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An Internet Marketing Tutorial for the rest of us

Welcome to An Internet Marketing Tutorial for the rest of us, where you can learn how to market yourself effectively on the web, get into major search engines, learn advanced SEO techniques, and not pay for it! Please support our advertisers and enjoy your new place on the Web! Subscribe to this site by entering your email on the right! Also sign up for the free offers we list. Internet
Thursday, 20 April 2006
Quick Updates
Mood:  mischievious
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
Just a quickie 'cause I'm about to head out to a gig...I updated the podcast today - feel free to give a listen and leave me your comments! Also, my other website, www.unrapped.com, was just indexed by Google, and the only things I did were the steps I detailed earlier. Next I'll detail how to increase your rankings. Hope the tips have helped you as well! Please subscribe to the newsletter, leave me a comment, and visit our sponsors!

CIAO for now,
Randy

Posted by Randy at 6:40 PM ADT
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Quick Updates
Mood:  mischievious
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
Just a quickie 'cause I'm about to head out to a gig...I updated the podcast today - feel free to give a listen and leave me your comments! Also, my other website, www.unrapped.com, was just indexed by Google, and the only things I did were the steps I detailed earlier. Next I'll detail how to increase your rankings. Hope the tips have helped you as well! Please subscribe to the newsletter, leave me a comment, and visit our sponsors!

CIAO for now,
Randy

Posted by Randy at 6:37 PM ADT
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Tuesday, 18 April 2006
Optimize your Website for MSN - Part Deux
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Make Money with Your Blog
Last night after posting Part One, I had a dream about what I wrote (yes I DO dream about you, my loyal readers!) and realized that perhaps some additional info would be helpful. More to the point, I will give you a step-by-step guide to getting optimized for MSN. That is, higher rankings, more visitors and more sales!

I'm going to use my other website, www.unrapped.org, my Christian ministry/bookstore, as an example and do each step along with you.

First look up your keyword phrase on MSN. Put at least two words in quotes, so the search will be more specific, and will find that exact phrase on perhaps thousands of sites. You only need the first three, though.

For my site, I put in "Christian bookstore." Indeed, I got thousands of matches. At the time of this writing, the top three were Worthy Family Christian Bookstore, Cedar Springs Christian Store, and 21st Century Christian Bookstore. Go ahead and do the same for the main theme of your site.

Second, go to www.technorati.com and type in the three web addresses. This gives a listing of all the sites that link to them.

Worthy Family Christian, at www.worthychristianbookstore.com, yielded links to that site at www.worthynews.com/blog, www.worthychat.com/blog, and www.worthynews.com. I happen to know that each of these is operated by the same company, so I went to the next on my list.

Cedar Springs Christian Store, at www.cschristian.com, yielded links to pastorsteveweaver.blogspot.com and a review he did, Christianpavement.com/blog, and Christianenvironment.com/blog.

Finally, 21st Century Christian Bookstore, at www.21stcc.com, yielded no links.

Third examine the links that your technorati searches produced. Eliminate the ones that are much over a month old. Most likely those sites have been shut down or are not active.

For my results, only one was fruitful. The links to Worthy Family Christian linked back to themselves; Christianpavement.com/blog's post was over 200 days old, as was Christianenvironment.com/blog's. That left pastorsteveweaver.blogspot.com. On his site, he has a contact me button, which I am going to use to ask if he will review my site. That will give me an outside link, which boosts my search engine rankings.

If you get similar or lesser results, try the same process with another search engine. My results for Yahoo were quite different.

I realize this posting was not necessarily about optimization per se, but rather, what to do with your optimized site.

CIAO for now,
Randy

Posted by Randy at 7:21 PM ADT
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Monday, 17 April 2006
Optimizing your Website for MSN
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
Today we will offer some tips on optimization for one of the "BIG THREE" search engines, elsewhere known as SEO. These tips come courtesy of Dave Davies, a writer for SEO-News.com. (Italics are direct quotes from the article.)

I'm avoiding the use of the term SEO, however, because of the negative connotations it has because of the misuse of optimization techniques by some hackers and ne'er-do-wells. You know, the ones who send you spam emails like "Make $50,000 in your first week with our program - only $29.95" and then disappear and never send the program nor respond to any of your emails once you send them the money. Don't send any money to any of them when you can get it for free here. Plus, my latest domain got listed on 2 of the "BIG THREE" without me sending anyone anything. BTW, MSN was one of the two.

Here's some thoughts on the MSN algorithm. That's the way they determine how and when they are going to index your site. Details matter. This is kind of a no-brainer, but you have to be careful of the following when putting together your webpage:

* the content of the page including keyword density

* the internal linking structure of the site (how the pages of your site are linked together)

* the number of pages in your site and the relevancy of those pages to your main topic and phrases

* the use of titles, heading tags and special formats


Page Content

Write clearly and concisely. There is a lot of discussion about keyword density, but I feel that you should not simply for the sake of keyword density, begin each sentence with the keyword or repeat the keyword over and over ad nauseum. That manes for a very boring page, and one that I would not be inclined to link to, which also is important for search engine results. Keep your content fresh and interesting and the search engines and your visitors will be happy. While there is no magic formula for determining keyword density, on MSN it traditionally will fall somewhere near 3.5 to 4%.


Internal Linking Structure

Search engine spiders prefer text links to image or script-based links, so make sure your site has text links. The way your pages link together tells the search engines what the page is about and also allows them to easily (or not-so-easily) work their way to your internal pages. Text links also tell the spider what the pages are about. Sometimes, even then, they may not index all of your text links. Spiders are funny like that.

The Number Of Pages & Their Relevancy

Larger sites with consistent content rank higher than smaller sites or sites with disjointed content areas. MSN wants to make its viewers pleased. (and who wouldn't?) If you have a variety of different interests, put them on several web pages, not one.

Don't forget about quality content. SIze does matter, but not if it's a great homepage with a lot of fluff. The spiders and your viewers can tell the difference. Also, consider checking out the top 3 or 4 listed for your keywords and try to make yours of a similar size and scope. You can add a blog or a forum, both of which can generate a lot of interest.

Titles, Heading Tags & Special Formats

MSN places a great deal of emphasis on titles. After all, when someone does a search, your page title will show in the search results. This means that a human visitor has to be drawn to click on your title, or ranking your site is a futile effort (this isn't about bragging rights, it's about return on investment).

Heading tags bracket off important parts of content. The H1 tag is the most important one, and is given a great deal of weight in the MSN algorithm, but don't overuse it or abuse it! That means one time per page at most! Also, keep the headings short, telling your visitor what the page is about, not the entire site (that's what the "description" meta tag is for).

MSN gives greater weight to "special formats" (i.e., bold, italic, font colors, etc.). However, once again, don't go overboard and make all your keywords bold. That only tends to decrease your site ranking. Another thing you can use to increase your site ranking with MSN is to use links in the body content of your page. These actually helping your visitor by providing easy paths to pages they may be interested in.

Offsite Optimization Factors

By "Offsite Factors" is meant link building, which is time consuming, but reqarded almost instantaneously with MSN. Try doing that with Yahoo or Google! Consider the following when getting links to your site:

Relevancy Make sure the site has some sort of connection to your site.

Quality over quantity

You should begin your offsite optimization by running link checks on your competitors to see what you're up against. This is also a good place to look for potential link partners though those of you using a tool such as Total Optimizer Pro or PR Prowler will find it far faster and more effective to use these tools.


To tell the truth, utilizing these tips, I have gotten listed on MSN within days. Google is a little slow on the uptake, but from what I understand, they are no longer the "holy grail" for webmasters. Keep up the good work, sign up for the newsletter, and please visit our sponsors!

CIAO for now,
Randy

Tags: MSN, optimization, link building

Posted by Randy at 8:03 PM ADT
Updated: Tuesday, 18 April 2006 12:21 AM ADT
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Sunday, 16 April 2006
Happy Easter Message
Mood:  lyrical
Topic: Trail Happiness
Blessings to all! I would like to share with you an easter message from Lee Roy:

Have a happy Easter, rejoicing in the resurrection of our Lord, which guarantees our own resurrection and eternal life. Eternal life really gives you PERSPECTIVE on the details of daily life. Lee Roy


May Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior and Son of the Most High God richly bless you this Easter day!

CIAO for now,
Randy

Posted by Randy at 3:56 PM ADT
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Saturday, 15 April 2006
Publisher Strategy - Part 4
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Make Money with Your Blog
Today's tips from CJ.com concern conversion, or how to turn shoppers/browsers into consumers/customers.

  • Soft Landing - Make custom landing pages for each keyword you are promoting. Don't just sendd everyone to the home page. Most people will not take the extra time to look for the page you want them to click to.


  • Solid Foundation - Good design and easy navigation are crucial to turning browsers into buyers. If you have a lot of items on your page, consider getting site search from Google or another similar free service. Then your browsers can go instantly to what they wish to purchase instead of having to page down, page down, .


  • SHOW OFF - In other words, highlight your specials and best selling items. I recently had a couple of large transactions for items that were displayed prominently. Affiliate networks frequently have a listing of coupons or deals.


  • Give 'em a Push - If you're offering free shipping or limited-time discounts, let the browsers know that up front without having to click thru. Plus, ev'ry little bit helps build your customer base.


  • Don't Overreach - It's nice to have customers, but awful to have irate customers when you don't deliver on your promises. Make sure your content matches your search terms. No one wants to be searching for baby clothes and get a site devoted to, say, mesothelioma. Stress quality over quantity when it comes to website traffic. Period.



Hope you've enjoyed this series. Next week we will start a new one devoted to your success in marketing on the WWW. Please drop me a comment, sign up for my newsletter, and give my sponsors and my renter a visit!

CIAO for now,
Randy




Posted by Randy at 8:51 PM ADT
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Correction of Earlier Post
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Trail Happiness
Just noticed when I logged in tofday that a few days ago, when I announced my new domain, I gave the wrong address! OOPS! That's probably never happened to any of you. Anyway, I corrected it, so www.unrapped.org, my Christian site, should be listed on the search engines later this week. I've spent much of this afternoon updating it with foreign-language bibles.

I've been largely absent for about the past week because of my involvement in an Easter production called "The Promise." I played Judas and we just finished four straight nights of shows. It was incroyable! Kinda ironic, I played Judas. But hey, someone had to! This morning there was an easter egg hunt at church, and I gave out flyers to visitors and helped clean up afterwards. Only thing is, the sun was very strong here in Florida today, and I came away bright red with sunburn...OUCH!

Anyway, I'll next post part four of my series on Publisher Strategy. Be sure to check out the podcast - I've been a little more regular with that, since with Garageband, you only need a free account and phone to create messages.

CIAO for now,
Randy

Posted by Randy at 8:14 PM ADT
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Thursday, 13 April 2006
DEEP Fried Fish!
Mood:  loud
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
Greetings to our latest blog renter, Deep Fried Fish Blog! The author, Bobby Yacuzzo, is a self-described "professional chef by choice, a foodservice manager by default and proud daddy of future ML twins." ML twins? Sounds like a disease...but probably has something to do with baseball, which is what the rest of his site is about. Welcome to him and give him a visit!

CIAO for now,
Randy

Posted by Randy at 9:58 AM ADT
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Wednesday, 12 April 2006
New Domain up and Running!
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
Our new domain, www.unrapped.org is up and running! Please come visit and enjoy our many website features!

CIAO for now,
Randy

Tags: , , ,

Posted by Randy at 7:56 AM ADT
Updated: Saturday, 15 April 2006 8:01 PM ADT
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Monday, 10 April 2006
Publisher Strategy - Part 3
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Make Money with Your Blog
Today we'll look at the third part of Kerri Pollard's advice: keeping the traffic there, or in more technical terms, converting your visitors into customers.

  • Freshen Up - Keep the content fresh and alive. No one wants to read last month's newspaper. Change is very good. Stick mostly to changing the contents of your site, and not site design, because the search spiders tend to reindex your site if you have major site design changes, which could result in a lower ranking and fewer visitors.


  • Make it Special - Try some sort of promotion or contest to keep visitors on your site.


  • Learn from the best - Look at the top-ranked pages within your category, as well as unrelated categories, and try to determine what makes them worth visiting, much like we did last week with instapundit.com. Then, of course, apply those same principles to your site.


  • Don't Back Up - Another factor that contributes to lower search rankings is users hitting the back button after they click through to your site. Do what you can to keep people on your site after the first click-through.

  • Tooltime - Consider adding a unique free tool to your site. This will encourage visitors to stay on your site, as well as revisit. Also suggest they link directly to your free tool, as this will boost your search ranking also.


  • Brush up on Technology - Podcasts and RSS feeds are two new ways to keep customers interested. I started this blog with an RSS feed available, www.angelfire.com/hiphop4/perfect_wedding/biking/rss.xml.

    Also, check out the buttons on top for adding to My Yahoo and other RSS-type services. You need an account with those services, which is free, then copy and paste the code for the buttons.

    I've also been having some fun as late with the podcast feature - sounds best if you record your telephone-generated podcast in the bathroom! If visitors like your podcast, they'll bookmark you or subscribe to your site, even if the podcast is unrelated to your site content.

    CIAO for now,
    Randy

    Posted by Randy at 9:22 PM ADT
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