For most people Google is the only search engine worth using. And, for many web marketers it’s the only search engine worth optimizing for. At about 65-70% of the market share, who can blame theme? Google tends to give people the results they want, and has been attempting to weed out content farms and other types of sites that optimized on Google’s previous algorithms. But recent Panda updates have destroyed traffic to many sites, cementing the reality that Google can make or break businesses. So what other search engines are out there? And, are they worth looking at? Read the rest of this entry »

Late in June, Google launched Google+, a service focused on the social/sharing aspect of the web and an attempt to grab some of Facebook’s market which currently claims over 750 million users. Google+ launched by invitation only to a limited audience, but within 4 weeks the service acquired 25 million users, a far cry from Facebook’s numbers but certainly impressive considering its immaturity. So why have website administrators rushed to add the Google+ icon to their pages? Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever noticed your friend is emailing you “Pharmacy Deals” or “Weight Loss Secrets?” Chances are, the email server or account they use was hacked into, allowing spammers to reach all contacts the person may be associated with. The spam emails will keep coming until the person changes all their information and passwords or closes the account. It’s an annoyance we will have to live with, even though Bill Gates predicted several years ago that the spam problem would be solved by now. Read the rest of this entry »

With Google’s live “Instant Search” now fully integrated into search queries, local results are having more impact on what websites the user hits and ultimately what business the user may choose to patronize. If you haven’t optimized your business on the web you may be missing out on many opportunities. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve been hesitant to start a Twitter page for any reason, don’t wait any longer. Get on it! Twitter, which was founded in 2006, has quickly risen to be the second most popular Website (Website Magazine Oct. 2010), just behind Facebook and just one step ahead of LinkedIn. You can open a Twitter account as either an individual or business (a process that is much easier than Facebook) and start tweeting in a matter of seconds. Read the rest of this entry »

External links to your site are one of the most important factors in getting ranked on Google. The first, of course, is content. If you don’t have good content other sites won’t link to you. If you do have good content, maximize its potential by finding out where the content would be useful. For example, if you wrote a great article about how to trim fruit trees, you could find a discussion forum about farming or gardening and post a link to your article. Read the rest of this entry »

Use of meta keywords for Google traffic died out somewhere in the late nineties when Google realized meta keywords were at times only being used by webmasters to get hits, with no regard for relevant content. The tactic is no longer useful for Google results. The company has stated they no longer look at meta keywords to determine a web page’s content. Google uses its own method of determining what a page is about, and may even ignore the meta description and instead create its own description. Read the rest of this entry »

External links and site content are the most important factors in how Google ranks a website. You may have heard the term “Content is King” in your SEO explorations. Well time and time again it has been proven good content is rewarded with more link-backs. The perfect situation for webmaster or blogger is to have external link-backs naturally occur. But those of us who cannot wait or have yet to receive any decent link-backs can take on the task ourselves. Here are a few ideas, by no means conclusive.

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Recent talk about DMOZ (The Open Directory Project) being a waste of time has been emerging on the web. It was once standard for search engine optimization and web marketing experts to submit sites to DMOZ.org to increase Google page rank. DMOZ was at one time a backup Google website directory because of its manually edited listings. However, while many optimizers have found their sites listed quickly on DMOZ many others have tried multiple times with no luck. Our experience here as been less than positive. Out of 10 sites submitted we are lucky to get one listed. Read the rest of this entry »

There are so many bloggers out there, last I heard there are as many blog sites as websites. But many of you want to start a blog with your own name, without having to use the wordpress, typepad, blogspot following it. So, for instance you may want to have royscollectibles.com rather than royscollectibles.typepad.com. It’s a lot easier to remember and looks more professional. Read the rest of this entry »