TechSlip.net

TechSlip.net guest post by : Robin Smith from Vertical Leap

You may not know it but your business could definitely benefit from search engine marketing services.

Why? Because the chances are, your competitors are taking an active approach – and Google’s “organic results” are becoming anything but.

That sentence might need a bit of explaining if you’re a complete novice to how search engines work. Put as simply as possible, search engines try to rank websites by relevance – delivering the site that they think users will most want to click on for any given search query. Of course the tricky bit is how they work out this relevancy, given that this is a computer programme interpreting a few phrases from one of several million possible users. The open secret behind search engines is that they use an algorithm for this.

Of course since you could actively add ‘relevancy’ to your site if you knew how the exact details of these algorithms, then it’d be an easy task to get your website to the top of any query you could imagine. However there are two things that stand against this; one is that there are a lot of potential keywords and search queries out there and you couldn’t possibly hit them all. The second reason is that these algorithms are complicated – and they’re also a closely guarded secret.

This is where search engine marketing services enter the picture. There are two basic approaches for visibility in search engines – paid, or organic. Don’t be fooled by the names as both will take time and money to achieve.

Basically, Paid Search is where you take out an advertisement so that your site appears alongside the normal search results. Using Google as an example, this would be the AdWords system – the links alongside the right and immediately at the top of search results. These adverts are charged for every click – every ‘conversion’ – that users of the search engine make on them.

The twist is that the cost of these clicks are worked out via bidding; you set up an AdWords account and you set budget limits and keyword choices for your campaign and the system does the rest. You can do these yourself, but you can lose a lot of money on wasted keywords if you’re not careful. A professional will keep your campaign closely targeted and will also make sure that your competitors aren’t bidding you out of the marketplace.

Then there’s search engine optimisation – making your site appear higher in ‘organic’ results. This field of search engine marketing has grown dramatically in the past few years and basically amounts to tweaking your website so that Google (or other engines) give it a better ranking for the desired keyword. Some of this takes part on the website – targeting keywords in metatags, headers, page content and the like – and some of this takes part offsite, in what is known as ‘linkbuilding’.

All of this is complicated by the fact that search engines are constantly updating their algorithms, providing only the most cryptic clues to the wider SEO community who constantly probe to see how they can target keywords more effectively. Simply following the formula isn’t enough either, as most engines have checks in place to screen out sites that are too focused on SEO – that are targeting visibility over true relevancy through spam messages.

Keeping on the right side of this and keeping up to date is a constant battle – and its made more difficult by the fact that so much of what you do is ‘tidal’; depending on what other websites in the search index are doing. Unless you have the resources to dedicate a member of staff to SEO in-house, or unless your site gains huge amounts of traffic by itself (the most effective SEO possible – but the least controllable), then you’ll likely need outside expertise to reach customers via search.

When it comes to having your own blog/website, probably the second most important thing is the name of your domain (first would be content). Why is it so important to have a good domain name and how do you choose one? Well I will explain here with a few tips.

Choosing The Domain Name

The name of your website domain is very important because it is what visitors see when coming to your blog/website, and if it is something they can easily remember then it will be more effective. Having a good domain name will grab the attention of your visitors and they will be able to share it easily with friends or other sites. Here are a few good basic tips when picking out a name.

• Try to keep your domain name short, usually two or three words
• Make sure the words are spelled correctly
• Abbreviations work great if they are available
• If possible try not to use “z” to replace “s”, because it can confuse people and they may end up typing the wrong name
• If your domain choice is unavailable, try to place a “-” in between a word. This can help if the name is short, but can get confusing if the name is long. Try to stick with one “-”
• Keep the name related to your blog/website. You don’t want to have a name called “dogs.com” when you write about cats.

.Com vs .Net

When choosing a domain name, does it really matter if it is a .com or a .net? Well there are a few ups and downs to having a .net. Most internet users associate .com with websites so it just clicks in their head and is easy to remember, but if you choose a .net domain be sure to advertise your blog/website as the full name. For example my blog here at TechSlip.net, when I tell others about this blog or I write an article then I will say TechSlip.net instead of TechSlip because some people may just assume it is .com.

Having a .net can be good since it is different than the same old .com names and stands out. Just make sure people realize it is .net and you always put it when advertising. You do not want to send visitors to your competition’s website from making a simple mistake.

So I would recommend getting a .net domain if your choice for a .com is taken, but if a .com is available then grab it quickly and use it.

Price and Where To Buy

You can purchase domains on a few different websites but the most popular ones are 1and1.com and GoDaddy.com. Both sites are reliable and I use both of their services.

Prices for a domain are very reasonable. You can purchase a domain for under $10 per year.

I hope this little guide will help you out when it comes to choosing a domain name. Please share this post if you find it helpful.

Blogging is a great way to share your thoughts with others and spread information to readers. The fun part about it, is that you can blog about anything you want! The topic choice is all up to you. Of course that doesn’t mean just because you blog about “Cool New Socks” that everyone will want to read about it, but still it is your choice. Whether you are blogging just because you want to share information or you are doing it to create a profit and deliver good content to your readers, the basics still apply to both.

I wanted to create a list of basic tips for bloggers who are just starting, or even haven’t started at all but are interested. So let’s get on with the basic bloggin tips for beginners.

1. First of course you need to find a service to start blogging with. The two most popular services are Blogger and WordPress. Both are great websites to use (I will create a post in the future about the differences), but the big difference is that Blogger provides Adsense integration and is very user friendly. So this is great for someone who knows nothing about blogging and wants to be able to make money with their blog. WordPress.com blogs are great but they do not have the ability to use advertisements. So choose either “profit” or “no profit”.
2. Choose your topic. Once again, the topic choice is yours but if you are looking to get a lot of readers, then you will want something that attracts visitors to your blog. Choose a niche that you have and can share with others. Something you are passionate about will show greatly to your readers and will make your blog more personal and interesting. You do not want to choose a topic that you know nothing about because you will not be able to create useful posts and the blog will seem boring.
3. Create a good title and description. This is a very important step because you want your title to stand out. Keep it short and simple. Your description is very crucial because this is what visitors will first see when arriving at your blog and it is what search engines will show. Keep your description within the character limit. Do not overdo it and explain your site in huge detail so that everything is given away and your readers are left not curious. Be short but descriptive and use proper grammar. A blog with a long description scares me away usually, because it seems like the author is begging me to read it all.
4. Choosing a good layout. The layout of your blog is very important because it is the shell of it all and it is what readers always see. A visual impact is important when creating a blog. You do not want to have a layout with bright neon colors everywhere so that it blinds the reader. Try to keep the color scheme blended well so that it pleases the reader’s eyes and does not drive them away. Images are great to have so that your blog seems more full and less boring. It gives people something to look at along with the text. So simple, clean, and uncluttered is definitely the way to go when choosing your layout. Color Scheme Designer is a great free tool for this job.
5. Content. As always content is king. Publishing great posts is easy if you take your time, be descriptive and creative, and provide interesting content. Posts that take forever to read, can scare away readers because most have a short reading span. So don’t bore your readers with a 5 page story, unless it is necessary and part of your niche.
6. Attract visitors to your blog. This can be the most frustrating part of it all because you spend all that time making posts but do not see anyone reading or subscribing. It is not an easy task to gather up thousands of readers, daily, or even monthly. Be sure to spread the word about your blog without spamming it. Include your blog url in forum signatures, participate in discussions at other blogs, use Twitter and Facebook, use content sharing websites, and research SEO. These are just a few out of the many ways to increase your visitor count. Check out SEOmoz.org to learn about SEO and be sure to use their helpful free tools.
7. Patience! The last and most important tip for creating a successful blog is to be patient. It takes time to gain subscribers and for your blog to rank high, so don’t get frustrated or give up just because you are not #1 in a month. Hard work pays off, and it will show if you keep blogging the right way.

I hope this list helps out a lot of people who are interested in blogging and inspires others. I will be writing more posts about blogging, Adsense, and SEO in the future. Be sure to share this article so that others can learn!