EzSEO Newsletter # 26
Andy Williams ez SEO
ezseonews.com
Hi,
Well it looks like I managed to get the newsletter out this week after all. To be honest I was thinking about leaving it for this week (as I mentioned in last weeks newsletter) and go to twice a month instead of weekly (at least until I can get a phone line put in my house - if they ever get any new phone numbers here!). However, yesterday I sat down and planned the mini course I promised you last week - the one on Using Articles for better rankings. After making three pages of notes I was excited - so excited that I felt I had to get started on this course today. As a subscriber you will get the entire course for free. Just save the next 6-8 newsletters and print them off for perhaps the most useful free information you have received since the search engine optimization course I gave you in the first 12 - 14 issues of this newsletter (that information is now only available if you buy my eBook "Battle for the Top 10").
OK, we have a lot of ground to cover today, let's get on.
This week:
1. Quick Poll
2. The next few issues
3. Content "will be" King
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1. Quick Poll
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I am regularly being asked for quick and easy ways to make money on the Internet. The usual questions include references to Smart Pages, Traffic Equalizer or Ranking Power. My usual response to these products is to not waste your time as I believe that Google will weed out sites using these products/techniques and possibly ban your web site. Google has certainly been removing Smart Pages and sites using them if the site gets caught. However, I wondered whether you might be interested in sharing your experiences with these products. If you have had success (or have horror stories) with any of these products/techniques, please write to me at [REMOVED - USE CONTACT US LINK] and let me know . I would love to give feedback in this newsletter.
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2. The next few issues
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As promised the next few issues (6 - 8 probably) will consist of a free course on the use of articles to help you dominate the search engine listings. This course will cover a lot of information so please do save the next few issues and print them off - I don't think you will be disappointed. OK, let's start at the beginning.
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3. Content "will be" King.
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A few years back it was easy to get top listings in the search engines. Put your strategically selected keyword phrases in the various places on the web page and stuff your Meta keyword tag with lots and lots of relevant keywords and wait for your page to get indexed. If you found out you were second, you would look at the number one page and count how many times they used your targeted keyword. You would then edit your page to include it at least one more time than your competitor and bingo you have number 1.
For those who got in early on the search engine game, profits could be obscene. As time went on, search engines became more intelligent and these crude methods of optimization became less and less effective. Put a page like that together today and you will probably find that your page and site get banned, or just never appear in the Google index.
Google is evolving. Its programmers are finding ways to filter out pages and sites that offer little or no value to the Internet AUTOMATICALLY. I put the word automatically in capitals because this word has huge repercussions. The fact that Google can automatically find these low value sites & pages mean that there is no hiding and no hoping your site will fly under the Google radar. Sure there are people at Google who physically go on the Internet to check out web sites (and ban or penalize them), but they are the least of your worries. Get your site wrong, and it may be filtered out by the programming code behind the Google Engine, even before it has had a chance to be seen by humans. You need to make sure that the sites you build add value to the Internet.
Here are a few guidelines I believe can help:
DO NOT duplicate content on your pages / sites.
DO NOT create pages with dozens of affiliate links but little else.
DO NOT stuff keywords onto your pages.
DO NOT over-optimize your pages.
DO NOT use any techniques that make you nervous.
DO NOT do anything that your competitor could report you to Google for (yes, they do that).
There are a lot of DO NOTs listed above, and I could go on and on, but let's look at a few on the DO list.
DO put information on your site that visitors will find interesting.
DO put unique content on your site (i.e. information not found anywhere else on the internet).
DO create a navigation system that visitors will find intuitive and search engine spiders will be able to follow.
In fact I could go on with this list too, but let's distil both of these lists into one single DO:
DO create sites that you would be proud to show to a search engine representative.
The Internet is the Information Superhighway - it provides information on pretty much any topic you can think of. Google and the other search engines are designed to sort through this information and return relevant web pages to the searchers. Google is becoming very good at sorting the millions of web pages by relevance according to the search term used at google.com, and returning these as search results. Google is also getting better at filtering out the low quality pages (on the DO NOT list above), and only returning pages that make the DO list above.
You have probably heard it before "Content is King". In the last couple of years I have not always agreed with this statement and in fact I built a lot of successful affiliate sites with little or no unique content. However, what I am seeing now is that these "low value" sites are sinking in the search engine results at Google to a point where many are no longer profitable. At the same time my sites that do provide unique and useful content are remaining at the top of the Google search engine results or moving up. I certainly think that to stay profitable in the affiliate marketing arena, you need to accept that "Content is becoming King". For Google, I believe that "Content is already King", for the other search engines, I believe it is "becoming" King. That is the evolution as I see it.
Question: What is content?
Answer: Words organised into sentences, and sentences organised into paragraphs.
As an example, let's consider one of those affiliate links you get from Commission Junction which have a product description included. Are they content? Yes, of course, but are they good content? If 1000 affiliates use the exact same product link, then no, it is not good content since at least 1000 other pages on the internet will have the exact same content as your have included on your page.
The only way that these product links can be classified as good content are if you are the only one using it. Think about that next time you add a CJ product link. At least change the product description so that no one else on the planet has the exact same description as you.
OK, I can hear what you are saying. The whole idea of these product links with descriptions is so that you can build more pages quickly, right? Well, if you are not prepared to work on your sites and take the time to get things right, prepare to see your pages and sites fail. We are going to be looking at perhaps the best way to get your sites ranking high, but it will take work. If you are not prepared to work hard (or at least pay someone else to work hard for you), then perhaps you are in the wrong business.
Think of it this way.
You could:
Method 1. Spend a day creating one page, making sure you do it right, and making sure it adds value to the Internet.
Or
Method 2. Copy and paste content that 1000s of other people are using and building 10 pages a day.
Which would you prefer?
Which would make more money in the long-term?
I would suggest that the first route would be far more profitable in the long run because you will:
a) Quickly get good rankings in the search engines
b) Add value to the Internet and therefore the page will be around for many years to come, all the time earning you money.
These pages will be LONG-TERM moneymakers.
The second method of building pages will lead to:
a) Poorer rankings
b) Rankings that will slide over the first few months until it is no longer being found in the search engines
These pages will be SHORT-TERM moneymakers.
Sure, by following method 2 you can put out ten times as many pages as method 1, but to what end? The Google filters will automatically detect the low quality of your pages and any success will be short-lived.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that you need to see your web site as a long-term business. Take your time and do things properly and you will find that not only are your sites lower maintenance, they will also be more profitable. Not to mention the fact that they will still be making you money in ten years time.
In the next issue we will begin to look at the easiest way to add content to your website (including exisiting websites) so that your sites will add value to the internet and be loved by both visitors and the search engines.
Please send me comments and feedback as usual....
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