I say that if anyone says that the Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) is great to find good keywords/search terms, without explaining any of the drawbacks, then they are either out to cheat you or they just don’t know any better.

Definition: Keyword effectiveness index: A mathematical representation of the popularity of a keyword measured in number of searchers (demand), compared to its popularity measured as the number of pages in a search engines index (supply).

Description: KEI is a statistical formulation that reveals the most effective keyword phrases and terms to use in optimizing your web pages for. Efficiency can be many things. According to KEI, it is efficient to optimize for keywords that have many searchers, but only a few competing pages.

The lower the KEI, the more popular your keywords are, and the less competition they have. That means that you might have a better chance of getting to the top in the search engines and receive a good number of searchers for your effort.

Example: Suppose the number of searches for a keyword is 821 per day and Google displays 224,234 results (pages) for that keyword. Then the ratio between the popularity and competitiveness for that keyword is:

224,234 divided by 821. In this case, the KEI is 273.

Example on the opposite: Suppose the number of searches for a keyword is 2 per day and Google displays 11,224,234 results (pages) for that keyword. Then the ratio between the popularity and competitiveness for that keyword is:

Explanation: According to the KEI definition, the best keywords are those that have many searches and that don’t have much competition in the search results. A low KEI is therefore preferable.

In our example, it is clear that the keyword with a KEI of 273 sounds as a good keyword to optimized a pages for. It is just as clear, in the example on the opposite, that the keyword that has lots of competitors and a low number of searchers which gives a KEI equal to 5,612,117 is a tough fight for a small prices (unless the two searchers are very valuable;-).

However, the KEI makes no statement about the quality of the competition. While there might only be a few competitors in the search results, these competitors could be big players with big SEO teams and thousands of back links.

The number of search results can’t really tell you whether it is easy to get your web site listed in the top 10 results for that keyword or not. It’s much easier to move your web site from position 20,000 to position 12,000 than from position 190 to position 6.

In addition, the KEI factor is not a scientific number. It is more like a rule of thumb.
We will expect:

• The KEI for a keyword to increase if its popularity increases. Popularity is defined as the number of searchers.
• The KEI for a keyword to decrease if it becomes more competitive. Competitiveness is defined as the number of sites which a search engine e.g. Google displays when you search for that keyword using exact match.

As a general rule, it isn’t advisable to select or deselect keywords wholly on the basis of numbers like KEI.

Keyword statistic has some uncertainties attached. Keywords relevancy has to be the most important factor. Some of your keywords you are able to rank for in the search engines and other will give your users a good experience.

History: There haven’t been many successful metrics that have been calculated by two or more variables. The Keyword effectiveness index has been the most successful.

Future: There is a need for more useful variables in SEO and I predict there will come many in the future.

How to practice: When you have a keyword phrases, with a high, medium or low KEI, you need to be able to answer: Is there a reason why the KEI might be giving an incorrect picture?

There can be many reasons why KEI are showing you something you can’t use. Here are some of the reasons:

1. The position of the words in the keyword phrases is unnatural.
Ex. “keyword report” has 534,000 pages in Google’s index, and the more unnatural “report keyword” has 29,100 pages. This doesn’t mean there is 18 times less competitions for “report keyword”.
2. More words in a keyword phrase means a much smaller changes to find them in a webpage.
3. Search engines don’t give the accurate number of pages in their index.
4. The number of searchers isn’t an accurate number and many times known keywords are inflated by the use of automated tools like webmastergold.

By blindly using KEI to select keywords, you run the risk to select keywords that have words in an unnatural order, long keyword phrases and known highly competitive keywords where it is mostly automated tool that search for them. Not good if you were looking for keyword phrases with little competition and many searchers.

Tips: Always ask yourself if there is a good reason why a keyword phrase has a low number, before you get all excited.

Some keyword phrases convert badly to customers and therefore it is easier to rank for them. Do you want to put a big effort to rank for low value keywords?

Links: Keyword, Keyword Demand, Keyword Phrase.

Conclusion: Use Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) carefully. Is there any reason why KEI shows it is a good keyword to use, but it is not?

Keywords: Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI), Number of pages, SEO, SEM, keyword phrase, keyword tools, keyword popularity, keyword selection, keyword lookup, keyword phrase, Keyword, search term, Key phrase, single keyword, choosing keywords, search engines index, search phrases, keyword list phrases, long keyword phrase, seed keyword list, define keyword phrases.

What is your experience with Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI)?
Do you like to use Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI)?
Do you have any alternative methods to find good keyword/search phrases?

Report This Post

You have your keyword report that says which keywords searchers are looking for when they search for your website or/and your product, but you might need some inspiration to add flavor and improve conversion. I have collected some words that I hope will inspire you.

People don’t notice the same things after continually exposed to them again and again. In online marketing banner blindness is the best known example. People simply get used to banners that advertising for something that is not worth there time, therefore they stop seeing the banners after a while. The same thing happens with words that are used to make us do something.

Therefore, you have to change your action words ones in a while to keep them working. The problem for most writers is that it is extremely difficult to change the words because of old habit.

I have made this list of actions word to help you change words ones in a while to keep making your web copy effectfull.

I think the categories are self explainable, if not then drop a comment.

Indicating Authority: famous, widely used, talked about, authentic, trusted by, trend setting, first choice of, widely, widely recognized as, endorsed by, well-known, , famed, renowned, eminent, prominent, illustrious, legendary, reliable, dependable, legitimate, popular, distinguished, renowned, notable, distinguished, well-known, recognized, reputed.

Indicating Uniqueness: one and only, exclusive, premium, the best, elite, unrivaled, distinguished, the top, second to none, distinctive, exceptional, number 1, undisputed, best quality, top quality, unparalleled, superior, special, extraordinary, out of the ordinary, singular, unique, outstanding, sole, only one of its kind, inimitable, matchless, incomparable, one and only, peerless, unmatched, without equal, beyond compare, unrivaled, unsurpassed, first-class, first-rate, superlative, excellent, unbeatable, advanced, outstanding, exceptional, superb.

Indicating Simplicity: easy to, simple to, safe and simple, uncomplicated, plain and simple, trouble-free, straightforward, undemanding, minimal, minimum, clear-cut, down to earth, clean, unpretentious, effortless, Effortless, plain, unproblematic, unadorned, natural, smooth, without a hitch, unembellished, without ornamentation, sticking to the facts, usual, normal, ordinary, unfussy, unsophisticated, with both feet on the ground, straight-thinking, precise, unambiguous, clear, explicit, definite, unequivocal, indisputable.

Indicating Strength: must have, indispensable, powerful, essential, vital, crucial, critical, magnificent, vibrant, compelling, awesome, superb, explode, terrific, extremely, splendid, vital, necessary, requisite, obligatory, central, very important, essential, compulsory, indispensable, fundamental, imperative, mandatory, required, influential, commanding, prevailing, dominant, potent, significant, superior, overriding, governing, principal, major, noteworthy, considerable, superseding, overruling, dominant, prime, paramount, principal, main.

Attention Grabbing: you, urgent, at last, attention, discover, learn, new, now available!, secrets revealed!, earn, for the first time, risk free, just released, announcing.

Call To Action: decide now, order now, buy now, get it now!, act now, now is the time, don’t miss, don’t wait, immediately, right now, this instant, limited supply, now or never.

Appealing to Desire: attractive, gorgeous, stunning, enchanting, appealing, sleek, dazzling, mystical, satisfying, sensual, glowing, handsome, beautiful, radiant, wonderful, crave, tantalizing, yearn, good-looking, nice-looking, striking, eye-catching, lovely, pleasing, remarkable, startling, dazzling, pretty, exquisite, charming, divine, astonishing, amazing, astounding, alluring, incredible, glamorous, superb, outstanding, terrific, splendid, fabulous, marvelous, fantastic, pleasing, enjoyable, stunning, spectacular, startling, magnificent, amazing, astonishing.

Indicating Modern or New: modern, current, contemporary, fresh, new, forward-looking, advanced, enlightened, forward-thinking, ahead of its time, futuristic, revolutionary, ultramodern, current, up-to-date, up-to-the-minute, recent, state-of-the-art, brand-new, the latest, at the height of fashion, fashionable, trendy, topical, hot, high-tech, unused, spanking-new, pristine, hip, all-the-rage, modish, stylish, chic, classy, original, ahead of its time.

Indicating unconventional: unconventional, alternative, unusual, exceptional, odd, quirky, different, appealing to take action: affordable, challenging, alert, competitive edge, allure, comprehensive, applause, compromise, avoiding, concept, crucial, big, billboard, daring, block busting, danger, bonanza, destiny, boom, dirty, bottom line, distinguished, brain picking, dividends, bravo, dynamics, breakthrough, buy, eager, buyer’s guide, easy, eat, giant, economic needs, good-looking, effective, growth, emerging growth, gut feelings, endurance, energy, happy, enterprising, heritage, envision, high tech, epidemic, high yield, excitement, hit, exercising, hopless, expert, hot property, explain, hybrid, exploit, hurry, favorable, idea, find out, imagination, flex, inflation-beating, flourishes, innovative, focus, investigative, foothold, instatiable, forecast, formula, just in time, fueling, fundamentals, keep in touch, funny, kidding, gaining, last-minute, gallery, lare-breaking, generic, launching, get, liberated, lifeblood, pioneering, lively, portfolio, longevity, preppie, lucky, profitable decision, luxury, promising, mainstream, recruiting, make, remarkable, mania, reminiscent, marvelous, renaissance spirit, masterpiece, reviewing, measure up, revisited, medicine, revolution, merit, rewards, monitor, rich, monumental, right now, naked, sampler, nest egg, save,new,sawy, newswire, school of thought, next frontier, scorecard, nostalgic, security, novel, show me, shrewd, obession, simplistic, opportunities, skill, overrated, slash, smart, perspective, spiral, philosophy,soar, specialized, test-drive, speed up, timely, spotlight, top dog, stardom, traces, starter kit,stop, ultimate, stubborn, underpriced, successful switch, unlock, surefire, upscale, surging, survival,value, tax-resistant, willpower, tech revolution, word-of-mouth, technolog, tell,young.

Colloquial words vs. normal words

A colloquial words is an informal, often entertaining word or phrase used in everyday conversation. When you use colloquial words, you draw your reader closer because you appear more familiar, more friendly, more up close and personal instead of distant and at arm’s length.

Beaware that using colloquial words to much to the wrong market segment can have the opposit effect.

Use colloquial words that are understandable to most people with a reasonable familiarity with English. Here are some exsambles of normal used colloquial words that have found their way to mainstream online communications:

Indicating of Rational vs. Emotional: You might have heard the concept of right-brain and left-brain functions: The left hemisphere of the brain is the rational, logical, organized, analytic, linear, critical side; the right hemisphere is the creative, emotional, intuitive side, the realm of the imagination.

Most people buy on emotion, the more you appeal to the right side of the brain, the more you’ll sell. You do this by using emotional words, not intellectual, rational, bland, and boring words. Here are a few examples:

I know these lists of big words are nowhere close to be complete, so if you have been using other big words, then please share.

Report This Post

Description: The words you type in the search engines to find contents on the internet

Definition: A keyword is a word that can describe content. Used on the internet, it is referred to the words you type in the search engines to find contents on the internet

Example: Keyword, keywords, keyterm, keyphrase, keyword phrase, history of keywords, keyword reasearch, meta keywords, internet keywords, future of keywords, keyword density, keyword analyzing, choosing keywords, best keywords, keywords for websites, popular keywords, meta keywords tag, traffic keyword, good keyword, by keyword, best keyword, search keywords, hidden keywords, most used keywords.

Example on the opposite: Good words look, for with words, used words, how to use words to find things.

Explanation: Assuming that you are trying to find articles like this one, you will have more luck finding this article with the keywords in the Example.

The keywords, in Example on the opposite, are too general to describe anything specific and you are likely to find big web sites on a random subject. The reason is that the keywords, in Example on the opposite, are words used in many websites and not only used in the contents you are looking for.

History: In the beginning, Libraries, search engines and other data bases used a meta tag system where a person decided which keywords describe the book or article. Like the keywords you see for this article in the bottom of the article.

You still find this system in libraries and other closed systems where people that have permission to enter data are thinking of servicing the users and not to promote some products on behalf of other producers.

In the early days the search engines functions in the same way, but web masters began to take advantage of the simple way the search engines were working. They entered keywords that were popular in searchers, but the page contents were about something else, which many times could be monetized.

That meant the breakdown of the search engines 100% bases on keywords at the internet. Search Engines began to apply other method to distinguish good contents from low quality content and contents that were trying to deceive the search engines.

Today search engines consider web page that include all the keywords used for the search and then use many other factors to determine which web pages deliver the best results.

Future: Every time the search engines find another method to sort high from low quality content, there are armies of web masters that try to manipulate the results so they can get more searchers to their site and earn money from them.

One of the things that the search engines are working hard on is to make software that understands the meaning of words in connection to each other. The version is called the semantic web, where the search engines not only understand meaning of word, but also the meaning of a whole chapter.

The search engines will keep come up with ideas to sort out manipulated content. They are getting better sort out spam, but their ability to find long tail keyword phrases efficient needs attentions.

How to control yourself and others: When you write contents for the internet good keywords:
• describe the contents in a few words
• are not used in all subjects, but only used in the contents you are looking for
• are used by many searchers, with little competitions from other websites (if your goal is to attract searchers to your web site)

It is difficult to find the perfect combination of keywords. A way of controlling yourself is to search with the keywords to see if you get the results that are similar to the contents you are trying to describe.

If you are getting the similar result the keywords are probably describing your contents well.

If you are getting results that are different from you content. You have to ask yourself: Are my keywords describing the wrong subject or are the search engine only delivering one meaning of the keywords?
If the search engine only delivers one type of results you might be ably to be the only result that is describing your contents and get a lot of searchers to your site.

How to practice: When you have controlled that you have used the right keywords, then it is time to analyze if you are able to compete with the sites in the search results.

You can do that by three methods:
• Find your own method
• Use a free or paid software to help
• Buy a keyword report

We are biased in the subject of choosing the right method, because we sell keyword reports. The two first methods involved a lot of work and some knowledge to get good results. A quality keyword report gives you overview and save you time.

Having the right keyword-information means that you can target the right searchers in a market where your web site can compete.

Too many who write for the internet, to attract searchers, use too low quality information and it results in a low number of searchers that is not target. It is mostly because the software and the keywords are of too low quality. It is also a lot of work collecting the right information.

When you have targeted the right keywords and written good contents, it is time to measure what has been worked for you and what work has been done unnoticed.

Tips: Copy your success and learn from your mistakes.

When finding keywords for your contents use a source that give you’re an overview of the keywords used by real searchers, tells you the amount of competitions and allowed you to use your time to create contents, not keyword research.

Links:
Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI), Keyword Demand, Keyword Phrase.

Conclusion:: Many peoples that write for the internet are using techniques that were proven to be efficient writing offline communication. One of the ways needed to adapt offline writhing techniques to online is to learn to use keywords.

This site is dedicated to help you improve your keyword technique.

Keywords: Keyword, keywords, keyterm, keyphrase, keyword phrase, history of keywords, keyword reasearch, meta keywords, internet keywords, future of keywords, keyword density, keyword analyzing, choosing keywords, best keywords, keywords for websites, popular keywords, meta keywords tag, traffic keyword, good keyword, by keyword, best keyword, search keywords, hidden keywords, most used keywords.

Report This Post

I have made this article to give myself a shortlist to look at when I make a link building strategy. I hope you can use it as well

Please check for updates in the future.

Name: Directories
Short description: Organized list of web sites by categories.
Direct and targeted traffic: Directories can bring targeted traffic, especially from big and specialized directories.
Value for search engines: You get the biggest value from directories that have a personal evaluation, a high page rank and that are specific for your category. The lowest value is from automated directories that might be considered as “link farms”.
Time requirement: Low
Other: Remember to focus on bringing costumers to your web site from the directories and not only to get a link juice from the directories.
How to do it: Find a list of the biggest directories. Within the directories, search for more specific directories in your category. Make a cost/benefit assessment to find the directories worth the effort. There are many companies specializing in submitting to directories; a few deliver good quality and good value. With your final list of worthy directories you start submitting.

Name: Top Competition
Short description: Get links from the sites that rank high already for target keywords relevant for you.
Direct and targeted traffic: Can give a lot of targeted traffic.
Value for search engines: Very high.
Time requirement: High, but rewarding.
Other: Don’t contact direct competitors.
How to do it: Contact the site owner/webmaster by e-mail, phone or/and letter etc. Suggest them some ways of incorporating your link in their site, but be open to their suggestions. Use all your tactfulness and diplomatic abilities.
You can make it a routine to contact the most likely websites to give you a link in Google top 1000 results, every time you have optimized a page for a keyword phrases.

Name: Link Search
Short description: Use the search engines to find relevant links for your category/keywords.
Direct and targeted traffic: This is a numbers game. Most of the sites will send you 1-2 targeted people per month, but if you have many links it makes it a considerable amount of traffic. Many top ranking sites reports that they sell more to people coming from links than to people coming from the search engines.
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: High
Other: Work organized.
How to do it: It’s possible to use search engines or specialized software. Try to search for: add+url “keyword phrase” , submit+site “keyword phrase”, submit+url “keyword phrase”, add+site “keyword phrase”, add+your+site “keyword phrase”, directory “keyword phrase”, list “keyword phrase”, sites “keyword phrase”. Use your creativity to find other searches combinations to find free, paid, reciprocal links, etc.
NB: We have found many searchers searching for ways to add their URL/URI when we do keyword research. You can get inspired of which keyword phrases to use by buying a keyword report or optimize a webpage for some popular add URL keyword phrases and other webmasters will contact you for link exchanges.

Name: Competitors’ links
Short description: Use your competitors’ link to find sites that will link to you.
Direct and targeted traffic: Yes, if your competitors’ get targeted traffic from their links.
Value for search engines: High. This is half the reason why your competitors’ rank high in the search engines.
Time requirement: Medium. You are using your competitors’ work.
Other: A very used technique, which almost always gives good results.
How to do it: Search for links in Yahoo, Msn, Google, etc. by typing ex. “link:YourDomain.com”(the link command is a little different in the different search engines) follow the links and see if you can get some of these links too.

Name: Writing and Submission of Articles
Short description: Write articles to get visitors and links.
Direct and targeted traffic: You can get a high amount of direct traffic if the article is of good quality and published in the right place.
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: It depends on how good you are to write articles.
Other: Update, rewrite and combine your articles portfolio to be able to publish in more places.
How to do it: Write a good article and submit it to 3rd-party article hosting sites. Choose 3rd-party article hosting sites that have a lot of visitors, potential customers, high page rank, been working for many years, have quality articles and that is specific for the category of your site. Try other 3rd-party article hosting sites if your article is turned down.
Here are some big and popular 3rd-party article hosting sites:
Idea Marketers, Buzzle.com, Go Articles, EzineArticles, AMAzines, Article City, BPubs.com, Business Know-How,
WWIO, About.com, Simply Search 4it, Knowledge Bed, Article Insider.

You can also go direct to a journalist, a relevant site or a site where an article can get you a rewarding link.

There are also writers that that can help you at places like: Odesk, VWorker and Elance

Name: Forums & Online Comments
Short description: Contribute with information and give a link that people can follow to your site.
Direct and targeted traffic: Very high.
Value for search engines: Low
Time requirement: Medium
Other: Remember to keep to the terms of use for the forums you post in.
How to do it: Answer people’s questions and put the link to your website in your signature. Google sometimes includes newsgroups post in the search results. Many people go to newsgroups and forums to get help to their problems. If your product solves a problem, you will not only help one person but also all the other people that are looking to solve the same problem by writing an answer. You will also draw the attention to your product by the people that read the newsgroup or forum. People that read and write in newsgroups and forums have an interest in the subject and is likely to be asked for advice from other people. Most webmasters also look for inspiration in forums and newsgroups; if your website is resourceful they might give you a link.

Name: Comments in blogs
Short description: Comment in other blogs related to your niche.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High, because the search engines sees a relation between the quality of your site and how much you participant in the conversion in your niche.
Time requirement: Medium
Other: Only the most interesting comments get people to follow a link to your site.
How to do it: Make informative, relevant and intelligent comments in blogs.

Name: Blogging
Short description: Make your blog.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Medium
Other: If you have a quality keyword report, you will be able to target what people are searching for and receiving target customers to your business at the same time.
How to do it: A blog is a tool you can use to make keyword target pages, if you can create a community, then people will help you write and it is easy to exchange links with other bloggers, in traditional websites.

Name: Renting Pages from Authority Sites
Short description: Rent a page from a site that the search engines consider authority in your category.
Direct and targeted traffic: Very high
Value for search engines: Very high
Time requirement: Medium
Other: It is possible the rented page can rank very well for your search terms very quickly.
How to do it: Approach an authority site that doesn’t normally host others sites’ content and give them a proposal. Be ready to be very convincing and to get some rejections. If your writing skills are excellent, you will be able to get the pages for free.

Name: Purchasing Online Advertising
Short description: Advertise online.
Direct and targeted traffic: Yes, if you advertise in the right place.
Value for search engines: Low. The ads will most likely look the same and be recognized by the search engines as ads. Remember to look if you are getting a direct link or if you are led around re-directed scripts (like “double click”)
Time requirement: Low
Other: Costs can be high, but can also give a lot of target traffic fast. Be sure to convert the traffic into costumers.
How to do it: Find the best value for money advertising, plan your campaign and monitor your results.

Name: Text Link Brokers
Short description: Buy links from link brokers.
Direct and targeted traffic: Low to high
Value for search engines: Low to high
Time requirement: Low
Other: The market for links is full of schemes. Be 100% sure of what you get, before you close any deals.
How to do it: Find a quality link broker. Make a strategy and monitor the results. If you are aiming to let the links help in the search results, then make sure that it isn’t public known that the website you are buying from is selling links and the bought links don’t have a pattern to make it easy for the search engines to find the links that you have bought.

Name: Buy a review
Short description: Pay to have blogs and websites to write a review.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Low
Other: People like to research online before they buy online and offline. This is a way to get your product reviewed and paid reviews tend to be positive.
How to do it: If you have a product, software or other things that can be reviewed, then you can give an offer for websites to pay them to make a review. Some websites and blogs offer review for a fixed amount of money. Sponsored Reviews is the biggest site for buying a review.

Name: Tools & services
Short description: Make a service or tool available at your site.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High, if other sites find it so valuable that they will link to you.
Time requirement: Low to high.
Other: Difficult, but with the right tool or service your site can become an authority.
How to do it: Go to forums, groups or sites where people are interested in the same subject your site is about. See what kind of tools and/or services they could use. People in these sites often have some very good ideas, but lack support and funding to make them a reality. Make the tool or service yourself or have someone else make it for you.
You can also make a keyword report and see what the searchers in your market are looking for. Make sure it is a keyword report that is detailed enough to find what tools and service people are looking for.

Name: Automated Link building
Short description: Use a program to build links.
Direct and targeted traffic: Low to high
Value for search engines: Short terms
Time requirement: Short
Other: Very risky
How to do it: Find a trusted provider of automated link building. Make sure that they know what they are doing. Hope for the best, but fear to get banned by the search engines (They are out to get you).

Name: Donations & Charity
Short description: Give donations and do better in business.
Direct and targeted traffic: Low for most industries.
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Low
Other: Sleep better at night.
How to do it: Contact charity organizations, open source technology groups and education organisations, etc. Ask for a link to your site against a donation. Try to find sites where you will find your potential costumers and look for a high page ranking and trusted sites.

Name: Press Releases
Short description: Make a good press release and get mentioned and quoted in many articles.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High if it gets picked up by the media.
Time requirement: Low
Other: There is an additional cost to having the press release distributed well.
How to do it: Make a press release, have it distributed. If you make an exact copy of the press release on your site, you might get a penalty for duplicating content. Try to have a look at these press releases sites first: www.prleap.com , www.prweb.com, www.free-press-release.com, www.press-world.com/add, www.pressbox.co.uk, www.e-xl.com

Name: Natural Link building
Short description: Make your site extraordinary good and let people do the link building for you.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Low to high
Other: Other link building techniques demand less skill.
How to do it: Build the best site in your industry, specialising in a specific subject, make special automated tools etc. Remember that you probably have to use some link building to get noticed by the people that you hope will link to your site to begin with.

Name: Get inbound links from your outbound links.
Short description: Get links from the sites you are already linking to.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Low
Other: Improves your online network while building links.
How to do it: Go through your site and find the sites you are already linking to. Contact them and ask if they also want to link to your site. If the answer is “no”, you can consider changing the links to another similar source that accepts linking to you.

Name: Business contact.
Short description: Get links from your business network.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Low
Other: Use it as an excuse to contact your old business network that you have been out of contact with for some time.
How to do it: Have the people that work in your company contact their business network and ask if they could link to your site or if you could link to each other. Your suppliers can sell more if you sell more and you might send more costumers along the supply chain. Remember that people like to help; it is a part of being in a business network.

Name: Translation
Short description: Translate your site to another language.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Low
Other: Opens a new market. Get a web site in another language for a fraction of the cost involved to develop your web site in the original language.
How to do it: Translate your site to another language that some of your costumers are using or a language that your potential costumers are using. If you are in a highly competitive area, the links that you build in the new language can give you the competitive advantage. We recommend that you start building links in another language when it starts getting very difficult to get links in your ordinal language. If your website isn’t in English you find it much easier to get links to an English version.

Name: Open Source helping
Short description: Help Open Source projects and receives links and positive branding
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Low to high
Other: Try to conduct yourself in a proper manner. Some Open Source projects are anti commercial.
How to do it: Find an Open Source project that is relevant for your business and research what you can do to help. Some Open Source webpages offer a link for some work; others have a tradition to credit you for the work. Maybe some of your employees are already working for an Open Source project and can get you a link. Try to offer a day off to acknowledge the work the person has put into the project.

Name: Bribing webmasters
Short description: Find webmasters that are more hungry than idealistic
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Medium
Other: Make sure that your brand can stand an exposure of your techniques.
How to do it: Find a webmaster at a university or other places, which will put a link to your site if they get a pizza delivery.

Name: Distribute valuable resources.
Short description: Make resources where you insert your link and distribute it to other websites.
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Depends on the time it takes to make the resources that all website in your industry have to have in their website
Other: The more tasteful you can insert your link in the resource, the easier it will be to get it distributed.
How to do it: Find a valuable resource that other websites must have. It can be a tool, software, document or multimedia.
Find a copyright that fit your strategy here.
Start sharing your resources. Some examples of ways to share are: Contact webmasters direct or indirect, release it on p2p networks, offer it to other sellers or sell it yourself on e-bay with reseller rights, advertise it in relevant forums or blogs, if your resources is a software, then you can add it to software directories. Make a strategy that fits your resource.

Name: Write a link technique for this post
Short description: Describe a worthy link building method here, you will be listed and given full credit
Direct and targeted traffic: High
Value for search engines: High
Time requirement: Low
Other: You are also able to get a blog post in this blog if you can write a to the point, high quality post about internet marketing.
How to do it: Use the typography of this post, describe a worthy link building method in the comments and I will move it up in the post and credit you for it.

I realize I am not a link building expert, but as all webmasters I need to keep up-to-date with link-building. I use this list to get inspired when I am out of link building ideas and when I find new link building methods I list them here.

I plan to update this list of link building methods as I find other methods worth mentioning.

Do you have any good or bad experience with some of these or other link building methods?

Report This Post

Next time I start a permission marketing campaign I will ask myself this ten questions, set by Seth Godin:

1. What’s the bait?
2. What does an incremental permission cost?
3. How deep is the permission that is granted?
4. How much does incremental frequency cost?
5. What’s the active response rate to communications?
6. What are the issues regarding compression?
7. Is the company treating the permission as an asset?
8. How is the permission being leveraged?
9. How is the permission level being increased?
10. What is the expected lifetime of one permission?

If you measure it, it will get done.

You can read more reviews of Permission Marketing at Amazon here.

Report This Post

Recently I found a definition of social characters in the book Social Networking communities and E-Dating Services which I like to share with you.

Troll/Humourous (25%)
Driven by chaos forces as a result of mental stimuli, would post provocative comments to incite a reaction.

Chat Room Bob/Exoxic (16%)
Driven by existential forces as a result of experiencing gross stimuli, will seek more intimate encounters with other actors.

Snert/Pariah (14%)
Driven by anti-social forces as a result of social stimuli, will seek to offend their target because of something they said.

Big Man/Patriarchal (9%)
Driven by order forces as a results of mental stimuli, will seek to take control of conflict, correcting inaccuracies and keeping discussions on topic.

Flirt/Orthodox (8%)
Driven by social forces as a result of social stimuli, will seek to keep discussions going and post constructive comments.

Wizard/Assiduous (8%)
Driven by creative forces as a result of experiencing action stimuli, will seek to use online tools and artifacts to produce creative works.

MHBFY/Timid (My Heart Bleeds For You) Jenny (8%)
Drive by forgiveness forces, as a result of experiencing emotional stimuli. As managers they will seek harmony among other members.

Ripper/Pitied (6%)
Driven by thanatotic forces as a results of experiencing gross stimuli, seeks advice and confidence to cause self-harm.

Iconoclast/Vanguard (4%)
Driven by the destructive forces as a result of experiencing action stimuli, will seek destroy content that others have produced.

E-venger/Danferous (3%)
Driven by vengeance forces as a result of emotional stimuli, will seek to get personal justices for the actions of others that wronged them.

I hoped that it gave you an idea of why do people use online social networks.

Few peoples can be characterized as one type; most will act as a mixed of several types.

What type are you a mixed of?

Report This Post

The meting planner had asked the catering department at Disney World to prepare an event for the partners.

Disney’s caterer priced the affair at $50,000. But the meeting planner’s budget was $35,000. Disney dropped its price.

Later during the event, the meeting planner noticed that every item in the original event was included in the program.

She mentioned this, with great appreciation and astonishment, to the Disney caterer. His reply was, “We may reduce our price, but we will never reduce our service.”

Having different prices for different clients create two big problems:

1. You might have to decrease your service level and then run the risk of getting a bad image.
2. If you have been paying full price and then find out that you have been over priced, a natural reaction is to find another company to do business with.

So how do you avoid this kind of conflict when a good customer stand in front of you and tell their maximum budget?

I have always tried to create the best service in the most cost efficient way in all the business I have been involved in. Therefore there is no reason for customers to go anywhere else, because there is nowhere else that give the same value for money.

The main problem is that you also have to cut the marketing budget and unproductive communication with potential clients, so it can be difficult for new client to find you.

The good thing is that you don’t lose any client and the one that venture away come running back.

How much would you pay for the next meting arranged by Disney? 30 000..25 000?

Disclaim: All names and events are made up.

Report This Post

Ideally Google and the other PPC search engines give tracking services because they want to sell more ads by:

• Make it easier to start advertising at their search engine(low entry cost)
• Money not spend on tracking service can be used buying ads

A lower entry cost can get more companies to participate in PPC advertising and thereby create more ads and drive prices up for competitive keywords. They want to get people starting and if they can make money with their ads, then they probably keep advertising.

Giving the complimentary product away to sell more of your main product has been a known strategy for many years. Like giving salty snakes away in the bar for free to make people thirsty. Because the big cost for software is the developing cost and therefore the cost of producing/selling an extra unit is close to zero; the idea of giving software away for free have bloomed with the internet.

We have been through more than a million keywords suggested by PPC search engines and have noticed that the suggestions come from at least three sources:

• Their huge database of text from websites, who offend the words are found near each other or/and on the same page
• Keywords used in the same search phrases or in a sequence of searchers.
• Campaign keyword phrases that are triggered from keywords with similar meaning

Especially the last source is interesting, because this will give your competitor the keywords you are using.

Let’s make an experiment. We try to go to the keyword list we are processing in the moment from Google and find the first small list of keyword that look like the keyword phrases have been generated by adwords campaigns.

web marketing association s 2006 internet advertising competition
web marketing association s 2006 internet advertising competition iac
web marketing association s 2006 internet advertising competition iac awards

website optimization
website optimization for search
website optimization for search engines

If you were Google and were selling ads to many different companies, would you recommend keywords you know convert well and therefore could earn more money for higher ad prices?

We aren’t a SEO company so we can’t answer the last and important questions:
Do you think or better have evidence that one of your competitors have picked up one of your most profitable niches from a PPC search engine?

Are the PPC search engines giving you the information to find competitors’ profitable niches?

Do you think that PPC search engines are ranging the related terms using their free tracking tools, so you are more likely to get the under valuated keywords?

NB: It isn’t because we are so much against the PPC search engine given this data out, because if they are, then you will find the information in our keyword reports

Report This Post

The single most important reason to perform a survey is to determine client intentions. What your clients say doesn’t always equal intentions.

A few years ago, in a focus group, Sony Corporation asked teenagers which color of boom box they would prefer? Black or yellow? The overwhelming response was yellow.

At the end of the three-hour session, the teens were told they could pick up their choice of a free boom box as a gift for participating in the focus group.

The overwhelming choice was black! The key to client intention is not what people say, it’s what they do.

Going online, you are able to see what people are doing down to a detail, just look at your log file or analytic tool for your website.

The main problem when you look at the data from your own web site is that it is mostly from the customers you are already attracting.

To expand your business you like to get to the customers that are not looking your way. Third part data are difficult, expensive and it might not even be possibly to buy them in the offline world.

In the online world there is a big market for user data. You can make a survey, but it might be better to get data from people that are actually in the buying moment.

The biggest collectors of online data are the search engines and because they make a living of selling ads, they give it away for free.

The search engines are actually not giving the whole picture away, but only small pieces, that help advertiser just enough to see the potential in buying more ads.

With a little technical help and a lot of hard work you are able to subtract the whole picture.

You might not be able to ask people specific question, but you can get data from millions of searchers every day from most industries. What you get is the words they use to search, how many searchers there is and the online competition for the search terms.

In this way you are able to identify:

• Niches that are bigger than you thought and ready for expansion
• Niches where you have been working hard to expand your market, but the demand is simple not there for an expansion of the market
• Niches that no one are serving and is ready for you
• Niches where you might have misunderstood what clients were searching for
• What markets competitors are advertising in and thereby identifying who they are targeting in which markets
• Where you can get your own pipeline of costumers coming to you online for a bargain price
• Identifying a stream of high value costumers
• Etc.

This is the way you extract the information from the search engines to give you the big picture:

• Make a list of all the important words within your industry. Aim for between 1000 and 10 000 words depending on the industry.
• Extract all related words from the search engines and delete the ones that are not relevant (use several search engines to get a broader picture).
• Add information about how many people that search every day, how many ads for every keyword, the price for a click on an ad, the online competition for free search traffic etc.

You can get a more detailed description on how to make a keyword report here, a working sample keyword list/report with the top 100 keywords here and a more detailed description on how to use a keyword report here.

Stop wasting your money on client satisfaction surveys or at least justify your action in the comment.

Report This Post

All this seems to be a good thing and making it hard for spammers to get search traffic for automated produced contents. The problem is that it might help spammers steal contents from new and less authority websites.

The technique spammers are using are quite simple. They find new websites that haven’t been indexed and scrape them for their contents. The contents are usually of good quality, because new website owners put a lot of effort into their websites in the beginning. The spammer put it in established website that already has the age and link authority to get it indexed and rank for the contents.

When the new websites get a little older and starts to attract links, the spam websites might already have gotten the overhand because:

1. They’ve had the contents indexed long before the original owner (the new website) and the new website might be seen as a spammer that copies the spammers’ contents.
2. Because the contents is of good quality, other webmasters might already have start linking to the spammers website, because they found it in the searched results and it’s relevant and of good quality.
3. Because it takes little work to copy, the spammer might have used the same techniques to collect content from many other new websites and thereby created a big website full of good contents.

What can you do to prevent spammers steal your contents?

1. Try to prevent robots to index your site.
2. Take legal action against the sites that is copying you.
3. Buy an old authority website.
4. Build links faster than the spammer and with website that the spammer can’t build relations with.

I think the best solution is to buy an old authority website and put an effort to build links from the beginning.

You can get some inspiration on how to build links here The big link building method list.
Do you have any other ideas how a new website can protect its contents against copy spammers?

What are the search engines doing to help? And what can they do?

Report This Post