by: Bill Platt
Google algorithm updates always bring the fears of webmasters to a boiling point. In the aftermath of an algorithm update, some people come out swinging, making claims that Google is trying to put them out of business. Others look at their Google rankings and pat themselves on the back for having survived another "algo" update.
It has been known in search engine optimization (SEO) circles for quite some time that one could successfully implement what is referred to as a GoogleBomb. The best example was a search on the phrase "miserable failure". A search on those words within Google would show George W. Bush's biography at the White House website, in the top three or four results of the search results. This would occur, despite the fact that neither word in the search criteria resides on the White House website. At one time, Bush's biography had been in the #1 spot, but counter-bombing campaigns moved Bush's listing down the page a bit.
Many people have written about this phenomenon in time's past. I have even written about it myself. When I wrote about it, my point was to show the importance of anchor text in a link to build the value of a web page in the Google search engine result pages (SERPS).
The "miserable failure" GoogleBomb came to exist within a loophole within the Google algorithms. Google puts a lot of value on the anchor text that point to a particular web page. It is part of their "one link – one vote" philosophy as to the value of a web page.
Bloggers joined forces to create thousands of links pointing to the White House website with the words "miserable failure" in the anchor text. The shenanigans of the George W. Bush bashers were eventually countered by their fellow bloggers on the other side of the political aisle. Eventually, the search phrase "miserable failure" would also bring up the Michael Moore and Jimmy Carter websites in the top few results for that search phrase.
The average person who did not understand the nature of the SEO game would occasionally stumble across these esoteric search phrases and get him or herself into a huff, because they thought that Google was stating their own political views. Of course, Google really does not have an opinion, at least not one that would ever appear in their search results.
The GB Update...
In this case, the GB Update is not so-named because "George Bush" disappeared from the "miserable failure" search results. Instead, it is so-named because it is the "GoogleBomb" update, which Google implemented in January of 2007.
Once the update was implemented, the "miserable failure" search began to only return pages that talked about GoogleBombs from a technical standpoint.
With the GB update officially rolled out (http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/01/quick-word- about-googlebombs.html), people began the standard Google-update panic process.
Hundreds of posts began appearing on forums concerning the GB updates and the fear that link-building efforts undertaken by search engine marketing (SEM) companies and webmasters would be hurt as well.
So, I did a bit of research. I have run several linking campaigns on my own behalf, and on the behalf of clients. Those campaigns were put together with a mix of keyword phrases nestled in the anchor text of links to our websites. I checked the status of all of the websites I represent, and without fail, our linking campaigns had not been hurt by the GB update.
Interesting Changes From The GoogleBomb Update
According to Matt Cutts of Google, the changes in the GB update were all completed within the Google algorithm. Cutts has always said that Google does not like to manually rearrange the search engine results, so an algorithmic solution to the GoogleBomb was in order. A few of the Google engineers worked together to find a solution to the GoogleBomb issue.
In an attempt to understand what had changed, I looked at a few of the more notorious GoogleBombs of past and discovered some interesting facts.
Broken Google Bombs:
* "Miserable failure" no longer returns George W. Bush, Michael Moore, or Jimmy Carter websites. * "Worst president ever" now only returns pages that make the claim the GW Bush has earned that title. * "Waffles" no longer returns results that point to the John Kerry website. * Tony Blair's homepage no longer comes up under the search term "liar".
Unchanged Google Bombs:
* A search for "Scientology" still has the "Operation Clambake" listing in the #2 spot (2007-01-31). Operation Clambake is a website that is critical of Scientology. * "Click here" still points to the Adobe website (although this was not actually a GoogleBomb). * "French military victories" still goes to the same page on Albino Black Sheep when you hit "I feel lucky" on Google's search page. (I still get a kick out of this one.) * The "great president" GoogleBomb survived. It still points to Bush's bio on the White House website.
The Question On Everyone's Mind
Everyone seems to be asking the same question. How does Google defuse Google Bombs?
Well, Google isn't saying, so we are left to figure it out on our own. Based on what I was able to uncover in my study of Google Bombs, I came up with a theory.
What I have been able to take from the results shown above is that Google may have targeted only "negative links". If you want to review what is shown above, all of the Google Bombs that are now gone had negative connotations to them. All of the Google Bombs that survived can be construed as having positive, or at least non-negative, connotations to them.
If my assertion is correct, then average, ordinary webmasters will have nothing to fear from the Google Bomb update. My sites and my client's websites also reflect that the Google Bomb update did not have any affect on us.
Maybe I am just grasping at straws, but I don't think so. You be the judge... "Worst president" is gone, and "great president" survived. To me, that says a lot.
The Google Bombing Legacy Continues...
Following my logic, Google Bombing is still a possibility for those who Google Bomb with a positive set of anchor text keywords. So, some Google Bombs will continue to live well into the future.
In 2004, Search Engine Watch suggested that Google Bombs are better defined as Link Bombs, since they can affect all of the major search engines, including Yahoo and MSN.
Google has finally addressed link bombing in a positive way, but Yahoo and MSN are still prone to link bombing attacks. For example, as of this writing, MSN still has George in the top spot for "miserable failure" in the MSN Live results.
Gerrymandering The Google Search Results
by: Bill Platt
Every few months, you will see posts by many people declaring that Google has it in for their website. Often, you see threats about how the webmaster plans to sue Google for hurting their business' profits. On and on it goes... Every webmaster who was dropped from Google's top search result pages wants to believe that Google singled out their website and their business for punishment and extinction.
How The Google Search Results Is Related To Gerrymandering
According to Wikipedia.com, "Gerrymandering is a form of redistricting in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are manipulated for an electoral advantage."
Most states in the US redraw their electoral districts at least every decade. In 36 of the states, the state legislature is responsible for drawing the new districts -- in principle to account for shifts in population -- and the governor is required to approve those changes.
With nearly every redistricting, the party who is out-of-power generally screams foul. The argument is always that the political party in power adjusted the lines to improve their ability to win elections and control the electoral power structure.
The entire process of redistricting is a good analogy for the Google algorithm changes. The people in power (Google) redraw the lines, and the party out-of-power (the webmasters who dropped in ranking) cry foul, threatening lawsuits and other actions.
Something Right And Something Wrong
Of course, the same webmasters screaming about having dropped in Google's search results did not have a problem when Google allowed them to climb in the search results previously.
People only moan about things when they are on the way down. When they were on the way up, they danced on the coffins of their competitors without a care in the world.
The truly funny thing about it is that when people were on their way up in the Google search results, they told all of their friends that "they" did something right. When they are on their way down, "Google" did something wrong.
Shaky Foundations For Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
PROBLEM: If the website dropped out of Google's top 1000 results, then I am willing to bet that in nearly every situation of this type, the webmaster had done something wrong in the last few years, and Google has just now caught on to this infraction.
For example, in years past, link farms were utilized by webmasters and accepted by Google. Then Google began to consider link farms to be "bad neighborhoods."
Link farms are the kind of thing that can be easily recognized by human and search engine alike. So, the link farms were tagged as "bad neighborhoods" and their values were discounted to zero, and the websites linked from link farms got a minus points for their participation in the link farms.
It was a bad practice that the webmaster had participated, and Google finally got around to penalizing the websites whose rankings were supported by these shaky foundations.
SOLUTION: If you try to put yourself into the shoes of the experts at Google, and you wanted to improve the Google search results, what would YOU do? Before you answer this question, remember that you work for Google and not for yourself. What would you do? What would you do different?
"White hat" and "black hat" SEO methods are an analogy of Search Engine Optimization techniques that refers back to the old cowboy classics, where the "good guy" always wore a "white hat" and the 'bad guy" always wore a "black hat".
While you are working for Google, take a look at the SEO technique you are thinking about using for your own website. Chances are that if you deem a SEO technique to be "gray hat" (something in between ethical SEO and unethical SEO), then chances are that someday that technique will be deemed "black hat" by the Google engineers. And if the SEO technique is "black hat," it will likely be targeted for discount by Google at some time in the future.
If you delve into "gray hat" or "black hat" SEO, you may be able to rocket to the top of the Google search results quickly, but you will not be able to hold that position for long. Google will eventually get wise to your gimmick.
If you can "white hat" your website to the top of the search results, your future ranking will likely hold its ground for many years to come.
Your Competition Out-Played You
PROBLEM: If a website dropped a few positions in the Google search results, I am willing to bet that in nearly every situation, one of the website's major competitors out-performed them in the search results.
There are certain things that you can do correctly, to elevate your own listings in the search engine results. Because you have the capability to do these things, your competitors also have the capability to do these things.
Well guess what? Your competitor did what you should have done. They set up marketing systems to ensure that they could climb in the search results, and they climbed enough to pass you by.
SOLUTION: Do those things that you know you should be doing. And more importantly, do them consistently. Your competitor wants your placement in the search results, and they are going to do what it takes for them to get there.
So, it is imperative for you to keep moving forward in the process of building your ranking in the search engines. When you stand still, resting in the comfort zone of where you reside today, then you are bound to be overtaken by someone who wants to be where you are, a little bit more than you do.
Stir That Pot
PROBLEM: If a website dropped a few pages in the search results, the cause for the drop may have been caused by a combination of the two above-mentioned problems: shaky SEO foundations, and hungry competitors.
SOLUTION: Keep your eye on the big picture. You know what you have done to strengthen your website in the past. Keep learning and keep growing.
If you find that something you had done in the past may affect your website negatively in the future, implement "white hat" SEO techniques to strengthen your position, and make plans to eliminate your reliance on "black hat" SEO systems before Google does it for you.
Don't Make The Mess And You Won't Have To Clean It Up
Some may think my approach to housecleaning is an indication of laziness. I consider it to be an indication of good time management. I prefer to reserve my time for things that are more enjoyable.
My theory towards housework -- and I try to teach this to my kids often -- is that if you don't want to clean up the mess, don't make the mess in the first place. If the house is not messy, you don't have to clean it. So, don't make the house messy.
I utilize the same approach to my websites. If I do it "white hat" and above-reproach the first time, then I won't have to go in and fix my rankings everytime Google changes their algorithms.
Stop Standing Still
Do remember that for most every search term you compete to rank for, there are probably another one million web pages competing to rank for the same keyword phrase. Getting to the top of the search engine results is a process, not a destination. You must keep competing to maintain your spot at the top of the search results.
If you want to get to the top of the search results, you will have to take positive steps to get there. And, if you want to maintain your top position in the search engines, you need to keep doing the things that put you in that top spot in the first place.
Every few months, you will see posts by many people declaring that Google has it in for their website. Often, you see threats about how the webmaster plans to sue Google for hurting their business' profits. On and on it goes... Every webmaster who was dropped from Google's top search result pages wants to believe that Google singled out their website and their business for punishment and extinction.
How The Google Search Results Is Related To Gerrymandering
According to Wikipedia.com, "Gerrymandering is a form of redistricting in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are manipulated for an electoral advantage."
Most states in the US redraw their electoral districts at least every decade. In 36 of the states, the state legislature is responsible for drawing the new districts -- in principle to account for shifts in population -- and the governor is required to approve those changes.
With nearly every redistricting, the party who is out-of-power generally screams foul. The argument is always that the political party in power adjusted the lines to improve their ability to win elections and control the electoral power structure.
The entire process of redistricting is a good analogy for the Google algorithm changes. The people in power (Google) redraw the lines, and the party out-of-power (the webmasters who dropped in ranking) cry foul, threatening lawsuits and other actions.
Something Right And Something Wrong
Of course, the same webmasters screaming about having dropped in Google's search results did not have a problem when Google allowed them to climb in the search results previously.
People only moan about things when they are on the way down. When they were on the way up, they danced on the coffins of their competitors without a care in the world.
The truly funny thing about it is that when people were on their way up in the Google search results, they told all of their friends that "they" did something right. When they are on their way down, "Google" did something wrong.
Shaky Foundations For Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
PROBLEM: If the website dropped out of Google's top 1000 results, then I am willing to bet that in nearly every situation of this type, the webmaster had done something wrong in the last few years, and Google has just now caught on to this infraction.
For example, in years past, link farms were utilized by webmasters and accepted by Google. Then Google began to consider link farms to be "bad neighborhoods."
Link farms are the kind of thing that can be easily recognized by human and search engine alike. So, the link farms were tagged as "bad neighborhoods" and their values were discounted to zero, and the websites linked from link farms got a minus points for their participation in the link farms.
It was a bad practice that the webmaster had participated, and Google finally got around to penalizing the websites whose rankings were supported by these shaky foundations.
SOLUTION: If you try to put yourself into the shoes of the experts at Google, and you wanted to improve the Google search results, what would YOU do? Before you answer this question, remember that you work for Google and not for yourself. What would you do? What would you do different?
"White hat" and "black hat" SEO methods are an analogy of Search Engine Optimization techniques that refers back to the old cowboy classics, where the "good guy" always wore a "white hat" and the 'bad guy" always wore a "black hat".
While you are working for Google, take a look at the SEO technique you are thinking about using for your own website. Chances are that if you deem a SEO technique to be "gray hat" (something in between ethical SEO and unethical SEO), then chances are that someday that technique will be deemed "black hat" by the Google engineers. And if the SEO technique is "black hat," it will likely be targeted for discount by Google at some time in the future.
If you delve into "gray hat" or "black hat" SEO, you may be able to rocket to the top of the Google search results quickly, but you will not be able to hold that position for long. Google will eventually get wise to your gimmick.
If you can "white hat" your website to the top of the search results, your future ranking will likely hold its ground for many years to come.
Your Competition Out-Played You
PROBLEM: If a website dropped a few positions in the Google search results, I am willing to bet that in nearly every situation, one of the website's major competitors out-performed them in the search results.
There are certain things that you can do correctly, to elevate your own listings in the search engine results. Because you have the capability to do these things, your competitors also have the capability to do these things.
Well guess what? Your competitor did what you should have done. They set up marketing systems to ensure that they could climb in the search results, and they climbed enough to pass you by.
SOLUTION: Do those things that you know you should be doing. And more importantly, do them consistently. Your competitor wants your placement in the search results, and they are going to do what it takes for them to get there.
So, it is imperative for you to keep moving forward in the process of building your ranking in the search engines. When you stand still, resting in the comfort zone of where you reside today, then you are bound to be overtaken by someone who wants to be where you are, a little bit more than you do.
Stir That Pot
PROBLEM: If a website dropped a few pages in the search results, the cause for the drop may have been caused by a combination of the two above-mentioned problems: shaky SEO foundations, and hungry competitors.
SOLUTION: Keep your eye on the big picture. You know what you have done to strengthen your website in the past. Keep learning and keep growing.
If you find that something you had done in the past may affect your website negatively in the future, implement "white hat" SEO techniques to strengthen your position, and make plans to eliminate your reliance on "black hat" SEO systems before Google does it for you.
Don't Make The Mess And You Won't Have To Clean It Up
Some may think my approach to housecleaning is an indication of laziness. I consider it to be an indication of good time management. I prefer to reserve my time for things that are more enjoyable.
My theory towards housework -- and I try to teach this to my kids often -- is that if you don't want to clean up the mess, don't make the mess in the first place. If the house is not messy, you don't have to clean it. So, don't make the house messy.
I utilize the same approach to my websites. If I do it "white hat" and above-reproach the first time, then I won't have to go in and fix my rankings everytime Google changes their algorithms.
Stop Standing Still
Do remember that for most every search term you compete to rank for, there are probably another one million web pages competing to rank for the same keyword phrase. Getting to the top of the search engine results is a process, not a destination. You must keep competing to maintain your spot at the top of the search results.
If you want to get to the top of the search results, you will have to take positive steps to get there. And, if you want to maintain your top position in the search engines, you need to keep doing the things that put you in that top spot in the first place.
Have We Really Seen The Death Of Article Marketing?
by: Bill Platt
Article marketing has been an effective method of website promotion that has literally been used since the inception of the public Internet. I have been online since November of 1995, and even in those early days, I would read people's articles and click the link in their resource box to learn more about their website.
The Early Days of Article Marketing
In those early days, there were a few players who recognized the value of article marketing. The two writers who were most influential to my use of article marketing, as a promotion method, were:
* Dr. Nunley (http://www.DrNunley.com) has been online since 1996, and this website was registered in Oct. of 1997. Dr. Nunley was influential in that he taught me the power of syndicated article content. * Wild Bill Montgomery (http://www.MakingProfit.com) started his website in Nov. of 1998. Wild Bill offered one of the very first article distribution websites. I received his daily mailings for nearly a year, until he shut his article system down. I subscribed to Wild Bill's mailings, so that I could locate articles for my own publication and website, and later to distribute my own articles.
It was in the aftermath of the demise of Montgomery's article distribution system that I wrote my first script to enable me to make better use of this promotional method for my own articles. That original script was adapted later to became the foundation for my article distribution service a couple years later.
How Article Marketing Came To Be Regarded As A Powerful Tool
For several years, article marketing remained a promotion technique utilized only by a few hundred people who fancied themselves as decent to good writers. These individuals were able to generate quite a buzz for their own websites. The buzz in turn created streams of traffic to their websites, and more importantly, sales.
Their articles were picked up regularly by ezines, which need good content to retain the attention of their readers. Publication of the articles in ezines resulted in thousands of website visitors in just a few days. My biggest ezine publication event resulted in 16,000 visitors in the first 96 hours after publication. I regularly see thousands of visitors in three-to-four days, due to publication in individual ezines.
Articles that I had written in 1999 still reside on websites where they were originally published those many years ago. And, I still see regular traffic from the placement of those articles. Yes, and I still retain link popularity and good search engine rankings, as the result of the placement of those articles on third-party websites.
Many writers were seeing the same results as I had seen, and they told others about their great success. People began to pay attention and take advantage of the technique for their own promotion.
A New Breed Of Article Marketers
In late 2004, the market changed when people decided that the only goal of article marketing was for the purpose of link building for link popularity purposes.
A few new distribution systems popped up only targeting placement of articles on third-party websites. With these new systems, the article writers had to put their own articles into the distribution services database, and they had to select a general category for the placement of their articles.
Suddenly, with these new fully automated systems, computers were left to answer the most important question of category placement. These new systems left this important question to the computers to solve.
People were being removed from the article placement process, because people cost more money to employ, leaving a lot of results to chance. But, the new breed of article marketers did not care. They liked the lower cost of human-free article placement.
The Four Primary Players in of a Successful Article Marketing Campaign
There are four primary players in the article marketing game. First of course is the writer. Then there is the distribution person or service. Third is the website owner or ezine publisher. And the final element is the person who will read the article and act upon what they read in the article.
Sometimes the writer is the same person as the distribution person. That is fine. The website owner or ezine publisher is actually the most important person in the link building process, because he or she wants to be sure that the fourth person, the reader, will be happy with what they are publishing.
Believe it or not, the website owners and the ezine publishers are frequently very selective about what articles they are willing to accept from a writer or distribution service. After all, if the readers are not happy with what is published on the website or ezine, then the reader will not feel a need to return to either one. Webmasters and ezine publishers, who are committed to success, will be even more selective in their article choices.
To see what website owners really think of many of the automated article distribution systems, read this: http://www.articledashboard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4679
Any writer or article marketer, who does not pay attention or consider the needs or desires of webmasters or publishers in the process, is condemning their article marketing campaigns to failure.
Twisted Logic
When this new breed of article marketer began showing up at my article distribution service, I found myself in many strangely naïve conversations.
People would enquire about the value of our service. Naturally, I would mention publication in ezines as a method of driving thousands of targeted visitors to their website. Then I would mention the value of links on third-party websites, which results in the double benefit of targeted traffic from the third-party website and link popularity for search engine rankings.
Frequently, people would tell me that they literally "do not care about placement of their articles in ezines." They continued to explain that they were only interested in placement on third-party websites for the purpose of influencing their search engine rankings.
Wow! Every time I heard someone make this claim, I would think to myself about the shortsightedness of this approach. In my experience, link popularity and search rankings were a long-term benefit, and the publication of an article in an ezine is what was generating the most immediate and largest amount of click-through traffic to my websites.
But, who am I? I am just some guy who had been using this marketing technique for five years at that time, and I was a person who had been providing distribution services to other writers for several years. Why would anyone want to hear my thoughts on the subject?
The Proclaimed Death of Article Marketing as an Effective Promotion Tool
I have been hearing rumors for years of the death of article marketing as an effective marketing tool. Here are a couple samples:
* Dmitri Davydov proclaimed in June of 2007 that "'article marketing' has been long dead." (http://www.nichegeek.com/article_marketing_is_it_dead_yet) * In May of 2007, a few people in this forum thread declared that article marketing does not work, one of them just a little more vehemently than the rest (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=338394).
What I find somewhat funny and disconcerting at the same time is that most of the people making this proclamation actually admit that they have only tried article marketing with "one or two articles". In their wisdom, you should ignore people like me who have seen success with this promotion method, and you should follow their advice to abandon all hope for article marketing as a method for website promotion.
I have asked a few people to better define the status of article marketing:
1. Does article marketing not work? Or, 2. Did article marketing just not work for them?
The Nail in the Paid Links Coffin
On April 14th, 2007, the Google Guy (Matt Cutts) spoke out against paid links. A firestorm of complaints from webmasters followed Cutts' initial comments.
On June 12th, 2007, Cutts' original comments became official Google policy as shown here (http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-ways-for-you-to-give-us-input.html)
Vanessa Fox of Google summed up the issue very succinctly, "Links that are purchased are great for advertising and traffic purposes, but aren't useful for PageRank calculations. Buying or selling links to manipulate results and deceive search engines violates (Google's) guidelines."
Confusion Ensues Over Paid Links
With Google officially stomping on "paid links," a lot of confusion entered into the marketplace. The confusion really hinges on one simple question: What kinds of links does Google consider to be paid links?
Many people have extrapolated Google's campaign against "paid links" to suggest that anytime someone pays money for a link building activity, then the links created during that activity will be construed by Google as a paid link, and that link will be discounted or ignored by Google. But, that simply is not the case.
Some have even chosen to lump "article marketing" as a "paid link", thereby decreeing that article marketing is truly and finally dead.
But all one has to do to gain a different point of view is to listen to Matt Cutts' comments from the SMX Search Marketing Expo in Seattle on June 4th, 2007 (http://videos.webpronews.com/2007/06/04/smx-seattle-matt-cutts-on-duplicate-and-paid-search/).
Within this video, Matt Cutts said, "If you are going to syndicate your content, try to make sure people know that you are the master or source of it. You can do it with a link from the article or link from the video, or stuff like that..."
The End of Article Marketing As We Knew It...
I don't know about you, but I read Cutts' last comment above as an indication that Google still considers article marketing to be a valid and Google-approved method of building links to one's website.
But, no matter how we cut it, we have in fact passed "the end of article marketing as we once knew it." Here is why:
* Some people will never have the chance to read this article and make their own mind about whether what I say has merit, or not. * Some people will simply trust the fear mongers who have been trying to declare article marketing dead for years. * And, some people will decide that they are not willing to take the chance that I might be right.
Going forward, we will see a fewer people using article marketing as a promotion technique.
The fact is that many people have quit using article marketing as a promotion technique. This outcome will only strengthen the hand of those of us who continue to utilize article marketing to promote our websites. After all, with fewer people using articles to market their websites, we will have fewer writers to compete with, in order to get attention for our own articles.
Article marketing has been an effective method of website promotion that has literally been used since the inception of the public Internet. I have been online since November of 1995, and even in those early days, I would read people's articles and click the link in their resource box to learn more about their website.
The Early Days of Article Marketing
In those early days, there were a few players who recognized the value of article marketing. The two writers who were most influential to my use of article marketing, as a promotion method, were:
* Dr. Nunley (http://www.DrNunley.com) has been online since 1996, and this website was registered in Oct. of 1997. Dr. Nunley was influential in that he taught me the power of syndicated article content. * Wild Bill Montgomery (http://www.MakingProfit.com) started his website in Nov. of 1998. Wild Bill offered one of the very first article distribution websites. I received his daily mailings for nearly a year, until he shut his article system down. I subscribed to Wild Bill's mailings, so that I could locate articles for my own publication and website, and later to distribute my own articles.
It was in the aftermath of the demise of Montgomery's article distribution system that I wrote my first script to enable me to make better use of this promotional method for my own articles. That original script was adapted later to became the foundation for my article distribution service a couple years later.
How Article Marketing Came To Be Regarded As A Powerful Tool
For several years, article marketing remained a promotion technique utilized only by a few hundred people who fancied themselves as decent to good writers. These individuals were able to generate quite a buzz for their own websites. The buzz in turn created streams of traffic to their websites, and more importantly, sales.
Their articles were picked up regularly by ezines, which need good content to retain the attention of their readers. Publication of the articles in ezines resulted in thousands of website visitors in just a few days. My biggest ezine publication event resulted in 16,000 visitors in the first 96 hours after publication. I regularly see thousands of visitors in three-to-four days, due to publication in individual ezines.
Articles that I had written in 1999 still reside on websites where they were originally published those many years ago. And, I still see regular traffic from the placement of those articles. Yes, and I still retain link popularity and good search engine rankings, as the result of the placement of those articles on third-party websites.
Many writers were seeing the same results as I had seen, and they told others about their great success. People began to pay attention and take advantage of the technique for their own promotion.
A New Breed Of Article Marketers
In late 2004, the market changed when people decided that the only goal of article marketing was for the purpose of link building for link popularity purposes.
A few new distribution systems popped up only targeting placement of articles on third-party websites. With these new systems, the article writers had to put their own articles into the distribution services database, and they had to select a general category for the placement of their articles.
Suddenly, with these new fully automated systems, computers were left to answer the most important question of category placement. These new systems left this important question to the computers to solve.
People were being removed from the article placement process, because people cost more money to employ, leaving a lot of results to chance. But, the new breed of article marketers did not care. They liked the lower cost of human-free article placement.
The Four Primary Players in of a Successful Article Marketing Campaign
There are four primary players in the article marketing game. First of course is the writer. Then there is the distribution person or service. Third is the website owner or ezine publisher. And the final element is the person who will read the article and act upon what they read in the article.
Sometimes the writer is the same person as the distribution person. That is fine. The website owner or ezine publisher is actually the most important person in the link building process, because he or she wants to be sure that the fourth person, the reader, will be happy with what they are publishing.
Believe it or not, the website owners and the ezine publishers are frequently very selective about what articles they are willing to accept from a writer or distribution service. After all, if the readers are not happy with what is published on the website or ezine, then the reader will not feel a need to return to either one. Webmasters and ezine publishers, who are committed to success, will be even more selective in their article choices.
To see what website owners really think of many of the automated article distribution systems, read this: http://www.articledashboard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4679
Any writer or article marketer, who does not pay attention or consider the needs or desires of webmasters or publishers in the process, is condemning their article marketing campaigns to failure.
Twisted Logic
When this new breed of article marketer began showing up at my article distribution service, I found myself in many strangely naïve conversations.
People would enquire about the value of our service. Naturally, I would mention publication in ezines as a method of driving thousands of targeted visitors to their website. Then I would mention the value of links on third-party websites, which results in the double benefit of targeted traffic from the third-party website and link popularity for search engine rankings.
Frequently, people would tell me that they literally "do not care about placement of their articles in ezines." They continued to explain that they were only interested in placement on third-party websites for the purpose of influencing their search engine rankings.
Wow! Every time I heard someone make this claim, I would think to myself about the shortsightedness of this approach. In my experience, link popularity and search rankings were a long-term benefit, and the publication of an article in an ezine is what was generating the most immediate and largest amount of click-through traffic to my websites.
But, who am I? I am just some guy who had been using this marketing technique for five years at that time, and I was a person who had been providing distribution services to other writers for several years. Why would anyone want to hear my thoughts on the subject?
The Proclaimed Death of Article Marketing as an Effective Promotion Tool
I have been hearing rumors for years of the death of article marketing as an effective marketing tool. Here are a couple samples:
* Dmitri Davydov proclaimed in June of 2007 that "'article marketing' has been long dead." (http://www.nichegeek.com/article_marketing_is_it_dead_yet) * In May of 2007, a few people in this forum thread declared that article marketing does not work, one of them just a little more vehemently than the rest (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=338394).
What I find somewhat funny and disconcerting at the same time is that most of the people making this proclamation actually admit that they have only tried article marketing with "one or two articles". In their wisdom, you should ignore people like me who have seen success with this promotion method, and you should follow their advice to abandon all hope for article marketing as a method for website promotion.
I have asked a few people to better define the status of article marketing:
1. Does article marketing not work? Or, 2. Did article marketing just not work for them?
The Nail in the Paid Links Coffin
On April 14th, 2007, the Google Guy (Matt Cutts) spoke out against paid links. A firestorm of complaints from webmasters followed Cutts' initial comments.
On June 12th, 2007, Cutts' original comments became official Google policy as shown here (http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-ways-for-you-to-give-us-input.html)
Vanessa Fox of Google summed up the issue very succinctly, "Links that are purchased are great for advertising and traffic purposes, but aren't useful for PageRank calculations. Buying or selling links to manipulate results and deceive search engines violates (Google's) guidelines."
Confusion Ensues Over Paid Links
With Google officially stomping on "paid links," a lot of confusion entered into the marketplace. The confusion really hinges on one simple question: What kinds of links does Google consider to be paid links?
Many people have extrapolated Google's campaign against "paid links" to suggest that anytime someone pays money for a link building activity, then the links created during that activity will be construed by Google as a paid link, and that link will be discounted or ignored by Google. But, that simply is not the case.
Some have even chosen to lump "article marketing" as a "paid link", thereby decreeing that article marketing is truly and finally dead.
But all one has to do to gain a different point of view is to listen to Matt Cutts' comments from the SMX Search Marketing Expo in Seattle on June 4th, 2007 (http://videos.webpronews.com/2007/06/04/smx-seattle-matt-cutts-on-duplicate-and-paid-search/).
Within this video, Matt Cutts said, "If you are going to syndicate your content, try to make sure people know that you are the master or source of it. You can do it with a link from the article or link from the video, or stuff like that..."
The End of Article Marketing As We Knew It...
I don't know about you, but I read Cutts' last comment above as an indication that Google still considers article marketing to be a valid and Google-approved method of building links to one's website.
But, no matter how we cut it, we have in fact passed "the end of article marketing as we once knew it." Here is why:
* Some people will never have the chance to read this article and make their own mind about whether what I say has merit, or not. * Some people will simply trust the fear mongers who have been trying to declare article marketing dead for years. * And, some people will decide that they are not willing to take the chance that I might be right.
Going forward, we will see a fewer people using article marketing as a promotion technique.
The fact is that many people have quit using article marketing as a promotion technique. This outcome will only strengthen the hand of those of us who continue to utilize article marketing to promote our websites. After all, with fewer people using articles to market their websites, we will have fewer writers to compete with, in order to get attention for our own articles.
How To Reach And Stay At The Top Of The First Page Of The Search Engines
by: Olga Fogleman
Everybody is familiar with search engines such as Google & Yahoo. Search Engines have radically changed the Internet. Radically! Over 50% of all consumer purchases of all business purchases are now pursued by searches. That’s what was said months ago and it is obviously going higher. So the majority of people Worldwide who now are on computers, the first place they go to is a Search Engine to find information, for what they are looking for.
The Search Engine technology is now based and what Search Engine is trying to do as they are trying to put out in front of their searchers, the most current relative information possible. Google knows that what it can give you is exactly what you want to see and it’s relative to the current & it’s timely. And you are going to come back to Google over, over and over again.
Why all those Bloggers out there for years have been making a lot of money and how they are promoting for free, and how they getting free publicity and generating MASS traffic to their sites? Because Bloggers took advantage of what Google had determined was the secret to the Internet right now. A WEB SITE THAT CHANGES A LOT GETS MORE RATING WITH A SEARCH ENGINE. So if your website is changing a lot and adjusting a lot and is current, Google will push you up on the rating. That means you are getting closer, closer and closer to the first page. And this is extremely important, particularly if you know how to what is called “games the system.
What those Bloggers do – they “game the system”. And here is how they game the system: They went out and found the websites that have the absolute most change going on in a web site every single day, every single hour, every single minute, and every single second. They are powerful websites that have constant change, constant upgrading going on every minute of every day. Theses website are called “Article Hubs”. These web sites grow out of the whole change in how Search Engines work because people realized that the more websites change, the more powerful website are in searches, they realized there better be constant change. This is particularly true in Media sites & this is particularly true with Bloggers, because they began to figure out that if they have more constant change on their sites every day their Bloggs will lift on the searches. And I am going to show you one of those hugs sites. It is an extremely powerful site, 5000-7000 writers, authors, reporters & Bloggers place their articles in this site every day.
Do you understand that that site is not just visited by tens of thousands of writers and author’s who have submitted articles everyday? Do you realize this site is visited by over a million unique visitors every single day? So these sites, these Article Hubs are incredibly potent. And when you put one article in one of these sites, guess what you start to do? You start to dominate keywords. And if you can get on the first page of any major keyword you have hit a Gold Mine! One article! One keyword! Traffic, traffic, traffic! There is one example “Religion and online marketing”, this article was written two years ago and guess where they are.
Do you know when you put a keyword in worldwide there are over 35 millions places on the web that have this constant in here with Religion and Online Marketing? And this article is still having a first result, first page. That was written TWO YEARS AGO! He has been getting traffic every single day for almost 800 days for this article. One Article! One keyword! Traffic, Traffic, Traffic! And if you go page after page, after page you are going to see that article over and over and over … That Company continues to get traffic to this very day. That’s the power of Article Hubs.
If you are looking for a home business opportunity please check this site! With this new marketing system, even beginners are successful.
http://olga.YOURCHANCE2SUCCESS.COM
Everybody is familiar with search engines such as Google & Yahoo. Search Engines have radically changed the Internet. Radically! Over 50% of all consumer purchases of all business purchases are now pursued by searches. That’s what was said months ago and it is obviously going higher. So the majority of people Worldwide who now are on computers, the first place they go to is a Search Engine to find information, for what they are looking for.
The Search Engine technology is now based and what Search Engine is trying to do as they are trying to put out in front of their searchers, the most current relative information possible. Google knows that what it can give you is exactly what you want to see and it’s relative to the current & it’s timely. And you are going to come back to Google over, over and over again.
Why all those Bloggers out there for years have been making a lot of money and how they are promoting for free, and how they getting free publicity and generating MASS traffic to their sites? Because Bloggers took advantage of what Google had determined was the secret to the Internet right now. A WEB SITE THAT CHANGES A LOT GETS MORE RATING WITH A SEARCH ENGINE. So if your website is changing a lot and adjusting a lot and is current, Google will push you up on the rating. That means you are getting closer, closer and closer to the first page. And this is extremely important, particularly if you know how to what is called “games the system.
What those Bloggers do – they “game the system”. And here is how they game the system: They went out and found the websites that have the absolute most change going on in a web site every single day, every single hour, every single minute, and every single second. They are powerful websites that have constant change, constant upgrading going on every minute of every day. Theses website are called “Article Hubs”. These web sites grow out of the whole change in how Search Engines work because people realized that the more websites change, the more powerful website are in searches, they realized there better be constant change. This is particularly true in Media sites & this is particularly true with Bloggers, because they began to figure out that if they have more constant change on their sites every day their Bloggs will lift on the searches. And I am going to show you one of those hugs sites. It is an extremely powerful site, 5000-7000 writers, authors, reporters & Bloggers place their articles in this site every day.
Do you understand that that site is not just visited by tens of thousands of writers and author’s who have submitted articles everyday? Do you realize this site is visited by over a million unique visitors every single day? So these sites, these Article Hubs are incredibly potent. And when you put one article in one of these sites, guess what you start to do? You start to dominate keywords. And if you can get on the first page of any major keyword you have hit a Gold Mine! One article! One keyword! Traffic, traffic, traffic! There is one example “Religion and online marketing”, this article was written two years ago and guess where they are.
Do you know when you put a keyword in worldwide there are over 35 millions places on the web that have this constant in here with Religion and Online Marketing? And this article is still having a first result, first page. That was written TWO YEARS AGO! He has been getting traffic every single day for almost 800 days for this article. One Article! One keyword! Traffic, Traffic, Traffic! And if you go page after page, after page you are going to see that article over and over and over … That Company continues to get traffic to this very day. That’s the power of Article Hubs.
If you are looking for a home business opportunity please check this site! With this new marketing system, even beginners are successful.
http://olga.YOURCHANCE2SUCCESS.COM
The Net's New Information Highway
by: Esther Smith
For more years than I care to admit, I have depended on either word-of-mouth, catchy ads or Search Engine results to draw me into a new program. I have stopped reading Testimonials altogether because his or her success (real or embellished) is no guarantee of my own – and that’s just common sense.
I’m all about residual or leveraged income anyway and the only road for me. I no longer agree to sell someone’s product for twenty bucks and do it over again tomorrow and the next day. For the same amount of effort, I can get a leveraged program up and running with whatever is asked of me to qualify for on-going income with no further attention on my part. This is the only way to go. And once initiated and running on auto pilot, I look for a new money-stream.
The Internet changes faster than the speed of thought, and so must our searches and marketing strategies. Yesterday’s “landing pages” are today’s “splash pages”. Yesterday we heard about a great opportunity from an Ezine ad or a Free Report… today we have new sources: Forums and Blogs.
Advertising and promotional posts are not allowed in most Forums. There are special Forums for posting your Bizop, but I don’t think anyone reads these any more than antiquated FFA pages. But questions and answers do not violate this rule. So I look up Forums whose members are working from home or wish they were, and tune in on what they call “Hot Topics”. I choose three or four Forums and put the websites in my favorites so I can tune in daily and sort of eavesdrop on the hot topics.
Often it goes like this: Act3 is asking if anyone has heard about XYZ program; good or bad. Gemeni responds because he is a member of that program. Then others begin to ask about it. They want to know if Gemeni has been paid yet? How long did it take to return his investment? Gemeni responds with replies giving factual data. BigSpender posts her reply by saying she joined under Gemeni and I begin to read her positive comments also. Act3 joined during my second week of eavesdropping on all of this, and the three of them formed a winning team.
I have given you a short version, but enough to realize that this is a perfect avenue to find a new and promising program. Take what this Forum has offered and check out Scambusters and all other due diligence that you would do for any new opportunity. With everything on go – join and begin to spread the word the same way you heard about it.
When you join Forums, you choose a “username” and post your sentence or two without making it appear like a blatant ad. However, they DO allow you to put your URL at the close of your post.
Go to a Forum that has a “thread” for members who are interested in working from home. Start asking if anyone knows something about XYZ company, good or bad. Wait a day or two to see if anyone posts a reply. If nothing negative comes back, or no one has heard of XYZ, then you might post a new thread giving some of the details you have acquired “from other Forums”. It might go something like this:
Hi everybody – bigbill here – in my last post I asked if anyone could tell me about XYZ company and since I didn’t get any replies, I went to another Forum and posted the same question. I had several people tell me that XYZ’s cyclic target referral system has broken all the conservative boundaries of any other system. Can this be true? http://www.xyzcompany.com/osborn
Notice I did include my URL, and I tried hard not to make my post sound like an advertisement or it would have been deleted by the moderator. Now, let’s look at blogging. Got a website? Got a product? Got a blog?
Yes, Blog your program daily with a free blog that is RSS fed. There are no rules here. Set up a blog; set up two - or three and each day type a few paragraphs that show the benefits of your program. Be sure to RSS it and you will have no trouble getting new participants to look over your program.
Play nice.
2007 Esther Smith
For more years than I care to admit, I have depended on either word-of-mouth, catchy ads or Search Engine results to draw me into a new program. I have stopped reading Testimonials altogether because his or her success (real or embellished) is no guarantee of my own – and that’s just common sense.
I’m all about residual or leveraged income anyway and the only road for me. I no longer agree to sell someone’s product for twenty bucks and do it over again tomorrow and the next day. For the same amount of effort, I can get a leveraged program up and running with whatever is asked of me to qualify for on-going income with no further attention on my part. This is the only way to go. And once initiated and running on auto pilot, I look for a new money-stream.
The Internet changes faster than the speed of thought, and so must our searches and marketing strategies. Yesterday’s “landing pages” are today’s “splash pages”. Yesterday we heard about a great opportunity from an Ezine ad or a Free Report… today we have new sources: Forums and Blogs.
Advertising and promotional posts are not allowed in most Forums. There are special Forums for posting your Bizop, but I don’t think anyone reads these any more than antiquated FFA pages. But questions and answers do not violate this rule. So I look up Forums whose members are working from home or wish they were, and tune in on what they call “Hot Topics”. I choose three or four Forums and put the websites in my favorites so I can tune in daily and sort of eavesdrop on the hot topics.
Often it goes like this: Act3 is asking if anyone has heard about XYZ program; good or bad. Gemeni responds because he is a member of that program. Then others begin to ask about it. They want to know if Gemeni has been paid yet? How long did it take to return his investment? Gemeni responds with replies giving factual data. BigSpender posts her reply by saying she joined under Gemeni and I begin to read her positive comments also. Act3 joined during my second week of eavesdropping on all of this, and the three of them formed a winning team.
I have given you a short version, but enough to realize that this is a perfect avenue to find a new and promising program. Take what this Forum has offered and check out Scambusters and all other due diligence that you would do for any new opportunity. With everything on go – join and begin to spread the word the same way you heard about it.
When you join Forums, you choose a “username” and post your sentence or two without making it appear like a blatant ad. However, they DO allow you to put your URL at the close of your post.
Go to a Forum that has a “thread” for members who are interested in working from home. Start asking if anyone knows something about XYZ company, good or bad. Wait a day or two to see if anyone posts a reply. If nothing negative comes back, or no one has heard of XYZ, then you might post a new thread giving some of the details you have acquired “from other Forums”. It might go something like this:
Hi everybody – bigbill here – in my last post I asked if anyone could tell me about XYZ company and since I didn’t get any replies, I went to another Forum and posted the same question. I had several people tell me that XYZ’s cyclic target referral system has broken all the conservative boundaries of any other system. Can this be true? http://www.xyzcompany.com/osborn
Notice I did include my URL, and I tried hard not to make my post sound like an advertisement or it would have been deleted by the moderator. Now, let’s look at blogging. Got a website? Got a product? Got a blog?
Yes, Blog your program daily with a free blog that is RSS fed. There are no rules here. Set up a blog; set up two - or three and each day type a few paragraphs that show the benefits of your program. Be sure to RSS it and you will have no trouble getting new participants to look over your program.
Play nice.
2007 Esther Smith
A Hard Look at PPC, Click Fraud and the Alternatives
by: Bill Platt
With the creation of the Overture and Google Adwords systems, many webmasters believed they had finally hit the mother lode. It was no longer necessary for small online businesses to invest large amounts of money into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to gain high search rankings in the natural search results.
Even webmasters committed to SEO campaigns began to realize its fleeting nature. Given frequent search engine algorithm changes, optimizing a website was no guarantee that in 6 months or less it wouldn't be back to square one and page twenty of the search results.
PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH ENGINE (PPCSE) PLACEMENT
With the advent of the PPCSE model created by Overture, and followed by Google Adwords, webmasters felt like they had finally found the level playing field that everyone talks about. Hiring a SEO company was no longer necessary to crack the top search engine results. A Page One placement could be purchased and often for far less than the cost of a SEO company's services.
Webmasters discovered that they could get traffic to their website for as little as one cent per click.
Pay-per-click, however, has evolved over the last 5 years and not to the benefit of most webmasters. Although five cents is currently the average starting bid price at most major search engines, many sought after keyword terms can cost as much as $30 - $50 per click. Given the increasingly competitive nature of PPC advertising and spiralling costs, many small- to medium- sized businesses today might be better served hiring a good SEO company to search optimize their websites.
WHO IS CLICKING YOUR PAY-PER-CLICK LINKS?
There are four types of people who click on pay-per-click ads. Knowing who these people are helps explain why experts keep telling us that 20% to 25% of all clicks on PPC listings are "fraudulent clicks".
Personality Type #1: True-Blue Prospects
These are the people for whom you have placed your pay-per-click ads. They see your advertisement; they like what they see; and they click your link to see if you can actually serve their needs.
Personality Type #2: Accidental Clickers
Every once in a while, even my finger misfires, and I click an advertisement that I did not intend on clicking. My first thought is usually, "Oh no...", and my first action is to find the back button.
I didn't mean to cost that person money by clicking his advertisement... but I did. It was an accident. Now, the advertiser has to pay for my mistake. That bites.
Personality Type #3: Jealous Competitors
I would like to think that all of my, and your, competitors are fine, upstanding people. And most of them are. But, there are some who are not, and they click on pay-per-click links just to be spiteful or just to cost their business rivals a few dollars.
Believe it or not, a good percentage of "fraudulent clicks" are believed to be clicks perpetrated by people against their competitors.
Personality Type #4: True-Blue Fraudsters
Not that long ago pay-per-click providers realized that there was tremendous opportunity in offering small website owners a method for cashing in on their limited traffic.
Today, a webmaster can go to any number of pay-per-click services, add a small piece of code to a webpage and start serving paid advertising the same day. Webmasters thus become revenue share partners with the PPC provider, splitting revenues with the PPC provider for each click.
Ethical webmasters, of course, put the needs of their advertisers first and focus on putting eyeballs on their website so that visitors can click on the advertising links.
But, the word "ethical" doesn't exist in the vocabulary of some webmasters. These are the "true-blue fraudsters" who believe in making "revenue at any cost... no matter who might be hurt by their actions." They devise schemes to have their own ads clicked in order to drive up their revenue share.
These webmasters, although a minority, are responsible for the vast majority of fraudulent clicks. And, they are the same people that should be taken out behind the barn, for a good old-fashioned flogging --- one lashing for each stolen dollar would be fine with me.
THE UNSEEN COSTS OF THE PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH GAME
If the experts are correct in estimating that 25% of all clicks are fraudulent, then you are paying out 33% more than you should have to pay to get your business.
If you are converting PPCSE clicks-to-sales at a rate of $20 per transaction, then you should be aware that your actual conversion rate for non-PPCSE advertising would cost you an average of $15 per transaction. By escaping the pay-per-click search engine model, you could in effect make an additional $5 per transaction by cutting the fraud out of your marketing budget.
Personally, I would rather not pay the pay-per-click mafia the $5 a transaction that they are exacting against pay-per-click advertisers.
WHERE MY ADVERTISING MONEY WORKS BEST
I have always gained the best bang for my buck with pay-for-placement advertising. In a nutshell, I pay a monthly, quarterly or yearly fee to have my advertising seen on various websites. Banner advertising is always an option, but text links provide better click-through rates (CTR's).
At any one time, you can find links to my websites on dozens of other websites.
Here are a few examples of pay-for-placement, often referred to as "paid inclusion", advertising networks:
ISEDN.org Network: ( http://www.ISEDN.org )
The Independent Search Engine and Directory Network (powered by ExactSeek.com) is comprised of more than 200 specialty search engines, search directories and article directories. Through their system, you can buy quarterly or yearly top ten exposure (http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html) for specific keyword phrases which are then shown through the ISEDN's 200 plus member websites. Their network claims to show paid inclusion ads 150 million times per month.
Pricing starts at $4 per month per keyword phrase and goes down according to the number of keyword phrases purchased. Quarterly and yearly rates for one keyword phrase are $12 and $36, respectively.
BraveNet.com Home Page Featured Advertiser Listing: http://www.adbrite.com/mb/commerce/purchase_form.php?zone_id=8181 4
BraveNet is the number one provider of free web tools in the world and through their AdBrite sales page you can purchase a 30 day text advertisement at the bottom of the Bravenet home page for $1500 or a 3 month advertisement for $3500. According to the Bravenet Media Kit ( http://www.bravenetmedianetwork.com/mediakit.php ), their network serves 500 million page views per month.
ColdFront Network: ( http://www.coldfront.net/index.php/content/view/100/50/ )
ColdFront serves the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) communities. With 150,000 unique visits and 12 million page views per month, they provide real advertising value, if your target market happens to be in this area. Paid inclusion can be purchased for $250 to $350 per month.
WHO LEFT THE BARN DOOR OPEN?
We put locks and deadbolts on our doors. In some localities, we put bars on our windows. We keep our valuables in safes. We keep our cars locked when we are not in them. We are a nation obsessed with protecting our valuables.
And yet, when we advertise our online businesses, we seem to be willing to let PPCSE providers steal 25% of our advertising budget? It boggles the mind.
Personally, I am done with PPCSE companies until they can assure me that my advertising dollars are protected from click fraud.
I have always relied on my own search engine optimization skills to strengthen my natural search results. And frankly, I am pretty good at it.
And, to supplement my own SEO efforts and organic search result placement sucesses, or lack thereof, paid inclusion currently offers me the best value for my money.
With the creation of the Overture and Google Adwords systems, many webmasters believed they had finally hit the mother lode. It was no longer necessary for small online businesses to invest large amounts of money into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to gain high search rankings in the natural search results.
Even webmasters committed to SEO campaigns began to realize its fleeting nature. Given frequent search engine algorithm changes, optimizing a website was no guarantee that in 6 months or less it wouldn't be back to square one and page twenty of the search results.
PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH ENGINE (PPCSE) PLACEMENT
With the advent of the PPCSE model created by Overture, and followed by Google Adwords, webmasters felt like they had finally found the level playing field that everyone talks about. Hiring a SEO company was no longer necessary to crack the top search engine results. A Page One placement could be purchased and often for far less than the cost of a SEO company's services.
Webmasters discovered that they could get traffic to their website for as little as one cent per click.
Pay-per-click, however, has evolved over the last 5 years and not to the benefit of most webmasters. Although five cents is currently the average starting bid price at most major search engines, many sought after keyword terms can cost as much as $30 - $50 per click. Given the increasingly competitive nature of PPC advertising and spiralling costs, many small- to medium- sized businesses today might be better served hiring a good SEO company to search optimize their websites.
WHO IS CLICKING YOUR PAY-PER-CLICK LINKS?
There are four types of people who click on pay-per-click ads. Knowing who these people are helps explain why experts keep telling us that 20% to 25% of all clicks on PPC listings are "fraudulent clicks".
Personality Type #1: True-Blue Prospects
These are the people for whom you have placed your pay-per-click ads. They see your advertisement; they like what they see; and they click your link to see if you can actually serve their needs.
Personality Type #2: Accidental Clickers
Every once in a while, even my finger misfires, and I click an advertisement that I did not intend on clicking. My first thought is usually, "Oh no...", and my first action is to find the back button.
I didn't mean to cost that person money by clicking his advertisement... but I did. It was an accident. Now, the advertiser has to pay for my mistake. That bites.
Personality Type #3: Jealous Competitors
I would like to think that all of my, and your, competitors are fine, upstanding people. And most of them are. But, there are some who are not, and they click on pay-per-click links just to be spiteful or just to cost their business rivals a few dollars.
Believe it or not, a good percentage of "fraudulent clicks" are believed to be clicks perpetrated by people against their competitors.
Personality Type #4: True-Blue Fraudsters
Not that long ago pay-per-click providers realized that there was tremendous opportunity in offering small website owners a method for cashing in on their limited traffic.
Today, a webmaster can go to any number of pay-per-click services, add a small piece of code to a webpage and start serving paid advertising the same day. Webmasters thus become revenue share partners with the PPC provider, splitting revenues with the PPC provider for each click.
Ethical webmasters, of course, put the needs of their advertisers first and focus on putting eyeballs on their website so that visitors can click on the advertising links.
But, the word "ethical" doesn't exist in the vocabulary of some webmasters. These are the "true-blue fraudsters" who believe in making "revenue at any cost... no matter who might be hurt by their actions." They devise schemes to have their own ads clicked in order to drive up their revenue share.
These webmasters, although a minority, are responsible for the vast majority of fraudulent clicks. And, they are the same people that should be taken out behind the barn, for a good old-fashioned flogging --- one lashing for each stolen dollar would be fine with me.
THE UNSEEN COSTS OF THE PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH GAME
If the experts are correct in estimating that 25% of all clicks are fraudulent, then you are paying out 33% more than you should have to pay to get your business.
If you are converting PPCSE clicks-to-sales at a rate of $20 per transaction, then you should be aware that your actual conversion rate for non-PPCSE advertising would cost you an average of $15 per transaction. By escaping the pay-per-click search engine model, you could in effect make an additional $5 per transaction by cutting the fraud out of your marketing budget.
Personally, I would rather not pay the pay-per-click mafia the $5 a transaction that they are exacting against pay-per-click advertisers.
WHERE MY ADVERTISING MONEY WORKS BEST
I have always gained the best bang for my buck with pay-for-placement advertising. In a nutshell, I pay a monthly, quarterly or yearly fee to have my advertising seen on various websites. Banner advertising is always an option, but text links provide better click-through rates (CTR's).
At any one time, you can find links to my websites on dozens of other websites.
Here are a few examples of pay-for-placement, often referred to as "paid inclusion", advertising networks:
ISEDN.org Network: ( http://www.ISEDN.org )
The Independent Search Engine and Directory Network (powered by ExactSeek.com) is comprised of more than 200 specialty search engines, search directories and article directories. Through their system, you can buy quarterly or yearly top ten exposure (http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html) for specific keyword phrases which are then shown through the ISEDN's 200 plus member websites. Their network claims to show paid inclusion ads 150 million times per month.
Pricing starts at $4 per month per keyword phrase and goes down according to the number of keyword phrases purchased. Quarterly and yearly rates for one keyword phrase are $12 and $36, respectively.
BraveNet.com Home Page Featured Advertiser Listing: http://www.adbrite.com/mb/commerce/purchase_form.php?zone_id=8181 4
BraveNet is the number one provider of free web tools in the world and through their AdBrite sales page you can purchase a 30 day text advertisement at the bottom of the Bravenet home page for $1500 or a 3 month advertisement for $3500. According to the Bravenet Media Kit ( http://www.bravenetmedianetwork.com/mediakit.php ), their network serves 500 million page views per month.
ColdFront Network: ( http://www.coldfront.net/index.php/content/view/100/50/ )
ColdFront serves the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) communities. With 150,000 unique visits and 12 million page views per month, they provide real advertising value, if your target market happens to be in this area. Paid inclusion can be purchased for $250 to $350 per month.
WHO LEFT THE BARN DOOR OPEN?
We put locks and deadbolts on our doors. In some localities, we put bars on our windows. We keep our valuables in safes. We keep our cars locked when we are not in them. We are a nation obsessed with protecting our valuables.
And yet, when we advertise our online businesses, we seem to be willing to let PPCSE providers steal 25% of our advertising budget? It boggles the mind.
Personally, I am done with PPCSE companies until they can assure me that my advertising dollars are protected from click fraud.
I have always relied on my own search engine optimization skills to strengthen my natural search results. And frankly, I am pretty good at it.
And, to supplement my own SEO efforts and organic search result placement sucesses, or lack thereof, paid inclusion currently offers me the best value for my money.
How To Find Hot Niche Markets
by: Dan Farrell
Working out what your niche market will be to start your home business is something that can elicit much excitement. This is when you can put all those great ideas you have had for your business into a plan of action. Give yourself a number of options to work over. Some will be great and some won't fit. Get more than one so you always have a back up when you start a home business.
Look to 3 sources for ideas:
* A hobby you love: You won't find many hobbies from which you can't build a business. And since you enjoy doing it, it won't be tedious to "go to work" every day. When you pick something for your business that you sincerely like, you will have fun at doing it.
* Your experiences: In life we go though many experiences and you can use these to build a business. For example if you have raised children you can then put all your parenting experience together and start a business related to parenting.
* Your talents: Everyone has one or more talents within them. Dig down and see what yours are. You can start a freelance business using your talents.
Defining your niche market:
1. List out some ideas then put them in the order of what you like the best.
2. Go to the site listed here and put a key word into the overture suggestion tool box: This will bring up the amount of searches that have been done for your keyword and will represent demand.
3. If you search out that same key word on Google search engine http://google.com then you will see websites supplying that item and you will know how many competitors are out there that will be competing with you when you start a home business.
4. If you find a topic that is demanded in quantity but low in the suppliers, you will then make money. This should be your special market for which you do your niche marketing. You will make more money with a niche market as you will reduce and sometimes even eliminate competition. Go through your list of ideas until you narrow it down to about
5. Then go through them again and see which one will fit into a niche market.
Establishing your USP:
Once you have found the concept that fits into a specialized or niche market it is time to establish your USP, Unique, Selling, Point. This is when you will take your idea, and see how you will make your business uniquely different from your competitors. Often neglected, finding the USP is something that new business owners need to do to set their item above the competition. Online businesses are very competitive and you have to stay ahead of the game.
There are two reasons you need to set yourself up as different from others:
1. Get ahead of your competitors
2. To clearly define to your potential customers why your product and service is better than your competitors.
Deciding on your business model:
Part of your business concept will not only be consolidating your ideas but also choosing your business model. There are a few that you can choose from:
* Affiliate marketing-Getting involved with affiliate programs will target your efforts
* Network marketing (MLM)- again this will target your market and idea.
* Marketing-taking the product and selling it
* Service- you should use your talents, which includes freelancing.
You can see there are a number of things you will have to do to get your business concept into operation. But it's worth it to plan and take care in developing it. It will be your foundation, after all.
Working out what your niche market will be to start your home business is something that can elicit much excitement. This is when you can put all those great ideas you have had for your business into a plan of action. Give yourself a number of options to work over. Some will be great and some won't fit. Get more than one so you always have a back up when you start a home business.
Look to 3 sources for ideas:
* A hobby you love: You won't find many hobbies from which you can't build a business. And since you enjoy doing it, it won't be tedious to "go to work" every day. When you pick something for your business that you sincerely like, you will have fun at doing it.
* Your experiences: In life we go though many experiences and you can use these to build a business. For example if you have raised children you can then put all your parenting experience together and start a business related to parenting.
* Your talents: Everyone has one or more talents within them. Dig down and see what yours are. You can start a freelance business using your talents.
Defining your niche market:
1. List out some ideas then put them in the order of what you like the best.
2. Go to the site listed here and put a key word into the overture suggestion tool box: This will bring up the amount of searches that have been done for your keyword and will represent demand.
3. If you search out that same key word on Google search engine http://google.com then you will see websites supplying that item and you will know how many competitors are out there that will be competing with you when you start a home business.
4. If you find a topic that is demanded in quantity but low in the suppliers, you will then make money. This should be your special market for which you do your niche marketing. You will make more money with a niche market as you will reduce and sometimes even eliminate competition. Go through your list of ideas until you narrow it down to about
5. Then go through them again and see which one will fit into a niche market.
Establishing your USP:
Once you have found the concept that fits into a specialized or niche market it is time to establish your USP, Unique, Selling, Point. This is when you will take your idea, and see how you will make your business uniquely different from your competitors. Often neglected, finding the USP is something that new business owners need to do to set their item above the competition. Online businesses are very competitive and you have to stay ahead of the game.
There are two reasons you need to set yourself up as different from others:
1. Get ahead of your competitors
2. To clearly define to your potential customers why your product and service is better than your competitors.
Deciding on your business model:
Part of your business concept will not only be consolidating your ideas but also choosing your business model. There are a few that you can choose from:
* Affiliate marketing-Getting involved with affiliate programs will target your efforts
* Network marketing (MLM)- again this will target your market and idea.
* Marketing-taking the product and selling it
* Service- you should use your talents, which includes freelancing.
You can see there are a number of things you will have to do to get your business concept into operation. But it's worth it to plan and take care in developing it. It will be your foundation, after all.
A Guide To Choosing The Right Hosting For Your Business
by: Dan Farrell
Don't believe for a minute that having a good web host isn't vital to your online business. If you get cheap web hosts, downtime can destroy your profits. You must do your research to find a web host carefully before making a contract with a hosting company There are many companies out there and they all have varying degrees of service.
Before you make your decision in what hosting company your will use, look over these points:
Reliable: Your host simply has to be reliable. You cannot afford to have downtime. You lose sales if people can't count on you. Really check out the web hosting company you want to use, reviewing their service completely before signing up. Ask what kind of servers they use and how reliable they are. If there are any testimonials look at them and see that they are authentic.
Good customer support: If you have problems technically at any time, you need to know you have excellent support from your web hosting service.
Monthly contract: Ensure you sign only on a monthly basis and not for 6 months or more, and that you won't be penalized for canceling at any time.
Set up fee: Don't sign up if there is a set up fee. If your hosting service really appreciates your business with them, they won't charge you for set up.
Backing up files: Does your new host back up files and how often? It is very important to back up files and good if your host does this as well.
FTP access: This is a useful feature that some web hosts offer. This will allow you to upload your site whenever you have any changes or additions to your website.
A good number of email addresses: Ensure the host you pick has enough email addresses for your business. You may need many or just a few, but your host should be able to supply you with what you need.
Bandwidth (traffic) allowed: If your host has 5GB of bandwidth, this should work for you. You should know how much you will be provided with.
Extra services: Look into what the price includes. Everything should be plain and laid out clearly as to what you will pay.
Price: You may pay varying prices for your web host, like between $5.95-$19.95. You should research the services offered compared to the price, which can be between $5.95-$19.95. It isn't always a bad sign to only be charged a low fee. It depends what you need.
Cpanel: is a useful feature, and simple to use. This will let you manage your web hosting from one place and has features like web stats and web mail. Make sure your host has a fast connection: Make sure you will have a host with a fast connection or your visitors who only have dial-up will have trouble. When your visitors only have dial up they will still have better speed if your host has fast connecting powers. This will make a lot of difference to the loading time of your site.
Knowing these points will enable you to know the best web hosting company for you.
Don't believe for a minute that having a good web host isn't vital to your online business. If you get cheap web hosts, downtime can destroy your profits. You must do your research to find a web host carefully before making a contract with a hosting company There are many companies out there and they all have varying degrees of service.
Before you make your decision in what hosting company your will use, look over these points:
Reliable: Your host simply has to be reliable. You cannot afford to have downtime. You lose sales if people can't count on you. Really check out the web hosting company you want to use, reviewing their service completely before signing up. Ask what kind of servers they use and how reliable they are. If there are any testimonials look at them and see that they are authentic.
Good customer support: If you have problems technically at any time, you need to know you have excellent support from your web hosting service.
Monthly contract: Ensure you sign only on a monthly basis and not for 6 months or more, and that you won't be penalized for canceling at any time.
Set up fee: Don't sign up if there is a set up fee. If your hosting service really appreciates your business with them, they won't charge you for set up.
Backing up files: Does your new host back up files and how often? It is very important to back up files and good if your host does this as well.
FTP access: This is a useful feature that some web hosts offer. This will allow you to upload your site whenever you have any changes or additions to your website.
A good number of email addresses: Ensure the host you pick has enough email addresses for your business. You may need many or just a few, but your host should be able to supply you with what you need.
Bandwidth (traffic) allowed: If your host has 5GB of bandwidth, this should work for you. You should know how much you will be provided with.
Extra services: Look into what the price includes. Everything should be plain and laid out clearly as to what you will pay.
Price: You may pay varying prices for your web host, like between $5.95-$19.95. You should research the services offered compared to the price, which can be between $5.95-$19.95. It isn't always a bad sign to only be charged a low fee. It depends what you need.
Cpanel: is a useful feature, and simple to use. This will let you manage your web hosting from one place and has features like web stats and web mail. Make sure your host has a fast connection: Make sure you will have a host with a fast connection or your visitors who only have dial-up will have trouble. When your visitors only have dial up they will still have better speed if your host has fast connecting powers. This will make a lot of difference to the loading time of your site.
Knowing these points will enable you to know the best web hosting company for you.
How Email Lists Can Lead To Larger Online Incomes
by: Stuart Pearce
Communicating with customers is the best way to persuade them to return to your web site and make a purchase. The easiest way to do this is to create an email list. With an email list, you can accomplish many things including:
* Repeat sales – it is much easier to sell items to those who have already used them and are satisfied with them.
* Trust and loyalty – many people are still unsure about purchasing items from the internet and only shop on select sites. Sending email and promotional alerts will persuade people to shop on your site. Once they have made a few purchases, you will have a customer for life.
* Branding – branding your product using a logo or slogan will help people recognize your product easily. Including your company logo in all email sent will help spread the word and create brand awareness as people can forward your email on to others.
* Newsletters – with an email list, you can send monthly newsletters that inform people about what is going on in your industry and your web site. Include sale items, new products, and other information that will entice customers to browse your site.
As you can see, the benefits and possibilities you create for your company by building an email list are many. This is a resource that will continue to grow as more people visit your web site.
Sign me up!
The biggest obstacle when creating an email list is getting people to sign up. While you can't force people to sign up for email alerts, newsletters, and other items, you can persuade them in a variety of ways.
* Landing pages – This is a page that can be used to introduce your web site. Many internet business owners use this page to expand their email lists. Simply ask for email addresses before taking visitors to your site and you will be amazed by how quickly people will sign up.
You can choose to make this mandatory for entry to your web site or voluntary. Try both ways to see which is more successful.
* Advertising the newsletter – By simply adding a sign-up box on the pages of your web site asking if people want to sign up for your newsletter, your email list will grow. Make sure your box is easy to find and easy to use.
* Ordering pages – You can ask customers when they are placing an order if they want to receive alerts and other promotional items. Make it easy by having them click a box to sign-up. Since most companies need email addresses in case of order issues, all you need is the customer's permission to send promotional items to their email address.
* Receipt confirmation pages – Ask a second time on the receipt confirmation email you send to customers. They may change their minds and want to sign-up.
Always include an opt-out option so customers will be able to remove themselves from your email list at any time. Add this to the bottom or your email.
Buying email lists
If you are having difficulty building an email list, you can always enter into a joint venture with other internet business owners or affiliate marketers. By sharing some of the profits earned from list sharing, you will be able to reach even more people, who may turn into customers.
Buying email lists outright from a list broker is another option. For a one time fee, you will have access to hundreds of potential customers. While most internet business owners build their own email lists over time, if you want to increase your sales quickly, investing in an email list may be the right decision for you.
Even though there are many forms of marketing on the internet, communicating directly with customers is still the best way to make a sale. Creating an email list or purchasing one will allow you to showcase new items, persuade more people to visit your site, and increase the number of return customers, which can have a huge impact on your bottom line.
Communicating with customers is the best way to persuade them to return to your web site and make a purchase. The easiest way to do this is to create an email list. With an email list, you can accomplish many things including:
* Repeat sales – it is much easier to sell items to those who have already used them and are satisfied with them.
* Trust and loyalty – many people are still unsure about purchasing items from the internet and only shop on select sites. Sending email and promotional alerts will persuade people to shop on your site. Once they have made a few purchases, you will have a customer for life.
* Branding – branding your product using a logo or slogan will help people recognize your product easily. Including your company logo in all email sent will help spread the word and create brand awareness as people can forward your email on to others.
* Newsletters – with an email list, you can send monthly newsletters that inform people about what is going on in your industry and your web site. Include sale items, new products, and other information that will entice customers to browse your site.
As you can see, the benefits and possibilities you create for your company by building an email list are many. This is a resource that will continue to grow as more people visit your web site.
Sign me up!
The biggest obstacle when creating an email list is getting people to sign up. While you can't force people to sign up for email alerts, newsletters, and other items, you can persuade them in a variety of ways.
* Landing pages – This is a page that can be used to introduce your web site. Many internet business owners use this page to expand their email lists. Simply ask for email addresses before taking visitors to your site and you will be amazed by how quickly people will sign up.
You can choose to make this mandatory for entry to your web site or voluntary. Try both ways to see which is more successful.
* Advertising the newsletter – By simply adding a sign-up box on the pages of your web site asking if people want to sign up for your newsletter, your email list will grow. Make sure your box is easy to find and easy to use.
* Ordering pages – You can ask customers when they are placing an order if they want to receive alerts and other promotional items. Make it easy by having them click a box to sign-up. Since most companies need email addresses in case of order issues, all you need is the customer's permission to send promotional items to their email address.
* Receipt confirmation pages – Ask a second time on the receipt confirmation email you send to customers. They may change their minds and want to sign-up.
Always include an opt-out option so customers will be able to remove themselves from your email list at any time. Add this to the bottom or your email.
Buying email lists
If you are having difficulty building an email list, you can always enter into a joint venture with other internet business owners or affiliate marketers. By sharing some of the profits earned from list sharing, you will be able to reach even more people, who may turn into customers.
Buying email lists outright from a list broker is another option. For a one time fee, you will have access to hundreds of potential customers. While most internet business owners build their own email lists over time, if you want to increase your sales quickly, investing in an email list may be the right decision for you.
Even though there are many forms of marketing on the internet, communicating directly with customers is still the best way to make a sale. Creating an email list or purchasing one will allow you to showcase new items, persuade more people to visit your site, and increase the number of return customers, which can have a huge impact on your bottom line.
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