Jul
31
Web host and its effect on Traffic of user
Filed Under Companies, General Issues, SEO and Strategies, Server Hosting | 1 Comment
To get a great deal of traffic on your is no simple matter, and also to find a hosting company for a site that is well promoted. Having spent the time to drive traffic to a website, no one would like that the website should go down. As the old saying goes, time is money, and the right web host can make a big difference when it comes to your site.
Bandwidth is one of the most important design considerations one has to keep in mind before picking a web host. If the web host is who is providing metered bandwidth to its clients will not do a lot to drive traffic to the site. This caused sluggish service, severe customer complaints and general heartache all around. Bandwidth can determine how many visitors one can receive per month.
Web Masters do not know the importance of bandwidth until they start running out of it. At that time the start taking action as to paste notices all over their site begging users not to save every page. Think about the fact that it is the same bandwidth that is consumed by the user when viewing pages that is consumed when the user saves it. When the site is being uploaded the web master did take the fact that he or she would have to spend extra money every month on bandwidth.
No matter how excellent any website is in terms of design and programming, when it comes to hosting, the web host has to have the necessary software to make all the programming work. Apart from that there are a excess of factors such as security and space. But when it comes to traffic, only one factor is important, and that is bandwidth. Getting to any site can be similar to getting home during rush hour if you do not have enough bandwidth, it’s very uncomfortable.
One thing that will go a long way in making certain that one does not have problems is that should avoid taking shared web hosting. A major disadvantage of shared bandwidth is that if ten websites reside on a server, and share bandwidth, then bandwidth is served on a first come first served basis so the traffic which has to come to you will have to wait and by that time maybe the user will loose interest and go to another site.
The only advantage of shared bandwidth can be got when you are the biggest drawer of traffic on your server; however this cannot be a sure shot guarantee. The only advantage is when you are on a basic budget. But for serious traffic, you can be sure you will have problems.
Dedicated hosting gives you private root access, your own unshared bandwidth, secure access, and one server for you and no one else. This is the best kind of hosting if you are a fairly large site and you expect large amount traffic. So it will be better to generate more traffic the type of web host you choose should have all the facilities of guarantying good traffic.
Jun
22
Developing Traffic
Filed Under SEO and Strategies, Ad | 30 Comments
To have a successful web page one needs traffic. To get a web site build of one’s choice is quite easy, but it does not really leads to the fact that it will invite traffic by its own.
A very easy method to develop traffic is getting linked with another site. If this site gets a few visitors then naturally it can be assumed that a few may deviate to your site also. It is not necessary that it will be constant traffic but may be a few will come back again.
The other site will link to your site only when it gets something in return, it won’t be their worthwhile if the link does not help to their site. Commenting on other people’s site is definite way to have other people interested in your site, but this can be done only in those sites where signatures are allowed. The comment should be attractive enough to interest people to find out more.
Exchanging links from other sites can also generate traffic. One has to be careful while going for the exchange. The place of the link is also important as it has to be seen by people and interest so that the link is used. The exchange program should be mutually beneficial to both the parties.
The link farms can be brought upon if one is involved in it. There will be thousands of links on these pages. People looking for sites can go to these farms and then click on any link. It is just pot luck there, but no harm in trying it.
To be a part of any forum is a natural succession for more people getting g to your site. As in forums people join site and there are discussions and become familiar with each other.
To have a look at the new link pointing to your site through a blogroll or an entry is just fun. The chance to view new features is inherent in our nature so just out of curiosity people will come to your site. It is the job of the site to make those people come back again and again.
Developing traffic through articles is another tested. Send e mails to people, it can be quite possible that people get tired of reading but once while you may touch gold and the result will be good traffic.
May
17
If you have created a new page and want to transfer the Page Rank of the old page to this new one, you must be in the lookout of some visitor or spider friendly method of doing it. Redirecting viewers from the old page to the new one is done best with the help of 301 Redirect. However, there are various other types of redirects that can serve the same purpose like 302, JavaScript, and Meta Refresh.
Why 301 Redirect?
If you are using a client-side meta-refresh or a JavaScript redirect, the search engine may mistakenly conclude that you are using doorway pages. This is because often the client-side redirects make use of doorway creators in order to feed one version of a page to the visitors and the other version to the search engine spider. In the case of a 302 Temporary Redirect, the Page Rank and other authority factors are not transferred to the new page. This is because the search engine assumes that after a certain period of time, the page will be returned to its original location. Therefore, “301” is the safest method to redirect old pages to new ones.
When to Use 301 Redirects?
In most cases, the “301 Redirect” is used by site owners to transfer their site from “non-www” version of the URL of the site to “www” version. Suppose, your site name is xyz.com. You need to use the 301 Redirect method to redirect the site name to www.xyz.com. This process is a must as it not only prevents 302 hijacking, but also blends the link popularity of the two and restricts duplicate content filter.
This is certainly not the only case when you require using the 301 Redirect method. Multi domains were secured to increase link popularity of certain domains and gain more traffic. But, the content in each of the domains remained the same. Since search engines are extremely sensitive to duplicate content, all of the sites can be booted and banned. The way out is to redirect all the spare domains to a single main domain using the 301 Redirect. This process has made securing more and more domain names easier, some even with the misspelled version of the site. In this way, if someone types in the wrong spelling in the browser, he/she will be automatically redirected to the main page.
You may even want to move certain articles from an old site to a new one. In this case you need to use a 301 Redirect on a per page basis. The 301 redirect method is considered ethical and white hat. Now that you know that 301 Redirect is the acceptable and best way to redirect files, pages and even domains, you may be curious to know how it works. Implementing a 301 Redirect is really easy and fast.
Technical Requirements for 301 Redirect in .htaccess
You require an Apache server and the .htaccess file. Most of the hosting services that you use has Apache server. The .htaccess file is important as the web checks for it after receiving request from a search engine spider. They add the Redirect to your server’s root command. If done improperly, it may result your site to fail totally, making it unreachable to the users. The 301 is the safest way to Redirect files and also preserve Page Ranks. When the next spidering occurs, the search engine robot obeys the rule that you indicated in .htaccess file. It is not that the search engine spiders actually read .htaccess files, but it identifies the response given by the server as valid.
How to Implement a 301 Redirect?
Redirecting pages become easier once you know the way to apply the .htaccess file. In order to use the .htaccess file, you need to open your FTP and login to the site. Search for the .htaccess file in the root web folder. In case there is no .htaccess file; you will have to create one. You can use a Notepad to create a .htaccess file. Make sure you insert a period before the file name and use no extensions. It should look like this – “.htaccess”
You need to create a code to make .htaccess work. Usually it reads like this:
Redirect Permanent / http://www.sitename.com/
Or
Redirect 301 / http://www.sitename.com/
Redirect Permanent or Redirect 301 tells the server to redirect the site permanently. The “/” indicates that everything in the site from top to bottom need to be redirected. In this process, all the present pages and links in the search engine results that are there for the old site, will be redirected to the top level of the current site.
In case you already have the .htaccess file on your server, check for the codes by opening it in any code editor or HTML editor like the TextPad. To redirect multiple domains to a single one, you need to first enter the URL of the unused domain, insert a space, and then type in the new domain URL. Make sure to save the .htaccess file in the root directory. Once it is saved, upload it on the server. To be sure that there has been no error in the codes, it is best to try it out by typing the URL of the old site. If you are redirected immediately to the new website address, you have successfully implemented 301 Redirect in .htaccess. If it shows error message in the page, you need to edit the .htaccess file again.
Redirecting Web Page in .htaccess
You may sometimes want to redirect a changed web page without altering the Page Rank of the old page. For this, you need to write a different code in the .htaccess file. It should be as follows:
Redirect 301 /old/old.htm http:/www.currentpath.com/new.htm
The original file name and path is represented by “/old/old.htm”. The file name and the new path are indicated by “http://www.currentpath.com/new.htm”. With this code, when the search engine visits your old web page, it will be automatically redirected to the new web page.
How to Avoid Errors?
The search engine indexes not only the site, but also the Page Rank. Transferring files from one site to another may cause you to lose traffic. It leaves the visitors of your site with the message: “Error 404 – File Not Found”. You may create a custom error page to avoid this, but even in that case, the Page Rank will be will be lost as the file will appear as non-existent during the next search engine update. Moreover, the viewers may also feel reluctant to search through the site to find relevant information. To avoid such a thing from happening, you require using the 301 Redirect method since it is both visitor and spider friendly.
In Brief - 301 Redirect in .htaccess
If you want to permanently relocate a page, file or domain to a new location, the 301 Redirect is the best method for it. Even though you can use a JavaScript redirect, a 302 Temporary Redirect or a client-side meta-refresh redirect for the purpose, they are not search engine friendly means. The above ways of redirection can not only hamper the Page Rank of your site, but can also have your site being banned by the duplicate content sensitive search engines. The 302 Redirect works on a temporary basis and the search engine does not transfer the authority factors and link popularity to the new location. This is because the search engines assume that the new page will be returned to its original location after some period of time as 302 Redirect works temporarily. Thus, when you want to permanently redirect new pages, files and domains to a new location, you require a method that will be search engine friendly and at the same time preserve your Page rank. This is when the 301 Redirect comes handy.
The three basic things needed for 301 Redirect in the .htaccess file are - an Apache server, the .htaccess file, and knowledge on how to use the file. The .htaccess file, also known to be the control file, permits changes in server configuration on a per-directory basis. The .htaccess file is located in the root web folder. To redirect your desired file or pages, you need to begin the code with the command “Redirect Permanent” or “Redirect 301”. In the .htaccess file, after placing the 301 Redirect command, you need to place the path of the old file, followed by the URL of the current location. By using 301 Redirect in the .htaccess file, you can transfer a file, page or the whole domain to a new location.
Among the various search engines, Google handles 301 Redirect best. Yahoo is yet to overcome some technical difficulties in this matter. Even though there are situations when the search engines lose 301 – related information, during major updates, but as far as redirection is concerned, the 301 Redirect method is the acceptable method by the search engines and so far the best one.
May
16
On Page Optimization - How to optimize your website for a certain keyword or phrase
Filed Under SEO and Strategies | Leave a Comment
This guide will walk you through the process of optimising your website for your target word or phrase. There are various ways of doing this: -
- - Meta tags
- - Title Tag
- - Body Text
- - Headings
- - Image alt text
Meta Tags
Meta tags were used extensively by search engines in order to rank websites in the results, but nowadays they have very little or zero power in determining your ranking. So why use them you might well ask. Well, usually the search engines display a short description of each web page listed in the results. If you enter a meta description tag then the search engines sometimes use this as the description displayed in the search engines result pages (SERPs). I personally would like to be able to enter a description for my site, rather than the search engine create one using the body text of my website.
Meta tags are placed in the <head></head> section of your web page. The two meta tags that are concerned with SEO are the meta description and meta keywords tags. You should try to enter your target word or phrase in the keywords and description meta tags.
The Title Tag
The title tag is a very important. Why? Because you only enter one title tag, and it’s quite short in length, so it can be deemed to be an accurate representation of what the web page topic is.
From an SEO perspective you should always enter your keyword as close to the beginning of the title tag as possible, this will give the keyword more ‘prominence’. You should also try to keep your title tag as short as possible, this will give each word in the title tag more ‘weight’.
Body Text
The actual content, or body text of your web page is an important factor of on-page optimization. To optimize your body text you should try to use your keyword frequently throughout so that it accounts for 4-5% of all of the words on your website. It is also a good idea to try to include your keyword in bold or italics to give additional weight to the keyword. You should also try to place your keyword as close to the beginning of your body text as possible, certainly in the first paragraph of text. Ideally your keyword will be the first word in your body text.
One important thing to remember is not to go overboard and mention your keyword every other word. This is known as keyword stuffing, and the search engines certainly don’t like this as it is seen as an attempt to spam and your site could actually be penalised, or even worse – banned! You should also never use text which is the same colour as the background of your web page (so that it is invisible or hidden), nor should you ever use tiny text, both of these can also be seen as an attempt to spam the search engine and could lead to a ban.
Headings
HTML headings, e.g. <h1>, <h2>, <h3> are important when it comes to on page optimization. The headings carry special weight with many search engines. The same rules apply to the headings as applies to the <title> tag: -
- Ensure your keyword is present in the heading
- Try to get your keyword as near the beginning of the heading as possible
- Keep the heading as short as possible to ensure maximum weight is given to your keyword
It is generally good practice to only have one <h1> tag per page, so in some respects this is the most important heading to be optimized for your keyword.
A common mistake I see is that people use graphics for their headings – don’t! Sure they might look pretty, but they mean zip to the search engines – they can’t interpret graphics or read what they say. If you want to make your headings look more attractive then by all means use CSS to make the heading look more aesthetically pleasing, but do not use graphics, it’s a waste of an opportunity!
Image Alt Text
Image alt (alternate) text is an attribute of the HTML <img> tag. The alt text can be entered when creating an image: -
<img src=”ferrari.jpg” alt=”Ferrari sports car” />
It is used by text viewers (web browsers that only display text – no images) rather than displaying the image itself. So in the example above it will say “Ferrari sports car” rather than display the image. In case you’re wondering, a visually impaired person might use a text viewer when browsing the web.
It is important that if you have any images on your web page, that you include your keyword or phrase in the alt text of a few of the images.
Piecing It All Together
When doing keyword optimization it is important to maintain a balance between what is ‘optimized’ and what is ‘useful’. I’ve seen on many websites where the Webmaster has gone way over the top when optimizing the page for their keyword, that the content was incoherent drivel.
There is a tool in WebLink SEO, which is the software I use, which allows you to enter the URL of a web page, and the keyword(s) you would like to optimize that page for. It will then suggest different enhancements that can be made in order for your web page to be better optimized, including all of the optimization methods I have mentioned above. This makes the whole optimization task much quicker, and also takes the guesswork out of what needs to be done. I certainly recommend checking it out.
I hope this guide has helped you understand how to optimize your web page for a particular keyword
May
16
The Google Sandbox
Filed Under SEO and Strategies | Leave a Comment
The Google Sandbox
One of the most common questions I get asked is ‘what is the Google sandbox?’ or ‘How can I get out of the sandbox?’, so in this guide I’ll aim to dispel some of the myths about what the Sandbox is, why it’s there, and how you get out of it.
What is the Google sandbox?
To begin with I must say that the Google sandbox is a ‘theory’. Google has never confirmed its existence, so until they do, it will remain a theory. The Google sandbox theory is extremely simple. Around February of 2004 Webmasters of new websites started to notice that their websites were not ranking well in the Google results for their targeted keywords, but they were seeing good results in Yahoo! and MSN, or they found that their site ranked well for a couple of weeks and were then dropped to the 8th page of the results.
The reason for Google doing this is not known for sure, but there are a couple of theories:
The first theory is that Google may delay the inclusion of brand-new websites to encourage Webmasters to build quality, content-based websites instead of building poor quality sites providing information that is available on countless other websites. The delay might encourage webmasters to focus on the content of their main website instead of building useless mini sites. So in essence, rather than the search engines being full of poor quality but heavily SEO’d (search engine optimized) websites, they would get a better quality of website prevailing for the more popular keywords.
The second, more under-handed theory is that Google makes most of it profits from its sponsored listings, so if your site gets relegated to the 8th page of Google, then the only way you can get listed is by paying for a sponsored listing. Obviously if Google sandboxes every new website, and a company has a large advertising budget then they will have no qualms paying 20p to get people to access their website. Since the Sandbox was introduced Google has announced record profits from its AdSense advertising program.
Regardless of the actual reason behind the introduction of the sandbox, it has had advantages and disadvatages. The advatage is for the users of Google; they can now be assured that for any popular keywords they enter, they will be seeing quality websites, not just websites that are good at search engine optimization. The disadvantage is for the search engine optimizers and producers of new websites as it means all their efforts will not be rewarded for eight months.
How do I know if I’m in the Sandbox?
Perhaps the easiest way is simply by looking at the age of your site. Most websites come out of the sandbox after 8 months or so, so if you have a website that more than a year old that is fully optimized and has a lot of quality backlinks and you are still listed on the 8th page of the results, then chances are your website is receiving some kind of penalty.
What can you do to get out of the sandbox?
If you have a new website, then you can expect that it will be fully listed within 6-8 months in Google from the time when Google first indexed your website. While you are waiting, don’t just sit a twidle your thumbs, add content to your web site, get good incoming links and make sure that your web pages are optimized for Google. But be careful not to over-optimize or you could end up doing more harm than good! See the Avoid Getting Banned tutorial to check you aren’t over optimizing your website.
In order to reduce your waiting time in the Sandbox, as soon as you have registered your domain name create a few temporary pages and link to it from a couple of other websitse to make Google index your website. The 6-8 month delay seems to start with Google’s first contact with your website. The sooner Google knows about your website, the sooner it will be listed.
Remember, Google isn’t the only search engine on the Internet, Yahoo and MSN don’t have such a delay so don’t focus all your efforts on Google alone but also optimize your web pages for these search engines.
Can you speed up the whole process?
It seems that there’s nothing or very little that can be done to speed up the sandbox process. Some webmasters advocate that getting inbound links that point to different web pages of your website ( not just to your index page) can speed your your time spent in the Sandbox. Others suggest trying to get quality links from .edu or .gov websites.
The sandbox is Google’s attempt to prevent spammers from creating web sites that are just after quick gains. Google aims to return high quality web sites with good content in its result pages. So while you’re waiting for your site to emerge you might as well spend your time productively; write good content for your website, and try to get good quality, one-way backlinks, and before you know it the 6-8months will be up.
May
12
While surfing the web, i found this at Matt Cutt’s Blog
Looks like google is hunting for paid text link sites. They are specifically looking for sites who buy paid links just to increase their PR.
Google now wants you to report them paid link sites so that they can probably stop the increase in PR due to that link or they might even not index your page.
Google may provide a special form for paid link reports at some point, but in the mean time, here’s a couple of ways that anyone can use to report paid links:- Sign in to Google’s webmaster console and use the authenticated spam report form, then include the word “paidlink” (all one word) in the text area of the spam report. If you use the authenticated form, you’ll need to sign in with a Google Account, but your report will carry more weight.
- Use the unauthenticated spam report form and make sure to include the word “paidlink” (all one word) in the text area of the spam report.
As far as the details, it can be pretty short. Something like “Example.com is selling links; here’s a page on example.com that demonstrates that” or “www.shadyseo.com is buying links. You can see the paid links on www.example.com/path/page.html” is all you need to mention.
Feb
22
Getting Your Site Indexed By The Search Engines - Get Links!
Filed Under SEO and Strategies | Leave a Comment
DON’T Submit Your Site To Search Engines
One of the big mistakes that people new to SEO will do is they will spend many hours or worse, pay for software or services that will submit your website to tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of search engines – don’t! It’s a waste of time and money and will get you nowhere.
Instead of spending time doing this, spend it productively by getting links to your site. This is the only way you will ever get better search engine results.
Getting Your First Links - For Free
So how do you do get those first links in order to get your site indexed? Easy! Go to Google, type in the broad topic of your website and then start contacting the Webmasters of websites in the top 10 or 20 results. This might mean telephoning or sending an email to the Webmaster – do anything to persuade them to link to you. One thing you should always do when trying to get links to your site is to try your utmost to get links from relevant sites, i.e. websites that have the same or similar topic as you own website.
The hardest task for a new website is to get those first links. A popular method of getting inbound links is to set-up link exchanges with other websites i.e. you provide a link to their website and ask that they then provide one to you (this is also known as reciprocal linking). The reason it’s hard is because if you contact the Webmaster of another website to see if you can set-up a link exchange, then the Webmaster of the other website can see your website’s PR is 0 and won’t be interested in exchanging links – after all what’s in it for them? It’s a catch 22 situation, they won’t link to you because you have low PR, but to get a higher PR you need people to provide links to your site. It’s tough, but stick at it and soon enough you will start to see results – Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Also, if you have any other websites be sure to interlink these sites – a great method of getting those first few links!
If you’re finding it tough getting these initial links there is another option….
Buying Links
You can buy pretty much buy anything in life, this also includes links. Yes, it’s possible to buy links to your website from link broking services. There are three major link brokers on the web, these are: -
http:///www.text-link-ads.com
http://www.linkadage.com
http://www.textlinkbrokers.com
You can even considering submitting your site to some web directories like http://www.dmoz.org/ or http://www.yeahdir.com/
So if you’re finding it very difficult to get indexed by the search engines, then you can simply buy the links to your website.
Questions to ask when purchasing about the quality and value of a link:
1. What is the value of the theme?
Is it a high competition/ highly monetized industry such as pharmaceauticals, gambling, or finance?
2. What is the overall power of the link?
Is it helping any other sites to rank high? How links from unique C-class IP addresses does it have?
3. What is the linking neighborhood theme of the site linking to you?
The “Topic” of the links that link to that site. - and a comparision of how close of a “linking neighborhood” is to your site’s theme.
4. How many outbound links are on the page giving the link, and who else do they link to?
Lower the better and quality counts - skip the site with poker plastered all over it.
5. What is the format of the link, how many characters for anchor text and description do you get, and do you have control to change it?
Footer Link? Sidebar link? Run of site? Body text link? Pre-sell page?
6. Where is the link deriving it’s power?
Does it have any .edus or .govs linking to it? How many unique domains and C class IP addresses?
7. What is the age of the site?
Older the better
8. Will the link pass any direct clickthrough traffic?
(Alexa is a litmus test here)
9. How many pages will the link be placed on?
Don’t go overboard with run of site links now
10. Will the link go to a subsection of your site or your homepage?
Help your deep link ratio
11. Does the link “pass power”?
This is where the “gut feel” comes in. If a link is not passing any power, it is potentially worthless. It’s no fun flushing money away, so develop an intuition for when a link is passing it’s value and when it isn’t.
Feb
22
At one time PageRank was the most important factor when calculating the search engine results. Nowadays it’s less important, and other factors have now become more important (which I will cover in later lessons).
One thing I try to avoid is PR-watching. Many webmasters are so obsessed with PageRank that they lose site of more important factors such as obtaining links from relevant websites that are in the same topic theme as yourself. One phrase I say to people who ask me about PR is,
“PR is vanity, Rankings are sanity”
What would you rather have, a website with a high page rank but a bad position in the results, or a low PR with a good position in the results - I know which I would choose!
I personally never take PageRank into consideration when I link to a website, or request a link from a website. The only things I consider are; is the website’s theme similar to my own website? and, is the website a ‘quality website’ that provides useful content that people on my website would find useful? If you stick to this system then there’s no way you can fail.
Feb
22
How Do I Increase The PageRank Of My Website?
There is only one way to increase the PageRank of your website: get more inbound links. Before you dash off and start trying to get more links to your website there a few things you should know about how PR is calculated. PR is not calculated based on a simple count of the number of the links that point to your website, it also takes into consideration the PR of the web page that provides the link to your website and how many other outbound links there are on that webpage. So the higher PR-rated web page you obtain the link from, the more PageRank will be transferred to your website! So for example, a single link from a PR6 website might be worth 30 links from PR1 websites.
This table shows an approximation of the number of links you will need in order to obtain a certain PageRank.
| PR of page | Links for PR4 | Links for PR5 | Links for PR6 | Links for PR7 | Links for PR8 | Links for PR9 |
| 1 | 3,055 | 16,803 | 92,414 | 508,277 | 2,795,522 | 15,375,371 |
| 2 | 555 | 3,055 | 16,803 | 92,414 | 508,277 | 2,795,522 |
| 3 | 101 | 555 | 3,055 | 16,803 | 92,414 | 508,277 |
| 4 | 18 | 101 | 555 | 3,055 | 16,803 | 92,414 |
| 5 | 3 | 18 | 101 | 555 | 3,055 | 16,803 |
| 6 | 0.61 | 3 | 18 | 101 | 555 | 3,055 |
| 7 | 0.11 | 0.61 | 3 | 18 | 101 | 555 |
| 8 | 0.02 | 0.11 | 0.61 | 3 | 18 | 101 |
| 9 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.11 | 0.61 | 3 | 18 |
| 10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.11 | 0.61 | 3 |
You can see that to get a website of PR5, there are different combinations to do it. For example, you’ll get a ranking of PR5 if you have 16,803 links from PR1 websites, or 3,055 from PR2 websites, or 555 links from PR3 websites etc etc….
But wait, there’s even more to it! Not only does Google take into consideration the PR of the web page that provides the link to your website, it also looks at the number of other links on the web page that provide the link, in effect the more links the the page provides the more the PageRank is diluted. So, if you manage to get a link from a PR6 website then that’s great, but if that web page also provides links to hundreds of other websites, then it might actually be as effective as a link from a PR1 or PR2 website.
Feb
22
You can find out the Google page rank from http://www.mywebpagerank.com/


























