Work Yourself Up!

3 Easy Ways To Get Free Inbound Links

There are many reasons why inbound links matter. First of all, they build your page rank and search engine rankings. The number of websites linking to you will speak of your worth to Internet users. If you’re truly doing well, you can even land at the top spot of search results, which spells massive traffic and higher conversion rate for your online business.

The question now is this: where and how do you get free inbound links? Here are some easy methods to consider:

1. Participate in forums.

You can start looking for message boards and chat rooms that are related to your chosen niche. When you have a good list, you can start signing up. You will notice that these sites actually permit you to build your own profile as well as add your signature, which will appear in all of your posts. You can use these spaces to add the URL of your website or specific pages. As long as your chosen message boards are also performing well in Google, you can expect that you can benefit from their increased page rank. What’s more, because you have exposed your links to different webmasters too, you are increasing your chances of being linked by other websites.

2. Create your own blog.

There are more and more people who are getting interested in reading blogs. This is because bloggers are very generous with their information. Besides, they get to know some personal insights, which can help them too in their business or in their personal affairs. Blogs, at the SEO standpoint, get indexed easily by Google. That alone is already good news for you. Moreover, if you leave a link to your blog in other people’s blogs, you’re actually providing yourself an inbound link. You can also obtain links going into your website and allowing other blogs to link to you and vice versa. A list of linked websites is known as the Blog Roll.

3. Submit articles to article directories.

Content is certainly king in the World Wide Web. You can add links to the body of your article, which can also generate excellent inbound links into your website. And if this isn’t enough, you can add some more in the resource box.

Whatever technique you choose, you have to remember one thing: stick to policies. You may be getting your website an inbound link, but if you don’t follow rules, it will completely destroy your reputation.

On-Page Optimization Tips

In the world of search engine rankings, your ultimate goal is to land the first spot in search results using a targeted keyword. One way to do that is on-page optimization.

On-page optimization refers to the improvement of both content and structure of the website so you can have better chances of improving your page rank. There are numerous techniques available, but it does not mean that everything is actually applicable. Black hat strategies are frowned upon. Thus, if you do not want to hurt your rank and even your reputation, here are some excellent techniques in on-page optimization.

1. Keep relevancy in your content.

One of the major reasons why webmaster would want to link to you and you are receiving massive traffic is because of your content. With your articles, you may be using a number of high-ranking keywords. Their purpose is to allow your article to show up once Internet users utilize your keywords in searching for information.

When writing articles and playing with keywords, keep in mind that they should be relevant to the articles that you are writing about. As much as possible, your content should appear natural. Place your keywords at the right places. Most of all, do not overstuff them. Not only does it make your copies sound incomprehensible, but you will likely get punished by search engines because of such technique.

2. Validate your HTML.

There are a number of disadvantages when you do not double-check your HTML code. One of these is you will never rank well in search engine results. What’s more, your website appears disoriented in some of the Internet browsers.

To validate your HTML, you can utilize a W3C HTML validator. All you need to do is to place your URL and allow the application to analyze your HTML codes and your HTML structure. In the end, it can give you a list of errors that you may have done in your webpages. You can then come up with the best solution to your problems.

3. Settle for bold in your heading tags.

One of the most effective ways to rank well with a particular keyword is to place it in your heading. This is because search engine spiders “read” your content from top to bottom. However, to further increase your chances, set it in bold. Spiders will view your keyword as highly relevant to the theme of your website.

How To Safely Outsource SEO Services

Search engine optimization is a complicated process itself. That’s why it’s not surprising that you’re going to spend a considerable amount of time implementing the different SEO techniques that you have actually learned. However, you’re not blessed with more than 24 hours a day. There are moments when you have to set aside SEO to focus on more important matters.

When you don’t know how to perform SEO or you simply don’t have the time, the best option is to look for companies or even individuals that offer SEO services. Nevertheless, just so you can always get your money’s worth and obtain your desired results, here are some tips in searching for the best SEO company:

1. Look for those that offer reliability.

Search engine optimization is an ongoing process. Keep in mind that new competitive websites come out almost every day, and they do have the potential of ranking no. 1. That’s why it’s very important that your chosen SEO company will be able to perform the job regularly. They should be able to be updated with the newest trends and techniques that are being utilized by other veteran webmasters. Also, they must have the efficient tools for analyzing your position in search engines and for assessing competition.

2. It should be a legal entity.

Don’t be afraid to ask for some legal requirements when you’re going to deal with an SEO company. Today there are numerous scammers in the World Wide Web, and you shouldn’t fall into one. Otherwise, you’re simply wasting your funds and efforts. If it’s possible, ask for some references from them and do take time calling or e-mailing each one of them just for confirmation. Most of all, search for a portfolio. Normally, an organization offering SEO services have at least a test website that you can check out on. They also need to prove their worth to their potential customers.

3. Your selected company or individual should be affordable.

Don’t feel threatened when you’re in the process of outsourcing your SEO services. There are hundreds of them who can give you the same kind of service at much lower amount. It also means that you shouldn’t be rash with your decisions. Remember that you’re trying to obtain the best possible service given your budget. Since these SEO companies have their own websites where you can check their prices for their services, it will be very convenient for you to make a good comparison.

How to Do Keyword Research

Keywords are really important in a business website. Why? These are actually the words that are being utilized by Internet users to search for information in Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL, among others. By instinct, users would click on the first website that comes out as first in the search engine results.

If you want to ensure that you can let your targeted customers know of your existence, you have to show up in results pages of search engines. Most of all, if you like to build massive traffic and a higher sales conversion rate for your business, you must rank no. 1.

But how do you exactly do a keyword research? Here are a number of techniques for you:

1. Evaluate your business.

You can’t simply make use of any keyword that comes into your mind. What you’re looking for is a high-ranking targeted keyword. By this we mean that the keyphrase or word that you’re going to pick is related to your business and what you can offer to your intended customers and is being utilized frequently by them. You will never know what keyword to utilize then if you aren’t really sure what your business is all about.

If you are having difficulty with this one, you can always opt to look for a keyword research professional who can help you out. Surely, with many of them all over the World Wide Web, you can find one that’s very affordable and can do a very good job.

2. Use keyword suggestion tools.

When you already have some keywords in your hand or perhaps in your mind, you can now make use of keyword suggestion tools. These are downloadable programs or web-based applications that will help you in determining which of them will be ideal for your website. There are others that are for free, such as those from Google Adwords and Yahoo! Overture. If you want to know more of these types of programs, you can simply search for them in search engines by typing in “free keyword research tools.”

The more reputable and effective ones are those that you have to pay in order to use their services. One of the best is the WordTracker. Nevertheless, if you still don’t have any budget for membership, you can try their free trial version. They also have an updated list of top-ranking keywords. You can take a look at it and search for the ones that you can possibly use for your site.

4 SEO Strategies To Avoid

If you want to gain excellent rankings in various search engines and you like to obtain high amount of traffic to your website, you must perform search engine optimization techniques.

The only problem is not all strategies that you will probably learn are right, simply because they have been practiced. Some of them are considered to be unethical not only by celebrated webmasters but, most of all, by search engines. On the other hand, they may not work since they’re already outdated.

Here are a couple of things that you should not do:

1. Copying somebody else’s content.

Content plays a very vital role in search engine optimization. It can give you the inbound links that you want and send droves of people checking on your website. However, it doesn’t mean that you plagiarize other people’s work—copying everything to a T. Plagiarism may also imply paraphrasing paragraphs and sentences: different words but exactly the same thought.

This doesn’t bode well to the original writer, to Internet users, and to search engines. For one, Google is very adamant in killing websites that are simply copying other people’s content. Secondly, you will only damage your credibility if you’re going to use it. Nevertheless, if you’re truly pressed for time and you need some great content badly, you can check out article directories and republish articles. Don’t forget to include the resource box and don’t alter anything.

2. Applying the same keywords and meta tags in all of your pages.

All of your pages should be considered unique if you want to gain the approval of search engines. That only means that each of your webpage should have a completely different subject but related to the overall theme of your website. Make use of other keywords and meta descriptions.

3. Stuffing keywords.

There’s definitely a good reason why many say you have to at least limit your keyword density to 3 to 5 percent. This is to ensure that you don’t end up stuffing your articles with the same keywords. Whether you like it or not, it’s very annoying, and besides, search engines consider this technique as unethical.

4. Using too much flash.

Flash can make your website look very attractive, but it doesn’t help you in your quest for better search engine ranking. Instead, it can work against you. Search engine spiders will find it very difficult to index your pages. Second, these automated applications are programmed to read text only, not images and even flash.

#1 Off-Page Optimization Practice

There are numerous webmasters who focus on on-page search engine optimization. After all, this technique is considered as their first “bait” for their targeted Internet users. However, you should realize that your on-page optimization efforts will never be enough. You need to make sure that even if you are not doing any optimization, you are still boosting your page rank and driving traffic in your website. You need to perform off-page optimization techniques.

When it comes to off-page optimization, there’s one excellent strategy that you need to follow: inbound linking from top quality sites. Here are some tips on how you can generate links going into your website:

1. Go for article marketing.

Content is the sole king in the World Wide Web. After all, the very reason why Internet users visit websites is because they’re looking for quality and fresh information. You can make use of your content to drive traffic into your website and increase your inbound links. A good way is to add text links in your body using your targeted keywords. You can better your chances of appearing in search engine results because of this technique. Of course, you can add them in your resource box found in article directories. You can also submit some articles in ezines. This way, your articles can be picked up by publishers and placed in their webpages—with your website’s links in them, that use your main keywords as link titles.

2. Build a blog.

Weblogs today are gaining notoriety among SEO professionals. For one, they are very easy to update. Second, you don’t have to sound so professional with this tool. Most of all, you can generate excellent inbound links. Blogs are very search engine friendly. This means that they can easily get indexed in search engines. You can link your blog into your website, and you can watch your page rank increase. If you’re doing well with your blogs, you can also find numerous requests from other bloggers to link to you. As long as your links are found in their blogs, you will still be generating traffic and excellent PR without having to do much on your on-page efforts.

3. Participate in forums.

Forums provide you a good avenue to talk with other webmasters and exchange links. What’s more, you can generate inbound links from message boards. You may simply add a link of your homepage in your profile, or you can add a URL in your signature file.

How to Use Squidoo to Promote Your Site

Squidoo is a relatively new Web 2.0 website that was launched in March of 2006. Squidoo allows people to build web pages, or lenses, that offer unique information to visitors. Squidoo lenses come with built in income programs like Adsense and affiliate programs like Amazon and Ebay.

What many people don’t know about Squidoo is that lenses have a tendency to earn top Google rankings in the search engines. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that top Google rankings mean lots of traffic. Many webmasters pay a small fortune to get pages indexed within the top Google rankings.

Before you go crazy and start building hundreds of Squidoo lenses, it’s a good idea to have a look at some of the more popular lenses. Whenever you are entering some kind of new market it’s usually a good idea to take a look at the competition. Look at many of the top ranked lenses and see what the owners are doing with their lenses.

After all, lenses that are top ranked have to be doing something right. You should next take the time to write out a plan of what exactly your lens is going to look like. Decide who your lens will target and what kind of content you will provide on your lens.

The next step is to do some keyword research for your chosen niche and uncover some low competition keywords that you can use for your Squidoo lens. The low competition keywords you uncover will serve as the headline for your lens. Having Squidoo lens with the keyword you are targeting in the title will give you a huge head start in battle for search engine rankings.

The best keyword research tools available on the market right now are nichebot.com and Keyword Elite. I personally use nichebot.com and their research tools are absolutely top notch.

For your Squidoo lens to do really well you need to add as much high quality content to your lens as possible. You can actually use articles you may have written in the past to use on your lens if you are not up to the task of creating new content. Fresh private label rights content is a great way to get content as well but make sure that you purchase the freshest content possible. Adding some professional graphics can go a long way in making your lens look more professional. Consider hiring a graphic designer to create a few unique graphics for your lens.

The best way to use Squidoo to send traffic to your website is to use the RSS feed module. The RSS feed module is an option offered to you when you are first building your lens. All you really need to do to make the RSS feed work for you is to load the RSS feed from your website or blog and the Squidoo lens will then update automatically as you update your website. After you have started a few lenses you should start to notice a substantial improvement to your websites traffic.

How to Promote Your Site and Drive Traffic via Online Video

A few weeks ago, I attended a seminar which focused on Web 2.0 traffic generation strategies.  As you can imagine, video was a big part of that.

I could go into how people are using video, but there are a million ways to do it.  So for this post, I'm just going to show you one of the ways I am using it to drive traffic and get the word out about what I am doing.  I'm also going to show you how to do it and give you an couple of easy options that won't require you to do so much as pick up a video camera.

A little about me...

I'm host of a syndicated radio show on the music business, so I'm in the studio a couple of times per week to interview people.  As you can imagine, we have TONS of audio content.

Had a cheap video camera that I picked up to record dance lessons with, so I started taking it along to my radio interviews and doing video promos for the show.  Like this...

The great thing about the camera I use is that it has a built-in USB port, which flips out.  I just plug it into my computer and download the video clip.  Easy.

I then send the raw clip to my assistant, who edits it and puts on the front and back using Windows Media Maker and Ulead Video Studio.

Don't have an assistant?  This is a quick and easy job that you can hire out for few bucks via Scriptlance.

By the way, the voiceover guy on the front is Chris Davies of ProVoiceUSA.  Send him a script and he will usually have something back to you within a day.  For another voice, try Dan Buckley of Buckley Productions.  Dan is a DJ at WRLT and engineers my radio show.  Dan has done a couple of audio books for me and you can sample his voice at Amazon.

So now that you've got your video done, it's time to submit it to sites who host videos.  I've put together a list of the Top 20 Video Sharing Sites for Online Marketers.

Options to submit everything:

GOOD:  It's not rocket science to submit everything on your own, but it will take some time.

BETTER: It's much easier to have somebody else do it.  You can hire somebody for a few bucks via Scriptlance or, if you're in need of somebody fulltime, I recommend contacting Your Outsourcing Solution.  You can get a fulltime person cheaper than you think, so I highly recommend considering that option.

BEST: Traffic Geyser is an automated system that will submit your videos to the top 35 sites as well as top social bookmarking services.  My suggestion is to do this route and  hire somebody for a few bucks via Scriptlance to run it for you. 

What do do with audio content...

As I mentioned earlier, being in radio, we have a ton of audio content.  Hours and hours of shows, outtakes, promos, and more.  But until recently, we weren't doing anything with video...

You may be in a similar situation.  Most people involved with marketing have audio recordings of teleconferences, presentations, or other material.

GOOD NEWS:  Creating a video presentation of your audio with still images is a great way to make use of this content.

EVEN BETTER NEWS: Traffic Geyser, the submission service I mentioned above, will do this for you.  Simply upload your audio, upload a few photos, and you're got a new "video" to help drive traffic and promote yourself.

More ways to create and use video...

It's so easy to join a site like 100articles.com, where you'll get 100 private label articles for $9, read the articles into some recording software, and then make a video slideshow.  Traffic Geyser has a way for you to do it by phone.  Easy.

Let me give you an example...  Let's say you have an article on "satellite radio."  You read the article into some recording software, so now you have an audio version of it, right?  Then you attach some photos of satellite radios to it, so it's a slide show.  You then upload that via Traffic Geyser so it goes out to the top 35 video sharing sites.

People search for "satellite radio" and one of your videos comes up.  They watch the video, which then directs them to an affiliate link.

Easy money.

But it gets even easier. :)

Dr. Mike has this program where he makes these videos for you.  He made me this video to attach to this article, which has some pretty impressive case studios and should give you some ideas on how you can use this approach to make more money with your online projects.  So check out his site and let me know what you think below.

Hope this has helped you to come up with some new ideas on how you can use video.  If it has, please click one of the links below to add this URL to Digg or another social bookmarking site.