I finally got my coldwarkid.com and techcurtain.com website hosting settled, and had some time to write a few paragraphs for them.
A new venture that I am giving a whirl is some local advertising. It has met with some success since all the ads I have done so far are on page 1 for the search terms that the advertisers want to be found for. It has been kind of fun doing this, and the advertisers are very pleased!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
New Stuff
Since I last blogged her, (I know, I know, it's been a while!) I have started some new ventures. One is an online, do it yourself pest prevention site: Bugs And Weeds and my brick and mortar site has been updated: TexPest Services and a new site,more closely related to the concepts of this blog, ColdWar Kid. The site covers some of the current event issues as they relate to coldwar issues, and various other things that relate to the coldwar generation and our interests. Drop by for a visit!
Monday, November 5, 2007
Page Rank and The Governator?
On Thursday, August 16, 2007 I posted my thoughts on page rank,Page And Traffic Rank-Tilting at Windmills! It has pretty much proven to be true. SEOmoz had an interesting post a few days ago that stressed the importance of page rank by posting pictures of Barry Bond and Arnold the Governator, and showing the effects of steroids. OK guys, the steroids helped performance in the short term and artificially, so it is very much the same! The after pic of Arnold is enough to show the outcome!
PR matters to people who are selling ads, because the advertisers have yet to figure out that good search position is better than good pr. The little green phallic symbol is, to many, like the fancy little sports car, a means of compensating...
PR matters to people who are selling ads, because the advertisers have yet to figure out that good search position is better than good pr. The little green phallic symbol is, to many, like the fancy little sports car, a means of compensating...
Sunday, November 4, 2007
PR Drops:Does Page Rank Matter?
With the last round of Google pr drops, came the accompanying cries of foul by webmasters all over the web. This was to be expected. Along with this came a lot of statements like: "page rank doesn't matter any way," Well, there is truth in that statement.
Let's look at this logically.
Page rank means something to seo's who base reputation on it, and publishers who use it as a drawing card for advertisers. That is about it.
I have noticed for quite some time, that there were some inconsistencies between what the seo folks are saying, and what really is. We have a saying around here when someone continues to go on about something that is obviously not true. "He knows a lot of things that just aint so!"
I spent several hours doing searches for keywords related to my industry, to see just how much page rank effects placement. One example is pretty much representative of all, this is what I found:
The phrase I searched: Texas Outdoor Pest Control.
The top 10:
#1 had a pr of 1, and is a service company.
#2 had a pr of 0, the same company.
#3 had a pr of 2, a Texas A&M page.
#4 had a pr of 0, an EPA page.
#5 had a pr of 6, a University of Texas page.
#6 had a pr of 3, and is a service company from Washington state. Didn't I say "Texas?"
#7 had a pr of 3, and is from Pen State, isn't that in Pennsylvania?
#8 had a pr of 0, a service company.
#9 had a pr of 2, a service company.
#10 had a pr of 2, and was the same as number 9.
The number one spot was taken by a page with a pr of one.
2, 4, and 8, had a pr of 0.
3, 9, and 10 had a pr of 2.
6 had a pr of 3
5 had a pr of 6
None of the top 10 had a pr above six. Only 4 were from edu or gov, two of them were out of state, the pr 6 was a page on custodial care, with very little info related to the topic.
The results can be a bit confusing, but they are what they are, and they have been that way for some time.
When the search was repeated, leaving out the word Texas, only one of these was in the top 20, and, you guessed it, it was the number 1 slot in the above list with a pr of 1, at number 20. To be honest, this page changes position from between 10 and 23 on a regular basis, and the only noticeable change is the addition of some advertisements for one or two of the other pages on the list, which seems to bring some of their sub pages up in the search. When the ads are gone, the site useually comes in at 15 or 16.
conclusions:
In all my searches on regular everyday things, pr means nothing. If it influences search placement, it is only to keep a page there that would otherwise not be there. Pages with a lot of information do well without page rank, under a variety of related searches. Pages with high pr and limited information are limited to very specific search placement. The second of the two search results was filled with ecomerce pages, most of them selling gadgets that do not work. I am not sure what that means, it is just an observation. I did the same sort of search an a lot of products and services related to everyday life. You might get different results from an seo related search.
Let's look at this logically.
Page rank means something to seo's who base reputation on it, and publishers who use it as a drawing card for advertisers. That is about it.
I have noticed for quite some time, that there were some inconsistencies between what the seo folks are saying, and what really is. We have a saying around here when someone continues to go on about something that is obviously not true. "He knows a lot of things that just aint so!"
I spent several hours doing searches for keywords related to my industry, to see just how much page rank effects placement. One example is pretty much representative of all, this is what I found:
The phrase I searched: Texas Outdoor Pest Control.
The top 10:
#1 had a pr of 1, and is a service company.
#2 had a pr of 0, the same company.
#3 had a pr of 2, a Texas A&M page.
#4 had a pr of 0, an EPA page.
#5 had a pr of 6, a University of Texas page.
#6 had a pr of 3, and is a service company from Washington state. Didn't I say "Texas?"
#7 had a pr of 3, and is from Pen State, isn't that in Pennsylvania?
#8 had a pr of 0, a service company.
#9 had a pr of 2, a service company.
#10 had a pr of 2, and was the same as number 9.
The number one spot was taken by a page with a pr of one.
2, 4, and 8, had a pr of 0.
3, 9, and 10 had a pr of 2.
6 had a pr of 3
5 had a pr of 6
None of the top 10 had a pr above six. Only 4 were from edu or gov, two of them were out of state, the pr 6 was a page on custodial care, with very little info related to the topic.
The results can be a bit confusing, but they are what they are, and they have been that way for some time.
When the search was repeated, leaving out the word Texas, only one of these was in the top 20, and, you guessed it, it was the number 1 slot in the above list with a pr of 1, at number 20. To be honest, this page changes position from between 10 and 23 on a regular basis, and the only noticeable change is the addition of some advertisements for one or two of the other pages on the list, which seems to bring some of their sub pages up in the search. When the ads are gone, the site useually comes in at 15 or 16.
conclusions:
In all my searches on regular everyday things, pr means nothing. If it influences search placement, it is only to keep a page there that would otherwise not be there. Pages with a lot of information do well without page rank, under a variety of related searches. Pages with high pr and limited information are limited to very specific search placement. The second of the two search results was filled with ecomerce pages, most of them selling gadgets that do not work. I am not sure what that means, it is just an observation. I did the same sort of search an a lot of products and services related to everyday life. You might get different results from an seo related search.
Open Letter to Google
Dear Google;
Hey, this search engine thing looks like it may just stick! Sure am glad you guys were sharp enough to do this.
I see a lot of complaints about buying and selling links, and page rank issues. In general, my thinking is that if they don't like the weather, they should relocate! Links seem to be the focus of this whole issue, so I have a suggestion:
Stop grading by links at all!
The structure being used now was great when there were a lot fewer sites, and a lot less people prowling the web, but now it seems to be getting a little obsolete.
There are a lot of people who have figured out ways to manipulate those links, and thereby get better rank which seems to lead to better placement in some cases. I realize that the better placement is not always the outcome of better rank, and less so all the time. I see a lot of sites that have little to no page rank listed above sites with pretty high page rank, which begs the question:
What purpose does it serve?
A lot of the high ranking sites have almost no important information on them, and a lot have a lot of links because they have a lot of people drop in to see which starlet is in the gutter at the moment, but that hardly seems to be as important as some other issues.
What I would like to see, is a method that would produce search results based solely on the importance of content. It almost seems as if you are already heading in that direction. I know that would lower the rank of a lot of ecommerce sites, and the latest drunk starlet sites, but it would provide true quality results for the end user. Of course, there would be a lot of SEO's out of work, but they are sharp people and could come up with something I am sure.
I have no ideas on how to write such a program, but you guys seem to have half the PHD's on the planet working for you, and I am sure they can figure it out. Anyway, keep up the good work, you provide a great service, and I just wanted to offer a suggestion for making it better, and drop it in your suggestion box.
James
Post Script: If you need a good pest prevention expert, I am available!
Hey, this search engine thing looks like it may just stick! Sure am glad you guys were sharp enough to do this.
I see a lot of complaints about buying and selling links, and page rank issues. In general, my thinking is that if they don't like the weather, they should relocate! Links seem to be the focus of this whole issue, so I have a suggestion:
Stop grading by links at all!
The structure being used now was great when there were a lot fewer sites, and a lot less people prowling the web, but now it seems to be getting a little obsolete.
There are a lot of people who have figured out ways to manipulate those links, and thereby get better rank which seems to lead to better placement in some cases. I realize that the better placement is not always the outcome of better rank, and less so all the time. I see a lot of sites that have little to no page rank listed above sites with pretty high page rank, which begs the question:
What purpose does it serve?
A lot of the high ranking sites have almost no important information on them, and a lot have a lot of links because they have a lot of people drop in to see which starlet is in the gutter at the moment, but that hardly seems to be as important as some other issues.
What I would like to see, is a method that would produce search results based solely on the importance of content. It almost seems as if you are already heading in that direction. I know that would lower the rank of a lot of ecommerce sites, and the latest drunk starlet sites, but it would provide true quality results for the end user. Of course, there would be a lot of SEO's out of work, but they are sharp people and could come up with something I am sure.
I have no ideas on how to write such a program, but you guys seem to have half the PHD's on the planet working for you, and I am sure they can figure it out. Anyway, keep up the good work, you provide a great service, and I just wanted to offer a suggestion for making it better, and drop it in your suggestion box.
James
Post Script: If you need a good pest prevention expert, I am available!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
SEO Basics, Optimizing For People
With all the buzz about web 2.0, and social media, sometimes it is easy to lose site of what is basic to the Internet and it's function. Sometimes I just need a checklist for making sure that I have covered the basics! When it comes to search engine optimizing, the basics sometimes seem pretty complex, and there are a lot of opinions on what the basics are. I have set up some elementary steps to this, by looking at SEO from a human standpoint. After all, we are trying to reach people. Even in a web 2.0 world dominated by social media, you need something to be social with. The search engines are a tool for helping people to find information, so optimizing for people should equal optimizing for search engines. This is my basic list:
Basic On Site Optimization.
1. What will potential visitors type into the search box to try to find a site like yours? Determining this will help you to determine what main ideas to present. You may know what they should type in to the box, but is that what they will type? Try to think like someone who doesn't know as much about your subject as you do, but wants to know more. Think about what that person would look for. Knowing what they will likely search for will provide you with a list of keywords. Choose the top ten of these words and phrases.
Use these keywords in your meta keyword tag, no more than ten though. Use them in your title tag, which I now see as being the most important meta information. Write a description for the meta description tag, also using your main key word in it. Meta tags have become less relevant, but not completely irrelevant. The description tag is very often what the engines use to describe the sites content when it is displayed in a search. The title tag information will be displayed in the browser.
2. Put your keywords on the page, where they would naturally occur. Don't over do it though. Use them naturally. If you are writing about your subject these words should automatically appear in the text where they belong. The information that you present should be relevant. This is what your site is all about, providing interesting, informative, helpful information to your visitors. That is what people are looking for.
3. Put your keywords in bold type at least once. Really, one time is enough, just do it, it really helps.
4. Add a link to a relevant, authoritative site. Some SEO people don't agree with that, but it will help. A link to an informative and authoritative .gov, .edu, or .org site that has related information does several things. It brings your site to life. A site with no links is dead! It shows that you are serious about providing information to your visitors.
5. Link internally from one page to another on your site. Try to make it easy for your visitors to get back to your home page, or any other page, from any page on your site.
One of the things you may have noticed is that every feature here is for the benefit of the visitors. Internal links help them navigate. Off site links are to provide them with more information. Key words and keyword meta descriptions, and title tags, are there so that the search engines can learn what your site is about, so that they can give good search results to your visitors. Your domain name is the address that your visitors use to find you. Since the search engines are serving information for visitors, and your site is optimized for visitors, the search engines will reward you with better placement and more visitors.
Basic Off Site SEO.
What we are talking about is the old custom of hospitality. Where I live, it is not just a custom, it is a lifestyle. A code we live by. The same should be true on the world wide web. Don't break that code by buying links for the sake of page rank. That is like buying votes, or influence peddling. It tells a lie to the search engines, that your site is more important than it is, and therefore causes them to serve the user bad results. Just don't do it, and don't deal with an SEO firm that does it. It is really bad manners, and it can get you banned from the major search engines.
In place of that diabolical tactic, there is a tried and true way to accomplish something even better.
If you have done the on site optimizing well, you are on your way, but not finished. There are things you should do off site that will help to get your site noticed by the search engines and potential visitors.
1. Write articles for blogs and ezines on your area of expertise, or have someone write your articles for you. Then publish these, with your url in the authors bio and resource boxes, embedded, on an e magazine. This will give you a link back to your site from a well placed site. Some sites use the nofollow tag, so you may not get page rank help from such sites, but you are getting links where the readers will find you and link to your site. Other publishers will use your article, and your link will be on their site as well. More people will see the article on their site, and provide more links. You are not only gaining page rank and increasing back links, but also good advertisement and exposure all for the cost of the domain, the hosting, and your efforts. The more of these you do, the more exposure and links you will get. You are providing a meaningful service to your visitors. Search engines love it, so do visitors to your site.
2. Build a blog, and write for it regularly. Link it to your site. Other people will discover it and link to it and your site as well. This is a great way to increase your Internet presence, and to help others.
3. Go to forums and post your answers to peoples questions. Places like "Yahoo Answers," will give you an opportunity to help other people, and help yourself by becoming established as an expert in your field.
This Is what I consider to be basic SEO. There are many other factors, but this is what seems to work for me. There is really only one basic rule, and that is to make your site people friendly! Everything else seems to fall in place.
James Burns writes on internet and social issues from a different perspective, from his home in Tyler, Texas. In real life, he is a licensed outdoor pest professional, and also writes on home garden, and environmental issues.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_F._Burns
Basic On Site Optimization.
1. What will potential visitors type into the search box to try to find a site like yours? Determining this will help you to determine what main ideas to present. You may know what they should type in to the box, but is that what they will type? Try to think like someone who doesn't know as much about your subject as you do, but wants to know more. Think about what that person would look for. Knowing what they will likely search for will provide you with a list of keywords. Choose the top ten of these words and phrases.
Use these keywords in your meta keyword tag, no more than ten though. Use them in your title tag, which I now see as being the most important meta information. Write a description for the meta description tag, also using your main key word in it. Meta tags have become less relevant, but not completely irrelevant. The description tag is very often what the engines use to describe the sites content when it is displayed in a search. The title tag information will be displayed in the browser.
2. Put your keywords on the page, where they would naturally occur. Don't over do it though. Use them naturally. If you are writing about your subject these words should automatically appear in the text where they belong. The information that you present should be relevant. This is what your site is all about, providing interesting, informative, helpful information to your visitors. That is what people are looking for.
3. Put your keywords in bold type at least once. Really, one time is enough, just do it, it really helps.
4. Add a link to a relevant, authoritative site. Some SEO people don't agree with that, but it will help. A link to an informative and authoritative .gov, .edu, or .org site that has related information does several things. It brings your site to life. A site with no links is dead! It shows that you are serious about providing information to your visitors.
5. Link internally from one page to another on your site. Try to make it easy for your visitors to get back to your home page, or any other page, from any page on your site.
One of the things you may have noticed is that every feature here is for the benefit of the visitors. Internal links help them navigate. Off site links are to provide them with more information. Key words and keyword meta descriptions, and title tags, are there so that the search engines can learn what your site is about, so that they can give good search results to your visitors. Your domain name is the address that your visitors use to find you. Since the search engines are serving information for visitors, and your site is optimized for visitors, the search engines will reward you with better placement and more visitors.
Basic Off Site SEO.
What we are talking about is the old custom of hospitality. Where I live, it is not just a custom, it is a lifestyle. A code we live by. The same should be true on the world wide web. Don't break that code by buying links for the sake of page rank. That is like buying votes, or influence peddling. It tells a lie to the search engines, that your site is more important than it is, and therefore causes them to serve the user bad results. Just don't do it, and don't deal with an SEO firm that does it. It is really bad manners, and it can get you banned from the major search engines.
In place of that diabolical tactic, there is a tried and true way to accomplish something even better.
If you have done the on site optimizing well, you are on your way, but not finished. There are things you should do off site that will help to get your site noticed by the search engines and potential visitors.
1. Write articles for blogs and ezines on your area of expertise, or have someone write your articles for you. Then publish these, with your url in the authors bio and resource boxes, embedded, on an e magazine. This will give you a link back to your site from a well placed site. Some sites use the nofollow tag, so you may not get page rank help from such sites, but you are getting links where the readers will find you and link to your site. Other publishers will use your article, and your link will be on their site as well. More people will see the article on their site, and provide more links. You are not only gaining page rank and increasing back links, but also good advertisement and exposure all for the cost of the domain, the hosting, and your efforts. The more of these you do, the more exposure and links you will get. You are providing a meaningful service to your visitors. Search engines love it, so do visitors to your site.
2. Build a blog, and write for it regularly. Link it to your site. Other people will discover it and link to it and your site as well. This is a great way to increase your Internet presence, and to help others.
3. Go to forums and post your answers to peoples questions. Places like "Yahoo Answers," will give you an opportunity to help other people, and help yourself by becoming established as an expert in your field.
This Is what I consider to be basic SEO. There are many other factors, but this is what seems to work for me. There is really only one basic rule, and that is to make your site people friendly! Everything else seems to fall in place.
James Burns writes on internet and social issues from a different perspective, from his home in Tyler, Texas. In real life, he is a licensed outdoor pest professional, and also writes on home garden, and environmental issues.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_F._Burns
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Email Blocking Your Customers? Email Nazis!
I have found several cases lately, when clicking on ads, and emailing a company, of having the email bounce back. At first I thought it might be me or my email address, but after thorough testing and having others do the same, I found that it was the filtering that was at fault. This was a little bit disturbing.
Two of the companies are near my location, and are in fields closely related to my profession, so I wanted to contact them, to see what we might be able to do for each other. The only way I became aware of them, was because they appeared on some of my websites, Alien Pest via adsense ads. Lately, I have noticed an increase in adsense activity by both companies, on my sites and related sites. This is what I think is happening:
The ads that they are paying for, appear on high profile sites, in complimentary fields, but they are not seeing the results that they should. So what do they do? Increase the budget! The ads proliferate, and still no increase, so more ad money is spent, etc, etc. Why? Because no one can contact them for their products and services! Why? Because the email filtering devices, are blocking them!
I finally got through to one of them by phone, and told him about the problem, his website and all the other "tech" stuff was being run by an outside company, he contacted them, and they said that they would solve the problem. A few days latter, I tried again, the same problem, the same result. He tried again. The company running his web and email affairs had set up several layers of protection. It was almost like this: "This is a business email, it must be s... This is a private email, it must be s... " In effect, the company got no emails! I will not name the web design company , but it is a very large communications company. Well, they only block email if it is business or personal, so I guess it is OK.
It would behoove all who are involved in some type or another of internet marketing or advertising to become personally involved in the process in more ways than suggesting ads and text.
I know of at least two companies, with good products and good advertising who are being cheated by tight filtering. I suspect that there are many more.
Last week, I got an email from one of my suppliers, complimenting my website, and inviting me to come by for a social/ business call. I hit the reply button, and sent my reply. It came back with this message: "Sender was rejected blocked by anti s... If this is not s..., please contact us, etc. etc. etc." So, I did. I got a message the next day, Sorry about the problem, we have included your information. It still didn't work! If avoiding s... is so important that it necessitates avoiding customers, what exactly is the point? "We don't have any problem with viruses, but we don't have any customers."
What I find interesting is that my information has to be in the system for him to allow me to reply to a message sent by the company he represents! What about the five thousand people contacting them to make purchases? The company tells me that their on line sales have never been very good. Duh! No one can get through with a question or an order, without having to file papers with the email Nazis!
Rational Environmental Solutions: East Texas Outdoor Pest Control
Two of the companies are near my location, and are in fields closely related to my profession, so I wanted to contact them, to see what we might be able to do for each other. The only way I became aware of them, was because they appeared on some of my websites, Alien Pest via adsense ads. Lately, I have noticed an increase in adsense activity by both companies, on my sites and related sites. This is what I think is happening:
The ads that they are paying for, appear on high profile sites, in complimentary fields, but they are not seeing the results that they should. So what do they do? Increase the budget! The ads proliferate, and still no increase, so more ad money is spent, etc, etc. Why? Because no one can contact them for their products and services! Why? Because the email filtering devices, are blocking them!
I finally got through to one of them by phone, and told him about the problem, his website and all the other "tech" stuff was being run by an outside company, he contacted them, and they said that they would solve the problem. A few days latter, I tried again, the same problem, the same result. He tried again. The company running his web and email affairs had set up several layers of protection. It was almost like this: "This is a business email, it must be s... This is a private email, it must be s... " In effect, the company got no emails! I will not name the web design company , but it is a very large communications company. Well, they only block email if it is business or personal, so I guess it is OK.
It would behoove all who are involved in some type or another of internet marketing or advertising to become personally involved in the process in more ways than suggesting ads and text.
I know of at least two companies, with good products and good advertising who are being cheated by tight filtering. I suspect that there are many more.
Last week, I got an email from one of my suppliers, complimenting my website, and inviting me to come by for a social/ business call. I hit the reply button, and sent my reply. It came back with this message: "Sender was rejected blocked by anti s... If this is not s..., please contact us, etc. etc. etc." So, I did. I got a message the next day, Sorry about the problem, we have included your information. It still didn't work! If avoiding s... is so important that it necessitates avoiding customers, what exactly is the point? "We don't have any problem with viruses, but we don't have any customers."
What I find interesting is that my information has to be in the system for him to allow me to reply to a message sent by the company he represents! What about the five thousand people contacting them to make purchases? The company tells me that their on line sales have never been very good. Duh! No one can get through with a question or an order, without having to file papers with the email Nazis!
Rational Environmental Solutions: East Texas Outdoor Pest Control
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