Setting Your Link Building Goals

Most of the people nowadays know how powerful link building is. However, one of the most important parts of SEO is tracking your results. Tracking results is impossible if you don't know what your goal is. Whether your want more traffic, conversions or better rankings, you need to set your goals before even starting to do link building so you can measure your progress properly.

Some of the most common goals when doing link building are:

Better Rankings

Improving rankings can be easy or difficult depending on what makes you happy. Appearing in the top 100 on page 5 for example is easy. However, it will be way more difficult to move from sixth to third place on the first page of the results unless your desired keyword is highly uncompetitive.

You should also consider personalized search when setting your goals and checking the results. You might see your website on first place when it actually is on seventh. To prevent this you can use a gread Mozilla Firefox extension called TrackMeNot.

An important thing to know is that you shouldn't worry if your website has been number 5 for a couple of months and one day you see it on the sixth place. This does not mean everything you have done is about to go down in flames.

More Traffic

A lot of people think that improving their rankings will also drive more traffic to their website. This is true most of the times, but if your website is not appealing to people, they are likely to not click on your link at all.

It is important to place your links on relevant to your niche websites that get a fair amount of traffic and have very good rankings. Link exchange is one of the ways you can get a link from such websites.

However, placing your link on a website with hundreds of other links that is also not relevant to your business at all is a waste of time because people are not likely to even see your link, let alone click it.

A great way to get traffic is to place a link on a new blog post that is getting a lot of social media attention and shares. That way you will not only get more visitors, but you will get visitors that are actually interested in your content.

More Conversions

The most important thing when your goal is to increase your conversions is relevancy. Getting a lot of traffic and great rankings without any conversions is a probable scenario when your traffic is not relevant at all. Most link builders focus on the previous two goals, leaving conversions in the background. However, if you set it as your goal, you can achieve amazing results by making sure your visitors are interested in your website and it is relevant to what they need.

Tips & Advices

Whatever you do when it comes to SEO and link building – keep doing it if it's working. If you stop, your results and efforts will eventually go down the drain. However, bad things tend to happen from time to time so here are some advices which can prevent you losing what you have achieved:

1. Don't focus only on paid links. Try to get as much free backlinks as possible because if you run out of money for these links, they will disappear and so will your results.
2. If you have an SEO company, make sure more than one link builders are working on a client. That way if one of the employees quit, the other one will be able to continue.
3. Consider social medias and keep in mind that they can be pretty powerful when your slow down your link building tempo.

Make sure you know what your goal is and never stop tracking your results. Remember that tracking is as important as link building itself and these two things should not be separated.

Atanas Valchev currently works for one of the leading SEO companies in Bulgaria - SEO PAL. The company also offers PPC campaign management and SEO consulting.

How to Use Twitter to Market Your Business

If you’re like a lot of people who consider themselves to be novices when it comes to the wide, wonderful world of social media, you might think that twitters and tweets are those delightful sounds made by birds outside your window on a beautiful spring morning.

In fact, Twitter is also the name of an online social media service where people with similar interests can network with each other and share their thoughts. When used effectively as a marketing tool, Twitter can also help boost your company’s sales, which is sure to have you chirping a happy tune!

How Does Twitter Work, Anyway?

To enter the world of Twitter, you simply need to log on to Twitter.com and set up a free account. You’ll then be able to post your thoughts, feelings and ideas about anything your heart desires in a message known as a “tweet” for all other Twitter users to see. Keep in mind, though, that brevity is the key, as your tweets must consist of 140 characters or less. If you’re normally long-winded, you might have to practice a bit at developing the fine art of getting to the point!

How Do I Market with Twitter?

The cool thing about Twitter is that it can be used as a marketing tool for virtually any type of business, ranging from collectibles to kitchen appliances. You can start by creating a profile page that explains about your company, its products and services and some biographical information about yourself.

With Twitter, you can easily locate individuals and communities with similar interests and that might benefit from what your business has to offer. By “following” these people, you’ll be able to receive their tweets as soon as they send them. They can also follow you in return, allowing you to build your own Twitter community.

Creating Your Tweets

You can use Twitter for marketing purposes in a number of ways. For example, if your business involves selling KitchenAid appliances, you can create tweets offering brief tips about maintenance or product selection. You’ll develop credibility and establish yourself as an expert in your field, which can eventually lead to more sales.

You can also promote your business with Twitter, such as when tweeting about a new product or service you’ve added and including a link to your website. However, you should avoid using Twitter to only promote what you sell, as this could be viewed as “spamming,” a Twitter no-no. The best practice is to create a mix of promotional, informational and entertaining tweets.

Feel Free to Tweet Away

Now that you know the basics about using Twitter to market your business, you’re ready to set up your own Twitter account. Happy tweeting!

This guest post was written by Shane Jones, who enjoys blogging about ways owners of businesses like selling appliances, especially kitchen appliances, can use social media to generate sales.

The Fundamental Components of Search Engine Marketing

The Internet is full of articles discussing the fundamentals or key elements of search engine marketing (SEM), effective search engine optimization, and how to run an SEO or PPC campaign on your own for less. A lot of the “miracle solution” articles are, unsurprisingly, not worth reading. Most companies that can afford decent SEM don’t really need to be concerned with any of the more sophisticated SEO information anyway and would probably be better off leveraging its budget to hire a search engine advertising agency than to try and develop the expertise internally. However, because most companies have at least a few people who control and monitor their website and online activities, it is worthwhile for an SEM project manager to understand a few of the fundamentals that relate to more effective SEM.

The first, but perhaps most obvious components of SEO are the different types of advertising available for a search engine marketing campaign. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a long-term strategy that improves some elements of the client’s website to increase its visibility and indexibility for search engines’ web crawlers. Coupled with various linking and backlinking strategies to improve its credibility and quality scores with search engines, this helps to achieve a higher ranking for a particular keyword search phrase or set of phrases. It is a long-term strategy because search engines base their ranking on a complex algorithm that they do not completely divulge, and this algorithm can be slow in incorporating changes in any one site.

The second most common component is pay per click (PPC) advertising, which is the yin to SEO’s yang. SEM venders work with clients to choose phrases they think potential customers might search, and then bid to have the company’s advertisements placed in various online locations related to the chosen keyword phrase, such as on the side of search engine results. The bid price is the cost to the client for each time someone clicks one of these ads. The costs and efficiency of this strategy vary greatly depending on how much bid competition there is over the keyword, how well designed the ad copy and landing page are, and a variety of other factors. However, it is generally an effective strategy to quickly increase traffic.

There are other smaller options as well, such as the older pay for inclusion and social media advertising using portals such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. Each of these options can be effective for specific marketing goals on its own or be used in conjunction with other search engine marketing techniques for a robust, blended approach. These SEM fundamentals can be altered or tailored for various marketing needs, which is why a company should understand them at a basic level. 

Search Engine Marketing Is a Vast Field. Any Company Doing SEM, Whether with an Ad Firm or in-house, Should Understand These Basics. To Learn More Visit Wpromote.com

SEO For a New Site: Start Building Links Slowly

Having a website is important for many businesses and individuals. People can find you, read what you have to say or buy the products and services you are offering. Launching your website is only the first step. There’s more work to be done after your website debuts on the web.

Most of the time website owners are disappointed because no one seems to be going to their site; there is very little traffic or hits. Visitors to the site are usually relatives, friends and people who were told that the website exists. Using search engine optimization (SEO) methods like building links will help drive traffic to any website.

If you have a new website, you can increase traffic to your site through link building. You want other sites to link to your website (inbound links). The sites that link to you should be sites with the same or similar subject matter as yours. For example, if your site sells baby clothes, you want links from websites that deal with parenting or baby products. You don’t want links from sites that sell nutritional supplements or auction items. The sites that link to your website must always be relevant to your site.

New sites should build links at a slow, steady pace. It is unnatural to get more than 10,000 hits just after the launch of a new website. When setting up links, you can start with family, friends and colleagues. Ask who among them have websites. If their sites are relevant to yours, request that they link to your site via their posts. You can also utilize social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to establish links to your website.

Another way to build a link to your website is through blogging. When you add a blog to your site, place a link that goes back to your website’s home page. Include images, videos and even polls so the blog does not look forced. If you wish, you can post articles for sites that accept blogs and other types of articles. You may be able to insert a link to your own website in the article or include a link in your bio.

Some use link farms to get tons of links in one go. But this is hardly the way to do it. Google prefers natural links; those that develop over time. Link spamming your website may hurt your website in the end.

Once you have an established, indexed website, you can get a little more aggressive in link building. Take your time especially if you are new to the game. SEO work is not an overnight process. Patience, not over enthusiasm, is the key.

Darren writes on many topics including technology, free people search, social media and social networks.