Devour The Web

Introduction

The Google Sandbox is a metaphorical term to explain why most new websites have very poor rankings in Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS). Very few people know for sure if the ’sandbox’ actually exists, but it seems to be a filter added to the Google algorithms sometime around March 2004.

What is the function of the Google Sandbox?

The generally accepted principle behind the Google Sandbox is that it enables Google to filter out ‘Flash-in-the-Pan’ websites from those that offer good quality, up-to-date content. It is within Googles interest to ensure that the results it displays to its users within the SERPS lead to highly relevant, up-to-date, useful websites Relevancy is key to the search engines success so it will take all steps it can to ensure the relevancy of its search results. Filtering out new websites and monitoring them may allow them to provide more accurate results within the real SERPS.

Sponsored Links

Your web site’s search engine rankings are determined in part by the popularity of your site. This link popularity is a function of the quality and number of other web sites that link to your site. Generally speaking the more quality inbound links to your site, the higher your site will appear in the SE results for relevant search phrases.

Beware of Unethical Link Promotion Firms!

However, many web site owners have employed so-called experts that employ unethical web site promotion tactics. Surely you have received SPAM from some of them touting their unethical services and software. They claim that they (or the software you buy from them) will generate hundreds (or thousands) of reciprocal links for your site, and thereby get your site top SE rankings on your best search phrases.

The sad truth is that their tactics can actually get your site banned from the major SEs! That would be a disaster! It has happened to others, and it will eventually happen to you if you employ unethical tactics.

The Key to Link Popularity and Top SE Ranking

Ok, now if you’ve started reading this article thinking that its going to be the same story about the business cards carrying your logo and company name, you are right. Hey, dont reach for that back button already. Okay, since business cards is one of the best ways to publicise your site, I had to mention that. But that does not mean it ends here. Read on to discover more.

Now, I mean AFTER you’ve read this article, shut down your computer, give your sore eyes some rest, get that bottom out of that squeaking chair and go out, implement the publicity tricks mentioned here.

Right so, your Bermudas and t-shirts are on, but hey, that brings us to our first suggested trick. Why not wear a t-shirt that’s got your company name logo and a punch-line on it. Come on, don’t put this off the list just because you don’t want to get it printed. I’ve got a better reason to make you search for a screen printer in the yellow pages. You don’t get just one t-shirt done. You get a bunch of t-shirts done, depending upon your budget. And so you wear these t-shirts day in and day out, NO. You distribute it. Whatever your site is based on, its got to have some people visiting it. No matter what you do it’s impossible to have no one visiting it. You can easily get about 10 people on your site, even if you sell skunk.

Are you considering a search engine promotion campaign to improve your website’s search engine visibility? To aid in your decision, have you checked your website to determine its search engine awareness?

Perhaps you may be thinking why do I need to check my website? Do you remember going to the doctor for an illness? Hopefully, your doctor performed some tests to diagnose your illness before prescribing your medication. If not, you may have gotten some very undesirable results.

In the case of your website, you need to diagnose the patient and determine the extent of your website’s search engine visibility. Based on your findings, you can decide to focus on standard search results or paid search results.

Your checks should be done in the Google and Yahoo search engines since they are the major search engines in today’s marketplace. As an option, you should consider MSN since they have recently released their search engine. It is only a matter of time before they are considered a player, if not already.

Blogs like all forms of writing are an art form that takes knowledge and practice to do well.

Writing?Blogs?Blogs are on-line journals where people express themselves through writing. Writing?Writing is the process where one puts down words of a language on a format that others can read. This process has not been around very long, to use one of my writing teacher’s favorite sayings, "Writing has only existed for one day in the one year that humanity has existed." Speaking and thinking come much easier than writing. These processes just flow out naturally like a river of consciousness; sometimes we hardly have to think about doing them. Anyone and everyone can write words down on paper but that doesn’t mean it’s ‘good writing’, myself included. Like most things in life, our society already takes writing for granted which is proving to expose more of our ignorance. Writing is a new form of expression, and if we want to do it in a way that the masses can connect with our ideas, we have to think much more simply and clearly about this art.

If you have ever studied search engine optimization, then you’ll know that most educators place tremendous importance on performing good keyword research. After all, it’s true that we need to optimize our pages for the best phrases, or we will never realize our true traffic potential. It’s all about trying to attract the ideal audience of searchers to our Web site, right? Is that not what most of people do? They build a Web site offering their business services, then they say to themselves “How do I get traffic to my site?” For many Web site owners, their source of traffic is an after-thought.

It’s much wiser, to first try and discover what keyword phrases people are searching for on the major search engines and then optimize Web content for those specific phrases. However, there are still further regions to explore that go beyond keyword research. Let’s call it researching the “behavior” of your target audience.

The difference between keyword research and behavioral research is that keyword research keeps us in a rather technical mode and focused on finding out what words people are entering while searching. Behavioral research has the added advantage of enlightenment and understanding that not only reveals what keyword phrases are being used, but why those keywords are being used.

When you design a website you should create it so that your visitors are constantly coming back for more. In order for you to keep your visitors coming back you need to keep up with maintaining your website, and offering things that will keep your visitors busy.

Tip #1

Keep your visitors coming back. Well, how do you do this? You can start by creating a forum. This will allow your visitors to interact with each other and meet new people.

Next you may want to create a page, or a topic on your forum based on new content that you add. This will keep your visitors up to date on what your doing around your website.

Also you may want to create a news letter. A news letter could contain many things. You can write tips and tricks articles, you can use it to tell your visitors what’s new on your website, you can offer special deals, and much more with a newsletter.

Tip #2

Most people have the notion that generating traffic is a one-off event, and it involves spending huge sums of money on advertising.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

First of all, it’s possible to open up streams of autopilot traffic geometrically, surely and steadily over time.

Secondly, it costs next to nothing to do it, if you know how.

Here are 5 instantly implementable methods to open up new traffic streams without needing to spend a dime.

Free Traffic Method #1: Contribute Content

Writing an ebook is a time consuming and arduous task. In comparison, writing a chapter of rock solid content is much easier and more achievable.

I’ve personally been invited to contribute content to many people’s info-products, usually in the form of ‘chapters’, and this has resulted in a lots of quality traffic that is not only free, but presold.

While I understand that a person who is little known might not receive invitations to contribute, one can always solicit permission for your content to be included by publishers.

Search Engine Optimization is the creation of a web page, purposely designed to rank well with the Search Engines.

If you want traffic to your website then you must Optimize your website for the Search Engines.

Search Engine Optimization is a necessity if you want a huge amount of traffic flowing to your website.

Traffic from the Search Engines is one of the best (And most abundant) forms of traffic. Most people use Search Engines to find what they are looking for. I do and I bet you do too.

You simply cannot afford to pass this up. If you do, then your competitors will be way ahead of you, taking customers which you could have had.

However, if you are going to undertake Search Engine Optimization I STRONGLY recommend that you do some extensive research before you start trying to create the “perfect” page for the Search Engines.

If you don’t do enough research then you will find bits of Optimization information, but will it be correct or will it heavily penalize your website, or even completely ban it? If you end up doing the wrong thing, this is what can happen.

Even though many people have been writing e-mails for a few years now, you would be amazed at some of the pure gibberish that arrives in my e-mailbox on a regular basis.

Many people seem to think that because they aren’t dealing directly with another person (or as directly as they would be face-to-face or by telephone), all forms of civility and basic respect for the other person (i.e. the recipient), and the English language, can go out the proverbial window.

Not true! Writing e-mails is still communicating. Both the recipient and the language still deserve your respect.

The following Dos and Don’ts of writing e-mails have been adapted from my eBook entitled “Instant Home Writing Kit”. The first version of these appeared in another one of my books “Internet Basics without fear!” (2000).

E-MAIL DOS AND DON’TS

DO… Use A Descriptive Subject Line

There is nothing more annoying than receiving e-mails in your e-Inbox with no heading, or a heading that does not explain what the contents of the message is all about.