Pay-per-click listings offer an easy way to get good placement in search results. For the right price, you can get listed in sponsored listings for the term of your choice. But is that really the most effective way to go?
Studies show that most search engine users do not click on sponsored results. So even if you are using PPC, it is wise to try to maximize your natural search rankings as well. Search engine optimization services, such as those offered by Customer Magnetism, can help.
Unlike many SEO companies who use outdated methods such as fine-tuning your meta tags, Customer Magnetism uses the methods that work today. They will seek out other websites and blogs that have themes similar to yours, and attempt to get links from those sites to yours. They do research to find the most optimal keywords for your site, and write copy utilizing them in a way that will get your site ranked well for them. And they will also work with your meta tags, but they realize that they are not the be-all and end-all of SEO.
Customer Magnetism will even monitor your progress in the search engines and provide you with reports. And when their work on your site is done, they will continue to monitor your rankings for a reduced rate. They also offer paid search management to help you get the best possible results from your PPC campaigns.
I’ve just about had it up to here with comment spam. It’s stupid, virtually pointless, and just irritates the crap out of me.
I have instituted measures on all of my blogs to keep comment spam from appearing. On my WordPress blogs I have enabled Akismet and comment moderation, so what Akismet doesn’t catch I can nuke. And I don’t get much spam on my Blogger blog, so comment moderation is effective in keeping what little I do get out. But it just gets on my last nerve to check my email and find a comment waiting for moderation, only to discover that it’s someone trying to sneak in a link to some garbage site.
Another ill effect of comment spammers has shown itself on my WAH scam blog. I had no spam prevention measures in place when I first started that one, and they eventually found it and spammed away. I quickly removed the comments and enabled Akismet, but they’ve still been after that blog like a pack of ravenous wolves. And that has made my referral stats for that site almost completely useless. I don’t know what methods they use to post all that junk because I’ve never done it myself or investigated it. But somehow I end up showing referral links from sites that do not link to the site. Grrrr.
All I can do is just keep fighting the good fight and make sure the stuff does not show up on my blogs. And if any comment spammers are reading this, get a life already!
I just wanted to throw out a reminder to those of you who are seeking work to do from home to check out my Work at Home Scam Blog. You won’t find a list of scammers there, but rather tips to help you weed out the scams on your own.
If you have had the misfortune of being scammed, feel free to drop by and share your experiences. You just might help someone else avoid a bad experience.
For those of you who haven’t discovered Firefox yet, let me just say that you are missing out on the most awesome browser ever made. End of story.
I am no stranger to all of the various browsers out there. Back in the earlier days of the Internet, I was a Netscape girl. There wasn’t really a huge difference between it and Internet Explorer, it just had a few features that I liked, so I used it. Then I was without Internet access for several years, and when I got back online with a new computer I used IE because it was there.
I did try Netscape again, but I wasn’t impressed. So I stuck with IE for a while, ignoring all of the security flaws that came with it. Then I heard about Firefox and all of the cool addons you could customize it with, and I decided to give it a try.
The first thing I fell in love with was the themes. I found a killer black and neon blue theme that I could have just stared at a blank page in and been happy. Unfortunately when I upgraded to 2.0 it would no longer work, but by that point I had found all sorts of addons that kept me hooked. Besides your run-of-the-mill toolbars, you can get addons that do just about anything you can imagine. But my favorite thing is the tabs. You don’t have to open a new window for every web page you want to view- you can put each one in a tab in the same browser window. It was hard to get used to at first, but now I just love it so very much.
If you haven’t tried Firefox for yourself, I highly recommend downloading it and giving it a try. It’s free, so you have nothing to lose.
Web 2.0 has brought forth lots of great new things. One of my personal favorites is new ways to make money on the Internet. You can do paid blogging, be a virtual assistant, find freelancing jobs, and much more.
Don’t take my word for it, though. Check out Web Worker Daily’s 10 New Ways to Make Money Online. Some of the ideas require more technical expertise than others, but all are doable from the comfort of your home.
Marketing is nothing like it once was. When I took marketing and advertising in college, no mention whatsoever was made about online marketing. Oh no, I’m showing my age again!
Way back when, advertising was done in the newspaper, the yellow pages, magazines, on billboards, TV, and radio. Of course it still is, but more and more companies are concentrating their efforts on online marketing. And the most effective way to market online is to get good search engine placement.
It is vital to find a good search engine optimization company that won’t get your site banned. After all, if that were to happen all the money you paid them would be down the drain. Search Placement is one search engine marketing firm that guarantees not to use any techniques that will get your site banned.
Companies today cannot afford to ignore online marketing. The majority of households have the Internet and use it regularly, so it pays to be seen online.
I don’t spend nearly enough time on search engine optimization. I try to read up on it as much as possible, but I suppose it would help if I put my knowledge to use more often. It’s not within my budget to pay someone else to do it for me right now.
I firmly believe in ethical SEO. If you use so-called “black hat” methods, you will most likely end up being banned by the search engines eventually. And that’s exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish, correct?
Many of the SEO firms out there today will get you good rankings with questionable methods, but you end up being penalized later on down the road. But there are good companies out there. Apogee Search is one that uses Ethical SEO techniques. They don’t offer any guarantees on their results. They do, however, guarantee that they will not violate the terms of service of any of the major search engines or use questionable tactics. To me, that’s worth much more.
On a related note: If you’re new to the whole SEO game, check out Apogee’s SEO Glossary. It makes sense out of all of those confusing terms and acronyms you’ll run across.
Pagerank is either a big deal or a meaningless, arbitrary number, depending on who you ask about it. In my personal (far from professional) opinion, it carries some weight with the search engines, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. It’s still nice to see it go up though.
Google did a pagerank update recently, and when I started hearing that it was complete I checked the ranks for my websites. One had gone from 3 to 4, one from 0 to 3, and the other two (this one included) were showing 0 just as they always had. I was a bit disappointed, because this one had been around as long as the one that went from 0 to 3 and has just as many, if not more, incoming links.
Well, this morning I was tinkering around with the other zero site, and noticed that it is now showing up as a 2. That got me curious… so I checked this here blog, and it is now showing a pagerank of 3. Woo-hoo! I do hope those are the final numbers.
The downside is that I checked the one that had gone up from 3 to 4, and now it appears to be back at a 3. The other one is still at a 3 though. Is all that enough numbers to thoroughly confuse you, or should I throw out some more?
I do need to work on getting more links to my sites, not just for pagerank purposes but to make sure that they are seen. So if you are looking to exchange links, let me know. I want links that are relevant to my sites, so I need stuff that is of interest to work at home moms or moms on a budget.
I would have posted about this earlier in the week, but I just found out about it. Better late than never!
This week is De-Lurking Week. It’s a week dedicated to commenting on blogs, rather than just reading and moving on. And it must be your lucky day, because you’re visiting a blog right now! There’s no time like the present to get started!
Can’t figure out what to comment about? Tell me your middle name, or your favorite color, or where you really were on November 16th at 7:45 pm. As long as it’s somewhat family-friendly and not spam, go for it!
Don’t forget to spread the word and collect some comments on your own blogs. If you’d like a cool button such as the one pictured above, there are several to choose from here. Happy commenting!
I had heard of net neutrality before today, but I never knew just what it was or how it affected me. But I saw a link to the above video on a forum, so I took a look. Now I know that it is a very important thing that needs to be protected.
Net neutrality basically boils down to all websites being equally accessible, whether they are owned by huge corporations or the high school kid next door. As is par for the course with something that fair and good, big business is trying its best to obliterate it. The big guys in telecommunications want to set up a so-called “fast lane” to the Internet, one that is only accessible to site owners who are willing and able to pay big bucks to be on it. For a better explanation than I can give, watch the video above and visit SaveTheInternet.com. There you can learn what you can do to help stop this garbage.
