While all three of these are important and impact search engine rankings in some way, the last type has the largest by far…which coincidentally, is the hardest links to control.

Basically speaking, the search engines’ concept is as follows: if high-quality sites are linking to yours, then your site must be pretty important and therefore, will be more inclined to show it higher in their results…you in effect receive “link juice” from other sites that link to you.

But it’s not enough to just get a couple of links and then sit still. Search engines like Google look at link patterns to your site as they build over time, not just a one-time snapshot.

So, building the right links in a consistent fashion can payoff tremendously – that much is clear. But how do I go about building strong inbound links without getting myself in trouble? Getting on Google’s blacklist isn’t much fun and hard to recover from.

Continue reading for one of the ways you can build high-quality links to your site naturally and check back again in a week for part II of our quick little link building how-to.

Variety is the spice of life – and links too!

There are all sorts of link farming schemes out there you can buy into – which is probably the first reason you should run away. This practice is known as reciprocal linking – you exchange links with other sites who will turn around and link to you on a mass scale…Google and others are on to this!

The key to successful link building is to cultivate a good mix of links over time.

Having 100 links with the same anchor-text doesn’t look natural to anyone, including search engines. When links come naturally, some may use your business name while others may use some kind of descriptive phrase for the anchor-text…they vary.

If anchor-text is the same for all links pointing to your site, it will be signal to the search engines that your links are being generated artificially, not naturally.

And consider the pages people are linking to and try to mix that up too…don’t have them all going to your homepage. Try to drive links to specific product pages, your blog, your press room, your articles and more. This will help get them ranking as well.

Also, you will want to try and influence the title tag for incoming links if any have one. If you can, you will want variety in the link text and title for links pointing to your site…again, it’s about growing your links in a natural way, not simply slapping a bunch of homogenous links up there and walking away.

Variety in your links is perhaps the most critical component of successful link building. Don’t have them all coming from the same place to the same place and so on.

Check back with us next Monday for part II of our quick little link building guide and even learn how you can easily find out which sites are linking to you.

In the mean time, take the above steps to ensure what links you do acquire don’t get you in any trouble and give you the most bang for your buck.

And with Internet penetration at what feels like 100% of the population, even farmers and the organizations they belong to are feeling the need for Google love.

For the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA), search engine optimization had become a clear necessity: Its members were already turning to other organizations for SEO and online marketing help. Offering these services could help increase the association’s value to its members and strengthen its membership base for the long term. In addition, ensuring its web properties ranked above other competing organizations and for-profit entities would help bolster and reinforce its position as the primary association for the industry.

Bill Edmunds, a veteran of association management, recently wrote about his experience working with SEO Advantage while part of the leadership at AOBA in an article titled A Race to the Top: Search Engine Optimization for Associations.

Recently published by the Tennessee Society of Association Directors, the article details the systematic process AOBA used to find the right SEO company. Edmunds also outlines the planned steps for optimization, including setup of a revenue generating product that could offer more value to members than what was currently available on the market. This new product is also designed to help cover the costs of implementation, so the costs of taking on a major SEO project don’t have to be passed along to members.

Read the article to and see how this association took on the high tech aspects of SEO without burdening themselves or their constituents: PDF of the article

So what is Google Caffeine?

Caffeine was formerly kept secret by Google and only limited details were released to the public last August. The search engine characterizes it as the “next-generation architecture for Google’s web search.” It appears this new architecture includes crawling, indexing and ranking changes and that it’s not simply an addition or change to their existing infrastructure but rather a complete overhaul.

Based on Google’s announcements regarding Caffeine, we can best surmise that this new infrastructure may include ways of crawling the web more effectively, determining reputation and authority and returning relevant results quicker…however, Google’s spam chief Matt Cutts says the changes are “primarily in how we index.”

Most of these changes do not affect the user-interface (what you see) very much but you may have noticed some subtle changes in a search engine results page in the last few months. Take this search – “buffy the vampire slayer” for example – and how it returns video and news results midway down the page.

If we use the existing infrastructure, Google displays news results at top, video in the middle and images at the bottom.

Google’s new infrastructure has undoubtedly caused quite the stir in the online world, with webmasters and SEOs scrambling to try and understand how this will impact their rankings…along with many a speculative blog post about how to best optimize to the new changes.

In the end though, it still comes down to having the right foundational elements – a crawlable site infrastructure and compelling content – maintaining these will certainly keep you ahead of the curve.

We’ll keep you posted on Caffeine and its effects on optimizing websites for the search engines…in the mean time, keep creating compelling content for your target audience and be sure your site’s architecture is setup so search engine spiders can effectively crawl your site.

So it’s no surprise that sites like Yelp.com have sprung up to meet this demand…and if you’re a B2B firm, you may be faced with providing another form of a testimonial – references.

Providing customer testimonials on your own site is a great way to keep prospects engaged within your site.

Continue reading for 8 tips on how you can best integrate testimonials into your website and/or blog…these tips were provided to a web site promoting cabin rentals in Georgia but are applicable to a wide range of industries.

1. Leave testimonial in original text

Testimonials have a lot more credibility if they’re left in the writer’s original text. Of course you will want to edit it if it has a lot of typos or any profanity but the testimonial will be much more believable if you leave it in its original text.

2. Include person’s full name and other relevant data

To make the testimonial as meaningful and credible as possible, include the person’s full name, company, job position or location and age. Doing so makes the testimonial transparent to the reader – meaning they will trust it more.

3. Post small snippets in main site to support message

To make testimonials more meaningful, take relevant snippets and include them within your main site’s copy or on the side. Let’s take the rental cabin company for example. If you have a paragraph professing how much fun your cabins are for kids, include a testimonial supporting that fact somewhere nearby.

4. Create a dedicated testimonials page

Have a separate page where you include all testimonials in full in addition to using bits and pieces in your site like tip #3. Include a link entitled “see what others are saying here” after each snippet peppered through your site so visitors can easily access the full testimonials page.

5. Bold important parts of testimonials, points you want to get across

Bold parts of sentences to draw the reader’s eye to main points you want them to come away with – especially on long versions or on your dedicated page. Since most of us scan text online, we will notice bold face text. This will help customers understand what you want them to even if they don’t read the full testimonial.

6. Include testimonials in your blog too

While you have to be creative in the context you use testimonials, including them in your blog presents a great opportunity. You could perhaps include a section – “Customer Stories” – where you could provide a brief intro that would be interesting to someone checking out your services. You can then link to the full testimonial page on your site.

7. Encourage testimonials at each interaction with customers

If a customer expresses something nice about you, ask if they would be willing to allow you to use their words as a testimonial on your site. If you have any reviews on Yelp.com or other review sites, migrate them over to your site as well.

8. Encourage the use of pictures and videos

Give your testimonials an even bigger boost by including a picture or video from the customer. You can include the photo or video next to their testimonial and send them a link once it’s live so they can share it with family and friends.

Testimonials can sure be a fun part of online reputation management, providing you with kind words that you’re doing the right thing and motivating you to keep striving for the best.

As a side, remember there are rules governing the use of testimonials – now you must clearly disclose any material connections (like providing compensation for the testimonial) along with being transparent when a testimonial depicts results that are not typical.

Tips for Business Owners to Get the Most for their Copywriting Dollar

By Denise McGill

www.mcgillcopywriting.com

Is the present economy stretching your budget to the limit?  As a business owner, you may find yourself putting projects on hold because financial resources are limited. Projects such as writing a sales promotion to generate new leads or updating web content often get placed on the back burner…when now is the time to promote your business. Engaging, sales-generating copy gets your company noticed and increases sales.

According to the Census Bureau and Small Business Administration, well over half of private (non-farm) industry is made up of small businesses.  Forget Fortune 500 companies…small business owners have a lot to offer!

To get the most for your copywriting dollar, here are some suggestions to develop a working relationship with a copywriter on your budget.

1. Know what you would like to achieve and be upfront about your budget. Vague ideas or too many ideas dilute the process (and end up costing you money as the copywriter spends valuable time trying to pin down the main idea). Give specifics to the copywriter. Are you looking to rewrite and freshen your web copy, create a flyer to generate sales leads or write a press release to announce an exciting new product?

2. Provide the copywriter with company material that will make their job easier. Things like company profile, previous sales letters and brochures provide insight into your company. Also, let the writer know who your target audience is. Do you primarily sell to upscale retirees or outdoor enthusiasts?

3. Do some of the work yourself. You want the copywriter to spend his time writing. After all, that is what you are paying them for. Business owners can help cut their copywriting costs in areas such as research, providing spec sheets for product descriptions, gathering their own testimonials, etc.

4. Get it in writing. Put the agreed upon fee and details of the copywriting project in writing – even if it is a simple email. This avoids misunderstandings and complications half way through the project. (For example: Write one press release and one 2-page sales letter, create 50 product descriptions, write one 4-page newsletter, etc for $XXX)

To gain exposure or generate more sales for your business, seek a writer that is willing to work with you and grow with your business. Provide them with the necessary materials and project specifics to succeed. Rewrites due to miscommunication is costly for both parties.

It can be a great place to build your brand online and interact with your customers. But many businesses try Facebook just to give up amid frustration and seeming failure.

Following these 8 steps can help make Facebook a worthy investment of your time and resources, helping your build customers and revenues in the long run.

1. Have your own unique brand image for your profile

If you’ve been on Facebook for fun, you know everyone has their own picture of them self. But when you’re marketing your business, it may not look too appealing to just see a picture of you and/or your staff. Create something unique that will look interesting to someone, especially if it’s only a thumbnail size picture.

2. Post relevant interesting content

It’s one of the basics on any online marketing or SEO effort. Interesting, relevant content is required to keep people coming back. Simply post relevant content from other sites or link to custom content on your own site. Petty self promotion isn’t going to work too well in this environment.

3. Participate in the conversation

Utilities like Facebook are meant to be interactive. Participate in discussions on relevant topics or comment on someone else’s postings. Find every opportunity to start a discussion.

4. Increase interaction by adding apps

App devices on Facebook provide an entertainment value for your visitors. And if they invite their friends, you could potentially have a bigger pool of visitors learning about your Facebook profile and business. Pizza Hut put this to good use by creating an app to order a pizza through the utility – but an app can be anything from a game to special discounts. Check out AllFacebook.com Leader Board for ideas.

5. Direct new visitors to a custom page

Facebook automatically sends traffic to your wall, which can be uninviting. They do however let you use any page for your Facebook homepage. Create a custom page for new visitors instead and have an inviting place for people to learn about you. And change it periodically…like Skittles’ Mob the Rainbow entry page, which changes every month.

6. Post tags of your fans in photos and videos

This takes a little effort but include your fans in photos and videos. You could perhaps run a contest and ask fans to submit a picture of them with your product.  After posting the picture, you can “tag” them, which their friends will see on their update

7. Create customized “tabs” on your Facebook page

Many large companies who use Facebook to their advantage have custom tabs at the top of their profile, which further personalizes your profile. You can use these tabs when introducing a new product or embedding a new poll or announcing an event, like the Threadless t-shirt company, who  allows fans to vote on new design, comment and even buy their shirts directly through Facebook.

8. Consider Facebook ads to jump start your profile

It may be worth the investment to purchase some advertising on Facebook to give your profile the initial jump it needs. Getting subscribers to anything is a slow process in the early stages. Facebook ads generate qualified traffic by refining its subscribers by keyword, demographics and category, putting your profile in front of millions of people.

We can’t all have the millions of Facebook fans like Starbucks or Coca-Cola. But it is possible, using these 8 steps, to harness the power of Facebook effectively and draw in a large number of fans. According to Sysomos, over 77% of companies with a fan page have less than a 1000 fans.

Make your Facebook profile the best in your industry by considering these 8 steps.

Writing home pages however is much different than writing general content. Not only does it have to draw someone in, it also has to support the second level pages that contain all of this informative content we speak of.

Continue reading to learn how a top copywriter Nick Usborne approaches homepages. Nick has had an exceptional copywriting career and offers many invaluable tips to maximizing the benefits of website copywriting.

1. Use your main homepage headline to highlight your site’s underlying value proposition

Someone coming to your site for the first time has a purpose – they are looking for something that you may offer. Therefore, your main headline has to communicate the value of your site and the products and services you offer along with gently explaining why your site is better than others in a similar niche.

This isn’t an easy thing to accomplish and gets more difficult if you try to do too much with your headline.

Therefore, you need to stay focused on the primary reasons behind why someone would be interested in what you offer and communicate that in a concise, easy-to-understand way.

2. Use sub-headings and short introductory text to clarify and expand your headline

Not every online business can communicate all they offer in ten words or less. It’s best to keep your headline short then use short intro text directly beneath it to further clarify and expand your message.

Be sure this intro text immediately follows your headline. Basically, be conscious of eye-patterns and how someone scans your webpage. Do not make them search for this statement.

3. Help site visitors find what they’re looking for

Unless you offer only one product or service, your homepage has to help someone find what they’re looking for in your secondary level pages. If 80% of your visitors only look at three or four different products, then include links to those secondary level pages in your homepage copy.

Use navigation links to provide access to all parts of your site but also include extra links to those areas of your site that are most popular.

4. Make first-time visitors feel comfortable and confident

Unless you are a nationally recognized brand, new visitors to your site are going to be naturally skeptical. They need reassurance that you can be trusted.

There are many ways to do this – including a third-party logo from the Better Business Bureau is one example.

But your headline and homepage copy also has to be written in a tone that’s inviting and belays their fears. Homepages are rarely sales pages – save that for the secondary pages. So do not include sales language in your homepage…simply write in a clear, honest manner.

Make your customers feel like you’re the mom & pop store down the street that cares about their problem and wants to offer a solution.

While these guidelines are not the only elements to writing a good homepage, they are the most important. Like Nick, we try to write homepages in a clear, concise manner. We use homepages to help visitors learn what the site is about and find what they’re looking for without too much trouble.

See more of Nick’s copywriting tips and take a look at some of our copywriting resources on this blog and the SEO copywriting knowledge center.

This week, engineers, product managers and executives at Google will be meeting to determine how they can make their search engine smarter. As you know from our recent post on the topic, Google has made many changes over the course of its 10+ year history.

Google has become synonymous with search, commanding around 2/3 of search traffic. But that isn’t making them slow down as they strive to “organize the world’s information” as the company’s mission statement says. None of the upstarts like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and others present a threat to Google in their own right. But going forward, search will not simply be dominated by Google but rather incorporate a combination of services.

The biggest threat to Google however is Bing, Microsoft’s revamped search engine. They’re trying to fill in places they feel Google’s algorithm falls short, namely in the health, reference and shopping sectors.

While Bing is increasing market share, Google is still miles ahead of them in the simple task of dissecting a search and returning relevant results. Using contextual signals, Google has been able to master the ability to figure out what a searcher is looking for.

Google culls data from all of its searchers to achieve these ends by seeing the search terms people use along with what they re-enter into the search if what they’re given isn’t satisfactory.

And the most incredible thing, Google makes these changes under the radar. Searchers have no idea that their searches are constantly dissected and that the company is always trying new things to improve its algorithm.

Explore this topic more in this article from Wired Magazine which outlines some of Google’s internal processes. Knowledge like this can be tremendously helpful in optimizing your website for the search engines.

I’ve seen it a million times. It’s one of the most common mistakes made by webmasters and companies when it comes to SEO. They spend money on an aggressive 6 month link building campaign. Their site starts ranking, the traffic starts flooding in. The campaign expires, and everything appears fine. But then a few months later rank starts to drop. They’ve lost momentum.

Sometimes it takes months, sometimes years, but the fact of the matter is: If you don’t maintain your link building and SEO efforts on a monthly basis, sooner or later, some one will start to compete and take your rankings away.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to constantly spend thousands month in and month out on link building alone. Once rank has been achieved, in many cases you can scale back to maintenance level link building.

For most moderately competitive niches, a few smart moves here and there can help you hold your rank.

The Digg-able Post
Creating a post that is intended for the Digg crowd is a great way to get noticed. If you get noticed enough you’ll be featured in the “what’s hot upcoming section”, usually this is enough to gain some back-links and keep your site fresh in Google’s eyes.

The Information Is Endless
Use various keyword tools to help brainstorm new ideas for pages based on what people are searching for. If you keep adding information that people want, 2 things happen. First and foremost, you build subscribers and gain new readers. You also hold the attention of the SERPS. There is nothing Google loves more than a fresh website that updates frequently. If you couple that with some amateur keyword research for your titles, you will get traffic.

Blogging Works
Yes, using a free platform to maintain a blog does work. People read blogs. Encourage your employees or colleagues to start blogs and ask them for a back-link. Start your own free blog on one of the various free blogging platforms. Update it 3 times a week with fun relative content. Don’t forget to link back to your main site.

Stay Social, But Don’t Over Do It
Building Facebook and Twitter networks is a fantastic way to keep people coming back to your site. When you keep traffic up, you’ll hopefully be earning back-links. Don’t forget to update your social networks on any good news or fresh content.

A word of caution: Don’t overdo it! No one likes spammy messages cluttering up their social feed. So stay fun, relevant, and friendly.

When In Doubt, Reach Out
Contacting other webmasters in your vertical and participating on their blogs and forums is a great way to keep attention focused toward your site. Remember, offering insight and humor are 2 very easy ways to become a respected voice in any community.

The fact of the matter still remains. Back-links are crucial for search engine rankings. The best way to build proper back-links is by networking and interacting with people.

It’s a vicious cycle. The more people who visit your site, the greater your chances are for acquiring back-links. Once you’ve spent the time and money building your SERP rankings, and gaining momentum, it is crucial to keep up with monthly SEO maintenance.

Here’s a mantra for you: Stay involved, stay fresh, stay connected, and hold rank!

Jake Walker is an avid blog builder and search engine optimization specialist. You can read his webmasters journal at www.blogmason.com

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, S. 773, was introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). CNET News obtained a revised version of the bill to find out that it grants broad powers to the executive branch to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a cybersecurity emergency.

Under this legislation, the president would be able to declare a “cybersecurity emergency” relating to “non-governmental” networks and do what’s necessary to respond to the threat. If passed, the new law would also create a federal certification program for “cybersecurity professionals” – managers of certain private sector computer networks and systems will be required to obtain this license.

Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, states “I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its vagueness. It is unclear what authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill.”

A source in the Senate close to the action equated this new authority to President Bush’s grounding of all aircraft amid the 9/11 terror attacks.

The revised bill would require all federal agencies to create a “cybersecurity workforce plan” and implement  a “comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy” within 6 months. However, the legal review will take upwards of a year to complete.

Section 201 of the revised bill is perhaps the most controversial – it permits the President to “direct the national response to the cyber threat” if necessary for “the national defense and security.” The executive branch will be required to conduct “periodic mapping” of critical private networks and companies “shall share” requested information with the federal government.

The problem of course is that the bill does not detail what a “critical” network is and that is why there is much concern about this legislation. The bill does define the term “Cyber” as anything to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers or computer networks. Overly broad we would say.

Read this article from CNET News and decide for yourself. We will keep tabs on the progress of this legislation and let you know of any further developments.