Some issues which affect search engine results of a website:

1. The website PageRank

2. The amount of website traffic

3. The number of links from other websites

4. The age of the website Domain Name

5. The website getting ‘sandboxed’ by Google

When developing a website, deploying solutions for higher PageRank, linking from other websites, and generating new website traffic can become a time consuming and labor intensive process. However, other factors in search engine algorithms are easier to address, such as the age of a website Domain Name.

In short, a longer duration of time that a website Domain Name has been active, the higher the likelihood that this website Domain Name will be ranked higher in search engine results.

There are a few reasons why this works:

First of all, aged Domain Names are not ‘sandboxed’ by Google. While there is debate as to whether Google does this and to what extent, many think that new Domain Names are subject to restrictions for the first 90 days or so, and therefore will receive less website traffic.

Secondly, aged Domain Names have the benefit of other websites having already linked to them. For example, a new website could be implemented with an aged Domain Name, and would have existing links from other websites already active.

Third, aged Domain Names have the benefit of existing website traffic. More specifically, a new website could be implemented with an aged Domain Name, and would already have a history of existing website traffic. Some issues of concern:

1. Make sure the aged Domain Name has not been banned

2. Research the quality of the aged Domain Name in terms of links and traffic

In conclusion, website development strategies should be comprehensive, and consider many factors when promoting a new online marketing campaign, including search engine optimization. The purchase of an aged Domain Name offers the benefit of garnering higher search engine results for a new website. While the successful deployment of a new website takes time, preparation, and effort, the purchase of an aged Domain Name is an easy way to improve results for a new website.

David Ephraim is an author from ATAK Interactive, a leading Los Angeles SEO company. Here he gives information regarding domain age and factors that influence domain age and its online visibility. Visit http://www.atakinteractive.com for more information.

Not everyone has the financial resources available to buy all the latest analytical technology, but the good news is there are very good free resources available for those on a shoestring budget.

Here we will discuss one of them. But before we do, let’s briefly discuss keyword research and log-tailed keyword phrases.

Keyword Research

Unless a marketer has a big budget for commercial advertising, they are unlikely to compete with historically established websites for popular keywords.

This problem has led to the development of niche marketing and the use of long-tailed keyword phrases. A marketer can spend days, or weeks, developing a keyword database and will have researched competition and global searches for each keyword phrase.

Once they have found keywords considered viable options (i.e. keyword phrases they think they will be able to rank for in a search engine), the marketer will get ready to create a website, email campaign or some other form of promotion.

Many marketers jump straight from the research to the promotion and never realize they are missing out on a vital stage, which could be the difference between total failure and profitable enterprise.

MSN Online Commercial Intention (OCI)

A marketer may have a good list of low-competition keywords, with acceptable global monthly searches, but there is one crucial question remaining.

Do the people searching for these phrases ever actually purchase anything?

There is no point trying to sell to a particular market if they are not interested in buying. A marketer may indeed get top spot in Google for their well-researched long-tail keyword, but that means nothing if they have selected a search phrase that is not associated with consumer purchases.

This is why the MSN Online Commercial Intention Page can be a very valuable tool.

The clever people at Microsoft have designed an algorithm that measures online commercial intention (the likelihood that someone will buy something, after searching for it). The MSN OCI measures commercial intent on a scale of 0 to 1, where 0 shows no intent and 1 is likely to buy immediately.

A marketer can simply add their chosen keywords into the calculator and find out if the keywords have any commercial intent, or may never result in a sale. The software may have some discrepancies and its accuracy has been questions by some, but for the most part the results have proved to show a definite trend.

The rule of thumb is that if a keyword phrase has an OCI of less than 0.6 (some marketers insists on 0.7) then the keyword shows no consumer promise and should be discarded.

Conclusion

Whilst the MSN Online Commercial Intent page may have its critics; many marketers see it as a valuable free tool. Certainly, any program that offers any additional information for a marketer is never a wasted excursion. The MSN OCI page offers the chance for a marketer to discover if they are about to waste time and effort chasing after a keyword phrase that will not sell.

If you want to check out the MSN Online Commercial Intention page, you can locate it at:

adlab.microsoft.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/

Author Info: Brian Horn, of HornDog Search Marketing, is recognized by many as the “Glazer-Kennedy Secret Weapon” because of his role in helping not only Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer with search engine optimization and social media, but also many of the top Information Marketers in the world. He recently released product that walks you through the process of ranking a website on page 1 of Google (Be On Page 1 of Google).

If you have an online business site, undoubtedly you will want to promote this site on the web and outsourcing Search Engine Optimization is one of the most affordable means to do this for your site. If you have not undertaken outsourcing SEO services for your company, chances are there you will not be able to hire the services of trainer professionals as their services are quite expensive. It is about relevance. An irrelevant keyword does you no good at all and in some instances might be harmful because it can leave the search engine confused as to what your article is about.

Search Engine Optimization is more about the traffic it generates than the rankings themselves. Someone might have a 1st place ranking, but isn’t getting any traffic from it. If just a handful of great links are moving you to top positions then your SEO is doing their job. It is definitely a long term investment. However, if you are patient the results will be well worth it. The goal of Search Engine Optimization is to increase a site’s traffic by improving its organic search results. It is a division of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) that is concerned with designing websites with how search algorithms work and what people search for in mind.

Well, it is the technique that helps you achieve your targets and earn great profits. The general consensus is that SEO is DEAD and/or about ready to become extinct. It is about more than meta tags, title tags, and targeted anchor text. Call it “competitive web mastering”, “SEO”, or any one of a slew of other titles – it is the thought process of lateral thinking and understanding of website creation and marketing combined that matters most.

Regardless of the method or combination of methods used, the goal of all Search Engine Optimization is the same: to bring web traffic to your site and improve your conversation rate. It can be a labor-intensive process that can be very costly, but it can also pay off immensely, especially over the long term. After all if you tell a client that it is a journey and not a destination, it sounds like an excuse to milk them for everything they’ve got. They’d rather go with somebody who might charge a lot but who is willing to tell them that after x weeks or months the project will be ‘ done ‘ even when we know that the project really is never done.  Perhaps the idea that it is free stems from the misguided notion that every Web site is somehow entitled to volumes of natural search referred traffic.

Search Engine Optimization is very vital especially if you are in an e-commerce or online marketing field. Not only it increases the volume of traffic it increases your profit as well. First of all, let us say this – “SEO IS IMPORTANT” but it’s not everything anymore. Just like our title says. Good SEO is a left brain/right brain type ’style’ – have your timeless techniques (solid content, good site structure, etc) and throw in a few ‘trendy’ accents. These basics mixed with the creative “art form” of SEO will bring long-term results – no matter what is “in fashion” at the moment. Understanding Search Engine Optimization is critical for anyone who wants to be successful in online enterprise. Until SEO is dead (I doubt it) most smart marketers will be a double threat and be able to offer SEO and SMM. It is an important part of any marketing plan and mix

The on-page optimization, namely the information and content, for local it is not different from optimizing websites that are not geographically focused. The title, description, and site contents still needs to be geared for the reader, and geared for the search engines. Learning Search Engine Optimization is also not limited to web designers or web developers. Building search engine-friendly sites is important and such is their responsibility. It is far from dead; in fact it is still one of the best ways to drive targeted traffic to a website.

Other efforts that occur in the first three months of a typical engagement are content optimization and link strategizing is a crucial part of the process. This is because each link essentially counts as “vote” for the quality of your web site’s content. Every vote you get helps your web site rank higher in search results and attract more free traffic from potential customers. To structure the text use appropriate formatting for headings, content, emphasis, links – again, use internal links so search engines know that necessary information is also on your web page. If you have good associates, link to them and vice versa.

Provide enough content and enough value to satisfy the searcher’s desire to find what they are looking for. Speak the same language as your site visitors and they will be much more likely to decode your message in the way it was intended. Google knows that the site exists, and it knows that there is flash content, but it has no idea what the site is all about. It doesn’t know if it is a site for a restaurant, or a site trying to sell miniature chainsaws. On-Page services like developing Search Engine Optimization friendly contents, selecting the right keywords and developing industry-specific articles, appear on the user interface. Off-Page Services, on the other hand, run in the background.

Write compelling description elements for each page. Think of these as a short overview of the page’s content. Make them compelling so if people see them in a search result they click the link to your website. They can use their toolbars, Analytics programs, PPC program, SERPs click tracking, and a variety of other tools to discern how visitors behave on hitting your content. Though the SE has never sent a human to view your page, it “knows” how “good” your content is relative to competing content for that subject. This is a strategy that brings links to a website simply because of the unique and popular content on a website. With the rise of the blogosphere and social bookmarking sites, all it takes is one person to notice an interesting page and link to a site.

For those who do not know what that means, it means preparing your website to be search engine friendly and also building quality links pointing to your website. This is a must and true success can not be achieved if the webmaster does not do good Search Engine Optimization work. Meaning must be found throughout all aspects of the site. And in my mind, brands are managed in the same way. The same holds true for websites. You can build a site, optimize it, and throw it online and call it “optimized” but only the engines will determine if this is really the case.

The first golden rule of any business is to identify the demand. With affiliate marketing programs you’ll likely be giving a range of products to sell. Look into the demand of these types of needs. You should try to stay away from fashionable items. They’ll sell like crazy one minute but you’ll be giving them away the next. You want thing that you know people want and need. That way your long term sales targets will get fulfilled.

2nd, is don’t restrict yourself to just one product. Try to offer a variety of things. Many affiliate marketing programs offer a selection and it is best to go with these. Establishing your business on one product may work in the short term. However, someone will eventually appear with something better or cheaper.

3rd, you need to position your business apart from others. You need to establish what makes you and what you offer better from others. What do you offer that sets you apart from other businesses? You should always apply tactfulness when talking about your competition. Putting them down or being rude will only backfire on you. Talk up the advantages that you offer and leave it at that.

4th, you should definitely insure your home business. Everything can be fine one day but life can always take a unusual turn. Accidents can happen to anybody. Ask yourself what will happen if one of your products hurts somebody. Today, people can be sued for almost anything. Make sure you are insured in case the worst happens.

5th, you should always do your best to ensure fast and prompt service to your clients. However, there will come a time when there is a glitch. You need to keep your customers informed and well aware of what is happening. Things happen that are beyond your control. Most customers are very forgiving if they are made aware of this. Keeping your customers in the dark could result in loosing them for good.

Finally, keep your customers satisfy. The happier they are the more likely they are to come back. Offer your customers bonuses such as savings on their next purchase. It may cost you more but only in the short term. Keeping your customers satisfy will result is them referring you to others.

Affiliate marketing businesses are easier in the fact that they minimize risk. Everything else is like any other business. You need to work very hard to keep your customers happy. You need to position yourself apart from others and protect yourself against the worst. By following the advice in this article you will be giving your business the best possible chance for success.

Interviewing people and posting it on your blog is an excellent way to market it. Just be sure that the people that you interview pertain to the market of your blog. You want all of your posts to be relevant, including any interviews that you might do. For example, if your blog market was vacuum cleaners, and you did an interview with the owner of Hoover vacuum cleaner; that would definitely pertain to your market.

If you hear any news on the market of your blog, be sure that you post it. Everyone loves news, and event he readers of your blog will appreciate you blogging about the current events in the market that you are blogging about. Something to keep in mind when blogging about the news is the more current the news, the better. No one wants to reread old news, so it is a great idea to try and stay as current as possible when you are blogging about the news.

Contests are another way that you effectively market your blog. Having contests on various things would be a lot of fun, and something that will keep your readers coming back. Everyone loves to win things, and you can also make the prize that you are giving away relevant to the market you are promoting on your blog.

While good content is something that you will need for your blog, you also want to ensure that it is original content as well. You can market a blog with something that is copied and that you do not own the rights. Plagiarism will get you in trouble with Google as well as the person that originally wrote the content. Be sure that all of your posts are ones that only you own the rights too. This is a great thing to know and do when you are marketing your blog.

Press releases are also an excellent way to market your blog. Sending out a press release or having one made for you is a great idea. You will find that they are even affordable for most budgets, and some companies offer a package deal.

Comments on a blog are also a very important aspect of blog marketing. You will want to be sure that you always answer and acknowledge the comments that are made to your blog as well as others. When you show that you are an actual person that can hold a conversation, you are showing others that you are real and that you really and truly have the best intentions for your blog. Make sure that no comment goes unanswered.

Marketing a blog comes naturally for some and can be a little harder to focus on for others. Another important thing that you will want to do for your blog is to be sure that you find links. Exchange links, get one way links, and ask for more and more links. You will never have enough links to your blog. The more links the better in this case.

Blog marketing is not hard to do. Just be sure that you follow all of the proven and tried techniques that others are talking about and you won’t go wrong. Patience and dedication will pay off in the long run.

To begin blog marketing you first need a blog. The next step is to ensure that your blog is updated frequently. Post content in your blog regularly for the best results. Some will post once a day and others once a week. Whichever it is, be consistent with it and know that it will pay off to continue posting as you should. This is a great way to get started with blog marketing. You wont have a blog to market if you do not post in it regularly.

While most free blogs all look the same, you can make sure that your blog design stands out. You don’t want your blog to look and feel like everyone else’s, so make it different. Having your own look is a huge plus in the blog marketing world. You will find that most blogs all look the same and you can have your own look by just using HTML and adjusting the code to suit your taste. You are going to see that this will truly make a difference with your blog as well as your readers. Try to get a theme that is going to match the market that you are promoting in your blog. Doing so will make it look even more professional. You don’t want your readers to confuse your blog with others do you? If this is something that you are concerned about, you will definitely want to make sure that you change yours to make more personable. However, if you are not worried about it or concerned about it in the least, you can leave the design as one of the free templates that you see so frequently used.

Something else that will help you with your blog marketing is exchanging links with authority blogs and websites that are in your same market is another great way to get the word out about your blog. The authority sites are going to have a higher page rank, and will also be listed high in Google’s search results. So do some searches and check those out and see if they are up to exchanging links. If they are not, you could always just add those into your blog roll. You do not need permission to do that if they are not into linking. However, in the world of blogs, most blog owners are thankful for all links, and are willing to return the favor. This is a great way to market your blog that some do not think about or use. If you use this technique to get your blog seen, you will not be sorry. It is a trick you can even use to market your website.

Web 2.0 is clearly all about data. The only reason ‘users add value’ is because that content is used to create a unique data set that no one could replicate. Web 2.0 is about services rather than packaged software and it is about offerings compatible with many devices (mobile phones, portable gaming consoles, different internet browsers, etc). Web 2.0 is not easy. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of approaches, hundreds of gurus and hundreds of axes to grind?

Web 2.0 is a techie joke for and by techies. If you’ve ever tried to hold a conversation with a computer programmer, you’ll realize what an oxymoron the term ‘techie joke is’. Web 2.0 is not about internet software but the services that are provided – not about the tools but how they are used (Leslie 2008). Probably one of the most famous examples of collaboration and collective intelligence is Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) which is an online encyclopedia continually being updated by users who are based all over the world. Web 2.0 is not about mass marketing. It’s about actually understanding the masses.

Web 2.0 is about communication and facilitating community . The Web facilitated that to a degree, but presented a barrier that hindered the back-and-forth of true communication. Web 2.0 is not a panacea, and its evolution may not be dramatic in terms of form, but expect it to have far-reaching results. Consumers are rapidly adopting Web 2.0 technologies virtually without thinking. Web 2.0 is great for chat and banter with friends, networking and sharing your holiday snaps with the whole world.

Web 2.0 is essentially a consumer-to-consumer conversation, so persuading customers to talk positively about a brand is far from easy, though it potentially brings enormous rewards. Web 2.0 is no longer mere hype but a real shift, away from all content being produced by a single central designer and toward ongoing distributed web authoring, where users can create and comment on their own content. Tag-based navigation, Ajax-based interactivity and XML-based RSS feeds have made even state-of-the-art websites look outdated if they rely solely on static XHTML/CSS. Web 2.0 is all about collaborative networks by Flicker, del.icio.us , Wikipedia and YouTube . However, Web 2.0 has primarily been used in the consumer arena, as identified by the examples, but the use of such technologies has far reaching implications based on understanding how people interact with the technologies and behave online.

Web 2.0 is important, as it supports the social aspects of design processes and enriches formal design knowledge with dynamic, designer-centered experience. However, introducing such techniques into engineering organizations often proves difficult due to their complex and interconnected business processes. Web 2.0 is, in Berners-Lee’s definition, purely a blog and wiki thing. While the ingredient that makes this stuff have been lying around for years, what makes things so different is the way it’s all coming together right now. Web 2.0 is all about enhancing the user experience of the Web – taking the Web and instead of punishing people with solutions waiting for problems, actually creating a thriving community.

Web 2.0 is essentially about creating richer user experiences through providing interactive tools and services. Web sites which utilize aspects of Web 2.0 are often personalized, dynamically driven, and rich in community tools and sharing functions. Web 2.0 is an umbrella term for new collaborative Internet services characterized by user participation in developing and managing content. Key elements include Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to rapidly disseminate awareness of new information; weblogs (blogs) to describe new trends, wikis to share knowledge, and podcasts to make information available on personal media players. Web 2.0 is a term used to refer to the perceived ongoing transition of the internet experience. In lay mans terms, it changes the way the users, experience and use the internet and the effect that we have on it as a whole. Web 2.0 isn’t a trend so much as a collection of loosely strung together ideas. Underpinning it, however, is the idea that people have a strong desire to share things, whether that be it video, audio or text.

Web 2.0 is read and write web. It is real time and live connection between users and a good revolution of Web 1.0. Web 2.0 is not simply an update to the technologies of the web. It also offers fundamental changes in the way that the technologies are used. Web 2.0 is not really about tools, widgets or anything of that nature. It’s about changing a mindset. Reality is that people want to express their opinions and communicate with others in a productive way, to spread love and understanding. This is what the web should teach everyone.

Businesses today rely increasingly on the Internet for promoting themselves and selling their wares. Consumers have too, making e-commerce a fact of our everyday lives. Businesses do need to be aware that Web 2.0 and social networking currently dominate the web. Social networks aren’t just a question of ego and school ground popularity anymore?

Yahoo’s Amit Kumar added that while technology is awesome, simplicity is also crucial so engines can understand content of page. Google’s Dan Crow explained that using CSS, Ajax and Web 2.0 technologies with workarounds will accommodate for search engines in their current state of understanding, but at the same time be prepared for the future when search engines are able to better comprehend these technologies. Yahoo, with its acquisition of Flicker and Delicious and whatever else is on the horizon, wants people – and social networks – to define how it does business.

When you post an article to ActiveRain (or most blogs in general) the system sends out a message to various blog directories and search engines. Technorati is a search engine, so once you claim your blog, your blog is listed there. If you use good keywords when you claim your blog, readers looking for a blog on your topic could come upon it. Technorati is a small idea. It takes one tiny little niche away from Google.

Technorati is a real-time search engine that keeps track of what is going on in the blog sphere? As of August 2007, its reach spans over 94 million weblogs. They claim to track 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media, so as far as blog directories go they’re a pretty big fish. Technorati is a small company seeking to be of service to a very large community.

Technorati is one of those new open media start-ups that always making news, for its ground breaking work, or for some not so great reasons. Technorati is not your typical search engine. Rather, it is a blog search engine, or “web blogger,” that provides users with access to relevant, up-to-date information, by indexing blogs from the web in real-time. Technorati is merely an automated index whose subscribers (and indeed – content creators) should get the benefit of its movements, just like a stock market. Without the tags and the blog contents, Technorati is hot air.
Technorati is the biggest social network of all the blogs over the Internet. It enlists literally all the blogs that have ever surfaced over the Internet and gives you details about the blog in terms of authority, back links and favorites.

Technorati is like a wiretap for PR professionals’ unfiltered opinions from real people on any given subject. Essentially they are both librarian services. Technorati is good and an excellent source of short term visitors for your main keywords before your entries are indexed by the large search engines. An issue with it is the lack of feedback when sites tags are not included within the Technorati search. Technorati is the authority on what is happening right now on the live web including the blog sphere. They can help bloggers by driving targeted traffic to their sites, and allowing them to connect to the millions of other individuals in the blogger community.

Blogs are no different. Technorati is one of the more popular search engines specifically addressing the needs of bloggers or rather the needs of the people that want to search blogs. Blogs are also keys to gaining exposure in mainstream media. Bloggers can claim their postings by including a snippet of code from Technorati in the template of their home page. This lets Technorati organize incoming links (that is, links made by other bloggers and sites that point to your blog) and alert you to who is discussing what you’ve written.

Have you decided yet? Good luck.