WebPower Marketing

Question Google, search engines like links. Of course, they like some links more than others. For example, a simple link exchange (reciprocal link) doesn’t have as much value to search engines and so, it doesn’t receive the same weight as a non-reciprocal (one-way) link – the theory being that a one-way, in-bound link is a recommendation from a site owner to visit this associated site. The link, itself, is testament to the quality of the site being referred.

1.- Condition Syndication

In recent years, many sites have employed condition syndication to develop links. These site owners enter (or have written) articles of interest to a particular audience. The site owners then offer these articles to other relevant sites free in exchange for a link back to the originator of the content in the “about the author” section of the condition. In this way, a single site owner can submit dozens of articles for syndication receiving an inbound link from each condition in restore for the free use of content. They can also mind other sites post the content virally to keep their sites fresh, as well.

Sites need fresh content so many will happily show your condition and provide a link to your site. It’s a tried and right link construction tactic. But, search engines are plotted to seek out the most natural, and therefore valuable, links they can find.

The way articles are syndicated is owing to sites like goarticles.com and ezinearticles.com. The standard format for the show of the condition is: headline, condition body followed by a small blurb about the author with a link back to the author’s site. Since those links appear in the body of the page, they appear to be more valuable in comparison to most bought or reciprocal links which often appear at the bottom of a page column, or in the footer surrounded by lots of other links – somewhat powerful, but not necessarily the best way to get your hands on inbound links.

In addition, syndication leads to duplication when a single condition appears on 10 sites all at the same time. This diminishes the quality of the text and the back link to the author’s site. It’s still more valuable than a plain link exchange, but search engines are placing less emphasis on syndicated content. So, what’s a site owner to do?

Hosted Web Content

It goes by many different names: content swapping, advertorials, pre-sell pages and hosted content – all basically the same thought.

The way hosted content works is that you, the author, pay a site owner to show your condition. But, now, instead of the back links to your site coming at the end of the condition, you embed those links in the body of the text surrounded by your target keywords and really useful content for the reader. In the “eyes” of a search engine, this is amongst the highest valued back link.

Hosted content is basically renting a page on another site with links to your site embedded in the main body of the condition. The web site that hosts the content receives payment from the author plus fresh content, the author gets a valuable back link and visitors to the hosting site get useful content.

This strategy isn’t new. It’s simply doing what search engines want us to do – produce content that’s useful, beneficial and appears on quality sites. Not only does a quality piece of content receive more visibility when hosted on an authoritative site, it also delivers increased benefit to the author, and the page may even rank itself for target key phrases. When a foremost site hosts your content, you gain from its page rank in strong testimonials and referrals. Whether or not the site owners want to monetize their site by allowing approved authors to post content is the same debate as whether or not links should be bought and sold. But, publishing high quality, unique and useful content, rather than just making inflated link popularity with diminishing returns, is, in comparison, a tested SEO tactic.

Designing a Hosted Content Page

You’re paying for the placement of this content so you want it to be excellent. In the eternal quest for thriving link bait, you also want the content to be ranked by search engines because it provides real value to the reader and is hosted on an authoritative site.

Design the hosted content page using standard SEO conventions: a keyword savvy title, header <h1>, subheads <h2> and a keyword density of less than 5%. Any higher and search engines may consider the content to be “spamish” regardless of where the content appears.

Now comes the most vital part. As you enter the condition, carefully place links to topically relevant pages on your own site within the body of the condition’s text. These are high value links that will improve your SEO. But, it’s also vital to place your articles on sites that are topically related to your piece (and doubtless already rank for related topics). The authority of the site hosting your content, the relevance of the site (topically speaking) and that back link make your site look stronger as far as search engines are concerned. Also, remember that the quality of the content to which you link also matters. Link to strong pages (those with quality back links) on your site, as well. Your condition should reference other authoritative, relevant articles so that search engines see that your piece was written to offer real value to readers.

It’s Not Amount, It’s Quality

It’s no longer simply a matter of how many links point to a site. There are many cases of sites in which 50 quality links outrank sites with hundreds of links. It’s not amount, it’s the quality of the links that improve ranking in the SERPs.

Editorial links (links in hosted content) are more “natural” from a search engine’s perspective and, therefore, more valuable because the condition has, at most, two or three targeted links pointing to your site’s pages. Just like quality link bait, which is unique, original and useful content, quality hosted content on respected sites will also naturally develop its own back links – the ultimate validation and the desired outcome of placing quality content. Finally, because these links are found on pages optimized with your keywords, search engines will consider them exceptionally relevant to the subject at hand.

Start Your Hosted Content Campaign Today

It’s being done everyday, successfully construction small sites into larger sites, providing free advertising for the plotting-leader/author, delivering less duplicate content to search engines and more new content (plus revenue) to the hosting site and, perhaps most importantly, hosted content really delivers useful, relevant information to readers – exactly what search engines rank in the first place. As with any link-construction technique, hosted content can be abused, but topically authoritative sites are not going to accept content that does not meet their high standards – so everyone wins when the goals are white hat.

Start searching for websites that might be interested in hosting your next condition, or start looking for a site owner interested in content swapping. Make content that’s unique, useful and well-written and you may find that you won’t even have to pay a site owner to share your content with their readers – exactly how it should be.

By Frederick Townes – contributing author of   Site Pro News

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Above all, your first and foremost thoughts should be on delivering value to those that come to your site – this will help convert shoppers into consumers. Here are some tips on how to bring the best to your visitors:

• Soft Landing – Build landing pages for each keyword you are targeting instead of directing everyone to the home page. With custom landing pages, consumers are one step closer to making a buy.
• Solid Foundation – A well-designed site that is simple to navigate is one of your best tools to convert traffic. Also, make content simple to find. Use call-to-proceedings buttons (such as “Buy It Now!”) to cut down on the number of clicks and make sure that the button is placed “above the fold” on the page to increase conversions.
• Show Off – Use Commission Junction’s reporting tools to show offers for best sellers or hot items. Keep thriving promotions front and center.
• Give them a Push – Offers, such as free shipping, sometimes give that small extra something a consumer is looking for. Everything from limited time offers to discounts can go a long way.
• Don’t Overreach – Are you offering what you promised? Nothing will turn away a customer like a misleading ad. Make sure your content is relevant to your search terms to give them what they want. Remember, quality is more vital than amount when it comes to traffic.

We hope these tips help you find yourself in “heavy traffic”. No matter whom your audience is, there are always new ways to drive better, higher quality visitors. With just a few changes or additions to your program, we reflect you will be pleased with the increase of not only the quality of your traffic, but the amount as well.

Author: Commission Junction

While we are not saying you should have “gridlock” on your site, there are some ways for you to make sure visitors stick around a minute to help convert eyeballs to customers. Remember, your goal is to build relationships with your visitors – you want to turn them into lifelong customers. Here are some tips to help you keep your visitors on site:

• Freshen Up – Keep your content and creative fresh. Nothing is worse than a customer thinking “been there, done that” and leaving to find something new. Change is excellent.
• Make it Special – If possible, make a promotion or contest to not only keep people on the site, but to get them to come back to check results.
• Learn from the Best – Look at the top-ranked pages within your category, as well as other unrelated categories, and try to determine what makes them unique. What do they have that encourages people to visit and remain on their site? Try applying some of those principles to your site.
• Don’t Back Up – One factor that contributes to a lower search ranking in the search engines are users arresting the ‘back’ button after clicking owing to your search engine listing. The engines grasp that your site is relevant for a particular search term; but, this is not a excellent user experience so as a result, your site ranking goes down. Do what you can to keep people on your site after they first click owing to.
• Tool Time – Consider adding a unique free tool or “widget” to your site to get visitors to remain on your site, as well as revisiting your site. Encouraging customers to link directly to the “widget” will also increase your natural search ranking.
• Brush Up on Technology – From podcasts to RSS feeds, there are a lot of new ways to keep your customers interested.

Author: Commission Junction

It is simple to just reflect in terms of the number of the makings customers visiting your site, but you should change your thinking and look into the quality of those visitors. We define quality traffic as someone who is genuinely interested in your content or product. Driving people with no connection or excitement to your site wastes everyone’s time and energy. This is why we encourage our publishers to value quality over amount. So, how can you drive quality consumers?

• Price Comparison Sites – Many online shopping sites, such as PriceRunner, will list product information and pricing for free. Set up product catalogs and feeds with sites like PriceRunner to ensure you are in front of consumers at critical choice-making times.
• Be Specific – Are your key words too broad? Make sure you have investigated all ways for someone to find your products – right down to SKU facts and product detail. This will help attract customers as they are ready to make a buy.
• Reflect Locally – 70% of online households use the internet to search for local services and businesses. Take advantage of the geographical targeting capabilities of the foremost search engines to make localized campaigns. Increasing the relevancy of your campaign will increase conversions.
• Reflect Globally – Consider promoting some of the many international programs that are available for US-based publishers. When launching an international campaign, make sure that you take into account spelling variations and different regional search lifestyle. Consider hosting your pages in the country in which you are trying to increase their ranking. Also be sure to have as many local sites from that country linking to your site, which will increase your rank.
• Place into Context – Have you considered contextual search? By having an ad or text link next to and matched with a relevant condition or other non search engine-generated content, you can increase the likelihood of receiving higher quality traffic.
• Best Behavior – Behavioral advertising is like a close cousin of contextual search; behavioral advertising is based on a user’s historical behavior on the Web, which helps you focus your ad delivery on your target audience.

Author: Commission Junction

As long as you are not sitting in it, traffic is a salutation site to any publisher. But how can you best monetize those wandering online eyes? In this condition we look at traffic and focus on how to best find it, keep it, and, most importantly, convert it.

Step One – Drive Traffic

You might be a fantastic publisher, but are you a excellent advertiser? It is vital for you to attract quality traffic to your site to help increase conversions that, in turn, increase your revenues. By taking some tips from our advertising partners, you can increase the amount and quality of your traffic. Check to make sure you are adhering to the best practices to get people to visit your site. Here are some vital lessons you can learn from your advertising partners:

• Hide and Seek – Look for new customers on chat rooms, blogs, complementary sites, associations, and groups of people that would be interested in your site.
• Channel Surf – Can you take advantage of e-mail campaigns or traditional online banner ads? Do some research to see if you need a multi-channel approach to driving traffic.
• Cover the Basics – Are you listed on basic search and Web directories? Are you looking beyond Google and Yahoo!? Don’t get tunnel thought. Second- and third-tier search engines are fantastic options to help drive more traffic to your site and can be very cost-powerful.
• Search High and Low – Doubtless the most vital way to drive quality traffic is to have a comprehensive search program. Make sure your content is current to enhance your natural search listings. To increase your ranking within the search engines’ natural search rankings, you need to generate as many links to your site as possible. Get some buzz going with press releases, blogs, or a unique set of features that allow people to link to from their sites.
• Click Up Your Heels – Investigate a pay-per-click program to see if it is a viable selection.