Building backlinks is an essential, yet tedious
job for most webmasters. Here are a few tools
and tips to make that job just a little bit easier…

I am a member of many online forums. Most of these
forums have to do with online marketing and site
promotion. Recently, I came across a post on Ken
Evoy’s SBI forum that truly caught my attention.

It basically described how to use Google Alerts
to build your backlinks. Now for those not familiar
with Google Alerts a little explanation is probably
needed.

Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a free program run by Google
that allows you to keep track of any topic on
the web. You select your “keywords” or “urls”
and Google will alert you via email whenever
links/content containing your selected topics
appear anywhere on the web.

It is an excellent way to keep informed about your own domain or name. It is also perfect for
keeping up-to-date on the latest information in
your market niche or niches. It’s also a great
way to find out what other people are saying
about you or your site.

For example: if you have a site on “antique cars” then you would create a Google Alert for those
keywords. Google will alert you by email whenever
a new link/content related to those keywords
appears on the web.

This is a great way to stay informed in your niche, but it is also a valuable source of potential
linking partners. Many of those links are blogs
that will allow comments with a link back to your
site.

Google Alerts will probably send you 10-20 links
each day, depending on the popularity of your
chosen keywords. Just go to these blogs/links
and see if you can leave a comment with some
valuable additional information on what’s been
discussed.

Don’t SpamPlease Note: Don’t spam; there are intelligent
people behind most of these blogs, and they will
recognize keyword spam when they see it. Your
main goal should be getting targeted traffic back
to your site and any link PR should be secondary.
Always put the reader or viewer first, especially
if it’s on someone else’s site. Don’t talk about
your site or your marketing - just join the conversation
and add your comments/opinions/suggestions…

Enhance their site and they will reward you with
traffic and a link. But you still have to keep
your own interests in the equation! You have to
make sure you get your targeted keywords in the
anchor text.

Keyword Market
First, if you’ve done your homework, your main
keywords should already be in your domain name
or url. Another way is to add your “keywords” +
“guide” to your sig or signature. Such as:
Name, Your Antique Cars Guide. If you’re an
expert in your particular niche, many webmasters
will kindly welcome your comments and links.

Since your main goal is the traffic, many
webmasters don’t worry if there is a “no follow”
attribute attached to the link. But if you are
concerned about this - one way is to look at
the source code to see if it has the “no follow”
tag. I usually copy the whole source code of
the page to my text editor and then do a simple
“no follow” search.

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Directory submission plays a very important role in search engine optimization of a site. Question is how can we categorize them and which one are the best to be approached. Here I would try to differentiate directories .

1. Human Edited - These are basic directories made on traditional pattern edited by human editors .These directories have very slow process of approval but these are well maintained and properly categorized. As these directories have strict submission rules, the quality is really very good. Though human maintenance is very laborious and time consuming but www.dmoz.org , dir.yahoo.com and many other directories are there .While planning to optimize your site you cant ignore the importance of these directories.

2. User Categorized - These are same as human edited but here the site owner decides which category he wants his site to be listed. This reduces the director editor’s work. These directories also give satisfactory results.

3. User Classified- Sites are classified on keywords, the site owner has to submit the meta tags and keywords while submitting site. Most of these directories are having automated process so low and easy maintenance. While submitting site to this type of directories you should choose most popular keywords because if you use some uncommon combination, would result in less visitor reaching your site. Best known example for these types of directories is www.exactseek.com.

Selection Of Directories -

1. Analyze on your own by making searches in directory using different keywords and if the results are relevant as per your search that means directory is properly categorized.

2. Inbound Traffic – The Alexa index is the most popular for traffic measure. You just need to download and install Alexa toolbar and you can select the directories getting real traffic. Don’t merely go for high ranking but prefer directories having heavy traffic measure. It can be compiled this way higher the inbound result to directory more would be outbound links.

3. Search engine scanning – Check whether the directory is indexed or not .You can do this by just putting the url of directory in google’s search box. The directory should be cached and with no supplement result pages.

4. Site’s ranking - You need to check out your sites location in the particular category. The listing should be in first 30-40 sites , if listed on 4 or 5 th page you cant expect visitors to go down so many pages and look for your link.

5. Robots - Make sure that the directory you are submitting link to should not have robot disallowed.

6. Loading time – The page loading should be fast as slow loading pages divert the visitors.

7. Free submission – Always go for free directory submissions, and never go for paid and reciprocal link exchanging directories.

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In the world of PPC (pay per click) advertising campaigns, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to stand out in a crowd. As more and more people move to this effective online advertising forum, many marketplaces are becoming increasingly competitive and cutthroat. But don’t worry - implementing the following three bid management techniques will help put you back on top.

The first thing you should do is stay within your budget. Don’t get caught up in bidding wars if you don’t have to. These are often initiated by rookies to the PPC game, and can cost you dearly if you get involved. If you spend too much on your clicks, you will erase the profit you earn from backend conversions. If you aren’t getting the number of clicks you desire, then try to make other small changes such as modifying your keywords or tweaking the text of your ads. Upping your budget is the last thing you want to do. After all, you set your budget for a reason - to make sure you turn a profit.

Next, you should not bid to get in the top spot, now matter how big your budget. Unless you are the undisputed leader in your industry, or are attempting to become the undisputed leader in your industry, bidding for the top spot is a quick way to erase your margins. You should let your ad sell your service, not the spot you are in. Plus, many people click on the top spot without thinking too much about the contents of the ad. This is the last thing you want, because you are lowering the quality of your leads. If you’re going to pay for a click, you want to make sure it’s for someone legitimately interested in what you sell. This should be the guiding light of your PPC bid management techniques.

Also, there is a technique called bid jamming that you might want to try. Basically, some PPC services have a visible bid system, meaning you can see the bids of all your competitors. Something you may not know is that your competitors don’t pay the price they bid for each click, but instead pay one cent higher than their next closest competitors bid. If you bid one cent lower than your next competitor, it will force him/her to pay full price for the bid, something that is hard to keep up for long.

Utilizing these three simple PPC bid management techniques can help you stand apart form your competitors and maximize your PPC campaign without overspending. This way, you can win the bidding ways the smart ways - without breaking your budget.

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Source: lvauth.com