Search Engines - Back To Basics

I want to share a secret with you about getting top positions in search engines.

There is no secret to getting top positions in search engines!

Don't tell the gurus - they won't believe you.

But it's true. I have been building web sites now since 1999 and one of my very first ventures online was to write an eBook about getting top search engine positions. It was so long ago that I don't even have the material I wrote anymore.

It still works though, because I haven't really changed the way I do things, yet I still get most of my pages listed in the top ten of the top search engines, including the mighty Google.

Let's take a trip around "Search Town".

First stop is "Backlink Boulevard". This place is full of street vendors called gurus, who tell you that you need tons of backlinks from "authority sites". An entire industry has been created , of people and firms dedicated to getting backlinks for their clients. These little sweat shops, hidden away in Backlinks Boulevard, house indivisuals tied to their computers for up to 23 hours a day, employing child labour to work automated machines loaded with specialist backlink software, that the search masters, cruel and hard taskmasters, customise with their own names and logos to give themselves a hint of respectability.

Just down the boulevard are the tall glass and chrome buildings where you'll find a whole host of software companies that have got rich on the back of the thriving back street businesses promoting their quality backlink services. They produce the software products that take a lazy individual and make him rich. Except they don't make anyone rich.

So we move on to Article Alley. Read the notice boards in all of the shop windows here. Apparently, if you write articles that other people can reproduce on their web sites, you end up with ten of thousands of one-way backlinks, where sites link to you, but you don't have to link back.

The vendors in Article Alley are very convincing. They take all of the work away from creating a great web site. If you can't write yourself, or if you're too lazy, they'll often help you find somebody who can write for you in your own native language, yet based thousands of miles away where your language is their third language, so you can be certain to get a great, well written, articulate article that you can send promote in Article Alley.

For years I've wasted time submitting articles to article sites, using software made especially for the job, feeding yet another tranche of gurus and software builders.

Come out of Article Alley and move on across to Content Close. Browse the shelves of the many stores and you'll find all the content you could possibly want. The quality varies and so does the price. For just a few dollars, which is the universal currency of Search Town, you can pick up expert articles written by people you'll never meet, from countries that you've never heard of.

Sure, you won't make any sense of the writing, but then, this is content made for search engine, not humans. It's called spider food. And it stinks. Really bad.

Blog Street is interesting. The many vendors here tell you that in order to get your site ranked in the top ten of Google, you need to blog on each of your sites.

Maybe. But again, go down Blog Street and you'll soon discover a bunch of gurus waiting to sell you their latest tome on how to create the perfect blog.

You'll discover software vendors giving away their latest blog software and hundreds of market traders selling pretty templates, widgets and other wares to create the killer blog. There are book sellers too, of course.

Be careful in Search Town as the place is full of misinformation and every corner leads to yet another avenue crowded with sharp suited salesmen eager to take your last penny from you.

Many who venture into Search Town come out much poorer and with little to show for their efforts. Gloom and despondency is the order of their day, for no sooner have they unpacked their goodies, the new toys that will solve all of their problems, than they start getting the follow-up mail - and it all starts again.

So, what's the answer to top search engine positions?

It's easy.

First, concentrate on a niche market and don't deviate from that subject. You can't have a web site about internet marketing selling the concept of blue bananas.

Build your web site using your own original content. This blog article took me 15 minutes to write for example. I quite liked writing it.

Add new content regularly - once a week or once every two weeks. It doesn't have to be a blog and you don't have to do that on all sites. The idea is to create ONE site with plenty of content.

When you have the one site up and running, begin adding text links to other sites that you wish to promote. Not other people's sites though.

Don't link back to your main site.

Create excellent meta descriptions for each page that you make.

Target the key phrases you want ranked carefully, by creating a new page for each search term. Pages rank, web sites don't.

Carefully craft you page titles, ensuring that your key phrase is included there.

Make sure you have robots text file uploaded to your server.

Create a site map and link every public page to it.

Create a Google sitemap too - it's a bit more complicated, but well worth the effort.

That is all I do these days.

I've been going through the stats on some of my mos important sites. One site I launched only a few weeks ago now has 1171 top 10 search positions across the 5 major search engines.

Another I did for a client is number one in Google for the search term she particularly wanted. There is plenty of competition for the search term and I have done nothing except on-page optimisation for the site. No back links, no cloaking, no clever tricks.

Oh yes, the site was created using XSitePro and I recently revamped it using XsitePro2.

Sorry search gurus, I've just p'd on your parade, but don't worry because there are still plenty of suckers to fleece.

Can You Trust Domain Auctions?

On a day when I write about Bido.com, the new kid on the domain auction block, it's ironic that there is trouble brewing elsewhere in the domain auction market. Namely, those who auction off dropping names.

http://www.thedomains.com/2008/06/21/ethics-of-domain-drop-auctions-tdnam-and-namejet-called-out-yesterday-today-we-call-out-tucows/ should be read by all domainers now, particularly those who might occasionally take part in a domain auction run by the "reputable" operations of TDNAM, NameJet and Tuwcows.

I won't go into the details, as it's done better and more eloquently elsewhere (see http://domainnamewire.com/2008/06/20/expired-domain-services-let-employees-bid-against-customers/ for example), but all I will say, is that if I'd been involved in any auctions with these companies, I'd be asking some serious questions right now.

Ever since the very early days of Afternic auctions in the late 90's, questions were asked about shill bidding. In fact, this question has been raised about most domain auctions at some time or other.

The disturbing thing about what's coming out now about the ones named here are that it goes well beyond shill bidding and could be considered downright fraudulent in certain circumstances.

There is a definite conflict of interest in my opinion, if staff of the auction companies, who often have more than just a passing interest in domain names, are allowed to take part in the auctions. Especially the ones that don't let you know who you're bidding against.

I've never taken part in a domain auction. I doubt that I ever will.

However, when somebody who does participate and spends six figures annually pulls out and starts shouting, then I for one am all ears.

Watch this story grow in the short term. I think a lot of people are going to start complaining and voting with their feet.

All is not well in domainer land.

What's Bido All About?

Bido.com was launched last week by some friends of mine and has been causing quite a stir.

The main question seems to have been, "What's that all about"? It certainly was mine.

I received an invitation to become one of their panel of experts and comment on some of the domain names they have coming through on auction, which I readily accepted of course, because it's not every day I can call my self an expert on something.

The idea behind the site is to hold a domain auction every day. The difference with Bido though, is that only one domain name per day will be auctioned.

The auction today is for CerealBox.com, a generic name that I took a moment to comment on as follows:

"I can't see the value in this to be honest. It's generic enough, but the term "cereal box" is hardly on the tip of everyone's tongue is it?
For me, this one's registration fee only - but that's only be cause I just don't see where the revenue would come from."

Some of the "experts" agree with me, which is always a bonus, valuing the name at less than $500, though one or two don't, as you'll see from these comments:

"This is a very valuable generic domain name with enormous marketing potential."

"Cereal Box Manufacturing, while a niche market, is probably a billion dollars in annual turnover, and this is a category killer for that market."

As you can see, Bido offers an opportunity to comment on someone else's names and once the auction is over, only one camp will be right! How exciting.

The end result doesn't matter to me, as it's not my domain, but already we can see how different people view domains.

My question is if a name like this is potentially so valuable, especially to a niche market like cereal box manufacturers (as one expert says above), then why didn't they approach that market themselves. (This is a house auction of their own domain).

You see, I don't know how Bido is going to attract cereal box manufacturers to the auction. (actually, let's get something straight here. The industry term for this kind of thing is actually "carton" not box).

Some suggest that it's a great name for kids' TV. Again, what's the Bido team going to do to get media people along to the online auction?

I'm sure Bido will be a great success. The downside for me, is that if they're pitching at domainers, it's the wrong people to pitch at in my opinion. Many haven't got a clue, most are potless speculators who wouldn't know a good name from lolipop and the rest already own some great domains.

Anyway, here's the next seven auctions from Bido.com:

Some people will invariably knock the Bido model, but personally, I hope it does well.

The concept of having a single name up for auction per day is a good and unusual one.

With a commission payable to Bido of just 8%, they clearly intend to get some high prices for their sellers.

If they do, I might just throw some in myself. Could I stand the pain of havbing my names criticised by my peers? I doubt it, I take it all too personally.

Good luck Sahar, Jarred, et al - I wish you every success with this. Anything that gets domains into the mainstream can only be a good thing.

Using XsitePro2

As many of the regular vsiitors here know, I don't consider myself an out and out "domainer", as I have a number of business intereststhat all stem from what I do online.

I suppose I'm more of an Internet Marketer with an interest in domains.

On this blog and in the very few forums I frequent, I have often promoted the use of XsitePro, since that's the tool that has allowed me to develop large numbers of web sites and earn some pretty decent money overthe years.

A lot of attention is being given to XsitePro2 at the moment and so today, I began a new site. No doubt I'll regret it later, as it's already taken up half a day, but here goes.

I've decided to show people how to build web sites using XSitePro2 by preparing some videos that should help even the rawest of beginners to use this complex, yet amazingly simple to use web site builder.

The new site is called XsiteProTips and resides at http://www.xsiteprotips.co.uk/ - I'm inviting questions from owners (or potential owners) who need a push in the right direction.

I hope you like it.





UPDATE:





I'd like to show yuou something that demonstrates the power of XSitePro and the power of a relevant domain name. This screenshot is from Google.co.uk search engine results for the term "XsitePro tips" - I could barely believe it myself - the domain is less than 12 hours old!

Yes, that's me at number 1 in less than 12 hours.

It's number 5 on Google.com (at least from the UK) - and to think, people waste tons of money on pay per click trying to grab an affiliate commission.

Sometimes, you just have to laugh.

An Oz Domainer In Brummie Land

What a nice surprise to get a call yeasterday from "Oz Domainer", Ed Keay-Smith, who's currently embarking on a 7 month round the world trip with his lovely wife Lois and their daughter Sasha.

We met up for the first time this afternoon and had a few drinks and introduced our respective families.

It's not something that happens every day, but when a fellow domainer is in town, it's only right to get together and have a chat.

What is it about people and their desire to make bunny ears in photos?

On another note, XsitePro2 is formally launched to new users for the first time.

I've been playing with this great new software for a couple of weeks and really can't recommend it enough.

More than an update to the old XSitePro, this software has been completely re-written and is a completely different animal, packed with its own bag of tricks that make building complex looking web sites a complete piece of cake.

The affiliate program also launches today, so if you haven't seen XsitePro2 yet and you want to take advantage of some introductory pricing, click this link - yes, it's my affiliate link, but a man has to eat - espscially when the Oz Domainer has been round and eaten my entire week's groceries!

Bunny ears. Grrr.

Nothing Happens Until Somebody FINDS You

For the past few months, I have been secretly undergoing some vocational training that will allow me to capitalise on yet more government legislation.

Just like the asbestos stuff I am involved in, this is going to affect all commercial property owners and very few people in the UK are qualified at this stage, yet the regulations are already in place and will become stricter in the next few months, creating a virgin market that few people will be able to resource.

I was chatting to some of the other delegates and was listening with great interest at their strategies for grabbing their slice of the market.

The surprise for me was that only one person out of the 40 or so present even mentioned the Internet as a means of attracting clients - and his approach was so ridiculous I am almost too embarrassed to mention it, but I shall!

His approach, after spending £3000 on the course and a further £2000 on examinations, was to use an online site builder to create his web site. It only costs him £5 a month, but, as he keenly explained to me, nobody actually buys from a web site, it's really only there to reassure existing clients.

I said nothing and smiled quietly to myself.

The others, bearing in mind we'd all invested the same amount of money in training, for the most part, had absolutely no idea how they were going to get business and most were hoping that the company conducting the training would be able to help.

Naturally, they said they would, because potential clients will come rushing to them and they won't have enough manpower to resource all of the work they are going to get.

Here's how I attacked this potentially lucrative market:

1. I built my first web site in November and followed that up with 3 more by the end of that month.
2. I posted information about the legislation on my partner's business web site.
3. I spoke with existing clients about their understanding of the legislation - and made it known that we would be able to do the work when the regulations become mandatory.
4. As soon as the training became available, I booked onto the course.

As things stand at the moment, I have clients set up and waiting for me (and my business partner) to tell them when we can start.

Enquiries from the web site have been coming in since November, not only from small clients, but also larger ones who own shopping centres and industrial estates.

Of course, I've not been able to do much with them, except explain that I can help them once I'm fully qualified, which hopefully won't be long.

So, we come to pricing this brand new service.

The training consultant (an independent who contracted to the training provider) said that he charges upwards of £1000 per property - so I put him to the test and found that I can hire him for £600 a day - a bargain, as he's qualified and I can go out and do the work with him, gaining extra on-the-job training for free.

How can I get him for £600 a day? Simple really. I don't think he's ever received a £1000 fee in his life. Luckily, I could probably keep him in work for as long as he wants (providing he can do several properties a day on a day rate).

The training company, as far as I can gather, has no work lined up for their own consultants, but they are trying to price condition everyone taking the course to charge high rates - I wonder why?

It seems to me, that most people in this new, emerging industry (for that is what it is) are bluffing it. They are completely clueless in so many areas that it's scary.

No surprise there then.

The power of the Internet should never be underestimated. The power of Google should be embraced - and Google should be courted like a fair maiden to visit your web site and gobble up all the content you can throw at it.

Your reward? Open season in new or specialist markets.

Really, it's like shooting fish in a barrel, whilst the uninitiated scrap amongst themselves for the stuff that falls from the table.

To test a new market online, before you spend a peny on training, equipment, premises etc is PENNIES - £6 a domain name and around £99 a year for web hosting (and you can host as many sites as you like for that).

There is a WORLD of people looking online for services right now and very few people know how to get them on their hooks.

Decluttering Leads To Hidden Gems!

For a few weeks now, I have been promising myself that I'll organise my new home office, which has been stuffed full of boxes since we moved into the new house last month.

At the weekend, I finally got round to it and it seemed to take forever.

Now at last, my desk is clear again. All of the bills that lay unopened are now paid and I even found a couple of affiliate cheques along the way.

Instead of walking around boxes and clutter, I can now go to my super-organised cupboard and find whatever I want, quickly.

Rummaging through the various boxes, I came across printed ebooks and other courses I've purchased during my 10+ years online and there were some nice hidden gems amongst them.

I rediscovered a book that I accidentally deleted from my hard drive about three years ago. It's called Make Your Words Sell. It's not exactly a science, but it's written in a style that's easy to understand and, more to the point, it's written for online publishing.

All of those long sales letters that compel you buy stuff you don't really need are written in the same or a similar style to what's promoted in this book, but it does of course, go far deeper than that and explains how to vary your writing style to suit your audience.

That is something that some people miss out on with their web sites - they write according to their own style and mood and give no thought to what their readers or customers are looking for.

I was glad I found it.

Another thing I found was a disk containing software I downloaded in 2004 and before.

Amongst it was a package called Listings Manager (I bought 5 licences apparently) from InteractiveTools.com.

Having rediscovered the package, I loaded it up onto a site that I have left neglected since I lost my data in a sever crash two years ago!

That site is www.residentialrentals.co.uk and I'm using Listings Manager to create a free to advertise site for landlords and residential rentals agents in the UK to advertise properties.

I've produced the site in XSitePro2 and then amended the Listings Manager templates to suit the overall site design.

Like most of my sites, this one isn't finished yet, but I had to do something with it, because having checked the stats today, it's been getting quite a view unique visitors just lately, so there's little point in it sitting there doing nothing.

The interesting thing is that I am presently spending a fair bit of money having some sites developed for me using Drupal and other CMS systems - and this has been ongoing since December and January.

So, should I look at all these new fangled ways of "rapid site development" that have taken 6 months to get nowhere, or should I stick with my original philosophy of developing my own sites using software that I understand?

ResidentialRentals.co.uk has taken me 2 days effort with no help from anyone - and 99% of it works. The rest (advertiser set up) will work by tonight I hope.

The point of this post is to demonstrate that there are plenty of tools available to allow people like me to develop their own sites quickly and easily.

So what if the site doesn't look like Amazon.com or CNN.com? If it works and users can follow it, then that's all that matters in my opinion - and by that, I mean that people get response from their ads and that I get clicks from the Google Adsense links!

Now if only I could find an affiliate link for Listings Manager......