Off-page SEO From Memory

Hey, all.  Time to test my knowledge of off-page SEO by writing as much as I know about it without looking at my notes (which will be easy to resist since I LOST MY F@$&ING IPOD THIS WEEKEND!).  Here goes:

Again, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization; it's the things you do to show search engines that your site is authoritative and relevant to someone who searches for your kind of site.  There's On-page SEO and Off-page SEO.  On-page SEO is things you do ON your site to show the search engines that your site is relevant.  It mostly involves finding your key words/key-word phrases and using them to tweak your HTML code (the computer language all websites are based on.

Off-page SEO is what you do to show that your site is authoritative; that you know what your talking about and other people look to you for answers.  You do this mostly by creating back-links.  A back-link is when another website posts a link that leads people to YOUR website.  If someone else links to your site, it probably means they think you know what you're talking about.  A back-link is like a vote in favor of your site.  The more back-links you get, the more popular and therefore authoritative you appear to be.  Now, the QUALITY of your back-links actually counts MORE than the quantity.  As I've said before, one back-link from a highly respected site within your niche is worth 100 back-links from a bunch of sites no one's ever heard of.  

The best way I know of to create back-links is with a link-wheel.  I heard about this from Pat Flynn on his website.  Off the top of my head, it goes something like this:  The technique is double-layered, which is what I like about it.  He uses Web 2.0 sites like Squidoo.  Those are the first layer.  He writes an article and then uses special software to spin it into several different versions of the same article.  He then submits those articles to different websites in the second layer and those sites link to the Web 2.0 sites in the first layer which then links back to him.  I can't remember it too well off the top of my head.

Other ways to create back-links include leaving meaningful comments on other people's blogs, writing and submitting articles to directories, and guest-blogging on someone else's site.

That's all I've got for now.  Guess I need to study this part more.  Sorry; I've just lost a lot of motivation since I lost my iPod with all my notes and ideas and stuff on it.  Now's not the time to replace it, either, 'cause I'm moving back home to the states soon.  I'm better off waiting until I get home.

Anyway, maybe I'll come back and expand on this later if I remember more stuff. Wish me luck, guys.

Blogger Networking Tip

Here's a little something I've decided I should do to help myself network with other bloggers and get my name out there and get noticed.  I've been listening to a lot of internet marketing podcasts and reading a lot of articles to learn how to do all this stuff and it's been suggested that networking with other bloggers is a good way to get started in this business.  I was listening to Pat Flynn's podcast - I think he was interviewing the guy from thinktraffic.com - and they were talking about how, when you're just starting out, it's going to take some time for the internet to notice you.  You can't expect to get great search results and start making money for at least six months after you launch your website unless you really know what you're doing and even then, it takes a while to get going.  They suggested that networking with other bloggers is something you can start doing right away to help get your name out there and build some cred and learn a few things.  

Here's my tip; here's what I've decided to start doing and I think you should do it, too:  Whenever you learn something from an article or a podcast or any time you find some valuable information anywhere, leave a comment about it.  At the very least, thank the person who gave you the valuable information you've learned.  If you learn something from an article, leave a comment.  Liked the podcast you just listened to?  Give the podcaster a good review.  Hopefully, you'll be able to link your name to your blog or website so if anyone clicks on your name (like maybe the author of the article or the podcaster) they'll be taken to your blog/site and maybe they'll mention you in one of their posts/podcasts or maybe they'll at least leave a comment on your blog, which will create a nice back-link.

That's it.  If you learn something from an article or podcast or whatever, leave a comment/review.  At the very least, thank the guy/woman.  I just thought of this recently, so I haven't put it into practice, but I really think it's a good idea to help with networking.

On-page SEO From Memory

Alright, folks; I'm back from my vacation in Amsterdam.  Let's see how much I can remember about SEO without looking at my notes after spending a week and a half in a Purple Haze.  I'm gonna split this into two articles.  The first will deal with on-page SEO and I'll do off-page SEO later.  Here goes.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is divided into two types; on-page and off-page SEO.  On-page SEO is what you do on your website to let the search engine crawlers know that your site is relevant to a given search.  It mostly involves figuring out your key words and tweaking the HTML code.  There're lots of tools available for finding your key words.  The only one I've used so far (because it's free) is Google's Adsense Keyword Tool.  You start with a broad search of one key word you know you're interested in and narrow it down by adding other words to get a key-word phrase.  With the broad search, if you type in, for example, car parts, you'll get results for "car" and "parts" with any number of words before, after, and between them.  If you actually put both words in quotes, you'll get results for "car parts" together, but you'll still get results with other words before and after them, but not between them.  If you put (car parts) in brackets, you will only get results for those two words together; you will not get any results with other words before, after, or between them.  (I should probably check out other free keyword tools.  One of my goals is to see if I can MAKE money without spending a single penny.  I'm gonna have a project or two that I WILL spend money on, but I want to have one project that I've spent absolutely no money on.)  

Once you've got you key words and/or key-word phrases, you need to start putting them in the right places.  You should use at least one or two key words in your domain name, URLs, H tags, and image alt tags.  Your domain name is the address of your home page; the part that ends with .com or .net or .org.  Your URLs are the addresses of each page within your website.  They're your domain name plus the additional stuff that directs a visitor to a particular page.  H tags are Header Tags.  There's H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6.  The lower the number, the more important they are.  There's also a Title Tag, which is very important.  The title tag is the description of your website that appears below the link to your site when it pops up in the search results.  Off the top of my head, I can't remember if the title tag and the H1 tag are the same thing, but I don't think they are.  I believe the H1 tag is the main heading for your site.  I remember that the H1 tag is like the title of an article or an essay and the lower H tags are like the paragraph headings within the article.  The image alt tags are a description of any images you use on your site.  Apparently, it's a good idea to insert some of your key words into those alt descriptions in the HTML.

Another thing you can do is link your articles to each other.  A visitor shouldn't have to click more than three or maybe four links to get from any one page on your site to any other page on your site.

Alright, that's about all I can remember off the top of my head.  It seems like there should be more, but I guess I'll find out after I publish this and then go back and look at my previous articles on the subject.  I'm sure there'll be many "D'oh!"s and much forehead slapping.  Stay tuned.  Today you get a two-for-one deal.  I'm about to offer a tip on how to network and get your name out there.  Catch ya later.