Romantik Design

Without a doubt getting high quality backlinks to your site is the backbone to search engine optimization. If you want to rank well in Google or any search engine you need quality websites linking to your website.

It tells the search engines that your site must be good if so many other websites are pointing to your site. Many internet marketers are beginning to understand that there is one type of link that is far better than any other type of backlink.

What type of backlinks you ask? Education backlinks better known as .edu backlinks.

Why do the search engines regard edu backlinks as the best on the internet? Great question. .edu backlinks are the most trusted links on the internet because they are from colleges and universities. In the mind of the search engine spiders an education website does not link to just any website, they only link to websites that really have something to offer.

There is a big problem with most education backlinks though. Most education websites now use the nofollow tag with any external link that goes away from their site. They know that there are people out there that will try and exploit their websites because they know that the links they provide to websites are the most powerful for the obvious reasons discussed above.

The nofollow tag basically tells the search engines not to count the backlink on the education website because they might be trying to exploit the education website. Now because of the nofollow tag that is used for most .edu backlinks most marketers don’t even bother with trying to get them anymore.

Believe it or not there are many edu websites that can give .edu backlinks to a website that do not use the nofollow tag, these are the websites that internet marketers can still use to gain some very big love the Google and the other search engines.

There are actually people on the internet that work with education websites that will help you get dofollow edu backlinks but it typically costs money for these backlinks. However it should be realized that the cost is normally worth it if used with a solid backliking strategy.

If you ever get the chance to get a dofollow edu backlink from an education website jump on it if you can afford it. It could make all the difference to your search engine optimization efforts.

Copyright (c) 2007 Titus Hoskins

Recently, a page on one of my websites was bookmarked or listed on Digg, a popular social bookmark site. It gave me the perfect opportunity to study and analyze the traffic coming from these social media sites. Read to discover the advantages and disadvantages of social bookmark traffic and how it can be applied to your own online marketing or site.

Is Social BookMark Traffic Useless?

First, we must make the distinction that no traffic is useless. Any visitor to your site is a good thing and should be welcomed. However, all traffic is not created equally, there are great differences in the sources of your traffic. This article takes a close analytical look at social bookmark traffic from an internet marketing perspective.

In case you haven’t noticed, right now social bookmark and media sites are all the rage on the web. Social bookmark traffic comes from such popular sites as Slashdot, Digg, Stumbleupon… basically these sites are driven by their users – that is, users or members pick and bookmark the content they want to view and discuss.

These social bookmark sites are extremely popular; they command the high traffic numbers most ordinary sites can only dream about obtaining.

But is this social bookmark traffic useful?

Is it worth your time? Should you be actively promoting to these social media sites? Should you concentrate your online marketing efforts on these types of sites? More importantly, what are the benefits and disadvantages of getting a front page listing on a sites like Digg or Stumbleupon?

As a full-time online marketer I wanted to know the answers to those questions. Moreover, I wanted to discover how or if I could use these sites from an online marketer’s advantage; i.e. how can they help me create more online income.

Recently, the Digg listing gave me a first-hand opportunity to really study these sites.

Of course, nothing happens without a reason… I did actually court these social bookmark sites by placing the free Addthis.com bookmark on all my pages. You can do the same. Just use this simple bookmark to attract these sites.

But be careful; getting your site featured on the front page of these sites can drive 100,000′s of visitors to your site immediately, so much traffic that it may overtax your server and crash it.

So be warned; if you’re actively promoting to these social bookmark sites just make sure your servers or web hosting is up to the demanding task of handling all these sudden visitors.

In my case, it didn’t crash my servers but unfortunately, the page/link in question featured an old poorly written article I did on the history of the Internet. Why it was even featured on Digg is a puzzle and beyond me.

But still I am not one to waste an opportunity, so I put my Google Analytics into overdrive and starting analyzing these visitors and social bookmark traffic.

It pointed out some very interesting factors about this bookmark traffic.

Most of this traffic will:

* simply bounce back

* very few visitors will spend much time on your site

* very few visitors will even venture into your site

* very few will sign-up to your newsletter

* very few will enter your marketing follow-ups/funnels

(The unknown variable here being the content on your site, how good it is? How well does it perform?)

Regardless, one common problem with traffic from these sites, it’s very temporary traffic. The high volume will only last a few days… until your item is moved back from the front page.

These visitors will not stay on your site long and most are gone within seconds, never to be seen again. A few may sign up to your newsletter or venture to other areas of your site but not many.

Social bookmark traffic is very fleeting, like customers in the drive-thru section in a fast food restaurant, they grab the content and surf back to the major linking site very quickly and surf on to the next item.

This traffic will behave very differently than organic traffic from the search engines, or from your newsletter traffic or from traffic in your marketing funnels. Much different.

It was unlike getting one of my articles featured in Addme or SiteProNews, where I can easily get 200 or 300 new subscribers in a day. Plus, these visitors are interested in my information and have been exposed to my content (article) before coming to my site.

So there was no comparison; I would take the traffic from these sites any day over traffic from the social bookmark sites. And I would take free organic traffic from the search engines over any other source of traffic.

So the question remains – is social bookmark traffic useless?

First, as I mentioned before, you must realize no traffic is useless; any visitors to your site is a good thing. Without traffic your site is worthless, just a few files sitting on a server in the middle of nowhere.

Obtaining visitors is one of your first objectives as a webmaster. You must get visitors to your site or it’s game over.

The best kind of traffic is traffic coming from organic search, visitors who come from the search engines seeking exactly what you’re offering on your site. These are targeted visitors who will consider your offer, real your information, maybe buy a product or sign-up to your newsletter or follow-up system. They often become repeat visitors to your site. These are your ideal visitors. This is the kind of traffic you want.

Social bookmark/media traffic is different but it does have some saving graces.

Mainly it can help expose your site to millions and help brand your site or business. It can get the word out about your site. Start a buzz.

If you have a site that appeals to the mass market, then these social sites could be an excellent recruiting ground for visitors and traffic.

These social sites are good for another reason; getting your links on all these high traffic, high PR7 and PR8 sites can’t hurt your search engine rankings. Once featured on a site like Digg, your link will appear on many secondary sites around the web, so far 500+ and counting. Monkey see, monkey do. Although it has never been my main ambition to get featured on Fark.com, all these sites do have high PR ranks so from a SEO standpoint it is not necessarily a bad thing.

Since many of these visitors will be using the Firefox browser which has the Alexa toolbar embedded – your site’s traffic rank will increase. Over 50% of the bookmark traffic coming to my site were using the Firefox browser. Alexa’s traffic rankings are not a true picture of the web’s traffic but it’s a good measuring stick, nonetheless.

Google might even consider it when ranking your site. Google basically considers their whole indexing system as a democratic voting structure… sites give a vote by linking to your content; wouldn’t it also be reasonable to assume more traffic means more votes. So wouldn’t getting a lot of traffic or being featured on a site like Digg where the users vote to propel the best content to the front be the ultimate vote.

One strange thing I did notice, for some reason the traffic from Stumbleupon was different. These visitors stayed longer on my site and reacted more like organic traffic. Maybe the Stumbleupon site is of a higher quality and this may have been reflected in the quality of the visitors coming from there. It also reminded me, all traffic from these social media sites can’t be judged with the one brush.

This whole experience also pointed out another important factor; it made me realize how unsuited my content is for the general web surfer or the mainstream web. All my sites and content were planned and organized to first draw in targeted (warmed up) visitors from free organic search and from my online articles.

If I or anyone wanted to take advantage of this social media traffic, you would have to create your site/content to appeal to these surfers and then somehow draw them into your marketing funnels. I don’t know if the majority of the users of these bookmark sites would make good prospects, but my guess is not very likely, the nature of the beast. But it would largely depend on what you’re offering on your site and how well it is suited to these users.

So I am not drawing any conclusions yet.

Hopefully, I will have further chances to study traffic from these social sites and get the long-term effects, especially in regards to my keyword rankings in the search engines before making any final judgments.

For now I will keep an open mind but the jury is still way out whether or not social bookmark traffic is worth the interruption to the daily marketing tasks of your site. Just seems like much ado about nothing.

The best investment a small business or entrepreneur can have is their online website. Not only is their website important, but their overall web branding is critical as well. Web branding is a great way to stand out within the World Wide Web.

Web branding is very similar to a company displaying their brand on TV, magazine or newspaper. A brand is classified as a symbol. Symbols are defined as designs which represent something else, and a brand is meant to package all of the associations, experiences and characteristics into an abstract construct.

To draw in customers, a company’s brand should have all of necessities to catch their attention. Whether it’s sound, phrases, logos or imagery, it should be something in which people come into contact with.

CODANK Charlotte Web Design has provided a few Web Branding tips below. Read them carefully and plan accordingly.

Character – Give your brand character. You can do this by introducing it with a little personality; something that your audience can associate their selves with.

Color – Choosing the right color is very important. Color stimulates emotions and carried with it subconscious associations to numerous things and characteristics.

Consistency – Make your brand memorable. Make sure to be consistent in your web design when you’re building it. Keep consistent colors, visuals and typography.

Size & Position – Position your logo in the upper left area of the webpage – that is the area most people look to see what site they’re on.

Uniqueness – Differentiate your web page and brand from your competitors. If you don’t, it won’t really be memorable!

Online website directories provide several benefits, the most important of which is linking. While this article refers to lawyers, it applies to any industry.

A FindLaw white paper, “Visibility, Design and Content-Three Steps to Successful Online Marketing” stated, “In the expanding online market for legal services, the most successful law firms focus on three essential (and related) areas: building visibility via search engines and directories; using distinctive site design to set the firm apart; and delivering persuasive content that engages prospects and deepens client relationships. …Links from other law firms, online directories and legal sites such as FindLaw also support an effective link building campaign.”

When considering paying for a review of a listing in an online directory, most people think only of the potential for traffic and think about whether the cost of the listing review is really worthwhile. However, this is not the only consideration.

Obviously, when an online directory appears in the top search results of a search engine, people may find your website listing. One result is that your listing will provide some branding as people see it. Another result is that some of these people will click on your listing, land on your website, and possibly do business with you.

The often overlooked and most important benefit, as FindLaw pointed out, is that when links point to your website from many niche directories, such as a legal directory pointing a link to a law firm website, your “web popularity” is enhanced and the position of your law firm website in search engine results will move up.

If you’re serious about your law firm website appearing in the top search results, listing your law firm in as many legal directories as possible is a must. Again, this applies to any business. Just look for niche directories for your industry.

Whatever business you’re in, obtaining a listing in a few of the top ranked general directories is also beneficial. Of course, once a directory becomes well ranked, there is generally a fee to review your listing.

The website directory must give you a true “live” link without a “no-follow” tag. The “no-follow” tag prevents passing any page rank, sometimes called “link juice” to your website. There are several ways of using a “no-follow” tag and it is not easy for the average lawyer to know if it is being used. Look for niche directories that do not use a “no-follow” tag, such as LawFirms911.com for law firms. If the website directory you are considering does not indicate whether it uses a “no-follow” tag, just send them an e-mail and ask. If they don’t and it is a well-maintained niche directory, go ahead and pay for your listing to be reviewed.

Why should you pay for your listing to be reviewed? A well-maintained website directory will manually review submitted website listings to ensure that the listing belongs anywhere in the directory and is in the most appropriate category.

A website directory filled with spam website listings will be ignored by search engines at best, and may hurt your position in search engine results at worst. Directories are assaulted daily with both spam submissions and websites that have no relationship to the subject of the niche directory. To make sure that a submitted website listing is in fact a law firm and not a website selling drugs or a website about cars, I have to look at the website being submitted. Many times, it doesn’t take too long. However, spam websites are often cleverly disguised and only after digging around do I find that it is a useless website.

If people searching on the Internet are going to use a directory and if search engines are going to give value to your link on a directory, listings must be properly categorized. The vast majority of listings are submitted to improper categories, usually because the submitter did not take the time to find the most appropriate category or because the submitter wanted the listing in an upper, more general category.

When a Directory charges a fee to review a listing, the directory does not want to simply delete your listing. Instead, your listing will be placed in the appropriate category. It takes time to re-categorize submitted listings.

If your listing is moved to a more specific category, don’t worry. Being categorized more closely with similar websites is beneficial. Additionally, being at the top or one of the few links in the category may be better than being at the bottom of a category with hundreds of listings.

As can be seen, it takes a lot of time to review all of the website listings submitted. It also takes time and money to maintain the directory infrastructure including its software, search engine optimization and other aspects.

Charging a small fee to review your website is necessary if a website directory owner is going to maintain the directory properly. It is a small price to pay to ensure that the directory benefits your website and does not harm it.

Websites which have been previously submitted must be periodically reviewed to make sure that the submitted website wasn’t lost by the owner who failed to renew the domain name and subsequently picked up by a “spammer”, resulting in unintentional spam listings in the directory. This happens all too frequently. The standard period of time for review is annually, which is best because domain names are renewed annually. Some directories charge an annual renewal fee for this service.

Small businesses new to the Internet often tend to make the same mistakes when trying to establish their online presence. CODANK Charlotte Web Design suggests that you conduct thorough research before embarking on any web site design or hosting projects for your company in order to avoid these common mistakes.

Below are a few web design and hosting mistakes that are common:

Placing too many pictures and animations on your website

Try to refrain from cluttering your company’s website with too many images and pictures. Search engine crawlers are not able to collect enough information to index your web site if you do not have text. Do not get wrapped up in having a nice looking site and forget about the content.

Ignoring bandwidth restrictions

Do not place large files, documents, or photos for visitors to view because it will make it difficult to navigate around the web site. Pictures take up more bandwidth than text does.

Not focusing on Search Engine Optimization

The most seen mistake is when a company builds a web site that ignores search engine needs. Be sure to hire a SEO professional who is qualified to help you take advantage of this great marketing tool.

Lack of a business plan

Construct a definite business plan and stick with it from beginning to end. Even if your progress starts off slowly, do not abandon the plan. Each element will help your company in the long run.

Be sure to define your target market and invest in advertising that will properly grab their attention.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

You’ve built a brand new website for your business and you’re really excited. However, you have to do something to get the word out and you’re not sure what to do. You know that you can post flyers all over your town or simply tell your friends, but that’s not going to do much for you. So what are you going to do?

Well, you’re going to start with a website directory. The website directory is an effective way to combat the always changing algorithms of search engines and to really get an edge on the competition. Basically, you need to do all that you can to ensure that you are marketing your site correctly and a website directory is going to help you do that. You’re going to be able to battle some of the hardships of Internet marketing is you use a directory to get the word out.

Using the directory

Another thing that is special about submitting your website to a website directory is that you get a free back link to your website. The back link is very important because the more links you have on the web, the better off your site is. This means it is going to be indexed by search engine spiders.

You see, search engine spiders follow these links to your site and then they index your site. The more links you have out there, the more your site is going to be indexed. This means that you’ll show up higher in the search engine results when someone searches for what it is you are offering your customers and potential customers.

As for how the directory works, it is a place in which the websites are compiled into categories. They are also divided up into subcategories to make searching easier. Because these categories are divided up into subcategories, the search engine spiders recognize them. Needless to say, these directories are visited by search engine spiders more than many other sites. This is because of the quality of the back links. The back links are of a high quality at these sites, which is why you need to utilize a website directory.

Choosing the right website directory

Choosing the right website directory doesn’t have to be difficult. There are some things that you have to look for in order to make that determination. Those things are:

To pay or not to pay – There are pay directories and there are free directories. Determine which is best for you. Free directories still provide you with that back link. It is true there will be a lot more sites posted there, but they are effective.

Check the page rank – Check the page rank of the website directory. That way, you know that it is a popular site. You can also check into sites to see how they are growing. If a site is growing, then that is a sign that it is a popular directory that is emerging. You definitely want to get in on that.

Look at both general and specific directories – You want to do this because both can be effective. You can post on a specific directory and post on a general directory. This will broaden the exposure that your site gets.

You don’t have to be restricted to just one website directory. You can use all sorts of website directories. This is important in getting those high quality back links that will make your site successful. There is not a rule anywhere that says you’re only allowed to post your website to a single website directory. If there were, then it would be impossible for a lot of sites to be successful on the Internet.

Submission options

You also have submission options. These options are manual, using submission software, and using a directory submission service. The directory submission service may use software or do it manually. However, there are article directories out there that will not accept submissions from software. They want to ensure that real people are doing the posting. Many of these directories have real people approving the submissions, so it is hard if they have to approve thousands of submissions submitted by these software programs. It happens, but it is a good idea to do it manually. If you don’t have time to do it yourself, look into the directory submission service.

How to maximize the benefits

It isn’t enough to simply post your website link up on a website directory. There are ways in which you can maximize the benefits. It will be worth your while to follow these tips so that you can make sure that you profit from your efforts:

If you’re submitting to more than one website directory, you need to vary your description. Don’t use the same description for every directory.

Make sure the text that accompanies your website link is really good stuff. That means you want it to draw people in. You want them to click on your link. Believe it or not, people browse website directories, especially if they’re looking for a website that focuses on certain material.

Make as many submissions as possible to website directories. Make sure they are directories that you can track back easily. Make sure they are easy to manage as well. You don’t want to go for directories that are hard to follow.

Make sure that you choose directories that will also allow you to submit the links to your inner pages. This allows for better indexing and will also allow more people to find you.

After this, you might as well give your website a pair of running shoes. This is because it is going to take off like wildfire. It is going to run like the wind. It is important that you be prepared, because the moment you start submitting your site is the moment that it enters the race of website popularity.