var sc_project=3372029; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=37; var sc_security=”918325f4″; Home Books Clients How I work Pricing Research Services Free eBooks Home Articles Courses Nonverbal Products Twitter Case studies Presentations* Info Pack* –> My blog is here About me Search * opens in new browser window Second Life blog (both links open in a new window) –> Current Adelaide time: obj = new Object;obj.clockfile = “5002-blue.swf”;obj.TimeZone = “ACDT”;obj.width = 192;obj.height = 19;obj.Place = “”;obj.DateFormat = “DD-mm”;obj.TimeFormat = “hhmmTT”;obj.wmode = “transparent”;showClock(obj); Contact me: +61 410 642 052 Search engine optimisation is dead! var sc_project=3372029; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=37; var sc_security=”918325f4″; Home Books Clients How I work Pricing Research Services Free eBooks Home Articles Courses Nonverbal Products Twitter Case studies Presentations* Info Pack* –> My blog is here About me Search * opens in new browser window Second Life blog (both links open in a new window) –> Current Adelaide time: obj = new Object;obj.clockfile = “5002-blue.swf”;obj.TimeZone = “ACDT”;obj.width = 192;obj.height = 19;obj.Place = “”;obj.DateFormat = “DD-mm”;obj.TimeFormat = “hhmmTT”;obj.wmode = “transparent”;showClock(obj); Contact me: +61 410 642 052 Article: Search engine optimisation is dead! Search engine optimisation is dead! by Randy Zlobec, author of soon-to-be-released search engine marketing book “Sem Gorilla” Yes, you read that right! Top Search Engine Marketing Specialist Randy Zlobec says SEO is officially dead and you can no longer generate top positions with seo alone. You need to incorporate an entire Sem (Search Engine Marketing) campaign which includes the following. 1. Link Building 2. Article Writing & Distribution 3. Press Release Writing & Distribution 4. Pay Per Click Advertising 5. Social Networking 6. Blogging SEO or Search Engine Optimization as a standalone methodology is dead as a doornail. Dead, kaput, deceased – wandering around waiting to be buried. Trying to accomplish high search engine ranking using SEO alone is a losing proposition at best and website suicide in most instances. So, what’s a webmaster to do? The term “webmaster” means staying on top of what drives successful, targeted traffic to your website. It means staying up later than the average guy, reading, discovering and learning the cutting edge of what it takes to make your site successful. In the beginning, you could throw up any kind of page and get people to visit. Quality webpages were few and far between, and it was just astounding that you could get type on a page that others could view. Then came the keyword, the meta tag, the phrase, the optimization, software considered downright primitive in today’s world that would tell you your page was a cut above the pack. These days are long gone. In order to get around the dead horse of SEO standalone, you need to be ready to add links, backlinks and quality backlinks. You need to be able to do more than string three words together. Today’s readers are savvy. They want real information; don’t deliver junky, slapped together, non-researched splats of content and expect to maintain traffic and credibility. Today it is all about quality content, unique and different – that delivers a message that is both interesting and informative. To basic optimization, you need to add things like blogging, dynamic updating, social networking that can be press release driven with a landing page that commands attention. Use the checklist below to smarten up your pages and make them more than SEO optimized. Knowing what makes them hum, what spiders love will make your pages more than just web-ready. They will become traffic magnets. Let’s Talk Keywords If you remember nothing else remember to put your keyword or keyword phrase in the
PUT YOUR KEYWORD HERE. Many folks overlook this and just like that the spider glides on by – uninformed. If you are adding things like social bookmarking and blogging to your site and you forget this, you might as well be holding up a sign in a sandstorm. Keywords in the URL do help. Remember if you are just redirecting a keyword URL to your website to use a 301 Redirect which is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage redirection. Anybody who tells you differently is not up on the latest trends. The search engines do take note of your keyword as part of your URL. For 8.95 or less, you can get that small edge on your keyword. Most people are using PHP or ASP these days on either an Apache or Windows server. Here’s the 301 redirect codes that will get your pages moving if you aren’t using someone like GoDaddy.com to register your domains and utilizing their convenient 301 redirect features. =========== PHP Redirect ========ASP Redirect<%@ Language=VBScript %><%Response.Status=”301 Moved Permanently”;Response.AddHeader(”Location”,”http://www.new-url.com/”);%>===========Okay, that’s enough code for redirecting.Keywords in your anchor text from another side. Called an inbound link, this is like getting a vote from another site. Be sure and have your keyword or keyword phrase as part of that vote.Keywords in your
tags. Yes, it is your headline. It’s important. It’s rated by search engines and if your keyword is part of it, it’s rated higher. But be sure that it’s also part of your body text or you will probably upset the spiders. Never upset the spiders or you’ll be on page 11 million for your keyword.Keywords in the tags. Alt tags are what your page displays when the pictures can’t be found or someone browses your page with pictures turned off. Spiders also read the tags so if you have your keyword in there then viola, more credit for your page.Article Writing and DistributionThere are a number of article directories where you can distribute your articles with your resource box promoting you website. You will want to write relevant, short quality articles that build curiosity for your website. You do not want to write articles longer than 500-600 words for article directories.Articles as BaitOn your website, you will want to have longer, informative articles on a specific subject related to your website’s topic. Called linkbait, these articles are designed to inform and educate your readership on relative topics. This is not what articles for article directories are all about. They are curiosity builders. You write 300-400 words on a topic to demonstrate your knowledge on that topic. You include a resource or author’s box back to your website where you can present a long, in-depth version of your material.One important thing to remember when writing articles for directories. Each must be different and unique from each other and each one must be different than the one on your website. If you duplicate them for the various article directories and they all have inbound links to the same content on your main website, you will kill your page rank and credibility. If you can remember that article directories get you quickly indexed and offer a curiosity booster that acts as a portal to your main website, then you’ll write accordingly.Most article directories require at least 400 words on a topic which is not that easy to produce, but you want to save your main features for your own website and not the article directory.Through these directories, you’ll receive a ton of backlinks as other websites use your content on their website. However, none of it will match what’s on your own website, so it won’t be considered duplicate content just inbound links.Press Releases Are An Overlooked, Great ProcessIf you can write news copy, you can write a decent press release which will get your website a ton of exposure. You will want to put out a website for the following reasons:- To announce your new website and what it’s all about- New products and services that you add to your website- Reviews of various themed parts of your website- Expansion and additions of note.Using press releases in this fashion will always guarantee a steady stream of visitors in that a well-written press release will usually be picked up by other sites and rewritten and added to their new repository which increases the number of incoming links you’ll receive.Pay Per Click AdvertisingUsing pay-per-click advertising is another way to get almost instant traffic to your website. Utilizing PPC giants like Google and Yahoo, you can pay for visitors to your website. You list small, contextually based advertising which is published across their network of websites and interested people click on your advertising and arrive at your site. This is one of the quickest ways to get traffic to arrive, but it can be costly to get started. Pay-Per-Click lets you advertise to the whole of the online community.There are also text link advertising, classified advertising and pay-per-post advertising where you can get other bloggers to blog for money about your product or service on your website. It is a variation of PPC in that bloggers will write and review your site or service for a small fee and list you for a set period of time on their website. It adds content to their site and gives you more than just a link back to your site.Social Networking and Social News sitesWeb 2.0 and social networking is another whole article in itself, but it is the second fastest way to get traffic rolling into your site. To get the ball rolling and to give you some ideas on where to start, let’s look at the basics of social news networking. We want to separate this from social bookmarking which is for personal use. Social news networking is for when you want to advertising you business, home business or professional site. It’s about providing news to the world about who and what you are, the benefits you offer and why they should stop by.Some of the better news sites where you can post your short articles include: Propeller, Newsvine, StumbleUpon, Digg and OnlyWire to name a few. These sites are news-hungry just waiting for information about your website. Whatever your site is about will be quickly and effectively disseminated by posting on these websites.Considered the second generation in online marketing, social networking is all about building communities of like minded individuals who are looking for certain things. You website is taken into a group and depending on your service or product, people arrive at your website because of the tags and text you provide to the online community. There are as many social news and networking sites as there are interests, but the main ones to start with are listed but by no means complete.Learn everything you need to know in order to generate top 10 positions in the major search engines as quickly as possible by purchasing Randy’s book “Sem Gorilla”. ‘Sem Gorilla’ is due to be released before the end of this year however, you may sign up at the site to be notified and actually receive the book much sooner than the rest of the world, giving you a head start on your competitor. Visit http://www.semgorilla.com var owHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://” : “http://”);document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + owHost + “onlywire.com/btn/button_3798′ ad=’no’ title=’TITLE’ tags='”business communication” communication nonverbal’ url=’URL’ class=’owbutton’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); Reports I have written: Measuring the impact and ROI of social media – for Ark Group Making Social Media work for your business – for Ark Group Social Media: The New Business Communication Landscape – for Ark Group How to get started with podcasting in your organisation – for Melcrum Publishing Contributing author to How to use social media to solve critical internal communication issues – for Melcrum Publishing Contributing author to How to use social media to engage employees – for Melcrum Publishing Contributing author to How to communicate with hard-to-reach employees – for Melcrum Publishing Have you subscribed to my weekly newsletter yet? As a subscriber you get kept up-to-date on when new articles are added. Subscribe now! and receive a free version of my $79 report, Master the Art and Science of Twitter for Business. It’s the first in a series of reports I’m writing on how to master the various key elements of social media. Each report is an-depth, step-by-step process that explains in clear, plain English how to master a particular social media tool and help your business communicate better for better business results. Each report is easy to read, easy to implement and easy on the pocket — just $79 per copy. But as a new subscriber to my blog and newsletter, I’m giving you a copy of the free version of Master the Art and Science of Twitter for Business report as a way of saying “thank you” for joining my community. Please subscribe, then check for the email you will receive from me shortly after, because in the email will be details of how to download the report [1.2mb pdf] Subscribe now! 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More details Better Business Writing You’ve probably always wanted to improve your writing skills in your workplace, but perhaps there wasn’t a training course around to help you. Well, now there is. More details Turn Guesstimates into Estimates & close more sales!Award-winning ProposalKit gives your clients the detailed price quote and proposal they need so YOU close more sales (and boost your bottom line!) Finally you can quote with accuracy, increasing your profitability and professionalism. ProposalKit is easy, customizable, proven,and downloadable now! http://www.proposalkit.com Social Media White Paper (3rd Edition) Trevor Cook and I wrote a booklet to help our clients and friends come to grips with this new online phenomenon called ‘Social Media’ or ‘Web2.0’. Now in its third edition, it is still being widely cited and is receiving lots of favourable comments. 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Thank you. ” “One of Australia’s leading public relations practitioners in the so-called new media” “While I only had the pleasure of actually meeting Lee face-to-face several months ago, I have been aware of him in conference programs and through feedback from one of my team members for a while. Lee has an amazing and unique skill for managing the new media to support business outcomes” “Oz’s best social network strategist” “As for Local Royalty, you really are a Superstar among the bloggers and blogosphere!” “Lee Hopkins, one of Australia’s most respected social media experts” “Lee was very entertaining and knowledgeable. He demystified social media for me and he made me feel it IS possible.” “His enthusiasm is infectious – exciting stuff!” “Excellent. A really fascinating insight from an engaging speaker.” “A very difficult topic but it was explained in a fantastically simple way.” “The Walkleys relies on the good will of Australia’s talented communicators to make events like these happen and I can’t thank you enough for taking time out from your heavy schedule to make the convention such a memorable event.” “The workshop was very useful in that it enabled us to directly relate what we learnt in the seminar to our business. Lee was very easy to relate to and he presented all the information in a way that was simple to understand.” “Informative and engaging – gave good overview of new on-line technologies and how they can be applied to businesses. Particularly valued the opportunity to have a separate session to look at the specific needs and potential uses for my own business.” “Great to talk to someone who is expert in their field and passionate.” “The ability to interact one on one with Lee, as well as seeing new technologies and how they can be easily implemented into current business processes [was great]” “Great. Lee was very engaging and presented info in easy to understand language and examples. Use of music, video, PowerPoint etc keep contents fun and educational. Great stuff!” “Great! Even I could understand and appreciate the content. Excellent examples, wonderful presentation. I’m going back to share with my team. Thank you. ” “Lee was a great facilitator and his energy and passion for social media was evident.” “Excellent, enthusiastic presenter who is right into what he is talking about. Walking the talk.Just the right amount of info about the different topics. Not too geeky. Strong emphasis on how the tools can assist effective business communication. Relaxed friendly atmosphere. The workshop opened lots of doors, stimulating. I’m strongly encouraged to try things out. Many thanks.” “Lee was great – knowledgeable, enthusiastic, generous in sharing his expertise. I liked the demonstrations.” “Great Workshop… helped me crystalise my thoughts on social media and now I feel ready to develop the strategy and make use of this great new medium” Would you like me to run a workshop in-house for YOUR company? Contact me to discuss how we can bring your company into this new and exciting communication universe. Twitter LinkedIn FacebookDelicious FlickrLast.fmFriendFeed Assoc. of Virtual Worlds Plurk Plaxo Skype me View many of the presentations I have given over at Slideshare Why does employee communication matter? 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