Mar 1, 2008

The Power of Link Baiting



Link baiting is a very powerful technique a lot of people talk about over the internet. There are plenty of debates on how to use it and what it is being used for. A lot of so called gurus claimed to have used them in the past but I'll bet you that maybe 10% of them or less are actually successful in what they preach or know.

I have to say it first and foremost that link bait is something that I've used only a hand full of times, but from my studies I've found that they have a profound impact in helping and boosting a blog's popularity including traffic.

From my own experiments, I have found that writing against usually a mainstream view or a mainstream figure to be the most effective way in link baiting. Usually the author advocating an opposite view shows up first at your blog and with it also bringing in their supporters. Now the key here is to have a well constructed argument from your end. With a well constructed argument and a well thought out reasoning can a lot of times swayed the visitors that were going against you to be for you. On top of it, let's say that even if they all disagree with you now you got the attention of many others onto your website and blogs that links to you for the negative purpose of publicizing how wrong you are. For the purpose of link baiting, this would be considered a success. Although it may have a short term negative impact on your website or blog due to your opinion differences, but because of the links that's already in place with all these sites or blogs the benefits are huge. Most of it coming from indirect traffic, mostly visitors of their blog going onto yours. The traffic you'll receive can be exponential.

Now, I don't think link baiting is exactly ethical but the idea is to make sure that some type of buzz is being created for others to know and that your site or blog gets the attention of free press as a result others talking about it; it does exactly that. One precautionary measure that I would advice from my experience is to do some research before you jump into a heated debate. Without valid points to combat accusations from your opponents, you might just dig yourself into a rut. However, by defending yourself successfully would promote your reputation positively and the respects from the original advocates from the other side. It will give you a long lasting effect in traffic boost and buzz from time to time. And as we all know, traffic is the source of income in making money online and I wish the best success with your own results. -Swapw


Feb 27, 2008

Page Rank vs SERP



Google Page Rank or PR has been the long time standard for many site owners, bloggers, as well as webmasters along with SERP or Search Engine Result Page. Recently, a range coming from a lot of webmasters as well as bloggers are starting to state that the Google Page Rank is no longer important in the race to become the most popular site with traffic.

What I find it comical are some of the leading bloggers and webmasters all of a sudden, just overnight starts to pass to other people the lies that Google has changed its algorithm and that page rank is no longer of importance without any sort of proof. When a reputable blogger speaks up about an idea, the power that they have on many webmasters and blog community is that a lot of them will follow them without questioning them.

In many ways, page rank actually has to do with SERP. To rank well, you must build up your backlinks in quality. The same thing applies to PR but not as heavy. How well the content is being portrayed is very heavy on both PR and SERP so there are actually quite a bit of similarity here. Obviously there are other ways to promote both of these areas but the top two are the ones I've just mentioned. Thus, to say that to concentrate on one area and neglecting on another area is almost bogus since they are both connected with one another in various ways.

Yes, having a high SERP gives you a lot of free organic traffic from Google. However, to build a successful site and authority site is beyond traffic. I can almost bet that all of the reputable bloggers and webmasters who started all this talk is probably taking advantage of this opportunity to build up their PR while everyone else is overseeing it and come back several months later to say how important it is, blah blah blah.

Don't clog your judgment due to rumors or fabs, Google PR is a measuring stick. Remember, besides other bloggers there are also newbies that are searching for various blogs. For them, what Google determines as good is as authoritative as it gets! On the internet, traffic is big money. When two sites both have the same traffic and as good of a site with one another what makes a big difference is how each is being ranked with Google. If you have that edge then you are definitely winning the race.

Unless Google comes out and says that PR is no longer something they look at, you can bet on its confidence for other users. Take advantage of this situation and focus on your PR is the best way for your websites or blog to make money. Staying in the trend with others don't make you the big bucks, being on top of it will. - Swapw


Feb 25, 2008

Dot Asia, an opportunity or a bust?





If you haven't really heard about it yet, well the dot Asia extension is about to come out in a few weeks. You can see some of its release and details here:

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/tlds/asia.asp?tld=asia&ci=10002

In short, similar to dot com, dot info, dot net, dot org, etc. Dot Asia is supposedly something that's specifically made for "Asians". My guesses in why they did that is they kinda figured that the rise of GOP in China would mean a new breed of internet users coming onto the internet. Not only will they come to the internet, the domains that will be acquired by the Chinese will be in growth exponentially. I believe that, however what I have a problem with is how much they've hyped the dot Asia deal to the effect that it'll be "THE" solution to it which is completely BS to me.

The idea behind obtaining good domains is in the fact that people sometimes don't go through search engines to type in a name of a domain. Some people actually make a living through utilizing these types of techniques by obtaining good named websites and let the profits from advertisements make them money without any work from their end ever with these sites. For example, I may want to search for computers and instead of going to Google for a search I might just type in computers dot com instead. If the domain is parked and I happen to click on an ad per say, both the company that parked the domain as well as the person who owns the domain make some profit as a result and they share it together.

This idea of making money in domain parking as I have addressed in my blog previously. (you can read them here) is all calculated through probabilities. In another words, the probabilities of you going into a site with the name computer dot com is a lot higher then a term that's unpopular like zyx dot com or something similar.

Dot Asia is just a solution these dot moguls came up with in hopes to lure audiences primarily from Asia I'm guessing to jump into the world of domains and owning a piece of internet property. Honestly, do you think that would be the case? Most of the sites outside of the us uses various different prefixes. China for example uses something in the nature of dot com / cn and Japan would be / jp in the back. To literally try to change all of their domains overnight is a joke. Not now, not ever. If it's hard to comprehend, just think of it as a dot North America. Do you think people from Mexico, Cuba, etc would just jump in?

I just don't believe on it and be real cautious if you are looking to jump on with the bandwagon. Honestly, Dot Asia is a bust in my humble opinion and in a way comical to say the least. -Swapw


Dec 25, 2007

Blog commenting



Merry Christmas everyone. Since it is Christmas day, I thought I post something special for everyone today and I'll be talking about Blog commenting today. If you're a blogger, you may have already realized that there has been an increase in the number of spam in your blogs. Mostly it's really just other people trying to post links of their website into yours. Why is that? And what for?

This whole buzz recently on the internet is really all due to the buzz that some of the webmasters started passing the words to others that "blog commenting" really helps optimize your search engine listings. Well, whoever started this saying really is not very knowledgeable about how SEO works. Most blogs, like blogger that I'm using and Wordpress uses a tag called the "no follow" tag embedded within its source code by default. What this does is no matter how many links that you have posted in your comment toward another blogger's comment box, the search engine will not pick it up! In another words, link it all you want it will not help your site in optimization a single bit.

Unless the blog that you comment do have that particular code & line changed or modified to make it where it is now a "do follow" tag, search engines will never pick up those comments ever! The next question that follows is, "how do I know if the blog has a no comment or a do comment tag to their blog?" The answer to that is, you simply don't know! Unless you dig through the blog where they actually have a post that states it or others that passes you the word that it has a "do follow" tag, it really is a hassle to just dig through a single blog just for the purpose of one link. Mean while, let's say that people have compiled a list of "do follow" blogs what do you think about it? Yes, everyone will comment on those blogs thus making it a link farm site. Google hates those type of sites and once they blacklist it not only will it not help your site but hurt your site because it is linked there.

Trust me guys, it's a lot more risk involved then positive impact toward your site or blog. Do your link building with other proven methods, it's probably the best way to achieve success for your sites!