Well, it seems that Google does one thing really well and only one thing. The search engine company tried their hand at competing with other startup ventures and according to Ben Charny of MarketWatch, Google failed miserably.
What's troubling for Google, analysts say, is how far behind it has fallen in markets considered key to its future. The impact won't be felt now, but years from now when Google can no longer rely on its search engine for the bulk of its revenues.
"Google hasn't succeeded in most things it has tried outside of search," said Nate Elliott, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "They just don't seem to have done a lot of other things right."
Bottomline is that Google needs to diversify if it's going to enjoy a long life span. That's why we're seeing Google offer us free email, mapping, blogs, etc. We've also seen Google jump into the Affiliate Marketing space with their new CPA ads.
My guess is that Google will keep doing what they do well, and just buy what they want eventually. I mean, every startup has it's purchase price.
Search engines must be able to access your web pages. If search engines cannot parse your web pages, then they will ignore your site and you won't get good rankings.
Make sure that your web server does not return any error codes when search engine spiders visit your web pages. If your server returns an error code, search engines will not index your site.
The correct code should be "200 OK". You can check the status code that your web server returns to search engines with IBP's search engine spider simulator (free).
In addition, make sure that the HTML code of your web pages does not contain errors that prevent search engines from indexing your site. The content of your web pages must make sense to search engines. Do not use images or Flash to present the main content of your web pages.
2: Site and information architecture
Your web site should have a good site architecture to make sure that it is not just a collection of random web pages. The pages of your web site should be related by topic and they should show search engines that your web site is relevant to a one topic or niche.
This is very important because most major search engines seem to use latent semantic indexing in their ranking algorithms.
3: Keywords choice
Choosing the right keywords is one of the most important steps that determines whether your SEO efforts are successful or not. Consider hiring an SEO Writer.
It's best to focus on 2 or 3 word keywords for search engine optimization. One word keywords are less likely to convert to a sale, and they are also much more competitive. So, focus on keyword clusters of two and three keywords together.
4: Content
Web sites that only offer articles and affiliate/AdSense links that can be found on dozens of other web sites will have a harder time getting search engine rankings.
Try to create unique and trustworthy content that separates your web site from the others. Write — and write more — unique content for your web site to make sure that your web site becomes the best resource of information for that topic/niche.
5: Inbound links
Without good inbound links, it is impossible to get high rankings on major search engines. You should get as many links as possible from related web sites. The more targeted and relevant the link, the more it will help your search engine rankings.
You can use an autoresponder service such as aweber.com, where your users opt-in and you email them a welcome with a free report attached or give the users the url for the report's download.
Or you can go a notch higher and create a membership site like Viral Sales Generator, where the users opt-in to download the free report and any other downloads you'd like to offer over time.
Of the two, the autoresponder system is cheaper and it's hosted so you don't need your own server/hosting solution. The membership one definately allows you to build more of a community with your opt-ins and allows them to spread the word for you about what you're doing.
Whether you're an affiliate just getting started and in need of an already built website, or you just need a good domain to get started and can build your own website, you're going to want to consider a big list of affiliate niche domains I've just posted for sale here on Affiliate Blogger.
I speak with newbie affiliates on a daily basis who are struggling to build their own websites on their own because of the costs associated with having them built. In fact, I spent a few hours yesterday helping an affiliate who is also a Marketing Specialist in the affiliate space, and needed help installing a WordPress blog. You know who you are *grin* … and that's what helped me to realize that newbies to coding need a little more help.
So, while I'm only listing the domains I have for sale, if you need a website or blog built and hosted … I'm open to negotiating that with you. Many of these domains I have up for sale have old websites and affiliate programs that I used in the past. Almost all of these domains have Internet history, meaning it won't be that hard to get the search engines to look at them when you give them a facelift.
If you see a domain you want, make your best offer the first time! I can't stress that enough. I hate haggling. I own a Saturn car … 'nough said.
Is there another of my domains that you're more interested in buying? I'm always open to offers. In my world, everything is for sale if the price is right. Best offer always wins!
Joining solid affiliate programs is a good start. But the affiliate program is usually only going to give you banner ads and text ads … most don't provide the content part.
Here's my advice, do a search on "free rewrite articles." Pick an article repository, go there, search on your keywords … not sure what they are for you, but an example would be "music" … be as specific in the keywords as you can. Music might be too general.
Grab yourself some articles. You must publish articles with the author's signature at the bottom. Give credit for the content where credit is due.
Now, keep yourself out of trouble with Google. You have to write some content too. You need to have about 20-40% of the content on the page be unique. On every page!
So, if I were you I'd write a few paragraphs about the article's topic, maybe getting a little focused on the keywords you're going for on that page. Definately use your keywords as the anchor text for the affiliate program's links.
Meaning, if you're talking about electric guitars on a page and have an article on electric guitars, then in the part you write, link the words "electric guitars" to the affiliate program's link to their electric guitars. See?
You can't touch the content of the author's article. It's a matter of honor on that reguard. It's your way of valuing that author giving you free content.
Basically, you're writing an intro to the article and you need to make a clear distinction between what you're writing and what the other guy wrote. This should resolve your content issues for now.
It's a lot of work, but that's how it's done. Dig in!
Currently, I don't offer any one-on-one tutoring at Affiliate Guild … yet! If you guys think that's something I should do sooner rather than later, then let me know. I would have to charge a fee, but I also could keep it reasonable. Affiliate Guild has a complete school already in place, so it's not that hard to do.
You might have read my posts about the Affiliate Marketers Bootcamp. Taking this course is really helping me to be more aware of what the newer affiliate's needs are. It's all information I already know, but it's always good to hear it again. I'll be blogging and posting about things I think could benefit others. Maybe some of that will help you as well?!
MyBlogLog ranks amongst the best in social networking sites, helping to increase your traffic and your social circle.
They provide a dynamic interface that helps their members to build professional and personal relationships.
You can get to know members who visit your profile page and website/blogs.
MyBlogLog offers widgets for your website/blog that shows their visitors to your site.
How MyBlogLog help its members:
● Helps your blog presence irrespective of posts.
● Better personal relationship with your readers and to the authors of your favorite blogs.
● It's a nice SEO tool as well.
● Encourages participation in blogs, and encourages new visitors.
● If people find your blog interesting, they join your community.
I really appreciate the MyBlogLog visitors to my blog!
I was recently reading a piece by Nicolas Carlson on Internet News about MySpace and the question of whether there's revenue to be made using MySpace.
According to Carlson, Myspace isn't making any money and …
Not only is MySpace America's most popular social-networking site, having earned 79.9 percent of the market in June according to a Hitwise study released this week, but it is also America's most popular Web site, representing 4.46 percent of all Internet traffic.
Everyone seems to be wondering why MySpace's Rupert Murdoch isn't using contextual advertising in addition to the banner ads they run.
Compounding the problem is the fact that MySpace doesn't even get the lucrative blue-chip brand advertisers to buy those banner ads despite the fact that its member demographic is the young and malleable crowd after which marketers lust.
I blogged about MySpace on my Affiliate Program Blogger blog, asking the question … Is MySpace A Waste? And, I find myself still wondering the same thing and apparently, I'm not the only one wondering it.
Sphinn … it's all the buzz today and I'm reading about it everwhere I go to catch up on today's latest and greatest.
According to Linda Buquet at 5 Star, latest and greatest is an appropriate phrase to use when describing Sphinn.
If you are into SEO, PPC and Internet Marketing you just may want to take "Sphinn" for a SPIN. (That's the pronunciation BTW.)
Many are saying this will replace the now defunct Threadwatch, but with all the social functionality this site has, I say it will far surpass it.
I was wondering what Danny Sullivan was up to these days and now, I get this awesome surprise from the master of webology.
Danny brings us all up todate on his SearchEngineland Blog with the new changes and other changes coming in the near future.
When Search Engine Land launched last December, I talked about liking the name in part because it sounded like "a community, where people can meet, talk, discuss and network." I promised to upgrade the site to help a community thrive. It took much longer than the original "month or so" I envisioned to make this happen. But today, we're happy to unveil our new social site, Sphinn.
And what specifically is Sphinn?
Sphinn is a social site for search and interactive marketers. It's designed to allow you to share and discover news stories, read and take part in discussions, discover events of interest and network with others.
Now what Marketer in their right mind wouldn't like the sound of that?! Hey Linda, thanks for the ping on Sphinn. I'm really looking forward to watching this grow.
Searching online should really be called poking online. Because that's what you do. You poke around. You poke in Google and you poke at some ads. After looking at a bunch of links and pages, then, finally, you get it. You understand enough to take action—to buy something or make a decision. The thing is, this takes a long time.
Squidoo's goal as a platform is to bring the power of recommendation to search. Squidoo's goal as a co-op is to pay as much money as we can to our lensmasters and to charity. And Squidoo's goal as a community is to have fun along the way, and meet new ideas and the people behind them.
Their goal at Squidoo is to leverage the power of personal recommendation online.
That's an awesome goal, but my first visit to Squidoo left me muttering, "Huh?" I couldn't figure out how it worked. It's like being a PC user in a Mac environment with all the cute names for everything, but I just wanted to get in, do it and play. Instead, I had to do something I hate to do … I had to read the directions.
Squidoo has what they call Lenses. I call them web pages or blogs. They're listed in Lenserolls … so, in my mind that's something like a Blogroll. I came across a Lense that helped me a lot How To Squidoo.
Lensrolling is a way to share the love and create your own personal lens network. List your friends' lenses, relevant lenses on your topic, or even link to other lenses by you!"
Another must read page is thier Squidoo FAQ. There you can read about Modules, which according Squidoo are…
Modules are the building blocks of lenses. A module makes it easy for a lensmaster to point to links, images, blogs or even things to buy. Some modules are curated (you enter all the links and content manually) and others are automatic (you configure the inputs and then the lens draws on RSS feeds to update your lens without any work from you). Similarly, some modules are commerce-oriented and others are just content based.
