SEO Marketing World

While Digg.com can be a great place to submit articles and information that can help build your search engine optimization link building strategy, there is a new feature in place on the site that can make it harder for SEO marketing strategists to get their articles noticed. The feature, called the “Bury” button, is featured right below the headline and intro clip of the article, next to the comments section. Its purpose is to allow users who feel the article is irrelevant or blatantly for marketing purposes to vote to “bury” it so that other users won’t spend their time reading it.

And it’s working! We’re hearing more and more stories about articles featured on Digg becoming less and less effective. So to avoid be buried, here are some tips you can use to make sure your articles maintain high visibility.

The first and most obvious step is to not make your link building articles look like link building articles. Search engine marketing has to look realistic. Remember, the best types of articles to post for link building will contain real, usable, relevant content. A lot of people are very aversed to anything they see as marketing material trying to masquerade as journalism or content, so try to make sure your articles look as legitimate as possible.

Another option is to avoid Digg and try marketing directly to important bloggers. In most cases these blogs know you’re trying to boost your linking, but in the end, if you provide them with interesting, relevant content, they’re not going to care.

Use StumbleUpon to gauge whether or not to submit to other sites. If your piece gets a lot of positive votes on StumbleUpon, you can generally feel confident that appearing on other sites, it will do well as well.

In general, just remember that the best viral content will be attractive to a general audience either for usefulness or novelty. Try to think like a reader or user, and make your link building material as useful as possible to your market.

When you’re building your search engine marketing strategy, a wide variety of link building techniques can only benefit you. The more inbound links you have to your sites the better, and having a wide variety of sources for these links can be beneficial to your ranking. Here are some more unconventional link building techniques you may not have previously considered.

If you use several vendors, businesses or web sites in an industry related to yours, try building a favorites page, ranking these sites in order of your preference for them. Write a brief description of the site and why you find it useful. Then contact the sites listed and invite them to use your “testimonials” by linking to them. Companies won’t be able to resist this outside source of good publicity.

Another good tactic is to keep your eye on news sites that post stories relevant to the focus of your site. Once stories go up, try to be the first to comment on them, and provide links to similar or relevant topic within your site. Blog comment links are proven to generate a lot of hits, and the relevant traffic you’ll receive will be equally beneficial to your site’s business.

When a new social network goes online, be one of the first accounts to sign up. Be sure to include your business name in your account name, or to set up an account specifically for your business, if possible. Often times, social networks will blog about the first accounts to join them as away of increasing their visibility, which can also increase yours.

Create a screensaver or desktop wallpaper that promotes your business or web site and submit it to all the free screensave/wallpaper sites that you can find. Many of these sites will allow you to link back to your site, whether the user downloads your wallpaper or not.

As with other search engine optimization techniques, these methods should be employed in unison with many other for maximum effectiveness.

These days more and more web site owners are turning to Search Engine Optimization to increase their traffic by boosting their search ranking position, and rightly so. The overwhelming majority of web users find what they’re looking for on the web through the major search engines. Search engine marketing allows you to rank higher in search results, and thus boost your visibility, traffic and overall effectiveness at converting traffic into revenue.

This has led to an increase in the amount of companies out there offering SEO services to site owners such as BrasilSEO.com.br in Brazil what offers services in SEO ( otimização de sites in portuguese). These services can be very useful, because they are run by experts who generally have the most current methods and effective approaches for SEO. But some are better than others, and choosing the right one can be difficult, so here are some tips to help you find the best available.

1. Search for Them

It may be simple, but what better indicator of the effectiveness of the methods used by an SEO service than their own ranking in the search engines? Search for “SEO services”, or “search engine optimization”, and look at the top results. These sites obviously found a way to get to the top of the list, so they can probably get you there too! Choose a few of the most popular and narrow them down from there.

2. Look for Guarantees

Find sites that offer guarantees, such as to improve your ranking by a certain amount, or to land you in the top 10 results for a certain amount of keywords. Some sites even offer payment schedules for their services that won’t require you to pay the full fee until you see results. Take advantage of deals you find. Other sites will offer refunds if they can’t live up to their guarantee. Just keep in mind that SEO takes time, often a couple months, since the search engines won’t update their results immediately.

3. Reputation and Credibility in the Industry

When you find a service you’re considering, investigate how long they’ve been in business and find out about some of the projects they’ve worked on. Many services will offer a list of clients with whom they’ve worked which act as references for their services. The more successful projects and pleased clients, the better.

4. SEO Techniques and Methods

Inquire about the specific search engine optimization techniques different services use. Some will have better ideas for search engine marketing than others.

Almost all services will employ some kind of doorway page system to establish placement. Some may use “cloaking“, which keeps SEO text hidden from users but still exists to improve ranking. Some services are better at cloaking than others, and if you’re going to pursue this, you have to make sure the SEO services company you choose is good at it. Cloaking is considered by some to be a “black hat“, or negative technique, since many search engines will penalize your site if they find out cloaking is being used.

Another good question to ask is whether the company uses software to optimize or if they actually go through themselves and manually install SEO. Stay away from companies who use software, because their programs and systems can often lead to sloppy optimization, and therefore less effective results.

Ideally, SEO strategies and search engine marketing should be customized, because the true experts will know their techniques inside and out, and then appropriately apply certain aspects of them to your specific site to get you the best results.

5. Effective Strategies for Directories

Linking in directories is a big part of search engine marketing, and since submissions of links to them are reviewed by actual people looking for quality links, they have to be done carefully. Ask about company procedures for submitting to directories, and make sure they plan to get you into the best and most effective directories, like Yahoo and Open Link.

6. Researching Keywords

Search engine optimization hinges on choosing the best and most applicable keywords for what your site offers, so make sure your company uses tools that can help find the best ones for your site. The best companies will help you choose keywords, instead of simply using ones that you provide them.

7. Establish Ownership of Optimized Pages

Some companies may try to establish ownership of your optimized pages by creating new domains for them, hosting them themselves and then linking traffic back to your site. Essentially, they act as the middle man for your traffic. Avoid this, because if you ever decide to stop using their services, they will delete your pages and you will lose all the traffic you gained through them.

The best companies will help you overhaul or employ SEO on your pages instead of creating new ones, or if they are doing your SEO site structure foundation and building from the ground up, they will transfer ownership of any new domains to you.

8. Updates and Ranking Reports

Choose a search engine optimization company that provides updates on your traffic and keyword effectiveness. Many companies offer monthly ranking reports which chart the progress of the effect SEO has on your site.

9. Costs and Payment Plans

Here, you really just have to be a savvy shopper. Evaluate how different companies charge you for SEO services. Some will offer flat rates or monthly maintenance rates, while others may require payment on a cost per click basis, meaning that the more traffic you receive, the more you pay. The CPC method offers huge incentive for the company to boost your ranking as high as it can go, but it also means there is no limit to how much you may spend a month on SEO. Evaluate the best deals based on the payment plan and the quality you think you’ll get from the service. If you can afford it, CPC plans can be very effective. But try to find the best mix of quality and price. There are plenty of companies out there that can get your site in the top results for a great value. Again, guarantees from companies are nice when evaluating the plans you choose.

Submitting links to web directories can be a great way to increase highly relevant traffic to your site. Inbound links are one of the most important factors in how search engines ranks websites, and so this can be a major plus. Also, submitting links to specific directories and categories will create more relevant traffic for your site. This is the best kind of traffic you can receive, because it will drive conversions and help you rank better for keywords related to the subject your site addresses.

However, choosing the right directories to submit to is very important to your search engine optimization strategies. What follows are tips for choosing and using directories that will be the most effective so you don’t waste your efforts.

1. Choosing Directories with Page Ranks

Check the page rank of the directory you’re considering using. You can do this easily through Google. Generally, you want to choose a directory whose main page has a rank of at least 5. Be sure to also check the rank of interior pages, if they have them. The categories or internal pages you’re considering linking your site under should have ranks of at least 2, because these will have the most viewers, and therefore drive the most traffic to your site.

2. Does the Directory Use Dynamic Pages that Search Engines have a Hard Time Indexing?

You can check this quite easily through Google or Yahoo by entering the search term “site:www.domainname.com”. If the results show lots of pages with unique titles and description tags, then you can assume that the directory in question is search engine friendly, and therefore worth using.

3. Will the directory provide you direct links to your site, or will it instead use a tracking code?

Less helpful directories will not provide your link with a value or page rank. You can easily check this by locating an existing site in the directory and holding your mouse over it until you can see the URL appear in the bottom left side of your browser. If you see that this is a direct link to a domain, this generally means the directory will be effective. If this appears as a tracking URL, then this will not provide you with the direct links you want, and the directory is not worth using.

However, some sites will appear as direct links but not actually be direct links, and instead are hidden by a Java script to conceal the fact that these links receive no Page Rank and therefore no attention from search engines.

Use this tool to check the source code. If you see the term “NOFOLLOW” in the source code, then no page rank will be assigned to your link, and the directory is not worth using.

4. Does the directory pass on link credit to sites that it lists?

This is very important. You can test this by choosing a few sites listed in the directory and checking their backlinks by entering the search term “link:www.domainname.com” into Google, Yahoo or any other search engine.

Scan the results to see if there are any links listed from the directory you are investigating. If you find them, the directory is effective and worth using.

However, if you do not find them, don’t cast the directory off just yet. Sometimes sites with lower page ranks do not appear in these link results, especially when using Google. Try to check sites with higher page ranks. If you find one or a few that have backlinks listed by Google, then the directory can be said to have value.

Strangely, Yahoo and MSN often display more backlinks than Google. This may indicate that using links in directories is more effective for boosting ranking in these search engines. So use discretion, but generally assume that a backlink that appears in Google indicates a very good directory.

5. Are there too many sites already listed in your relevant category on the directory?

Generally, you want to choose directories that have less than 25 sites listed to improve focus on your own. Some directories may warrant adding your link to categories with more, but never list on categories that have more than 50 sites. Too many links means diluted value for each one, so the less, the better.

6. Choosing between free directories and directories with fees.

The advantage of directories that carry fees is that they often guarantee to review and consider your link within a short amount of time. This does not however guarantee inclusion in the directory. Be sure to read the fine print concerning submission standards, and to ensure that your site and link comply with all of them, because you don’t want to waste money applying to sites that are going to reject your link. However, directories with fees are well-respected and popular, and so they definitely provide somewhat of an advantage over less quality free directories.

For free directories, be careful to choose ones that are updated often with new links. Sometimes, the sheer volume of link applications they receive means that yours won’t be reviewed for quite some time, if at all. However, if you can find good ones, never pass up on the opportunity to gain valuable backlinks for free.

7. General directories vs. industry specific directories.

When it comes down to it, both types of directories can be useful in boosting your traffic. Industry specific directories have obvious additional value however, since they will bring you targeted, relevant traffic, which essentially means higher quality traffic. The people you want viewing your site are the people interested in what your site offers.

A Selection of Quality Directories with Proven Results

Below are listed some directories that we have found to be effective. These can be excellent places to start.

Open Directory (Free) - One of the most popular directories out there, Open Directory is owned by AOL, and Google uses it to power their directory feature. However, due to their popularity they receive lots of submissions, and therefore can be very slow in reviewing and adding your link. Pay careful attention to the submission requirements, as they are very strict.

About.Com (Free) - Another very popular site, About hires writers and editors to create and monitor specific categories of content and articles. Each page has a list of suggested links on the subjects they address. If you feel your site can be very useful to readers of these articles and pages, write their editors and request to be listed.

Wikipedia (Free) - Wikipedia offers user-generated content on an endless variety of subjects. While not truly a directory site, each subject page lists relevant links, which you can add yourself. This is best for sites that really focus on a niche market or subject, as those pages will have less people submitting links to their sites. More popular subjects can have listings of links that change every hour, while less popular, more niche subjects may have links that remain for many months.

Yahoo Directory (Annual Fee) - Yahoo directories have very high page ranks, and being listed in them can be very effective for boosting search engine traffic, especially because they do very well in Google. The fee for a year is $299.00, but if the category you’re targeting has a high page rank, it’s definitely worth it.

Business.com (Annual Fee) - This directory is a B2B only site, meaning you will only be able to list here if your site provides products or services for other businesses. It can be effective, but with a fee of $199.00 annually, there may be better options. You only want to list here if your site or service is in a very competitive field, and the category you want to post in has a Page Rank of at least 3.

Gimpsy (One-time Fee) - Gimpsy is a good directory with an index page rank of 6, and higher page ranks for it’s internal, specific categories. For $40, you can submit to Gimpsy, with the added bonus of having your link listed in the top, most visible part of your category for 90 days, assuming you are accepted. Moreover, if your link is rejected, you will receive a 20$ refund, making Gimpsy a great value.

Best of the Web (Varying One Time Fees) - Best of the Web is the oldest directory out there, and therefore it has good credibility with search engines. Regular sites carry a fee of $29.95, while adult sites are charged $49.95. It carries a main page Page Rank of 7, with most of the internal categories coming in at around a 5.

Finding the right directories to submit links to may take some time, but in the end the payoff from higher traffic will be worth it when you find the right ones. Stick to these steps and don’t make exceptions, and directory backlinking will work out very well for you.

The biggest issue on the mind of all web page owners is traffic. Drawing traffic to your site is the means by which you can make conversions and generate revenue. The more people visiting your site, the more conversions you stand to make and the more revenue you are likely to see.

People go to many different lengths to generate and attract traffic to their site. This is the cornerstone of most internet marketing techniques, such as search engine optimization. But when it comes down to it, even SEO is built around the central idea that the way to generate traffic is to create as many links to your site as possible.

However, there are good links and there are bad links. Good links are well places links on sites or services that offer content similar to your own. The idea behind placing these kinds of links is that if someone is viewing a web page on a subject similar to the focus of your site or service, a well placed link to your site will arouse their interest and encourage them to click. However, if there is a link to your site on a web page concerning a subject that has little or no relevance to the content of your site, the viewer will be much less likely to click through to your site.

The idea is to use links to create quality, targeted traffic for your own site. There are all kinds of programs, widgets and scripts out there that will claim to draw a certain large amount of traffic to your site on a daily basis for a fee. But the quality of this traffic is often very low, since they are mostly being directed to you from sites that have little or nothing to do with yours. Low quality traffic of this sort often results in a lower conversion rate.

However, there are many ways in which you can create quality traffic that is relevant to your content. One of the most common is by submitting your site to web directories, which can then funnel you traffic. Another great way is to submit articles or press releases on your topic to article directories. When you build backlinks into these articles, viewers who happen on the article will click on your links to learn more, and find your website. Sometimes, your article will be picked up by interested parties and reproduced in other places, creating more opportunities for generating quality traffic. Press releases work in much the same way. By submitting press releases on news concerning your site, its subject or product to press release directories, you can build effective traffic as well. And best of all, this becomes another form of search engine marketing, as often times your articles will appear in search engine results.

Posting in forums relevant to the focus of your site can also be an effective way of building quality traffic. Using your signature on your posts, you can include a link back to your website, as well as a prompt to click it to learn more. If people see that you are engaged in forum discussions relevant to your topic, they will be inclined to click through.

Another good idea is to get in contact with the owners of websites similar to yours and simply ask them to link to you. In return, you can link back to them, and in this way pool traffic between you.

Affiliate sponsors also offer a great way to increase your relevant traffic. Affiliate services will promote your site and products for you on other websites and blogs, and will drive traffic to your site to encourage conversions.

Remember, linking and SEO is all about drawing the highest quality traffic to your site. If you can reach your target audience, people who will be interested in what your site has to offer, the opportunity to monetize that traffic through advertisements or sales conversions will greatly increase. Above all, backlinking will draw interested viewers to your site, and these are the exact types of viewers you want to target.

Technology has allowed the conventional research time and methods to become obsolete. The quickest and easiest means of obtaining literally any information needed is to turn to the Internet. For B2B marketers, this holds particularly true as many times, numerous people on several different levels of management need to be on the same page. This information, whether it be pricing or research can be found quickly and disseminated easily to all parties involved, making or breaking a deal.

A survey of B2B participants yielded some interesting results: 93% of all participants polled indicated they would use online research as a tool prior to decision making, with 63% of them initiating the research using a search engine, and a resounding 95% of them admitting that a search engine query would be utilized. Google is the favored search engine used by B2B executives, and the usage of search engines on the whole plays a dominant role in B2B transactions. Researchers utlilize the top search results, with a balance between paid and organic search results, and a close attention to organic SEO and positioning. Secondary tools used in B2B research includes consumer review sites, industry portals, manufacturers website and competing e-commerce sites.

Realizing that most of the web traffic from B2B participants is due to search engine optimization, it pays to spend the time and money needed in your B2B marketing. Great value is derived when search engine optimization is geared not only to the consumer, but to the world of B2B. Search engine marketing traffic is whom everyone is after. After all, these persons are that who are most interested in your product and/or service and is most predisposed to spending their money on the same. Realizing that your search engine marketing efforts are non intrusive and found voluntarily, make the most of all techniques, rules and tools to allow your potential to be attained.