In this post I want to talk about using anchor text in blogs and articles.  I find that many novice internet marketers are still new to this concept so here’s my take on what it is and how to utilize it.

What is Anchor Text Optimization?

First let’s start with anchor text, which is the readable section of a text link.  It is the clickable, blue, and typically underlined word or phrase that is contained within the html tags of a link.  The two major types of anchor text are internal, which redirects readers to additional pages within a domain, and external, which forwards readers to entirely new websites.

More specifically, anchor text optimization is the process by which internet marketers create anchor text with just the right location, relevancy and keyword structure so as to maximize SEO of the target site.  The target site is the subsequent webpage that clicking on the anchor text produces. 

External anchor text optimization is accomplished through link exchanges, blogs & forums, and article directories, among others.  Link exchanges are conducted between two or more related websites.  The mutual relationship obvious aids each party, however, achieving 100% and consistent compliance is often a challenge.  I prefer using article directories, blogs and forums which allow anchor text in their resource boxes or signature files.  This strategy gives the marketer the majority of the control in link building.

How To Create and Use Anchor Text?

I use two variations of html code for my anchor texts.

1)      Redirecting current page:

<a href=http://www.domainname.com>anchor text here</a>

2)      Opening brand new tab (retains former page):

<a target=”_new” href=http://www.domainname.com>anchor text here</a>

Store these templates in a word or excel file that you regularly access.  This will save a lot of time as you begin to use these html tags more frequently.

Try integrating two separate anchor texts in each article resource box, either varying the text and/or the target website.  Seek out high pagerank, dofollow article directories that support anchor text like ArticlesBase, EzineArticles and GoArticles.  For blog posts create a template containing one to three related links following each post (like you see concluding this one).  You’ll have to amend this to achieve relevancy but the general structure remains the same.  Just be sure not to overdo the inter-liking.  Some marketers have encountered a Google-slap from excessive internal anchor text.

Another practical measure is to vary the target webpage by linking a specific page to a given article.  In other words, don not solely use your root domain as the target site.  For instance use anchor text from an Ezine article or other non-video directory to route readers to the specific video-containing post (e.g. at domain.com/video-about-article) that accompanies the text.  Your readers will surely recognize the extra care given to your linking.

And lastly mix up your anchor text itself.  If your site is all about green widgets, try varying the anchor text as opposed to just using “green widgets.”  Over-optimizing like that can create an unnatural pattern and keeps you from ranking for other modifying keywords (e.g. “green widget discounts”).  Now you should have a clearly understanding of what anchor text is it and how to produce it for your specific websites.  Check out my second half of this blog post about why using it is vital to any marketers sales copy and SEO campaigns.

Related posts:

Why Using Anchor Text Is So Important.

How to Use .Edu Blogs for Backlinks.

How to use Ping.fm for Social Networking Auto-posting.

n a previous post I discussed what anchor text is and how to use it.  Now let’s review why using it is so important both to search engines and to human readers.

I.The Search Engine Aspect

In the most basic analysis, anchor text ‘tells’ a search engine what the page is about in an efficient manner.  Major search engines like Googe, MSN and Yahoo give significant weight (hence the name) toward anchor text as opposed to the same text that is not hyperlinked.  This point underscores the reason why including relevant keywords is so vital, especially when placed on authority sites with high pagerank.

Begin with the end in mind by brainstorming the top three to five keyword phrases that web users interested in your business would initially query.  Those should be your keywords used to create your anchor text(s).

For example, it’s futile to use “click here” as your clickable anchor text when your site is about “dog grooming”.  While a human reader may still click through, the search engines think your target page is about “click here”.  Obviously, you’re not trying to rank for that keyword and yet many websites still make this careless mistake.

An addition variable when using anchor text that bears mentioning is the nofollow status of the website.  More and more blog owners are implementing this hindrance to backlink-seeking commentators by placing a “nofollow” tag by default for anyone placing anchor text on their site.  You can check for this by clicking “highlight nofollow links” in the SearchStatus firefox add-on or clicking ‘control U’ and viewing the pages code.  Google essentially dismisses the anchor text completely when accompanied by the nofollow tag, so steer clear of those sites.  Stick to ‘dofollow’ blogs, forums and directories that do not contain the nofollow tag.

So to sum up, each time your link appears on another website, the search engines will note the sites pagerank, the nofollow status, and the keywords used in the anchor text.  Consistently using keyword-rich anchor text on high pagerank, dofollow sites should be your primary goal!  This game plan is what top marketers use to rank for those specific keywords.

II. The Human Aspect

Remember that real humans will read your links as well as search engines, so the words in your anchor text need to make sense.  Generally speaking readers are more likely to click on anchor text as opposed to a long drawn out url, perhaps in part due to curiosity but also because its appears cleaner and more professional.  Internet newcomers reveal their inexperience by copy and pasting excessively long urls that ideally should be converted to anchor text. 

Anchor text can also play a role in posting status updates in various social networks which limit the number of characters a message contains.  Although most people have resorted to shortened urls, using anchor text is preferred whenever allowable.

Internal anchor text increases the likelihood of your readers staying on your domain longer.  Google actively tracks this parameter and in fact preferentially ranks websites with higher viewing lengths.  So the goal is to capture your readers’ eyes through multiple web pages and for as long as possible.

Now you have a better understanding of how proper anchor text usage plays a valuable role in onsite and offsite search engine optimization.  Its high-tech and high-touch implications to both search engines and human readers cannot be overlooked.

Related posts:

Beginner’s Guide to Anchor Text.

How to Use .Edu Blogs for Backlinks.

How to use Ping.fm for Social Networking Auto-posting.

The general consensus among professional internet marketers contends that .edu and .gov links carry addition weight compared to ordinary .com links.  It’s easy to see why search engines trust these types of sites given their increased authority.  The goal here is to participate in blogs and forums to increase your backlinks and thus your ranking.  In this post I’ll be covering the relevant challenges, tips and benefits to .gov blog commenting.

The general consensus among professional internet marketers contends that .edu and .gov links carry addition weight compared to ordinary .com links.  It’s easy to see why search engines trust these types of sites given their increased authority.  The goal here is to participate in blogs and forums to increase your backlinks and thus your ranking.  In this post I’ll be covering the relevant challenges, tips and benefits to .gov blog commenting.

You can easily find a slew of government blogs by typing into the Google search bar: “site: .gov blog” or more specifically “site: .gov business blog”.  This command tells Google to search for all the blog websites and end in .gov and that relate to business.  This simple tip would be great if you just wanted to read government blogs for leisure.  Trust me, that is not me.  As  marketers we want to participate in blog or forum commenting primarily for backlinks which in turn will boost our search engine ranking.

The main challenge and time-consuming task is finding .gov sites that are dofollow in nature.  Dofollow is just internet slang for a site not containing the “nofollow” tag in its source code.  You can find this out a couple ways.  I like using the SearchStatus Firefox add-on which can automatically highlight in red a page’s nofollow links.  The manual way is to review the source code by pressing control-U and then control-F to search for the term “nofollow”.  Finding  a nofollow tag inside the <a href=”website name”…> anchor text essentially means that your .gov site passes on no pagerank or “link juice” to your site and thus no value in Google’s eyes.

html showing no "nofollow" tag

You can individually sort through the thousands of .gov sites looking for the dofollow ones.  Or you can review the short list I included on my blog.  These are some of the one’s that I’ve used lately and that work.  However, I must caution you.  Spammers and comment generating computer programs should stay away.  Many of these sites still have comment moderators that can easily delete your comment.  While the topic may not identically match your given niche, be sure to demonstrate a personal, genuine touch.  Giving your honest opinion on a topic instead of leading with your affiliate link is the general rule of thumb.

Sample Forum Comment with Signature File

http://townhall.virginia.gov

http://community2.business.gov

http://ibis.wi.gov/CSForums

http://forums.info.usaid.gov/

http://web.aging.sc.gov/forums

Most of these sites require registration first.  Create a profile and a signature file (for comments) containing your web address.   Include your link in comments by using anchor text or your signature file.

You can confirm your dofollow backlinks by referencing the source codes which omit the nofollow tags.

Please comment below with other good ideas increase backlinks or other dofollow .gov blogs.

Related posts:

Social Bookmarking with Onlywire.

How to Use .Edu Blogs for Backlinks.

Why Long Tail Keywords Improve SEO.

Understanding the basics behind keyword research and types of keywords is necessary before attempting to optimize search engine ranking.  Keywords are commonly split into two broad categories, short-tail keywords and long-tail keywords.  Originally coined by Chris Anderson in his best seller “The Long Tail”, this new phenomenon in the internet marketing world is garnering wide attention and interest.  The book’s premise suggests that a given product’s collective sales in low demand can in fact exceed that of popular bestsellers.

Check out some of my own long tail keyword results in the video here:

This same thesis is highly applicable to internet marketing where website owners are continually manipulating site content and keyword structure to increase traffic and sales.

Knowing how to consistently attract more site viewers demands an appreciation of the Long Tail theory.  This post will serve to define and summary the importance of long tail keywords.

You can easily remember the difference between short and long tail keywords by their length in a search engine box.  Short tail keywords such as “domain names,” “IP addresses”, “web 2.0” or “bookmarking” are either one or two words in length and result in millions of search results.

Long tail keywords are generally three to five word search queries visitors use to arrive at a site.

Their longer form reflects a more targeted and refined search and thus a greater need for specified information.  Ideally, long tail keywords more accurately define what the webpage will teach, review, sell, etc.  As a marketer the objective is to create content with various long tail search queries in mind.  Using the last example in the above paragraph, long tail keywords include:

“social bookmarking websites”

“automated social bookmarking sites”

“social bookmarking for backlinks”

“social bookmarking with onlywire” (used in the video)

According to the graph, the theory implies that the internet economy is moving away from the head and toward the tail of the demand curve, thus emphasizing the need for niche products and services.  So what are the main benefits to online marketers?

Benefits of Long Tail Keywords

Rank viability. It’s far easier to rank for long tail keyword phrases because of decreased competition.  The difference in search results between short and long could be three million compared to 300,000, for example.  Ranking for the latter can be done in a matter of days.

Website traffic. Targeted traffic to your website will also increase since your individual pages containing long tail keyword titles will go up over time.  The aggregate result is more visibility and thus more traffic..

Conversion rate. Simply put, multi-phrase search queries lead to more direct purchases, more affiliate purchases and more Google ad clicks.  These viewers know precisely what they want; it’s your job to fill that need and offer your product or service.

Readership. When done effectively your individual posts will meet your viewers need.  This enhances the likelihood of them remaining on your site longer and eventually subscribing to your RSS feed.  It’s only logical for initial readers to extrapolate their liking to all of your content, assuming you have related posts.  Over time this expands your audience and allows for greater monetization potential.

This is by no means the complete list.  Please propose additional advantages below in the comment section.

Related posts:

Social Bookmarking with Onlywire.

How to Use .Edu Blogs for Backlinks.

How to use Ping.fm for Social Networking Auto-posting.

Website owners from all niches are looking for high quality backlinks to increase their site popularity.  This speaks to the off-site search engine optimization component to ranking high in Google.  Unlike making minor keyword tweaks to one’s website, building up targeted organic traffic can often require patience and time.  This post will look at commenting on .edu blogs as a means of increasing relevant backlinks.

So why is blog commenting thought to be an important technique for internet marketers?  The primary reason is to increase your own site’s SEO but building up one-way backlinks to your site.  In Google’s eyes the blog comment backlink serves as a popularity vote in a sense.  The more reputable the source the more weight the backlink holds.  The way we do this is searching for do-follow .edu blogs with high pageranks.

Let’s look at why each of these is important.  The term do-follow refers to the linking capability.  After many marketers started abusing blogs’ social nature solely for backlinks, blog owners in turn added the “no-follow” tag to their blog comments.  While the link may be active and clickable, Google announced that it wouldn’t recognize it as a backlink.  Fortunately there are tools available to search out the do-follow blogs.

Secondly, you want to stick to moderate to high pagerank sites whenever possible.  These are more favorable since they pass on some of that pagerank (or “juice”) along to the outgoing links on the page.  You can easily assess the blog’s Google pagerank by installing the SearchStatus Add-on for Firefox.

The last element of high reputation rests in the type of blog it is: .edu, .gov, .com, or .org.  Search engines assign higher preference to .edu and .gov sites such as large universities and governmental agencies.  Two of my favorite .edu blogs are the business and marketing departments of Harvard and Stanford.

Thus far I’ve covered the technical end of things.  Other reasons include attracting .edu blog subscribers by having them click on your icon or linked text, and subsequently networking with these subscribers.  The final aspect of effective blog commenting is perhaps the more obvious one.  Be real, genuine and personal to set yourself apart from all the comment spammers out there.  Build your trust with blog authors and moderators by contributing your honest and relevant opinion.  This greatly improves the likelihood for having your comment approved and makes blog commenting that much more enjoyable.

For more information on ranking high in Google, watch this video on Using the Alexa toolbar for firefox

How often while surfing the internet to do you come to a site and wonder its Alexa rank Alexa rank or Google pagerank? If you’re an avid internet marketer the answer is quite often. Fortunately there’s an easy way to find both these values instantly and without visiting alternate sites.

The SearchStatus tool accomplishes this and much more.  It’s actually not technically a toolbar but rather a toolbar extension or add-on and is compatible with the Firefox and Mozilla browsers.  In general it provides information on how every possible website is performing.   Using a tool like this is being leverage by more than just the savvy search engine marketers.  Small business owners with even a minor internet presence are finding value in the SearchStatus add-on.

The most common objection to adding another toolbar or add-on is the finding room for it.  Unlike other more bulky toolbars, SearchStatus fits snuggly at the far end usually only occupying an inch or two.  Viewing backward links or Google trends for a given site creates a new Firefox tab instead of directing you away.  It also won’t eat up memory or slow down your connection like some toolbars will.

In addition to Google pagerank and Alexa rank, you also can view the Google category, contact info, and related keywords.  Many internet gurus supports it functionality saying that it can quantify overall site relevancy by comparing traffic importance as well as the link importance.  These and other added features are available by right clicking on it.

Knowing a site’s Google pagerank is important because it indicates the general importance of a page.  High pagerank sites have a considerable amount of inbound links from other sites.  These other sites are in a sense casting a vote by linking.  This is why many marketers advise commenting on high pagerank blogs to increase your sites inbound links from reputable sources.    Nonetheless, it serves as one factor determining a site’s rank within Google’s search results.

If these added benefits were not enough, consider that installing the SearchStatus add-on can contribute to your own site’s Alexa ranking.  Internet users with the toolbar installed form a large conglomerate that in part serve to strengthen Alexa and Compete statistics.  Visit my blog for a tutorial video on installing and using this valuable tool for any internet business.

Follow the video above for a visual aid and comment below if you have any remaining questions.

Related Posts:

Related posts:

Social Bookmarking with Onlywire.

How to Use .Edu Blogs for Backlinks.

How to use Ping.fm for Social Networking Auto-posting.

This post is for all you frequent Alexa visitors. Lately, you may have seen the ads to download the free Alexa toolbar. So why is it important to add this to your firefox browser? After all don’t we all have enough toolbars to fit ‘up there.’ Here are several reasons why you should consider using the Firefox toolbar as a serious internet marketer.

Like many handy toolbars there are two versions based on your preference in internet browsers.  The Firefox toolbar is nicknamed “Sparky.”  If you’re wondering the name originates from the traffic date “sparkline” which the toolbar places in the status bar.  They exist primarily to provide a quick visual aid of the change in the website’s Alexa rank over the previous three months.

The Alexa traffic rank sites right beside the sparkline, in addition to a bar giving the site’s popularity in a visual depiction.  The toolbar gives viewers the site’s related sites after clicking anywhere on these features.  This is great way to identify similar websites that may contain relevant content you need.

Another valuable reason to consider installing the toolbar is for your own ranking.  It’s well known that one of the primary means by which we recognize a site’s popularity is by the Alexa score.  However, a lot of marketers aren’t aware that Alexa rank is based on how visitors who have the Alexa toolbar installed.  So when you surf the internet with the toolbar installed you’re passively casting votes for the visited sites, especially if you click on multiple pages within the site.  This operates much like the Nielson ratings for television.

By now it should be obvious how the Alexa toolbar can play an invaluable time-saving role without taking up precious real estate.  Follow the video in my blog post for step by step installation directions.

Related posts:

Social Bookmarking with Onlywire.

How to Use .Edu Blogs for Backlinks.

How to use Ping.fm for Social Networking Auto-posting.

Many of you have asked how social bookmark across dozens of sites without taking gobs of time.  The service I use is Onlywire which can be found at www.onlywire.com .  This free service has allowed me to supplement my off-site SEO by increasing my backlinks and overall online exposure.

Now, instead of my content solely occupying a blog post or article directory, the content and link can be distributed to some of the most highly visited bookmarking sites.  These sites, which include Digg, Propeller, Bebo, Ask, Delicious and Furl, provide a social platform that enables easy content sharing.

The video here shows you how to further speed up the process by installing the Firefox add-on.  This eliminates copy and pasting URLs or even signing in to onlywire (assuming your username and password are saved).  After clicking on Onlywire’s blue box in the toolbar, the user receives a confirmation email notifying him of any minor requirements before bookmarking is completed.  Filling in captcha codes and specifying subjects or tags only takes a few additional minutes and is a small price to pay.

The other advantage is the small space that the add-on occupies within the browser’s toolbar area.  Unlike other toolbars which consume valuable screen space, the add-on is a small square which typically sits just next to the search bar.

Look for additional social bookmarking video tutorial videos in future posts.

This past summer DubLi announced an additional element to its already-lucrative compensation plan.  With more network marketers turning to the internet for lead generation, the company is offering monthly incentives for business associates who rank on the Google’s first page.  The DubLi SEO competition is now heating up as it approaches its 2^nd month.

Here are the details…

Register for the competition by visiting http://seo.dubli.com Include your url and profile information to qualify.  The company also provides various materials in the form of pictures, videos, and news to start your ventures.

The next step is to create unique content, such as articles, press releases, videos and blog posts.  Optimize the content around some DubLi-related keyword while providing valuable information that will likely get noticed.

The goal is to rank within the first 7 listings when searching for “DubLi” in www.google.com

Winners will be awarded money based on rankings as of the 1^st of each month.  The contest will span from October 1, 2009 to February 1, 2010, giving participants four more months to win.

The prize money for each rank is as follows; 1^st: $1,000, 2^nd: $1,000, 3^rd: $1,000, 4^th: $500, 5^th: $500, 6^th: $500 and 7^th: $200.  As an example, the participant who had the 3^rd and 6^th positions on December 1, 2009 would be awarded $1,500.  All prize money will be awarded two weeks after on the 15^th.

The total payouts will be as high at $47,000 when all the months and ranks are aggregated.  And for the icing on the cake, the best participants might also be offered other DubLi SEO projects in the future.

One example of mine that’s currently ranked in Google is:  DubLi Compensation Plan

Please comment below for SEO questions I can answer.