Wikia Launches New Open-Source Search Engine

January 8, 2008 by seotimo

Wikia is launching Wikia Search, a very early-stage version of its open search engine. According to Wikia and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, it’s necessary for the public to take control of search, which he sees as a shared need and thus a shared resource.

The site that’s launching today is for users who want to “help us build a search engine,” Wales said. So don’t expect a Wikia-powered Google killer on Day One. “We want to be sure people aren’t expecting a Google-quality experience on Monday.”

Here’s what Wikia is building: a human-ranked search engine and mini-Wiki, with a social network angle. Wales says that initially the engine will crawl and index the Web, and give users algorithmically generated results. But users will be able to rank results up or down, which will have a strong influence on further results.

This extra,intentional step of rating results will help little-known but high-quality pages rise in the rankings, and encourage link-farmed search spam to sink. Assuming, that is, that users take the time to rate, and that suitable antigaming technologies are put in place.

Users will be able to contribute mini-articles that live at the top of search pages. As on any Wiki, people will be able to edit and comment on the articles. This could become the best feature of the Wikia Search experience.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://7seo.com/

How To Spot A Scam SEO Company

January 6, 2008 by seotimo

Subjectively, The art of Search Engine Optimization (seo), can be defined as a highly-specialized process of creating a successful website, because if a commercial website cannot be found in major search engines, the seo “expert” is basically just isn’t doing it’s job. The art of seo directly addresses the need for a website to corner more traffic and get targeted visitors, who in turn will convert into buying customers.

The need for priority placement and top rankings is a daily, on-going challenge for a professional seo specialist. The seo field, as a whole, needs to get updated with constant changing technology, and also needs to be familiar with other web site marketing techniques such as banner ads, pay-per-click programs and even standard offline advertising options.

How To Spot An seo Scam

Here are a few methods, or terminologies, unscrupulous seo firms employ to lure their poor clients into accepting their methods as legitimate ones. In the end, these sorry clients may just suddenly wake up and realize that they’d been tricked, and find out that their goals of increased traffic and higher rankings have never been fully addressed, or were never even tackled in the first place.

- Cloaking. This term refers to an unethical technique that is used by some shady seo firms to serve up one page of highly-optimized text to the search engines and a different page to your visitors. While this is not a scam in the same sense as with other scams, however this would be problematic since, over time, more than likely your site will be caught by the search engines and your IP address and domain name will be banned.

The miserable effect of this is that you will be engaging in unethical activity, you will pay money for this, and your site will suffer by being dropped from the search engines. One way to be aware of this is watching for other files your seo company may be placing on your site, or you could state upfront with your seo firm that you do not want cloaking used on your site.

- seo Email Spam. Whenever you receive e-mail messages like “We’ve noticed that you are not listed in some search engines”, be suspicious. The best way to find an seo company is to search the major search engines you wish to be listed upon for them and not let them come to you. After all, if an seo expert can get their sites high in the search engine rankings, chances are they can do the same for you.

- “Guaranteed Rankings”. These so-called guarantees, by themselves, are not bad as many credible seo firms also offer some sort of guarantee on their services. Be on the lookout for the guarantees that offer quite incredible results, such as “rank number 1 in Google in 2 weeks”, or guarantees that are so watered-down that they sound meaningless. Expecting quick of results for new, uneducated customers may be quite unrealistic in the seo world, so customers need to be educated as to what they should realistically expect.

There are fly-by-night seo firms who will play off of these “drive-up window” expectations and promise unrealistic time frames for results, and afterward, they will balk at giving refunds, or offer you other services for more money in place of refunds. In the end, these so-called seo experts may become unreachable by mail, email or phone or suddenly disappear from the market.

Distinguishing the legitimate seo firms from the phony ones can be a challenging, and daunting activity. However, with a little investigative work, you would be able to spot them, and avoid most pitfalls.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
Jump2Top- SEO Company

Top 5 SEO Terms Any Beginner Should Be Familiar With

January 1, 2008 by seotimo

Getting more Web traffic and improving page ranking is a major factor most Web sites and online businesses look for these days. And whenever they need to do those things, they call the SEO experts to help them achieve this.

SEO stands for “SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION” and generally refers to the industry or process of optimizing websites in order that these can be well interpreted by the SEARCH ENGINEs. An SEO expert is someone who is well-versed in crafting and implementing SEO methods and strategies for Web site enhancement.

The Early Years Of SEO

In the early onset, the concept of SEO was used to make sure the sites ranked well in the SEARCH ENGINEs, by placing the keywords in strategic locations on the page, and it was natural to understand SEO as ‘optimizing for the SEARCH ENGINEs’.

However, as technology and online rules further evolved, SEARCH ENGINEs became more sophisticated, and people began to realize that getting SEARCH ENGINE traffic alone would not equate online business success, and so SEOs started paying attention to other things, including influencing an online user’s behavior.

SEO Is A Definitive Approach To Website Promotion

The art of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, in essence, has evolved to become a more complete and coherent approach to optimizing and promoting websites, by taking into account not only website crawlability and SEARCH ENGINE rankings and traffic, but also factors like conversion rates, social marketing and customer retention rates.

Get More Targeted SEARCH ENGINE Traffic

One unique thing about the approach of SEO is that every aspect of it helps the old art of website OPTIMIZATION. If you reSEARCH your customers, you learn the words they use when referring to your product, and you use the words on your site. As such, you get more targeted SEARCH ENGINE traffic. By knowing how people view websites and what motivates them to buy, you will be able to reconfigure your pages and remove the unnecessary clutter, which in effect will increase your sales from the same amount of visitors.

In the end, you will not only be serving a larger amount of people, but they will also be able to make quicker decisions, enjoy buying online and become your loyal customers. Happy customers are the ones most likely to become your loyal clients, and could also refer others to your online business.

Top Five SEO Terms A Beginner Should Remember

- Keywords and keyphrases.

Keywords and keyphrases are things that help your Web site rank well for in a SEARCH ENGINE results page, which are also called SERPs. Depending on your audience, your main keywords can be one or a combination of words, or an entire phrase.

- PageRank

A PageRank is a measurement that those generally obsessed with Google use to test their rankings in that SEARCH ENGINE. SEO and SEARCH ENGINE marketing (SEM) professionals also use the term to describe your ranking in the SERPs, and the ranking algorithm points given to your site by Google. Learning more about the characteristics of PageRank helps in ensuring the success of you SEO program.

- Spamming

Spamming is an SEO method that attempts to trick a spider and dupe loopholes in the ranking algorithm to influence rankings for targeted keywords. Spamming can take many forms, however the most general definition for spamming is any technique a Web site uses to misrepresent itself and influence rankings. The two methods of SEO are based on whether you want to spam or not.

- Black hat SEO.

Black Hat SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION methods are generally defined as techniques that are used to get higher SEARCH rankings in an illegal, unethical manner. Black hat SEO methods usually include one or more of the following aspects, namely: breaking SEARCH ENGINE rules and regulations, unethically presenting content in a different visual or non-visual way to SEARCH ENGINE spiders and SEARCH ENGINE users, and creating a poor user experience directly because of the black hat processes utilized on the Web site.

- White hat SEO.

The practice of White Hat SEO, also called Ethical SEO, aims to make it easier for the SEARCH ENGINEs to tell when your site’s content is relevant to a query. In most cases, White Hat methods do this by making a site genuinely more useful to its online visitors, so that they will recommend it to others by linking it from their own web sites. The most important White Hat objective is simply to have a web site that is worth recommending.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://jump2top.com/

What Is SEO Knowledge For?

December 30, 2007 by seotimo

The art of Search Engine Optimization or seo is viewed as the process of increasing the amount of visitors or online traffic, to a Web site by letting it rank high in the search results of a search engine. The methods of seo help to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be easily found by the search engine.

As each search engine may have different guidelines by which it ranks a Web site, it’s also quite complicated to please them all. As Google is considered the leading search engine today, as more then 90% of the Web users search for answers on Google, seo experts deem it would be good to optimize you site by following Google’s guidelines.

A Big Bulk Of Web Traffic Is Driven By Search Engines

It’s a fact that the majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines - Yahoo!, MSN, Google & AskJeeves . If a web site cannot be found by search engines or it’s content cannot be searched or tracked into their databases, a Web site will surely miss out on the incredible opportunities available to them and provided via search, especially from the people who may want something in your site.

Whether your site provides products, services, content and other information, the search engines are seen as the primary methods of navigation for almost all Internet users.

How seo Helps Web Sites Achieve High Rankings

In creating a fully-optimized Web site, you and the seo expert would have to think upon the subject you want to develop, make a list with all the keywords and keyphrases that best describe that subject, and find those that users are more likely to search for, as well as try to find a domain name that includes the primary keyword. When you establish the structure if your Web site,the filenames should ideally contain similar keywords to the tag.

The next step an seo expert would do, is to concentrate on the design and content of your site. Web sites with useful, clear, accurate, information-rich content, on the home page, would usually do well with Web viewers, and would rank higher.

Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it. The total number of keywords should represent between 5% and 20% of the total number of words on a page. The number of times a keyword appears on a page, that is, the density of a keyword, should be between 1% and 6% from the total number of words on a page.

Lastly, the seo experts you hire should also know how to avoid placing hidden text or hidden links. If your site participates in an affiliate program, ensure that your Web site adds value, by providing unique and relevant information that gives users a reason to continue visiting your site.

seo is the art of optimizing a web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the volume of traffic a Web site receives from search engines. Businesses that practice seo can vary; as some have a highly specialized focus, while others take a more broad and general approach.

Optimizing a web site for search engines can require looking at a lot of unique elements that many seo practitioners need to consider in this broad field of website optimization, since so many of those elements are interrelated.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://seo.xon.us

Link Baiting Articles: How Should They Be Written?

December 30, 2007 by seotimo

In today’s realm of online information-gathering and dissemination, many observers say that the best way of obtaining quality inbound links is through generating a lot of high-value content that people would like to link to.

You gather inbound links when other online publishers and Web masters link to your website, or one of your pages. The larger the number of links that you can get, the better it would be for your web site and the better you are likely to rank in the search engine rankings.

Inbound links may create wonders for your page, as not only will they get you targeted traffic from the Web sites linking to you, as even search engines attach higher importance to websites that are being linked to by other websites. This serves as sort of a vote of confidence for your content. The process of generating content for the sake of getting inbound links is generally referred to “linkbaiting”.

Linkbaiting Is A Relatively New Concept in Obtaining Inbound Links

As mentioned earlier, linkbaiting is the method of generating content for the purpose of getting inbound links. However, does this method mean that you generate content just to obtain inbound links?

Actually everything works in tandem and although linkbaiting is a relatively new term, the concept has been present for more than a decade, although it initially existed in a crooked form. In the same manner as link-exchange programs, it was the same thing but back then, where they used to exchange links indiscriminately. Unlike before, nobody was worried about the link value provided, just so long as a reciprocal link was gained, so people welcomed almost every sort of link.

As the initial system created havoc online, search engines eventually began to stop ignoring link exchange activities and considered only those links that were linked to high-value content. This created the need for unique link-worthy content. The quality of content not only adds value to your Web site and enhance your conversion rate, it also encourages the others to link to your web pages. This linking, which originated out of the value of your content, in effect will greatly improve your search engine rankings.

The Different Types Of Linkbaiting

Link baiting is basically considered as building links with a twist. Rather than go hunting out links, you in the process, are bringing the links to you through unique and popular site content. In simple terms, experts con sider link Baiting is just like fishing.

As you publish a new page on a topic and release it on the web, you are hopeful that others pick up on the content and see it as fresh and interesting, and link to it. The article is the bait, and the link is the catch. A creatively written and interesting Web page can capture huge links on its own with little to no effort from you. Here are the different linkbaiting types that writers and Web masters employ to generating good links.

- News Hook. A news hook is where you provide content that others don’t have, but will want to link to. A specific example of a news hook is a ’scoop’ where you are the first, or one of the first, to report on some information of general or industry news.

- Attack Hook. This type of hook works much like a contrary hook, however takes things to a newer level. In this hook, you not only present a contrary point of view, but you also turn it into a personal attack on the original source.

- Contrary hook. This is employed when you contradict or counter something someone else says. Usually, you will start with a link back to the original story, which would be their link bait, and then present your contrary viewpoints.

- Humor Hook. A humor hook involves using humor to attract links. The humor can be in the form of a story, or it can also be a piece of satire or a list of funny items.

- Resource Hook. This hook provides useful information for others to link to. It can be a list of resources, a compilation of links to articles. Your resource can be a how to or tutorial based on your industry.

Link bait refers to the unique and interesting content that other sites naturally want to link to. The kind of link bait can be something original, or it may be one that is original in idea, something that is contrary, one that is humorous, or something that is useful.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://seo.xon.us/

How To Make Your Articles Shine Online

December 25, 2007 by seotimo

Writing online articles is seen as one of the quickest, most effective marketing tools for companies or service providers in gaining exposure for their products, services, or for themselves.

Writing articles is viewed as a better way to demonstrate your expertise in a specific subject area to potential clients. According to estimates, as much as 62% of buyers of professional services claimed they would be “very” or “somewhat” likely to initially identify and learn more about a potential product or service through an industry website article or story.

So what’s it about an article that gets it published in an online newsletter or on an industry website?, and what makes an article soar to the top of page-views and click-through charts? This write-up offers some helpful information on ensuring that your articles truly shine online.

Create A Great Title

As you may write the most fantastic, helpful article ever, and yet it would never get read. This scenario is perhaps one of the most tragic things that can happen to a good piece of writing. As readers want to know that if they’re going to spend time reading your work, it had better be worth it.

As much as creative titles are okay , they usually lose out to simpler, more straightforward title. The best titles express exactly what the reader will take away from your article. An example of a straightforward article title would be:

Five Myths Of Professional Services Marketing by Micheal Frank

How To Get Smarter About Pricing by Andrew Sobel

A Good Introduction Helps readers Stay Glued To Your Writing

Your article’s introduction serves as your second impression on the reader and it is also critical. If I see an intriguing title, click on it, and start reading the first paragraph only to find it irrelevant or uninteresting. I’m not going to waste another two seconds to read the second paragraph, let alone the rest of the article. One of the usual mistakes that professionals make when writing an article is that they think they need to “build up” to something great.

There is no need to warm up your readers, as they’re there, so take advantage of their attention while you have it. In addition, write something bold, or controversial. Add a famous or entertaining quote that is relevant. Tell the reader you’re going to reveal how to build their business, or whatever the topic of your article is, and go straight to the details.

Organize Your Thoughts And Share Your Experiences

Writing online articles as a form of marketing is a different kind of writing than what most people are used to. Your target audience is generally made up of busy individuals, and they want their information given in an efficient way, while being entertained at the same time.

Online writers need to remember to always write catchy titles to stand out from the rest. Get right to the meat of your advice. Organize your thoughts, and have personality. Share your stories, and don’t even start to think about selling. When your write an effective article, the sales will come naturally.

Reading an article on the Internet is much different than reading one in print. Generally, individuals online tend to just skim rather than read, regardless of what the content is. It is important to note that organization and readability are key. Divide your article into short, direct paragraphs.

A nice move would be to start a new paragraph after four lines or so . In addition, use subheadings, numbers, and bullets, and create bold subject headings or bulleted points throughout your article to guide your readers and help them to quickly grasp the concepts more effectively.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://7seo.com/

MySpace Videos To Offer Users Dating Tips

December 18, 2007 by seotimo

Social network site MySpace has teamed up with best-selling author Neil Strauss for a series of short videos based on Strauss’ dating guide, “The Rules of the Game,” in which various rules will be acted out by “Married With Children” actor David Faustino and “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose” star Corin Nemec. Through Valentine’s Day, eight three-minute videos will be aired weekly on MySpaceTV and on Strauss’ MySpace profile.

“MySpaceTV has enabled me to not just tell people how it’s done with a book, but to also show them with videos of real-life interactions,” said Strauss - best known for “The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists” - in a statement. “After watching David Faustino get actual phone numbers with, for example, his identity concealed, his hands tied, and his mouth duct-taped, no guy should ever have to fear approaching a woman under normal circumstances again.”

The videos will feature commentary from Strauss, and MySpace users will be encouraged to submit their own videos. Both MySpace and Strauss’ publisher, HarperCollins, are owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

“Our users are avid readers, with a thriving book community, and MySpaceTV is glad to give authors like Neil Strauss a platform to get their great work out there in creative and intelligent ways,” Jason Kirk, director of marketing and content for the social network, said in a statement.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://conbuzz.com/

SEO: Earning from Blogs

December 18, 2007 by seotimo

You may be surprised that one of the activities you actually enjoy doing can make money. Blogging has become more and more popular because of its useful effects in online marketing, internet company sales and web site traffic.

You can earn as much as six figures if you know the right strategies and techniques that make your blogs grow in quality and reputation.

The Methods

Advertising is one of the main thrusts of earning money through blogs. You can write blogs that have great relevance to certain advertisements. In the process, if online users click on some links on the given advertisement, you also get a percentage.

Work with pay-per-click advertisers. They benefit in marketing through your blogs and you also get your fair share of total clicks and revenue. Write blogs that match advertisements so you can drive more potential clients.

You can write advertisements in the form of blogs and put them up for sale. Talk to company and web site owners and send them a copy of your sample blog advertisements. If they like your work you may be assigned a product or service which you can write on. You get a fixed rate for every blog or page.

Read popular blogs and collate or improve from there. You may even write an e-book covering topics that have been shown to greatly boost sales and web site traffic in the past. Focusing on topics that grab the interest of majority of online visitors will help boost your reputation thus guarantee sales. Check out products, services and advertisements and assess their potential for making big sales. Write blogs about them and advertise as needed.

Working with Companies

If you have a blogging site, you can place links to other web sites and companies. You get to earn a percentage from the total revenues. There are also programs that can help you find retailers and companies that specifically match your blog interests. You will be able to make your blogs more functional by working with companies and websites that have a network of people that you can more easily drive into visiting or buying.

Join an affiliate program. If you’re an affiliate marketer, you will be asked to use various marketing strategies in order to drive more web site traffic and boost sales. Blogs are one great way that grabs the interest of online visitors.

You also get to be involved in a wider network of people composed of affiliates, managers and potential customers. You will be able to find your niche by specifically writing blogs that cater to your target market. Most likely, majority of individuals that visit your page or site will actually buy and guarantee you commission.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://7seo.com/

Google Adds Blog Feature On Universal Search

December 18, 2007 by seotimo

US search engine giant Google will soon add blogs as a new feature in its Universal Search results, marking the first new genre since the company launched the initiative May 16.

Starting this week or next, queries on the leading search engine will return links to blogs alongside the images, news, books, local maps and video, Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, told eWEEK in a briefing at the company’s headquarters here.

Blogs have been gaining significant momentum in the last couple of years, fueled by everything from fascinating news revelations to gossipy snipes. The inclusion of blogs as a genre on Universal Search is a nod to their growing number and ability to get people to go online to find content, which is what Google is all about.

Universal Search is the fruit of a five-year effort involving hundreds of engineers working to refine the company’s search algorithms and add multimedia content to its search returns to give users richer results.

Google is not the only major search engine to corral different content types to boost the value of search results.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://seo.xon.us/

SEO Advice: Fat Paragraphs are a No-No

December 16, 2007 by seotimo

If you’re aiming to increase web site traffic, you have to know the basics of making quality and relevant content. Visitors and potential clients are more interested reading factual and informative pages.

According to various studies, online users spend only a few seconds viewing a page. Depending on the appearance and organization of your articles, people will stay longer or leave. Paragraph writing skills are indispensable during SEO.

How Should You Write Your Paragraphs?

Apply all the basic rules of paragraph making. Each paragraph should consist of a general thought which will be your main sentence. All supporting sentences adhere to the main idea which maintains the paragraph’s context and integrity. The main sentence may appear at the start, middle or end but it should clearly state what you are talking about in that particular area.

For SEO or search engine optimization purposes, use 3 to 5 main keywords or a key phrase which will be used concurrently throughout your entire article. Use terms that will most likely be used by average users when filling in search engine boxes. There should also be secondary keywords or synonymous terms to increase the relevance of your web page.

Fat paragraphs have shown to relatively reduce overall relevance and ranking because of overwhelming number of words and statements. Search engines have automatic analyzers which calculate the relevance of your article according to how well it thinks users will best understand. Fat paragraphs quickly fall behind in ranking because analyzers usually prefer short, concise and informative ones.

It is advised that you keep paragraphs anywhere between 4 to 6 sentences. Focus on a thought or supporting thought per paragraph. Avoid trying to put too many ideas in one statement. Instead, cut long sentences into two shorter ones. As for the keywords, density should remain anywhere from 3% to 5%. Rankings start to fall when keyword density reaches 8% or higher.

Appealing Your Readers

Keep the content of all your paragraphs brief, factual and informative. When visitors view your page for the first few seconds, they will check if paragraphs seem easy to read and interesting.

Fat paragraphs and long sentences instantly result to low web site traffic and sales because not a lot of people truly have the time or patience. Do not be afraid of using quotations and placing sources like “according to…” as long as they are relevant to the topic. Quotations are actually appealing for readers.

Review all your work every now and then. As you reread some of your paragraphs, you will be able to fix long and boring statements. Constantly update and improve your writing methods and you’ll surely experience the benefit of boosted web site traffic and repeat visitors and clients.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://seo.xon.us/