impossible to asses the full impact this is having on consumer buying habits.
Clearly, companies must embrace the power of the Internet to compete not only locally, but also globally! So where does that leave your company’s website? Well, here’s the bitter truth.
Unless you are ranked on the first or second page of any given search engine, your website is virtually invisible.
Yes, you may have spent thousands of dollars on your not-so-search-friendly-flash-driven-website - but nobody knows you exist because you haven’t made search engine optimization part of your website construction. In fact, no amount of creative website design, graphics or cool effects will help you with firstpage ranking on Google.
How can you compete?
Here are two choices.
1. You can start promoting your web site both offline using traditional media and online using PPC (pay per click advertising, banner advertising etc…)
and/or
2. You can have some search engine optimization done on your site so that you get first page ranking on the major search engines for the keyword search terms that are most related to your business.
I mention above, and/or because even if you get first page ranking on Google and the other search engines, you should still continue using offline media to direct people to your site.
Website ranking is key if you want to stay in the game!
I advise my clients who have first page ranking, to do exactly this. It gives them an opportunity to do what no other advertising medium does quite as well as the Internet.
For example, when you direct a primed radio listener or newspaper reader to your site:
1. You welcome a receptive visitor and prospective client who will respond much better to the sales copy on your web pages.
2. You can show and sell using video clips as mini infomercials.
3. You can actually make a solid connection and build a long-term relationship with your visitor.
Using powerful promotions to capture their email address, you can build a list of eager buyers that you can sell to over and over again!
To find out more on how to harness the Internet using website optimization, read this special article: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and what your Web Designer Won’t Tell You.
Search Engine Optimization - It’s something you should really be thinking about!
[Keywords: search engine optimization, seo, page ranking, website optimization, site optimization, search engine, first page ranking, ranking, google ]
November 8th, 2007
For what seems like years I have searched the internet for a good SEO provider - I have had success on some projects, failures on other - and they always seem to come and go like Search engine optimisers are part of the weather.
Well I have found a few blogs I would like to share with you:
seo toolkit
and
Life @ home
Seriously good seo and web development reading - I would recommend highly!
[Keywords: seo seo toolkit, seo tools, modrewrite tools, modrewrite for seo ]
September 6th, 2007
The do-follow, or I-follow, movement has caused a resurge of blogs without the ‘nofollow’ link attribute applied to all comments. Since being introduced in 2005 by Google, the nofollow attribute is now added by default to any reader submitted links on many popular blog platforms. Removing the attribute is advocated by many bloggers.
Nofollow
Google introduced the nofollow attribute in 2005 to reduce the effectiveness of certain types of spam, thereby improving the quality of search engine results, and reducing spam in general. It was designed by Matt Cutts and Jason Shellen from Blogger.com webspam team. Its effect was described to remove the PageRank value of the link.
Different search engines treat links with nofollow differently. Google does not count the link as a vote, or index the target page if previously not indexed. Officially Google does not even make a note of the existence of the target page. Yahoo! follows the link, and may index the page, but the link won’t give more value to the target. Other search engines may, or may not care about the attribute at all.
Some links have been tagged nofollow in Wikimedia software since the introduction in 2005, but site wide adding of nofollow to all external links in the English language Wikipedia happened only in January 2007. Blogger included the attribute in comments and backlinks from early on. It was included by default in Wordpress comments from version 1.5 forward.
Do-Follow
Lately, especially after the introduction of nofollow to Wikipedia, nofollow has begun to be seen also as a negative thing. On blogs, commenting on other blogs has always been a way to market one’s own blog, and after the introduction of nofollow, this has been less effective. Some bloggers claim that they now see a higher amount of spam comments, allegedly because to get the same effect spammers need to spam more.
Before nofollow those who comment regularly on a blog would also get many backlinks for free. Now that most blogs are nofollow, there is less reason to become a regular, or to comment at all. The do-follow movement consists of bloggers, who wish to reward, and encourage commenting by giving back comments their backlink value.
How to Join
On Wordpress blogs there are many plugins for removing the attribute. Some plugins offer extra features, like nofollow for first time comments, or nofollow for old comments. The customizable nature of Wordpress templates, and plugins has brought many solutions to this problem. The most popular of the plugins can be found with a Google search for ‘do-follow Wordpress’.
If you have a Blogger blog, making it do-follow is as easy as removing each occurrence of “rel=’nofollow’” in the template. The template can be modified from ‘Blogger Dashboard’, under ‘Template’ - ‘Edit HTML’. The ‘Expand Widget Templates’ checkbox has to be checked to see the posts section of the code.
After you have removed nofollow from your blog comments, remember to tell it to your readers. When they know they are rewarded for their commenting, they are more likely to share their thoughts. They might even bookmark your blog, and return again. All this simply because you can make them fell their opinions are valued.
Sutocu is the author of Your Website Profit. The News Party and Digital Camera Information recommended.
[Keywords: nofollow, SEO, do-follow, reader activity, blogging ]
August 30th, 2007
Google uses the PageRank algorithm to rank pages in their search engine results. The algorithm is based on analysing link structures: each link can be seen as a vote by a page for another page it links to. It is necessary to have a basic understanding of how PageRank works to be able to optimize web sites for the Google search engine .
History of PageRank
PageRank was invented by Larry Page at Stanford University, and named after him. Page began the project in 1995, and worked on it with Sergey Brin. The project then lead to the prototype Google in 1998. Google Inc. was founded to manage the Google search engine, which used PageRank. Currently the trademark PageRank belongs to Google Inc., but the original patent for the PageRank algorithm is assigned to Stanford University.
Google has since grown to the largest search engine in the world, with nearly two thirds of searches made on Google. The PageRank algorithm is still one of the factors taken into account in Google’s search engine result ranking, and it is constantly followed by interested search engine marketing specialists around the world.
The PageRank Algorithm
A good analogy for the PageRank algorithm is that each link is a vote for the target page. This link structure of the web is analyzed recursively, so that the value of each vote depends on the PageRank of the voting page, calculated from the votes in the previous iteration of PageRank.
When a new page comes into being in this link structure, it will only get a PageRank value once other pages link to it. Each link will give some PageRank to the new page, the amount a single link gives depending mostly on two things: the PageRank of the linking page, and the number of links on it. The more outbound links a page has, the less weight each of them will have.
The actual algorithm used by Google is, naturally, more complicated then this. That algorithm also takes into account page topics. Pages with the same, or related topic that link to each other will carry more weight with their links than completely different pages that link to each other.
It is thought that raw PageRank data exists as a floating point number for each page. These real time values are constantly updated by Google crawlers. The visible PageRank value that can be seen on the Google Toolbar is on a scale from zero to ten. This is exported from the real time PR data approximately once every three months. On Google Directory the PageRank is reported as an eight unit measure, which is also periodically compiled from the real time data, though less often than the toolbar PageRank is.
In Conclusion
The voting analogy describes the PageRank algorithm fairly well, but, though Google may claim so, it is not a completely democratic system. The weight of each link depends both on the PageRank of the page linking and the number of links it has. To improve PageRank, more inbound links, preferably from pages with high PageRank, must be acquired.
Sutocu is the author of Your Website Profit. Make money online, or see our recommended Greece Hotels
[Keywords: PageRank, Google, SEO ]
August 29th, 2007
Direct into my Directory – Direct me???
How many directories are there out there? All trying to sort the world into their databases so the world can ask for it back and pay them. Its a funny concept, car company’s listed in the same league as local fish mongers.
To me all these directorys are great, but they will never compare to google – the reason they try to compare is that they try to capture the whole cake, sell the whole car – instead of getting very good at being a mechanic. Google is a professional specialist at everything. It has perfected the box on its cv that says ‘everything’ frankly making alot of online directorys useless.
But not the ones that try to something different, that try to be the professional mechanic first then the professional car manufacturer. For example wheels-near you. They have a directory – great but actually yeah it is – they have chosen to have a central point to it, a niche, a longtail. They have a wheel-related directory – so everything in it has got or has something to do with wheels – from limo companys, to used car lots, from car boot sales to welsh rally schools. And they do it excellently. By choosing a niche from the start they instantly aren’t even competing with google, they are working with google. So next time you need anything wheel related (good mechanic, bus timetables or taxi’s) then go on down to wheels-near you’s wheel related directory.
[Keywords: limo companys, directorys, new seo techniques, wheels related directory, wheels wales, wheels west wales, motors wales, cars wales ]
August 18th, 2007
W3C XHTML is a great idea - making everything work on everyones Browser, however when trying to get complicated homepages to validate properly - it can be a pain. You enter your homepage - say www.rankrace.com But w3C markup doesnt allow some things that make older browsers function properly - e.g. pre css terms used to make old browsers show the website properly!
Examples: <Table background=”an_image.jpg”>
This wouldnt be allowed under W3C Markup - but if you just use the css (Background-Image) then older versions on Internet Explorer (IE) and Netscape (NS) would not show the background image.
Simarlarly annoying about W3C is the fact you cannot spread a form over a table - so if you dont have all your form items within the same <td> then w3c crys about it!!!!!
W3C xhtml markup validator is realised as a useful tool for SEO’ and general webmasters/designers. But if used as the end-all bee’s knees of markup validation then you may be blocking out 1/3 of the hits to your site - waste all that difficultly generated traffic so easily?????? W3C = great in moderation but don’t waste all your organic and referal generated traffic living up to its godly standards.
[Keywords: Traffic, W3C, Xhtml validate, validator xhtml, css, organic traffic, refferals, refer traffic, hits, seo, internet olympics ]
August 13th, 2007
There’s been a lot of talk lately about a PageRank update happening. But what exactly is the Google PageRank? Here’s what Google has to say:
“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves ‘important’ weigh more heavily and help to make other pages ‘important’.”
The update should happen within the next couple of weeks! Now is the last time to SEO with Google in mind, before PageRank updates. Be sure to gather as many links as possible.
[Keywords: SEO, Google, PageRank, Link Exchange ]
July 30th, 2007
Today, the king of SEO (search engine optimization) is link building. But that doesn’t mean building every link you find available on top of each other until your link count passes your rivals. You need to be careful and selective in this link collecting business. It doesn’t always mean that “the site with more link number, will rank higher than the one with less links.” More links will almost always help you rank higher in search engines like Google, but in order to have these links counted on your behalf, you have to take care that:
1. these links come from a good neighborhood,
2. come from relevant pages,
3. not come from pages that have links going to bad neighborhoods,
4. have a varied anchor text,
5. come from pages with the same language,
If you want to learn more about link building for SEO, you can visit my blogs: Zonenoktaorg Odullu SEO or Zonenoktaorg SEO .
[Keywords: SEO, link building, zonenoktaorg odullu seo ]
July 27th, 2007
This checklist outlines the free tools you should use to make your website known, before even considering advertising campaigns.
- Submit to major search engines: Google, Yahoo, Msn. Of these Yahoo is the easiest: read their site submission help here. Google does not offer site submission, but you can use their webmaster tools to help googlebot index your site. Msn offers Microsoft Small Business Centre, which does much the same thing.
- Add to major directories:ODP/dmoz, and Yahoo Directory.
- Add a link to your site to all of the following:
- Your e-mail signature
- Your signature in any discussion forums you are part of
- MySpace
- Your profile in any sites that allow it, for instance Orkut
- If you have a blog, post about your new site there; if you don’t start one. You don’t need to post often, or any great content, but you should have one, no matter what you do online. Then use the pinging service of your blog if it has one. This helps other sites find your blog, which in turn leads search engines to your website.
After that you can move from basic SEO to more advanced optimization concepts and techniques.
[Keywords: SEO, search engines, web publishing, web directories ]
July 22nd, 2007
It’s been over a year now that I had my Google Adsense account opened. Last summer these days, I was busy getting frustrated because, whatever Adsense optimization I tried, I couldn’t earn more than 4-5 dollars a month. I was slowly losing hope that I would ever see my first 100 dollar check.
But now I see that Adsense doesn’t work that way. Earning a few hundred dollars a month right from the beginning, is actually a miracle which happens to the very lucky few, or people who already have very high trafficked sites. It went quite gradually for me. Each month I earned more than the month before, and after I received my first hard-earned check last january, everything became much easier. Now, I can see that it really isn’t that hard to recieve a check from Adsense each month, but you have to:
1. Be patient. Only the lucky few start earning hundreds of dollars from the beginning in this business or those who already have very high trafficked sites. Many of us, after being accepted by Google, start putting the Adsense codes on each and every site we build and then we complain because of the little money we earn. Google as a general rule, trusts older sites much more than new sites, and when its about Adsense, you’ll notice that the older your site gets, you’ll start getting more valuble ads.
2. Definitely start using the channels. The most important thing about Adsense, is that you should test, test, and test until you start getting satisfactory results. And to do this you should be using the channels service Google provides with Adsense. You can give a different name to each and every ad on your each and every page and trace them with these channels. And don’t say “enough” to your tests and tweaks until you get your Clickthrough Rate to something near at least 10 %. This isn’t so hard to reach, so don’t stop and watch your earnings while your Clickthrough Rate is something like 3 or 4 %. This means you are leaving more than half of the money you can earn on the table.
3. Practice search engine optimization (SEO). Without traffic there won’t be any Adsense clicks. So in order to increase your traffic you have to make your site or blog more visible to search engine users. The ultimate road to high Google rankings pass from good link building strategies (as is written in this “zonenoktaorg seo” post) and plenty of original content.
[Keywords: Google Adsense, Zonenoktaorg SEO, Adsense optimization, making money, link building, original content ]
July 16th, 2007
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