(Looking for Part I? Here you go: The Top 3 SEO Tips and Tricks)

Links! Links! Links! I say!

The Chains that Bind...

That is what you hear, and it is correct for the most part – at least it is partially true.  But before you go off to every social site on the planet to build back-link love, you might want to concentrate on the most important part…

Content.

If your content sucks (and there are so many ways that it can suck) your links are worthless.  Yes, I know someone is shouting that there are tons of horrible sites that are currently getting good SERPS or even have a high PR – but don’t count on that happening for too much longer now that Google has started using their new Caffeine algorithms. The other search engines are sure to follow suit.  Content is King, and it will remain king.

That being said, you still do need to know how to build good back links.  So how do you do this?

Well, lets look closer at what a link actually is – it represents on its most basic level a relationship.  It is a relationship between one site and another – and it should represent a relationship that brings value, hopefully to both sites.

And that in a nutshell, what Google and all the other search engines are trying to tell you with the search results you gather.  Their whole reason for creating ever more complex algorithms is to bring the searcher just such results. For much of the time it has been marketers intention to game that system (not all marketers, but many).

So, here is my 2 cents on how to gain good SEO, and before I go on, let me challenge you.  Go to Google and type in “The Top 3 Copywriting” – and you will see that I hold both the number 1 and number 2 position for that key-phrase (as of the writing of this post Jan 28th).  I do know a bit about what I am talking about.  (By the way I currently have the number 3 position for “The Top 3 SEO” -not too bad eh?).

Other than good content, highly targeted keywords and key-phrases are a necessity.  Make sure they are in your content.  If your domain name has your keywords all the better (actually that is a real good help when starting out, but gets less important as you add content and good links).

Back-links from high PR sites: This goes without saying, but if you can get back-links from highly rated sites such as high traffic forums, blogs, and social networks, that is going to bring a nice bit of PR juice to your site.  You can also use reciprocal sites, however the juice goes both ways there and you build up more slowly (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

Traffic.  Google monitors the traffic to your site, and the more you have the higher your rating – yes, I know, that is a bit of a catch-22, I need ratings to get traffic, and I need traffic to get ratings! What to do!

Go back to the basics, that’s what.  Submit your site to every search engine including some of the specialty search sites (check out Search Engine Watch for lists of these at: searchenginewatch.com).

But you simply cannot beat real relationship links.  Just like business in the real world where you network with real people, on the net is no different. Behind every one of those great sites are great people – get to know them, perhaps by posting good commentary on their blogs, and eventually becoming a guest contributor.  Guess what, that kind of link is very powerful!

You can, of course, go the latest fad – massive spider-webs of low value links from dozens of social web-sites, “Link-Wheels”, etc.  That stuff can bring some immediate impact, but search engines are getting wise to these synthetic methods and are even penalizing and de-indexing sites in some cases because of it.

The truth is, if your site has real value – you will have real valuable visitors.  In the end, traffic is not as important as paying customers, and a lower volume but steady stream of paying customers is way more valuable than a massive stream of traffic that buys nothing.  And that is true any day.

-David T. McKee

I realize that the title of my article might strike some as a bit pompous – but the fact is the top three things are what matters in most aspect of life, after that things are a bit more muddled and opinion rules the day.

So my top three SEO things to pay attention to are:

• The Top 3 SEO Methods:
• The Top 3 SEO Tags:
• The Top 3 SEO Mistakes:

TAGS! – You have to know which ones matter…

Want to know The Top 3 SEO products? Go to http://www.TheTop3.net/SEO

There are three tags that matter the most within the HTML of your pages if you want to achieve high ranking in the search engines. The top 3 tags for SEO are, in order, The Title Tag, The Header Tags, and the Meta Data tags.

The first big mistake is to not pay attention to these tags! You absolutely need a title for each and every page within your site and that title better be relevant to your key-phrases without you stuffing phrases in a spam like way. For example, if the name of your page is about “Medicated Dog Shampoo” then having a title like this:

Medicated Dog Shampoo, Dog Cleaning Supply, Best Dog Shampooing Method”

…would be good, but having a title that has every possible key-phrase would end up getting you penalized and dilutes the power of each key-phrase.

Another big mistake is that people who search for things use the simple names of things. You need to use the simple names of things as your keywords. People will search for “medicated shampoo for dogs”, but will not search for “Fancy Pants Dog Shampooing Company”. Make sure you use the former as keywords and not the latter. Yes, you company may be called “Fancy Pants” but if what you do is make shampoo for dogs – say just that.

Header Tags are the larger, bold heading for various parts of your pages. They set the sections of pages apart and they also tell the search engines some things about your pages. Pages with lots of header tags and more than one H1 tag usually indicate spammy, direct marketing ads and are treated as such by some of the more sophisticated search engines. On the other hand it is a big mistake to use CSS and not include any header tags – you should have one H1, and a few of the lower level tags scattered about your post. You should try to use your most important keywords in those headers.

Want to know The Top 3 SEO products? Go to http://www.TheTop3.net/SEO

Do not disregard the importance of your meta tags!!! This goes doubly so for the Meta description. Many so-called SEO experts will tell you that the meta description tag is unimportant for SEO results because search engines do not use that tag. That is partially true – this tag will not increase your SEO results at all. Why is it important? Because when your listing does show up, that is the sentence they see in the results page! If you have disregarded it or put stupid stuff in it, no one is going to click your link even if it is in the first position – what a waste if you worked hard to get to that position!

Finally, you have to have a quality site that makes it “stupid-simple” to navigate and understand, why? Because there are so many other choices out there that a potential customer will simply click away if there is anything that makes your site hard to use or understand. Quality and Simplicity… do not underestimate them in SEO.

One More Little Trick:

This last little trick will help you in your SEO ranking efforts. Search engines are getting more and more sophisticated especially in the are of images. Because search is still text based for the most part, the search engines are paying more attention to the alt and title fields that make up the image tag (the one that says “img”). You can get great top level results when someone does an image search by making sure you put keywords into your alt tags, and even your title tags if it makes sense for them.

SEO Software is a good way of automating this process across many sites and also allows you to make your SEO program dynamic, which search engines love. As long as your content is high-quality, the engines will reward you with good ranking – never forget that the goal of search engines is to give real human people the results they are looking for – if they don’t, the people will stop using those engines. If you set up your sites with this in mind you will succeed.

SEO is not rocket science, however there are many things you can do to impact the rankings your site will get. The bottom line is to understand the most important things…the top 3, and then produce clean, simple, high-quality content. Then you are sure to rank at the top of your game.

Want to know The Top 3 SEO products? Go to http://www.TheTop3.net/SEO

I want to introduce to you a new site that helps you find items that are “Hard to find” on the net.  Now when I say  ”Hard To Find” I don’t mean you wont get any results back in a search engine, what I mean is that much of the junk that clogs up a search has bee n filtered out, and what remains are the three most likely kinds of the thing you are looking for.  I am going to focus on Online Home-Based Business Software in particular.

Now, when you read a review or look for the best of something, there are three categories that really matter, The very best (and usually most expensive), the most features for the least money, and the “Balance” – the product that comes in between those two “extremes” if you will.

You want the best product for your money will do what it purports to do – as everyone wants value.  Most review sites however, are built on the premise of only showing all of the products, or all of the top selling products at the moment.  They may have a comparison chart if you are lucky – but that can be a pain if there are too many considerations.

But what if someone told you off the bat, based on testimonials of the actual users and based on the prices of the products, what the best three are using the criteria we outlined?  That would be a lot more useful.

Well, I am happy to report that there is such a site coming online: www.TheTop3.net.

The Top 3, is the review site for the HardToFindSoftware store – and is currently building up their lists of products and reviews.

Here is an example of their top 3 review for SEO and traffic building products.

Check out these sites if you are in the market for Business related products and software, Tutorials, Self-Defense Products, Wellness and health products, etc.  HardToFind also sells what they call “Diversions” – products that are unique and truly are hard to find or hard to get – top of the line Cuban cigars, exotic drinks and food items, etc.

David T. McKee

Focus and Concentration

From my new Online Series O-Biz 101. This is part 4

Today we are going to talk about: Concentration

Concentration is the ability to bring into sharp focus the goal to which you are working towards, and is a required step in the implementation of any business.

Like the sign in the picture says, the sign is sharp and dangerous…oh yeah, and the bridge is out.  And that is a lot like your business will be like, there will be some seemingly very important dangers that will turn out to be not so dangerous except that they are masking something that is truly dangerous.

And Concentration is what is needed – a singleness of purpose focused on the goal of what you want your business to be and how you intend to get to that point.  The bridge may be out – you may not be able to get to your goal by the way you originally thought - are you going to give up? Or are you going to pick up, and find a way around the obstacle?

Lets define what is meant by ” Concentration” – You want to have a clear, sharp idea of what you are going toward, and you want to keep trying to make that image more clear and more sharp as you approach it each day.  Here are some examples:

I want to have a business… – Not very sharp, not too clear, but at least you want something and you have some idea what it is.

I want to have a successful Online Business… – Better, now you know you want it to be successful, and you want it to be online, but what does “successful” mean? What are you doing online? Lots of people are online and don’t make a dime.  You can do better.

In the next three years, I want to have an online business selling high-end cigars and cigar accessories and gross two million dollars per year… - Now we’re talking! That is a specific goal, with clear lines and it gives you a focused target to aim for.  You can continue to hone this, breaking it down into year, and month commitments, but if you don’t get a clear vision of that endpoint, it is hard to find your way to it.

There is one more point to focused concentration: To many targets.  Sometimes we get so good at setting goals we fail to take any action to move towards them, and our goal setting becomes the passion instead of the business goal we at first wanted to achieve.

Like in anything, there is a time to stop and say – Okay, this is clear enough for now to start moving towards.  And then you need to start moving towards it!  Go back to the perspiration – you need to start doing the work.

Lets review our Biz-O 101 focus points:

• Desperation: find desperate customers.
• Inspiration: Get excited about a business you can sink your teeth into.
• Perspiration: Do the work required and don’t shirk away from it.
• Concentration: Focus and clarity is necessary to move towards your goals.

Guess what the next focus point is? Desperation.

What? We did that already!

Yeah, it’s one of those “circle of life” things.  You get to the business goal then you have better get some more desperate customers – expand your business, widen your horizons, etc.  We will talk more about this next time, but until then…

Stay Thirsty my Friends!

David T. McKee

PS: Read the following if you really want to start selling a ton of stuff right now!

PSS: So how would you sell a Light Bulb to the Blind?  Put that in your comment.  I will pick the three best comments and GIVE you a free bonus, my super collection of business, copywriting, swipe files, and hypnotic writing books.  And maybe a special bonus for the first prize winner!  Act now because I will be revealing the answer in my next post: Biz-Op 101, part 4: “Concentration”.

PSSS: Do you need some awesome Business Software but are not sure where to go? Do you want to see reviews of the business products? Go to www.HardToFindSoftware.com and check them out!

Always the Benefits!

From my new Online Series O-Biz 101. This is part 3

Perspiration:

Okay, to review… We have covered:

• Desperation - Finding a desperate buyer…(click the word link to go to that post)
• Inspiration - What you need to start successful…(click the word link to go to that post)
• and now Perspiration, the ability to work at something that may at first seem doomed to failure, to work hard, to be creative, and to follow through.

And that is why we are going to talk about selling light-bulbs to the Blind and Refrigerators to Eskimos.  These two examples are often used as a joke because the average person would think only a fool would attempt such a thing – but look at the picture I have included.  That was painted by Norman Rockwell back in the early Nineteen hundreds when a refrigerator was known as an “Ice-Box”.  Now, Mr. Rockwell understood that if a man could sell such an item to Eskimos, he would indeed be an “Expert Salesman”.

Selling to anyone is hard work, but if you know how to do it, your perspiration will pay off.

There is a secret key so subtle that almost everyone misses it, even after it has been explained to them.  Here is a little story example of Bob, the newbie computer salesman:

A little old lady comes into Super Giant Computers Emporium.  She looks confused and lost as she slowly shuffles across the floor of the massive warehouse.  Bob, seeing an opportunity to make a commission sale, moves up to the woman, a big smile plastered on his face.

“Hi, My name is Bob, May I help you Ma’am?”

“Well, I’m not sure.  I would like to buy a computer so I can, um… oh, what is the word…so I can skate on the Inter-Webby thing?”

“You mean surf the Internet?”

“Right! so I can surf the InterWeb!”

“Well you are in luck Mame, come right over here.  This is our Web-Blaster 5000 Desktop super computer.  It has 50 gig on-board ram, is over-clocked to Ten Thousand Giga-Hertz and has dual quad-core technology.  Buy it today with a HP all-in-one Printer, Scanner, Faxer, Copier, Wash-machine, and blender and we will throw in a free Blue-Tooth connectivity pak!”

“That sounds nice, Bobby, but I want a computer that can go on that web thingy so I can send a letter to my grand-daughter in college, whcih one does that?”

Bob looks puzzled…

Well at least Bob remembered to introduce himself, but do you see what happened here? Bob blasted the poor little old lady with a bunch of features – which were meaningless to her.  He is not going to make any sales like this.

Now, lets look at the expert salesman Joe, who is selling the refrigerator to the Eskimos:

First Joe has built a relationship with the Eskimo family over the past several weeks, not trying to sell them something at first.  He knows their names…

“Hello Eetok and Boofoo! And who is this little guy on your back? Ookpic? why that is a lovely name! and I see you brought your two sled dogs Frank and Pete. Well, this won’t take too long, I just wanted to point out to you both that necessity of having a refrigerator in your igloo.  How many times has this happened to you: You want a cool refreshing glass of wales milk, but that darn bottle is frozen again.  So you get the fire started and that takes twenty minutes, and then you start melting the milk over the fire, but you overheat it and now it is boiling hot, so you got to let it cool down.  By the time you actually drink the stuff it is luke-warm and tastes burnt.”

Eetok and Boofoo eagerly shake their heads up and down, they know exactly what Joe means.

“Well, let me show you something… This little doozey has something called “temperature control” which means you will be able to keep your wales milk at a nice refreshing 45 degrees – perfect for drinking anytime!  It does not matter how cold or hot it gets out there – your milk will stay at perfect drinking temperature for you and little Ookpic.  Now notice this: This compartment is perfect for keeping all that wale blubber in during those four or five days where it gets to a blistering 50 degrees out and the flies are buzzing about.  Just think – fresh blubber year round!”

The Eskimo’s are in wonder over the marvelous device and buy it on the spot.  Joe goes on to become the salesman of the year, and the only know person to have sold a refrigerator to an Eskimo.

So what happened here?  Well, quite simply Joe did the hard work of creating a relationship with the Eskimo family, learning about them and their lives – what things they needed, what hardships they faced.

Then Joe made a list of the benefits of a refrigerator.  Obviously keeping things cold, which is the only one most people think of, was not going to be something the Eskimo family needed.  But then Joe remembered that a refrigerator is actually a temperature controlled environment.  It keeps things at a specific temperature no matter what is going on outside.  Now he has a benefit that he can sell to the Eskimo family.

That is the key in sales – benefits.  The old adage that “sell benefits, not features” is so very true.  Bob tried to sell features to a lady he had just met and had not spent even a second attempting to find out what here needs were or what her hardship was.  Because of that, he lost the sale.

So in Business there are plenty of things to keep the perspiration going – lots of work, but the most important work you will do is the selling the benefits of your product to a prospect you know and understand.

Do this, and you will become a Master Achiever!

Stay Thirsty my Friends!

David T. McKee

PS: Read the following if you really want to start selling a ton of stuff right now!

PSS: So how would you sell a Light Bulb to the Blind?  Put that in your comment.  I will pick the three best comments and GIVE you a free bonus, my super collection of business, copywriting, swipe files, and hypnotic writing books.  And maybe a special bonus for the first prize winner!  Act now because I will be revealing the answer in my next post: Biz-Op 101, part 4: “Concentration”.

PSSS: Do you need some awesome Business Software but are not sure where to go? Do you want to see reviews of the business products? Go to www.HardToFindSoftware.com and check them out!