If your goal is to promote your blog and/or sell your products effectively on the Internet, then Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a must for you.

Search engines are the drivers of traffic and you need to rank well on them to get traffic to your blog as well as product centric web sites. It is not only that, people associate a certain amount of trust with your site if they see you high in the search results. This trust factor gives weight to your site/product and helps you achieve better conversion.

To achieve better conversion, you need good traffic, and to get good traffic you need to rank well on search engines. Ranking well on search engines can be done more effectively if you have SEO skills in your repository (or you can always employ Search Engine Optimizers).

For those who are still unsure, please read this article from CNN on How to scale Mt. Google - Getting your site on the first page can turn a hobby into a thriving business.

I have joined a new company and SEO is an integral part of the software offered. I decided it was high time for me to be at least SEO aware if not SEO Maniac.

The first thing I did, which was recommended by most SEO experts, is buy Aaron Wall’s SEO Book. The book is supposed to be the bible on SEO. It is available in the form of e-book and can be downloaded from the site for $79. The book is worth much more the price you pay for it. Aaron keeps updating the book and you get the update versions for free.

I started reading it - am on the 5th chapter - and find it a very easy read with lot of interesting concepts and techniques. I have decided to open the book for discussion by talking at a high level about the book (chapter by chapter basis).

You are welcome to share your experiences, insights and gains through this series of posts where I will talk about each chapter of the book (as I go along reading it)

Each day I receive e-mail through all my various sites from other site owners offering to exchange links. Most approach me in the wrong manner and I can tell they have no idea about the proper way to run an effective linking program. See, in a true linking program, it isn’t just about you - it should be about both sites involved in the process.

So many of these notices are not from complimentary sites in topic or design–some are actually direct competitors making me wonder why they would think I would link to them. Why would they want to link to me considering my site is of so much better quality and has much more valuable information? Because they are hiding their link pages from site visitors; so their site visitors never actually find out about my site. Right there is a big red flag! If you cannot make your link directory easily visible and available to your site visitors, you don’t have the proper modus operandi.

Many of these sites have absolutely nothing even remotely similar to the site of mine that they have e-mailed. So there is no synergy. If they state they have already linked to my site, which is what you want to do when building a valuable link directory–not a link farm–the majority of these requests are immediately responded to asking their link to my site be removed. I know I do not want to have one of my sites “in bed” with another site that can have a detrimental effect on either my rankings or the juried resources I offer my visitors.

Here are some basic tips you need to keep in mind and integrate in your linking efforts based in the reality of having an effective and ethical approach. If you cannot take the time to put these issues in play, don’t waste your or the other site owner’s time.

Stay Away From and Do Not Create Link Farms: “Link Farm” is a term used to describe groups of links that have nothing in common other than the sites involved have all agreed to link to each other for the sole purpose of improving their organic search engine listings. Quality of content, design or site focus is not a consideration that is a requirement to participate. When you create a link directory on your site, you want to have set of guidelines that will be required for sites to be added to your link directory. Only quality links, relational or complimentary to your site’s focus that you know will benefit your site visitors should be considered. Just as you want to see those requesting links from you have done the same.

Links Need to Make Sense for Both Sites: On my Lake County, Illinois site, LakeOnline.com, I only exchange links with non-commercial community groups and organizations located within Lake County, Illinois. This makes sense as that is the focus of my site and it benefits the groups within that category to have a link from such a popular site that has proven longevity. It is a win-win for both sides. My site visitors then have links available to them of other Lake County, Illinois resources and the sites that link to LakeOnline.com are linking to a quality Lake County, Illinois resource.

If the site linking to you has no direct relationship to yours in topic or is a poor quality site–don’t exchange links. Just having links for the sake of doing so doesn’t benefit either site–or your site visitors. So don’t consider mass e-mailing for links without taking the time of thoroughly reviewing the value of each site you send a request to. Think in terms of the fact that the links off your site need to compliment and add to the overall value for your site visitors.

Consider Google’s PageRank: PageRank is not the end-all-be-all! Please don’t live or die by PageRank. (From what I’ve read as of late Google is way behind in updating their PageRank anyway.) However, when it comes to linking, it can be a useful tool you can use to guide you. Before you begin requesting links, you want to ensure that you at least have a PageRank for your top page for a start. Not having a PageRank is an indication of a newer Web site or a site that is not considered to have quality valuable content–that is when PageRank is working properly. Just like everything online, Google’s PageRank glitches on occasion too. That is why I stress you use it as a guide not your bible.

PageRank is accomplished by having a valuable resource site that others feel is worthy of linking to. One way links to your site are more valuable for ranking than reciprocal links are any day. If you are all sales pitch with very little content, PageRank is difficult to attain. Always check a site’s PageRank to determine if it has been determined to have any value. Without a PageRank, linking for the sake of linking is moot. Sites with higher PageRank are given more relevancy, as are the sites they in turn link to.

Organize and Categorize Your Directory of Links: Some crawlers have been known to ignore pages with more than 50 or so links. This is because tons of unorganized links on a page indicate “link farm” and do not indicate any sort of value or relational substance to the site in question. Categorize your links and create a new page when necessary for new topics. When a specific topic starts approaching 50, create a subcategory or an additional page. The goal here is to make your link area easy to use and navigate. In my opinion, even 50 links is too much to scroll through. I tend to stick around 25–at most.

You want to do everything you can to avoid the perception of linking purely to manipulate your rankings. When I receive requests from sites with over 50 links and their link directory is not categorized, I generally do not respond. I know they are creating a link farm which will offer no benefit to me and may have even have a detrimental effect on my natural listings.

Have a Plan Before You Request Links: After you have reviewed the sites you would like to exchange links with, (Never spam for link exchanges!) here are some tips to keep in mind before you e-mail them with your request.

1. Create a brief but concise e-mail that includes specific instructions on how they can link back to you. You want to make sure that your requested return link text, if at all possible, includes a couple of your main keywords in the link. Also be sure to not provide the same link text for every request. You want to have a diversity of keyword rich link text pointing to your site to benefit your rankings.

2. Be sure to mention why your site and the one you are contacting are complimentary and why a reciprocal link will benefit both sides. If you cannot make this analogy, you probably should not be requesting a link in the first place.

3. Have the other site’s link already in place on your site before you e-mail your request and let them know exactly where that is. Be sure if you said their link is in place that it is or you loose credibility and look as though you are not sincere in your offer.

4. Include a comment of exactly where on their site or in what category of their link directory that you would like to see your link. This lets the other side know that you’ve reviewed their site and see the reciprocal value and are not just spamming for links.

Your Link Directory is Easy to Find: Hiding your link directory deep within your site or not obviously linking to your link directory is a sure sign that you are gathering links for all the wrong reasons. Search engines have a way of determining link relevancy based on topic, popularity and as well as other evolving factors. If you are hiding your link directory this is a big clue that is probably has no value to your site visitors or why would you be hiding it? If you cannot have obvious navigation to your link directory, you know that you are not offering value and need to rethink your strategy.

One of the other benefits of exchanging links is the hope that those who visit the other site, will find yours by following the link to your site. If their link directory is hidden, folks cannot find you which prevents you from garnering this potential additional traffic. If you receive a request to exchange links and see that the other site has their link directory buried where their site visitors will have difficulty finding it, I would decline the request as they are not offering me anything. Work only with site owners who understand what linking is all about and have a link directory that is well organized and easily found on their site.

Spammy Link Requests: You’ve probably received those yourself. Some marketer asking if you are interested in exchanging links with a site they are unwilling to identify until you show interest. What is that!? If exchanging links makes sense there should be no reason to hide the identity of any site. This is an indication the site most likely has no page rank, is not related to yours, or is creating a link farm. Use these e-mail as an example of what you don’t want to do. Hit the Delete button.

Link exchanges serve two purposes. The first being they add value to both sites and offer visibility to an entire new set of site visitors who may not have known the other site even exists to search for it. The secondary reason is that search engines have a ranking algorithm that is built upon evaluating incoming and out going links to your site.

If you do not want to deal with the link exchange process all you have to do is have a high quality, content rich site and the links will happen without you having to make a single request. Create a site worth linking to and the links will come.

The online marketing arena is murky with quick tips and strategies to optimize your site for the best free search engine rankings. Without participating in “sponsor” advertising or PPC (Pay Per Click) programs, it is a fact that search engine optimization can enhance your “natural” or “organic” listings. But within reason and only when done within the rules.

Unfortunately, there are a plethora of unethical search engine marketers that do not hesitate to take your money by making impossible promises based on little to no actual experience in doing so even for their own sites. If you’ve read my previous article The Ten Commandments of Search Engines, you’ll then have a good grasp of what is involved.

When approached either by spam or on the phone with the following pitches, know them to be untrue or misleading at best! Companies that offer you these “solutions” do not really know what they are doing. Well, that is a subjective statement, they either think they know what they are doing, or know for a fact they are bending the rules in an effort to bypass standard practices. One thing is clear, they are banking on your lack of knowledge to get into your pocket book!

1. Change/Update your Meta Keyword Tags: If only it were that easy! I have seen those who have been conned into paying high fees to have some designer update their Meta Keyword tags because this will produce better listings. List whatever you want within that tag and you’ll get found when searched for. Baloney! The fact is the majority of search engines completely ignore or put little to no value on the Meta Keyword tag.

2. Creating Doorway Pages or Mini Sites: Yikes! This is considered spamming the search engines and will get your site dropped and banned completely. Any page that is not a linked to part of your site and is created with duplicate content for the sole purpose of manipulating search engine listings is a disaster waiting to happen. The same site or info on a different domain name to garner duplicate listings is simply spamming the search engines. They all have rules against this and don’t take kindly to folks who use these tactics. Anyone offering you this solution is surely not playing by the rules or worthy of your hard earned dollars.

3. Guaranteeing Positions: Experienced and ethical marketers can and should certainly show you how they approach the process and what results have been achieved in the past. However, if they are true pros running an legitimate shop, they will never promise or guarantee future results - either is position or for length of time. Those who make these promises are mostly likely not playing by the rules and spamming the search engines with a multitude of doorway pages or redirected cloak pages - both of which are big no-nos!

None of us have any idea what search engine algorithms will be tomorrow let alone a week or a month from now. Guaranteed positions can only be promised by participating in Pay Per Click programs and purchasing your positions. In particular for new sites, plan on 7-8 months before you see the fruit of your labor for organic listings on Google.

4. Instant Link Popularity & Results: Anyone who has been online even for a short amount of time has found out that the word instant does not apply to most things online. If the word “instant” is used in particular when it comes to a link program you know the company making the offer is using under the table trickery to temporarily boost your listings. They do this by using expired domains or adding you to link farms on their servers that link all their clients together. The downside is eventually this catches up with your site and has the opposite effect on

Link programs are only successful when done properly. A key factor in any successful link directory creation is that all the sites have something in common in topic or site focus that benefits the site visitors to each site. This takes time and consistency to build (just like anything that produces results online). When it comes to links, a site owner’s search engine ranking desires need to take a back seat to offering site visitors quality resources.

5. Your Site Is Just Fine the Way It Is: I’ve seen this train of thought from both site owners whose ego is invested because they created their own site (or don’t want to pay to have it done right) and from unethical marketers willing to take advantage of that train of thought to make some bucks. Don’t believe that pitch for a moment!

I have yet to run into a site when contacted for advice that I cannot optimize for better organic listings. Heck, I can probably find issues with some of my own sites where I could optimize further if I so desired. If optimization was not considered during the development stage and the copy writing stage of your site - you having catching up to do.

This includes having complimentary navigation that is not only consistent throughout your site for your site visitors, but ensuring your navigation is “crawler friendly” so you have the best chance for your entire site to get listings. This requires planning way in advance of any bit of code or copy being created.

For those who have read other articles of mine, you’ll find the same reoccurring theme. There are no quick fixes or short cuts. Your site is a business and it has to be given the same amount of dedication and planning that any off-line business venture would require. And, online is nothing if it isn’t about marketing! You have to spend your time and invest your budget in the appropriate areas to make things happen - or they won’t and you end up throwing good money after bad all in an effort to save time or money.

This means following the rules and implementing proven strategies that are the core of all successful Web sites. Because there are far too many companies out there that willing take advantage of the hungry uniformed site owners with the desire for “quick, cheap and easy” - you are now armed with the facts. One of the most popular acronyms used online in the early days, applies here: TANSTAAFL: There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!

Avoid working with anyone who portrays the above as your path to better listings. Let them know you know better and then spend your time and money to work on growing a site that is the best it can be about your products or services. Have a plan and do things the right way and the traffic will come.

It is always recommended with AJAX solutions that you put href attribute of the link tag to the server side version of the same functionality and put the JavaScript in the onclick event for that link tag. That way users using your site will get the AJAX experience and the search engines will execute the server side version of the code (making your side SEO friendly)

Orca is an AJAX forum without AJAX problems. The “Back” button does work, bookmarks do work, permalinks do work and yes, it is search engine friendly. A dream solution for current web 2.0 applications.

A very nice explanation on how they have achieved this can be found at: Creating An SEO Friendly Site Using AJAX.

What I liked the most was their solution for the back button problem!

Technorati tags: AJAX, SEO, JavaScript, Orca, SEO Friendly, back button, permalinks, bookmarks

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