A recent problem with one of my web hosts reinforced my impression that technical support people are either poorly trained or not motivated enough to care about customer relations.
Last week I suddenly lost contact with the ten or so websites located on this host. Nothing I could think of would remedy the problem. It had happened twice before but always rectified itself. Not this time.
This meant I could not work on these sites -- a fairly serious problem since I am right in the middle of rolling out various Linknet products, and the sites need a fair bit of tweaking.
Of course this is one of those outfits that will not talk to you on the phone. You have to submit a "support ticket" and hope they 1) read it, and 2) get around to responding.
Now I'm sure this is a universal experience: the initial response from these guys is always the same: "Looks OK from our end.", "When did the problem start?", "Try doing this, and try doing that." We've all had experiences where support people get you to reformat your hard drive, or reinstall Windows. Hours and hours of wasted time to prove that you are the problem, not them or their products.
After my initial exchange with this particular tech department I was bold enough to make a couple of suggestions. One of them was "Is it possible you have blocked my ip address? Here it is..xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx...Can you check?"
Silence....more silence.... no response.
Either I had offended him, he had died, or the company had gone out of business. Either way I assumed that something as obvious as a blocked ip would be something he would check. So I left the problem and worked around it, hoping it would fix itself as it had in the past.
A week later the problem had not gone away, and in fact I could not connect from two other locations as well. So now I could not get into my sites from any of the three locations I had access to.
Now I was really screwed, and for all I knew the tech department had no idea what was going on. They were completely unresponsive. They had tuned me completely out.
So last night I got serious about contacting these tech guys again.
Finally an email to the Sales Manager got some action. He got a "supervisor" on it, and I actually got to talk to someone on the phone...
Guess what the problem turned out to be. Yup. My ip address was blocked. It took four or five messages and three phone calls to get these guys to actually look at this possibility.
But now everything's working, everybody's happy, and the incident is forgotten...
I don't think so.
P.S. By the way, if you are wondering why my ip was blocked, it is because I tried (unsuccessfully) to access the ftp site at this host several times. You know what it's like remembering those damned logins. At this place, three incorrect tries and you're blocked. I should have known it was related to crude old ftp. Shouldn't they have known it?
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Friday, January 28, 2005
Directory of Southeast Asian Furniture
From Review-of-the-week.com - Furniture-Asian.com
Southeast Asian Furniture Directory
In South East Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand), Korea and Taiwan. The seven countries have a combined furniture production of about US$ 12,137 million. Korea and Taiwan are by far the largest furniture markets and the main furniture consumers in Asia. Asian furniture have also been popular in developed countries like USA, Europe and Australia.
As for the Malaysian furniture industry, it has been on a steady upsurge since 1999. Furniture production fuelled by export demands reached an estimated USD1,828 million in 2000. Leading overseas importers are the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada.
Furniture-Asian.com gives these companies an opportunity to pool their resources and make an even greater impact on the export market.
Southeast Asian Furniture Directory
In South East Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand), Korea and Taiwan. The seven countries have a combined furniture production of about US$ 12,137 million. Korea and Taiwan are by far the largest furniture markets and the main furniture consumers in Asia. Asian furniture have also been popular in developed countries like USA, Europe and Australia.
As for the Malaysian furniture industry, it has been on a steady upsurge since 1999. Furniture production fuelled by export demands reached an estimated USD1,828 million in 2000. Leading overseas importers are the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada.
Furniture-Asian.com gives these companies an opportunity to pool their resources and make an even greater impact on the export market.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Follow Up on Google Adwords Revisions
Just a follow-up on the revisions I made to a couple of my Google Adwords campaigns last week. (See previous post).
As I reported in my other marketing blog, e_Marketing, the numbers after 2 full business days using the new configuration:
Clicks per day: Before - 72 -- After -105 (+46%)
Cost per day: Before - $77 -- After - $27 (-65%)
In other words, the total number of clicks increased by 46%, and the total cost went down by 65%. The average cost per click went down from $1.07 to $.26. That is a reduction of more than 75%.
Pretty much in line with the numbers in the David Jackson article.
As I reported in my other marketing blog, e_Marketing, the numbers after 2 full business days using the new configuration:
Clicks per day: Before - 72 -- After -105 (+46%)
Cost per day: Before - $77 -- After - $27 (-65%)
In other words, the total number of clicks increased by 46%, and the total cost went down by 65%. The average cost per click went down from $1.07 to $.26. That is a reduction of more than 75%.
Pretty much in line with the numbers in the David Jackson article.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Getting Full Value Out of Google Adwords
While processing an article for the Linknet Marketing Resource Library I actually took the time to carefully read the article. It is called How to Save a Bundle on Google Adwords and describes how the author, David Jackson of ImageLink Incorporated changed his Google Adwords strategy, and in the process increased his traffic by 400% while spending the same money.
This sounds like another one of those shameless promotions for some get-rich-quick ebook that affiliate marketers are noted for. But in his article David refers to Perry Marshall whose strategies and ideas I have a good deal of respect for. So I thought it was worth having a careful look at our own Adwords strategy in light of the recommendations made in Jackson's article.
The three main suggestions are:
1. Focus on more obscure keywords and key phrases (especially key phrases) and take the focus off the keywords that get the most hits (and are therefore expensive).
2. Enter hundreds of these more obscure keywords. One or two clicks on a hundred search terms is still a couple of hundred clicks.
3. Cut your maximum bid down drastically. You can usually get the number one spot for obscure key words for about $.10 (Yes, that's 10 cents) rather than the $2 or $3 you have to spend for high traffic keywords.
I must admit I am a bit skeptical of this process of bidding on low traffic keywords. My experience is inconsistent. Nevertheless, our Adwords campaigns are getting too expensive, so I thought I would follow these recommendations for at least a one week test.
The result of applying these tactics to two of our campaigns was surprising, and can be summarized as follows:
For one campaign I was able to cut my projected click thru costs down to about 25% of the original figure and still get the same projected click-thrus(according to the Google keyword tools). That means, there should be a savings of about $1000 per month for this campaign.
For another campaign I was able to increase my projected click thrus by about 200% while cutting the projected costs to about 25%. That is a potential increase in ROI of 800%.
These are still just projections based on Google's campaign tools. Since the new campaigns just started last night it will take a few days to see what sort of results I get. The big questions are:
- Will I still get the click thrus?
- Will I still get the same (or better) level of 2nd level inquiries?
We'll see. I will keep you posted.
The David Jackson article is also published here: How To Save A Bundle on Google Adwords.
This sounds like another one of those shameless promotions for some get-rich-quick ebook that affiliate marketers are noted for. But in his article David refers to Perry Marshall whose strategies and ideas I have a good deal of respect for. So I thought it was worth having a careful look at our own Adwords strategy in light of the recommendations made in Jackson's article.
The three main suggestions are:
1. Focus on more obscure keywords and key phrases (especially key phrases) and take the focus off the keywords that get the most hits (and are therefore expensive).
2. Enter hundreds of these more obscure keywords. One or two clicks on a hundred search terms is still a couple of hundred clicks.
3. Cut your maximum bid down drastically. You can usually get the number one spot for obscure key words for about $.10 (Yes, that's 10 cents) rather than the $2 or $3 you have to spend for high traffic keywords.
I must admit I am a bit skeptical of this process of bidding on low traffic keywords. My experience is inconsistent. Nevertheless, our Adwords campaigns are getting too expensive, so I thought I would follow these recommendations for at least a one week test.
The result of applying these tactics to two of our campaigns was surprising, and can be summarized as follows:
For one campaign I was able to cut my projected click thru costs down to about 25% of the original figure and still get the same projected click-thrus(according to the Google keyword tools). That means, there should be a savings of about $1000 per month for this campaign.
For another campaign I was able to increase my projected click thrus by about 200% while cutting the projected costs to about 25%. That is a potential increase in ROI of 800%.
These are still just projections based on Google's campaign tools. Since the new campaigns just started last night it will take a few days to see what sort of results I get. The big questions are:
- Will I still get the click thrus?
- Will I still get the same (or better) level of 2nd level inquiries?
We'll see. I will keep you posted.
The David Jackson article is also published here: How To Save A Bundle on Google Adwords.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Focus on Golf Website Promotion
InternetGolfReview.com shows occasional flashes of promise. Very occasional.
It is hard to be objective about your own website, especially when you desperately want to do a good job on it. But the truth is, InternetGolfReview.com has been floundering for about 18 months.
InternetGolfReview.com was one of my original web projects, back when I wanted it to be a significant resource for golf information. Typically I was unable to narrow down the focus so it now has a bit of everything, and a lot of nothing.
Still, the intention is to return to my original objective — to focus on reviews of golf resources such as online training sites, big name golf sites, instructional books and videos, and make it website promotion oriented, as well as develop my own golf related books.
The storytelling and opinion spouting will be saved for my golf blog and accompanying site called The WEG. And the golf travel reviews will eventually start happening over on Golf Around the World.
It's getting there slowly. Contrary to popular belief, developing good websites usually takes a lot longer than you first think.
Check out these recent articles and reviews...
Dave Pelz Putting Guru
You Can Join a Golf Club in Scotland
The Significance of Hogan's Rubber Bands
Hooked on Golf, My First Golf "Lesson"
Bobby Jones Challenges Current Swing Theories
Submit Golf articles to InternetGolfReview.com
Exchange links with InternetGolfReview.com
It is hard to be objective about your own website, especially when you desperately want to do a good job on it. But the truth is, InternetGolfReview.com has been floundering for about 18 months.
InternetGolfReview.com was one of my original web projects, back when I wanted it to be a significant resource for golf information. Typically I was unable to narrow down the focus so it now has a bit of everything, and a lot of nothing.
Still, the intention is to return to my original objective — to focus on reviews of golf resources such as online training sites, big name golf sites, instructional books and videos, and make it website promotion oriented, as well as develop my own golf related books.
The storytelling and opinion spouting will be saved for my golf blog and accompanying site called The WEG. And the golf travel reviews will eventually start happening over on Golf Around the World.
It's getting there slowly. Contrary to popular belief, developing good websites usually takes a lot longer than you first think.
Check out these recent articles and reviews...
Dave Pelz Putting Guru
You Can Join a Golf Club in Scotland
The Significance of Hogan's Rubber Bands
Hooked on Golf, My First Golf "Lesson"
Bobby Jones Challenges Current Swing Theories
Submit Golf articles to InternetGolfReview.com
Exchange links with InternetGolfReview.com
Thursday, January 13, 2005
A Link Strategy that will get Hundreds of Links
If you have begun exchanging links, you know how time consuming -- and time-wasting -- the process can be. On the other hand, you don't want to give up the process because you might actually unearth the occasional valuable link partner. You know that getting links to your site is important because it brings in traffic, helps you find strategic partners, and enhances your Search Engine rankings.
But not all links are created equal. And that means that link partners have to be prioritized. Some are worthless because your links end up on pages that nobody looks at and have no PR. But at the other end of the spectrum a few of your link partners will be very valuable because they will give you links on high value, high traffic pages.
Most of the rest of your inbound links will be only marginally valuable. How you tell the difference between the valuable ones and the useless ones is the subject of many discussions and articles, some of which you will find at the Linknet Marketing Resource Library.
One solution is to put prospective link partners into three levels. This assumes that you have already rejected those that have negative value -- the sites you don't want to identify with for various reasons -- pornography, violence, racism, pharmaceuticals, and so on. Here is a suggestion for three levels of inbound links (links pointing at your pages):
Level 1 - Basic Links
These links have no obvious positive value, but also have no negative value. Therefore, if exchanging links with these partners can be done efficiently, there is no downside to doing it. These will usually be "reciprocal" partners and can be given links on properly formed "link directory pages". The more time and effort you put into your directory, the more valuable it will become.
Level 2 - Self-Generated Multi-Links
The second category consists of "multi-links" that you generate yourself. You do this by seeding your articles, forum posts, blog entries and so on, around the web. Many of the strategies used to create these links are discussed in the "Power Linking" section of the Linknet Marketing Resource Library, mentioned above.
Level 3 - High Value Links
The third and most valuable category consists of "High Value Links" on sites that you specifically target. These include high traffic sites in your area of interest, highly rated directories, and sites where you can get a number of quality links all at once. In some cases these links will bring you lots of traffic. In other cases they will enhance your PR and Search Engine ranking. You need both kinds.
As I mention in other posts, there are a range of strategies to get these "Level 3" links. For instance,
- Write glowing testimonials. Target 10 or 20 high traffic sites in your area of interest, and send your testimonial to the webmaster. Usually they can't resist publishing it where everybody will see it.
- Write positive reviews of sites and/or posts. Target 10 or 20 high traffic products/sites. Post the reviews on your site or in your blog, and make sure to send a copy to the reviewee. Again, most webmasters or online entrepreneurs are hungry for this kind of exposure. You might even create a "review" section on your site to show you are serious.
But the most direct, fastest, and least painful strategy is to find link partners who will either sell or trade text ads on a number of high value pages. For example, at Linknet we do both of these things (selling and trading multiple links).
We offer up to 25 free links across 25 websites. And we also offer packages of 30 and 50 links for one small annual fee. For more information go to our Free Advertising page.
But not all links are created equal. And that means that link partners have to be prioritized. Some are worthless because your links end up on pages that nobody looks at and have no PR. But at the other end of the spectrum a few of your link partners will be very valuable because they will give you links on high value, high traffic pages.
Most of the rest of your inbound links will be only marginally valuable. How you tell the difference between the valuable ones and the useless ones is the subject of many discussions and articles, some of which you will find at the Linknet Marketing Resource Library.
One solution is to put prospective link partners into three levels. This assumes that you have already rejected those that have negative value -- the sites you don't want to identify with for various reasons -- pornography, violence, racism, pharmaceuticals, and so on. Here is a suggestion for three levels of inbound links (links pointing at your pages):
Level 1 - Basic Links
These links have no obvious positive value, but also have no negative value. Therefore, if exchanging links with these partners can be done efficiently, there is no downside to doing it. These will usually be "reciprocal" partners and can be given links on properly formed "link directory pages". The more time and effort you put into your directory, the more valuable it will become.
Level 2 - Self-Generated Multi-Links
The second category consists of "multi-links" that you generate yourself. You do this by seeding your articles, forum posts, blog entries and so on, around the web. Many of the strategies used to create these links are discussed in the "Power Linking" section of the Linknet Marketing Resource Library, mentioned above.
Level 3 - High Value Links
The third and most valuable category consists of "High Value Links" on sites that you specifically target. These include high traffic sites in your area of interest, highly rated directories, and sites where you can get a number of quality links all at once. In some cases these links will bring you lots of traffic. In other cases they will enhance your PR and Search Engine ranking. You need both kinds.
As I mention in other posts, there are a range of strategies to get these "Level 3" links. For instance,
- Write glowing testimonials. Target 10 or 20 high traffic sites in your area of interest, and send your testimonial to the webmaster. Usually they can't resist publishing it where everybody will see it.
- Write positive reviews of sites and/or posts. Target 10 or 20 high traffic products/sites. Post the reviews on your site or in your blog, and make sure to send a copy to the reviewee. Again, most webmasters or online entrepreneurs are hungry for this kind of exposure. You might even create a "review" section on your site to show you are serious.
But the most direct, fastest, and least painful strategy is to find link partners who will either sell or trade text ads on a number of high value pages. For example, at Linknet we do both of these things (selling and trading multiple links).
We offer up to 25 free links across 25 websites. And we also offer packages of 30 and 50 links for one small annual fee. For more information go to our Free Advertising page.
Fund Raising with Vinyl Banners
If you are part of a community group, service club, school class, or parks and rec committee, consider selling vinyl banner "spots" at your baseball or soccer field, in your local arena, or even in your school gym.
Banners are perfect for this because they can be printed in full colour with striking graphics, they are weather resistant. They also come with grommets or pole pockets so you can easily attach them to a fence or hang them on a wall.
A typical softball field has a fence which is roughly 40" - 50" high, with segments of approximately 8'-9' — a perfect size for a 3' x 8' vinyl banner.
Here is how you would calculate the revenue potential. The cost for a 3' x 8' full colour banner would be $156 cdn. Advertising charge per banner, say, $400 for the first year. The available advertising spots around an outfield fence 25 - 40 (just on the outfield fence, not including the foul lines)
So let's say you sell 20 banners:
Total revenue, 1st year: $8,000 (20 banners x $400)
Total production cost: $3,120
Less 20% volume discount: -$624
Plus shipping and handling: $200
Total Net Profit: $5,304
These banners are fully weatherproof, so they could stay in place all year round, and would last at least three years. Charge a renewal rate of, say, $300 for the second and third years for a net profit of $6,000 each in years 2 and 3.
Profit for three years: $17,304.
Not bad for selling 20 banners.
For more information on Fund Raising with Vinyl Banners, visit our site at Vinyl Banners Online. We are currently preparing a sales kit to help you organize a banner campaign.
Read more about this program at Vinyl Banners for Fundraising Overview
Banners are perfect for this because they can be printed in full colour with striking graphics, they are weather resistant. They also come with grommets or pole pockets so you can easily attach them to a fence or hang them on a wall.
A typical softball field has a fence which is roughly 40" - 50" high, with segments of approximately 8'-9' — a perfect size for a 3' x 8' vinyl banner.
Here is how you would calculate the revenue potential. The cost for a 3' x 8' full colour banner would be $156 cdn. Advertising charge per banner, say, $400 for the first year. The available advertising spots around an outfield fence 25 - 40 (just on the outfield fence, not including the foul lines)
So let's say you sell 20 banners:
Total revenue, 1st year: $8,000 (20 banners x $400)
Total production cost: $3,120
Less 20% volume discount: -$624
Plus shipping and handling: $200
Total Net Profit: $5,304
These banners are fully weatherproof, so they could stay in place all year round, and would last at least three years. Charge a renewal rate of, say, $300 for the second and third years for a net profit of $6,000 each in years 2 and 3.
Profit for three years: $17,304.
Not bad for selling 20 banners.
For more information on Fund Raising with Vinyl Banners, visit our site at Vinyl Banners Online. We are currently preparing a sales kit to help you organize a banner campaign.
Read more about this program at Vinyl Banners for Fundraising Overview
Monday, January 10, 2005
Promote Your Products and Get 20 Low Cost Links
Review-of-the-week.com is our newest product and link promotion product, and was just launched on January 10/05. This is another in a series of products from The Linknet Network that provide low cost ways of generating multiple high value links to client websites.
Here is what you get when you purchase a Product Promotion Package from Review-of-the-Week.com...
A Linknet Product Promotion Package gives you 20 links to your website and includes...
- A Product Feature Page with text and photos at Review-of-the-week.com, that is optimized for your area of interest and your product category.
- Product Summary in 7 blogs and review sites with links to your site.
- Your Product Review included in Reviews of the Week, published on 10 high traffic review and article sites.
- Extensive links to your site within the Linknet Network.
For more information go to Review-of-the-week.com.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Product Line to Feature Three New Linking Products
The new product offerings for this spring from Small-Business-Online.com include three fantastic link purchase products:
1. Linknet Partner - This product is clearly outlined at The Linknet Network website, and initial pre-promotion has already begun in a limited way. Linknet Partners purchase 30 text ads on category-specific pages across at least 15 different websites in the Linknet Network. There are more than 25 categories including Real Estate, Finance, Mortgages and Loans, Insurance, Marketing, Web Design, Blogs, Golf, Travel, and many more. Linknet Partners subscribe on an annual basis.
2. 100 Link Blitz - Clients purchase 100 high value links on a range of partner sites. Blitz package includes a Linknet Partner subscription, plus at least 70 additional links on well-placed directories and linking partner sites. All links are placed on active pages with Page Rank. Initial one year subscription $149usd; annual renewal $59.
3. Product Feature Pages - Purchase your very own Product Feature Page — a complete page dedicated to your product or website on our product review website. Product Feature page can include photos and graphics (as long as these are readily available), and can have as many as 5 links pointing back to your (single) site. Other components of this package include:
- A summary of your product feature page (with links) placed in at least 5 Linknet blogs and announcement sites, such as Marketing Bites, e_Marketing, Trade Show Buzz, Trade Show Tips, Click-Partners, Traffic-Advisor, Free-Web-Tools, and Inside Real Estate.
- Inclusion of your product feature information in the weekly Reviews of the Week which is posted on at least 10 high traffic article and announcement sites such as IdeaMarketers.com, GoArticles.com, Click-Partners.com, etc.
In total you will recieve more than 20 links pointing at your site. One year subscription is $59. Renewal, including an update of your Product Page, and resubmission to all of the above is $49.
1. Linknet Partner - This product is clearly outlined at The Linknet Network website, and initial pre-promotion has already begun in a limited way. Linknet Partners purchase 30 text ads on category-specific pages across at least 15 different websites in the Linknet Network. There are more than 25 categories including Real Estate, Finance, Mortgages and Loans, Insurance, Marketing, Web Design, Blogs, Golf, Travel, and many more. Linknet Partners subscribe on an annual basis.
2. 100 Link Blitz - Clients purchase 100 high value links on a range of partner sites. Blitz package includes a Linknet Partner subscription, plus at least 70 additional links on well-placed directories and linking partner sites. All links are placed on active pages with Page Rank. Initial one year subscription $149usd; annual renewal $59.
3. Product Feature Pages - Purchase your very own Product Feature Page — a complete page dedicated to your product or website on our product review website. Product Feature page can include photos and graphics (as long as these are readily available), and can have as many as 5 links pointing back to your (single) site. Other components of this package include:
- A summary of your product feature page (with links) placed in at least 5 Linknet blogs and announcement sites, such as Marketing Bites, e_Marketing, Trade Show Buzz, Trade Show Tips, Click-Partners, Traffic-Advisor, Free-Web-Tools, and Inside Real Estate.
- Inclusion of your product feature information in the weekly Reviews of the Week which is posted on at least 10 high traffic article and announcement sites such as IdeaMarketers.com, GoArticles.com, Click-Partners.com, etc.
In total you will recieve more than 20 links pointing at your site. One year subscription is $59. Renewal, including an update of your Product Page, and resubmission to all of the above is $49.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Trading Links En Masse
The webmaster for these sites asked to trade links, so I'm going to see if this page will work with his automated link scanning software. The core site is lakeviewstudios.com.
Dry Tortugas
Information on tours and other travel deals.
Nature Photos
Photos of the Outdoors , Adirondack Mountains
Florida Keys Hotels
Booking information on Hotels in the Florida Keys
Key West Hotels
Booking information on Hotels in the Key West
Florida Keys Photos
Photos of the Florda Keys , fishing , wildlife and the 7 Mile Bridge
Marathon Florida Vacation Rentals
Vacation Rentals in the Keys from Key Largo to Key West
Islamorada Hotels
Hotels in the famous village of islands sportfishing capital of the World.
Key Largo Hotels
Hotels in the upper-most Key, Key Largo Diving Capital of the World
Islamorada Key Largo
Information on everything there is to do in the Keys
Tourism Marketing
Market your tourism website trade links wiht other travel sites.
Florida Keys Scuba Diving
Online source for Diving information in the Florida Keys.
Pictures of Flowers - Flower Gallery
Photo Galleries of flowers and information on plants
Payday Loan Online
Get a payday loan for all your vacation needs.
Florida Keys Real Estate
find your dream home in the Florida Keys
maui real estate
find you dream home in Hawaii
Landscape photography
Photos of the rocky mountains and the Adirondacks
cash advance online
Get a cash advance for all you vacation needs
Flower Garden
Photos of Flowers and outdoor gardens
freelance copywriter
Professional website content writers, devoted to composing expert, concise, promotional writing for new and existing websites. Legal Writers and Language Translators on staff.
Albany NY Hotels
Book a room in the city of dreams, lovely Albany NY
Miami Dade- Your Miami
Online guide to the city of Miami
miami hotel reservations
Reserve a hotel in Miami
News Feeds
Bunch of News Feeds, check it out
Ferret Information
Tips on caring for your pet ferret.
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We are creating the authority on linking at SBO Linknet Network
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Dry Tortugas
Information on tours and other travel deals.
Nature Photos
Photos of the Outdoors , Adirondack Mountains
Florida Keys Hotels
Booking information on Hotels in the Florida Keys
Key West Hotels
Booking information on Hotels in the Key West
Florida Keys Photos
Photos of the Florda Keys , fishing , wildlife and the 7 Mile Bridge
Marathon Florida Vacation Rentals
Vacation Rentals in the Keys from Key Largo to Key West
Islamorada Hotels
Hotels in the famous village of islands sportfishing capital of the World.
Key Largo Hotels
Hotels in the upper-most Key, Key Largo Diving Capital of the World
Islamorada Key Largo
Information on everything there is to do in the Keys
Tourism Marketing
Market your tourism website trade links wiht other travel sites.
Florida Keys Scuba Diving
Online source for Diving information in the Florida Keys.
Pictures of Flowers - Flower Gallery
Photo Galleries of flowers and information on plants
Payday Loan Online
Get a payday loan for all your vacation needs.
Florida Keys Real Estate
find your dream home in the Florida Keys
maui real estate
find you dream home in Hawaii
Landscape photography
Photos of the rocky mountains and the Adirondacks
cash advance online
Get a cash advance for all you vacation needs
Flower Garden
Photos of Flowers and outdoor gardens
freelance copywriter
Professional website content writers, devoted to composing expert, concise, promotional writing for new and existing websites. Legal Writers and Language Translators on staff.
Albany NY Hotels
Book a room in the city of dreams, lovely Albany NY
Miami Dade- Your Miami
Online guide to the city of Miami
miami hotel reservations
Reserve a hotel in Miami
News Feeds
Bunch of News Feeds, check it out
Ferret Information
Tips on caring for your pet ferret.
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We are creating the authority on linking at SBO Linknet Network
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Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Automated Link Exchange Update
Last month I expressed some serious concerns about automated link exchange pages. I had installed Link Machine on about 15 sites back in July and August, had spent three months fairly religiously exchanging links with other sites. By December 8/04, I reported that none of the automated link exchange pages on any of my sites (about 15 of them) had acquired any page rank. This made me extremely skeptical about the value of a) automated link exchange pages, and b) link exchanges in general.
As a result I put my link exchange program on hold across the board, pending "new developments". It has been almost a month since then, and until the last couple of days I have essentially ignored link requests, and automated submissions from fellow Link Machine users. The requests have piled up and I have to decide whether to follow up on them, or completely rethink the whole link exchange thing.
Then yesterday I noticed that some of my automated pages had acquired some Page Rank. Most of them are sitting at either PR1 or PR2, which, considering how little effort I've put into developing and promoting them is about what I would expect. It also compares favourably with my manual pages at Trade Show Tips, on which I have done no work at all.
My manual pages at Tradeshow-Display-Experts.com continue to perform the best, with the index page sitting at PR4, and most of the rest at PR3. I actually worked quite a bit on these pages in the late spring and summer, but have ignored them since about August.
Some conclusions:
1. Automated link exchange pages — at least the static kind generated by Link Machine — will eventually acquire PR.
2. They will not do significantly better or worse than manual pages.
3. Having the words "link" or "links" in the file name or page title does not seem to adversely affect the PR of these pages. My highest scoring page is called "links.html". It is a PR4.
Also, I have no test data to confirm this, but I think it follows from basic SEO theory that pages with targeted content — including optimized link and anchor text —will eventually score better than bare bones links pages with nothing on them but lists of unrelated URLs.
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We're going to make SBO Linknet the authority on linking.
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As a result I put my link exchange program on hold across the board, pending "new developments". It has been almost a month since then, and until the last couple of days I have essentially ignored link requests, and automated submissions from fellow Link Machine users. The requests have piled up and I have to decide whether to follow up on them, or completely rethink the whole link exchange thing.
Then yesterday I noticed that some of my automated pages had acquired some Page Rank. Most of them are sitting at either PR1 or PR2, which, considering how little effort I've put into developing and promoting them is about what I would expect. It also compares favourably with my manual pages at Trade Show Tips, on which I have done no work at all.
My manual pages at Tradeshow-Display-Experts.com continue to perform the best, with the index page sitting at PR4, and most of the rest at PR3. I actually worked quite a bit on these pages in the late spring and summer, but have ignored them since about August.
Some conclusions:
1. Automated link exchange pages — at least the static kind generated by Link Machine — will eventually acquire PR.
2. They will not do significantly better or worse than manual pages.
3. Having the words "link" or "links" in the file name or page title does not seem to adversely affect the PR of these pages. My highest scoring page is called "links.html". It is a PR4.
Also, I have no test data to confirm this, but I think it follows from basic SEO theory that pages with targeted content — including optimized link and anchor text —will eventually score better than bare bones links pages with nothing on them but lists of unrelated URLs.
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We're going to make SBO Linknet the authority on linking.
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Monday, January 03, 2005
Is the Page Rank System Fair, Part 2
 | In a previous post I sketched out some of the background of the Page Rank system used by Google. In particular I compared it to the "citation" system used by academics to gauge the importance and relative status of academic researchers and university professors. |
The primary purpose of this series of posts is to demonstrate how "Power Linking" — or what I am now calling "Multi Linking" — is not cheating. Multi-linking — the process of strategically setting out to create multiple links pointing at target sites — might be considered "cheating" if one was to take what I call "an overly moralistic view" of the Page Rank system. In these two articles I explain what I mean by "an overly moralistic view", and why it is not acceptable.
The truth is, I do not spend a lot of time reading forum posts by SEO professionals. But when I do, I get the general impression that many of them take a "path of least resistance" approach to Google because they are very concerned about getting "penalized". On the face of it this would appear to be a prudent course of action. If Google penalization actually happens — e.g., the page rank of one's web site gets removed or downgraded or ranking for specific keywords gets downgraded — because of some tactic deemed to be against the rules, then it would be best to steer clear of such tactics. Especially when you are doing SEO on behalf of clients who trust your judgement.
Some similarities with the athletes-on-steriods debate
In some posts I've read, this argument tends to move from a discussion of strategy to one of ethics, more or less analogous to discussions about steriod use by athletes. In other words, it sounds like a "moral" or "ethical" argument.
From a strictly strategic point of view one would expect athletes like Mark McGwire, Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis, Barry Bonds (and a whole host of others) to make the decision about steriod use strictly from a consideration of its benefits vs risks. But of course there is an ethical dimension that cannot be ignored, and in the minds of most onlookers this dimension is actually paramount. Winners who break the rules are cheaters. End of discussion.
In fact there are at least two layers of ethical considerations going on. On one layer there are explicit rules against certain behaviour. And on another layer there are implicit rules of behaviour that one accepts as a member of the fraternity of athletes. Both of these have an important bearing on what is acceptable ("ethical") and what is not — on deciding who is and who is not a "cheater".
Understanding the dimensions of ethical behaviour is never as easy as the fundamentalists among us pretend. It is easy to say "rules are rules", but the fact of the matter is that rules are usually applied and interpreted in a dynamic context where circumstances are constantly changing. So it is not clear who exactly is abiding by the rules in such a context, because it is not always clear exactly what the rules are. Traffic speed limit laws are another good example of this. Usually police are free to exercise their discretion when applying the rules. Most of us think this is a good thing.
Charlie Francis (Ben Johnson's coach) was about as cold-blooded about this as one can be. He assumed that since virtually all the competitive sprinters of the era were using "performance-enhancing drugs", then it was strategically unwise for an aspiring sprinter not to use them as well. (Whether he was right or wrong in his facts is not really the question here.)
The moralist replies "I have never taken these drugs. I am clean. I will not cheat." And then we find out he or she was lying, or if they were not specifically using these drugs they were using some other practice that was equally against the "spirit" of the rules. The rules had just not caught up with them yet. Or we find out that associations charged with policing the rules were letting their athletes get away with infractions so they would appear to be clean.
So was Charlie Francis right or wrong? Only the fundamentalist who is too dogmatic or too lazy to think the matter through would cling to a simplistic answer.
What does this have to do with Page Rank and SEO?
The relevance of this analogy to Search Engine Optimization techniques will be lost on many of its practitioners. That is because they are too close to the activity to see that SEO is itself an activity meant to skew outcomes in the desired direction — never mind blatant techniques like keyword or link spamming. SEO is already manipulation of text and content in order to speak clearly to the Search Engines.
In other words, SEO involves what we might call "soft" manipulation. The SEO practitioner encourages us to write our text in ways we would not normally do — unnaturally. Soft manipulation is assumed to be acceptable while other "harder" types of manipulation are condemned.
So how do we distinguish between acceptable levels of manipulation and unacceptable ones? Presumably by looking at both the letter and the spirit of the rules and seeing if a certain practice falls within them. And probably understanding the "spirit" of the rules is even more important than focusing on what we think is the letter of the law, since the people at Google play their cards very close to the vest. They do not say: "Here are the rules we are now using", because that would result in even more overt attempts by SEO experts and webmasters to manipulate them.
For the moment, then, let us assume a set of "rules" actually exists. In an important sense the famous Google "algorithms" is a set of rules. But it is not really the algorithms we are after is it? The algorithms are notoriously changeable, and are set up to operate in the service of some more fundamental principles or assumptions. So it must be the set of assumptions behind the algorithms that determine what is "right" and what is "wrong".
It is these general assumptions we are after. They will look something like this:
1. Pages should be ranked according to the "relevance" of their content.
2. "Relevance" is determined quantitatively by the emphasis within a given document on certain terms (keywords and key phrases) related to the subject matter.
3. "Relevance" is determined qualitatively by the extent to which others with similar interests refer to or "cite" a given document, calculated by the frequency with which they "link" to it.
4. Some links will be more valuable than others in determining relevance. Links from important, authoritative sites will be more valuable than links from unimportant, non-authritative sites.
This is essentially the way the Page Rank system was formulated by the founders of Google while still post-graduate students at Stanford. (Find a link to the original document here.)
Where do these rules come from?
Given the significant influence these rules have on the development of the web, and the economic well-being of millions of people who use it to make a living, it seems fair to ask some questions about these rules. Unless we think everyone should be an obedient little Google slave, we surely are justified in asking "Where do these rules come from?", "Why these rules rather than some others?" "Are they fair?", "What assurance do we have the Google is applying them even-handedly?"
I will take up these questions in my next post.
-- Rick Hendershot
Internet Marketing and Web Traffic Generation
Linknet Small Business Marketing Resource Library
Friday, December 31, 2004
Random Suggestions for Would-Be Writers
Recently I have been doing a lot of writing for the Linknet Resource Libraries I am creating. These "libraries" are collections of articles about a wide range of topics, spread across numerous websites. Since I need many articles in a fairly short time, I have resorted to some of the more well-known article sites such as GoArticles.com for material.
Many of the articles posted on article sites appear to be quickly written, and are often rather thin on original content. That is understandable since two of the primary objectives of posting articles have nothing to do with content or quality. The first objective is simply to stick your name in front of other people. The second one is to get a link or two pointing back at your website.
Of course this is a very short-sighted way of looking at the writing game. As serious writers will occasionally point out, what you say and how you say it are ultimately the two most important aspects of your writing. In the short term nobody much cares what you say. But in the long term your writing, and your worth as a consultant or advisor will be judged by the quality of your work.
With that in mind, here are just a few things I have noticed that bother me about many internet articles I have read. Some of these are grammatical points, and some of them are stylistic. Take them for what they are worth.
1. One of the most prevalent grammatical errors I notice is the inability to distinguish between contracted forms such as "they're" and "you're" and the possessive pronouns "their" and "your". If you are pretending to be a writer, shouldn't you know the difference between these things? Here is a simple test: if you can replace "they're" with "they are", then you have the correct form. If you can't, then you probably need the possessive ("their" or "your").
2. Many would be writers simply do not understand possessive forms and how they are different from other words ending in "s". I am not even talking about "it's" vs "its". I am talking about the difference between "ten boys named Billy" and "the boy's name is Billy". If you do not understand the difference, here is a very good article about apostrophes.
3. One of the sytlistic tendencies that is quite popular among internet writers is the use of short one sentence paragraphs. Often these sentences do not have the complete sentence structure we were told in elementary school they should have.
Sentences like this.
Or like this.
Frankly I think amateur writers should approach their "craft" with a bit more humility. They should take the time to learn grammatical rules, and they should stick with conventional sentence structure until they have proven they can actually write. This is especially the case with the type of relatively mundane subject matter dealt with in internet articles.
4. Some internet writers resort to what I call "lazy" techniques such as the use of "etc., etc.". I am really talking about myself here. To give an example of what I am talking about, imagine a sentence in which I am talking about words, sentences, paragraphs, etc., etc. This is a "lazy" technique because it allows the writer to leave a thought unfinished. The impression is that there are more things that can be added to the list, but in fact their aren't any. I have started to purge myself of this habit by replacing "etc., etc." with "and so on". I realize that isn't much better, but it will have to do for now. Eventually I will just force myself to finish my sentences.
5. Another "lazy" technique is using "asides", especially with brackets (you know, like this). Many internet writers seem to think this enhances the informality of their work. I suggest it is just self-indulgence. The next time you are tempted to put an "aside" into brackets ask yourself if you are not just indulging yourself in an excuse for not creating a proper sentence.
Many of the articles posted on article sites appear to be quickly written, and are often rather thin on original content. That is understandable since two of the primary objectives of posting articles have nothing to do with content or quality. The first objective is simply to stick your name in front of other people. The second one is to get a link or two pointing back at your website.
Of course this is a very short-sighted way of looking at the writing game. As serious writers will occasionally point out, what you say and how you say it are ultimately the two most important aspects of your writing. In the short term nobody much cares what you say. But in the long term your writing, and your worth as a consultant or advisor will be judged by the quality of your work.
With that in mind, here are just a few things I have noticed that bother me about many internet articles I have read. Some of these are grammatical points, and some of them are stylistic. Take them for what they are worth.
1. One of the most prevalent grammatical errors I notice is the inability to distinguish between contracted forms such as "they're" and "you're" and the possessive pronouns "their" and "your". If you are pretending to be a writer, shouldn't you know the difference between these things? Here is a simple test: if you can replace "they're" with "they are", then you have the correct form. If you can't, then you probably need the possessive ("their" or "your").
2. Many would be writers simply do not understand possessive forms and how they are different from other words ending in "s". I am not even talking about "it's" vs "its". I am talking about the difference between "ten boys named Billy" and "the boy's name is Billy". If you do not understand the difference, here is a very good article about apostrophes.
3. One of the sytlistic tendencies that is quite popular among internet writers is the use of short one sentence paragraphs. Often these sentences do not have the complete sentence structure we were told in elementary school they should have.
Sentences like this.
Or like this.
Frankly I think amateur writers should approach their "craft" with a bit more humility. They should take the time to learn grammatical rules, and they should stick with conventional sentence structure until they have proven they can actually write. This is especially the case with the type of relatively mundane subject matter dealt with in internet articles.
4. Some internet writers resort to what I call "lazy" techniques such as the use of "etc., etc.". I am really talking about myself here. To give an example of what I am talking about, imagine a sentence in which I am talking about words, sentences, paragraphs, etc., etc. This is a "lazy" technique because it allows the writer to leave a thought unfinished. The impression is that there are more things that can be added to the list, but in fact their aren't any. I have started to purge myself of this habit by replacing "etc., etc." with "and so on". I realize that isn't much better, but it will have to do for now. Eventually I will just force myself to finish my sentences.
5. Another "lazy" technique is using "asides", especially with brackets (you know, like this). Many internet writers seem to think this enhances the informality of their work. I suggest it is just self-indulgence. The next time you are tempted to put an "aside" into brackets ask yourself if you are not just indulging yourself in an excuse for not creating a proper sentence.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Learning the Blogging Vocabulary
Like so many others who started into blogging for a variety of fairly cloudy reasons, I soon found myself wondering about the acceptable protocols. In particular I would like to know if I am taking advantage of all the tools available to a blogger. I thought it would be useful to nail down some definitions.
I found a fairly old post (January 5/2003) where Phil Gyford defines some terms. You can follow the links and comments from there if your want to dig more deeply.
http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/05/an_introduction_.php
I also delve a little more deeply into this matter in a post at e_Marketing
By the way, I see Blogger does not support trackbacks.
I found a fairly old post (January 5/2003) where Phil Gyford defines some terms. You can follow the links and comments from there if your want to dig more deeply.
http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/05/an_introduction_.php
I also delve a little more deeply into this matter in a post at e_Marketing
By the way, I see Blogger does not support trackbacks.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
List of Free Submit Website Directories Created
I've been working hard pulling all of my Linknet Resource Pages together so I can being promoting the service with gusto by the middle of January. I've also decided to list as many of the key sites in the Linknet Network with as many directories as I can find. So that has meant I've spent a couple days searching for directories and updating my information.
I hope to eventually create lists (directories?) of directories in the following categories. I've linked the general web directories page because that one is more or less functional (although I hope to add more sites as I find them):
General Web Directories
Specialized Web Directories (e.g., Real Estate, Golf, Web Design)
Link Exchange Directories or Sites.
I hope to eventually create lists (directories?) of directories in the following categories. I've linked the general web directories page because that one is more or less functional (although I hope to add more sites as I find them):
General Web Directories
Specialized Web Directories (e.g., Real Estate, Golf, Web Design)
Link Exchange Directories or Sites.
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Testing BlogJet
I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." -- Pablo Picasso
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Doing Local Business Online - Will My Product Work?
Can I sell my products online to my local area?
The question is whether or not you can reach your local market online. Forget about delivery problems for the moment. You don't have to ship your product a thousand miles. You just want to take the same product you are already selling in your current local area and promote it online. You want to know whether marketing your product online has any chance of generating new sales, or whether it might create more problems than it is worth.
Are some products suitable for marketing online and others not?
The "products" we are talking about here include both services as well as hard goods. Think of all the plumbers, home renovators, auto refinishers, pool cleaners, landscape suppliers and so on in your community and ask yourself if it is feasible to market these kinds of products and services online.
For instance, say you sell landscape products such as paving stones, top soil, crushed stone and so on. And say you already have an established business in your local area. Your geographic market area is roughly that area that you can reach with your trucks in less than, say, 30 minutes. So in other words, your target market area is any place within about 25 miles of your shipping depot.
Would it be worth taking this product online. Is your local target market big enough? Will online promotions reach a significant number of people in your local target area?
Well, it depends. To do effective online promotion you will have to create a website. Then you will have to create some sort of online marketing program. And then you will have to put a response system in place to answer customer enquiries and take online orders. None of this is free. Most of the costs will be in designing and creating the website. But there will be ongoing costs for regular marketing efforts and online advertising.
Regular marketing efforts? Online advertising? Absolutely! It is important to realize that you will be wasting your money if you just set up a website and expect customers to flock to it. It just won't happen. You need an ongoing marketing effort that includes, as a bare minimum, Search Engine Marketing and probably Pay Per Click Advertising.
I suspect that almost any product can be marketed online if you do it right. But it will be very difficult to predict the results. All you can say with assurance is that if you are persistent you will eventually gain some online "presence". And that should eventually translate into sales.
Consider some other completely different product or service. For instance, say you are a chiropractor. Is it worth taking your product online? Not just to create an online brochure, but to actually generate new contacts, new leads, and new customers? Will it be worth the effort?
My guess is it would be worth it, but you had better take the long view. There may be ways to gain instant recognition or instant clients, but I would not count on it. What you can count on is that a concerted, sustained effort over a long period of time will help you create a web presence and establish you as one of the leaders in your area. And that will result in sustained and lasting results.
In the next post I will discuss "how to make an impact".
Rick Hendershot is a marketing consultant, writer, and internet publisher who lives in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He publishes several websites and blogs, including Trade Show Tips, The Linknet Network of websites, e_Marketing, SuperCharge Your Website with Power Linking, and many more.
The question is whether or not you can reach your local market online. Forget about delivery problems for the moment. You don't have to ship your product a thousand miles. You just want to take the same product you are already selling in your current local area and promote it online. You want to know whether marketing your product online has any chance of generating new sales, or whether it might create more problems than it is worth.
Are some products suitable for marketing online and others not?
The "products" we are talking about here include both services as well as hard goods. Think of all the plumbers, home renovators, auto refinishers, pool cleaners, landscape suppliers and so on in your community and ask yourself if it is feasible to market these kinds of products and services online.
For instance, say you sell landscape products such as paving stones, top soil, crushed stone and so on. And say you already have an established business in your local area. Your geographic market area is roughly that area that you can reach with your trucks in less than, say, 30 minutes. So in other words, your target market area is any place within about 25 miles of your shipping depot.
Would it be worth taking this product online. Is your local target market big enough? Will online promotions reach a significant number of people in your local target area?
Well, it depends. To do effective online promotion you will have to create a website. Then you will have to create some sort of online marketing program. And then you will have to put a response system in place to answer customer enquiries and take online orders. None of this is free. Most of the costs will be in designing and creating the website. But there will be ongoing costs for regular marketing efforts and online advertising.
Regular marketing efforts? Online advertising? Absolutely! It is important to realize that you will be wasting your money if you just set up a website and expect customers to flock to it. It just won't happen. You need an ongoing marketing effort that includes, as a bare minimum, Search Engine Marketing and probably Pay Per Click Advertising.
I suspect that almost any product can be marketed online if you do it right. But it will be very difficult to predict the results. All you can say with assurance is that if you are persistent you will eventually gain some online "presence". And that should eventually translate into sales.
Consider some other completely different product or service. For instance, say you are a chiropractor. Is it worth taking your product online? Not just to create an online brochure, but to actually generate new contacts, new leads, and new customers? Will it be worth the effort?
My guess is it would be worth it, but you had better take the long view. There may be ways to gain instant recognition or instant clients, but I would not count on it. What you can count on is that a concerted, sustained effort over a long period of time will help you create a web presence and establish you as one of the leaders in your area. And that will result in sustained and lasting results.
In the next post I will discuss "how to make an impact".
Rick Hendershot is a marketing consultant, writer, and internet publisher who lives in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He publishes several websites and blogs, including Trade Show Tips, The Linknet Network of websites, e_Marketing, SuperCharge Your Website with Power Linking, and many more.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Doing Local Business Online - The Conventional World View
Bricks and Mortar Store vs Online Store — The Conventional World View
Say you want to open a store to sell widgets, and let's pretend you have a choice. You can either open a bricks and mortar retail store on Main Street, or you can open a web store and ship widgets from your garage.
Some of the differences seem obvious. At first blush, it would seem that your bricks and mortar store would probably cater to a local market with walk-in traffic, whereas your web store would focus on a non-local market. In turn, this would have an influence on how you define your service. Perhaps your physical store would focus on low prices and speedy installation, whereas your cyber-store would carve out a relatively narrow niche catering to a specialty market. What this clearly suggests is that you do NOT try to reach local markets online. You use more traditional marketing strategies.
Thinking about it in this way gives us the "Conventional World View". In the Conventional World View we have two different models. We can either open a Bricks and Mortar Store and cater to local markets, or we can open an Online Store and cater to non-local markets. Here are some other features of the Conventional World View...
In the Conventional World View Bricks and Mortar Stores deal with local markets. The products sold in a Bricks and Mortar Store are usually fairly general in nature — groceries, lumber, gasoline, dental services, child care, and so on. You normally specialize in some general area, but your specialization cannot be so narrow that there are not enough local buyers to support it. For instance, you might be able to find enough local customers for a specialty cheese store, but probably not if you only sell cheddar cheese.
Also, delivery is not an issue for Bricks and Mortar Stores. Either customers pick up goods, or you have successfully addressed the delivery issues.
In the Conventional World View Online Stores deal with non-local markets. In this case, products tend to be more specialized catering to a "niche" market spread out geographically. You are not hampered by the same restrictions as a Bricks and Mortar Store. Now you can open a cheddar cheese store, because there will probably be enough prospective online customers interested in your product. Delivery is a major issue and tends to determine whether or not your product is feasible. Generally this means that online products are either digital or can be delivered economically "at a distance" without excessive cost or damage.
This is the "Conventional World View" — two different types of stores for two different types of products and two different types of markets.
But changes in online technology and behaviour patterns are bringing inevitable challenges to the Conventional World View. More and more business people are asking: "Can I use online techniques to market my products or services to a local market? Can I sell my dental services, pool cleaning, real estate services, landscaping products, discount tires, or even pizzas or Indian cuisine to local markets using online techniques?"
Who should care about this question?
Anyone who is in business should care about this question. Why? Because times and business conditions are changing. Changes are always both positive and negative. They are negative because they present challenges that many business people will not be able to meet. They are positive because they present opportunities for those of us able to "go with the flow".
The challenges are significant. As more and more people come to rely on the internet for information, the traditional media — print media in particular — will become less effective and more expensive. Printed local directories like the Yellow Pages will become less relevant because they will be out of date compared to online sources.
Competition has also made this field more fragmented. The monopoly that certain companies have had on the data that goes into local directories has generally been broken, so new players have entered the field. Fragmentation means that covering your market now requires buying more ads to reach fewer people. The gravy train that made the Yellow Pages so dominant has ended. Eventually the entire structure will collapse into a pile of second rate directories piled in the corner collecting dust.
The opportunities are equally significant. If it is true that the more and more people are moving online, then it is also true that it is just a matter of time before people use the web as a source for more and more local information. Think of movie listings, for instance. If you could find a handy, reliable, and easy-to-navigate online source for local movie listings would that not be preferable to searching through the local newspaper? Especially if you don't have a local newspaper?
So that means if your local business does not have a presence on the internet you will not be found by the increasing number of people using the web as a source of information.
On the positive side it means that those who DO have a presence will be able to capture an even more significant chunk of the online attention. Think about that for a minute. If you could make your Indian food restaurant or your landscape products consistently come up in the top one or two searches for "Indian food in Denver" or "topsoil in Calgary" wouldn't that have a major impact on your business?
Next: Part 2 — "I don't have a product that is marketable online."
This entire series of posts will be entered in the Linknet Marketing Library.
Say you want to open a store to sell widgets, and let's pretend you have a choice. You can either open a bricks and mortar retail store on Main Street, or you can open a web store and ship widgets from your garage.
Some of the differences seem obvious. At first blush, it would seem that your bricks and mortar store would probably cater to a local market with walk-in traffic, whereas your web store would focus on a non-local market. In turn, this would have an influence on how you define your service. Perhaps your physical store would focus on low prices and speedy installation, whereas your cyber-store would carve out a relatively narrow niche catering to a specialty market. What this clearly suggests is that you do NOT try to reach local markets online. You use more traditional marketing strategies.
Thinking about it in this way gives us the "Conventional World View". In the Conventional World View we have two different models. We can either open a Bricks and Mortar Store and cater to local markets, or we can open an Online Store and cater to non-local markets. Here are some other features of the Conventional World View...
In the Conventional World View Bricks and Mortar Stores deal with local markets. The products sold in a Bricks and Mortar Store are usually fairly general in nature — groceries, lumber, gasoline, dental services, child care, and so on. You normally specialize in some general area, but your specialization cannot be so narrow that there are not enough local buyers to support it. For instance, you might be able to find enough local customers for a specialty cheese store, but probably not if you only sell cheddar cheese.
Also, delivery is not an issue for Bricks and Mortar Stores. Either customers pick up goods, or you have successfully addressed the delivery issues.
In the Conventional World View Online Stores deal with non-local markets. In this case, products tend to be more specialized catering to a "niche" market spread out geographically. You are not hampered by the same restrictions as a Bricks and Mortar Store. Now you can open a cheddar cheese store, because there will probably be enough prospective online customers interested in your product. Delivery is a major issue and tends to determine whether or not your product is feasible. Generally this means that online products are either digital or can be delivered economically "at a distance" without excessive cost or damage.
This is the "Conventional World View" — two different types of stores for two different types of products and two different types of markets.
But changes in online technology and behaviour patterns are bringing inevitable challenges to the Conventional World View. More and more business people are asking: "Can I use online techniques to market my products or services to a local market? Can I sell my dental services, pool cleaning, real estate services, landscaping products, discount tires, or even pizzas or Indian cuisine to local markets using online techniques?"
Who should care about this question?
Anyone who is in business should care about this question. Why? Because times and business conditions are changing. Changes are always both positive and negative. They are negative because they present challenges that many business people will not be able to meet. They are positive because they present opportunities for those of us able to "go with the flow".
The challenges are significant. As more and more people come to rely on the internet for information, the traditional media — print media in particular — will become less effective and more expensive. Printed local directories like the Yellow Pages will become less relevant because they will be out of date compared to online sources.
Competition has also made this field more fragmented. The monopoly that certain companies have had on the data that goes into local directories has generally been broken, so new players have entered the field. Fragmentation means that covering your market now requires buying more ads to reach fewer people. The gravy train that made the Yellow Pages so dominant has ended. Eventually the entire structure will collapse into a pile of second rate directories piled in the corner collecting dust.
The opportunities are equally significant. If it is true that the more and more people are moving online, then it is also true that it is just a matter of time before people use the web as a source for more and more local information. Think of movie listings, for instance. If you could find a handy, reliable, and easy-to-navigate online source for local movie listings would that not be preferable to searching through the local newspaper? Especially if you don't have a local newspaper?
So that means if your local business does not have a presence on the internet you will not be found by the increasing number of people using the web as a source of information.
On the positive side it means that those who DO have a presence will be able to capture an even more significant chunk of the online attention. Think about that for a minute. If you could make your Indian food restaurant or your landscape products consistently come up in the top one or two searches for "Indian food in Denver" or "topsoil in Calgary" wouldn't that have a major impact on your business?
Next: Part 2 — "I don't have a product that is marketable online."
This entire series of posts will be entered in the Linknet Marketing Library.
Fantastic Linknet Deal - Real Estate Section Ready
I've just spent three solid days working on the Real Estate section for my Linknet project. This involved posting more than 30 articles to a new "Real Estate Article Library", and then spreading them out across varous websites (22 to be exact). That makes the Real Estate section the most advanced and "ready for prime time". In fact I was spurred on by two subscriptions to the service from real estate websites. Posting their links reinforced my feeling that this service is going to be an incredible value.
Right now, here is what you get for $39usd -- soon to be increasing significantly...
First link on this many pages...
http://www.sbo-linknet.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.sbo-linknet.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.small-business-online.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.small-business-online.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.click-partners.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.click-partners.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.traffic-advisor.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.traffic-advisor.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.banners-canada.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.banners-canada.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.canadadisplaygraphics.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.canadadisplaygraphics.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.trade-show-tips.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.trade-show-tips.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.biz-blogs.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.biz-blogs.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.internetgolfreview.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.internetgolfreview.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
Second link on this many pages....
Right now, here is what you get for $39usd -- soon to be increasing significantly...
First link on this many pages...
http://www.sbo-linknet.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.sbo-linknet.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.small-business-online.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.small-business-online.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.click-partners.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.click-partners.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.traffic-advisor.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.traffic-advisor.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.banners-canada.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.banners-canada.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.canadadisplaygraphics.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.canadadisplaygraphics.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.trade-show-tips.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.trade-show-tips.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.biz-blogs.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.biz-blogs.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
http://www.internetgolfreview.com/linknet-bus-loans.shtml
http://www.internetgolfreview.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-loans.shtml
Second link on this many pages....
http://www.sbo-linknet.com/linknet-bus-realestate.shtml
http://www.sbo-linknet.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-realestate.shtml
http://www.small-business-online.com/linknet-bus-realestate.shtml
http://www.small-business-online.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-realestate.shtml
http://www.click-partners.com/linknet-bus-realestate.shtml
http://www.click-partners.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-realestate.shtml
http://www.traffic-advisor.com/linknet-bus-realestate.shtml
http://www.traffic-advisor.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-realestate.shtml
http://www.banners-canada.com/linknet-bus-realestate.shtml
http://www.banners-canada.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-realestate.shtml
http://www.canadadisplaygraphics.com/linknet-bus-realestate.shtml
http://www.canadadisplaygraphics.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-realestate.shtml
http://www.trade-show-tips.com/linknet-bus-realestate.shtml
http://www.trade-show-tips.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-realestate.shtml
http://www.biz-blogs.com/linknet-bus-realestate.shtml
http://www.biz-blogs.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-realestate.shtml
http://www.internetgolfreview.com/linknet-bus-realestate.shtml
http://www.internetgolfreview.com/linknet-articles/linknet-art-realestate.shtml
Friday, December 10, 2004
Is Power Linking Cheating?
Over the last few weeks I have come to the conclusion that exchanging links is a waste of time.
I get far too many requests from people who either have junk websites, or sites that are completely unrelated to any of mine (gambling, for instance). There is no point trying to explain why you don't want certain links. These people simply don't care. They're just engaged in a relatively pointless numbers game.
Add to that the fact that almost all of these link exchange pages — including my own — have no Page Rank. What that means is that exchanging links this way is worthless. Worse, it is a waste of time.
Is there an alternative?
Whether right or wrong all of us in the website game are held captive (to some degree) by the Page Rank system. And the Page Rank system is based on links. This is why absurd activities like "link exchanges" were invented in the first place.
So we all need links. Especially those of us who are relatively new to the game. Are there ways of getting legitimate links without feeding on the bottom for two or three years while you wait for somebody to notice your brilliant website?
Yes, there are. They are called "Power Linking Strategies". But before just assuming you know what I am talking about I want to put Power Linking in its rightful place, and tell you why I think it is not SPAM and not cheating.
Why do we do this? Some background
What has spawned the current link exchange frenzy is the fact that Google puts such a high value on inbound links (links pointing at your site). The entire "Page Rank" system was set up at Stanford back when the founders of Google were post-graduate studends there. The system clearly mimics the egg-headed academic reliance on "citations".
Academics (university professors and researchers) publish papers in academic journals to show they are actually doing something. The importance of a given article is eventually rated based on the number of "citations" an article has. If Professor Schwartz has 5 papers published in a prestigious academic journal and other scholars quote or refer to those papers, say, 30 times, then Professor Schwartz becomes that much more important and likely to get tenure or a pay raise, or whatever it is these guys get.
As far as it goes this seems like a fairly decent system. It is a system based on "merit". If your research has merit as judged by your peers, it will be referenced. So the more citations your research gets, the more valuable it is judged to be.
I have no idea how often academics try to abuse this system. Imagine a professor going out of his way to plant spurious references to his previous papers, or colluding with another researcher to trade citations with him. Or even better, paying someone to refer to this or that paper whenever he or she publishes something.
That kind of abuse would be a pretty serious challenge to the merit system, and I think would be pretty obvious in the stuffy world of academia. And there would be relatively simple ways of controlling it — if they really wanted to control it*.
But as with most things, when applied to the internet this system soon proved to be the object of all kinds of abuse. Webmasters very quickly learned how to manufacture bogus links. One way was to generate thousands of pages of jibberish and plant them at different places on the net. Another was to create forum posts and blog entries -- again with no real content other than a bunch of keywords strung together in semi-sensible order and punctuated with correctly formatted links. Still another was joining hundreds of "free for all" link directories.
Exchanging links is another example of this type of abuse. The Page Rank system assumes that Webmaster A links to Webmaster B's site because he likes what he sees (reads) on Webmaster B's site. But what if they just agree to swap links with no regard to content? That becomes an abuse of the system.
The first line of defence for Google is to label this kind of thing SPAM and then simply disallow links from such sources as counting. Sometimes the target sites of these bogus links are even penalized with a negative score, or banned from (free, not paid!) search results.
Is the Page Rank System too restrictive?
In the next segment I discuss whether the Page Rank system as most people understand it is "fair". Two things immediately come to mind...
First, a system based on "citations" will favor "the establishment". A cite which has been around a long time will have "momentum" and lots of citations. It is like tenure. Once you have it nobody is going to take it away from you. In the world of internet commerce that would be a tremendous disadvantage to the new guy on the block, no matter how good his or her product was.
I also ask how Google could possibly reconcile advertising with a pure Page Rank system? We don't normally dole out billboards or TV ads based on "merit". If you want a billboard and you have the money, you get a billboard (assuming your ad meets certain basic standards of acceptability). Google themselves are a perfect example of their willingness to modify the pure PR system if money is waved in their face. I'm talking about Google Adwords here.
And then in the third segment I put "power linking" into the mix. If the Page Rank system is viewed in an overly moralistic way, certain types of Power Linking that seem fine to me might be considered cheating. I try to describe what I mean by an "overly moralistic" view of the Page Rank system, and I argue against it.
Stay tuned for Segments 2 and 3.
NOTE *I don't mean to sound naive here. I am aware that many academic studies are now paid for by corporate interests, and that the results are correspondingly tainted. This really supports both of my main points. Point 1 is that in the world of academia the merit system is relatively easy to police. Point 2 is that as soon as you leave the ivory tower environment things get a lot messier.
--------------------
Rick Hendershot is a marketing consultant, writer, and internet publisher who lives in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He publishes several websites and blogs, including Trade Show Tips, Web Traffic Resources, Marketing Bites, SuperCharge Your Website with Power Linking, and many more. He is also a closet philosopher.
I get far too many requests from people who either have junk websites, or sites that are completely unrelated to any of mine (gambling, for instance). There is no point trying to explain why you don't want certain links. These people simply don't care. They're just engaged in a relatively pointless numbers game.
Add to that the fact that almost all of these link exchange pages — including my own — have no Page Rank. What that means is that exchanging links this way is worthless. Worse, it is a waste of time.
Is there an alternative?
Whether right or wrong all of us in the website game are held captive (to some degree) by the Page Rank system. And the Page Rank system is based on links. This is why absurd activities like "link exchanges" were invented in the first place.
So we all need links. Especially those of us who are relatively new to the game. Are there ways of getting legitimate links without feeding on the bottom for two or three years while you wait for somebody to notice your brilliant website?
Yes, there are. They are called "Power Linking Strategies". But before just assuming you know what I am talking about I want to put Power Linking in its rightful place, and tell you why I think it is not SPAM and not cheating.
Why do we do this? Some background
What has spawned the current link exchange frenzy is the fact that Google puts such a high value on inbound links (links pointing at your site). The entire "Page Rank" system was set up at Stanford back when the founders of Google were post-graduate studends there. The system clearly mimics the egg-headed academic reliance on "citations".
Academics (university professors and researchers) publish papers in academic journals to show they are actually doing something. The importance of a given article is eventually rated based on the number of "citations" an article has. If Professor Schwartz has 5 papers published in a prestigious academic journal and other scholars quote or refer to those papers, say, 30 times, then Professor Schwartz becomes that much more important and likely to get tenure or a pay raise, or whatever it is these guys get.
As far as it goes this seems like a fairly decent system. It is a system based on "merit". If your research has merit as judged by your peers, it will be referenced. So the more citations your research gets, the more valuable it is judged to be.
I have no idea how often academics try to abuse this system. Imagine a professor going out of his way to plant spurious references to his previous papers, or colluding with another researcher to trade citations with him. Or even better, paying someone to refer to this or that paper whenever he or she publishes something.
That kind of abuse would be a pretty serious challenge to the merit system, and I think would be pretty obvious in the stuffy world of academia. And there would be relatively simple ways of controlling it — if they really wanted to control it*.
But as with most things, when applied to the internet this system soon proved to be the object of all kinds of abuse. Webmasters very quickly learned how to manufacture bogus links. One way was to generate thousands of pages of jibberish and plant them at different places on the net. Another was to create forum posts and blog entries -- again with no real content other than a bunch of keywords strung together in semi-sensible order and punctuated with correctly formatted links. Still another was joining hundreds of "free for all" link directories.
Exchanging links is another example of this type of abuse. The Page Rank system assumes that Webmaster A links to Webmaster B's site because he likes what he sees (reads) on Webmaster B's site. But what if they just agree to swap links with no regard to content? That becomes an abuse of the system.
The first line of defence for Google is to label this kind of thing SPAM and then simply disallow links from such sources as counting. Sometimes the target sites of these bogus links are even penalized with a negative score, or banned from (free, not paid!) search results.
Is the Page Rank System too restrictive?
In the next segment I discuss whether the Page Rank system as most people understand it is "fair". Two things immediately come to mind...
First, a system based on "citations" will favor "the establishment". A cite which has been around a long time will have "momentum" and lots of citations. It is like tenure. Once you have it nobody is going to take it away from you. In the world of internet commerce that would be a tremendous disadvantage to the new guy on the block, no matter how good his or her product was.
I also ask how Google could possibly reconcile advertising with a pure Page Rank system? We don't normally dole out billboards or TV ads based on "merit". If you want a billboard and you have the money, you get a billboard (assuming your ad meets certain basic standards of acceptability). Google themselves are a perfect example of their willingness to modify the pure PR system if money is waved in their face. I'm talking about Google Adwords here.
And then in the third segment I put "power linking" into the mix. If the Page Rank system is viewed in an overly moralistic way, certain types of Power Linking that seem fine to me might be considered cheating. I try to describe what I mean by an "overly moralistic" view of the Page Rank system, and I argue against it.
Stay tuned for Segments 2 and 3.
NOTE *I don't mean to sound naive here. I am aware that many academic studies are now paid for by corporate interests, and that the results are correspondingly tainted. This really supports both of my main points. Point 1 is that in the world of academia the merit system is relatively easy to police. Point 2 is that as soon as you leave the ivory tower environment things get a lot messier.
--------------------
Rick Hendershot is a marketing consultant, writer, and internet publisher who lives in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He publishes several websites and blogs, including Trade Show Tips, Web Traffic Resources, Marketing Bites, SuperCharge Your Website with Power Linking, and many more. He is also a closet philosopher.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
A Disturbing Observation about My Link Pages
 | Last July when we were golfing in Ireland for a few weeks I did quite a bit of work setting up link exchange "systems" for my various Linknet websites. Since I administer more than 20 active sites I felt it was important to inject some automation into the link exchange process. |
I tried two or three scripts and eventually settled on LinkMachine. The reasons were pretty simple: LinkMachine was relatively easy to set up, actually seemed to work, had numerous features that allowed semi-automatic link exchanging, and had a growing group of LinkMachine users who could exchange links virtually automatically. The program also does not require a database installation (most require MYSQL) and generates static html link pages on the fly. I felt this was important because I have had spotty results getting dynamic pages indexed. I ended up installing this program on about 15 sites, and left two or three with a "manual" system where I would actually have to go in and adjust the appropriate link exchange when I wanted to add a link.
If you have followed any of my previous posts, or checked out my Power Linking Course you know that I have a keen interest in linking strategies. You may also have noticed that my faith in link exchanges of the LinkMachine kind has been steadily declining as time goes by.
Since setting up LinkMachine I have not expended much effort doing manual exchanges. I just respond to requests that come in and register certain sites with the odd directory. But that's it. As I mentioned above, LinkMachine generates static pages on the fly using my templates, updates the pages when a new link is added, and retains the same page name. So that should be an optimal arrangement as far as Google is concerned.
Yesterday I had a chance to look at the link pages on one of my main sites Small Business Online. I was a more than a bit dismayed to find that none of the LinkMachine generated link pages on this site have any PR. That's right -- "0"!. This is a bit odd, since the index page pointing directly at these pages has a PR of 4. And that usually means they will benefit from the direct link from a page with decent PR...but that was not the case this time.
So I looked around at some of my other sites and sure enough. All the automatically generated link pages have a PR of zero. That's not good. That means the links on these pages pointing to my link partners are basically worthless.
So I went a step further and looked at the link pages of some of the sites who have exchange with me and who also use LinkMachine. Same thing. Every page PR0. In fact I have found this is generally the case with all link pages -- manual and automatic. Very few of them have any worthwhile PR. Most webmasters seem to throw their junk links on these pages and have very little concern with pumping up their PR.
A couple of interesting exceptions are the three sites where I have manual link pages. You can see the pages here:
Trade Show Tips
Free Card Business Card Displays, and
Trade Show Display Experts. This last one is actually in pretty healthy shape. All of them are worth exchanging links on.
The conclusion at this point is inescapable. The automated link exchange program is a waste of time. Unless I can discover why this is happening -- for instance, maybe Google doesn't like the long involved page names generated by LinkMachine -- I would be better to scrap the automated system and concentrate on more slowly building my manual pages.
In the meantime, I will just start creating manual pages that I can use for exchanging worthwhile links. When I get around to developing a "system", the pages will be in place, and they will already have developed some PR.
-- Rick
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Getting Down to Business with Linknet
I've spent the last two days working on Linknet pages. Interest is starting to build and I'm getting the odd inquiry here and there. One marketing guy from the UK wondered if I'm setting up an affiliate network.
Answer: YES.
But not until I have all the details ironed out. The timing is just about right. My pages across the network are starting to build Page Rank. And now I just have to start fleshing out the pages by replacing some of the duplicates with fresh material. I just finished doing this with the Golf Article section. I added 12 pages of new material (new articles), and created an index page that will interlink them all. That means there will be at least twenty new pages pointing directly to each of these articles.
I also expanded the article entering system developed late last week for Small-Business-Online Articles. It is a very simple system using just one .php entry form pointing to various folders. Following on my discovery on Friday that my dynamic pages are not showing up in backlinks, I decided to hedge my bets and make my most important entries into static pages.
I'm not completely familiar with this blogging software, but it appears that static (html) pages are created by blogger for this blog (Marketing Bites), but I don't think that is the case with my b2evolution blogs over at my biz blogs. So I've started with The Weekend Golfer, my golf blog.
I created a simple entry form, and all the posts will get entered by copying and pasting, and then turned into static pages and automatically indexed. The running article summary will also serve as my home page for The WEG. This kills two birds with one stone -- I had been wondering what to do in order to kickstart The WEG, so now it's done.
I've also fallen behind in making my audio versions of these posts, but will catch up tomorrow morning.
-- Rick
Answer: YES.
But not until I have all the details ironed out. The timing is just about right. My pages across the network are starting to build Page Rank. And now I just have to start fleshing out the pages by replacing some of the duplicates with fresh material. I just finished doing this with the Golf Article section. I added 12 pages of new material (new articles), and created an index page that will interlink them all. That means there will be at least twenty new pages pointing directly to each of these articles.
I also expanded the article entering system developed late last week for Small-Business-Online Articles. It is a very simple system using just one .php entry form pointing to various folders. Following on my discovery on Friday that my dynamic pages are not showing up in backlinks, I decided to hedge my bets and make my most important entries into static pages.
I'm not completely familiar with this blogging software, but it appears that static (html) pages are created by blogger for this blog (Marketing Bites), but I don't think that is the case with my b2evolution blogs over at my biz blogs. So I've started with The Weekend Golfer, my golf blog.
I created a simple entry form, and all the posts will get entered by copying and pasting, and then turned into static pages and automatically indexed. The running article summary will also serve as my home page for The WEG. This kills two birds with one stone -- I had been wondering what to do in order to kickstart The WEG, so now it's done.
I've also fallen behind in making my audio versions of these posts, but will catch up tomorrow morning.
-- Rick
Saturday, December 04, 2004
How are My Articles Doing?
Now that a few days have passed since the conclusion of "The Vinyl Project" I thought I should check to see whether any of my posted articles are showing up in searches for my MIKWs (Most Important Key Words). I did searches for four of my MIKWs in both Google and Yahoo, and here is what I found:
-----------------------------------------------
This is a BLOG AD...
Linknet Blog Ads are Cheap
Very inexpensive blog ads like this one will create lots of valuable inbound links to your site. Multiple ads per week on 5 different blogs. Check it out.
------------------------------------------------
KW: "vinyl banners"
Engine: Google:
Article: "Design Tips For Vinyl Banners", #31
Soruce, Placement: IdeaMarketers.com,
KW: "vinyl banners"
Engine: Yahoo
Article: none in first five pages
(note: america-banners.com/products.html is #4 and banners-canada.com is at #5)
KW: "vinyl banners"
Engine: MSN Search
Article: none in first five pages
(only listing is for "lowestpricebanners.com" (#50)- a completely inactive site)
KW: "vinyl banners america"
Engine: Google
Articles:
1. "The Lowly Vinyl Banner..." #2
Source: developers.evrsoft.com. This is an old article, picked up by the webmaster of this site.
2. "Design Tips for Vinyl Banners", #4
Source: Ideamarketers.com
3. "Putting Images on Large Vinyl Banners", #5
Source: Ideamarketers.com
3. "The Many Ways ...Vinyl Banner", #6
Source: GoArticles.com
(nothing else in the top 50)
KW: "vinyl banners america"
Engine: Yahoo
Articles: None
(My sites score #1 thru #5. The only "articles" to score are Linknet articles at #15 and #16)
KW: "vinyl banners america"
Engine: MSN Search
Articles: None in the top 50
(My sites score #1, #2, #3, #7, #8, #23, #27, #30. Also 3 listings on the first page are spam redirect pages)
KW: "vinyl banners canada"
Engine: Google
Articles:
1. "The Lowly Vinyl Banner...", #2
Source: developers.evrsoft.com. This is an old article, picked up by the webmaster of this site.
2. "Design Tips for Vinyl Banners", #4
Source: Ideamarketers.com
3. "The Many Ways ...Vinyl Banner", #5
Source: GoArticles.com
4. "Putting Images on Large Vinyl Banners, #12
Source: Ideamarketers.com
5. "Tips for Putting Images...", #25
Source: GoArticles.com
6. "Vinyl Banner Designs that get notices", #38
source: CanadaDisplayGraphics.com (old placement)
7. "What is a PopUp Display?", #46
source: Sticky-Sauce.com
(NOTE: article picked up and published. These guys stuck some of their links into my article, but left my links intact.)
KW: "vinyl banners canada"
Engine: Yahoo
Articles:
1. "Vinyl Banner Designs that Get Noticed", #4
Source: Canada Display Graphics, Article Pages, old placement
2. "Put Your Most Important Message on Your Business Card", #20
Source: Linknet Printing Services Pages, (moderately old placement)
3. "Put Your Most Important...", #21
Source: Linknet Page on Small-Business-Online.com (moderately old placement)
4. "Make Your Vinyl Banner ...Masterpiece", #24
Source: BF Printing Newsletter 5. (moderately old placement)
NOTE: This site has always scored well for me, but was not (yet) included in this round of placements.)
NOTE: 16 out of the top 50 listings are my sites or articles, inlcuding #1-#6.
KW: "vinyl banners canada"
Engine: MSN Search
Articles:
1. "Vinyl Banner Designs that Get Noticed", #4
Source: Canada Display Graphics Creative Services Articles (older placement)
2. "Put Your Most Important Sales Message...Business Card", #14
Source: SBO Linknet Articles (2 months old placement)
3. "Put Your Most ... Business Card", #15
Source: Creative Services Linknet Articles on Easytraineronline.com. (2 months old placement)
4. "Make Your Vinyl Banner ...Masterpiece", #24
Source: BF Printing Newsletter 5. (moderately old placement)
---------------------
CONCLUSIONS:
1. Google indexes articles from specific sites very quickly. Yahoo and MSN do not.
2. Certain sites consistently score while others consistently do NOT. This confirms my previous conclusions.
The sites that do best are:
www.ideamarketers.com
www.goarticles.com
www.bfprinting.com (didn't use it this time)
Maybe if I was to do a "submit" for some of the others they would be indexed more quickly.
3. Generally Google puts more emphasis on "articles" than Yahoo or MSN.
4. No dynamic pages reported in any of these searches. No articles from any of my database sites. This is hard to swallow. SEO "experts" and reps from the engines are inconsistent about this, but the facts speak for themselves.
I will do further analysis of more keywords, and try to do a more concise summary of my conclusions in a few days.
-- Rick
---------------------------------------------
This is a BLOG AD...
Linknet Power Linking
For one very small price, your web site link or small text ad is placed on not just one web page, but on 30 web pages And these pages are not just in one web site. They are in 15 different sites.
---------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
This is a BLOG AD...
Linknet Blog Ads are Cheap
Very inexpensive blog ads like this one will create lots of valuable inbound links to your site. Multiple ads per week on 5 different blogs. Check it out.
------------------------------------------------
KW: "vinyl banners"
Engine: Google:
Article: "Design Tips For Vinyl Banners", #31
Soruce, Placement: IdeaMarketers.com,
KW: "vinyl banners"
Engine: Yahoo
Article: none in first five pages
(note: america-banners.com/products.html is #4 and banners-canada.com is at #5)
KW: "vinyl banners"
Engine: MSN Search
Article: none in first five pages
(only listing is for "lowestpricebanners.com" (#50)- a completely inactive site)
KW: "vinyl banners america"
Engine: Google
Articles:
1. "The Lowly Vinyl Banner..." #2
Source: developers.evrsoft.com. This is an old article, picked up by the webmaster of this site.
2. "Design Tips for Vinyl Banners", #4
Source: Ideamarketers.com
3. "Putting Images on Large Vinyl Banners", #5
Source: Ideamarketers.com
3. "The Many Ways ...Vinyl Banner", #6
Source: GoArticles.com
(nothing else in the top 50)
KW: "vinyl banners america"
Engine: Yahoo
Articles: None
(My sites score #1 thru #5. The only "articles" to score are Linknet articles at #15 and #16)
KW: "vinyl banners america"
Engine: MSN Search
Articles: None in the top 50
(My sites score #1, #2, #3, #7, #8, #23, #27, #30. Also 3 listings on the first page are spam redirect pages)
KW: "vinyl banners canada"
Engine: Google
Articles:
1. "The Lowly Vinyl Banner...", #2
Source: developers.evrsoft.com. This is an old article, picked up by the webmaster of this site.
2. "Design Tips for Vinyl Banners", #4
Source: Ideamarketers.com
3. "The Many Ways ...Vinyl Banner", #5
Source: GoArticles.com
4. "Putting Images on Large Vinyl Banners, #12
Source: Ideamarketers.com
5. "Tips for Putting Images...", #25
Source: GoArticles.com
6. "Vinyl Banner Designs that get notices", #38
source: CanadaDisplayGraphics.com (old placement)
7. "What is a PopUp Display?", #46
source: Sticky-Sauce.com
(NOTE: article picked up and published. These guys stuck some of their links into my article, but left my links intact.)
KW: "vinyl banners canada"
Engine: Yahoo
Articles:
1. "Vinyl Banner Designs that Get Noticed", #4
Source: Canada Display Graphics, Article Pages, old placement
2. "Put Your Most Important Message on Your Business Card", #20
Source: Linknet Printing Services Pages, (moderately old placement)
3. "Put Your Most Important...", #21
Source: Linknet Page on Small-Business-Online.com (moderately old placement)
4. "Make Your Vinyl Banner ...Masterpiece", #24
Source: BF Printing Newsletter 5. (moderately old placement)
NOTE: This site has always scored well for me, but was not (yet) included in this round of placements.)
NOTE: 16 out of the top 50 listings are my sites or articles, inlcuding #1-#6.
KW: "vinyl banners canada"
Engine: MSN Search
Articles:
1. "Vinyl Banner Designs that Get Noticed", #4
Source: Canada Display Graphics Creative Services Articles (older placement)
2. "Put Your Most Important Sales Message...Business Card", #14
Source: SBO Linknet Articles (2 months old placement)
3. "Put Your Most ... Business Card", #15
Source: Creative Services Linknet Articles on Easytraineronline.com. (2 months old placement)
4. "Make Your Vinyl Banner ...Masterpiece", #24
Source: BF Printing Newsletter 5. (moderately old placement)
---------------------
CONCLUSIONS:
1. Google indexes articles from specific sites very quickly. Yahoo and MSN do not.
2. Certain sites consistently score while others consistently do NOT. This confirms my previous conclusions.
The sites that do best are:
www.ideamarketers.com
www.goarticles.com
www.bfprinting.com (didn't use it this time)
Maybe if I was to do a "submit" for some of the others they would be indexed more quickly.
3. Generally Google puts more emphasis on "articles" than Yahoo or MSN.
4. No dynamic pages reported in any of these searches. No articles from any of my database sites. This is hard to swallow. SEO "experts" and reps from the engines are inconsistent about this, but the facts speak for themselves.
I will do further analysis of more keywords, and try to do a more concise summary of my conclusions in a few days.
-- Rick
---------------------------------------------
This is a BLOG AD...
Linknet Power Linking
For one very small price, your web site link or small text ad is placed on not just one web page, but on 30 web pages And these pages are not just in one web site. They are in 15 different sites.
---------------------------------------------
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Vinyl Project - Week 2 Report
 | Well, here it is Day 14 of The Vinyl Project -- the day I was supposed to have finished my posting of 12 different articles on at least 10 different article sites. |
Guess what... I actually finished (more or less). I say "more or less" because I felt I should drag out the posting on a couple of the last sites, just because of the way they are structured. But I made up for this delay by posting on some of my own sites (see the next post).
The sites I have posted "Vinyl Project" articles on are:
IdeaMarketers.com
GoArticles.com
ImpactArticles.com
SearchMonster.org
eBooksnBytes.com
NetterWeb.com
ClickForContent.com
MailBiz.com
BocOnline.com
AuthorConnection.com
And that does not even include a couple others I have done some preliminary posting on, and intend to do more:
AdvertisingKnowHow.com
BFPrinting.com
Nor does it include any of my own sites, most notably,
Trade-Show-Tips.com
CanadaDisplayGraphics.com
This project has rejuvenated my interest in writing and publishing articles en masse -- what I might start calling Power Publishing.
See my next post for more about that topic.
-- Rick
Power Publishing - Using Your Own Asseets
 | Here's a Power Linking Strategy I have not discussed much, simply because I have been too busy to fully take advantage of it.
Power Publishing on Your Own Site(s) |
The strategy is just another version of creating content and making sure to carefully link back to your most important pages. For the sake of simplicity, let's call these content pages.
Create big batches of content pages
The idea is to create big batches of content pages. They can be on your primary site; or if you have one or two or more secondary or support sites, these content pages can be on those sites. The important thing is that these pages be optimized for the type of content you want to promote -- to reinforce the page or pages you are pointing back to. That way, embedded links pointing back to those target pages will have more force. They will be more "relevant" because the context in which they are found will be "relevant" to your target page(s).
Two kinds of content pages: articles and "tips"
It has always seemed to me that there are two basic kinds of "content pages". There are article pages and there are tips pages (I'm sure you can think of others.) Both of these formats ("articles" and "tips") lend themselves to being done in what I have called "batches". By "batches" I mean instead of writing one super duper (overly long?) article about, say, Search Engine Optimization, you can write five or six (or twenty-five or twenty-six) shorter articles. Remember, Google see links on specific pages (at least that's what gets reported), so you might as well create five or six pages where you might be tempted to create only one.
In other words, don't write just one or two articles about Search Engine Optimization. Write a whole bunch. Narrow down your focus and expand little insignificant points. The truth is, people can't retain more than a skimpy little bit of information with each read anyway.
Put your batches into sections
That means you should end up with article sections. A section for this topic, and a section for that topic. And a bunch of articles in each section with links pointing at your most important target pages.
You can see how well the concept of "Tips" fits this formula. No matter what area you are involved in, you can create all kinds of little helpful tips and publish them on your website. Put each tip on a seperate page, and make sure you embed your links within relevant keyword-rich text with anchor text pointing back to your most important target pages.
1000 Trade Show Tips
For instance, I have just started creating a new feature called 1000 Trade Show Tips. Each tip will have at least two keyword-rich links pointing back to my two most important target pages. That's a lot of links. You can do the math.
It's also a lot of work. First you have to find the content, and then you have to properly organize it.
Here is what I am doing for my 1000 Tips section. I am starting out by taking some of my previously written articles and lifting paragraphs from them. In other words, I am turning each paragraph into a "tip". Believe it or not this more or less works. Each article produces about 20 tips or so. 50 articles and I've got my 1000 tips. I will also make sure that I write my future articles this way -- so that each paragraph more or less stands by itself as a "tip".
Organize your content pages to make it easy to create more
Finally, a comment on organization. I've tried quite a few different ways of organizing articles (content pages), and most have been cumbersome and hard to work with. What is required is a simple script that lets you enter "content" into a web form and that then posts that content in pages formatted according to a preset template.
I spent quite a bit of time looking for this kind of script over the last few days. I investigated several "Content Management Systems", and "Article Managers", but most have two major drawbacks: 1. They are overkill for what I am after -- too much setup, and too many options. All I want is a way of posting and indexing articles in several sections. 2. They post the articles to a database and do not usually create static (.html) pages. Yes, I know some systems do create static html pages, but I have not yet found one I like.
The little script I settled on is called Article Manager 02. It consists of about five files. Like most .php scripts you have to do some configuring. In my case I modified the templates to give me the look I wanted, and then created five or six different sections with an integrated index.
To post articles you go to a very simple article entry form. You enter your article (html works perfectly), and it gets posted to its own static page (in my case a .shtml page). A summary of the article gets posted to the index page. So you end up with a summary page with titles, dates, short summaries of all the articles. It's very simple, very neat. Click here to see my newest Marketing Article Directory. I posted 15 articles this morning in about an hour and a half.
-- Rick
This post is sponsored by Power Linking with the Pros.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Integrating Flash Video into Web Pages
I see that Macromedia are now giving away their "Flash Video Kit" when you purchase Dreamweaver before December 31. The "Video Kit" is regularly $99 and includes Sorenson Squeeze (special "lite" version) and the "extensions" required to integrate flash video with Dreamweaver.
Dreamweaver is $399 for the full package and $199 for the upgrade. I am not a Dreamweaver user, so I am not sure why you need the special extensions. For my own web pages I can just take the code generated from Flix Pro and paste it right into a page. Front Page recognizes it as an ActiveX control and lets you make adjustments by right clicking and going to "ActiveX Control Properties". Or even easier, you can just edit the html.
Here is what the html code for a typical video insertion looks like. This was set up for a movie that was 320 x 240 with a player added by Flix Pro. That accounts for the actual "object" dimensions of 325 x 274. Replace "movie.swf" with your own file name. And replace "server.com/swf" with your own server address.
------------------------------
<OBJECT width="325" height="274"
classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
name="./movie.swf" id="./movie.swf" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs
/flash/swflash.cab#version=5,0,0,0">
<PARAM name="bgcolor" value="000000"><PARAM name="movie" value="http://www.server.com/swf/movie.swf" ref>
<PARAM name="loop" value="0">
<PARAM name="quality" value="High">
<PARAM name="play" value="0">
<PARAM name="menu" value="-1">
<param name="_cx" value="8599">
<param name="_cy" value="7250">
<param name="FlashVars" value>
<param name="Src" ref value="http://www.server.com/swf/movie.swf">
<param name="WMode" value="Window">
<param name="SAlign" value>
<param name="Base" value>
<param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always">
<param name="Scale" value="ShowAll">
<param name="DeviceFont" value="0">
<param name="EmbedMovie" value="0">
<param name="SWRemote" value>
<param name="MovieData" value>
<param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="1">
<EMBED width="325" height="274" src="http://www.server.com/swf/movie.swf"
name="./movie.swf" bgcolor="#000000" play="TRUE" menu="TRUE" quality="high"
loop="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></EMBED></OBJECT>
---------------------
You should be able to copy and paste into your own web page, make edits to point to your own video at the correct size. Some of the parameters may look a bit mysterious. The most important are "loop" (keep restartign the movie) and "play" (start playing when the page is loaded". These are both set a "0" which means "no".
Once I get something like this to work the way I want I just copy and paste from a working page to a new one and make appropriate adjustments.
Of course you need to encode your video as a .swf file. For that you will need either Soreson Squeeze, or, my preference, Flix Pro.
-- Rick
This page is sponsored by Power Linking Strategies and Beautiful Vinyl Banners.
Dreamweaver is $399 for the full package and $199 for the upgrade. I am not a Dreamweaver user, so I am not sure why you need the special extensions. For my own web pages I can just take the code generated from Flix Pro and paste it right into a page. Front Page recognizes it as an ActiveX control and lets you make adjustments by right clicking and going to "ActiveX Control Properties". Or even easier, you can just edit the html.
Here is what the html code for a typical video insertion looks like. This was set up for a movie that was 320 x 240 with a player added by Flix Pro. That accounts for the actual "object" dimensions of 325 x 274. Replace "movie.swf" with your own file name. And replace "server.com/swf" with your own server address.
------------------------------
<OBJECT width="325" height="274"
classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
name="./movie.swf" id="./movie.swf" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs
/flash/swflash.cab#version=5,0,0,0">
<PARAM name="bgcolor" value="000000"><PARAM name="movie" value="http://www.server.com/swf/movie.swf" ref>
<PARAM name="loop" value="0">
<PARAM name="quality" value="High">
<PARAM name="play" value="0">
<PARAM name="menu" value="-1">
<param name="_cx" value="8599">
<param name="_cy" value="7250">
<param name="FlashVars" value>
<param name="Src" ref value="http://www.server.com/swf/movie.swf">
<param name="WMode" value="Window">
<param name="SAlign" value>
<param name="Base" value>
<param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always">
<param name="Scale" value="ShowAll">
<param name="DeviceFont" value="0">
<param name="EmbedMovie" value="0">
<param name="SWRemote" value>
<param name="MovieData" value>
<param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="1">
<EMBED width="325" height="274" src="http://www.server.com/swf/movie.swf"
name="./movie.swf" bgcolor="#000000" play="TRUE" menu="TRUE" quality="high"
loop="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></EMBED></OBJECT>
---------------------
You should be able to copy and paste into your own web page, make edits to point to your own video at the correct size. Some of the parameters may look a bit mysterious. The most important are "loop" (keep restartign the movie) and "play" (start playing when the page is loaded". These are both set a "0" which means "no".
Once I get something like this to work the way I want I just copy and paste from a working page to a new one and make appropriate adjustments.
Of course you need to encode your video as a .swf file. For that you will need either Soreson Squeeze, or, my preference, Flix Pro.
-- Rick
This page is sponsored by Power Linking Strategies and Beautiful Vinyl Banners.
Monday, November 29, 2004
The Impact of Outbound Links on Page Rank
If you have been following any of my "Power Linking" exploits you will know that I have recently been writing articles and creating content-rich pages and placing them strategically on as many sites as I can. Some of these are "article" sites, some of them are blog sites, and some of them are my own sites spread around on a variety of different hosts.
Regardless of where the content is placed, one of the questions that constantly comes up is "How many links should I plant in these pages?"
Let's say I want to write an article focusing on a specific product -- for instance, "Business Card Displays" -- in order to (among other things) increase the number of links pointing to the home page of the client's website (www.freecard.com). Should I restrict myself to planting one embedded link pointing back to the freecard.com home page? Or should I embed a number of other links as well, pointing to various other pages on the site? Quite a few SEO "experts" seem to think that the impact of a link is watered down by the total number of other links on that page, and, therefore presumably, that the impact of a link pointing from a specific page to your "target" page would be much more significant if it was one of only a few on the page.
I finally got around to doing a bit of research into this question.
The "PR Leak" position is stated very clearly in an article by Phil Craven called Outbound Links". Craven says:
"Outbound links are a drain on a site's total PageRank. They leak PageRank. To counter the drain, try to ensure that the links are reciprocated. Because of the PageRank of the pages at each end of an external link, and the number of links out from those pages, reciprocal links can gain or lose PageRank. You need to take care when choosing where to exchange links."
Craven is claiming that not only will your outbound links have a negative impact on the PR of the page containing them, but the outbound links of the pages linked to will drain PR away from your page as well. We might call this "second order PR Leak". He goes so far as to suggest that you should disguise outbound links with javascript.
Unfortunately he offers no theoretical or statistical evidence to support the "PR Leak" position.
Coming down on the other side of the debate is article by Jon Ricerca called Does the Number of Links on a Page Affect Its Ranking?. Jon Ricerca concludes: "...the results are very conclusive. Google ranks pages with outbound links much higher than pages without links. The SEOs touting the ‘PR Leak’ theory are simply wrong."
Ricerca's starting point is that the PR Leak theory is simply a theory -- pure speculation -- and therefore it needs statistical data to be either confirmed or denied. The statistical data he offers is based on a relatively limited number of sites, and a relatively limited number of searches (see his data and disclaimers).
The assumption he makes is that if the "PR Leak" theory were correct, then for any given keyword a significant number of high ranking sites would have fewer outbound links than the sites lower down in the rankings. The lower ranking sites would presumably have been negatively affected by their outbound links. But he finds exactly the opposite to be the case. All of the higher ranking sites have more outbound links than the lower ranked ones!
This is all very interesting, and is certainly pretty convincing evidence against the PR Leak theory.
Unfortunately, this is not exactly what I set out to determine. This shows that outbound links do not adversely affect the PR of the page that contains them. But I really started out wondering about the impact of links on the target page. After all, this is the point of "power linking" strategies -- to enhance the ranking of the target pages. So it is important to know if a link from a page with one outbound link is given more weight than a link from a page with numerous outbound links.
My Google searches did not turn up any useful answers to this question. Indeed, it is difficult to see how a study could be set up to answer this question. Any fairly simple study would have to make some pretty serious assumptions.
In fact, I may have some of the relevant data available to me on my own sites. I could begin by finding pairs of pages within the same site, both of which are linked to a specific page in another site. The first page in the pair will have lots of outbound links, and the second page will have considerably fewer. Then all I have to do is see which of these pages in any given pair is reported in the "backlinks" for the target page more often.
If the page with fewer outbound links is reported more often, then that supports the conclusion that outbound links from pages with fewer links are more valuable (have a greater -- or at least more consistent -- impact on the target page.) If there is no difference in the frequency of reportings, then that suggests that there is no significant difference.
I will try to compile some of this data over the next couple of days, and will report back...
Regardless of where the content is placed, one of the questions that constantly comes up is "How many links should I plant in these pages?"
Let's say I want to write an article focusing on a specific product -- for instance, "Business Card Displays" -- in order to (among other things) increase the number of links pointing to the home page of the client's website (www.freecard.com). Should I restrict myself to planting one embedded link pointing back to the freecard.com home page? Or should I embed a number of other links as well, pointing to various other pages on the site? Quite a few SEO "experts" seem to think that the impact of a link is watered down by the total number of other links on that page, and, therefore presumably, that the impact of a link pointing from a specific page to your "target" page would be much more significant if it was one of only a few on the page.
I finally got around to doing a bit of research into this question.
The "PR Leak" position is stated very clearly in an article by Phil Craven called Outbound Links". Craven says:
"Outbound links are a drain on a site's total PageRank. They leak PageRank. To counter the drain, try to ensure that the links are reciprocated. Because of the PageRank of the pages at each end of an external link, and the number of links out from those pages, reciprocal links can gain or lose PageRank. You need to take care when choosing where to exchange links."
Craven is claiming that not only will your outbound links have a negative impact on the PR of the page containing them, but the outbound links of the pages linked to will drain PR away from your page as well. We might call this "second order PR Leak". He goes so far as to suggest that you should disguise outbound links with javascript.
Unfortunately he offers no theoretical or statistical evidence to support the "PR Leak" position.
Coming down on the other side of the debate is article by Jon Ricerca called Does the Number of Links on a Page Affect Its Ranking?. Jon Ricerca concludes: "...the results are very conclusive. Google ranks pages with outbound links much higher than pages without links. The SEOs touting the ‘PR Leak’ theory are simply wrong."
Ricerca's starting point is that the PR Leak theory is simply a theory -- pure speculation -- and therefore it needs statistical data to be either confirmed or denied. The statistical data he offers is based on a relatively limited number of sites, and a relatively limited number of searches (see his data and disclaimers).
The assumption he makes is that if the "PR Leak" theory were correct, then for any given keyword a significant number of high ranking sites would have fewer outbound links than the sites lower down in the rankings. The lower ranking sites would presumably have been negatively affected by their outbound links. But he finds exactly the opposite to be the case. All of the higher ranking sites have more outbound links than the lower ranked ones!
This is all very interesting, and is certainly pretty convincing evidence against the PR Leak theory.
Unfortunately, this is not exactly what I set out to determine. This shows that outbound links do not adversely affect the PR of the page that contains them. But I really started out wondering about the impact of links on the target page. After all, this is the point of "power linking" strategies -- to enhance the ranking of the target pages. So it is important to know if a link from a page with one outbound link is given more weight than a link from a page with numerous outbound links.
My Google searches did not turn up any useful answers to this question. Indeed, it is difficult to see how a study could be set up to answer this question. Any fairly simple study would have to make some pretty serious assumptions.
In fact, I may have some of the relevant data available to me on my own sites. I could begin by finding pairs of pages within the same site, both of which are linked to a specific page in another site. The first page in the pair will have lots of outbound links, and the second page will have considerably fewer. Then all I have to do is see which of these pages in any given pair is reported in the "backlinks" for the target page more often.
If the page with fewer outbound links is reported more often, then that supports the conclusion that outbound links from pages with fewer links are more valuable (have a greater -- or at least more consistent -- impact on the target page.) If there is no difference in the frequency of reportings, then that suggests that there is no significant difference.
I will try to compile some of this data over the next couple of days, and will report back...
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Developing a Product You Can Sell Online - Part 1
Marketing Your Product On the Web
by Rick Hendershot
Online Marketing
Part 1 — Developing a Product You Can Sell Online
Finding a product you can sell online is not as easy as it sounds. Even if you have a successful offline business, the chances are better than 50/50 that all of your product(s) will NOT be suitable for online sales. Some may be; but many most certainly will not be. Your first job is to figure out which ones will work in an online environment. Here are some of the most important considerations.
The importance of finding a "niche"
Simple, easy to understand products like "books" or "sporting goods" or "electronic products" have a built-in advantage, because virtually everybody knows what they are. That means they have a ready-made market.
But it does NOT mean that easily recognized products like this will always be more successful in your business ventures — online or offline. The success of any business venture depends on being able to find a product that is recognized by a specific target market — what we will call a TARGET NICHE. And often that means NOT trying to reach a large over-crowded, highly competitive market segment.
The advantages of a narrow niche
When you stop and think about it, the reasons for this are fairly obvious. Trying to reach a large, highly competitive market segment takes resources that you probably do not have — advertising budgets and large inventories, for instance. And you will be going head to head with the big boys who DO have those resources.
So does that leave you with the "dregs" — the unprofitable markets that nobody else wants?
Definitely not. Let's consider some of these "dregs"...
Almost everybody can visualize what you mean by "Personalized Golf Balls", but most will have problems with "Duralex Floorguard Graphics", or "Medical Transfer Pipettes."
This fact presents the pipette marketer with both a challenge and an opportunity. There are relatively few people who want your pipettes. But if you can actually isolate (and reach) these people, then you probably stand a better chance of selling something obscure like this (both online and offline) than you do a more common thing like "personalized golf balls".
The reason is pretty clear, isn't it? While the market is relatively small, the number of suppliers will be even smaller. And there is a good chance these suppliers will not be nearly as sharp and net savvy as the big boys who go after the big markets. That gives you a perfect opportunity to become a major player in your category. In fact the web is the perfect place to focus your attentions, because you can become a major player in a matter of weeks, and for a few hundred dollars.
Targeted Prospects (the ones in your "niche") are ready to buy
Another important reason to zero in on a narrowly targeted "niche" market, has to do with the "mindset" of the relatively few people out there looking for your specialized product. The facts are simply these: when someone goes looking for "pipettes" or "compressed air grommet installers", they are serious. They are not looking for fun. They are looking because they NEED, or WANT these things — NOW.
Let me give you a real world example. One of our clients sells trade show display hardware and graphics. This is a "niche" market if there ever was one. When you track the number of Google searches done on keywords like "trade show displays", "popup displays", or "portable displays", the numbers are not very impressive. So when this client runs Google adwords for these keywords, their exposure rate is not very high — something like 2,000 views a month.
But guess what? The click thru rate for these ads is surprisingly high. Again, the reason is pretty obvious. People searching for this product are serious about a purchase. They are READY! All you have to do is present prospects like this with a compelling reason to buy from you rather than the other guys, and you will get a higher than average conversion rate.
Specialization is important...
In other words, specialization may be the most important key to your online success. If you have expertise, or even a little bit of special knowledge about a relatively obscure topic or product area, then that might just be the product category you should focus on.
But, of course specialization is not enough. Having a specialized product is one thing. Reaching your prospective buyers with your message is another thing altogether.
----------------
If you want to improve the traffic to your web, you can start by checking out the "power linking" resources at The Linknet Network.
by Rick Hendershot
Online Marketing
Part 1 — Developing a Product You Can Sell Online
Finding a product you can sell online is not as easy as it sounds. Even if you have a successful offline business, the chances are better than 50/50 that all of your product(s) will NOT be suitable for online sales. Some may be; but many most certainly will not be. Your first job is to figure out which ones will work in an online environment. Here are some of the most important considerations.
The importance of finding a "niche"
Simple, easy to understand products like "books" or "sporting goods" or "electronic products" have a built-in advantage, because virtually everybody knows what they are. That means they have a ready-made market.
But it does NOT mean that easily recognized products like this will always be more successful in your business ventures — online or offline. The success of any business venture depends on being able to find a product that is recognized by a specific target market — what we will call a TARGET NICHE. And often that means NOT trying to reach a large over-crowded, highly competitive market segment.
The advantages of a narrow niche
When you stop and think about it, the reasons for this are fairly obvious. Trying to reach a large, highly competitive market segment takes resources that you probably do not have — advertising budgets and large inventories, for instance. And you will be going head to head with the big boys who DO have those resources.
So does that leave you with the "dregs" — the unprofitable markets that nobody else wants?
Definitely not. Let's consider some of these "dregs"...
Almost everybody can visualize what you mean by "Personalized Golf Balls", but most will have problems with "Duralex Floorguard Graphics", or "Medical Transfer Pipettes."
This fact presents the pipette marketer with both a challenge and an opportunity. There are relatively few people who want your pipettes. But if you can actually isolate (and reach) these people, then you probably stand a better chance of selling something obscure like this (both online and offline) than you do a more common thing like "personalized golf balls".
The reason is pretty clear, isn't it? While the market is relatively small, the number of suppliers will be even smaller. And there is a good chance these suppliers will not be nearly as sharp and net savvy as the big boys who go after the big markets. That gives you a perfect opportunity to become a major player in your category. In fact the web is the perfect place to focus your attentions, because you can become a major player in a matter of weeks, and for a few hundred dollars.
Targeted Prospects (the ones in your "niche") are ready to buy
Another important reason to zero in on a narrowly targeted "niche" market, has to do with the "mindset" of the relatively few people out there looking for your specialized product. The facts are simply these: when someone goes looking for "pipettes" or "compressed air grommet installers", they are serious. They are not looking for fun. They are looking because they NEED, or WANT these things — NOW.
Let me give you a real world example. One of our clients sells trade show display hardware and graphics. This is a "niche" market if there ever was one. When you track the number of Google searches done on keywords like "trade show displays", "popup displays", or "portable displays", the numbers are not very impressive. So when this client runs Google adwords for these keywords, their exposure rate is not very high — something like 2,000 views a month.
But guess what? The click thru rate for these ads is surprisingly high. Again, the reason is pretty obvious. People searching for this product are serious about a purchase. They are READY! All you have to do is present prospects like this with a compelling reason to buy from you rather than the other guys, and you will get a higher than average conversion rate.
Specialization is important...
In other words, specialization may be the most important key to your online success. If you have expertise, or even a little bit of special knowledge about a relatively obscure topic or product area, then that might just be the product category you should focus on.
But, of course specialization is not enough. Having a specialized product is one thing. Reaching your prospective buyers with your message is another thing altogether.
----------------
If you want to improve the traffic to your web, you can start by checking out the "power linking" resources at The Linknet Network.
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