| From the Editor: |
Dear Readers
How has the past month been for you?
With a husband, a 3 year old son, two blogs, a private consulting company to run and a full-time role with Search Engine College, life is hectic for me right now. I don't know about you, but I'm really looking forward to December, when work seems to wind down for me and I'm actually able to have a life and do things I enjoy. Like playing the darbuka (video), kayaking and fishing.
The Internet was supposed to make life easier, but for some of us, it just makes life busier! No wonder people complain they find it difficult to come up with web content or endless new ideas to blog about. The expectations of web page visitors are so much higher than they used to be.
In this month's feature article, I talk about a really easy and fast way to locate new web and blog content: article syndication. Just below the article, you'll find a News Flash about the BETA launch of Search Engine Wiki. We're very excited about that and we hope you'll take full advantage of it.
As usual, I've also got a few intriguing FAQs for your this month including one from Anne, who's confused about the content of her Title tags, another from Giles about how to structure his SEM consulting fees and one from Michael, who's concerned that his temporary domain expiry might have wiped his site from Google.
Oh and one more thing. If you like this newsletter or read my blog, PLEASE, PLEASE subscribe to my feed. It would really mean a lot to me as I build up my number of Feedburner subscribers to try and play catch up with some of the search industry rockstars!
Enjoy this issue and remember to visit the Ask Kalena blog to check out my daily answers to frequently asked search engine questions. Got a question of your own? Press the big green button on the bottom right to send me your question and you might see it featured here next month.
Until next time - wishing you clicks and conversions...
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| Feature Article: | |
How To Find Free Content for your Web Site
By Kalena Jordan
I see a lot of webmasters complain in forums and chat rooms that they don't have enough content on their web sites but they don't have the means or the knowledge to find more.
There are actually many ways to obtain more web site content. You could hire someone to write it for you. You could purchase some ready made content about your site topic or you could spend some time and write content yourself. But did you know that there is a way you can get hundreds of pages worth of high quality, fresh content every day without paying a cent? There is. It's called article syndication.
Articles relating to thousands of topics are freely available for syndication on web sites. Authors provide them for this purpose to gain a wider audience and achieve more back links. Generally, the only requirement for webmasters is that the author's by-line, resource box and link is included with the published article. In terms of copyright, you simply need to follow the author's publishing guidelines when republishing their article. This usually involves an "About the Author" paragraph at the bottom of each article with a sentence and link to the author's site. These syndication requirements are generally specified in the article itself.
1) Browse the Internet to find articles you can syndicate. I use the article announcement groups at Yahoo Groups but you can also find them at sources such as Submit Your Articles.
2) View the articles being distributed by the group and check their freshness and quality.
3) Join the email list or subscribe to the RSS feed of any article groups that seem to be distributing content relevant to your web site.
4) Check your email or feed reader regularly to browse and select new articles.
5) Cut, paste and publish the articles into your web pages, giving credit to the author as requested in their syndication guidelines.
6) Voila! Fresh, daily content.
If the article content is to be used on a blog, there is an even quicker way to publish it. Depending on what blog software you use, you can simply forward the email containing the article directly to your blog control panel using the publish via email option and then edit the post to correct any formatting issues. The other advantage of this method is that search engines LOVE blogs and tend to index them more often than regular web pages.
I use blog article syndication quite successfully for a couple of my clients. One is in the travel industry and the other has a large wedding portal. I simply subscribe to articles on travel and wedding related topics and publish them to the blogs belonging to each client. My clients supplement these with articles and blog posts written by their own staff or hired writers.
There are a number of advantages to using article syndication:
Relevant, Timely Content - You can choose content that is closely geared to your existing content and of interest to your audience. For example, if you sell airline tickets, publish travel articles about exotic destinations. The idea there is that persons reading travel articles might be thinking about traveling themselves and need to be reminded to book their plane tickets.
Cross Promotion - You can choose content that gives you the opportunity to up sell to your own products or affiliate products. For example, if you sell scented candles online, you could choose to publish articles about increasing the romance in your marriage and then include a link at the end of the article to your candle sales catalog (would you like fries with that?).
SEO Value - Apart from the obvious value of having fresh content regularly available for indexing, there are other SEO advantages to article syndication. Most articles are keyword-rich, meaning that they contain a lot of keywords and phrases that people might use in search queries. Publishing these articles means that your site has a better chance of being found for related search queries. One of my clients noticed their syndicated article pages ranking in the top 10 Google SERPs for target keywords within two days of publishing! You can also embed links within the articles or at the end of articles to related areas of your site using keyword-rich anchor text.
Increased Traffic & Sticky Content - It's not only search engines that love fresh content. You'll find that you'll attract more visitors when you publish relevant articles. Provided you find ways to interact with your new visitors such as allowing them to comment or sign up for your article feed, your site will become stickier and retain those visitors more easily.
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 a daily Search Engine Advice Column, Kalena manages Search Engine College - an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects.
News Flash: Search Engine Wiki BETA
On behalf of staff at Search Engine College, I'm very excited to announce the BETA launch of Search Engine Wiki. What is it? Search Engine Wiki is kind of like an online public library for Search Engine Marketing (SEM) resources.
We've been compiling lists of search engines, useful marketing tools, time-saving software and other web resources for over 10 years now and we've decided to share them all with the public in the form of a wiki. This means that the public can become editors and add their own favorite resources, similar to how Wikipedia works.
Some of our most popular wiki resources include:
- Lists of international search engines categorized by country, type and industry
- A glossary of definitions for common terms used in SEO, PPC and SEM
- An extensive library of search engine marketing articles
- Employment resources where you can find SEO, PPC and SEM jobs
- A collection of popular search engine marketing blogs and newsfeeds
- Frequently Asked Questions about search engines and SEM
- A list of popular search engine marketing tools and time saving software
- Links to upcoming search industry conferences and events
- Introductions to well known search industry personalities
Plus a large variety of other resources relating to the exciting and fast-paced world of search engine marketing. We haven't launched it publicly yet, but we wanted to give our newsletter subscribers a first glimpse before the official launch later this month. If you have feedback on the site, we'd love to hear it.
Search Industry Jobs of the Month
Got positions vacant or short term projects you'd like advertised? Sign up for a free account with the Search Engine College Jobs Board and find great candidates.
Co-ordinator Search Marketing
Job Title: Co-ordinator Search Marketing
Job Reference #: MD00000467
Position Type: full time
Name of employer: macys.com
Location: San Francisco, California
Date Posted: 23 October 2007
Position description:
Organization Overview:
macys.com is a division of Macy's Inc. dedicated to creating an exciting e-commerce experience for our customers. With added conveniences, such as allowing merchandise exchanges and returns at all Macy's department stores nationwide, macys.com is the leading department store presence on the Internet. As we continue to extend our selling floors into cyberspace, we attribute our successes to our uniquely talented and passionate people.
Overview of Position:
The Coordinator will serve as the secondary point of contact for matters related to paid search marketing on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and other search engines for the macys.com search programs.
Coordinator's primary responsibilities include:
- Campaign Management & Optimization
- Keywords - Development and management of keywords.
- Creatives - Writing, editing and management of search copy.
- URLs - Assigning landing page URLs to each keyword and/or ad group.
- Executional Bids - Setting bids tied to budgeting for campaigns.
- Coremetrics Search Marketing Tool
- Tagging & Tracking - Using Coremetrics to append MMC parameters to keywords submitted to search engines.
- Reporting - Using Coremetrics to pull various reports weekly, monthly, and ad hoc.
- Analyzing results and making recommendations, if necessary.
- Promotional Sales Calendar Management - Gathering monthly promotional calendars.
Skills Summary:
The ideal candidate must:
- Possess strong quantitative and qualitative analysis skills, and the ability to react upon them.
- Be tech-savvy and have the ability to learn new concepts and software applications quickly.
- Have strong attention to detail.
- Have strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Possess proven Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint skills. Proficiency in File Maker and MS Access a plus.
- Confidently handle multiple projects simultaneously and under deadlines.
- Have a passion for retail and an ability to keep on top of the latest trends a plus.
Experience:
Previous experience in paid search engine marketing preferred. BA/BS from a 4 year program. Degree in business or marketing-related major preferred but not required.
Macy's is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment.
Salary range: low to mid 40s
Closing date: Unknown
More info from: [macysdirectjobs.wfrecruiter.com]
Contact: Send resumes to Alina Baugh: alina.baugh[at]macys.com
Search Engine Specialist
Job Title: Search Engine Specialist
Job Reference #: Unknown
Position Type: part time, work from home
Name of employer: Lionbridge Technologies, Inc
Location: Waltham, MA
Date Posted: 2 November 2007
Position description:
Lionbridge Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: LIOX) is a leading provider of globalization and testing services. Lionbridge combines global resources with proven program management methodologies to serve as an outsource partner throughout a client's product and content lifecycle -- from development to globalization, testing and maintenance. Global organizations in all industries rely on Lionbridge services to increase international market share, speed adoption of global products and content, and enhance their return on enterprise applications and IT system investments. Based in Waltham, Mass., Lionbridge now maintains more than 50 solution centers in 25 countries and provides services under the Lionbridge and VeriTest brands.
We are currently looking for a Search Specialist to work from home part time.
The search specialist will be our contact point for search engine feedback for that locale (Country+Lang). He/she will actively discover, collect and report search engines issues, help suggest/prioritize features, and track launches and product feedback that affect the locale. The Search Specialist is also our "eyes and ears" on the ground. He/she will track other competing products, local news and trends, and make feature/product suggestions to keep the search engine superior in the local market.
Search Specialist minimal job requirements:
Generate search experience reports with details on search quality, features, User Interface, and competitive landscape (Average frequency- 1 per month)
Complete weekly tasks. Perform lightweight analysis on results, and produce feedback on these tasks.
Keep inventory of competitors that we should be aware of, and assist in identifying eval targets
Continuously provide feedback on issues, bugs, etc. via sparrow, buganizer, and other means into search engine teams. (Average file count -3/4 per week)
Conduct lightweight user research (usability, focus groups, field studies, etc).
Complete adhoc tasks at the request of international quality PM/eng/marketing teams
Requirements and Qualifications:
Reside in country for more than five years
Fluent in local language
Fluent in English
college degree or equivalent
Strong written communication skills
Very enthusiastic about improving search experience and also technology in general. Not necessarily an engineer, but a technical enthusiast
Knowledgeable about local online market landscape, business dynamics, and can analyze competitive search situation
Marketing or business experience is a plus
Salary range: Unknown
Closing date: Unknown
More info about the company from: [www.lionbridge.com]
Contact: Send resumes to specialist.bal[at]lionbrige.com
"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother."
A. Einstein
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Have a great day!
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FAQ 1: What files do I need to transfer from a client site in order to optimize it?
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Dear Kalena... 
I have a good fundamental knowledge of SEO and HTML, but have no practical experience. As such, I need answers to the following questions please. In order to do SEO from a remote location, it's my understanding that I will need to do a transfer from an organization's storage server drive to my computer, using FTP and Internet Explorer. However, I don't know exactly what should be transferred to do the SEO work. I would really appreciate some input on this please.
Also, once I have made the changes, do I simply save them and transfer the revised work back to the organization? In addition, do I necessarily need to use Dreamweaver or a similar type of program to make the changes, or can I just hand-code the changes? Please add as much detail as you think appropriate when answering these question.
Thank-you very much.
Peter
Hi Peter
That's a lot of questions! Here goes:
1) If you have no practical experience in SEO, you have no fundamental knowledge, it's that simple. Until you have actually optimized code, you really have very little knowledge of SEO.
2) Again, if you don't understand what needs to be transferred in order to do the SEO work, in my opinion, you don't know enough yet to successfully optimize a site.
Basically, to SEO a site, you need access to the HTML code of all pages being optimized. What I do is ask my client for FTP access to their site and then I download a full copy of the pages to be optimized, including the CSS files, javascript and any images used on the pages. This is so that the pages render correctd to view the page in WYSIWYG and that hand coding is all you need. Every SEO works differently.
3) Before you start the SEO, you should find out from your client whether they are happy for you to have full FTP access to their site and simply upload the optimized pages, or whether they want their in-house site admin to implement your SEO changes. If the latter is the case, I create detailed code instructions for each page, hand them over to the client and then check the integration for errors. Some clients will want to see what the page will look like before it goes live so they can approve/edit your changes. That's when a WYSIWYG version comes in handy - you can upload your optimized page versions to a test area on your server or theirs and highlight the changes for them. Other clients will be happy for you to just edit their live site. But you should always make a backup of the old versions of their pages, just in case.
If you are serious about SEO, I strongly suggest you take up one of our SEO training courses which take you through the optimization of a site, step-by-step, with set assignments to test the practical side of your knowledge. You should also volunteer to work on some sites while you find your feet. Practical experience should help you decide how much you know about SEO and how much left there is to learn.
Kalena
FAQ 2: How do I move my site without losing rankings?
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Dear Kalena... 
I am having trouble with my "advanced access" website. The customer service has become horrible. They are very rude. I am thinking of moving my site (of course, I would have to redesign because I am using their template) but I own the domain name. I have high rankings on google so I am afraid to lose ranking. Is there a way to change my website design and webmaster without losing ranking?
Teri
Dear Teri
I'm not familiar with "Advanced Access", but I'm assuming this is some type of hosted Content Management System you use to edit your site with? Looking briefly at your site, I believe it is. And it looks as though most of the content is actually hosted on the AA site and not on your own domain. Don't be afraid to move your site if you are getting lousy service.
In terms of ranking, I think you'd actually be better off by moving your site content and domain to full hosting elsewhere. Your new host should be able to advise on making the DNS switch etc. You'll need to download all your existing site content and any images or files that are hosted on AA but referenced in your site. Of if they own the template you are using, simply keep a copy of all the text content and pay someone else to create a simple design for you based on the same content.
Provided you keep the same page content, keywords, page titles, META tags etc, you shouldn't lose any Google rankings. In fact, your rankings might even improve as you'll be referencing all your images and files etc on your own domain instead of somebody else's. If your page URLs change during the redesign, you'll need to make sure that the old pages are redirected to the new ones via 301 redirects so you don't lose traffic or existing rankings for those pages.
Kalena
FAQ 3: Is it better to have single words or phrases in the Title Tag?
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Dear Kalena...
I am working on updating the title tag and description for the Cancer Council South Australia to make it more effective. Could you please tell me whether it is better to have single words or phrases in the title tag - I am unsure on the process of how search engines actually use the title tag?
With Thanks
Anne
Dear Anne
The content of the Title Tag (or Title Attribute to use the correct term) is considered to be one of the more important elements of a page taken into account by search engines when it comes to matching your web pages with search queries. Although there are over 100 different relevancy factors that make up a search algorithm like Google's, the Title tag is considered to be in the top 10.
Another reason why the Title Tag is important is that the content of the Title is generally displayed across the top of the browser AND used as the bookmark text when people add a page to their favorite's list. And finally, the content of the Title Tag is often what's chosen by search engines to display in search results pages to describe your site.
So taking all these factors into account, your Title Tag content should:
- Accurately reflect the page content it represents
- Be a readable sentence
- Include relevant keywords and phrases
- Work as logical bookmark text
- Be enticing enough to make searchers visit your page
Kalena
FAQ 4: As a freelance SEM, how should I structure my fees?
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Dear Kalena... 
I've been running PPC campaigns and advising my employer's clients on SEO for a while and last month I finally decided to go freelance.
Something you may be able to help me with is how I should structure my standard charges for new clients? The fees charged by agencies vary enormously so it would be good to get your opinion on what constitutes a 'realistic' pricing structure for a freelancer. What works best for you?
Some SEM's charge a CPA but while this may at first seem attractive to some clients, I'm not convinced it's always as transparent as they are led to believe. Is an hourly rate better? Should I charge differently for SEO? Sorry for so many questions, but I'd really appreciate your advice.
Thanks
Giles
Hi Giles
It's really difficult to advise on fees because SEM and SEO consultants all work differently. The way you structure your fees should reflect both your working style and the projects you take on. I used to quote every client on a project-by-project basis, which required me to conduct a full analysis of each site up-front, for no fee (as this was technically pre-sales activity).
I soon learned that this was not cost-effective for me. I now charge an hourly rate and quote projects based on the estimated hours each will take. But some clients may not like an hourly rate. When it comes to freelancing, here are my tips:
1) Don't provide a fixed quote for any project, always provide an estimate in case the work takes longer than you expect.
2) Don't undercharge for your work. Quote a rate that you're worth or you will resent the project and the client. If you lose a project to undercutting by a competitor, let it go! It's not worth compromising the value of your expertise.
3) Unless you have full access to the client's site metrics, a solid understanding of and respect for their product and access to their current and future online sales figures, avoid any cost-per-acquisition or commission-based deals.
4) An hourly rate is often more cost-effective for you and easier for your clients to understand.
5) Try to quote in hours, not in dollars. This makes it easier to divide larger projects into smaller jobs and helps the client understand how valuable your time is.
6) Keep strict timesheets when working on a project to ensure you don't undercharge. A fantastic online tool for keeping timesheets and invoicing clients based on project hours is Freshbooks.
7) A monthly retainer for clients can often work well, with the ability for clients to top up hours as needed.
8) Allow clients to buy your hours in bulk for a discount e.g. 10 percent discount for a block of 10 or more hours.
9) Always ask for a percentage of the costs up front e.g. five retainer hours towards the project.
10) If a client is asking for exclusivity in their industry or market, don't be afraid to charge extra for the privilege. After all, it may mean you have to turn down future work.
Kalena
FAQ 5: Has my domain glitch caused permanent de-ranking in Google?
Dear Kalena... 
I let my domain www.visaplace.com expire, but I re-registered it within 24 hours. The site went black in the interim and it took about a 1/2 day to be repopulated online. However about a week to two weeks later I noticed that Google dropped my rankings for virtually all of my key words. I am totally invisible online now whereas I was well ranked before. I was told by my SEO person not to worry because once Google spiders my site again a few times I will get back up to my original positions.
My SEO person looked at my site and said nothing has changed and I was not blacklisted or anything. He said I should be back up within days to a few weeks. My question is: Is explanation credible? Is there another possible reason why I am de-ranked? I am really concerned.
Thanks so much
Michael
Dear Michael
Your SEO is right. What's probably happened is that Googlebot tried to index your site during the time the site was down and so dropped some/all of your previously cached pages. This can happen from time to time, especially with hosting outages etc. Obviously, if those pages were previously ranking well for certain search queries, but the pages have temporarily disappeared from Google's data store, those rankings will disappear too.
I see now that Google last cached your page on October 19 so all seems to be well again. I'm not sure how many pages were indexed before the domain problem, but Google shows 79 pages currently indexed.
To check if any site is listed in Google, you can use their Site Status Tool. If your SEO is worth his salt, he will have created a Google Webmaster Tools and uploaded an XML sitemap to Google Sitemaps on your behalf. This will tell Google how many pages your site has and what the URLs are so Googlebot can index it accurately. If you think Google has dropped some pages, be sure to have your SEO update the XML file and ping Google from within Webmaster Tools when it's uploaded.
If you want to keep close tabs on how/when Google indexes your site, ask your SEO to provide login access to your Webmaster Tools account or set one up for yourself.
Kalena
Got a question? Ask Me:
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