30 Day Challenge To Get Your Business Online

[workshop]

Can we not simplify this into half a dozen simple steps?

1. Title Tag - Stuff it full of all the key words you can think of that are relevant to a search for the business you run. Start with you primary key words and try to make it look half way sensible. Try to arrange them to look like a title that relates to the business you are in. At the same time understand that this a temporary fix. Key word stuffing is not a good idea long term. You want to create child pages and bleed your secondary key words down into your internal pages. You want to keep refining, improving and building a word picture Google can feed on.
2. Wait for Google to find your site and index it. Peg your ranking for the search terms you are most interested in. You then monitor you movement giving Google ten days to three weeks on average.
3. Start building back links from third party web sites. You don't want links that point to an internal page on the host site and then back to your site. You don't want no follow links either. You do however want anchor text which should contain a key word combination you are targeting. Directories which insist you use your site name are a waste of time. You need flexibility. You also want links that point to your internal pages and most important of all you want them to last.
4. Ideally you want links from sites that service the same niche market but these are difficult to come by. So treat them as a bonus.
5. This is all you need to get started. And you have to understand that it is going to take months and years to get your site to where you want it. Forget days and weeks. This is long term, ongoing drudgery. Don't waste your time running in circles. Digital Point will provide you with an endless supply of low quality here today, gone tomorrow links. They are useful. But they are going to have to be replaced sooner than later.
6. You are also going to be offered all sorts on incentives to part with your money. Don't believe them. Authority sites are authority sites because they don't hand out links for the asking. Network, build and make sure that give back as much as you take. Live dangerously if you must. But don't think you can beat the system. And I almost forgot, don't do reciprocal exchanges. Google will penalise you if you link out to a bad neighbourhood.

[Dave A]

After 1, I'd strongly recommend:

Content tag: Treat it as an advert that will appear in the Google SERP listing and will help people to decide whether to click your listing or someone else's.

[Wiz]

A bit more information on Anchor Text to be used.

Anchor Text Links -
A business has to make sure the anchor text (keywords which business wants to rank for) which they are using to build links have good amount of variation. A good anchor text profile is indeed very important if you want to survive algorithm updates which Google rolls out from time to time.

A Good anchor text profile should contain a good combination.

Branded Anchor text
Exact match Anchor Text
Images Anchor Text
Naked Links
Random Anchor Text
Diversified / long tail anchor text
Related Anchor Text
Generic Anchor Text

Google Algorithm should never know that links were created by you. The whole reason behind such variations is to tell google that links have been created by the sole owners of the respective site in a legitimate manner.

[workshop]

Google Algorithm should never know that links were created by you.

Not sure I agree.

Firstly Google does not penalise any site for third party links that could be placed by a competitor. The worst that can happen is that the links from the host site are devalued. I also think that it is a mistake to start out believing that Google is working against you. Rather recognise that you are part of a wider community that is looking for the information you have to offer and that you are doing whatever you can to make yourself seen. There is nothing wrong with this.

The question we need to ask is where do we draw the line between what is acceptable behaviour and what is not?

This gets down to one's personal ethics. And as a rule, despite all everyone has to say, Google does not have the time or inclination to micro manage something as obtuse as this. They work on the basis that all value on the net is the cumulative sum of an infinite number of smaller parts. And yes the Google Algorithm is a filter. But we don't want to waste time trying to figure it out. It doesn't apply to us. Nor do we want to waste time waiting out and hanging onto every word uttered by Matt Cutts. I have no doubt that Google employs some very smart people whose job it is to guide the communities that grow up around this witches cauldron. I can think of no better way to keep the trolls busy other than by leading them on and getting them to chase their own tails and spin in ever faster circles.

So you are the one who makes that decision. Are you the genuine article, the real deal? Or are you just another troll on the take? This is important. It is your attitude that that sets the tone for everything you are doing on the net and if you get off on the wrong foot you are making a big mistake. Anyone can get to the front of Google search results. The question is whether you have what it takes to hang onto that position, to compete fairly and to grow. Google is micro friendly, Google understands that small is beautiful, it's an opportunity not a threat. Understand that and you too can become part of the grand design.

[workshop]

1. Title Tag - Stuff it full of all the key words you can think of that are relevant to a search for the business you run.
4. Ideally you want links from sites that service the same niche market but these are difficult to come by. So treat them as a bonus.
6. And I almost forgot, don't do reciprocal exchanges.

These are the points that should be challenged. Key Word stuffing is lazy and it's clumsy. But the point I am trying to make is that once you have got started you never stop. This is not a once off event you pay through the nose to "outsource". You need to learn how to do this sort of stuff yourself. You are going to be editing, changing and fine tuning these things all the time. So best you focus on what tools you need to give you the means to do this.

Content and relevance are important. Yes but it is still possible to get an unfinished page to rank. The content you are going to add merely adds value to what you start. Google likes people with ideas. Scribble it down. Google will pick it up, index it and even move you to where they can point a spotlight at the stuff you want to do. Google will give you the break no one else will, even though they know that there is a nine in ten chance that you will never finish. But that is not important because someone else will pick it up if you don't.

In time you also want to become recognised as an authority in your particular niche. So Google places value on "organic" links from other sites in the same market. But there are two points here. Firstly this is not something you want to try to fake. This is something that takes time and has got no place in a SEO campaign. Here we are talking results not triggers. So learn to be patient. SEO is about building foundations which nobody but Google is ever going to see. It is possible to get a blank page to rank with back links from pages that have nothing whatsoever to do with the topic you are targeting.

And finally who says reciprocal links don't work? Of course they work. The point is that they are dangerous. There are a lot of very strange people out there. They say one thing and mean another. They are dishonest, selfish, greedy and it's all perfectly normally. Business is business. So take care. Know who you are linking out to. Google will penalise you if you link out to the Bad Guys. If you give a lift to a perfect stranger there is a good chance that they change direction when you are not watching. What was a perfectly respectable neighbourhood when you place the link becomes the sort of place you don't want to be overnight. BOO!

[lance71]

After 1, I'd strongly recommend:

Content tag: Treat it as an advert that will appear in the Google SERP listing and will help people to decide whether to click your listing or someone else's.

Can you exaplin a bit more what you mean by this, sorry it's all quite new to me so don't want to lose out on any info. How would this work and how should it be done?

[workshop]

It's a mistake to try to cover everything in one sitting. Focus on the basics and refine your best practices, as you go along. Keep it simple. Understand what you have to do to get your site to move. Don't worry about what you might miss if you blink. You will have plenty of time to retrace your steps. Ninety percent of this is trial and error.

[lance71]

It's a mistake to try to cover everything in one sitting. Focus on the basics and refine your best practices, as you go along. Keep it simple. Understand what you have to do to get your site to move. Don't worry about what you might miss if you blink. You will have plenty of time to retrace your steps. Ninety percent of this is trial and error.

Got it will focus on what I know so far. Thanks

[Dave A]

Can you exaplin a bit more what you mean by this

As an example, in the image below I've highlighted where the content of the description meta tag shows up in a Google search result:



And this is the thread it's linking to: IT34 on efiling?

Being a forum site, the only viable solution to automatically populate the tag is to grab the first part of the content, use that for the description meta tag, and hope for the best. This makes the content of the description tag as good as the poster's ability to make an attractive opening post in the thread, really.

But when you're setting up your own pages in Wordpress, you have control over what appears in the description meta (the page description). So think about it and make it appealing. It could be the difference between someone clicking on your result instead of the next door neighbour.

[lance71]

Thanks Dave, I see what you mean and that is new to my knowledge. So contrary to these some of these SEO tips saying Description and Keywords don't matter much - they actually do.

Luckily I still make mine as best I can.

[workshop]

aaah.....but that depends on what you mean by SEO. And this is where it gets tricky. What is SEO and what is not? If you are trying to improve your visibility in the search results you don't want to be chasing paper in the wind. Traffic and click throughs are not SEO, in my mind. You optimise a site to improve your ranking to get visibility and to get traffic as a result. This is one step removed from what I understand SEO to be. Is the distinction important? I believe it is.

[Dave A]

Traffic and click throughs are not SEO, in my mind.

True, if we ignore that every click is a vote for your "ad" and will help promote your "ad" up the SERPs.

Probably should have made the "if" bigger.

[workshop]

You have personally seen serp's move due to click throughs? I haven't put it to the test. But would be most surprised if it makes any significant difference. All it would take to get to the top is a clicking machine. To me SEO is what you can see. What you do, to get to the point where you start experiencing organic growth.

Content tags like graphics and design are nice. But they are no more than filler, "good practice", add ons;, not essential to the immediate task. Most people tend to lose interest if they don't see results. That is why I believe you want to cut to the chase, focus on the essentials and to then start filling in the gaps when you have customers looking at the menu at the door. There is nothing worse than playing to an empty house.

[Dave A]

You have personally seen serp's move due to click throughs?

Indeed I have. No-one has ever mentioned the influence of click through rates on SERP rankings before?

[workshop]

So if I carry Adwords on my site and someone sits and clicks on them, I am going to get paid by Google and the clients site is going to rocket through the serp's? No ways. Google is cleverer than that. So I build a "robot" to cut from IP address to IP address and being an ethical sort I will go to great lengths to make it look organic and edible. I am afraid I must see it before I believe. No doubt this is a convinction which might consign me to the bottom shelf to shovel coals for eternity. But I do like to know what it is I am spending my money on. And that is a difficult one to put to the test.