How to use a Bulk Class C IP Checker

Ok, what the heck is a Bulk Class C IP Checker?

First, we must ask the question what is a Class C IP Address:

From How Stuff Works:

Class C – Class C addresses are commonly used for small to mid-size businesses. IP addresses with a first octet from 192 to 223 are part of this class. Class C addresses also include the second and third octets as part of the Net identifier. The last octet is used to identify each host. This means that there are 2,097,152 (221) Class C networks each with 254 (28 -2) possible hosts for a total of 536,870,912 (229) unique IP addresses. Class C networks make up an eighth of the total available IP addresses. Class C networks have a first bit value of 1, second bit value of 1 and a third bit value of 0 in the first octet.

So a Class C Ip address is an IP address for small to mid-size websites. The domain names you and I would purchase fall into this category.

A bulk Class C IP Checker checks multiple domain names at once and displays whether they are hosted on the same server or not. Why would this be helpful?

If you were to purchase multiple text link ads for your advertising campaign, you want each link to be hosted on a different server. Search engines can tell where that link resides. Even though your links may appear on multiple websites, all those websites may reside on the same server. Search engines have a tendency to disqualify the extraneous links if they see they all come from the same IP address. So to ensure you get the most link-bang for your buck, you want each link to reside on a different server. Thats were the bulk checker comes in.

Bulk ip checkers are a dime a dozen, most webmaster websites have one. I will point you to Bulk C Class IP Checker at Authority Domains for two reasons.
First, the screen output is formatted nicely. They break out the domains by unique ips, duplicate class c blocks, duplicate ips, failed to resolve domain names and all domains/ips. Second, the tool will let you download the results in a cvs file, a function which a lot of ip checkers dont have.

Once you begin to develop you text link ad campaign, make sure you run the websites through the ip checker first. It would be a waste of money if you weren’t getting your dollar’s worth from the search engines for each of your links.

Compare yourself against your competition

While numerous tools exist that compare your site against a competitors, it always helps to have links to several on hand. It is often the case that some of these tools are down or return bad results.

This tool from Website Garage, provides a simple comparison between backlinks, indexed pages and pagerank. Short and sweet, but helpful in a pinch.

[tags]backlinks, pagerank, index, competition[/tags]

Review Me Review: Sponsored Posts on all topics

Do you have a website/product that you wish to submit to the critique of others in order to create name recognition/traction/buzz?

Use Review Me to find people willing to review and critique your resource.

Do you often blog about products or services and critique their value and benefit?

Use Review Me to find websites willing to pay you for a review.

With ReviewMe, sponsored posts come front and center to the blogging world.

Now, I know what your thinking. Paid reviews?? Seems like someone is going to heavily weigh the tables in favor of deep pocket advertisers.

Heres the thing: Bloggers are paid for a review, they are not paid to say good things. They are not paid to say bad things. Review Me has set things up in such a way that two key elements must happen:

1. Advertisers must be willing to submit their site/product to the scrutiny and critique of others. They are buying critique and exposure not necessarily goodwill.
2. Bloggers MUST disclose the paid nature of the review. They can be honest. They can be direct. They can tear something apart if they want. They are being paid for their opinion. Its that simple.

When I first read about Review Me, I was excited about the possibilities. My site is all about reviews and recommendations. It seemed like a natural fit for me. Of course I had concerns. Would I lose credibility? Would people not listen to a paid review?

Here are my thoughts:

• credibility is maintained by disclosure
• credibility is maintained by being fair, honest and direct. That means my reviews should be like they have in the past. I gear my reviews towards beginners. I generally lean to the positive edge anyway. I tend not to review items which I simply don’t like or won’t serve my readers. I don’t waste my time on items that aren’t worth a mention.
• credibility is maintained by writing quality reviews.
• people will listen if all the above are in place

Questions advertisers should ask themselves before using Review Me:

• Do you feel your website/resource/product will meet the quality standards of the Review Me blogging audience?
• Are you willing to accept ALL kinds of buzz, good and bad?
• Are you willing to pay for that buzz, whether good or bad?

Remember, advertisers are not even buying a link. A reviewer may decide the product isn’t worthy of a link. A reviewer may even decide to link to something with the anchor text “dont buy this crappy item”. This means advertisers must be willing to submit their products to the purifying fire of opinion and review. Why pay for something when there is no control over the PR? Quality products should have nothing to fear. Whereas products that straddle the fence of usefulness should think twice about promoting themselves with Review Me. Quality products will get quality links.

Questions bloggers should ask themselves before using Review Me:

• Will you be willing to disclose the paid nature of the review? Disclosure is a big issue and I am currently writing a more complete disclosure statement that discusses not only paid reviews, but other advertising and affiliate relationships that exist on my site.
• Are you willing to write and have an opinion? Are you willing to write, have an opinion AND get paid for it?
• Are you willing to write review posts of value? Personally, I think Review Me should increase the word limit from the current 200 words to 500 words. This would enforce better quality reviews.

The key for Review Me will be attracting advertisers. Over the next weeks and months it will be interesting to see if companies are willing to pay for this kind of exposure. I am writing this review a few hours after Review Me has gone live. It is way too early to tell if even bloggers are signing up. I will try to post as those kinds of numbers can be ascertained.

Other concerns:

Review Me has a 48 hr time limit once a blogger accepts a review. It is not clear whether this time limit will be the standard for all reviews. This time limit might not work in a lot of cases. I recently reviewed a web statistics program. It took about six weeks (if not more) from the time I signed up for their free trial to the point where the review was written. Maybe it is just me, but I don’t feel comfortable writing about something I haven’t had time to use/play with/try to break.

I do wonder whether advertisers will take the risk of review. Text link ads are one thing. Advertisers can control quite a bit in that transaction (not just the publisher, BUT ALSO the anchor text of the link). However, with a review, a lot is out of their control.

While I do hope Review Me will end up generating quality content not only for advertisers but for readers, I wonder whether the concept of fully disclosed paid reviews will catch on. It seems to me it could see a similar fate that the concept of “newsmastering” has. The latter faced ethical (and legal) concerns over the monetization of other people’s RSS feeds. Will ethical concerns over the paid review seal Review Me’s fate? (even IF the nature of the review is fully disclosed?)

Disclosure: This is a paid review. What does that mean? Simply, I received money to write this post. I was not paid to be positive nor negative. I wrote this review because I wanted too, not because I had too.

[tags]reviewme, sponsors, blogs, blogging, reviews, advertising, ads[/tags]

Lessons Learned From Shoemoney’s Failures

Shoemoney recently posted a list of failures. First, I admire the transparency. Second, beginners can learn from this list.

Below is the list of his failures by title (see the original post for his explanation of each project). Below each is my opinion on possible lessons learned. I have also listed an idea or two for turning around the idea.

• FireFox Forum
  • Lesson Learned: Not all inside (or inside) info is worth the toilet paper it is written on.
  • Turnaround: Turn the site into an educational one. I am surprised the number of hits I get for my firefox posts. People want to know more about it and how to get the best use out of it, especially outside of the web developer community.
• BabyCalc.com
  • Lesson Learned: There is a downside to everything. Babycalc would still be an excellent idea. Dont give up.
  • Turn around: miscarriage forum. Most people dont understand miscarriages, especially all its various forms. People dont understand the anquish some parents feel. A forum like this would be a great way to connect those grieving with the tons of resources available of people willing to help.
• Pimp My Blog
  • Lesson Learned: stick with it. Get around to it!
  • Turn Around: like Chris at Performancing just posted: just do it.
• Omaha-Used-Cars.com
  • Lesson Learned: know the market.
  • Turn around: There probably is a market out there, except people already use established sites. A used car mash up with car listings from autotrader, ebay, others that is focused on omaha.
• SMS Text Dating textdating.com/texting.com
  • Lesson Learned: know the market and the need.
  • Turn Around: sell the site to another well established dating site.
• St. Mary’s Bar & Grill
  • Lesson Learned: dont drink and think of money making ideas.
  • Turn Around: I’m not sure there is one. However, one could instead help the diocese with fundraising efforts through the web. Part of the proceeds go to the diocese and part to yourself for running the site. The possibilities are there.
• 2 Topless Chix In A Ferrari Cross Country
  • Lesson Learned: initial idea may not be so good, but modified maybe it would work.
  • Turn Around: Instead of topless, try bikinis (less hassles with the law that way). Plus, there is much to be said for the almost but not yet. Brand the car with the Shoemoney brand. The Shoemoney Girls. Drive the car around to web conferences and the like (no sense in driving it around people who havent a clue about web design, seo, shoemoney, etc.). Then offer advertising on the car. Have great sponsored give aways. etc. etc.
• Ads Or Not
  • Lesson Learned: I think good advertisers truly want people interested in their ads for the products sake not for the gimmick. I say this forgetting about the project above.
  • Turn Around: Adsense. Just kidding. Sorta.
• ShoeMoney SEO Contest
  • Lesson Learned: humility
  • Turn Around: have a contest to rank for some useless word. Wait…wait…nevermind. However, ranking for a real word with real competition would make for a better contest.
• ShoeMoney Petroleum Company
  • Lesson Learned: in some things it is wise to stop when your’re ahead. The idea would get old quickly.
  • Turn Around: Car Wash with the Shoemoney Girls.

It is terribly easy to sit on the sidelines (or in this case, from the bleachers) and post something like this. My above thoughts are in no way meant to critique (Shoemoney is indeed a very successful blog). It was more a mental lesson for myself.

[tags]shoemoney, lessons, failures[/tags]

Ten Things Text Link Brokers Can Improve

1. More robust searching for publishers advertisers should be able to search for publishers by keyword, category, various ranking criteria, and PRICE.
2. More variety in the kinds of advertising. Text link advertising is too home page centric. Sub page advertising is also essential, especially if there are pages that see more traffic than a home page. Most text link brokers are geared towards presenting a site as a whole rather than presenting a single page to advertisers. The reasons for this are connected to statistics. It is hard for third party services to present stats on a single page, while it is easy to present some level of statistics for an entire site (i.e. via Alexa)
3. Stop using Alexa. Using Alexa as a means by which advertisers can assess publishers seems a little off base. The inaccuracy and unreliability of Alexa has been well documented. While we need to admit we all check our Alexa ranking, for we are addicted to those kinds of stats, it still does not justify using it as a means of judgement and assessment.
4. Let publishers add their own stat information. Yes, people can lie. However reputable sites stand out and less reputable typically fall to the wayside.
5. Help Sellers too. There is a general emphasis on helping link buyers (for indeed this is what provides the revenue), however Link Sellers need help too. Don’t forget them!
6. Create other means by which advertisers and publishers can meet each other – blog, forums, etc. Here’s one idea: you know those group writing projects Problogger initiates? Use the same idea but apply it to pairing up advertisers and publishers. For example, place a call out for all websites that are about pets and want to add some advertisers. Challenge them to write a post about what their site has to offer (content, visitors, readers, etc.). Post links to all these posts. ADvertisers can then easily check out all the potential sites. Do this for all the various categories. Maybe do it once a month. Don’t fear the volume to be overwhelming. I am willing to bet only about 10% of those who are currently signed up for your service that would qualify for the topic would take the time to write a post and submit it before deadline.
7. Improve the user interface for both advertisers and publishers. Some do a great job, others need a little help.
8. Make the code minimal. Makes it easy for publishers to publish ads without a lot of code. In particular, beginners shy away from complicated code that has to be added to their site.
9. Provide one on one service to those willing to pay for it. You might be surprised the amount of people who would pay for one hour of time to help them get off the ground with text link advertising.
10. Continue the process of education. Do not cease in educating your members.

[tags]text+links,text+link+ads[/tags]

Ten Text Link Advertising Pitfalls

Beginners eager to make some revenue from their website will find text link advertising to be attractive. Here are ten potential pitfalls. Think about these things carefully before jumping into text link advertising.

As an Advertiser

1. Buying a link from most publishers is just that: a link. Only when purchased from high volume sites does a text link become a means of visible advertising that people actually click on. In other words, don’t expect much traffic to come directly from that link. You are simply buying the benefit of having someone link to your site. You will receive some traffic, but from most sites, it won’t be bucketloads.
2. Don’t overspend. You can very easily spend too much when your website is generating very little. Work into the process slowly.
3. Buy a link from a quality site. Learn all you can about the site from whom you want to place the link. Visit the site. Is this the kind of site you want your website associated with?
4. Buy your first link from a homepage. Even though you may not see direct traffic from the site, it will begin to give your site some level of name recognition and presence. Plus, homepages tend to provide better weight to the relative “value” of your site.
5. Take the time to develop well worded anchor text. This will potentially affect your position in the SERPs for those terms.

Recommendation:

Buy a single low cost link from a decent home page. Hold onto that link for three months. Don’t buy anymore links during that time. This will do four things: 1) if your site is not currently crawled, it will be, 2) give you time to learn more about text link ads, 3) give you time you work on what counts: your website 4) keep you from overspending.

As a publisher

1. Advertisers look at website traffic as one criteria for placing a link on your site. This is a hard one for beginners to overcome. While you maybe able to offer an attractive price, most advertisers want the benefit of being SEEN along with the paid link. Low traffic sites don’t provide the ability to be
   “seen”.
2. Advertisers look at link popularity to assess the viability of a website. Taking time to build quality links to your site before you even begin to offer adspace is probably time wisely spent.
3. Dont overestimate the value of your website. Start with low cost reasonable pricing.
4. Place the ads in visible places on your website. Again, while your advertisers may not see much direct traffic, it boosts their confidence in your site if they know their link is highly visible.
5. Remember that text links advertising is just one possible means of revenue. It is not by any means the only means. So be patient when advertisers are none or few. In time, they will come.

Recommendation:

Wait until you can consistently reach 3000-5000 pageviews a month before you try to offer adspace. Build several quality links to your site. Find a text link broker that works for you. While I recommend a particular text link broker for beginners, by all means try them all and find the one that works best for you.

Further reading: Read our recommendation on text link ad brokers

[tags]text+links,text+link+ads[/tags]

CPC versus CPA

I have paid little attention to all the click fraud ruckus that has gone on the last few weeks. However, one little item got my attention. It has been suggested that search engines move from a CPC (cost per click) model to a CPA (cost per action) model.

What is CPC?

Adsense/Adwords is an example of CPC. Advertisers place an add on a search engine focusing on certain keyword phrases. Every time a user clicks on those ads, the advertiser is charged. The advertiser is not charged for simply displaying the ad.

Enter click fraud. Competitors/hackers/others click on ads for the sake of clicking on them without any interest in the product itself. Advertiser’s costs skyrocket with the multitude of clicks. While search engines have insisted controls are in place, many don’t think it is enough.

Enter Cost per Action. Cost per Action works similarly to CPC. However, the advertiser only pays for his ad IF the add converts. A conversion can be anything that the advertiser determines ahead of time: email newsletter signups, product purchase, etc.

Snap.com currently advocates CPA. See their CPA Explanation page for more details.

What is the catch with CPA?

The search engines will potentially know your websites conversion rates (all depends on the search engine). I know there are many that are uncomfortable about that. What do you think?

[tags]cpc, cpa, cost+per+click, cost+per+action[/tags]

Encouragement for the Long Haul

Whether it is web development or specifically, blogging, it can be hard to maintain a long term focus. Often we wish to see instant results. Seth Godin has a post about overnight successes that is worth reading. Beginners, be encouraged to stick with it, no matter how frustrated you may become.

Using a Traffic Exchange is like trading bad Christmas gifts

At Christmas time, do you feel the compulsion to give a gift (something, anything!) to everyone of your family, friends, co-workers, aquaintances, mailman, garbageman, etc? It then happens that these very same people feel compelled to give a gift back to you. The gifts exchanged are usually trinket kind of gifts. The smiley face coffee mug, cheap pink “ice” earrings, a bargain dollar book, a Garfield tie or a box of chocolates from some no-name chocolate company. Nothing of value is really exchanged. These kinds of gifts are really a waste of everyone’s time and energy. Traffic Exchanges are very similar to exchanging these kinds of gifts. Nothing of any real value is ever exchanged, and it is a waste of time and energy to participate.

A Traffic Exchange is the web’s “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.” Typically, exchanges work in the following manner:

After registering with the traffic exchange (and there are many), users have the opportunity to view other websites in order to build “credits.” These credits are used by the traffic exchange to show the user’s website to others. The more credits one has, the more a site is seen. Sounds simple enough. The traffic exchange keeps track of credits by having users either install some sort of toolbar or having users view websites within some sort of frame website.

Here is the catch though: is it quality traffic? My answer to that question is no. Traffic exchanges are not worth anyone’s time.

Take a closer look at the process. After registering, a user spends time viewing other sites in order to build up credits. Is the user truly interested in the other sites? Are they reading the content? Are they clicking through to another page on the site? The answer is no to all of these. The user is soley interested in building up credits so his/her site can now be viewed by others.

And what have they been building up credits for? So others can take an interest in their site? So others can read the content? So others can click through? NO! The “other” users are there not to get interested in other’s sites, but to generate credits so they can get traffic,etc. And so the cycle continues on and on.

I joined a few traffic exchanges. As I earned credits, I sat back and watched as my own traffic rolled in. I evaluated the stats at the end of the day. Not a single visitor from the traffic exchange even clicked once to view another page on my site. It was traffic yes. But not quality traffic.

The mistake advocates of traffic exchanges make is equating mere traffic to quality traffic. There is a large difference.

There is so much involved in the development of a website. Design, content, marketing, etc. In the end, the desired affect is to have a decent amount of traffic headed to a site. In desperate moments, it is tempting to use a traffic exchange. While using a traffic exchange is in no way unethical, it is a waste of time and energy.

In the end, instead of browsing hundreds of websites for traffic, allocate the time in other ways:

1) Write content
2) Write content
3) Write content
4) Design and development maintenance on your site
5) Write content
6) Write content
7) Write content
Find other ways to promote your site
9) Write content
10) Write content

Simply put, if you have the talent to get a website up on the web, then don’t squander that talent by wasting it pursuing unqualified traffic.

[tags]traffic exchange, traffic[/tags]

Copyblogger Series on Blog Triggers

Copyblogger is creating a series of posts about blog triggers.

What is a blog trigger? Any item, typically content, which connects a blog to its audience.

Here is sampling of key points so far:

Whether you’re trying to sell something or build traffic to your blog, connecting with people is the key.

Blogging is hard work, but in reality it’s just the ticket to a seat at the table with today’s demanding consumers. Give even more by creating tutorials, e-books and special promotions that add real value for your readers. Continually strive to give, give, give, and reciprocity will reward you in spades.

Social proof is ultimately the most powerful force involved in growing a successful business blog that helps you sell products or services. The quality of your content is still the most important element, but other subtle influencers may well dictate whether you turn a new visitor into a subscription or bookmark.

Definitely has been worthwhile reading.

[tags]copyblogger, copy, blogs, blog triggers[/tags]

SEOMoz article rates factors that affect ranking

SEOMoz has an excellent article that outlines a whole plethora of potential factors that affect search engine ranking. Focus on the top 9 to let a website begin to make a difference.

Virtual Handshake offer free version of book

The guys over at Virtual Handshake are now offering a free PDF version of their book: Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online. The book explores the various aspects of social software (blogs, social networking sites, virtual communities, etc.). Added to our to-do list: A review of the book. Download the free version and tell them what you think!

Websites of Value Respect Readers

I came across this post that mentions the number one term searched on Merriam Websters online dictionary. The word: integrity. This post went on to link to another site that had a list of 7 Principles of Admirable Business Ethics. It was #7 on the list, “Be Respectful”, that made me think the most about integrity.

I am of the conviction that the only kind of web development worth my time is that which creates value. A website must have many traits in order for it to have value and one of those is a healthy respect for the reader. The reader/user is a website’s customer. The web is full of sites that treat readers with little respect.

Web developers/webmasters can show respect for their readers and hence, maintain their integrity by doing the following:

• Use advertising wisely. Ensure that it does not thoroughly detract from the readers experience. While we all want readers to click on the ads, readers won’t return if they feel inundated with ads and can’t read the content they came to the website to read in the first place.
• Include excellent content. There are many sites out there whose sole content on each page is a list of sponsored links. I’ve had this experience too many times to count. It was a waste of my time! The sites I found which were helpful, which provided the CONTENT I was looking for, were also the ones on which I clicked a few ads. Take time to write content that is helpful and begs to be read.
• Be straigtforward. It is ok to have a hard sales pitch, but let people know what they are getting. Users dislike being tricked.
• If people give away their email address, use it appropriately. Let users know up front how their email address will be used.
• When interacting with other webmasters or users in forums, do not spam, do not flame. A forum can be of great value especially to beginners. One of the first tips I was given as a beginner was to read forums. Lots can be learned from learning from others, I was told. I learned that people are rude and take joy in bringing down the whole group. It really is a shame. Remember that a reputation follows you, it is connected to you as a commenter and it follows through to your website.
• The same can be said for leaving comments on blogs.
• When leaving a comment on a blog, use a name. Using the name field as a means to enter a keyword phrase with a link to a website shows disrespect for the blog and does not speak well for the linked website. All such comments left on this site are deleted. We all want links, just do it right.

Any other ways websites can show disrespect for readers?

Ways to Improve a Blog and Website

I have collected a variety of posts discussing ways to improve blogs. The ideas range from the conceptual to the very practical.

• Changing the Blogosphere by Being Civil And Professional
• 10 Deadly Sins of Website Design
• Efficient Blogging: Interact with other’s content
• Know Who Reads Your Blog/Website
• Create a resource that naturally attracts visitors
• Make a good impression
• Launching a Blog
• Learning More Leads to Passion
• Top Ten Blogging Tips
• Increase Page Views
• Passion

Online Press Release Resources

Here is a handy list of Press Release tools.

This list is broken down into three sections:

• free resources
• paid resources
• press release tips

For beginners, once a website has gained a fair amount of traffic and content, it may be time to “officially” annouce its existence. Use the resources above to craft such an announcement and bring new interest to your website.

Articles Inappropriately Used as Splog Fodder

I have recently been experimenting with writing articles and submitting them to various online ezine’s (more on that at another time). One unintended consequence for both the writer and the ezine site, is the use of articles on splogs. While it is the hope of authors to get their articles picked up by legitimate webzine sites, unfortunately they are also being picked up by sploggers. What is a splog? A Spam Blog. Here is how I have seen it work:

• You write an article
• You submit it to an ezine site
• The article gets picked up by a splogger
• The splogger places the content of your article with author attribution and and hyperlinks intact on their splog.
• The splog is simply a weird conglomeration of articles over a wide range of topics
• The purpose of this splog is simply to attract various kinds of traffic
• Once at the site, all a user has to do is scroll using the scroll bar or click in the white space of the site and they are immediately redirected to a porn, pharmaceutical or casino site

Splogs appear on services where it is easy to create a blog. There are a ton of them on Blogger. While Blogger needs to get a handle on this sort of thing, let me speak frankly to sploggers for a minute.

Do something of value with your time on the web. Seriously, if all you can do to be ‘creative’ is use someone elses content to develop redirect pages to your casino site, please use your ‘creativity’ somewhere else. It actually takes a fair amount of work to do what you do, so why not use that energy towards more valuable means. I understand the desire to make a quick buck. We all wish we could. Why not make a buck and add value at the same time? It would make webspace a whole lot better if you did.

Ok I’m done.

Treat Web Site Readers with Respect

Does your website treat it’s readers with respect?

Consider this perspective on marketing (your website is a form of marketing whether you believe that or not):

Marketing is not about trickery or even insincerity. It’s about spreading ideas that you believe in, sharing ideas you’re passionate about… and doing it with authenticity. Marketing is about treating prospects and customers with respect, and realizing that it’s easier to grow the amount of business you do with happy people than it is to find new strangers to accost.

Ways to Use A Business Blog

Virtual Handshake recently participated in the Beyond Blogs and Social Networks conference. Recent entries on their blog are filled with notes from the meetings. Readers will find many examples of businesses that have successfully embraced blogs. Business owners of all sizes should read their blog with great interest.

However, as I looked over their notes, there was one thing that I felt the speakers did not explicitly address: Blog as a Service (A Blog that Serves its Readers). With this small little blog of mine I have struggled with its purpose and function. What should I post? How should I post? How should I manage the feed? Should I display full posts or just snippets in my feed?

Since my site is a resource site, I decided that the blog would first, serve my readers and second, serve the rest of my website. I have wondered sometimes if businesses often focus on the second and fail on the first. So in the best interest of my readers I made the following desicions about my feed:

• The feed would include up to 25 posts, instead of the typical 10 on a lot of sites. I don’t want readers to miss anything. Especially for blogs that have a heavy amount of posting, a larger feed size may be necessary.
• The entire post would be displayed in the feed, not just a snippet. Snippets are intended to lure readers back to the website. There may be legitimate reasons: get them to click more, expose them to ads, expose them to offers. I have found the the feeds which simply display snippets don’t last long in my aggregator. I find it annoying I have to click another link to get to content (actually, it is VERY annoying). Often the snippet doesn’t even catch my attention to warrant another click (poor headline and first sentence writing). Offering the entire post within a feed makes it easier for readers.

Then how does one get them back to the website? My site has a blog and separate content articles. The content articles are not accessible via the feed. I have begun to incorporate links back to those content articles within blog posts. Example:

Found this cool link, etc. Want to know more about other cool links such as these? Check out my article on x and y.

Where x and y are links back to content on the website.

Some of the more savvy marketers may disagree with my approach. How one can go wrong with serving readers first? The feed will remain in their aggregator. They will read it. And as long as one is careful to refer back to additional content on the website (even previous posts), then readers can still get exposed to the rest of the website via the feed.

Realize there are two audiences, surfers and feed readers. Write for both. Write so that surfers want to add the feed. Write so that feed readers get back to the website on a regular basis.

Writing Better Posts and Articles

Web sites are more than HTML, CSS, JPG’s and SEO. A quality web site, one of value, is one that has quality writing. It is something I am stuggling with since it has been so long since I have written so much on a regular basis.

Anyway, here is an article that discusses ways to improve writing for the web.

via SEOBook

EzineArticles Blog Review

I have only begun to dip my toe into ezine article writing and marketing. In my search of ezine article web sites, EzineArticles has stuck out above the rest. Chris Knight has done an excellent job of reorganizing the site to better suite authors and publishers. He has shown interest and concern in the authors who submit articles to his site. While the EzineArticle blog does contain a fair amount of entries about updates to the website and what not (which is understandable of course) there is a fair amount about article writing and marketing in general. If the concept of writing ezine articles is new to you I would highly recommend checking out the EzineArticles blog and subscribing to their RSS feed.

Google PageRank Checker by Blog Flux

Blog Flux also offers a Google PankRank Checker. Enter a URL and check to see the PageRank of that page. Why is a PageRank Checker needed if the Google Toolbar is already installed?

Well if the toolbar is installed, then it isn’t needed. Simply navigate to the page to be checked and check the PageRank in the toolbar.

However there are circumstances where the Google Toolbar can’t be installed or is not accessible and knowing the existence of a PageRank Checker can be beneficial.

• Some workplaces block the installation of the Toolbar thus this tool would still enable users to check PageRank.
• Some libraries do not install the Google Toolbar. While surfing at the library, the Blog Flux tool can be used to check PageRank.
• Using someone elses computer who does not have the Google Toolbar installed.

Blog Flux offers another feature to their PageRank checker: creating a button that places PageRank on a webpage. Again the question can be asked: If users have the Google Toolbar can’t they see for themselves? Yes, of course they can. However, one possible use of the PageRank button is to clearly announce a page’s PageRank in a creative fashion in a prominent position on key webpages.

While there may not be a great need for a tool like this since the Google Toolbar already exists, it is helpful to keep it in the tool kit for those “just in case” moments. And while creating a button to advertise one’s own PageRank may smack of pride, it may be a legitimate means to easily communicate to potential advertisers about the quality of a given web page.

Google PageRank Update

One of the handiest websites to keep track of future Google PR Updates has been SEO Company’s Page Rank Export List History. There is also a blog for more specific comments about the update.

Boost in Web Site Traffic

Over the last four days, the traffic on this website has doubled. Why?

I am pleased, but I have not been working as hard on this site as I have been over the summer. What has made the difference?

At first I thought it was because I had reactivated my Google AdWords account. I did this Monday October 17th. But I have received little traffic via AdWords this week, definitely not enought to account for a doubling of traffic.

Second, I realized my domain name was one year old this week. I have read that Google is nicer to “older” (one year plus) websites. Maybe this was the reason.

There was a Google PR Update this week. It started on the 19th. However, my traffic started doubling on the 18th. Maybe they actually started early.

I am betting on the later as the reason for the increase in traffic. Patience is paying off

Text link ads are for advertising

There is a debate amongst the web community about the nature and purpose of text links ads.

I offer my the following as my humble (and novice) opinion:

Text link ads are, as stated in the name, ads. It is all about advertising. This is, and should be, the primary function of text link ads. Some websites are advertisers; they place ads on other sites. Other websites provide adspace; they accept advertisers. It is really that simple. It is a market exchange of information.

As an advertising medium, text link ads are not the flashiest. They are nothing but simple text. However, it is this simplicity which makes them user and customer friendly. Part of the debate revolves around this issue of customer friendliness. The web is full of obnoxious (and customer unfriendly) advertising such as pop up ads and flashy banner ads. I define customer friendly as any means of advertising which does not take away from the customer experience. Clearly, we all want advertising to have a good ROI. However, I think reputation and customer friendliness have to be a factor as well. Being flashy and “in your face” does seem to have its rewards. However, building a long term relationship with your customer/reader/user demands that you respect them. The “in you face user car salesmen” approach does not build long term relationships.

As an advertiser, text link ads are a great way to place key ads on key sites. It can get expensive. More on that later. As an adspace seller, text link ads are a great way to earn money from your site.

Secondarily, text link ads can be used as a means of linkbuilding. There are many caveats here. Because of the sheer number of caveats is why I consider linkbuilding as a secondary use of text link ads.

Text link ads can get a website noticed and crawled. Have a new site? Spend the money to place ONE text link ad on a popular site. Your website will get crawled fairly quickly. Keep the text link ad in place for several months and your site will also benefit from that popular site’s visitors.

It is not feasible for new sites to develop a full fledged linkbuilding program, unless of course they have deep pockets or access to a lot of start up money. It is just too expensive to do all at once. The new site CAN start small and grow slowly. There is much to be said for the start small and grow slowly approach. Namely, it saves money, allows for mistakes, and helps you learn.

Those large sites who use text link ads as the sole means of linkbuilding maybe facing a dim future. Search engines such as Google are beginning to recognize which link are text links ads. They are devaluing such links within their link popularity algorithms.

There are two resources that I recommend for learning more about text link ads. First, Text Link Ads has an excellent resource on how to use text link ads for link building. Second, Linkworth has numerous articles about text link ads. Both are resources are worth reading.

Word of Mouth Website Promotion

There are many ways to promote a website. Promotion brings traffic, traffic brings potential “sales”. Some promote through Adwords or the like, others via text ads, yet others thru large scale ads on popular sites. All of these methods focus on the “mechanical” as opposed to the “relational”.

The relational methods of promotion will bring more value to a website than the purely mechanical. The mechanical means are necessary for sure, but I am not sure they will bring ultimate long term success. What is a relational means of promotion? Simple, tell PEOPLE. I mean real people. Email your friends about your website. If they respond positively ask them to tell 3-5 of their other friends.

The guys over at Virtual Handshake have an excellent idea that uses mechanical means to find the relational contacts. They use a variety of search engines to find the top influencers in the field they are interested in. Then then contact these people PERSONALLY. They ask them to review their book and hopefully, ideally, write a review. Their hope is that a review from a person of influence in their field will do more for their book then a massive marketing campaign.

Do you listen to the recommendations of those you trust and know? At the least, you will check out whatever it is they have recommended. Trustworthy recommendations via word of mouth can be very powerful.

So what?

Apply this to your website. Spend time developing a website of VALUE (that means stop developing those crappy autogenerated websites that soley try to coax individuals in clicking a link). Find those of reputation and trust in your field to review it for you. A published review on that trusted persons website will go a LONG way in providing traffic and highly interested readers to your site. What more could a webmaster ask for?