SEO – Search Engine Optimization – the Basics and Some Tricks

admin    SEO Video     Basics, Engine, Optimization, Search, Some, Tricks

Do you want to get first page on Google? If you have a web page or blog, you likely already are first page for some searches. With a bit of SEO, you can gain first page on more searches. And its simple.

The first and most obvious step is think about what words or phrases you want to be first page on.

Once you have that list, determine how many people are searching for those terms. To check how popular a search is you will need a tool. I use Wordtracker (there is a free online version). The higher the number, the more popular the search. No point in trying to optimize for a word or phrase that is rarely searched. For example, I sell a time management book called “Time Leadership – using the secrets of leadership for time management”. So naturally I wanted to rank first page on “time leadership”. The problem is no one is searching for that. They do, however, search for time management.

There is also no point in trying to optimize for a word that is too popular because getting a high ranking there will be almost impossible.

Think about “long tail”

Think about how people will search. EG “Where do I find a good time management speaker” or “motivations speakers in Canada”. The longer the string, the less competition you will have for it so the easier you will get ranked.

So make the list of phrases you want to “own” and ones that are realistic to “own”.

Now it is simple. Just put these words and phrases in your titles, picture descriptions, videos and in your text. The titles are the most important. That is why my blog is called “CEO Blog – Time Leadership”. This gives me good google juice on all 4 words. So searching “Time management CEO” will get me first page. Or “time management blog” or “CEO leadership tips” etc.

Yes you want to repeat your words and phrases often in the text. This said – write naturally. Never let SEO be a substitute for good content.

So you do this and you still are not first page. That is because you do not have enough credibility with google. You need another free tool to check this. I use a free firefox plugin called searchstatus. It gives me both the pagerank and the Alexa rating of any web page. Higher pagerank numbers are better. High credibility is your ultimate goal as that is what gets you ranked first and Alexa tells you traffic  (a lower number is better)

How do you increase your pagerank?

It is all about quality inbound links.  You want people with a high credibility (pagerank 4+) to link to you – eg Wall St Journal would be great.  More is better and link rank is almost logarithmic so a pagerank of 6 is worth 10 times one of 5 etc.

This said, for you to get a link from an 8 rated site like pornstars.com would not increase your rank in the business genre.  Sites are ranked for relevance.

The best inbound links are contextual. So someone blogging and saying I heard time management guru Jim Estill speak and hot linking from “Time management guru” is great for me. Second best, hot link from “Jim Estill”. Third is just having a link on a blogroll without any context.

You get a higher rank if you update your content regularly.  That is why having a blog on your site is a good way to increase your ranking.

Moderate cross linking within your own material will also increase your rank and clarify for google what it is that you do.  So in my blog, I write “I was in Chicago doing an inspirational talk for…” and hotlink “inspirational talk” to my bio.

3 ways to get links to your site:

1 – Ask politely. You might not always get a link but it never hurts to ask.

2 –  Comment on other relevant blogs (and have your pagerank on so you ignore low pagerank and high alexa). Note that most comments in themselves do not constitute a link. But being out there gets people to look at you. You need people to look at your stuff for them to be inspired to link to it.

3 – Have good material. People link to quality. But of course they have to see it so promote your content:

Have your URL on all your print material, cards, letterhead, email sig file etc

Write guest articles and blogs in the right (high traffic) places (check the Alexa).

PR – get written about

Contribute to other sites. EG write reviews on Amazon, join the conversations.

And a word of warning.  Never play games (like buying links).

In the end it is about having good quality material.  And being out there so people look at your material.  People link to quality without you asking as long as they know about it.

 

 

Ready To Make Photo Magic Tricks? Learn Adobe Photoshop 7

admin    Adobe After Effects     Adobe, Learn, Magic, Photo, Photoshop, Ready, Tricks

Adobe Photoshop 7 has certainly been one of the most effective catalysts in media, entertainment and popular culture. It’s no wonder people are flocking to learn how to use it. Adobe has already released several higher versions of Photoshop (the latest being CS3) but Photoshop 7 remains popular with many users. This ‘old version’ of Photoshop doesn’t have the extras of the new releases but it can still kick up some magic fairy dust. Here are some online resources to help you learn Adobe Photoshop 7 quickly and easily:

Go to http://CBTcafe.com, where you’ll find free tutorials for Adobe Photoshop 7. There are some tutorials that feature higher versions, but the Photoshop 7 tips and tricks should give you a good headstart.

Another site that Photoshop beginners will be thankful for is Jay Arraich’s (http://Arraich.com). This is purely Adobe Photoshop 7 so you don’t get derailed by some very tempting bits offering to teach you CS2 or CS3. The site will look plain to you but the lessons are basic – exactly what you would need if you’re a beginner.

A screen capture illustrates the tutorial clearly so you don’t get stuck in the mystery of the textual instructions. Arraich walks you through an overview of Adobe Photoshop 7’s window with its main features and the all-important menu section. The opening screen is numbered to help you identify which feature is which so you know exactly where to look when you take Arraich’s tutorial.

Photoshop 7 has some hidden features that you might have missed. If you want to learn them all, go to http://Creativemac.com. It features a guide written by Julieanne Kost that will let you in on the little Photoshop 7 secrets that will make image editing even easier. If the first brush you have with Photoshop is with 6.0, this article will make the transition very rewarding.

If you have little patience with texts, we suggest you find Andrew Hathaway’s Adobe Photoshop 7, available in both CD and DVD formats. This video tutorial will walk you through the whole Photoshop 7 operation, which makes it ideal for people who have never used an image editing software before. Getting started includes the introduction to Photoshop 7, interface basics, using palettes, image window, imaging process, everything you need to get started.

The basics part of the tutorial lets you manipulate image size, color settings, resolution and teaches you the tricks in navigating. Once you’ve mastered the basics, the fun part begins. Selection and masks give you access to the marquee tools and options, letting you use masking and transforming tools. You’ll also learn to use the magic wand, cropping, lasso, color and brush tools.

This video tutorial features 11 hours of 151 video lessons. It’s compatible with both PC and Mac and you can learn at your own pace or skip lessons if you want to.

Another site that offers free Adobe PhotoShop tutorial is http://IDigitalEmotion.com. If you’re a Photoshop 7 planning to become a CS user someday, this site is perfect for you because the tutorials are designed for advanced users. There are some very helpful stuff for beginners and experienced users will have plenty to like about this site.

Choose from text Photoshop 7 tutorials that include text effects, playing with texture and backgrounds, creating interface, perfecting coloring techniques and manipulating photos. There are also numerous video tutorials on site so you get to see exactly what goes on.

SEO Fast Tips & Tricks

admin    SEO Flash     Fast, Tips, Tricks

Top Ten Optimization Tips

Domain Age

According to the current USPTO, Google is giving too much preference to the domain age. The older the better. If you have a new domain then try to book that for long period.

Deisgn of the Web Site

The simpler the website design the better. Say no flash and java scripts. Keep close to HTML 3.2 if you can. Spiders like eating HTML 4.0 and XML. Follow all the factors of usability and accessibility so that you site can serve easy, better and simple navigation for your visitors. Make your webpage validate according to the standards of W3C.

Size of your web page

The smaller the page sizes the better. Keep your page size under 15K-20K including images if you can. As I mentioned smaller the better keep it up to 5k if you can. I know it’s a tough job. Use small gif images according to DDA act and follow the rule Of one topic one page hope this can reduce your page size.

Keyword Research

First understand your business and your target visitors, then start researching over the key phrases. There are various tools for keyword research. Go for Wordtracker and Overture.

Web Page Content

The Content of the web page should not be more then 200 -250 words. As per the survey no visitor stays on the page for more then 10 sec in the first phase of surfing. Make your content spicy and interesting so that you can retain your visitor and increase your sessions. The keyword density should be 5%-7% out of these 250 words.

Prominence Positioning and proximity of the Keyphrase

Use Keyword once in title, once in description, once in heading with the H1 Tag Once in the url considering the usability factors, once high on the page, once in italic and Make the density 5-7% out of 200 words. Don’t make your content summary of poison words for Google, so no spelling mistakes.

Outbound Linking Structure of the Web site

As considering the trust rank algorithm give one or two good link from you web page. The outbound links should be TLD and should be valuable resource for your visitors.

External Linking Structure of the Web Site

Say no to irrelevant reciprocal linking. Do quality and highly relevant reciprocal
linking for your web site. Try to achieve the one way back links through paid and free directory submissions. Go for the listing in Demoz.

Do Submissions

Submit you main website on Google, MSN, Yahoo, TEOMA,Wise Nut individually.

Website Monitoring & Analysis

Get a high quality referrer checker or web analytic software that can help you to analyze the performance of your web site.

Offer some viral on your website

Use email a friend, forums, message post and mailing lists to populate your sites Offering.