By Kalena Jordan Are you currently seeking employment? Looking for a new profession? Considering a career change? Then a job in the field of Search Engine Marketing should be at the top of your list. Here are 10 reasons why: The first dot-com bubble may have burst 6 years ago, but the current bubble is getting bigger and stronger every day. One of the main reasons for the current dot-com boom is the skyrocketing growth of the search engine industry. No longer the territory of geekdom, search has exploded into the mainstream over the past few years and businesses are falling over themselves to get seen by online searchers. And they'll pay big bucks to search engines for the privilege. Have you noticed that Google shares recently hit USD 500 EACH? It's not a coincidence. Search giants like Google, Yahoo and AOL can't fail to make money because everybody wants a bit of the search action. There's no denying it, search is HOT, HOT, HOT. According to a recent article on MSN Careers, the position of Search Engine Optimizer is considered one of four jobs on the cutting edge right now. Who gave it this title? A representative from the world's largest specialized recruitment firm - Robert Half International Inc. Search Engine Optimization is considered a sub-set of Search Engine Marketing. If you're unsure what a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) does, below is a definition provided by MSN Careers: "Search engine optimizers (SEOs) increase a firm's Web site traffic by improving its search-engine page rankings. This is an especially important task in today's Internet-driven world, where many customers first learn of an organization and its products or services through the Web. Because of a shortage of experts in this relatively new area, many top SEOs receive multiple job offers. SEOs typically supplement their knowledge of how various search engines operate and determine Wikipedia also defines Search Engine Optimizers here. A job in the search industry can be unbelievably lucrative. As noted recently by Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide, "There are quite literally more jobs than there are skilled marketers and salaries can skyrocket to almost embarrassing levels." Have you seen the type of salaries that search engine marketing and search engine optimization consultants are currently commanding in the US? Clearly, the search industry is making some people rich. Here are some typical salaries in USD: Additional Salary links: Because the search industry is relatively young, there are only a handful of online courses and certifications offered in the field of Search Engine Marketing (Search Engine College being one such training provider). Most search engine marketing practitioners are self-taught, learning the trade by experimenting with their own sites, researching trends, attending conferences and participating in discussion forums and so employers don't generally require SEO / SEM certification or a tertiary qualification as a pre-requisite for a position in the industry. However, candidates who hold a marketing degree or specific industry certification in Search Engine Marketing may well have an edge over their fellow applicants when it comes to interview selection. Everything you need to know to become a Search Engine Marketer, you can learn online. All the information is out there, you just have to find it. To become an expert in SEO / SEM, you need to do research, research and more research. Read everything you can get your hands on relating to search on a daily basis, including articles, forums, ebooks, blogs and newsfeeds. Then you need to put this knowledge into practice by experimenting with your own sites, or finding guinea pig sites to practice on such as those of friends, family or charity sites until you find the methods that give you the best results. Programming knowledge is not a pre-requisite for SEO / SEM jobs, but it does help to learn basic HTML. There are plenty of free HTML tutorials online. If you don't fancy years of research or are in a hurry to jump-start your career in search, consider taking an online Certification course in one of the many Search Engine Marketing disciplines such as the Certification Pathways provided by Search Engine College. These type of courses are usually tutor-led and designed to fast-track your training and ensure you gain the right type of skills to make you immediately employable within the search industry. Because most of the work you'll be doing is online, Search Engine Optimizers and Search Engine Marketers often have the freedom of choice to work for an employer, work from home and/or freelance. Many SEO / SEM freelancers end up hiring workers and starting their own company due to the massive demand. This gives search engine marketing experts the work from home lifestyle that others can only dream of. Once they know what they're doing, it's very easy for a Search Engine Marketer to wow their clients. The difference that a successful SEO or PPC campaign can make to a client's bottom line is substantial. I've seen online conversion rates for a client zoom from 1% to a massive 5% after just two small tweaks to their web site. And although rankings are not as important as actual conversions, clients still get very excited to see their site listed in the top 10 search results for certain keywords. It's the WOW factor in action. As mentioned in relation to search engine salaries, there are literally many more jobs than there are skilled marketers to fill them. This extreme demand means Search Engine Marketers can pick and choose their jobs and/or clients. The more skilled marketers are head-hunted regularly. For Search Engine Optimization firms, there are more than enough clients to go around and rarely a need to advertise for new business. That's why you often find SEOs turning away clients or recommending their competitors during extremely busy periods. Experts in select specialties such as Pay Per Click Advertising (a sub-set of Search Engine Marketing) are currently enjoying even higher demand than usual, as advertisers out-bid each other to have their site shown for popular keyword searches on Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Another indicator of high demand is the sheer number of search-related job postings seen on employment sites such as those listed here. There's something very trendy about people in search that I can't quite put my finger on. There's a constant buzz around them. If you've ever been to a search engine conference or to Google's headquarters you'll know what I mean. Maybe it's the fact that they've come from so many different professions. Or that the age range of search marketers varies from teens to Baby Boomers. Or their whacky dress sense. Maybe it's the smell of money and happiness that they give off. Maybe it's the fact that they are constantly in the media. I don't know. All I know is that it's no longer uncool to be a geek. In fact it's downright hip to be square. Skills in search engine marketing are portable and global. You don't need to be at a desk, in an office or on the phone all day. You don't even need to meet your clients. Of all my clients, I've probably only met 20 percent of them and spoken to half of them on the phone or via chat. You can be on vacation for six months out of the year in various locations and still conduct business. You literally only need a computer and an Internet connection. The Internet is the universal equalizer. You can service clients in any country in the world, in many different languages. You can compete with one man operations and Fortune 500 companies on the same level playing field. The flexibility of the search industry is a huge advantage over other career options. Search is a fascinating industry. With all the hype, daily gossip, corporate take-overs, start-ups and geek toys, I can guarantee that you won't get bored. This combined with the flexible work hours, low start-up costs, ability to be your own boss and the excellent income keeps job satisfaction high for Search Engine Marketers. So what are you waiting for? Go get a job in search! --------------------------- About the Author: Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running her own SEO business, Kalena manages Search Engine College - an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects. Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors, Home Based Business, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization
1) The Search Industry is HOT
2) It's Considered one of Four Jobs on the Cutting Edge
page rankings with strong marketing skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively and program using HTML."
3) The Pay is FantasticEntry level SEO/SEM position = $30-45K
Three to five years experience / online account managers =
$50-75K
Five + years / organic SEO specialists = $75-90K
Senior management level = $70-120K
SEM Director = $95-150K
VP Level = $100-315K
From Search Engine Watch Forums
4) You Don't Need a College Degree
5) You Can Learn it all Online
6) You Can Be Your Own Boss
7) Search Marketing Has the WOW Factor
8) The Demand is Strong and Growing
9) The Industry is Hip and Groovy
10) The Skills Are Portable and Global
Have laptop, will travel!
11) Job Satisfaction is High
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01 January 2007
By Kalena Jordan By Kalena Jordan Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors By Kalena Jordan Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors By Kalena Jordan Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors By Kalena Take 'Internet solutions' as an example. Such jargon has found its way into our language with the onset of the digital age and is bandied around boardrooms and marketing departments everywhere. However the definition of this phrase is very broad and could be used to describe anything from a dial-up connection to a web site itself. It's not a logical choice for searchers and is therefore useless as a key phrase to target. Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors By Kalena Jordan Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors By Kalena Jordan Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors By Kalena and Jerry Jordan Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors By Kalena Jordan Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors By Kalena Jordan It is particularly important to keep track of the email address you use when submitting your site, because some directories, like Yahoo for example, require you to cite this address if you want to make changes to your listing later on. You should also create a spreadsheet or Word doc listing all the search engines you plan to submit your site to, their URLs, a comments field (for chosen categories etc) and a date column. Then as you submit to each site, you can check it off on your list, writing down the date submitted. (780 words) Copyright © 2005 by Kalena Jordan. All rights reserved under U.S. and international law. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Article by Kalena Jordan. As well as running her own SEO business Web Rank, Kalena Jordan manages Search Engine College, an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects. Labels: Articles by SEC Tutors
26 September 2006
Does your web site make search engines happy? Despite all the negative hype lately, it's pretty easy to design a web site that search engines will accept with open arms. All it takes is 3 easy steps:
1) Follow the Search Engine Guidelines
Nearly all search engines publish their own guidelines regarding the submission of sites, the type of sites they will accept and recommendations for optimized content. Google recently updated their Webmaster Guidelines which cover the most common forms of deceptive or manipulative search engine behavior that they consider to be "spam". They also published SEO Guidelines - advice for webmasters to heed when choosing an SEO. Google was the first search engine to publicly acknowledge search engine optimizers in this fashion.
It's not just Google publishing anti-spam guidelines. You'll find them at the following search engine sites as well:
- MSN Search webmaster guidelines
- AltaVista terms of use (AltaVista is a Yahoo-owned company)
- Yahoo terms of service
- Yahoo guidelines on search engine spam (covering AltaVista and AllTheWeb as well)
- Yahoo definitions of search engine spam (covering AltaVista and AllTheWeb as well)
- Yahoo content guidelines
- AskJeeves / Teoma terms of service and spam policy
- AskJeeves / Teoma editorial guidelines
2) Avoid Spamming the Search Engines
Often, webmasters will use search engine spam techniques without even being aware that they are doing so. Or worse, web designers can - advertently or inadvertently - integrate techniques that could cause a site to be penalized in the site's rankings in one or more engines, without the site owner's knowledge of such penalties. The key to avoiding spamming the engines is research.
Keep track of the various search engine guidelines via the links above. Watch for any changes they make to these guidelines and tweak your site accordingly. Trawl the various webmaster and search engine forums regularly to ensure your site doesn't use any of the latest methods that appear to be penalized. If you suspect your site has been penalized, remove the offending content, contact the engine concerned and ask to be reinstated.
Google actually encourage you to file a re-inclusion request via their Help Center and this post by Google staffer Matt Cutts outlines what should be included.
Alternatively, here is a sample email template you can use instead:
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Sample Re-inclusion Request Email:
Dear [search engine name],
I am the owner of [your site URL].
I did not realize that participation in [spammy method] and
[spammy SEO name] programs could cause problems for my website. I was
assured that these techniques were search-engine-friendly by [your source for using spammy method].
I now understand that the practices used are not acceptable. I apologize for having allowed them to be placed on my website. I've removed the questionable pages and links from the site. I promise not to repeat such mistakes.
I am asking you to please consider reinstating my website,
[your site URL] into the [search engine name] Index.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
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To assist them to provide a high quality service, search engines encourage people to report search results they are dissatisfied with. If you spot some content spam or techniques that are clearly in breach of the search engine's public guidelines, you can report it using these links:
- Google spam report or via search-quality@google.com
- AllTheWeb relevancy problem report (AllTheWeb is a Yahoo-owned company)
- AltaVista search results manipulation report (or via Yahoo's spam report below)
- Yahoo spam report
- AskJeeves spam report or via information@ask.com
3) Build Sites for Visitors Rather than Search Engines
The methodologies may have changed over the years, but the same principles have always applied to "good" or "white hat" SEO. Build sites for humans, not search engines. Make the site as user friendly as possible, avoid the bells and whistles and include high quality, relevant content.
Wherever possible, include text-based content and navigation menus with simple, descriptive, well-written copy designed to convert your visitors into customers. Include keywords and phrases your audience would logically type in to search engines to find sites like yours. Only link to sites that are relevant to your target audience and spend some time on usability, making sure all your forms and shopping carts work.
Remember that what pleases a visitor is almost always what pleases a search engine too.
About the Author:
Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running her own SEO business, Kalena manages Search Engine College - an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects.
24 March 2006
Google AdSense is fast becoming the preferred way for people to earn an income online. Forget eBay and multiple affiliate programs - Whether you are a work-at-home mom trying to make a little extra cash or an Internet entrepreneur with hundreds of monetized websites, AdSense is truly the easiest way to earn money.
Simply sign up for a free account, grab your ad code and paste it in your site. But here's the amazing thing - no matter how much money AdSense is making for you right now, a few simple tweaks can increase that amount considerably. And I should know, after learning about these tricks, I more than doubled my AdSense commissions!
The self-proclaimed AdSense gurus and experts are sharing this insider knowledge, for a fee. You can learn all these secrets from them, as long as you buy their e-book, sign up for their seminar or purchase their newsletter. But I'm going to share all their AdSense tricks for free. Here they are:
1) Color code your ads to match your web site palette *exactly*. Don't use frames around your ads. Instead, in the AdSense code generation interface, make sure you choose the same color as your page background for the ad frame and the ad background.
When choosing the ad heading colors, match them to the *exact* color of your page headings. Use the exact same ad background shade as your page background. Use the exact same ad text font and color as the text on your pages. You can see an example of this color-matching on my search engine advice blog - notice the 4 link ad unit and skyscraper text ad unit on the left hand side under the headings Ads by Google as you scroll down the page? The link and text colors are identical to the color palette used throughout the rest of the page.
Near enough is NOT good enough. If you can't quite get the color matching right, use Google's built in color palette together with the RGB to HEX or vice versa color converter on this page. That handy little tool was a life saver for me.
This is probably the one single tweak that made the most difference to my commission levels.
2) Try not to use the traditional horizontal banner style or leaderboard image ads because people are blind to them.
3) Use Google's own AdSense optimization tips and visual heat map to assist you in deciding where on your page to place your AdSense ad code.
4) Research competitive keywords using a keyword research tool such as Keyword Discovery or grab a list of the most popular keywords from various sources and use them in your web site pages where relevant. This article is a good source of frequently searched keywords. Targeting popular keywords should trigger AdSense ads on your pages that utilize those keywords. The more popular the keyword or phrase, the higher AdWords advertisers are generally willing to pay per click for it so the higher your commission on those clicks.
5) Incorporate the AdSense code into your page so that the ads look like a regular part of your site. You can see an example of this on the Internet Dating Stories site where link ads are incorporated within the regular left hand navigation of the site under the heading "Sponsor Links".
6) Use Google's new 4 and 5 link ad units wherever possible. They seem to have a much higher Click Through Rate (CTR) than regular ad styles. You can view all the AdSense ad formats here.
7) Place images next to your ads to attract the eyes. You can see this in place on the search engine article library page at the bottom where 3 images draw your attention to the bottom of the page. But be careful here - the use of arrows or symbols enticing viewers to click are NOT allowed by Google and publishers may NOT label the Google ads with text other than "sponsored links" or "advertisements".
8) Use the full allowance of multiple AdSense ads on each of your pages - 3 regular AdSense ads, plus 1 link unit. Use careful placement of these ads so they blend into your site and don't distract from your content. Clever use of this allowance can be seen on this page about bad Internet dating stories where you see:
- 1 horizontal 4 link ad unit towards the top of the page under the first paragraph
- 1 vertical skyscraper text ad unit about halfway down the left hand side under "Sponsor Links"
- 1 vertical skyscraper image ad unit down the left hand side under "Sponsor Links"
- 1 horizontal text banner unit at the bottom of the page with images above each ad.
You can also include 1 AdSense referral button in addition to the 3 other units.
9) Tailor your page content to a particular niche or focus. Page content that is tailored towards a specific theme is more likely to trigger AdWords ads that closely match the content and are therefore more likely to interest your visitors and inspire them to click. Don’t create pages merely for the sake of placing AdSense ads. Visitors (and search engines) can see through this ruse in an instant.
10) Use custom Ad Channels for each of your ad placements, for example, "Top 5 Link Unit Blue Palette" or "Left Side Navigation Image Skyscraper" etc. Tweak, track and measure the success of each of these custom channels so you know what gives you the highest CTR. Some ad formats and colors will work better than others, but you won't know which until you test, test and test some more!
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The above article may be re-published as long as the following paragraph is included at the end of the article and as long as you link to the URL mentioned below:
Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running her own SEO business, Kalena manages Search Engine College, an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects.
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01 February 2006
Like many people who earn their income via the Internet, I use affiliate programs to supplement my income. One of the affiliate products I promote (Proposal Kit) had been performing particularly well for me recently and I decided to help things along by creating a Google AdWords campaign based around my reviews of the product.
After one month, the campaign was going ok, I was getting a few sales here and there and certainly making a good ROI on the promotion. However, although my Click Through Rate (CTR) was pretty good (1.2%), it was starting to slide backwards and I thought I could do better. As you probably know, your ad position in Google relies heavily on your CTR compared to your competitors, so I was keen to turn things around and keep my high ad positions.
Around this time, I bought Nick Usborne's book Net Words and started to read it, taking notes as I went. I realized that according to Nick's philosophy, my AdWords ads were flat and boring. They were just not appealing enough to entice people to click on them. As Nick explains in his book, "Being blah guarantees you'll never be heard".
So I set about re-writing some of my ad text to speak more directly to my audience and ask them a question that required a response. Below is an example of an ad targeting the search query "business proposal before I changed the text:Business Proposal Kit
And here is the text I replaced it with:
Close the sale with a professional
business proposal template kit.Need a business proposal?
The aim was to get my average CTR for the entire campaign up to around 2% from the existing 1.2% it was sitting at.
Create your own professional
proposal with our template kit.
I logged off for the evening and went to bed, not expecting too much. The next morning, I had messages in my email in-box advising me that I had made 3 sales overnight! I was quite excited and logged into AdWords to see how things were going. Sure enough, my clicks were way up and two of the three AdGroups I had edited were showing an average 33% CTR! My overall campaign CTR had risen from 1.2% to 2.4%. I had never experienced CTR that high before. The ad I had changed used to show a 2.5% CTR and after a few days the changed ad displayed a 4.3% CTR.
Taking note of the ads that had attracted the most clicks, I created more around related keywords and phrases, using similar headlines to the ads that were performing the best. This time, I incorporated Nick's advice to use short and punchy copy.
Below is an example of an ad I was using to target the search query "seo contract" before I changed the text:Sample SEO contract
And here is the text I replaced it with:
Proposal Kit provides a perfect SEO
contract template. Read our review.Need an SEO contract?
After another week, my average CTR for the whole campaign jumped from 2.4% to 4% and I had a couple of ads showing 100% CTR! You can imagine how excited I was. Of course the high CTR builds on itself because the higher your CTR, the higher your ad position and the higher your ad position, the more clicks it is likely to attract. So my campaign had jumped from 1.3% in the first month, to 2.4% in the second month and after my fine-tuning, it's now showing a 4% CTR consistently. And the sales? Well I now average at least seven sales per week, up from two per week over the past 6 months and my affiliate commission is at an all time record.
Create yours.
Today.
The exercise just goes to show that a few thoughtful tweaks to your ad copy can make a HUGE difference to your bottom line. So what are you waiting for? Go tweak that copy in your own campaigns...
Copyright © 2005 by Kalena Jordan. All rights reserved under U.S. and international law.
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The above article may be re-published as long as the content remains unchanged and the following paragraph is included at the end of the article, including the URL links:
Article by Kalena Jordan. As well as running her own SEO business Web Rank, Kalena Jordan manages Search Engine College, an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects.
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24 August 2005
I came across a very clever tactic by an article author the other day. I was reading one of his free reprint articles and when I finished it, I realized just how smart he really was. Not simply for the content of the article, which contained very timely and useful information, but for the way he managed to hook the reader in and possibly profit from them. Let me explain:
Like me and other article writers, this author circulates his articles to hundreds of article distribution lists on a regular basis. His articles contain a link back to his web site, which is an ideal way to boost his site's link popularity on the search engines. Like other authors, he writes about hot topics and current events in his particular industry. Like most article authors, he writes in a casual, relaxed style that engages the reader quickly and earns their trust. BUT, (here comes the clever part), unlike most article marketers, this author always divides his articles into two or more parts.
The first part of the article is circulated as a stand-alone free reprint article via traditional distribution methods. But at the end of the article and in his Author Resource Box, he adds a link to invite the reader to view "a continuation of the article" on his web site. The link is described as either part two of the first article, or a related article with more detailed information or a specific tutorial on how to implement what was discussed in part one.
Why does he do this? Because most people reading the first article will naturally click on the link leading to the next. Once they are at his web site, he has much more control over how the rest of the article/tutorial is presented. If the article is a tutorial about an aspect of web design or search engine marketing, it generally includes software recommendations that integrate his affiliate links. He also manages to weave in Google AdSense ads at convenient points between the article paragraphs. And of course, by the time readers arrive at his site, he has engaged the reader and gained enough of their trust for them to take his recommendations and click on his affiliate and AdSense links so he earns commission from them. Very clever, don't you think?
You too can use this tactic to profit from your own free reprint articles, by doing the following:
1) Write articles that solve a problem for the reader, like a "how to" article or a basic tutorial.
2) Write about hot or new topics in your industry that people are likely to be searching for.
3) Write the article in two or more segments and save the key instructions for part two.
4) Design a landing page for the later part/s of your article that naturally weaves in your affiliate links and/or AdSense ads.
5) Create a text link "hook" to the continuation of your article, (your landing page), from the bottom of part one.
6) Make sure the first part of your article is well-written and contains useful information as a stand-alone article. The key is to provide a relevant, interesting article with a link to another relevant, interesting article. No-one wants to read a poorly-disguised ad for your affiliate products.
7) Submit part one of your article to free distribution lists.
8) Observe the increased link popularity your site attains and the resulting increase in search engine traffic.
9) Enjoy the benefits and potential profits from your article marketing efforts!
Copyright © 2005 by Kalena Jordan. All rights reserved under U.S. and international law.
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The above article may be re-published as long as the content remains unchanged and the following paragraph is included at the end of the article, including the URL links:
Article by Kalena Jordan. As well as running her own SEO business Web Rank, Kalena Jordan manages Search Engine College, an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects.
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19 July 2005
Like it or not, the keywords and phrases you select to describe your site within your META tags and body text can make or break your listings in the search engines. It's a sad fact that most companies are targeting the wrong keywords and losing traffic as a result.
Even sites that have excellent rankings will not benefit if those rankings are for unsuitable keywords. Let me give you an example:
A few months ago, we had an Australian client who wanted us to implement an optimization campaign to improve their search engine rankings, but without jeopardizing existing rankings they had achieved for two particular search phrases: 'Internet solutions Australia' and 'online banking solutions'.
Can you guess what products and services this company sells? The search phrases don't really give much away do they? In fact, this company is a distributor of web site design software that is specifically tailored for banks. Now ask yourself this: if you were a bank looking for this company's products, would you have typed in either of the phrases above to find their site? I doubt it. You would type in something more logical like 'web site design software' or 'web sites for banks' right?
This company was clearly targeting the wrong keywords and phrases. Their top ten rankings for these phrases were irrelevant, because nobody was searching for these phrases in relation to the products this company was offering. The phrases they had chosen are what I call 'jargonized', that is, they are filled with industry jargon and buzz words.
To prove my point, I researched the client's chosen phrases using Wordtracker keyword software and then did comparison research using the more logical phrases above. The results were crystal clear: the logical, simplified phrases were many times more popular than the jargonized ones. Once I demonstrated this to the client, they were more than happy for us to conduct more thorough keyword research and start their search engine optimization campaign with a clean slate.
When selecting the keywords and phrases for your site, remember to select search terms that describe your products and services in the most logical, simple and specific way. By doing so you'll not only increase the search engine traffic to your site, but you'll ensure your visitors are highly qualified to buy your products and services when they arrive.
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About the Author:
27 May 2005
In Part 1 of this article, we looked at the various pay for performance advertising models offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing. In this article, we will look at the remaining pay for performance search engine models on our list, starting with Google AdWords.
Google AdWords
Similar to Yahoo! Sponsored Search, Google AdWords gives web site owners the ability to promote their site when particular keyword or key phrase searches are conducted at Google and their partner sites.
Your ads usually appear on the right side of results pages in a call out box under the heading Sponsored Links. Your AdWords text or image ads appear on search result pages for the keywords you buy, and can be targeted by language and country.
With Google AdWords cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, you pay only when a customer clicks on your ad, regardless of how many times it's shown. Google adjusts your bids automatically to keep you ahead of your competition at the lowest possible price. Google Adwords results appear on Google search results pages, Google’s distribution partner sites, Google Gmail, and numerous content sites which are syndicated through the Google Adsense program.
For more information on Google AdWords, Click Here.
Google AdSense
Google AdSense is a way for webmasters to generate income from their sites by displaying text or image advertisements from companies participating in the Google AdWords program.
You can display targeted advertising for your content pages or you can add a Google search box to your site and show targeted ads on search results pages. When visitors click on these ads, Google pays you a fee. The ads are targeted to the content already on your page so they are not as intrusive to your visitors.
For more information on Google AdSense, Click Here.
LookSmart LookListings
The LookSmart Directory originally offered a Paid Submission model and then transformed it into a Pay For Performance model, removing their Express Submit directory submission service and receiving a lot of criticism in the process.
To have your site included in LookSmart.com, you must pay a per click fee when visitors click on your listing, similar to the Yahoo! Search Submit Express model. The relevancy keywords, title and description chosen during the set up of your listing determine when your site appears for searches.
There is no free submission option to Looksmart and the only way to get your site into their directory is to either pay for their LookListings or submit your site via the Zeal Directory, which is only an option available to non-profit sites.
LookSmart LookListings work like this:
1) Create Your Listing which includes:
- site description & title
- relevancy keywords (for keyword targeted listings)
- directory category
2) Set Your Monthly Budget:
- set your maximum monthly budget
- set your maximum click rates for each URL (for keyword targeted listings)
- your account is debited USD 0.15 per click (for inclusion-targeted listings)
- minimum account deposit totaling your maximum monthly budget
- each campaign has a minimum monthly budget of USD 15
3) Account Management
- traffic reporting
- automatic monthly account refills (from your nominated credit card)
- adjust your budget
- update description, title and relevancy keywords
- bids monitored automatically (for keyword targeted listings)
LookListings appear on sites across the LookSmart Network including LookSmart, Lycos, Mamma.com and CNET Search.
For more information on LookSmart LookListings, Click Here.
Other Pay-Per-Click Providers
Apart from the big players, there are a large number of other medium-sized search providers selling pay-per-click search advertising. These include:
- FindWhat
- Enhance (formerly ah-ha)
- Kanoodle
- Espotting
- 7Search
- GoClick
- ePilot.com
- Lycos Insite AdBuyer
- Search123
Of course there are hundreds more PPC engines, many of which can be found via the sites listed in our Further Reading section below.
Don’t be afraid to set-up some test pay per click campaigns to dip your toes into the paid advertising waters. You don’t have to have a large budget to reap rewards, just a willingness to experiment and apply what you learn to improve your campaigns. What you do with all your extra traffic is up to you!
Further Reading
Pay Per Click Search Engines (CPC / PPC)
Pay Per Click Search Engines on Pandia
Pay Per Click Search Engines on Search Engine Guide
Buying Your Way In: Search Engine Advertising Chart
Pay Per Click Analyst
Pay Per Click Guide
Pay Per Click Universe
Copyright © 2005 by Kalena Jordan. All rights reserved under U.S. and international law.
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The above article may be re-published as long as the content remains unchanged and the following paragraph is included at the end of the article, including the URL links:
Article by Kalena Jordan. As well as running her own SEO business Web Rank, Kalena Jordan manages Search Engine College, an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects.
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05 May 2005
Pay per click (PPC) advertising via search engines has become extremely popular with businesses of all sizes, due to the booming search market and the massive growth in online sales over the past few years.
According to ComScore Networks, online consumer spending for the 2004/5 financial year is expected to top USD 66 billion dollars, up 25% on the previous year. That’s right, 66 BILLION dollars! A large chunk of that expenditure will come from leads generated via pay per click search engines.
If you've been thinking about trying out PPC engines but are confused about the different models available and the costs involved, this article will shed some light. I will also explain the newly launched PPC products offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly operating under the Overture brand).
Below is a current list of the most popular pay for performance search engine advertising models:
> Yahoo! Sponsored Search (Pay Per Click)
> Yahoo! Content Match (Pay Per Click)
> Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search (Pay Per Click)
> Yahoo! Search Submit Express (Paid Inclusion)
> Yahoo! Search Submit Pro (Hybrid Paid Inclusion / Pay Per Click)
> Google AdWords (Pay Per Click)
> Google AdSense (Pay Per Click affiliate program)
> Looksmart LookListings (Pay Per Click)
You will find that some of these will provide better results than others. I'm not going to recommend one over another here because results vary widely and really depend on your site content, your market and your budget. But below is a brief description of each product offering and the minimum cost involved.
Yahoo! Sponsored Search
Yahoo! Sponsored Search is the new name for what was recently called Overture Precision Match. Sponsored Search prominently displays your business in search results on some of the top U.S. search properties.
With Sponsored Search, you set the price you're willing to pay for each customer who clicks on your listing.
If you create a keyword campaign and your bid buys their "premium listings" (top 3 positions) for particular keywords or search phrases, your bid buys you top listings on Yahoo's partner sites (Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista, InfoSpace, Excite, AllTheWeb and a range of news and content portals, such as CNN).
For example, go to AllTheWeb and type in a search for used cars. Take note of the top 3 spots. Now go to MSN Search and type in a search for used cars. You'll see that the "Sponsored Sites" listings in the green box at the top (and/or the text ads to the right) contain the same top 3 listings from AllTheWeb. The regular MSN directory listings follow underneath the green box. So basically, purchasing PPC listings on Yahoo! can give you top billing on other major search engines too.
For a monthly fee, listings can be automatically monitored using the Yahoo! Search Optimizer to ensure bid amounts are consistent to attain target positions without going over budget. Volume levels are determined by your budget, as you only pay for the traffic delivered.
How much you pay depends on the keyword or phrase you are bidding on and what position you want to purchase. Each account has a USD20 minimum monthly spend and a USD30 non-refundable initial deposit is required to open the account (which is applied to click-throughs). There is a minimum bid requirement of USD 0.10 per click through and you pay the bid price EACH TIME somebody clicks your ad from Yahoo! and their partner listings.
With the large traffic numbers driven to your site via Yahoo! Sponsored Search, the costs of keyword bid campaigns can quickly add up, so I highly recommend deciding on a total budget so that you can develop a cost effective keyword bid allocation and maintenance plan combining both premium (top 3) and other listings.
Yahoo! provides detailed reporting tools to help you track the performance of the PPC campaign and traffic generated. Yahoo! also offers a special Keyword Selector Tool to assist in the selection of your keywords, a View Bids Tool, where you can see the current maximum bids and listings for the top 3 advertisers on any search term, a PPC ROI Calculator and a CPM ROI Calculator.
Yahoo! offers two sign-up plans, Fast Track or Self Serve, giving you the choice of expert assistance or starting out on your own. With Fast Track, Yahoo! experts research your website and recommend effective search terms based on the content of your site and Yahoo!'s editorial guidelines. They also create customized ad titles and descriptions based on those search terms. Fast Track has a one time service fee of USD199, while Self Serve is free.
For more information on Yahoo! Sponsored Search, Click Here.
Yahoo! Content Match
Content Match works on the same principle Yahoo! Sponsored Search, but offers advertisers access to more targeted customers on a pay-per-click basis by displaying their site listings alongside related articles, product reviews and other information on the Content Match partner network.
This network includes sites like Yahoo!, MSN.com, CNN.com and ESPN.com. Yahoo! Content Match complements Sponsored Search while offering separate pricing.
Yahoo! Content Match works like this:
1) When you sign up for Sponsored Search, your Yahoo! account will be set up to automatically receive Content Match traffic, and your listings are automatically re-purposed for Content Match.
2) When a web user goes to a Yahoo! and views content pages (such as articles), Yahoo! provides one or more relevant ad listings on the same page.
3) Users may also be targeted based on their interests and actions. For example, a user who demonstrates an interest in photography-related topics on one site may be provided with photography-related Content Match listings on that site or on other Content Match publisher sites such as CNN and ESPN.
4) Minimum bids start at USD 0.10, and you pay only when a user clicks on your listing.
5) You can manage and track the performance of your Content Match listings from the Manage Content Match pages in your Sponsored Search Account once you have completed the Sponsored Search advertiser sign-up process.
6) Separate campaign management, including bidding, ad listing and tracking, lets you adjust your bids and measure performance independent of Sponsored Search to achieve maximum ROI.
7) You can control your advertising spend across your Content Match campaigns with Yahoo's Budgeting feature.
For more information on Yahoo! Content Match, Click Here.
Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search
Yahoo! also offers a regionally-focused pay-per-click advertising option. Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search enables both online and offline businesses to potentially increase sales by precisely targeting customers in a specific geographic region.
Local Sponsored Search works best for businesses that are targeting customers in their neighborhood seeking to purchase local products and services via a web site or physical store location.
Local Sponsored Search features a Locator page, which provides prospects with information about your business, including address, phone number, store hours and a map of your location. In addition, if your business has a Web site, your main Web page will be displayed along with the Locator page.
Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search works like this:
1) You select keywords you wish to bid on that best describe your business, products or services. Write listings and choose a geographic range (0.5 to 100 mile radius around your location) from which you want to draw customers.
2) When a customer interested in your area goes to a search site such as Yahoo! and searches for a product or service you sell, your listing appears.
3) When the customer clicks on your listing, they see your Locator page and a link to your Web site, if you have a site.
4) Just like your Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search listing, you only pay your bidded amount when a customer clicks on your listing and there is no monthly minimum.
For more information on Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search, Click Here.
Yahoo Search Submit Express
Through Search Submit Express you can submit one or more web pages for consideration to appear in the algorithmic search results powered by the Yahoo! search engine. This is what is known in the search industry as a paid inclusion model.
Search Submit Express offers a single point of submission for your web pages into Yahoo!, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, and other search portals.
If you have content that has just changed or is updated frequently (such as pricing information or product items), Search Submit Express ensures the most up-to-date content is available to search users by refreshing your URLs every 48 hours.
The program provides detailed reporting and data designed to help you improve your pages, optimize program performance and generate more leads.
Search Submit Express works like this:
1) Submit your URLs for review and pay an annual fee for quality review of your submitted pages. Make sure your pages follow Yahoo's Quality Guidelines.
2) Once reviewed and accepted into the program, your pages are added to a database of sites that powers search results for major web portals such as Yahoo!, Alta Vista, AlltheWeb and others.
3) Submitted URLs are presented in search results based on relevance to search terms.
4) When a user clicks your Search Submit Express listing in search results, you pay a cost-per-click fee for that lead. You must maintain a positive balance in your account for your pages to remain active in the program.
5) Your URLs are refreshed (re-crawled) every 48 hours to ensure that the most up-to-date content is available to search users.
6) At the end of one year, you can renew your annual subscription or let it lapse.
Submissions to Search Submit Express consist of a review fee and a CPC (Cost per click) component. Billing, reporting and account management for Search Submit Express listings is provided by Yahoo! or one of their reseller partners.
Search Submit Express annual review fees consist of:
Price Structure (effective 30 April 05)
Price per domain (USD):
1st URL $49.00 each
URLs 2-10 $29.00 each
URLs 11-1,000 $10.00 each
In addition to the review fee, there is also a per click fee of either $0.15 or $0.30, depending on the category of the content. The complete list of categories is listed here.
For more information on Search Submit Express, Click Here.
Yahoo Search Submit Pro
Yahoo! Search Submit Pro is the same paid inclusion program as Search Submit Express, but with more features for larger advertisers. Search Submit Pro is designed for companies wanting to submit Web pages that might otherwise be excluded from algorithmic search results (as long as they still meet Yahoo's Content Quality Guidelines). Examples include sites that require cookies or session IDs, sites with Flash content and information stored in content management systems, or sites that aren't well crawled because of Web site design.
Search Submit Pro is typically for customers with search marketing budgets of USD 5,000 per month or more, or advertisers who submit more than 1,000 Web pages to the program. A dedicated account manager is available to answer any questions, provide technical support, and help you manage your Search Submit Pro program.
Search Submit Pro lets you create titles and descriptions that are displayed as algorithmic search result listings. The program can automatically generate result listings that best match user queries. You can update the information frequently, independent of changes to your Web site.
Search Submit Pro works like this:
1) You provide an XML feed of your URLs.
2) Once reviewed and accepted into the program, your pages are added to a database of sites that powers search results for major web portals such as Yahoo!, Alta Vista, AlltheWeb and others.
3) When Internet users visit the Search Submit Pro partner sites and enter keyword searches, your listings may appear within the search results based on their relevance to the user's search request.
4) Your URLs are refreshed (re-crawled) every 48 hours to ensure that the most up-to-date content is available to search users.
Pricing for Search Submit Pro is based on cost per click - customers are charged each time a user clicks on one of the customer's search listings. The specific cost is based on the type and category of content provided for inclusion in the algorithmic search results and is obtainable from a Yahoo! Account Manager.
For more information on Search Submit Pro, Click Here.
In Part 2 of this article, we look at the remaining pay for performance search engine models on our list, starting with Google AdWords.
Copyright 2005 by Kalena Jordan. All rights reserved under U.S. and international law.
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The above article may be re-published as long as the content remains unchanged and the following paragraph is included at the end of the article, including the URL links:
Article by Kalena Jordan. As well as running her own SEO business Web Rank (www.webrank.biz), Kalena Jordan manages Search Engine College (www.searchenginecollege.com), an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects.
16 February 2005
If you own or manage a website, you are probably already aware of the importance of your log files or site statistics. Such data can give you insights about your site's usability, errors in your HTML code, the popularity of your site pages and the type of visitors your site attracts. But did you know it can also highlight the success or failure of your search engine optimization campaign?
There is specific data about your web site that you should be looking at in your log files on a regular basis. Several variables should be examined monthly or even weekly to ensure your site design and page optimization is on the right track:
1. Entry Paths
Most sites can be developed and analysed around the concept of visitor pathways. If, for example, your site is a Business to Business (B2B) site and you service small, medium and large businesses, there should be pathways through your site designed for each class of visitor. An extremely simplified example would be:
Clients coming to the site through an optimized home page:
home page ---> small business page ---> order page ---> order confirmation page
home page ---> medium business page ---> order page ---> order confirmation page
home page ---> large business page ---> order page ---> order confirmation page
The site entry pages for these pathways are often optimized home pages or optimized content pages. The final page of this route is often the action that you want clients to take on your site (e.g., sign up for your newsletter, buy your products online or contact you for further information). You can easily determine how effective your pathways are by tracking the entry paths on a regular basis via your site stats.
You should have some idea of the main pathways that clients take through your site, both for monitoring the effectiveness of your page optimization and conversions, and for the purpose of subsequent site redesign(s). A good starting point to track the pathways through your site is via the graph or chart called "Entry Paths" in your log files / site statistics.
2. Top Exit Pages
These are pages from which most visitors click away from your site. Why is it useful to track these? Because exit pages can tell you:
a. If there is a technical problem with the page that is causing visitors to leave your site. For example, if there are broken links, or the form on the page is not working properly etc.
b. If your site design is breaking the strategic pathway, for example, you may have links to external sites that are inducing clients to click away before buying your product or signing up for your newsletter.
c. If there is something on these pages that is encouraging visitors to leave your site. For example, an unprofessional design or confusing layout.
In your log files / site statistics, the graph or chart called "Top Exit Pages" is the place to learn why visitors are leaving your site.
3. Single Access Pages
These are entry pages that are viewed once before the visitor clicks away from your site. Similar to Top Exit Pages, Single Access Pages can tell you a lot about why people are not staying on your site for long.
Have a close look at the search terms used to find your site. Single Access Pages can often indicate that your target search terms are too broad. For example, you may be getting a lot of traffic by targeting "printer cartridges" but if you only stock a particular brand of cartridge, then people seeking other brands are not going to find what they truly seek when they arrive at your site so they will leave immediately. This can be resolved by narrowing down your search terms to be more targeted and focused on your niche products and services, for example, by changing "printer cartridges" to "HP printer cartridges" and so on.
To see what pages of your site are viewed once, look for the graph or chart called "Single Access Pages" in your log files / site statistics.
4. Most Requested Page(s) and Top Entry Pages
Tracking these pages is key to measuring the success of your SEO campaign. If your optimization is effective, the Top Entry Pages and Most Requested Pages should be those that you have optimized for target keywords. The Top Entry Pages are particularly relevant as you consider the pathways through your site. Do the most popular entry pages have any relationship to the start pages for your plotted visitor pathways? Or are visitors entering and navigating your site via ways you didn't intend? You can use this information to continually tweak your page optimization to guide visitors to the right pathways.
To see your most requested pages, look for the graph or chart titled "Most Requested Pages" in your log files / site statistics. Also look for "Top Entry Pages".
5. Page refreshes
Why are visitors refreshing pages on your site? Are the pages not loading properly? The "Page Refreshes" variable is another one to monitor on a monthly basis via your site stats to ensure that there are not site usability issues for visitors.
6. Referring Domains and Referring URLs
Where are your visitors coming from? Are they coming from sites that are linked to yours? Are blog authors or forum members talking about your site? Referring Domains will tell you what sites are linking to yours, while Referring URLs will list the actual pages where the links are located. These can be little gold mines because you can often find valuable sources of traffic via links to your site that you didn't even know existed.
In terms of an SEO campaign, these links can all add to your site's overall link popularity, an important factor in the ranking algorithms of many search engines, particularly Google. Monitoring these metrics can tell you if your site requires a link-building campaign or help you measure the effectiveness of various online and offline advertising campaigns.
In your log files / site statistics, Look for the graph or chart titled "Referring Domains" and "Referring URLs".
7. Search Engine Referrals
How many of your visitors are coming directly from search engines? What percentage of overall traffic does this represent? This is a good variable to track to help you keep up with how many search engines are listing your site (both free submission and paid submissions), how much traffic they bring and whether to renew your paid submissions. It can also tell you whether you need to increase the number of search engines your site is submitted to in order to build on your link popularity. As a a very rough guide, you should be receiving at least 30 percent of your site traffic via search engine referrals.
To see search engine referrals, look for a chart or graph called "Search Engines" within your site statistics.
8. Search Phrases
This topic is related to search engine referrals generally, but gives added insight into what terms you were actually found for in the search engines. Do these terms match what your site was optimized for? Are there any surprising terms that you might want to develop site content for? Some log file analysis programs will even break down what specific phrases your site was found for in which particular search engines. The more detailed the data you have, the more closely you can tweak your optimization campaign to your precise market.
To see the search phrases your site was found for, look for "Search Phrases" or "Search Phrases by "Search Engine".
9. Landing pages for PCC Campaigns, etc.
If you run a pay-per-click campaign or dedicate specific pages to advertising product specials, you may use special landing pages or tracking ids to monitor your traffic and conversions. Your site logs can help you track these by showing you how many visitors they each had and what they did after they visited those pages.
10. Metric values that show a radical change from developing trends
Any site metrics that show a dramatic change from one month to the next could pin-point a problem with your site or with your optimization campaign. For example, if your search engine referrals have dropped dramatically, it could indicate that you have been penalized in a search engine (or more than one). Noticing changing trends early gives you the chance to investigate problem areas and make adjustments if necessary.
Please note that all log file analysis and site statistics programs are different and use slightly different terms to describe the metrics listed above. If you're confused, ask your site admin or hosting provider to highlight these for you.
Remember, your log files are gold mines filled with nuggets of information about your optimized web site. If you keep digging on a regular basis, you'll eventually strike it rich with success.
Copyright © 2005 by Kalena and Jerry Jordan. All rights reserved under U.S. and international law.
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The above article may be re-published as long as the content remains unchanged and the following paragraph is included at the end of the article, including the URL links:
Article by Kalena and Jerry Jordan. As well as running their own SEO business Web Rank, Kalena and Jerry Jordan manage Search Engine College, an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects.
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11 February 2005
Unlike submitting to search engines, submitting your site to directories and niche portals usually involves a lot more than simply typing in your URL. You often have to start by researching the various topic categories to find the most appropriate area to submit to. Then you generally have to provide some detailed information about your site, its’ content, your company and your contact details.
When selecting the most appropriate Directory category to submit your site to, conduct a search for your main keyword phrase and view the various related categories. Study the sites listed within these categories and choose the category that is the most relevant to or closely related to your site content. Some directories like ODP have specific Category Descriptions you should read before submitting, to ensure you have chosen the most relevant topic for your site.
Another way to choose your category is to search for sites belonging to your direct competitors. It is likely that the category they are listed in will be the most relevant to your site.
If your site targets or discusses a specific regional market, you will need to submit to a regional category. For example, if my site was about rental cars for hire in Sydney, Australia, I would need to submit it to this regional Yahoo category and not this general Yahoo rental car category.
I find it useful to submit a slightly different description of my client’s sites for each directory submission. That way, I can gauge which descriptions are more effective in terms of encouraging people to click and also which directories are providing my clients with the most traffic. Many directories feed their database results to other engines and directories, so if I have a description unique to each directory and I see that description pop up on other search sites, I know it is the result of that original directory submission and immediately recognize the value of that original submission.
Remember that directory editors don’t care about your site’s ranking in their search results. If they are reviewing a site submission that contains an obviously keyword stuffed title and description, they are unlikely to find it appealing or beneficial for inclusion in their database! Always make sure your submission details are relevant, interesting and accurate. Try to highlight your site’s benefits for the visitor and unique content that makes it stand out from others in the same category. If your site sounds just like a cookie-cutter version of others of the same topic, there is no incentive for the editor to include it.
Submitting to the Yahoo! Directory
There are a couple of sites where you want to take extreme care and do advance research when submitting your site. One of these is the Yahoo! Directory. The way you submit your site to Yahoo! can make or break your site’s ultimate ranking in the Directory and if you’re not careful, could also cost you USD 299 for nothing.
With Yahoo!’s huge market share and popularity worldwide, I believe it’s vital that your site is listed in Yahoo!’s Directory. The best way to get listed quickly is by paying the fee for Express Submission. Yahoo! Express is an expedited fee-based site suggestion service for web sites submitted to the Yahoo! directory. A member of Yahoo!'s editorial staff will look at your site, consider your suggestion and respond to you within 7 business days. Important: Payment does not guarantee inclusion in the directory, site placement, or site commentary. It only guarantees that Yahoo! will respond to your suggestion within seven business days, by either adding or denying the site.
The secret to obtaining excellent results via your Yahoo! submission is to choose the most appropriate category and include a carefully-crafted description that contains your main keyword phrase/s without being too verbose. For those of you offering a Yahoo! submission service to clients, be sure to charge a generous admin fee for your expertise in researching the category and writing the description for your client – a successful Yahoo submission can pay dividends for your client for years.
Example of a successful site description for Yahoo!:
ABC VIP Adventures - offers tailored adventure travel and vacation packages to New Zealand including day tours, exotic corporate trips, luxury travel packages, kite surfing, and extreme sports.
Example of an unsuccessful site description for Yahoo!:
ABC Travel – we are the best! We are the only company to contact for your vacation. Call now!
The latter does not use the actual company name, plus it contains lots of hype but no keywords and few clues as to what the site is about. In this case, the Yahoo! editor would have to visit the site submitted and come up with their own description and it’s doubtful the edited description will be something the submitter would be happy with.
Submitting to Open Directory
Another Directory where submission is critical is the Open Directory. DMOZ is run entirely by volunteers and your site submission must be hand-reviewed by one of these volunteers before it can be considered for inclusion. DMOZ is extremely under-staffed (I know this because I’m a DMOZ editor!) and it can take 6 or more months before your submission is reviewed – you must be patient. When submitting to DMOZ, make sure you follow the directory submission guidelines above and prepare to wait, wait and wait some more.
Procedure to follow for a successful DMOZ Submission:
1) Submit site
2) wait for 3 months
3) follow up email to category editor
4) wait for 3 months
5) escalation email to category editor above your category
6) wait for 3 months
7) ask for assistance in the Open Directory Public Forum
8) wait for 1 month
9) escalation email to DMOZ senior staff & post to various forums seeking help (last resort only)
10) Assume your submission is not relevant for DMOZ inclusion and move on!
Rules of Submission
1) Do it once: Despite the hype, there is NEVER a need to resubmit to a search engine or directory unless your site is dropped entirely (which is a very rare occurrence).
2) Do it properly: Be very thorough when submitting, especially to directories. Take the time to research and locate the most appropriate category for your site.
3) Be brief: Don’t waffle on about your site in the description field. Get to the point and describe your site in a short sentence or two.
4) Be accurate: Don’t try to trick potential visitors by using vague or misleading descriptions about your products or services.
5) Be relevant: There is a fine line to tread between relevance and keyword optimization when creating your site descriptions for submissions. Try not to cross it by using descriptions over-stuffed with keywords.
6) Be humble: “Best Web Site in the World!!!!” is not going to convince anyone and may earn you the wrath of search engine editors.
7) Be patient: Search engines and directories can take up to 6 months to index and list your site. Re-submitting won’t help things and could result in your site being shoved to the bottom of the review pile.
So that wraps up the directory submission process. It can be time consuming, but taking a little bit of time and care with your submissions can pay dividends for your site for years to come.
(1,206 words)
Copyright © 2005 by Kalena Jordan. All rights reserved under U.S. and international law.
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The above article may be re-published as long as the content remains unchanged and the following paragraph is included at the end of the article, including the URL links:
Article by Kalena Jordan. As well as running her own SEO business Web Rank, Kalena Jordan manages Search Engine College, an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects.
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Many years ago, when I was first learning about optimization and search engine submission, I looked everywhere on the Web for an easy tutorial that explained step-by-step how to submit a website to search engines and directories. I couldn’t find one and so I had to piece together the most successful process to use via trial and error.
Now there is such a huge amount of misinformation on the Web about search engine submission, I thought it was high time I wrote a basic tutorial to help webmasters sort fact from fiction.
Before You Begin
Before you can start to submit your site to search engines, you need to make sure it is ready for indexing. Use the following checklist to be absolutely sure your site is submission-ready:
Submission Spreadsheet
To make your job of submitting easier, you also need to prepare a text file or spreadsheet listing the following:
I like to use a text file created in Notepad for the above, but some people prefer to use a Word doc or a spreadsheet. It’s up to you. Remember to utilize your target search keywords as much as possible when creating your site descriptions. Or you can use parts of your optimized Title and META tags, as long as you don’t go overboard stuffing keywords and making your site description spam-like.
The site submission information I might prepare for a fictional Miami florist would look something like this:
You could even create another date column for when your site appears in the search engine so you can gauge how long the submission took to become active. It’s important that you keep track of this information so that you don’t accidentally resubmit to a search engine or directory that you’ve already covered. If you are submitting to a search engine using a paid submission option, always make note of your receipt number in case you need to follow it up.
Happy submitting!
The above article may be re-published as long as the content remains unchanged and the following paragraph is included at the end of the article, including the URL links:
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