SEO Link Bait from A to Z: Sinking the Hook 26 Different Ways

You've worked hard to build your business.  Your website is user-friendly and perhaps you even send out a monthly newsletter.  However, despite all this, you still need more people to know about your company. What else can you do to draw the consumer's attention? You need to use link bait!  Just as an angler uses tantalizing flies and spinners to lure "the big one" to his hook, today's web companies are using link bait to draw more customers their site.  "So what is link bait?" you ask. Good question.
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Wordpress 3.0.4 Important Security Update

Below is an update from Wordpress.org:

"Version 3.0.4 of WordPress, available immediately through the update page in your dashboard or for download here, is a very important update to apply to your sites as soon as possible because it fixes a core security bug in our HTML sanitation library, called KSES. I would rate this release as "critical."

I realize an update during the holidays is no fun, but this one is worth putting down the eggnog for. In the spirit of the holidays, consider helping your friends as well."

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15 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Website in 2011

With the New Year just around the corner, perhaps you are thinking about the past 12 months and what changes there have been in your business. For instance, did your sales increase? Why or why not? What could you have done to attract more online customers? Perhaps, you had planned to start a newsletter, but...Yes, there are many aspects of having a successful business, and as the New Year approaches, this is a great time to set some new goals for 2011.

At Page Progressive we want to see your business not just survive but thrive. Our professional web designers can assist you in determining how to best use your time, efforts and energy to make your business all it can be. To get you started, here are 15 website resolutions your company may want to make for your company in 2011.

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WordPress 3.0.2 Update

WordPress 3.0.2 is available and is a mandatory security update for all previous WordPress versions.

This maintenance release fixes a moderate security issue that could allow a malicious Author-level user to gain further access to the site, addresses a handful of bugs, and provides some additional security enhancements. Big thanks to Vladimir Kolesnikov for detailed and responsible disclosure of the security issue!

Download 3.0.2 or update automatically from the Dashboard > Updates menu in your site's admin area. You should update immediately even if you do not have untrusted users.

http://wordpress.org/news/?p=1550
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How to Test the Value in Your Link Building

There is much more to successful link building than implementing the steps mention in the first part of this series. Yes, you want to develop as many links to your site as possible, but you want quality, not just quantity.  Here some things to keep in mind, if you are concerned about the value of your links.

What Makes Your Link Valuable

Just having links to your page is not enough. You want the link to bring the best return possible. To do that, be sure these elements are a part of the link building process:

• Website Age - A link from an older website is more valuable than one from a new website.
• Page Rank - The higher the page rank of a site that links with you the more significant the link. Check out the Google Toolbar for your browser to check on a site's page rank (PR) score.
• Link Source - Links from .gov and .edu are more valuable that links from .net or .com; however, the links from .gov are difficult, though not impossible, to get.
• Anchor Text - Be sure your anchor text uses your site's most competitive keywords and variations of them.
• Link Position - Links at the top of an article are better than those at the bottom.
• Relevance - This is a link from a site related to your own; a relevant link from a site with a lower PR is actually more valuable than one with a higher PR but of little relevance.

 

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Tips, Tactics & Warnings with Link Building

One very important component of having a successful website is the use of White Hat SEO practices.  These tactics involve the use of properly researched keywords, having a website that is user-friendly, and effective link building. In fact, many experts see link building as the SEO trump card. This is because links are the main way to have a web relationship and it's these relationships with other sites that indicate to search engines how "reputable" your website is. So what exactly does link building entail? First, here are a few things link building is not:

• Setting up a Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account, and then forgetting about them
• Link exchanges with people you don't know - they often result in "nofollow" links or become devalued.
• While pertinent, helpful comments on blogs and forums are recommended, the reverse is that spammy, irrelevant comments work against you.
• Automated link building - There are programs out there that promise to get you tons of links for almost nothing. Beware, those automated programs almost always mean that your content is viewed as spam
• link buying - this is heavily forwned upon in the Google Webmaster link building guidelines. So, use caution if this is your approach. If you pay for a link to be placed on another person's site, it should also be for that person to review your site before endorsing it. This can be a grey area, however.

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Blackhat Versus Whitehat SEO: Slow & Steady Wins the Race

Do you remember the Aesop's fable about the turtle and the hare? Remember how the turtle steadily plodded toward the finish line, while the hare raced along looking for easiest ways to get ahead, and then rested on his laurels once he thought he had attained the prize? Then, seemingly out of nowhere, there was the turtle at the finish line. This story reminds me of how some choose to approach SEO. Consider Black Hat (the hare) and White Hat SEO (the turtle) practices. If it is your job to provide SEO for your company, then understanding White Hat and Black Hat search engine optimization is a must.

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Debunking the Metatag Myth

If you have ever developed a website, then chances are you have worked with Meta tags. And, while many Meta tags are useful, some are not nearly as necessary as they once were. There is an abundance of Meta tag myths circulating on the Web, at conferences/seminars and among many business owners when it comes to SEO. In the world of Meta tags, there are 4 primary types that many sites use:

• Meta keywords, which are used to tell search engines what key phrases the page shoulld rank for.
• Meta descriptions, which summarize what is on the page and should be geared for people and not search engines.
• Meta robots, which interact with search engine spiders to tell them what to (anot not to) read.
• Author, copyright, rating and distribution tags which can be useful for identifying other information about the page

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Tech News Recap for Small Business

The world of technology is constantly changing. In fact, by the time you finish reading through this, chances are something new has been developed or released. However, here are some of the more recent advancements in technology, development and communication taht you, as a business owner, might care about.

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Website Usability: Designing for Mobile Devices

In the quest to make your website more user-friendly, there comes a time when you need to give great thought as to what type of device and user you are designing for. As mentioned in part 1 of this series, many people today are accessing the web via mobile and multi-touch devices. As Steve Jobs commented just days after the release of the iPad," Elements that rely only on mousemove, mouseover, and mouse out or as a CSS pseudo-class hover may not always behave as expected on a touch-screen device such as the iPad or the iPhone."¹ As a result, web developers should keep in mind that anything designed for the web and requiring a hover state has an uncertain future and may face serious website usability issues. Not sure? Consider this telling fact, "There are two smartphones being purchased for every one desktop computer."²

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Website Usability: 7 Reasons Why It's All About the User

As you begin examining your website to see if it is usable to your visitors, there are many aspects you will want to research. Not only do you want it simple yet informative, you want your visitors to recognize, among other things, that they are important to you. Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, after much research and combined years of experience have released the following website accessibility guidelines to enhance a website's usability.

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4 Ways "Less is More" Regarding User-Friendly Websites

In a day when technology is constantly changing and improving, building a unique website has become more than choosing a WordPress template and plopping in your content. After all, there's Flash, Javascript, a rainbow of color choices, gradients, boxes, bars, animated GIFs, widgets, gadgets, thingamajigs and many other programming and design elements to choose from, right? But does a website really need all of these "latest and greatest" web elements in order to be effective and usable? Many website developers and interface design experts agree the answer is a resounding "No." In fact, the wealth of possible website effects and features has lead to the detriment of many a website, when it comes to being user-friendly. And shouldn't that be one of, if not the goal in any design?

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What is PHP Programming and Why Should you Care?

So you want to develop a website where that you can track phone calls, emails and follow ups, as well as manage billing , inventory/ and the status of team projects. Or perhaps you want to create your own online community or social media website. No Problem! Thanks to the versatility of the open source programming language PHP, you can do that and more! Designed by Rasmus Lerdorf in order to pass his resume online and then collect data, PHP has continued to be used by web developers for a variety of needs and web-based applications.  PHP is lauded by programmers for many reasons, but these factors are best summed up as follows:

• PHP can be used to create exceptional web pages and interact with info on the web
• It can be used as a go between with users and databases (Such as MySQL)
• Compatibility with almost any Internet server
• PHP/MySQL-based open source solutions are free to use and can be found easily online, such as ImpressCMS or Wordpress
• The syntax is simple and has many similarities to C or Java. In addition, it can be used easily on Windows, Macs, UNIX and other programming platforms.
• PHP, though free, is also secure, when used properly

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Privacy Policies = Higher Page Rank?

It has been suspected by many web knowledgeable individuals in the SEM realm that having a privacy policy can improve your site's page ranking, although there is no hard proof of this fact. However, one thing is certain; if you do have a privacy policy, it is mandatory that you follow it.  In fact, if you are selling a product or services, it is true that people are more willing to give you their information if they feel you are trustworthy, so a privacy statement along with a RatePoint seal is a great way to garner trust.

 

 

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4 Ways RatePoint Can Work for You Newsletters, Reputation Management, Surveys & More

RatePoint, founded in 2006, was designed by the developers of GeoTrust, the world's 2nd largest provider of Security Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates, in order to make public relations between companies and consumers even better. It is used to assist businesses to build stronger customer relationships, manage their online reputation, build their business and increase customer confidence. After spending time working on GeoTrust, the developers realized that while they could assure consumers of a site's safety, they could not answer for the quality and accountability of a site. Now, RatePoint is being used by businesses around the globe to learn more about their customers through an assortment of online tools.

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ImpressCMS: A CMS to Keep Your Eye On

ImpressCMS is a "fork" from the XOOPS CMS. Consequently, many XOOPS (eXtensible Object Oriented Portal System) modules will also run on ImpressCMS because of that. It is designed to work as a web framework for websites.  It offers a long list of features, some of which are its community, relational databases, personalization, management usability, modules administration, themed based skinnable interface, some SEO add-ons and personalization.

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MailChimp: A Great Newsletter System Worth Checking Out

If you are looking for a tool to create E-newsletters, or improve your internet marketing campaign, check out MailChimp. With MailChimp, you will find an assortment of features that allow you to increase the productivity of your business and stay in contact with the people you care about most. In fact, here at Page Progressive, we use it and love all that MailChimp can do. Recently, MailChimp has added several new tools. Check out these new features, along with some of those that have been around a while, and decide if MailChimp is right for you.

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6 Ways to Use SEM to Build Your Business

There is much more to having a successful business than merely having a website. This is because online business is fed by search traffic. This has resulted in a whole industry focus on improving a website's visibility or Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Originally in 2001, Search Engine Marketing was defined by Danny Sullivan as "The act of marketing a web site via search engines, whether this be improving rank in organic listings, purchasing paid listings or a combination of these and other search engine-related activities." Today, however, not everyone is in complete agreement as to exactly what SEM is and often uses the term as a synonym for paid search (PPC or Pay-per-click). Now, a commonly accepted definition as stated on Wikipedia is "A combination of search engine optimization and the use of paid and contextual advertising in order to bring a website's articles or product pages to the top of search engine result pages (SERPs).

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Adobe vs. Apple: Is Website Development Dead with Flash Dead?

Last month, Steve Jobs announced that Apple will no longer be using Flash on its devices like the iPad, iPod touch or iPhone. He then went on to give 6 reasons to back the statement.

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11 Tools and Tips for Social Media and Business

There is no need for you to spend excessive amounts of time researching, tracking and analyzing your sites; rather begin using these 5 social media tools:

• MajesticSEO offers link analysis and acquisition counts.  Site owners can get full reports on their website. There is also a paid version that gives you link details on your competition and helps you find high impact links for SEO.
• Andy Beal's Trakur monitors social media sites giving you insight into what others are saying about your brand, identifies their influences and shoes where they are commenting
  
  
• SocialMention is a free Real Time and social search tool that crawls social media sites. It has a variety of options, outputs and tools that help you create spreadsheets to track your progress.
• PostRank shows you what topics are hot, so you can include information about the most popular search queries.
• bit.ly is a URL shortener that allows you to create a domain name for Twitter and Facebook that is recognized as your own.

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14 Tools and Applications for Combining Business and Social Media

Now that you have set up accounts at a few (or several) social media profiles, you will want to use it to its full potential. Of course, maintaining a social media listing takes time, so learning how to get the most of your efforts is important. Fortunately, making your company's social media profile profitable can be done through the effective use of tools and applications that can increase your business while decreasing the number of hours you spend on your Facebook, Twitter, Buzz or other social media profiles.

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5 Reasons Why You Should Use Social Media to Promote Your Business

Reasons to Use Social Media for Business, Part 1

As few as 3 years ago, the use of social media sites and their relevance to business was unheard of. Today, however, savvy businesses are approaching their advertising and marketing resources with a bend toward social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Buzz and others. In fact, according to the observations by the Center for Marketing Research, the Inc. 500 companies are outperforming Fortune companies largely due to the use of social media. In addition, Facebook recently topped Google as the most visited website on the internet. If you are not using a social media website, then you are missing out on a large customer base-and who wants to do that?

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Tips to Test and Measure Your Site's SEO

If you've been following our last few posts, you now have spent a fair amount of time making your site search engine optimized. And, chances are, you are already seeing a bit more web traffic. However, your website SEO is not complete, nor will it ever be 100%. This is due to step four of the SEO process.
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4 Areas of SEO Content Optimization that You Don't Want to Miss!

Last post we discussed keyword research. Now that you have your keyword list and have tested them for effectiveness, now you are ready for step 3 of improving your website's SEO.

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Critical SEO Tips for Keyword Research

When building or redesigning your website, it is vital to do everything possible to make it rank high in a web search.  After all, a website that is only visited by friends and family is not helping you increase your customer base. To help your site rank high in web searches, one of the most efficient methods is the effective use of SEO.

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How to Seal the Deal with Internet Marketing

Most successful businesses, regardless of their product, number of employees or physical location, all have at least one commonality. No, it's not necessarily winning personalities or state of the art facilities; rather, it is profitable internet marketing. Also known as web marketing, online marketing, I-marketing, or E-marketing, internet marketing strategies use website optimization to increase the number of consumer visits to a website. Online marketing offers you the opportunity to measure statistics easily and inexpensively using tools such as Google Analytics.

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Link Building: What Websites and Cities Have in Common

Every city is different.  Some have multiple opportunities for adventure, others are known for a certain culture, and some are known for particular types of commerce, but they all have one commonality - numerous streets, highways and interstates bringing traffic in and out of them. A well-marketed website has a lot of similarities with a city. The roads leading into and out of the city are comparable to links on a website. And just as having more roads facilitates more traffic for a city, the more links to your website, the greater the traffic as well, resulting in greater revenue for you.

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