Blogging For Links What You Need To Be Successful Part 2
October 25, 2009
Now, that I have gotten my frustrations off my chest in the previous post, it’s time to get down to business. I will start off by claiming to actually know something about link building. First, I would like to direct you to my post on how well this site ranks for our targeted keyword phrases. As of October 1 we ranked for over 60 keyword phrases. I would especially like to point out that we rank anywhere from #1 to # 5 in Google for the keyword phrase Backlinks Building Services.
Let me make it clear that this was not accomplished by a large staff of link builders it was accomplished by one person. Many of the keyword phrases that I target include highly competitive phrases that include SEO or internet marketing in them. No, building links is not all that I do, but I spend more time on link building and branding than anything else. I also build links 7 days a week.
I should also point out that I no longer build links by using blog commenting on stand alone blogs. I gave it up for several reasons. The main reason was that because I include SEO in my keyword phrase in the name field where allowed. Spam filters were picking it up. I did a case study that only 43% of my blog comments got approved. However, this is not likely to happen to you if you provide useful relevant comments.
A successful blog commenting campaign is all about being prepared and setting goals. I recommend that you analyze your competition and find out who is linking to them. A really good resource is Backlink Watch. All that you need to do is enter your competitors url and hit enter. They will provide you with up to 1,000 backlinks that are going to your competitors. It also may indicate if the link is Do Follow or No Follow.
There are a few other good choices such as Yahoo’s Site Explorer. I just did a search of a professional link builder today that I am very familiar with. Yahoo’s Site Explorer produced 2843 going to her site and Backlink Watch produced around 2700 links. However, each site allows you to only access to the first 1,000. I don’t know yet, if they are both using the same database or different ones. The point is that I now have a huge database from where I can begin the process of link building. I am certain that their will be a lot of overlapping links, but that’s ok.
It is much better to start a link building program where you already know links may be obtained than just doing a Google search for Do Follow blogs. Those lists produced by doing a Google search are so very used and abused that they quickly become obsolete. I should know I have used them all. Blogs that end up on these lists often get sick of all the spammy posts that they switch back to a No Follow status. This problem is only getting worse.
Before you begin a link building program you should set some realistic goals. My personal goal is to acquire 100 links a day. I will not fulfill this goal today, as I have decided that my blog need some more attention. It isn’t important that you meet these goals every day. It is important that you have goals and that you try to fulfill them. It the old saying, if you don’t set goals you will surely not obtain them. The higher the goal, as long as it is realistic, means that you will be more successful than if you set easily achievable goals. The idea here is that 75% of 100 is much better than 75% of 50. I personally find achieving these daily goals very rewarding.
Even if your goal is only 5 links a day it will have a positive effect over time. Link building, to be most effective needs to become a regular part of your marketing plan. Blogs especially, fold on a regular basis or they get tired of all the spam associated with being Do Follow and they return to No Follow. Those links that you had last year may need replacing this year. I just lost a huge amount of links when Ning recently made profile links No Follow. That really hurt as I had way too many eggs in my Ning basket. I will have a hard time replacing them before I run my monthly ranking report on the first of November. It will be very interesting to see how much ground that we have lost.
Now, that you have a huge amount of resources available to you will want to record where you left comments hoping for a link. I would recommend using a password manager program like RoboForm. This is a good option if you had to register to leave a comment. A better choice is creating a spread sheet or a Word document where you list the exact post where and when you made a comment. Then you will want to return to these blogs a week or so later to verify if your comment was approved. If your comment was not approved then there is no reason to return to this blog.
You will also want to pay close attention to see if the blog has a comment policy. If it does, then do take the time to read it. I reject 85 to 90% of all comments left here because the commenters failed to pass our comment policy. I even get people commenting on the comment policy post and doing it wrong! If you want to have an effective link building program you absolutely must follow the comment policies. where you find one.
Finding a Comment Policy on this blog is easy as it appears along side the comment box. That often is not the case on most blogs. Many blogs never bother to write one so what should you do then? I simply observe the comments that are already appearing on the blog if those comments include keywords then it is a good bet that your comment will be approved if you do the same thing. If you only see names it is better to move on as a comment with keyword will not be approved.
It amazes me that all day long people leave comments here and never bother to read the comment policy. They also fail to notice that most comments approved do not include a link. I am a real big fan of doing things that will directly benefit this website. So leaving a comment that isn’t likely to get approved is a big waste of time for me. The difference between leaving a useful comment and a short comment is usually 30 seconds or less. Why not take the time to leave a useful comment?
Also if you take the Scratch My Back Marketing approach and view comments as an advertisement for your site you will find the benefits very rewarding. It really comes down to do unto others as you would have them do to you! This isn’t pie in the sky stuff here. But it does require a certain level of common sense.
After all if you have gone through the paces to leave a comment why not take a little longer to do it right and be rewarded? I call that win/win marketing?
Our Arizona Services:
Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix
Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services
Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson
Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services
Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services
Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services
Nationally we offer the following services:
Detailed Website Review – Audit
Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization
Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services
Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix
Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services
Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training
If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
It’s Still SEO – The Long Tail
September 22, 2009
There are a lot of ways to look at SEO or search Engine Optimization. It all depends on your perspective. A professional may talk about organic or natural SEO where as the general public might actually just refer to SEO. I like the niche versions of SEO. They are more likely to be less competitive and if you have been around here you know that I prefer Niche Markets. In fact, the site currently ranks both #1 and #2 for Niche SEO. We also rank well for Niche Search Engine Optimization.
I point this out not to say we’re great at SEO, but to get you to think in broader terms about your own niche markets, or how that you can be competitive in your own markets. I previously managed a website of a manufacturer. This company sold dust collection equipment but not just any dust collection equipment they manufactured industrial equipment, or industrial dust collection equipment.
This company wanted to land on the first page of Google for the search dust collection. When I took a look at the market I consider this an unrealistic goal.The reason was that this term covered several industries and not just one. They were competing with home units and vacuum cleaners, as well as with their own market. I reasoned that industrial dust collection would be a more realistic goal, and it was. Their site easily soared to the # 1 spot for this keyword phrase with Google. Amazingly, I was actually able to get them high up onto the first page of the Google results for just dust collection. This beat my own expectations.
You can likely do the same in your markets if you go after what is known as the “long tail” of search. This means that you are going to go after keyword phrases that contain three or more words. Yes, there will be much less competition for these keyword phrases but the longer the tail the more likely this the visitor is a hot lead. If someone has entered industrial dust collection equipment, that person is more likely doing serious research rather than just killing time. These are the folks that are doing serious searching with intent to purchase.
Tucson SEO provide SEO service professionally so we are more likely to try to define a smaller niche within the SEO industry. Like any good SEO we could rely on our keyword development skills to create long tails for our keyword phrases that define us best.
In our industry some people go after Organic SEO or Organic Search Engine Optimization, and others will add location into the mix, as with Tucson Search Engine Optimization. When you go local it is sometimes called local SEO or Geo-targeted. These are areas that we specialize in.
Here are some other ways to define Search Engine Optimization or SEO. I have already mentioned Local SEO and Niche SEO. Then there is Geo-targeted SEO. I could have easily referred to Geo-targeted as well as Geo-targeting. In reality Geo-targeting appears more often in the Google search results, but I target them both. Essentially it is just another expression for local SEO.
Here are a few more to terms to consider such as SEO services, SEO Solutions, or perhaps Business SEO. The tail could grow to include Small Business SEO Services. I think that you may be getting what I mean here. For us there is a huge pool of perspective clients who need our services yet they have no idea what SEO is and many have likely never even heard of the term Search Engine Optimization. Yet, these people understand marketing, they have a website, and they use the internet and most of their business is local. To reach these potential markets we peruse long tails such as local internet marketing services. This is a search that is more likely to be used by our clients since we target small businesses.
The hardest part about SEO is trying to determine what your target customer might actually use when searching for your product or services. You can try using all the keyword tools in the world and still can come up short. Keyword tools only respond to what you enter into them. If you don’t enter the proper keywords to begin with these tools are of little value. Finding your most effective keywords requires the ability to understand how your target audience thinks and that’s where these tools often fail. The best solutions is to do focus groups of real people (potential clients) and ask them what they would use to search for to find your websites business online. Now, with this information in hand you will stand a better change in the search traffic game.
So let me ask this, could you use good some long tails?
For those who are new to this blog let me get you up to speed here. I have been a very big proponent of blogging for links. As with everything I am always multi- tasking. I endeavor to do multiple tasks at once. I like to consider it working smarter. When I would be blogging for links (leaving comments on other blogs to acquire backlinks) I would also be working on branding, networking, and learning.
Leaving blog comments solved four various elements of my marketing plan. I especially enjoyed the learning part of link building. I then would share what I learned with my readers. However, it has become increasing difficult for me as an SEO to get my comments past spam filters. Many blogger’s consider anyone that uses SEO as an anchor text for their comment links to be a spammer.
It didn’t make any difference that I was providing lengthy useful comments because I was using SEO in the name field the spam filters automatically rejected me. On occasion someone who would rescue my comment from a spam filter but not often. With this in mind, I did a little experiment where I made 100 posts and recorded the url’s. I went back a week later only to discover 43% of my comments had been approved. I was very careful to leave good comments and to follow comment policies.
That is not what I would call a very effective link building experiment. So I thought about this for a little while and I decided to go another direction. I now almost exclusively build link on high Page Rank social media sites and I am glad that I do. If any of you have followed this blog you will likely already know that this site ranks on the first page of the Google results, as in 50 times.
That’s right, I report at the beginning of each month the sites rankings. The last time that I checked back on September first we ranked on the first page of Google for 50 keyword phrases. Some of these are not very competitive but they still are niche markets that we target. Then again, many of these results are in extremely competitive markets. The key to this success was abandoning blogging for links.
When I decided to abandon blogs the site ranked 31 times on the first page of Google. Two months later that number is at 50. Over the last two months I have almost exclusively used Web 2.0 social media sites for link building. I usually leave a site with 5 or more links. The process is extremely easy if you are prepared. I simply take what the site offers in the profile area. Then I add value to the site through blog or forum posts and comments. I take the time to do it right!
I have many blog posts covering multiple topics ready in advance. The key here is to provide quality and not spammy posts. I close all posts using a signature as if it was a formal business letter. It includes a tag line. That’s where I add my links, into the tag line. As long as you are adding quality material that goes along with the sites theme you are generally not going to have any problems.
I have used this method thousands of times and only once did I get a complaint. That site banned me for putting links into my profile although they didn’t have a policy that prohibited this at that time. I got in trouble by reviewing the site on this blog. So all a sudden a whole bunch of people are doing the same thing. OOP’s!
That’s my method. The real beauty of this is that you are not visiting a blog hoping to find something to comment about. You pick the topic hopefully something that is related to your business and the sites theme. Many of these social sites provide you with a blog or they have a forum. When I discover these I begin to grin. This all goes hand in hand with my marketing approach, Scratch My Back Marketing. If you help other people building links is easy. It still requires lots of time but it can be a joy rather than dull boring work.
What do you think about this? I would like to hear from you.
Our Arizona Services:
Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix
Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services
Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson
Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services
Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services
Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services
Nationally we offer the following services:
Detailed Website Review – Audit
Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization
Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services
Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix
Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services
Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training
If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Your Fresh Start.us Obtains A Page Rank of 4
May 2, 2008
To our clients and potential clients Page Rank is not something that they know about or care about. It seems like the only people who care about Page Rank are webmasters and the likes. I will freely admit for me it’s an ego thing. Our website had a PR of 4 and dropped to a three in October of last year. However, at the same time our blog went from a 0 to a PR of 3.
We were winding down the cleaning business as we began our SEO business. Preoccupied yourfreshstart.us didn’t get much attention and we were loosing links. So I was a bit amazed today to discover that both the website and its blog were given a PR of 4. Maybe, it does pay off to voice an opinion or two in support of Google’s position on buying and selling of links. Ya’ just never know!
Actually, this PR change comes at a very good time for us as we begin to market the website differently. Instead of creating cleaning business customers we are using the site as example for our website design and redesign services. We believe it is a good example of how cleaning service website should be.
We observed that most cleaning service website were very unattractive. They were often displaying workers cleaning or wearing cleaning attire. We thought that a premium service needed to display not the tools or workers performing cleaning but the end results of these efforts. So our website scattered about pictures of clean and orderly homes and offices.
We also clearly detailed our services and asked for their business and to contact us now. This is known as a call to action. All of these are very simple techniques but missing on most websites. Our website set an expectation of quality. It portrays our message very effectively.
The Your Fresh Start website is the standard that we use when selling our website design services to our potential web site design service clients.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, give it a Digg or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in US, Canada, and through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.