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Online Press Releases: An Effective SEO Technique

Art — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:23:25 +0000

Press releases are becoming a popular and effective method for search engine optimization. This technique will increase your search engine results page (SERP) as well as increase your presence on the web. Given this change, press releases should be a part of everyone’s search engine optimized campaign.

The Advantages of Press Releases

The circulation of a press release is an effective way to promote your company and advertise promotions, sales, major news breakthroughs and accomplishments. Journalists, bloggers and websites are constantly searching the web for news content; this is a great way to build backlinks to your site. Once they find your press release, it will be transferred across the global web.

Additionally, a quality press release will result in authority and niche sites picking up the article. This means you’ll have a well-establish, Google popular website linking to your creation thus increasing search results and ultimately traffic.

Methods of Distribution

There are a few methods for distributing press releases. First, try to post to different websites, blogs and other media outlets. Other options include distributing the release to PRWeb or Send2Press. There are different pricing plans to enable to site to upload the press release to multiple social networking sites, news outlets and search engines. These two methods are inexpensive ways of advertising your press release.

Reasons to Write a Press Release

One of the main reasons for creating a press release is for big news occurring at your company, like the hiring of a new CEO. Also accomplishments such as breaking a sales record or winning an industry award should be syndicated across the web. Major sales, promotions and specials are interesting pieces of news that people are interesting in and its good advertising as well as link generation which could result in traffic conversions.

Prior to the Release

Before releasing, you should generate a list of targeted keywords that will help you increase your rank within search engines. Scatter the press release with these keywords but keep the density at the back of your mind. An effective rule of thumb is to use one or two keyword per 100 written words.

Press releases are becoming one of the most effective tools for search engine optimization. Since so many others (including your competition) are utilizing this advantageous method, its time for you to jump on board and start bringing targeted traffic to your site.

SEO – Software vs. Manual Labor

Art — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:37:11 +0000

One of the biggest debates in the entire search engine optimization industry is whether or not software is better than good old fashioned hard work. The answer to this question cannot be answered the same for all situation, as there are many facets to a successful search engine optimization campaign, and there are also many different types of software available that claim to help your site rank higher in the SERPs. The truth is, some of them work and some of them don’t, however all of them need to be used correctly to produce substantial results. In fact, most people that are looking for a push button solution to search engine optimization usually wind up misusing these tools and receiving penalties from the search engines, thus hurting their search engine ranking. However, this may or may not be attributed to the tool itself, but how the tool was used. The following information should shed more light on the relationship between software and successful SEO.

Could This Realistically Be Done?

That is the first question you need to ask yourself before using any tool to automate your search engine optimization campaign. If what you are about to do could not realistically be done in the amount of time you plan doing it, then chances are it will be regarded as spam by the search engines. Search engines know that people use tools to automate tedious processes, and to prevent abuse they look for unrealistic patterns when indexing pages. For example if you build 10,000 backlinks in one night, then this will obviously look suspicious. Not only is this kind of link building suspicious, but all of these links can’t possibly be indexed in one night, and in many cases the site may be thrown into the sandbox in order for Google to catch up with all of the links posted on the web.

Is this Really Beneficial?

That is the second question you need to ask yourself before using any tool to automate a process. Many of the tools used to build links quickly do so by posting links on sites with low PR. Every site that links back to yours affects the PR of your site, depending upon the PR. So if you build 1000 backlinks from a bunch of PR 0 and PR 1 pages in a week, then you may actually be hurting your page rank! On the other hand, just 20 backlinks from PR 5,6, and 7 sites could bring you pages ahead of your competitors in a very short period of time. The point is, it is not always a number game and this is an important factor to consider when using any tool.

Will it Help Me Learn?

Perhaps the best way to use tools for search engine optimization is to use market research tools which give you insight on your industry and competition. Keyword research/market analysis tools are the best tools to use in search engine optimization, as they will ultimately help you perfect your craft and advance your site to the front page of the search engines.

SERPs and Backlinks – The Keys to SEO

Art — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:10:23 +0000

Your site’s page ranking is how Google judges and displays your websites overall popularity. The better your page rank, the more search traffic you’ll receive, as your site will gain more exposure towards the top of Google. Your site’s page rank is displayed on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Every effort you put towards search engine optimization is primarily focusing on increasing your site’s position in the SERPs. One of the primary ways to get a higher page rank in the SERPs is by building backlinks. Backlinks are like the backbones of any popular website. Backlinks are links on the internet that contain your site’s URL. The more links there are in existence, the more popular your site appears to be to Google.

Quick and Easy Vs Long and Hard

There are many ways to build backlinks for your site. A lot of people try to take the easy way out and use tools that will let them spam other sites in hopes of establishing backlinks. While it is possible to build many backlinks doing this, the backlinks will be relatively pointless, as not many real people are going to want to link to your site since you are spamming. Spamming is also bad for your website because Google and other search engines frown upon it severely. In fact it is possible to get indexed by spamming to advertise and build links to your website. If you want to create a long lasting website that is going to bring you profit year in and year out, then you may want to consider building your link empire legitimately.

Networking and Content

Perhaps the most legitimate and fundamental methods of building backlinks is by simply providing your visitors with interesting content that they would want to share. If the content is interesting enough, then they will automatically link to it on their blog. People will also link to your site on social bookmarking sites, ad posting sites and anywhere else where links can be posted. You can even place social bookmarking utilities on your site that will make it easier for your visitors to recommend your site to their friends on various networks including Myspace and Facebook

Advertising

Yet another obvious way to get more links to your site is through basic advertising. You can use a plethora of ads such as PPC campaigns and other basic advertising methods to drive traffic to your site initially. Once you’ve found an effective keyword to bid on, you can scale up your efforts and begin creating multiple websites. The beauty of owning multiple websites is that you can link to your own websites, creating even more backlink opportunities and an overall better SERP ranking.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that the quality of backlinks is every bit as important as the quantity. Having only 10 backlinks that originate from authoritative sites within your niche, can mean a lot more than having 100 irrelevant backlinks from unrelated websites.

Nine Must-Have SEO Tools

Art — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:34:56 +0000

Keyword implementation, optimal page design, link building and other SEO aspects can result in a lot of hard work. Thankfully, there are many tools available to help you simplify the process. Here are nine we consider must-have:

1) Thumbshots Rankings

Thumbshots Ranking offers an informative, yet fun way to make yourself familiar with search engines and learn how to optimize your site for better ranking. Proper use of this tool can go a long way in generating the quality traffic you seek.

2.) SEOBench

This particular SEO tool analyzes results from Google and Yahoo, identifies what they have in common, and them provides a graphical display of the results in both engines. SEOBench gives you a nice illustration which reveals that while optimizing your site for both Google and Yahoo is not necessarily an easy task, it is not impossible either.

3.) Link Appeal

Link Appeal is a very effective tool that calculates the efficiency rating of having a link on a given URL. It relies on factors such as the number of outbound links, its page rank and the overall percentage of links to HTML. Link Appeal can serve as a great tool for helping you decide whether to request a link on a particular web page or not.

4.) Link Popularity Checker

The Link Popularity Checker is pretty self explanatory as it informs you on how many sites are linked to your own. We think you will find this tool quite valuable being that link popularity is such an integral part of the entire optimization process. The more popular your site becomes, the better it will rank in the SERPs.

5.) SEO Checker

SEO Checker is an ideal tool for checking up on search engine saturation, which simply describes the number of pages a search engine indexes for a given website. While every search engine does not report this information, a fair share of them do, and this is enough to establish a few meaningful benchmarks for your SEM campaign.

6.) Google PageRank Report

Google PageRank Report is something you can use to automatically check the ranking value for any URL you specify in the provided form. To get the best results, simple add “www” in front of the domain in question.

7.) Link Value

This easy to use link calculator calculates the link value of your website on a monthly basis. The value is calculated based on many essential factors specific to most of the major search engines.

8.) Keyword Research

Keyword Research is a tool that can be used to research your targeted keywords and phrases, helping you determine which as best suited to implement into your web pages. All if you have to do is enter a given term or phrase, and the tool automatically makes additional suggestions regarding other words and phrases you should think about targeting.

9.) Google Keyword Suggestions – This handy Google orientated tool will aid you in the process of selecting popular and relevant terms that are related to your desired keyword. Simply enter a word, and the tool queries data from a number of Google searches, which it then uses to determine the most relevant terms used by websites in that particular niche.

Four things to Consider When Hiring an SEO Firm

Art — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:51:14 +0000

Hiring an SEO firm is a move that cannot only improve the optimization of your site, but also help you save time and increase your bottom line over the long haul. However, this is a large decision and one that deserves careful consideration on your part. Choosing the wrong company could damage your reputation and ultimately hinder the success of your business. While some of these experts companies can provide valuable services, others have blemished the market with unethical practices, utilizing overly aggressive marketing tactics to manipulate the SERPs (search engine result pages) in ways looked down upon by search engines. These practices tend to violate guidelines and could result in a penalty that lowers your sites’s ranking or complete removal from the search engine index. There are many pitfalls that must be avoided, thus this article will let you know what to look for when choosing an SEO firm.

1.) Know the Facts

It is very common for SEO firms to make the claims of being able to deliver guaranteed rankings. They often allege special relationships with major search engines or boast the ability to guarantee high rankings with priority site submissions. These are the type of companies you want to avoid at all costs. There is no such thing as guaranteed rankings or priority submissions. If a particular company is offering something that seems too good to be true, it probably is.

2.) Get the Facts

Should the SEO firm throw something your way that you don’t completely understand, never hesitate to ask for comprehensive explanations to clear things up. This is very important because if the company creates misleading or deceptive content for your site, you could be removed from the search engine index entirely. Although you want a company that operates with honor, in the end, you are held liable for the actions of the firm you hire for SEO. By gathering all the facts, you can determine if their services will aid in your cause, or end up doing you more harm than good.

3.) Be Cautious of Linking

We recommend steering clear of any firm that tries to persuade you with free-for-all links, link farms or other schemes to achieve link popularity. You should also think twice about any company that wants to submit your site to thousands of search engines. In most cases, these practices have no positive bearing on search engine rankings. If anything, they will end up impacting your rankings in a negative way.

4.) Know What You’re Paying For

There are a number of search engines that combine PPC (pay per click) results with the standard search results. This is where you really need to be cautious of SEO firms because some will guarantee you a ranking, but have you placed in the advertised section opposed to the regular search results. To avoid this trick and others like it, be sure to ask the company where your money is going and if any of it will be applied to rankings that show up temporarily on the advertising side of the page.

The Importance of SEM

Art — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:46:32 +0000

There are many ways to go about promoting your site and SEM is one of the most effective. Search engine marketing or SEM, refers to the marketing of a website to improve its ranking in the search engines. It also describes purchasing paid listings among other search engine related activities. When embarking upon an SEM campaign, it is important to first understand the benefits of optimization and then employ techniques that will bring prospects to your site. Just as when getting browsers to enter your store in the real world, the goal is the same here – convert those visitors into customers.

Why SEM?

Today’s internet and World Wide Web see more consumers turning to search engines for the products and services and they seek. If you are out to establish a strong base of customers and strengthen your bottom line, making friends with the search engines is the way to go. SEM is a proven technique and has worked wonders for business owners looking to increase their online visibility via the SERPs. This method involves a combination of various techniques and when used effectively, the consumers who are after your products or services will find you much easier.

A recent study shows that nearly 90% of all website traffic is generated from major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. This is the very reason why almost every online business owner is currently so engulfed with optimization and marketing their sites for search engine traffic. As we mentioned before, SEM covers a broad category of techniques and the most important of all is optimization.

Below we have provided details on two of the most commonly used methods of SEM.

SEO

More commonly known as SEO, search engine optimization describes the act of creating web pages that appeal to the search engines. It generally involves building link popularity and most importantly, implementing relative keywords potential visitors are most likely to type into a search engine. These keywords are to be inserted into the body of the web page as well as title tags and meta tags. SEO can be so effective that other SEM techniques might not even be necessary. Although every method is not required for a successful SEM campaign, SEO is one you can’t do without it.

PPC

Because achieving high rankings in a search engine is no easy task, some rely on Pay Per Click campaigns for high profile placements. This is the type of model where you pay a predetermined fee when a user either clicks or visits an advertisement. PPC is an SEM technique that focuses on targeted audiences and particularly, generating sales.

The key to SEO and SEM in general, is knowing how web surfers go about searching for products and services they are interested in. Keep in mind that they rarely use industry jargon so you have to think like your audience in order to attract them. This is why SEO experts stress the importance of keyword research. Whether its genuine SEO, PPC or other methods, keywords are the basis of successful SEM.

Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » SERP

Online Press Releases: An Effective SEO Technique

Related posts:

SEO – Software vs. Manual Labor

Related posts:

SERPs and Backlinks – The Keys to SEO

Related posts:

Nine Must-Have SEO Tools

Related posts:

Four things to Consider When Hiring an SEO Firm

Related posts:

The Importance of SEM

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