A Lot of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing Professionals are voicing their opinions and saying than directories are dead. But remember, these are the people that also say that Page Rank is dead, SEO is dead, and the latest this is dead theory. So is directory link building no longer worthy? well only the Search Engines can tell you for sure.
I believe the real issue with directory links is that only some of them are good and worthy, while some others are junk, being able to tell this difference is the key between loosing your time and having a fruitful link building campaign. How you can tell if a directory is good enough or that you should pass it. Here are the 3 main criteria of identifying a good directory from a bad one.
1) The director is listed in the Search Engines and most pages are being crawled.
You can find the directory in the most popular search engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask. Also the category pages of the directory are cached on the search engines, if the directory offers detail pages, these should be indeed too.
2) The links are plain text, no redirects or javascript.
Check the source code of the pages of the directory. Look to see if the links are plain a href's, without the rel="nofollow" attribute, and no sneaky redirects are present. By validating all these you guarantee that these links are seeing and counted by Search Engines.
3) Doesn't link to bad neighborhoods.
The directory doesn't link to questionable websites, specially topics like gambling, casino adult, and illegal content websites. Be very wary about directory that offers sitewide likes to these type of sites.
Hopefully these guidelines will help you do more quality link building campaigns getting links from quality web directories.
Showing posts with label Site Promotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Site Promotion. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
How to Hunt for Big-Game Backlinks
In the first part, we discussed how backlinks bring you direct traffic in addition to increased search engine rankings. That's totally awesome!
In the second part, we went into keys on creating a good backlink. This included choosing good places for backlinks, as well as making the link attractive to both search engines and people.
In this third part, we will get you started on where to start looking for backlinks so you can begin to build traffic, get more clients, and sell more products.
Getting started
As a coach, you are probably the last person who needs to hear this, but just like any endeavor, it's good to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timed) goals.
For example, if you aren't getting any action at your web site because you have very little traffic, then a good goal would be five inquiries a month, six months from now.
The next step is to set aside time to get backlinks. A great start is to commit a measly one hour a week.
Backlinking takes time.
It takes time for you to find places to get backlinks. It takes time for other web sites to set up your backlink. It takes time for search engines to find those links.
Therefore, the next thing to do is set up a spreadsheet to help you keep track of backlink request that have not yet been fulfilled.
The spreadsheet should include:
• The web site you are seeking a link from
• The date you requested the link
• The title and description of the link
• A box to mark of when your link has been set up
• A place to put miscellaneous notes
Your first target – The Open Directory Project
The ODP (The Open Directory Project) is a general web directory that catalogs web sites on the Internet.
The ODP is a great place to start your backlinking program for two reasons.
The main reason is that many search engines hold The ODP in high regard – that is, if your web site is listed in The ODP, it must be a legitimate site. This helps your rankings.
Secondly, The ODP has simple, clear submissions guidelines which familiarize you with the process of requesting backlinks from other web sites.
The Open Directory Project is here:
www.dmoz.org
There are a lot of other directories and the number grows. To find more popular directories, simply do a search on "top web directories 2006."
Take a second to celebrate!
Once you have gotten listed in The Open Directory Project, stop and celebrate
Up to this point you have:
• Devised a linking plan.
• You have learned about submission policies.
• You broke past a common resistance point: getting started!
• You now have one of the most valuable links you can get.
You have created the core system of building your traffic. All you need to do is "rinse and repeat."
Next - Coaching-Specific Directories
You may not be aware of them, but there are web directories that are specific to coaches.
For example, www.lifecoachguide.com has listings of life coaches.
By getting listed in coaching-specific directories, your web site will gain higher rankings when people do searches related to coaching.
For example, if you get listed in a life coach directory, then your web site will rank higher for the term "life coach."
These types of directories are easy to find. Just do a search on "life coach directory."
Next - Coaching Organizations
Coachville is a great place for a backlink. Their link section is very easy for search engines to find, and the Coachville's web site is very popular.
They are, however, making some modifications to their site which may eliminate the search engine value of getting a backlink from Coachville.
A backlink at ICF's web site is good for possible referrals when someone is using their "Find a Coach" service.
Unfortunately, the ICF's directory pages don't give you a backlink that search engines can easily find (at the time of this writing). So your search engine rankings aren't improved by being listed here.
Next - Other Existing Relationships
Many coaches belong to local networking groups like BNI or Chamber of Commerce.
Getting links to your site from these places are valuable because they are often easy to get, they give you more local appeal, and you often have a high degree of control over what goes into your link.
Happy Hunting
The above plan can keep you busy for months.
Over time, your tracking senses will sharpen and you will discover more and more places to seek for backlinks. Jot them down as you go.
You will see an increase in web site traffic and activity in as little as one to two months.
After about six months you'll be cooking!
Good luck and happy backlinking!
In the second part, we went into keys on creating a good backlink. This included choosing good places for backlinks, as well as making the link attractive to both search engines and people.
In this third part, we will get you started on where to start looking for backlinks so you can begin to build traffic, get more clients, and sell more products.
Getting started
As a coach, you are probably the last person who needs to hear this, but just like any endeavor, it's good to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timed) goals.
For example, if you aren't getting any action at your web site because you have very little traffic, then a good goal would be five inquiries a month, six months from now.
The next step is to set aside time to get backlinks. A great start is to commit a measly one hour a week.
Backlinking takes time.
It takes time for you to find places to get backlinks. It takes time for other web sites to set up your backlink. It takes time for search engines to find those links.
Therefore, the next thing to do is set up a spreadsheet to help you keep track of backlink request that have not yet been fulfilled.
The spreadsheet should include:
• The web site you are seeking a link from
• The date you requested the link
• The title and description of the link
• A box to mark of when your link has been set up
• A place to put miscellaneous notes
Your first target – The Open Directory Project
The ODP (The Open Directory Project) is a general web directory that catalogs web sites on the Internet.
The ODP is a great place to start your backlinking program for two reasons.
The main reason is that many search engines hold The ODP in high regard – that is, if your web site is listed in The ODP, it must be a legitimate site. This helps your rankings.
Secondly, The ODP has simple, clear submissions guidelines which familiarize you with the process of requesting backlinks from other web sites.
The Open Directory Project is here:
www.dmoz.org
There are a lot of other directories and the number grows. To find more popular directories, simply do a search on "top web directories 2006."
Take a second to celebrate!
Once you have gotten listed in The Open Directory Project, stop and celebrate
Up to this point you have:
• Devised a linking plan.
• You have learned about submission policies.
• You broke past a common resistance point: getting started!
• You now have one of the most valuable links you can get.
You have created the core system of building your traffic. All you need to do is "rinse and repeat."
Next - Coaching-Specific Directories
You may not be aware of them, but there are web directories that are specific to coaches.
For example, www.lifecoachguide.com has listings of life coaches.
By getting listed in coaching-specific directories, your web site will gain higher rankings when people do searches related to coaching.
For example, if you get listed in a life coach directory, then your web site will rank higher for the term "life coach."
These types of directories are easy to find. Just do a search on "life coach directory."
Next - Coaching Organizations
Coachville is a great place for a backlink. Their link section is very easy for search engines to find, and the Coachville's web site is very popular.
They are, however, making some modifications to their site which may eliminate the search engine value of getting a backlink from Coachville.
A backlink at ICF's web site is good for possible referrals when someone is using their "Find a Coach" service.
Unfortunately, the ICF's directory pages don't give you a backlink that search engines can easily find (at the time of this writing). So your search engine rankings aren't improved by being listed here.
Next - Other Existing Relationships
Many coaches belong to local networking groups like BNI or Chamber of Commerce.
Getting links to your site from these places are valuable because they are often easy to get, they give you more local appeal, and you often have a high degree of control over what goes into your link.
Happy Hunting
The above plan can keep you busy for months.
Over time, your tracking senses will sharpen and you will discover more and more places to seek for backlinks. Jot them down as you go.
You will see an increase in web site traffic and activity in as little as one to two months.
After about six months you'll be cooking!
Good luck and happy backlinking!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Article Submission: two ways to do!
Everyone knows that submitting well-written, keyword-rich articles to article repository sites on the Internet is the best way to build links to your web sites in Google and other search engines.
But very few people realize there's a wrong way to do this. And doing it wrong is worse than not doing it at all.
Most people who are new to using articles as part of their marketing strategies get off to a bad start because they don't understand the delicate strategy involved with precisely placing articles in the article sites best suited for a particular subject.
You see, not all article repositories are the same. Some get high traffic for all subjects. Some get highly-targeted traffic across one or two very specific niches. And some don't get any traffic at all. Those sites fall under the definition of "bad neighborhoods" according to Google.
Not understanding the differences among article repositories is where the trouble starts for the inexperienced marketer. These days, it's too easy to sign up for those "article blasting" services that SPAM article repositories with thousands of worthless ads; the ads that have been written by who knows who and are often filled with spelling and grammar errors. As these types of articles build up in the lower-quality sites, and they build up very quickly thanks to the thousands of people using these "blasting" services, the site begins to develop a bad reputation. Soon, the search engines start dropping the links like hot potatoes.
How do savvy professional marketers get around this ranking trap?
They depend on the services offered by professional article placement agencies. These agencies specialize in submitting articles manually to hand-picked sites that will return the best search engine ranking results. The people behind these professional services understand how the article placement game is really played. They know that success is all about quality and has nothing to do with quantity. After all, what good is having your articles listed on hundreds of sites if those sites are banned by Google and other search engines? It hurts your business!
When you use a professional article placement agency to manually submit your articles, you don't have to worry about ending up in bad neighborhoods and getting your search engine rankings mugged in the process. Instead you'll get the quality links you are looking for. Your articles will only appear on those sites catering to your category; sites that are visited by both live humans and search engine spiders on a regular basis. This kind of strategy is what pays off in the long run.
Don't sabotage your article marketing strategy just because you choose to believe the hype those "blast your way to success" hucksters throw out every day. Remember how productive FFA sites used to be and how useless they are now? FFA "blasters" ruined that marketing opportunity, and the article blasters will ruin this marketing opportunity if you let them.
Get better results by letting the professionals manually place your articles in the appropriate repository sites. Remember, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.
Please feel free to publish this article on your web site and/or in your e-book or newsletters with the authors resource box included and without any changes to the article. (Add your contact e-mail)
A complimentary copy of your ezine or notification you are using this article would be appreciated.
But very few people realize there's a wrong way to do this. And doing it wrong is worse than not doing it at all.
Most people who are new to using articles as part of their marketing strategies get off to a bad start because they don't understand the delicate strategy involved with precisely placing articles in the article sites best suited for a particular subject.
You see, not all article repositories are the same. Some get high traffic for all subjects. Some get highly-targeted traffic across one or two very specific niches. And some don't get any traffic at all. Those sites fall under the definition of "bad neighborhoods" according to Google.
Not understanding the differences among article repositories is where the trouble starts for the inexperienced marketer. These days, it's too easy to sign up for those "article blasting" services that SPAM article repositories with thousands of worthless ads; the ads that have been written by who knows who and are often filled with spelling and grammar errors. As these types of articles build up in the lower-quality sites, and they build up very quickly thanks to the thousands of people using these "blasting" services, the site begins to develop a bad reputation. Soon, the search engines start dropping the links like hot potatoes.
How do savvy professional marketers get around this ranking trap?
They depend on the services offered by professional article placement agencies. These agencies specialize in submitting articles manually to hand-picked sites that will return the best search engine ranking results. The people behind these professional services understand how the article placement game is really played. They know that success is all about quality and has nothing to do with quantity. After all, what good is having your articles listed on hundreds of sites if those sites are banned by Google and other search engines? It hurts your business!
When you use a professional article placement agency to manually submit your articles, you don't have to worry about ending up in bad neighborhoods and getting your search engine rankings mugged in the process. Instead you'll get the quality links you are looking for. Your articles will only appear on those sites catering to your category; sites that are visited by both live humans and search engine spiders on a regular basis. This kind of strategy is what pays off in the long run.
Don't sabotage your article marketing strategy just because you choose to believe the hype those "blast your way to success" hucksters throw out every day. Remember how productive FFA sites used to be and how useless they are now? FFA "blasters" ruined that marketing opportunity, and the article blasters will ruin this marketing opportunity if you let them.
Get better results by letting the professionals manually place your articles in the appropriate repository sites. Remember, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.
Please feel free to publish this article on your web site and/or in your e-book or newsletters with the authors resource box included and without any changes to the article. (Add your contact e-mail)
A complimentary copy of your ezine or notification you are using this article would be appreciated.
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