Here’s a light hearted look at Google.

Give me a break! Forget placing Google on a pedastol and following it’s algorithmically led army of self centered robots and self glorified spiders! It’s a search engine with some clip on services (all be it some good services). But that’s it. It doesn’t own or run the internet. We do! Yes… the people who buy through it. The people who research through it. Communicate through it. Be it artistically or via a message etc. In most cases you’re really seeking traffic for your site if you own one. So focus on that. Google is just one of thousands of sources of traffic. Besides, people most often only search through Google.

Web 2.0 is here. This essentialy means people are back in control of what is perceived as quality again. Not unlike how things became popular before the introduction of the internet. People’s votes will always override algorithms. At least they will for a long while anyway. Your site might get pulled down for saturating the content with too many keywords (like the word Google in my first paragraph). Don’t get hung up on whether the search engines will slap you or tickle you for this or that. Try your best to contribute good, quality, original and relevant content over and over and as we say in Australia - she’ll be right mate! In the end, your audience the readers will make the decision.

Some actions result in more traffic than others. Recently the famed John Reece (blatant affiliate link) re introduced to his subcribers the old 80/20 rule. Which some people just don’t get and I’m not going to explain it here. However, it’s a rule that you should look at and ponder over. If you’re putting a lot of work into any one thing, it best be reliable, transparent, constant and worth the time. i.e. Should you place ALL your time trying to rank well with Google?

• Is it reliable? No! It changes its algorithms regularly which can and does affect the ranking and positioning of sites based on the finding of bots not humans. It has good reason to but the answer remains the same.
• Is it constant? No! For the same reasons mentioned above.
• Is it transparent? No! You only have to consider the Adsense payment program, or Matt Cutts video on Oop to answer that one.
  
• Is it worth the time? No! You should never place all your time on any one source. Things change. If you have been loyal only to Google despite being slapped and dropped from a great height into the pits of the SI - it’s time you gathered yourself & embraced the original goal of quality targeted traffic again.

Of course, if you have been a naughtly little boy or girl, you perhaps may have deserved your Google kick in the teeth. However, there are some questionable things occuring which may open yours eyes a little wider.

Recently, Oop (over-optimization) has been blamed by some as the reason many sites have been penalized and nudged off the park bench. To start with, anyone who uses a term like over-optimized should know that it’s a tautology. You can’t be over optimized because that means the same thing as not being optimized. It also sounds a bit like a license for Google to say any thing they like about events they can’t explain or don’t want to explain. Matt Cutts of Google fame makes an interesting comment on a video by basically dismissing any detailed information by saying something like ‘That’s about as much advice as I can give I’m afraid’ providing the broadest of reasons without having said anything explanatory or helpful at all as far as I could tell. No wonder webmasters, internet marketers and small business owners get frustrated and give up. The lack of distinct (distinct being the keyword here) guidelines, transparency and direction is disappointing and I think unprofessional.

Again, let me remind you that you are after targetted traffic. Read that last sentence again. It’s just a search engine - that’s it! It won’t be long before another search engine moves to higher ground. What will you do then? Swap allegiances and start all over again? You might have difficulty optimizing for every search engine out there but by using the 80/20 rule, at least cover your bets with MSN and Yahoo. Already the new search engine cuill.com is breaking new ground. Watch this space as they say!

I was recently approached by a subscriber who has worked hard for two years on producing quality, original content for her site. She tried to do everything right. She refused to buy in to any ‘black hat’ short cuts, produced hundreds of lengthy articles and advice for her readers. Her site was and still is extremely sticky. A reasonably large subscriber base lives in her server… and by the way she has few people unsubscribe. That alone tells you that she must be producing quality something. She has just one product for sale and it’s refund rate is a decimal measurement (hardly any refunds at all). Just before writing this, she was dropped from a page rank of 4 to zero. That’s not all, the whole site has been dumped in the waiting rooms of SI. For the record, she’s a single mom. She thought she’d done her share of struggling and now she’s back where she started. Needless to say I told her what I’m telling you here. Spread your traffic generation activity and you will survive and hopefully prosper. She doesn’t want to be mentioned for fear of retribution as she builds stock again. Think about that - she’s now in fear of a search engine. I think that’s another story on its own. Since this story, I have now heard two similar stories.

It’s of course wise to take stock of the fact that Google gets the lion’s share of the search market. But hey…that’s just the search market, not the referral market nor the social market nor the blog market, nor the affiliate market. advertising market, article marketing etc. must I go on…I’m sure you get my drift.

Then there was a previous slap where well known blogs and sites were being down-sized in rank and some had substantially reduced traffic. Word was, this was due to link-text advertising era. The jury is still out on whether it’s right or wrong. As I see it, it’s wrong if you are wooing Google because they don’t like it. Otherwise I can’t see anything wrong with it. One high-end player made humble mention about the down ranking and how he could see no cause for the penalty in a post on his site and within days that site was back up to where it was previously. Do you think it was the considerable power behind the readership consideration which helped that outcome? Hmmm!

Give people what they want. Use Web 2.0 properly and with care. If you’ve really got something to offer that’s worthy of the masses, work on getting traffic from people, not courting any one particular search engine and you will eventually see traffic - permanent traffic.

Of course, it would be remiss for me not to say that all of this is simply my opinion… because of fear of retribution…LOL. If you’re not living in fear of retribution, leave a comment and spill your colorful disgust below. Alternatively, you can be polite and socially correct and leave something defensive of Googles search engine’s position too! Either way, try and make it a contribution… Cause’ you never know who might read your comment…right?

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Jack Humphrey is a professional internet marketing consultant with more than 10 years experience. What keeps him at the top is his passion and willingness to test his marketing strategies and discard those that don’t work. He adapts and moves on to those that do. His books and software have sold thousands upon thousands of copies. Those that believe in his social media marketing tactics practice Jack Humphreys’ advice daily. And it works I’ve discovered. So many more website owners find that listening to Jack Humphrey and putting his tips to work drives more traffic to their websites than they ever imagined.

His specialties include organic linking, blog and social marketing, search engine optimization and related linking strategies. When Jack Humphrey has something to say – people listen. And when Jack Humphrey and his associates release new software, everyone scrambles for a copy. We all want to catch up with the latest technologies to help drive more traffic to our web 2.0 websites. It is all about competition and finding the best ways to stay visible once our websites rank well with our target audiences.

Since the release of the Web2submitter, it has been the answer to many a webmaster or website owner’s dream. If you are submitting volumes of blog posts and articles to multiple social networking sites, you will know how time consuming that can be. We all know how important it is to generate high volumes of traffic to make money from our websites, but the time it takes can steal time away from precious other tasks. Web2submitter is semi-automatic and more than halves the time it takes to make multiple submissions to your favorite social bookmarking and social media websites.

Are you currently manually logging into each individual site to submit your information? Then you have to fill in the forms with tags, write a good, accurate, catchy description, the story title and a link. For every single site you submit to. Do you do this every day trying to boost your rankings so you can earn a living? This can take up to an hour a day but we all have trouble finding the time to do it. How would you like to reduce this time to around 15 minutes? There are tools out there that can save you up to 7 hours a week and boost your traffic and online credibility. This is up to 7 hours a week you can put to better use. Depending of course if you have one or more sites. If you have more sites, you’ll save even more time.

After trying a few so-called Web 2.0 submitters I started to see that the free updates Jack provides were invaluable. Most of the others slowly began to crash and become unreliable. Customer service was poor and that left me a little frustrated. Not Web2submitter though. I receive prompt and reliable customer service and after a small effort to download and start it, it has worked each and every time like a song. I’m impressed.

Do yourself a favor and check out some of the cool software tools online that can cut down the time you spend in front of the computer. The biggest benefit you get from some of them actually is time, as well as the ability to track and archive your stories and blog posts, submit them automatically – all at the click of a button. The added benefit is no longer will you need to remember your account names, log-ins and passwords as these nifty little programs will take care of all of that for you.

With all the new technology emails hitting our in-boxes constantly, take a look at the ones that will help you build good social marketing networks; not just free or low cost; look for quality and make your life simpler and less complicated while doing the job you bought it for. Oh…I almost forgot. Watch this video it’s all about the tool I use for Web2 Submission. My opinion? - It would have to be the best available!

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Everything about the Traffic Secrets product launch was legendary. To start with, not one cent was spent on marketing. John Reese just used good marketing strategies, which is what Traffic Secrets is all about. Teaching people web traffic secrets. Probably the thing that shocked everyone when he made a million in less than a day was the price of Traffic Secrets – $997. This was at a time where top of the line e-books were selling for just under $100.

Traffic Secrets was popular as the average person on the street could learn the secrets to get more website traffic. Not a cheap training course by any means and out of many people’s reach financially but it sold. A testament to John’s marketing skills and knowledge. Another remarkable story attached to the first release of Traffic Secrets is there has been almost no negative feedback about his product from anywhere in the world.

Traffic Secrets is a complete online marketing training course. It covers affiliate marketing, testing, using auto responders and so much more. Many internet marketing experts still refer to Traffic Secrets as an authority on online marketing and still recommend its use.

Maybe this could be because John Reese is a fanatic about quality, reliability and integrity. He continually tests his web pages to ensure he gets the maximum benefit from his strategies. There is no doubt that his customers testify to making much more back than the cost of the Traffic Secrets course they bought. Since John Reese launched the first traffic secret set there has been a traffic secrets torrent flooding the market, such as long tail traffic secrets, that have tried to emulate John Reece’s success with their own advice.

With the long awaited release of Traffic Secrets 2.0 its price has come down to only $397. Its affordability will make it accessible to so many more people and we will all be working a lot harder to keep our names at the top. Traffic Secrets 2.0 is completely new and does not cover any old ground from the first web Traffic Secrets. It concentrates on using Web 2 strategies and new techniques to drive traffic to your website.

John Reese has built an enviable reputation for driving targeted website traffic to where you want it. He realized there was no point doing things the hard way. Why do something new when you can reverse engineer what is working for others? Some may think John Reese’s ‘rise to success’ came overnight and while, in a sense, it did, for every single overnight sensation there are many years of hard work behind them. He is a good example that tenacity and integrity is the best way to do business. The name John Reese has been the talk of the internet marketing world for the last few years, and probably will be for years to come with the launch of his Traffic Secrets 2.

Traffic Secrets 2 comes at a time when things are changing more rapidly than ever, especially with the rise of social networking websites and video. Things change incredibly quickly in the world of the internet and marketing yourself online. What traffic secrets were there a few years ago might no longer be applicable for today’s online marketing strategies.

Important: At any rate, I’ve decided this review can’t reveal the value to expect from this course and the increased website traffic that comes with it; it would be more informative for you to make your own judgment. You’ll have to read the inroduction to see how John is ‘raising the bar’ when it comes to Internet Marketing education products. (It’s truly impressive.) Check out his introduction page.

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This is shockingly easy once you follow a system. Many people get confused with the process of SEO or search engine optimization. It’s much easier if you have just one site to work with first. Get that one up to speed and then move on to the next one if you’re so inclined.

I’ve included two videos (from YouTube) which aptly describe the importance of a few SEO tasks I don’t want you to take lightly. They’re short and valuable. The first step applies to those who are looking to market products or services. If you’re starting a ‘not for profit’ site, it won’t apply.

I’ve included my affiliate links to services I use or have used and approve. I’ve tried a few over the years and have tested them on 23 sites of my own. After seeing the results, I have used them on client site optimization with great success too. You DO NOT have to use these if you have other preferred services. I just find these reliable and their customer service response is good. They are two of my crucial tests. Never use a product or supplier who does not reply or takes too long to respond to your queries. Having said that, if you think you will use any of these types of services, don’t buy them yet. Open them, read them and get an idea of what’s on offer. THEN check others (on the net) in the same field and see how they compete for the points I mentioned earlier. Be careful! There are some skilled sales people out there representing inferior products and services.

Keeping a cheat sheet (another name for a reference sheet) handy makes the process so easy a baby or toddler could do this. Well - slight exaggeration but I’m sure you know what I mean. Eventually it will become habit or common sense and you can throw this cheat away or archive it somewhere. Let’s move on.

Here we go -

1. First off - when choosing a market, check there are plenty of quality items to sell (use affiliate products & your own). When researching the market for your commercial profit niche, take it seriously because you’ll put a lot of work in after you’ve chosen. Only use Adsense when it suits the market you’re in. Adsense is not always a good use of website real estate these days as many webmasters will attest.

2. Robot access - Your site must be able to be read by Google spiders, best to use php and html

3. Meta Tags - are important (perhaps not for Google but most of all the other engines). I recommend you have the same keyword phrases in your content as you do in your meta keywords. The positive results are quite noticeable if you do. Thoroughly check and complete the following;
• Title Tags (see the video below)
• H1 tags
• Meta keywords
• Meta description
• Alt tags (for your images) must have a text description (all of them)
• Robots follow tags
• No-follow tags where applicable
• Include a Site Map on ALL sites
• Avoid dynamic pages (re issue with Google spiders) and too much flash. There is more on this but if you aren’t highly literate with coding, avoid dynamic pages.

4. One theme per site
- Research keywords – I use Wordtracker
- each theme silo to be a sub theme of the theme (for an education on Themes and Silos see my article entitled Latent Semantic Indexing, Themes, Silo & SEO Tools.
- each sub theme to have researched kwd phrases as their sub theme influence
- the ‘url silo system’ must be undertaken accurately and carefully
- use ‘Themezoom’ for theme, silo and article research. There’s even free information & videos there on long tail keywords, silo structures, LSI, and Themes.

5. Content - All articles and primary content must be original (no exceptions, including articles to submission sites). Link-bait articles with images and a complimentary video are best.

7. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) - use it with all articles and silo building. You’ll see more on this later.
8. DMOZ - Submit your site before commercial links and banners are uploaded if time allows. Don’t count too much on this mob. Their reputation is not to be envied.
9. Check all links - (are not broken) before submitting to DMOZ

10. Listing - can be achieved in 48 hours by submitting your URL to Yahoo Questions – use integrity here and be helpful. You’ll be rewarded.

11. Prime directories - for submission (care to be taken here) - use highly regarded directories such as BOTW, Business.com, Joeant, Aviva, V7n and Blog Directories with a high PR and Traffic. Yahoo has question marks over it these days and may not be worth the cost. When writing descriptions, make sure each one is original. Do not use software which distributes the same descriptions to hundreds of directories. Free directories are fine but check their traffic and PR.

12. Include self promotion links - or buttons such as; Tell a friend, Link To me, Tag me, Add To Favourites etc on your pages.

13. Social Marketing is imperative – don’t cheat! These sites require real people to make a decision on your site. Make your remarks worth their while. Use Socialmarker to help upload your site page and description and tags. Here are some places to learn more on the use of Social media.

This book is a must and it’s free! It’s entitled the Authority Black Book. You may have heard of it. Well, read it, it’s not only free, it’s choc-a-bloc full of valuable Web 2/social marketing information. Step-by-step actions are available and it’s the result of research. They could easily charge for this but lucky for you and me, they haven’t. It’s almost too much information but everything is there. This is not hype. You will definitely be impressed! If you do anything with this article today, downloading this free guide would be a wise choice. Here’s the the link again for the authority black book.

14. Stickiness
- Ensure your site has Web 2.0 characteristics & auto tag buttons
- i.e. Forum, pole, comments, visitor review scripts
- Where applicable include videos (either self made with Camtasia, Vegas or download from Youtube or similar etc.)

15. Affiliate links & Adsense should only be applied after Directories and DMOZ submission are complete.

16. Affiliate links are best used in the articles with relevant, informative and worthwhile content supporting their value and encouraging purchase

17. Only use relevant or light-hearted images (be selective) and always include alt text!

18. Build the site for the visitor AND the search engine NOT just the search engine – then check and recheck its appeal

19. Back-links. You will need other people’s sites linking to you. This is imperative. Read those last two last sentences again. They are the most important links. Reciprocal links are questionable and it has been my experience, the value you gain for the trouble you go to is insignificant. You are best to spend your time looking for back-links from sites with a higher PageRank (PR) 4 and up and preferably in the same theme. Here’s a method which is pretty clean and effective. It’s called 30 Minute back-links. It was founded by Michelle MacPhearson. You may have heard of here.

20. SEO Training and Tips - There will be other things I haven’t covered here but these are essential for success with organic SEM (search engine marketing) and SEO (search engine optimization). I thought seriously about taking the above points and compiling a book or guide but I read the SEO book recently and it would be hard to surpass such an informative and continually updated piece of literature on affective SEO. I wish it was mine and I agree with everything in it. Why? Because it has all worked for me. Many of my sites are on the first page of Google because of the information in this guide. The author (Aaron Wall), is frequently approached by notable SEO specialists to get his opinion or input. I recommend you at least glean the SEO book’s introduction page. He even supplies a 100% guarantee - I’ve learned (over time) that a full guarantee is absolute confidence in your product when you can offer something as valuable as that!

That’s it! I hope you find something useful here. Remember not to rush in and you’ll be fine! Here are the videos I mentioned earlier -

News Video: Talks briefly about content, back-links and metatags.

Title Tag Video: Its Importance, Use and Implementation

If you haven’t already done so and before you leave it too long, download the free Authority Black Book

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The rise of Web 2.0 and social bookmarking brought about a shift in focus for strategies in generating website traffic. Whereas before, the focus was on keywords which would attract search-engine hits, the new plan is to write for people instead of machines, in the hopes that somebody will submit a site’s link to Digg, Reddit, Del.ico.us, et al. This kind of content is called “link bait”. So, how’s that working for you?It’s a sensible strategy, at least on paper. Why stress over ducking and dodging around the “Google dance” when one enthusiastic referral from Digg can get you a server-melting tidal wave of traffic? But it turns out that, like search engines, social bookmark sites are not as easy to game as you might think. Specifically, when every blog post and web article on the Internet is designed to be special, then none of them are.

But you might as well maximize your chances, right?

The New Web Media

What is rich multimedia content? It’s anything other than text. Anything that plays, or can be played. Rich media content development has gone hand in hand with the social web’s development. These days, a YouTube video, a podcast recording, or simply a funny picture has as good a chance as anything to get today’s number-one spot on the social web’s list. Flash games are also a big draw.

Rich multimedia content, as opposed to text, can’t be indexed by a search engine, and so it relies on people to spread the word. The content-rich site builder would do well to not put all of their eggs in this basket: you can see sites that host brilliant content out there, and they just get ignored. Too much competition for too few eyeballs.

Nevertheless, it is “strategy A” in creating link-bait. Just remember that the social web audience, while huge, has the attention span of a gnat. They’re out to be entertained every minute, commercial-free, and they seldom linger at one site for fear that they’ll miss something better at the next link. They usually come, watch your video for a minute, and go - back to the comments section of Digg or Reddit to utter a witty phrase and mod down a troll or two, and then they’re off to the next link. You’re famous for five minutes, and then you’re forgotten.

The New Journalism

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You have heard all the talks about a recession looming over the United States.  Some say it’s all mere speculation while others stand firm on their ground, claiming that the country is certainly experiencing recession.  How should you react then?

If the President is talking about it and the congress is acting on it, then maybe there is real trouble.  Where there is smoke, there is fire.  And you might actually have to deal with the fire itself pretty soon.

But don’t just stand back and watch things happen.  And stop expecting doom to come your way.  In business, you never deal with problems; you only deal with difficult opportunities.  And opportunities do have a way of showing up when you least expect them.  And you might just find what you are looking for through Internet marketing.

So what are the chances that you will succeed with Internet marketing, amidst the threats of a recession?

For one, with the right product you can make sales to people from all over the world.  Remember, not all countries are experiencing recession (though most of them are affected by the US economy in many ways).  And selling products that people are likely to look for on the Net will work to your advantage.  Internet marketing gives you the advantage of a wider market base.

Or you can go right off and profit on the crisis.  How so?  You can design a product that teaches people ways to start a recession-proof business, that is—to make money online!  Countless people go online to look for ways to make money and they definitely make for a good target market.

And there are many ways by which you can make your Internet marketing business even more recession-proof.

Cater to Your Customers’ Satisfaction

You must try and keep your customers happy and satisfied.  That way, you can make sure that they will keep coming back.  You can always rely on good old ‘courtesy’ for this one.  Never let an irate customer get to you and be polite with your correspondence no matter what.

Be Meticulous with Your Content

Never settle for less when it comes to your website content.  You can’t expect your customers to keep coming back if what you have to offer is not at all worthwhile.

Review every page in your site.  If you find something that is not satisfactory, make the necessary changes.  And always be ready to keep your content up-to-date.

Make Good Use of Search Engine Optimization

Make your site search engine friendly.  Again, you can rely on your content for this one.  And make sure that you don’t do anything that is beyond what is considered ethical in Internet marketing.  You don’t want to get banned, do you?

Be Cost-Efficient

You know that an investment in marketing is worthwhile, but do make sure that you are getting returns from your expenses.  If you have a marketing effort that does not seem to be making sales at all, go ahead and dump it (make sure that you do give it a latency period though).  You can’t afford to make unnecessary expenses these days.

Keep your Eyes Open for Opportunities

And finally, you must never fail to keep your eyes open for opportunities.  This is especially a good time for seizing opportunities since most of your competitors are likely to be at a cowered state.

Think of the recession crisis as a difficult opportunity.  Treating it like a problem or a disaster will only make way for a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Take a ride while others are in hiding!

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If you’re over 40, Web 2.0 is the stuff your kids use naturally, but you’re still puzzled about. It’s the online material they can spend hours building with, molding it to meet their own needs, expressing their creativity. It’s not the newspaper-like web pages that you load and read. It’s social networking, “wiki” websites, sites that change as you make selections and help you to find and configure an experience that meets your personal needs. Whether you’re collaborating on MySpace, sharing photo albums on Flickr, or creating your own iGoogle page with the news, weather, phase of the moon or funny videos that you want, it’s all part of Web 2.0.

The technologies used with Web 2.0 range from ancient to born yesterday. That’s one reason why it’s more of a concept than a specification. Some of the more advanced applications use dynamic web technologies like AJAX, but a community “wiki” can be built with the most basic of web programming. Sometimes the designers are aiming for flashy, responsive interaction, while other times they’re designing to just make it easier to share information.

Through bookmarking sites like Digg and Technorati, the web becomes even more like a spider’s web as static, old-style information, evolving websites and personal journal-like “blogs” are synthesized through a kind of computerized gossip page, where participants offer links to their favorite sites and check out others, while indicators track the popularity of each suggestion and organize and present them to the participants. If you have used Amazon.com and enjoyed the “people who read Hamlet also read these other books” suggestion feature, you’ll find the social bookmarking sites are a great way to broaden your horizon.

Web 2.0 means that many applications you formerly had to download and run on your computer are now becoming available online. In fact, Software as a Service (SaaS) is predicted to be an important part of the software industry’s offerings to consumers and also large businesses in the future. Software companies will take care of everything, and you’ll just fire up your web browser and use your application. An example of this already in place is “Google Apps,” where users can work on their documents online from any web browser, even collaborating with others, never downloading specialized software to their computer.

As with many technological revolutions, the beginning is people playing around, then looking for a way to make money with what they’ve discovered. In the case of Web 2.0, the transition from presenting information to truly interactive web sites has fired up many imaginations, and possibilities are growing as companies and enthusiasts create “toolkits” and other ways to share technologies that enable interactive websites. Even some of the features added to Microsoft’s Windows Vista seem internet-inspired, where applications and operating system features aren’t compartmentalized as before, but are more designed for users and programmers to create the tools and experiences that they want to see.

Web 2.0 resources include open source packages and software from companies like Microsoft (which provides its own version of AJAX, formerly called Atlas), and Sun Microsystems (creator of Java). It’s available to software developers to work in programming languages, and on many sites like iGoogle in a form that just allows “drag and drop” configuration and a creative touch, so simple that many children are doing it. Where computers once came with a large set of manuals telling you what you could do and how you must do it, Web 2.0 means users are freed to design their own experiences, and share them with others.

Web 2.0 evolution will likely be in the “application space,” as educators, homes, and libraries and other users join the business users already exploring the possibilities. Regular Web 2.0 conferences are gathering to brainstorm and talk about possibilities, but all it might take for a new Web 2.0 application might be an elementary school student with curiosity.

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The list is in page rank (page rank means trust not traffic) order not in priority order, I haven’t got that far with it yet.

Here’s the list -

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1. You can use a directory submitter for easier uploading. This still means that you do the work but one outstanding benefit is that you get to choose which directories you submit to and you can take your time analysing them. The best software I have seen for this has been Directory Submitter. The free version is pretty good but it has some restrictions in place so that you’ll eventually think about upgrading to the paid version. Either way, they are both good. You can even have a choice of site titles and description with the paid version. If you think this suits your needs, have a look at Directory Submitter.

2. You can choose just the free human edited directories and avoid the automatic directories. Many highly regarded SEOs and even spokes people for the search engines prefer to use and recommend only the human edited directories because they are known to be more particular about original content and reject ’spammy’ style sites. I have generated a list for you to peruse and use at your leisure on this page about human edited directories.

3. If you would like a firm to handle your submissions but you feel reluctant to trust anyone, I have had a great experience with one submission service I can recommend. They aren’t the cheapest on the block but they are far from the most expensive. For just a little more than most other submission services, they will submit a mix of descriptions and titles on your behalf once you have compiled them to your satisfaction. Communication has been excellent and they also submit on a delayed basis. I’m sure I don’t have to explain the benefits of those last two point. My experience with them has been nothing short of excellent to date. Make contact and send them an email with your query - Dan seems only to happy to help unlike some other services I’ve tried. They are called Vilesilencer. If you want something that’s less expensive but has a little less personalization, you should look at Directory Maximizer, it has the best paid directory service I have seen to date; mainly because they have truly negotiated some attractive bargains you won’t get by yourself. I have used both these services to satisfaction and both are run by real people who reply to your queries.

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With the evolution of search engines to put more and more weight on links, website owners are getting increasingly creative in their efforts to provide backlinks to their sites. Search engines are extraordinarily refined and can sniff out blatant attempts to link, such as reciprocal linkage and link farming. These practices are frowned upon by engines such as Google and will drop your page ranking. So how do you create a network of backlinks to your site while ensuring that they are all honest, quality links which will promote your page and your weight in the search engine rankings?

An idea known as the “Reciprocal Review Carousel” is a great way to increase the number of links and advertise your website by means of blogging. This method combines networking, blogging, advertising, and linkage all into one easy task. Along the way, you will find out more about other websites that you may be interested in, and you will gain new reviews of your site that may prove beneficial. As if that weren’t enough, you will be giving other website owners a hand by reviewing their sites as well.

Here’s how it works:

1. Find a few websites to review and write short (two to three sentence) reviews or descriptions of these. Choose about four or five websites since you are the one starting this off, and pick ones you like so that you can write good reviews.

2. Find a web blog which is appropriate to the topic of the websites you have chosen. This should also be relevant to the keywords in your own website to which you will be linking.

3. Write a blog post with the following: a description of the Reciprocal Review Carousel, all the reviews you just wrote, and instructions for the next person to proceed.

Let’s look at those in detail. The description of the Reciprocal Review is essentially what’s contained in these few paragraphs. Tell them how the Carousel works. In fact, you can copy and paste the text from this article if you’d like. It’s nice to add a note telling how you became part of the process.

When you include the reviews, make sure you place a link to each website you have reviewed. End each review with a note telling who reviewed the site. This is where you should place the link to your own website, using the anchor text that you want used in all your links.

The instructions for the next person to proceed are as follows: They should copy your entire post into a new blogging post on another blog site. They then remove the bottom review from the post and add a new one at the top, of their own choosing, along with their note, link, and anchor text.

Are you seeing the simple beauty of the carousel yet? Website owners who see your blog post will take your text and post it on another site, including the link to your site. Each time they will add one new review and take one off, but your review will stay around for some time and will find its way to many new websites and viewers. And this is not a one-to-one operation; dozens of people could develop off your post, adding their own reviews and placing the precious links on hundreds of new pages. This is called the viral or snowball effect, because it starts with one person and avalanches into a phenomenon which encompasses many.

This whole process is easy and fun to do. It will make you aware of other sites that are noteworthy of attention, and will direct hordes of bloggers and surfers to your site. What’s more, Carousel posts can increase the value of the blogging websites as they become storing houses for diverse, useful, and honest information about websites.

If you’re feeling a little lazy and don’t want to start up the Reciprocal Carousel process on your own, you don’t have to. This idea is in full swing and there are many blogging sites out there which contain Carousel posts. Just do a Google search to find a post that has already been started, and then you can join in a round of the Carousel that is already in full swing. (You can find these on several topics.)

The links that you earn to your own site will be many. This is especially useful because you will get to choose the anchor text that is used in each link. This will help you to optimize search engine performance and increase your page ranking. You are unlikely to run into problems with link farming because the number of links on blogging pages is often limited. One of the best features of this link building technique is that it won’t cost you a penny. In fact, you may find that you even have fun doing it, and find yourself with a close network of partners and friends that you meet in the process.