EzSEO Newsletter # 51
Andy Williams ez SEO
ezseonews.com
Hi again
The baby has been keeping both my wife and I up most nights. She sleeps all day, wails all night and that is just my wife ;o). Because of this I have not had the time I needed to prepare part II of the Wordtracker eCourse. However, I will do my best to return to that next week.
Don't be disappointed though, there is plenty in this weeks newsletter to get you thinking.
This week:
1. Danger in high PR links?
2. A new search engine
3. Beating the ad-blockers
4. To PPC or not to PPC?
5. Motivation for the unmotivated.
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1. Danger in high PR links?
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I have been studying the strategies of James Martell again this week (you all know that several of his high profile sites were banned from Google a couple of months ago).
These sites do not look as if they are going to be let back into Google any time soon, so I wondered if there were any other clues as to why his sites were banned, or just perhaps pointers we can all learn from. For those of you who subscribe to Martell's Buzz newsletter (and I highly recommend it), you will know that Martell made his own suggestions of why his sites were dropped. However, his explanation just does not cut the mustard.
My initial thoughts (as you might remember) were that he linked to PR Zerod sites as link partners. That is, his links page pointed to several sites that themselves had been banned or penalised. This is something that can get your own site penalised. However, the penalty is not usually as harsh as the one Martell received.
Thinking about this, I took another look at Martell's handbook and found another possible problem. As I have told you before, Google does not like artificial PR manipulation as it makes a mockery of the "vision" that was PR. Any site that can be seen to be manipulating PR to a high degree might well find themselves under the Google Microscope.
Owners of Martell's handbook will know Martell's criteria for including link partners (hint: PR). Could this be a reason for the penalty?
Google originally wanted the PR of a site to be built out of natural linking, i.e. one site would link to another because it was a good site, and would provide relevant information to its own visitors. In this natural linking model, good sites would receive links from sites with a range of PR from 0 up to the higher PR values.
This is what you would expect if linking was natural.
Don't you think that a site with link partners of PR 4 and above only would look kind of "unnatural" to Google?
My own strategy has always been to start off with low PR links and then go after higher PR links once my own links page gets some PR. In doing things this way, linking appears much more natural.
Of course, those who have been subscribers for some time will also know that I am concentrating more on non-reciprocal links. i.e. sites link to mine, but I don't link back. This is the most difficult type of link to get, but by writing and submitting articles to article sites and newsletter authors, you can get a larger number of non-reciprocal links in a relatively short space of time.
The Article report on the subscriber bonus page can help you with this if you are unsure or nervous about writing your own articles. Why not give it a go?
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2. A new search engine
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I was reading the newsletter sent out by the creators of Arelis the other day, and found mention of a new search engine called Gigablast.
Read about it here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041007/lath025_1.html
And try out the engine for yourself, here:
http://gigablast.com
I have been looking at this engine and think it has lots of potential. Will it ever compete with the big 3? Who knows. Google was unknown a few short years ago and look at it now.
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3. Beating the ad-blockers
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The last year or so has seen a rapid growth in viruses and malicious code floating around the internet. Often your machine can get infected without your knowledge just by visiting web sites that "auto-download" the scumware onto your computer. To combat this, antivirus and firewall software has seen huge growth (perhaps a good idea for a niche site?). As these programs develop, they have included more and more features, the most annoying of which is the ad-blocking feature. Turned on by default in many firewall applications, these program will actually prevent your affiliate links and Google Adsense from showing up on your pages for all visitors with the firewall running. The results? Much lower sales than in previous years.
I don't want to repeat myself here, so go back and read newsletter #23 in the archives.
I talk about one f.r.e.e. solution to combat this that I use and find effective.
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4. To PPC or not to PPC?
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Pay per Click advertising is a dangerous game for those starting out, and even seasoned PPCers often pay far more for their advertising than they need to.
One man who has been instrumental in developing techniques that squeeze every last cent of value from Google Adwords is Perry Marshall. He has been advertising on Google, even before most of us realised it was possible to do so.
This above link will take you to his f.r.e.e. 5 day e-mail course.
Yesterday I bought his course on Google Adwords. I have not had time to go through all the material yet (that will take many hours and days), so I have not yet written the review for my site, but I do recommend this course for anyone who is interested in starting out in PPC advertising, or even seasoned pros who want to get more traffic for less investment. His course comes in three versions.
1) Digital Basic - Adobe Acrobat PDF, with 40 case studies from 10 different industries, real screen shots and exhaustive Q&A on dozens of topics.
2) Enhanced - the full Definitive Guide, plus:
* unedited audio recording of Yanik Silver's killer Internet Traffic Stampede teleseminar
* MP3 recordings of two advanced coaching sessions with Perry's students where they "tear apart" not only Google campaigns but also entire web strategies. These sessions then reconstruct the strategy to make it a winner.
* "Advanced Strategies for Making Your Website Pay" (with Ken McCarthy).
* The Definitive Video Guide to Google AdWords - streaming video where you can watch campaigns being built right on your computer screen.
* "Jet Fuel for Google Cash" - A definitive guide to getting more value from he Google Cash approach.
3) Enhanced Version with Coaching - everything above, but it is also shipped to you with Audio CD's. You also get to participate in three private small-group coaching calls in which you will be able to discuss your questions and challenges in detail.
This course is without doubt the best value for money I have seen on Google Adwords. I personally bought the Enhanced version and would recommend this version for those who really want to learn Google Adwords inside out.
With the Basic version starting at only $49, I truly believe that this course is perhaps the most outstanding value I have seen for some time. If you are advertising with Google Adwords, or want to do so without losing your shirt, get Perry's course. I guarantee you wont be disappointed.
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5. Motivation for the unmotivated.
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A few years ago when I was starting out in affiliate marketing, I read a thread (and contributed to it under the nickname perfectG) at abestweb.com. This thread is more than 2 years old, but still gets a few posts. If you lack motivation, why not read it.
http://abw.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=548608979&f=982608689&m=963608689
You might need to copy and paste the URL since the word wrap in this newsletter has spilt the URL onto two lines.
I would love to hear your feedback on this. And, just in case you are skeptical of the figures quoted, believe me they are realistic.
Have a great week.
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