General SEO

First, let me back up and say I will address the previous post in a bit. It’s fairly involved, so it’s going to take some time to do right. In the meantime I wanted to write a quick summary type post that illustrates an easy way to get some money from this web thing.

There’s a lot of talk about blogging and all the wonderful things it does. I’m not much into that, I could care less about most of the perceived benefits of blogging. For me a blog quite simply is a way to generate sales/leads/conversions. I want direct results.

The good news is, it’s pretty easy to get results from a blog. All you have to do is stick to writing some posts. More specifically, if you’ve been doing your reading at home then you know that fully half the traffic from the search engines - Google included - is on long tail search terms. Funky search terms that nobody would ever dream of targetting. If you have enough content (i.e. blog posts) then you’re going to be able to access that long tail search traffic. It’s easy to rank for, you just have to have the content there.

So the first thing about a blog is that we’re going after the long tail or secondary search terms. The second thing is that the site has to convert. Traffic that doesn’t convert is useless. In sales, this is called ‘asking for the sale’. You have to ask for the sale. Online that means you need to decide what your conversion is (is it a sale? a lead? Request for more info?) and put it in their face. Make it prominent.

In my industry I have a tried and true conversion form. But with my blogs I’ve always found it a pain in the butt to integrate the conversion form nicely into the blog. Until I was reading suggarae’s blog and noticed she had a new theme. And guess what, it has the biggest baddest conversion sweet spot of pretty much any theme I’ve seen. AND you can cut and paste code (or your form) into that sweet spot and it automatically publishes it in that sweet spot across all the pages. This site is actually using that theme. See that block of ads in the top right hand corner of this and every page on this site? That was a simple cut and paste.

Yes. Sweet. Very sweet. Sweet enough that I bought the developer’s version of the theme and use it across every single blog I have. It allows me to set up and run blogs and easily convert my traffic no matter what the subject. But enough generalities - the theme is the thesis theme from DIY themes. And yes that’s a commissioned/affiliate link. And yes, you should still buy the theme.

Here’s the summary to a succesful blog. Note that in six months the only difference between those making money from a blog and those that aren’t is whether or not you actually do this. There’s no secret here, just routine work.

1. Get a domain name, and get it hosted somewhere inexpensively.
2. Get wordpress and install it on your new site.
3. Buy the Thesis theme and install it. Put your conversion or money shot in the big block.
4. For the next six months, commit to writing a blog post at least three times a week.
5. During those six months, follow the basic link building posts we’ve talked about previously here. Nothing fancy, just start getting some links to the site.
6. You were expecting more?

That’s it. Is there anything in that list that you can’t do? Of course not. It really is that easy. It’s all I do, and my blog, as a secondary site, brings in more leads in a day than most people in my industry do in a month. Which brings me to my last point. Even if you already have a main SEO site, doing the above is a smart thing to do. Diversifying your search engine traffic is vital - and a second site like this allows you to do that. And as I hope I’ve made clear, if that second site is a blog then it’s easy enough to bring in some traffic and conversions.

In a previous post I mentioned that .ca domains were still going cheap and that there were plenty of opportunities still available. I’m going to add some additional thoughts on that.

First, mine your logs. Go get some log analysis software and look for what people are searching on. Let’s say your in the mortgage marketplace. You see lots of hits for ‘ontario mortgage rates’. Go register ontariomortgagerates.ca. You’ll find your logs are the best place to go find new keyword rich domain name suggestions. Last year when I checked, somewhere between 2 and four of the top search terms in my logs, the domain names built from those keywords were available as .ca’s.

Next put up some content. Even just three or four pages talking about ontario mortgage rates. Make sure you have a means for visitors to convert (either to buy or to convert to a lead somehow) prominently on the site.

Now go use some of the link building techniques we’ve talked about previously to drive 10 or 20 links to the site. Now sit back and wait.

Eventually you’ll start to get some search engine traffic. Are you going to set the world on fire? No. But you will accomplish three things. First, put together a couple dozen feeder sites like this and you’ll get a nice flow of leads. Secondly it helps diversify your online SEO efforts. If your main site gets burned somehow, or just stops ranking you won’t be completely bone dry of business. And thirdly, when the time comes that you need to go grab an aged domain to do some testing or build out a new site you’ll already have a stable of sites to choose from. It’s real nice to be able to go grab a two year old domain whenever you have a new project or want to do some testing.

Quick post for friday afternoon, an update to a post I did on sphinn that never got sphunn because I have no friends :). Over the next little while I may repurpose some of my ideas I’ve posted elsewhere and rebuild and update them here.

1) Sugarrae - Sugarrae’s blog. She doesn’t post as often anymore, but you’ll want to cling to every word. Go back and read all of her previous posts. She did a small paid consulting job for me when I first started doing SEO. To date it’s the best money I’ve ever spent. As an SEO, she skyrocketed me right to the top with ‘what works’. In any regard, read her blog.

2) Jim Boykin - Again he doesn’t post as much as he used to, but go back and read all of the old posts on his blog -go back a few years. Jim is free with his advice to everyone, and he’s another very, very sharp person. I ran into Jim at a pubcon years ago, long before I knew he was far more than a scruffy bearded hoodied geek. In an hour, over a beer, he imparted more guidance than I’ve read in years online. Probably 5-6 years later I still use what he told me in that conversation as foundation guidance on how to build links. He was talking trustrank concepts years before anyone was discussing the idea publicly. I don’t just want to be LIKE Jim, I want to BE Jim :). Maybe I should get a ‘I want to be like Jim’ hoodie….?

3) Andrew Goodman - Best Google adwords book available. Support your independent bookstore and go buy a copy if you’re doing PPC at all. You should probably also buy Perry Marshall’s book.

4) WebMasterWorld - The internet’s premier SEO forum. It has ebbs and flows of good posts, but there’s lots of good advice there still. If you’re serious about SEO, it pays the $100 or so to become a site supporter, or it gets the hose again.

5) Digitalpoint forums - In all seriousness, I don’t read the SEO forums there. Too much low end garbage to wade through, full of folks who’s life is automated directory submissions. But still, if you’re getting started, it’s an alternate view on the industry. I like it for the buy-sell forums. It’s a great place to get a banner graphic or template done cheap. And there’s a whack of sites being sold - every once in a while you’ll find a gem. For design stuff, you can hold a ‘contest’ which means you post your payment, everyone does their design, you pick the one you like and pay them. Weird, but true.

6) Sphinn - Really, this shouldn’t be in a top 10 list. It’s full of low end garbage posts and self promotion. But the self promoters in the industry seem to like it, so let’s say I bowed to peer pressure. It’s not in my top 10 list, but it’s a widely read site so it gets a mention. FWIW, Sphinn is Danny Sullivan’s new gig. Danny is the original force behind the SES conferences, he was and is a powerhouse in the industry - but not the sphinn site :).

7) SlightlyShadySEO - As it’s name suggests, it’s not really as blackhat as you might think. More of a grey hat. But well worth the read, it’ll give you good insight into some of the edgier stuff in the business. Not all of it - but enough for you to kind of get a feel for the type of thing going on. And you do need to have a bit of a feel for that side of the business, even if you’re whitehat. My goal for the coming year is to meet this guy and have a beer with him. That’s assuming he’s old enough to consume alcohol :).

Pubcon - The conference run by the folks at webmasterworld. Everyone who’s anyone goes. White hat, black hat, search engines, everyone. If you’re newish, the sessions are fabulous. If you’re more experienced, it’s where you go to network. Some of my very best ideas came out of having dinner with someone at pubcon. Meet the folks you’re going to message SEO ideas back and forth with for the coming year. Seriously - this is a must attend. I was a bit reluctant to go the first time, after that it’s a big deal to me if I don’t go.

9) Search Engine Strategies - This is the grandaddy of SEO conferences. Huge. The conference in Toronto is a dud though - I only ever get an exhibit hall pass, do a 20 minute drive by of the 8 booths they have, then go home. The conference in New York, I think the sessions are still a bit weak (meant for the lowest common denominator) but the exhibit hall is freakishly large. Can you say 3 stories of booths? The exhibit hall alone is a day or two to get through. For sure worth going. The other one is the SES in San Jose. I have not been but I’m told it’s outstanding - I’m dying to go. It’s where they have the famous ‘Google Dance’. Apparently all the search engines put on parties.

Funny story at SES NY. Last time I went, they were drawing for a new Jeep. I laughingly folded a corner on my ticket and told the guy to pick that one. Ha. Ha. So they drew a ticket. Not me, but the winner had to be present to win….so they waited. And waited. And no show. So they drew another ticket. And again waited. And waited. Another no show. So they drew a third ticket AND THE CORNER WAS FOLDED! Yes, I remained cool, but I was pretty excited :). No, it wasn’t me. But it was fun for 3 seconds while I thought ‘maybe’!

But back to building links. Tony Spencer had a great idea if he won a jeep for free. Drive it off a cliff and video tape it. Post the video, and you’re going to get links and hits. A waste of a jeep, but hey, it’s a jeep right?

10) You’re already here! Remember, I’m speaking in Toronto this month, see you there!

And have a great weekend!

Well, almost guaranteed. Pretty certain.

DMOZ is the directory used by Google. It’s been around forever and is very trusted. Pages in the directory are very relevant. It’s a great place to get a link.

But alas, there’s a few problems. First, it’s edited by volunteers. Lazy volunteers. Volunteers who take 2 years to review your listing before discarding it without response or reason.

Second, many categories don’t have editors. So your submission gets ignored.

Thirdly, editors are only supposed to index original content. Isn’t your site just like every other widget store in your industry? Probably. So, no listing for you.

And lastly, it’s full of corrupt dmoz editors. See, your competitors were smarter than you and signed up to be category editors 10 years ago. Now they’re in control of who gets listed. Is that going to be you? Not in a freakin’ million years.

So what’s a person to do? Easy. Volunteer to be a category editor.

Aaah, but not just ANY category editor. You volunteer to be the category editor for the town, city, or region you are in. These small regional categories are almost always crying out for an editor. And all these categores are, are business listings.

And who better than you to compile and sort through all the businesses in your town? Nobody - you’re perfect for the job! And while you’re at it, do you know of any other businesses in the area that should be listed? Like say, Oh I dunno, YOURS?

Boom. You’re listed in DMOZ. Now you can sit back and listen to everyone else moan about how they can’t get into DMOZ. You’re there and looking fine.

A few other notes. Don’t be sneaky - you’ll get caught. Be open about your business. Disclose your websites when you sign up - they don’t mind if you list your own business, that just makes sense. They do mind if you lie about it. Do some research on how to apply to become an editor to increase your chances of being selected.

And do a good job with the category. Clean it up, tighten it up, contribute to the directory. Do all that, then you’re doing your job, and there’s nothing wrong with adding your own site as a listing - you’re clean as a whistle.

There you go. Easy peasy, you’ve got a listing in DMOZ that’s under your control. No longer do you have to read about how hard it is to get listed.

Continuing on with our link development we’re continuing on in our quest to use mostly technical methods to build links. In my first post on the subject of link development we discussed checking your competitors backlinks to find places to get links. Now we’re going to discuss directories and other places we can basically automate submissions to.

But first, a message from your neighbourhood Google spam team. Be careful with this type of technique. It can get you ranked. It can also get you penalized or banned. Too much of anything in link development is a bad thing, too much paid link building can be a bad thing. Certainly it’s something the search engines would rather not see so realize too much of it and they’re going to want to slap you somehow.

Step 1 - finding directories.
Like much of link building, we use Google to find the sites we’re looking for. In this case we’re looking for footprints or signs that a website is a directory. For example, most directories would have the words ’submit your site’ on the page. So searching for ’submit your site’ should yield a good list of sites to start looking at. And sure enough it does.

Now I’ll cut to the chase and give you the list of footprints. This list has been passed around the internet for years and the original author is long lost. Whoever they are, thank you. Without further ado, assuming your business is ‘web design’, here’s some searches you can do to find sites.

“Suggest link” “web design”
“Suggest a link” “web design”
“Suggest site” “web design”
“Suggest a site” “web design”
“Suggest URL” “web design”
“Suggest a URL” “web design”
“Suggest an URL” “web design”
“Add link” “web design”
“Add a link” “web design”
“Add site” “web design”
“Add a site” “web design”
“Add URL” “web design”
“Add a URL” “web design”
“Add an URL” “web design”
“Submit link” “web design”
“Submit a link” “web design”
“Submit site” “web design”
“Submit a site” “web design”
“Submit URL” “web design”
“Submit a URL” “web design”
“Submit an URL” “web design”

“add your link” + “web design”
“add link” + “web design”
“add your site” + “web design”
“link exchange” + “web design”
“add your URL” + “web design”
“submit your link” + “web design”
“add links” + “web design”
“submit your site” + “web design”
“exchange links” + “web design”
“add new link” + “web design”
“add URL” + “web design”
“add site” + “web design”
“add a link” + “web design”
“add your website” + “web design”
“submit your website” + “web design”
“add a new link” + “web design”
“submit URL” + “web design”
“submit link” + “web design”
“request a link” + “web design”
“exchanging links” + “web design”
“submit a link” + “web design”
“trade links” + “web design”
“submit website” + “web design”
“link requests” + “web design”
“website listed here” + “web design”
“link swap” + “web design”
“add a site” + “web design”

Here’s some other directories you may consider submitting to as well:
www.dmoz.org
dir.yahoo.com
www.botw.org

Those are three of the top directories available. Dmoz is free, but hand edited and hard to get into (I’ll tell you how you can pretty much guarantee a listing in Dmoz in a later post). Yahoo’s directory is $300 bucks a year. BOTW (Best Of The Web) are run by some of the sharpest directory folks out there. If you’re going to do paid directores and focus on quality, those are the three to start at.

In addition to the above list of search terms there are numerous compiled lists of directories. One of the most popular is vilesilencer but there’s plenty of others. Do some searches on ‘paid directory lists’ and things like that; you’ll find the lists.

Step 2: Evaluating the Directory
Now you’ve got hundreds or thousands of directories you may submit to. Some free, many paid. Which ones to submit to? All?

Let me first state that I’ve seen people rank by excessive use of paid directory submissions. But I’m very very concerned about that as a long term plan. I’m pretty sure they’re going to get busted someday. So keep that in mind. My recommendation is be careful where you submit to - let the vast majority of directories go by. Find ones that are relevant if you can. Failing that, find ones that seem to have some trust (like www.botw.org). I recommend you use this link building technique as an initial foundation layer of links, not an overall or even a primary link building technique.

Anyway, try and keep in mind my previous post on judging the quality of backlinks. Most directories are going to have a lot of low end crap as their backlinks, and most will be general non-relevant sites. That’s because in the heyday of the directory site, everyone was setting up directories, building backlinks just to get PR, then selling listings for $10 a pop. But Google has hit directories pretty hard with a decline in PR and what seem to be other penalties.

So first step in judging directories - are they relevant?
Second step - are they trusted?
Next, check how many pages the site has indexed. Using your search status plugin, see how many pages Google has indexed for the site. Lots of pages, good. Not as many as you’d expect, not so good. That means Google doesn’t think the site is valuable enough to index all the pages. You can also try the search ‘mortgages site:directorysite.com’ to see what pages from the directory are in Google that relate to mortgages or whatever niche you’re in. Certainly if you find that the page you’re getting a link from is not indexed in Google you should skip the directory.

Also, look at how the directory pages are ordered and the pagination. If your company name is ZZZ mortgages and the directory lists alphabetically, you’re on the last page. If that’s on page 12 of the mortgage listings, that’s not good. You’re buried deep.

The front page of directories will list the categories in the directory. Directory software also allows them to list subcategories on the front page (i.e. instead of just listing the business category, they might show the main ‘business’ category as a listing, and below it have three or four subcategories, like mortgages and SEO). If the subcategory you want to get listed on is on the front page of the directory, that’s a good thing.

Two other factors to look at as it relates to your submission. Some directories allow rich anchor text. So if your company is Bob’s Mortgages, they will let you set up your anchor text - the text they link to you with - as ‘Shop Mortgage Rates Online’. This practice is good for you, not so good for the directory IMO (most quality directories don’t allow keyword stuffing in the anchor text). In addition, some directories will give you a base link plus another 4 or 5 links to inner pages. This is a GOOD thing, use it.

Price is the last consideration. You need to combine all the above factors and make a decision. Is $10 a good buy? Is $99 a good buy? There’s no right answer, much of this is judgement and experience based. Personally? I’d probably be buying more $50 and $100 directories than I would $10 directories. Again, use directory submission with caution. It’s a technique that’s been thoroughly chewed over and abused for years. Show the search engines your site is about quality, not quantity.

Now for an example. I run a couple niche directories. It uses custom software so I don’t leave footprints. Listings are free - but! All listings require that the website list full physical contact info, I only list ‘real’ businesses. I don’t allow keyword stuffing. And I hand process each and every submission, discarding any I don’t want to link to. The directories still rank a bit in Google for long tail search terms. I believe they pass along some good link juice to people who are listed. And I’ve had people tell me they get referrals and business from the site. That’s the kind of directory you’re looking for, if you can find them.

That’s it! Go forward and find quality directories. Pay some and submit some. Start building the initial layer of your link development. But don’t go overboard.

(The following post makes more sense if you’ve bought the ebook and read it). If you bought Andre Chaperon’s Marketing Bully ebook today and have had the time to review it you’ll notice in one section on advertising (I’m being vague deliberately) he talks about using about.com to get lists of websites in a specific niche.

Well, let me extend this a bit - there’s another place you can get lists of websites in a related niche - Google adwords. And here’s how:

Go to Google. Click on ‘preferences’ and set the number of search results shown to be 100. Now go do your search for your niche. Of course you’ll get all the adwords listings. Now click on ‘more sponsored listings’. Now I think Google just changed the layout of this page, but you should now have a three column listing of at least 100 advertisers on that search term. That gives you a ton of information to use in conjunction with the ebook’s suggeste strategy. And combine each of those websites with the about.com technique in the ebook, now you’re cooking with gas.

My apologies if this specific strategy is mentioned in the ebook. So far I’ve only glanced at it and picked up a few points. I saw the new Google layout on the sponsored listings page and just kind of put two and two together.

Now, for those of you not following along in the ebook there’s still something to be learned here. Watching the PPC ads are a good indicator of what’s going on in the industry. How can you use that in what you’re doing? Worth giving some thought to.

I watch the PPC ads relatively closely in my niche to see any new players. Normally what I see are incompetents spending money which is kind of nice. But sometimes there’s more going on. Players who are getting slaughered in the organic listings moving to PPC. PPC players trying to move into organic. And just two weeks ago I was investigating a new player in the PPC market (see my previous post on researching your competitors online) and found a very high quality backlink. I’ve not completed my research yet, but I may be able to duplicate the link. If so - watching the PPC ads paid off, didn’t it?

Andre Chaperon, who I think I’ve mentioned before, has just released his Marketing Bully report.

I just bought a copy, it’s $49.95 and after my first 5 minute read through seems well worth the money. I suspected as much, since it’s clear he knows how to market online - he had me waiting for the release of this. If you can market like that to me, even when I know you’re marketing to me, you’ve really got something.

Here’s basically what he did. He created a squeeze page that I stumbled across while visiting his site. Now we all hate those squeeze pages, but this one, well this one I actually read. Then I signed up to receive emails from him.

He sent me a couple emails basically creating some excitement. Telling me it’s coming out tomorrow, and probably less than $300. See? He’s creating expectation that it’s value is $300. And I’m thinking to myself, ‘Self, should I spend $300 on an ebook? I know it’s going to be good, but $300? I’ll think on it.’

Today I get the email. The product is released - for $97. So I’m pretty much in right? Except what he notes is that his payment vendor has him capped at $50 and it takes a few days to raise the cap. So temporarily its $49.95. I’ve no idea if there’s a cap, but by this point my hands are shaking I’m so anxious to send the guy my $50.

So I bought it, and as I expected, my initial review is that it’s well worth the $50. And I’m not even an affiliate.The reason SEO folks need to buy this is because it’s good for research. Learning how hardcore affiliates get traffic and convert can only be good for your business. Even if it’s not methods you use, it may spawn other ideas.

Now, I haven’t read it in depth yet, but one thing stuck out right near the top - and it goes full circle back to the initial squeeze page that roped me in. He describes in detail how he does this. Basically he researches his market then speaks their language. And that’s what he did. Let me elaborate.

I know how to do SEO. And I know how to do Pay per click. I do both pretty well. What I don’t do well is affiliate marketing. Seems kind of funny if I can do SEO and PPC, but there you go. I’ve never quite put my mind to it. However I know SEO and PPC are less about ‘tricks’ and more about reading, trying, and basically just doing the grunt work until you figure out the steps. And I’m pretty sure affiliate marketing is the same way. And that’s how his squeeze page roped me in. He knows that I know there’s no big secrets. Just test and learn.

One part of the problem though is before you can test, you need a roadmap of what to test. A push in the right direction, a list of things to test, that kind of thing. This I didn’t have for affiliate marketing. For SEO, years ago I got my roadmap by reading for a week straight, and then getting some paid consulting from SugarRae. Both actions paid off in spades. But with out the paid consulting from Sugarrae, well, I’d probably still be drifting. Hey, I still had to do the work, but I had a push in the right direction.

So I knew I need a roadmap. I knew the process is likely methodical and testing based rather than some big secret trick. And I’m willing to pay a bit of money to get a push in the right direction. And if you read his squeeze pages at marketingbully, you’ll see that this is exactly the buttons he’s pushing. And as I noted, he talks about finding these buttons in the document.

What it is is detailed instructions on how to begin testing for affiliate marketing, from start to finish. How to set up squeeze pages that work, how to find keywords, how to bring in traffic. And so on.

I likely won’t get to trying this stuff out anytime soon because I’m so busy. But if you’re into SEO, this one’s worth the $49. And if you’ve ever thought you’d like to be one of those affiliate marketing folks, this is probably the place to get started: Marketing Bully.

Think back 10 or 12 years ago. How nice would it be to know then what you know now about domain names? Wouldn’t it be cool to go back and register mortgages.com? Or some nice keyword rich domains?

Well, you can. They’re called .ca’s. And they’re available by the boatload for the registration for less than $15. Get in now.

When I started doing internet stuff, nobody used .ca’s. They were the mickey mouse version of the .com. I recommended that Canadians buy the .com. And it’s nice if you still can get them. But Canadian consumers are changing. Years ago, a .ca was a pale imitator. Now, .ca’s are preferred by Canadians. We’re sick of shopping at American websites, or getting non-Canadian information. Now the .ca’s instantly tell visitors that the site is exactly what they’re looking for. A .ca domain is an indicator of trust now for Canadians. Things have changed.

What hasn’t changed is that these .ca domains are readily available for registration. We’re in 1997 with the .com’s right now - there’s so much good stuff available.

And I’m not talking even about right now. But 10 years isn’t that long of a time. And in 10 years, the .ca’s will be like the .com’s - all the good ones will be taken. For the couple of bucks, it’s worth it to buy a bunch then just hold onto them until they increase in value.

Going back to our theme on mortgages, ontariomortgagerates.ca is available. I doubt there’s a us state mortgagerates.com left available. So get them now while they’re cheap and there’s no competition.

I’ve got a bunch registered myself. For example, in my niche there’s a multi-billion dollar industry in the US, it’s three keywords. Current legislation in Canada says this service is not allowed in Canada right now. That’s fine, but I can’t believe that the website keyword1keyword2keyword3.ca was available (where keyword1 keyword2 keyword3 is the three word name of the industry). So now I own it. What do you suppose that’ll be worth if the legislation changes in Canada? Even if that’s 5 years away? or 20? I’ll still be kicking around in 20 years, I could be looking like a real smrt fella in 20 years with a domain like that. Right now the domain would be worth say $100. If the legislation changes, it’s worth 7 figures.

In addition, there’s plenty of keyword rich combinations that could take some type in traffic. Not even for parked landing pages - but a simple conversion page on a keyword rich domain might yeild some results.

So get on board with the .ca’s. Write out all the keywords in your industry and start looking at the better combinations. Check if the .ca is available. It probably is. Go register it.

Just wanted to post a further example of how to search for old domains.

I was doing some searches similiar to what I mentioned in the previous post. And I noticed that any dead sites that are hosted by Yahoo always show the same landing page (the ‘no page here’ type of page that Yahoo displays by default).

On that page are the words “Why am I seeing this page?” followed by a link that I presume shows you how to reactivate your account.

So I did some searches like (again, using mortgages as an example):
“Why am I seeing this page?” mortgages

And voila! A whole bunch of dead pages hosted by Yahoo on the topic of mortgages. Three pages of them actually. Now it’s just a matter of visiting them and evaluating them (check backlinks, age, ownership, check them in archive.org, and so on).

Maybe that doesn’t get it. But enough searches like that and something will come up. Does Godaddy have a hosting footprint we can look for and search on? Rackspace?