30 Day Challenge To Get Your Business Online

[lance71]

Does that mean my site has been blacklisted by Google?

[IanF]

Lance google still loves you and you are 4th from my side in JHB. Maybe put something different in your first few lines, like 24 hour turnaround or printer of the year. I struggle with something different to say. And stay away from saying cheap. A few years ago I did offer printing at the agreed time or it is free.

[workshop]

Does that mean my site has been blacklisted by Google?

The Google monster is not real. Whilst they do build in filters they don't do the judge, jury and executioner thing. You cannot get blacklisted or penalised for links that point to your web site. The worst that can happen is that they devalue stuff they don't like. They might also devalue the site where we posted the link.

But I doubt it.

Google generally take a long term view of things. Ultimately with everything being equal, time sifts the good from the bad and it all comes back to you. You are the builder. You decide. You sow and you reap. Do it right first time around and spend what you have to spend, wisely.

[workshop]

And this is the unsolicited letter you can expect

Hello,

We are a fast growing company based in India with primary focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Link building and all Internet Services.

We have a dedicated team of 80 professionals to serve you in building appropriate links and developing SEO.

We can provide you with a fresh, professional image via a recognizable trademark or logo design. Our experts work to tight deadlines and are wholly dedicated to maintaining your online presence.

Most firms overseas have achieved a significant amount of savings by Outsourcing either complete or part of their work to us in India.

Other Affordable Search Engine Optimization Services Provided By Us:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
2. Link Building
3. Press Release
4. Article Submission/Article Writing
5. Blog Submissions/Writing
6. Directory Submission
7. Social Media Optimization.

Take advantage of our highly successful internet marketing service at very Affordable Price.

If you have any query, we will be more than happy to provide you our quick assistance.

Kind Regards,
Sweta Arya

Most specialists out source the services they offer and it can get very, very complicated. Some good, some bad and a space where short term gain tends to trump common sense.

[lance71]

Lance google still loves you and you are 4th from my side in JHB. Maybe put something different in your first few lines, like 24 hour turnaround or printer of the year. I struggle with something different to say. And stay away from saying cheap. A few years ago I did offer printing at the agreed time or it is free.

Thanks Ian, I will definitely start looking into these kinds of options, I mainly want to get my graphic design and website design up near the top too, but I am wondering if Pretoria is perhaps not the correct target?

[lance71]

The Google monster is not real. Whilst they do build in filters they don't do the judge, jury and executioner thing. You cannot get blacklisted or penalised for links that point to your web site. The worst that can happen is that they devalue stuff they don't like. They might also devalue the site where we posted the link.

But I doubt it.

Google generally take a long term view of things. Ultimately with everything being equal, time sifts the good from the bad and it all comes back to you. You are the builder. You decide. You sow and you reap. Do it right first time around and spend what you have to spend, wisely.

Alright so I wont worry about it for now but continue to try and build the links and try find a stable place to do that?

[Wiz]

Do links from Facebook and other social media sites that are no followed help one to improve a sites ranking in the search results?

Links from Facebook, Twitter etc does helps your site in SERP's but with different criteria. Google does count social media shares etc, the more active you're on social media the better chances of rankings. Google has a algorithm which covers social media. I bet search engines are smart enough to count a social vote and cannot directly ignore it.

Matt cutts on Social media - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM5ap8NqkuY

A SEO campaign without social media optimization cannot provide the desired results.

[workshop]

Wiz when I place a link on a host site I watch it and I wait. And I track the response. I have never yet seen so much as a flicker of interest from Facebook. But then again I might be doing it all wrong. Is there any way of adding anchor text to the links on Facebook?

As for Matt Cutts he is a master of saying nothing. He just keeps repeating the one golden rule and that is to "make yourself useful". "Don't foul your own nest" and like chickens we are, that is precisely what we do". Am I wrong? Do you believe no follow links are going to get you closer to page #1?

[Wiz]

Wiz when I place a link on a host site I watch it and I wait. And I track the response. I have never yet seen so much as a flicker of interest from Facebook. But then again I might be doing it all wrong. Is there any way of adding anchor text to the links on Facebook?

As for Matt Cutts he is a master of saying nothing. He just keeps repeating the one golden rule and that is to "make yourself useful". "Don't foul your own nest" and like chickens we are, that is precisely what we do". Am I wrong? Do you believe no follow links are going to get you closer to page #1?

It depends mainly on which site you're promoting , if you're trying to get back-links from Facebook and the page where all fans are fake its of no use to you. If people are real and not some users created with bots, you may get some response depending on your campaign. A site with good traffic + perfect campaign should surely help you to get some decent traffic. But the fact is totally dependent on how many real visitors which are interested in your product and how well you convince them to click your link.

No matter how wonderful your campaign is, if the users are fake or not interested in your product you won't get any conversions.

Well i am not a big fan of Matt Cutts but somehow he does provide you some information about a topic. He won't disclose anything neither you can interpret it exactly. Everything depends on your experiment, something works and something doesn't. You need to learn the things yourself and No so called guru will tell you the algorithms.
Nofollow attribute won't help you much due to the its trust factor. However i do feel a Nofollow link from trusted site like Wikipedia helps to improve the trust factor.

A good link profile is a combination of back-links with Nofollow attribute as well as back-links without Nofollow attribute.

I'm Drunk. Forgive me for any grammar errors etc.

[Dave A]

He won't disclose anything neither you can interpret it exactly.

At times you certainly have to be very careful about how you interpret his musings

NOFOLLOW links is a classic case in point. When Google (via Matt) started talking about NOFOLLOW tags, what they said was they don't pass PageRank, they're not used in the division of web page's PageRank score for the purposes of passing PageRank, and they should be used for all paid links and where the source wasn't vouching for the credibility of the page the link was pointing to.

The SEO community then took it upon themselves to infer Google wasn't following these links and that they were worthless for SEO purposes. On a number of occasions I pointed out that if you read the statements carefully (and had some sense of the "style" of Matt Cutts), Google probably was following the links and that they weren't entirely worthless.

And then a few years later Matt pointed out that he had never said they don't follow NOFOLLOW tagged links...

More recently (and this would be a couple of years ago now) Matt then made a post that 6 months previously they had started including NOFOLLOW tagged links in the division of a page's PageRank, however the score allocated to NOFOLLOW links wasn't passed on and essentially was lost. He thought he'd better let us know because it seemed no-one in the SEO community had noticed the change...

I'd given up hanging around SEO communities some time earlier, and that particular post pretty much sealed the deal for me. As "amateurs", there isn't much more to be gained once you've got the basics of sound SEO practices down pat. All too often, today's finer point that gives you a slight edge becomes tomorrow's handicap, and you end up chasing your tail trying to keep up with it all.

Google's challenge as a search engine - to deliver what the user is looking for; relevant, reliable content out of a search - doesn't change. And the basic, important indicators that can be relied on to determine just what that content should be isn't going to change either - subject match and credibility. Grasp that, and understand a few basic tools and principles, and you're 90% there no matter what the next big trick might be.

[workshop]

... if you're trying to get back-links from Facebook and the page where all fans are fake its of no use to you. If people are real and not some users created with bots, you may get some response depending on your campaign.

I don't think we are talking about the same thing. If I am optimising a site for search engine rankings I look for anchor text, I also want to be able to point the links to internal pages and above all else I want shelf life. Quality links are difficult to find. It takes time and it gets expensive. As far as Facebook goes, it does nothing to a site's serps. So I don't bother and no follow tags are a red flag that tell me the web master is twitchy about link spam. So I don't go there either, unless its traffic that I am after. And traffic is more about community building and networking that it is SEO.

I do accept that if you are clever and slick, one’s Facebook friends might boost your traffic and convert into sales. But I only really use it as a second option. One can get key word rich posts to rank in the search results and indirectly pass traffic. But I do not consider this to be part of a SEO brief either. That is more like social media marketing.

At times you certainly have to be very careful about how you interpret his musings
As "amateurs", there isn't much more to be gained once you've got the basics of sound SEO practices down pat. All too often, today's finer point that gives you a slight edge becomes tomorrow's handicap, and you end up chasing your tail trying to keep up with it all.

Google's challenge as a search engine - to deliver what the user is looking for; relevant, reliable content out of a search - doesn't change. And the basic, important indicators that can be relied on to determine just what that content should be isn't going to change either - subject match and credibility. Grasp that, and understand a few basic tools and principles, and you're 90% there no matter what the next big trick might be.

Subject match is one I have difficulty with. How does one measure relevance? Where does one draw the line?
And credibility is another. I have a nasty feeling that Google not only tolerates bad grammar and spelling mistakes. But I suspect they prefer the company of street people and backyard operators. What does one have to do to get that rubber stamp?

[workshop]

Google's challenge as a search engine - to deliver what the user is looking for; relevant, reliable content out of a search - doesn't change. And the basic, important indicators that can be relied on to determine just what that content should be isn't going to change either - subject match and credibility. Grasp that, and understand a few basic tools and principles, and you're 90% there no matter what the next big trick might be.

But how does a small one man business get themselves seen? What are the basic tools and principals? What does one understand by subject match? Are we just talking about page content? And as for credibility, this is the real killer. It doesn't take long for the average webmaster to start asking should I or shouldn't I?

[Dave A]

SEO is a topic that has come up fairly regularly on TFSA over the years. I went hunting TFSA for relevant threads on SEO that might help. Here are some (in no particular order):
top 10 SEO tips
help needed with website SEO
What is SEO
The standards of web design in SA
Google Analytics 101 - What You Absolutely Need To Know

[workshop]

Dave the problem is that none of it is quite as simple as succumbing to the temptation to spam. Can we not simplify this into half a dozen simple steps? Unfortunately link spam works. The hustlers and link pimps do deliver. So why not "out source"? It takes a lots less effort and time than beating around the bush trying to flush it all out into the open.

[workshop]

Have packed Lance off to Digital Point
Not even a cheep out him