I just read a fascinating series of blog posts from Sodaware - about advertising, and how much traffic you can get for $19.95.
He examined a whole slew of different advertising and marketing methods, both free and pay - for the pay ad services, his budget was $19.95, and for the free marketing, he set a time limit of a half hour. This was a smart way to compare services, because as they say, nothing is free - your time is worth something too. A lot of times, it's more efficient to just pay for advertising than to spend hours on fruitless "free" ads.
Read part 1, the introduction and part 2, the results.
Many of Sodaware's results were as to be expected, but some lessons are worth repeating - like good targeting is key to successful ads. You'll get better results with ads on a well-targeted, medium-traffic side, than poorly-targeted ads on a huge-traffic site.
It's interesting to see the variety of uses and traffic that each ad service can bring - Stumbleupon users are low-attention-span, high-bounce visits that can spark a viral wave of traffic, while a well-targeted ad placed on a highly relevant site can bring in newsletter subscriptions and loyal readers. Which type you choose is up to you, or it could behoove you to diversify your tactics to get both loyal readers and viral bursts.
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I've been exploring lots of ways of making money online, but it's hard to know what's legitimate or worthwhile. The folks at Internet Marketing Report Card are compiling a site full of reviews for services like Entrecard, Adgitize, paid survey sites, web hosts, and much more.
IM Report Card needs people who have tried out various internet marketing programs and products to give their opinions on them. If you've read ebooks, signed up for programs, or anything to do with making money online, you can give your opinion and get rewarded for it too. IM Report Card gives between 50 and 150 points for each 100+ word review you write on their site (one point = one US cent). You also get points for rating reviews and grading products, and extra points if people think your review is helpful.
I think that Internet Marketing Report Card has a lot of promise in becoming an authoritative resource for what sites are scams and what are legitimate for promoting websites and making money. Plus it's fun! :) Who doesn't like giving their opinion?
There are a few limitations set by the website's owners to ensure a quality site. First, if you click through things too fast, they make you stop and slow down. You have to actually read the reviews before clicking the 'helpful' button. Second, you have to write reviews before you can rate things. Once your review is approved, then you can grade websites and mark comments as helpful or unhelpful. Other than those few pitfalls, this site is easy and enjoyable to use.
I'm going to offer a bonus to anyone who signs up under my referral. After your first cashout (the minimum cashout is $20), I will send you a bonus $5. Just email me at echidna.caribou at gmail.com after you've made your first cashout and I'll send you 5 more dollars via PayPal. You must sign up under my referral link, here. It's my way of thanking you for helping me!
I highly recommend you give Internet Marketing Report Card a try. You don't have anything to lose, and you'll probably learn something too. Good luck!
~Joy
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How much traffic does $20 bring you?
December 19, 2011 advertising, blogging, marketing, website traffic, websites
You Can't Do it All: The Upsides of Outsourcing
December 11, 2011 advertising, blogging, how to, make money, websites
When someone starts their own business, they quickly learn they have to take on many hats: web designer, marketer, graphic designer, editor & proofreader, accountant, customer service... and that's besides whatever the business is actually for! Some people are blessed with the skills to do many of these well, but there's always something that you're not good at, and once the business grows past a certain point, you're going to need an extra hand.
As your business expands, you just can't do it all. That's why you need to outsource some of your work. This doesn't have to mean a team of staff or a hired assistant, though it could. But, let's start small.
Just about the smallest you can start at is hiring someone through a Fiverr gig. Fiverr is a site where people post what they are willing to do for $5 - which can range from logo & website design to copywriting to photo editing and much more. If you need a quick hand at something you're not good at, browse around Fiverr and see who you can commission. Before selecting a gig, make sure to read through the seller's feedback. If the gig is a bust, you're only out 5 bucks - but if it goes well, it's often a great deal!
I've ordered a logo design and a blog banner from Fiverr for my business - the logo was returned to me within a day, and I was pretty pleased with the results. You can't expect the moon & the stars for $5, but if you're short on cash, it's a good start and it was way better than I could have done myself.
Remember that you can't do everything yourself - other people can lighten your load, and oftentimes do it better than you could have done on your own. You don't have to spend a whole lot of money for some extra help - a little bit can go a long way. Check within your niche to see if there are people who would be willing to barter for goods or services that you can provide. That way, you get the help you need, and they get something else they want, too.
As your business expands, you just can't do it all. That's why you need to outsource some of your work. This doesn't have to mean a team of staff or a hired assistant, though it could. But, let's start small.
Just about the smallest you can start at is hiring someone through a Fiverr gig. Fiverr is a site where people post what they are willing to do for $5 - which can range from logo & website design to copywriting to photo editing and much more. If you need a quick hand at something you're not good at, browse around Fiverr and see who you can commission. Before selecting a gig, make sure to read through the seller's feedback. If the gig is a bust, you're only out 5 bucks - but if it goes well, it's often a great deal!
I've ordered a logo design and a blog banner from Fiverr for my business - the logo was returned to me within a day, and I was pretty pleased with the results. You can't expect the moon & the stars for $5, but if you're short on cash, it's a good start and it was way better than I could have done myself.
Remember that you can't do everything yourself - other people can lighten your load, and oftentimes do it better than you could have done on your own. You don't have to spend a whole lot of money for some extra help - a little bit can go a long way. Check within your niche to see if there are people who would be willing to barter for goods or services that you can provide. That way, you get the help you need, and they get something else they want, too.
Traffic from PostZoom
June 4, 2011 blogging, website traffic, websites
A few weeks ago I signed my main blog up to PostZoom. It's a website meant to be a directory of categorized blog posts, bringing quality posts to visitors and some extra traffic to bloggers. So, does it work? Let's see...
There are two things you need to do in order to start getting traffic from PostZoom. First, you have to have the widget on your blog. This widget can go anywhere - I put mine in the sidebar. The widget shows other blog posts from categories that you get to choose, and you can display as few or as many of these as you like. I like that you can choose the categories, so the only posts that show up in my widget are ones that are relevant to my readers.
Next, you load your blog posts into PostZoom. This takes some time, because you can only load two posts in per day to prevent spamming (which makes sense). Load some of your most interesting and informative posts into PostZoom, making sure to place them in a relevant category with a snappy image and good tags.
PostZoom will not give you a huge upsurge in traffic, but it will give you a little bit. As a not-very-active Entrecarder, I get about the same amount of traffic from PostZoom and Entrecard. The more posts you load into PostZoom, and the more popular those posts are, the more traffic you will be able to get from it. Unfortunately, you are likely never to make the main front page of PostZoom, because those posts are sorted by traffic. So the ones on the main page get clicked on more, bringing up their traffic, and leading into a vicious circle. But, you may find yourself at the top of your category, which will give you a little bit more traffic.
I don't trust PostZoom's internal statistics - if you click on the stats section of their website, they will give you some high number that will not match at all to your other analytics programs. I think those statistics are for the individual post pages on PostZoom, not your site. However, if you use an independent analytics program like Google Analytics or Sitemeter, you will be able to see PostZoom as a referrer and track how much traffic you are getting from them. It won't be a huge amount, but if your traffic is low to begin with, then it will make a difference.
There are two things you need to do in order to start getting traffic from PostZoom. First, you have to have the widget on your blog. This widget can go anywhere - I put mine in the sidebar. The widget shows other blog posts from categories that you get to choose, and you can display as few or as many of these as you like. I like that you can choose the categories, so the only posts that show up in my widget are ones that are relevant to my readers.
Next, you load your blog posts into PostZoom. This takes some time, because you can only load two posts in per day to prevent spamming (which makes sense). Load some of your most interesting and informative posts into PostZoom, making sure to place them in a relevant category with a snappy image and good tags.
PostZoom will not give you a huge upsurge in traffic, but it will give you a little bit. As a not-very-active Entrecarder, I get about the same amount of traffic from PostZoom and Entrecard. The more posts you load into PostZoom, and the more popular those posts are, the more traffic you will be able to get from it. Unfortunately, you are likely never to make the main front page of PostZoom, because those posts are sorted by traffic. So the ones on the main page get clicked on more, bringing up their traffic, and leading into a vicious circle. But, you may find yourself at the top of your category, which will give you a little bit more traffic.
I don't trust PostZoom's internal statistics - if you click on the stats section of their website, they will give you some high number that will not match at all to your other analytics programs. I think those statistics are for the individual post pages on PostZoom, not your site. However, if you use an independent analytics program like Google Analytics or Sitemeter, you will be able to see PostZoom as a referrer and track how much traffic you are getting from them. It won't be a huge amount, but if your traffic is low to begin with, then it will make a difference.
Layout Tweaks: Dos and Don'ts
May 2, 2011 blogging, organization, websites
The web is not static - it's always changing. It behooves a webmaster to change their layout every once in a while -- but maybe not too often. Keep these things in mind, while editing your layout.
1. Change is good.
There is always room for improvement in a website design. Make things easier to find, adjust your copy, make it slicker. Grab people's attention. A lot of web design these days is just plain bad. Look at your website or blog through a reader or customer's point of view: Can you find what you're looking for? Are you interested? If not, then you need a change.
2. Change is bad.
Okay, I can already see the confused looks... The thing is, a website redesign can be a blessing and a curse. Think about all the times your favorite websites have redone their layouts - there is usually a group of people who are unhappy about it, right? Not every re-design will be well-received. Your web layout is your brand, and if you change it all the time, it will not feel familiar to returning readers. If you're doing a complete re-haul of your layout, try to keep at least one or two things stable: think about Facebook's blue and white, or Google's white space with primary colors. Even though the websites change, they keep their brand consistent.
3. Beware of feature creep.
While it may seem cool to have all the latest widgets, don't try to cram too much on your main page. If you add something, consider removing something else you don't need. Having too much on a page will make it long and slow to load. If you need to have all your awards, memes, badges, Facebook Twitter Stumbleupon Digg Reddit links, virtual pets, whatever... Then consider creating an additional page to put them on. Don't let them get in the way of content and usability.
4. Content is King.
Above all things, you can make a website pretty, but if it doesn't have anything worth reading, no one will visit. If you're spending so much time on your layout that you don't have enough time to write quality articles, take a break. Some of the most useful webpages out there are black, 12-point Times New Roman on a white background.
1. Change is good.
There is always room for improvement in a website design. Make things easier to find, adjust your copy, make it slicker. Grab people's attention. A lot of web design these days is just plain bad. Look at your website or blog through a reader or customer's point of view: Can you find what you're looking for? Are you interested? If not, then you need a change.
2. Change is bad.
Okay, I can already see the confused looks... The thing is, a website redesign can be a blessing and a curse. Think about all the times your favorite websites have redone their layouts - there is usually a group of people who are unhappy about it, right? Not every re-design will be well-received. Your web layout is your brand, and if you change it all the time, it will not feel familiar to returning readers. If you're doing a complete re-haul of your layout, try to keep at least one or two things stable: think about Facebook's blue and white, or Google's white space with primary colors. Even though the websites change, they keep their brand consistent.
3. Beware of feature creep.
While it may seem cool to have all the latest widgets, don't try to cram too much on your main page. If you add something, consider removing something else you don't need. Having too much on a page will make it long and slow to load. If you need to have all your awards, memes, badges, Facebook Twitter Stumbleupon Digg Reddit links, virtual pets, whatever... Then consider creating an additional page to put them on. Don't let them get in the way of content and usability.
4. Content is King.
Above all things, you can make a website pretty, but if it doesn't have anything worth reading, no one will visit. If you're spending so much time on your layout that you don't have enough time to write quality articles, take a break. Some of the most useful webpages out there are black, 12-point Times New Roman on a white background.
Four ingredients for website traffic
April 25, 2011 blogging, search engines, website traffic, websites
Everyone who has a website wants more traffic coming into it. Unfortunately, webpages are a dime a dozen and most will languish in obscurity. There are a million articles about how to drive traffic to your web site, but here's my take.
There are four main ingredients for increased web traffic: participation, originality, time, and a good dose of luck.
1. Participate. Being active in the community will not only give you more backlinks, but it gives you a chance to show people your opinion and information is valuable. It helps if you're already a member of communities that are related to your site topic, but if you're not, there's no time to start like the present. If you can help people out with your knowledge or participate in debates with your opinion, and people get to know you or even respect you, they will want to see more of what you write.
2. Be original. They say there's nothing new under the sun. But, there is always a way to put a new twist on an old concept. If you have original content, people will find you. If you have something that people can't get anywhere else, then well, they will get it from you! When you've got something that is actually unique to say, other people will pick your story up and link to you. Try to find something that is truly yours, and run with it.
3. Be patient. The traffic might not come rushing in, but in time, it will grow. An older website not only has a better pagerank, but the author has had more time to write more articles and develop their style. The more articles you have, especially if they are original, the more people will find you by searching.
4. Get lucky. Sometimes, there isn't anything you can do; the dice just decide your fate for you. That's OK. Work hard at the other three steps, and maybe you will get a new wave of traffic, or maybe nothing will happen -- until, one day someone catches your story - you get Digg'd, or Slashdotted, or Stumbled Upon, or whatever. It happens to some people and it doesn't happen to others.
I get a fair, but not huge, amount of traffic on one of my other blogs, so here is my real-life example of putting these ingredients into action:
1. I'm very active on a forum targeted to my readers, not in order to increase my web traffic, but because I earnestly love my hobby (knitting). I read and learn things from others, and I contribute when I can.
2. I write informational articles garnered from my own experience, not cribbed from other sources, and I also design patterns, both for sale and free. Both drive traffic to my site. Patterns are original content, that people cannot get anywhere else, so I am providing them a service -- and if they like it, they will return and I've gained a new reader.
3. I've been blogging for more than three years, averaging at about 2-3 posts per week. That's a lot of posts - not all my content is gold, but sometimes the search engines pick up the things you'd least expect. I'm one of the only people to have written about a certain technique, so I get a good amount of traffic from that (which ties back in to original content).
4. Every once in a while I get a surge of traffic from a big site - which is great. I get a few new followers, my advertising prices shoot up, and while most of those new visitors don't stick around, at least a few will. So, ignoring the spikes, my traffic rises steadily, if slowly. And the more that these spikes happen, the more exposure you get, so it builds exponentially. Nowadays, whenever I release something new, I will get a big spike.
Hopefully you can put some of these things into action, and it will do you some good.
There are four main ingredients for increased web traffic: participation, originality, time, and a good dose of luck.
1. Participate. Being active in the community will not only give you more backlinks, but it gives you a chance to show people your opinion and information is valuable. It helps if you're already a member of communities that are related to your site topic, but if you're not, there's no time to start like the present. If you can help people out with your knowledge or participate in debates with your opinion, and people get to know you or even respect you, they will want to see more of what you write.
2. Be original. They say there's nothing new under the sun. But, there is always a way to put a new twist on an old concept. If you have original content, people will find you. If you have something that people can't get anywhere else, then well, they will get it from you! When you've got something that is actually unique to say, other people will pick your story up and link to you. Try to find something that is truly yours, and run with it.
3. Be patient. The traffic might not come rushing in, but in time, it will grow. An older website not only has a better pagerank, but the author has had more time to write more articles and develop their style. The more articles you have, especially if they are original, the more people will find you by searching.
4. Get lucky. Sometimes, there isn't anything you can do; the dice just decide your fate for you. That's OK. Work hard at the other three steps, and maybe you will get a new wave of traffic, or maybe nothing will happen -- until, one day someone catches your story - you get Digg'd, or Slashdotted, or Stumbled Upon, or whatever. It happens to some people and it doesn't happen to others.
I get a fair, but not huge, amount of traffic on one of my other blogs, so here is my real-life example of putting these ingredients into action:
1. I'm very active on a forum targeted to my readers, not in order to increase my web traffic, but because I earnestly love my hobby (knitting). I read and learn things from others, and I contribute when I can.
2. I write informational articles garnered from my own experience, not cribbed from other sources, and I also design patterns, both for sale and free. Both drive traffic to my site. Patterns are original content, that people cannot get anywhere else, so I am providing them a service -- and if they like it, they will return and I've gained a new reader.
3. I've been blogging for more than three years, averaging at about 2-3 posts per week. That's a lot of posts - not all my content is gold, but sometimes the search engines pick up the things you'd least expect. I'm one of the only people to have written about a certain technique, so I get a good amount of traffic from that (which ties back in to original content).
4. Every once in a while I get a surge of traffic from a big site - which is great. I get a few new followers, my advertising prices shoot up, and while most of those new visitors don't stick around, at least a few will. So, ignoring the spikes, my traffic rises steadily, if slowly. And the more that these spikes happen, the more exposure you get, so it builds exponentially. Nowadays, whenever I release something new, I will get a big spike.
Hopefully you can put some of these things into action, and it will do you some good.
'Above the Fold' - history of a design term
March 6, 2010 history, website traffic, websites
If you've done anything with web design, if you have a website, or especially if you use Entrecard, you've probably hear the term 'above the fold'. What exactly does it mean, and where does it come from? This internet website design term actually has much older, and quite interesting, origins.
In a web design context, your above the fold content is what your reader sees without having to scroll down. How much is above the fold depends on the reader - people have different sized screens and different resolutions. I see a lot less on my little EeePC screen than a gamer with a high definition 1920x1080 monitor. But in general, a header and some blog content are going to be 'above the fold'.
The term 'above the fold' actually has its origins in newspaper publishing - important stories and photos were placed above the fold - on the top half of the folded newspaper page. When you're first handed a newspaper, you look at the top half first. It was an easy transition from newspapers to websites, since the top area of a webpage is the first thing the reader sees.
~Joy
In a web design context, your above the fold content is what your reader sees without having to scroll down. How much is above the fold depends on the reader - people have different sized screens and different resolutions. I see a lot less on my little EeePC screen than a gamer with a high definition 1920x1080 monitor. But in general, a header and some blog content are going to be 'above the fold'.
The term 'above the fold' actually has its origins in newspaper publishing - important stories and photos were placed above the fold - on the top half of the folded newspaper page. When you're first handed a newspaper, you look at the top half first. It was an easy transition from newspapers to websites, since the top area of a webpage is the first thing the reader sees.
~Joy
Cash for your opinion on Make Money Online sites (and a BONUS!)
September 18, 2009 make money, websites, writingI've been exploring lots of ways of making money online, but it's hard to know what's legitimate or worthwhile. The folks at Internet Marketing Report Card are compiling a site full of reviews for services like Entrecard, Adgitize, paid survey sites, web hosts, and much more.
IM Report Card needs people who have tried out various internet marketing programs and products to give their opinions on them. If you've read ebooks, signed up for programs, or anything to do with making money online, you can give your opinion and get rewarded for it too. IM Report Card gives between 50 and 150 points for each 100+ word review you write on their site (one point = one US cent). You also get points for rating reviews and grading products, and extra points if people think your review is helpful.
I think that Internet Marketing Report Card has a lot of promise in becoming an authoritative resource for what sites are scams and what are legitimate for promoting websites and making money. Plus it's fun! :) Who doesn't like giving their opinion?
There are a few limitations set by the website's owners to ensure a quality site. First, if you click through things too fast, they make you stop and slow down. You have to actually read the reviews before clicking the 'helpful' button. Second, you have to write reviews before you can rate things. Once your review is approved, then you can grade websites and mark comments as helpful or unhelpful. Other than those few pitfalls, this site is easy and enjoyable to use.
I'm going to offer a bonus to anyone who signs up under my referral. After your first cashout (the minimum cashout is $20), I will send you a bonus $5. Just email me at echidna.caribou at gmail.com after you've made your first cashout and I'll send you 5 more dollars via PayPal. You must sign up under my referral link, here. It's my way of thanking you for helping me!
I highly recommend you give Internet Marketing Report Card a try. You don't have anything to lose, and you'll probably learn something too. Good luck!
~Joy
Understanding DoFollow and NoFollow links
July 31, 2009 blogging, search engines, websites
Start reading some blogs about blogging, and I give you about ten minutes before you read something about dofollow and nofollow relations. Dofollow and Nofollow are important concepts for website building and search engine optimization, but they can be hard to understand.
Dofollow and Nofollow are all about backlinks, and what those backlinks will do. Traditionally, a backlink will pass PageRank to the linked site. This is what rel=dofollow does. However, if for whatever reason a website owner does not wish to pass along PageRank to their link, they can use rel=nofollow.
Setting a blog's comments to nofollow discourages comment spammers, who are out looking for PageRank-passing backlinks in the form of spam comments left on popular blog posts. However, it can also discourage comments in general. People can set their comments as dofollow as an incentive to helpful commenters.
By default, Blogspot, Wordpress, and Typepad comments are nofollow. There are plugins that can change the comments to dofollow if the owner wishes. However, since many bloggers do not understand the difference between dofollow and nofollow, few people ever choose to change the default settings, so unless you see it stated that the blog is dofollow (such as You Comment - I Follow), you can assume that the blog is nofollow.
~Joy
Dofollow and Nofollow are all about backlinks, and what those backlinks will do. Traditionally, a backlink will pass PageRank to the linked site. This is what rel=dofollow does. However, if for whatever reason a website owner does not wish to pass along PageRank to their link, they can use rel=nofollow.
Setting a blog's comments to nofollow discourages comment spammers, who are out looking for PageRank-passing backlinks in the form of spam comments left on popular blog posts. However, it can also discourage comments in general. People can set their comments as dofollow as an incentive to helpful commenters.
By default, Blogspot, Wordpress, and Typepad comments are nofollow. There are plugins that can change the comments to dofollow if the owner wishes. However, since many bloggers do not understand the difference between dofollow and nofollow, few people ever choose to change the default settings, so unless you see it stated that the blog is dofollow (such as You Comment - I Follow), you can assume that the blog is nofollow.
~Joy
Google PageRank: What is it, how is it calculated, why is it important?
July 26, 2009 blogging, search engines, SEO, website traffic, websites
The word on every blogger's lips is PageRank, or PR for short. If you're new to blogging and your blog is your first website, you might not understand what PR is, or what exactly it means, or indeed why is Google Page Rank important.
In a nutshell, your page rank will help determine how high or low you fall in Google's search results. A very big, successful website will have a high PR which means that when someone does a search on Google, chances are that big, high-pagerank website will be near the top. So why is Google pagerank important? Page Rank is important because the higher your PR, the more search engine traffic you will be getting!
A note: Google PageRank is not the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). They both influence where a site will turn up in search results, but they are independent of each other. A search engine optimized page may not have a high pagerank, nor will a high-pagerank website necessarily be written for SEO.
Your website's Google page rank is sort of like your reputation with Google. Google knows that some sites are better than others, and this influences their results. While the exact algorithms for determining PR are top-secret, here are some of the things that go in to calculating Google PageRank:
Links. Backlinks are the most important factor for determining Google pagerank. Google assumes that if many people are talking about a page, if the page is linked to by many other websites, then it's a quality page. Think about popular sites that get spread around by sites like Digg and Reddit. Lots of people are talking about those sites, so they have a ton of backlinks. More backlinks = more PR.
The best way to get backlinks is, of course, to have quality content that gets noticed. If your page gets Dugg, or Stumbled, or Redded...it? (;), lots of people will see it and hopefully some of them will link to you on their own site. The amount of PR boost you get from a backlink depends on the PR of the site that's linking to you. So if you get a backlink from a huge site like Digg (PR8), it counts more than a link on someone's PR1 blog.
Other ways to get backlinks include commenting on blogs, participating in forums (linking your site in a post, or in your signature), and other techniques that range from kinda sneaky to downright unethical, which I won't discuss here.
Backlinks are the major influence on the calculation of Google PageRank. However, a few other things are taken into account:
Outbound Links. Links on your own site can affect your own PageRank: Namely, they can negatively impact it. If you have too many links on your page (to the tune of over 100), this will give you a penalty. Also, if you link to websites that Google has marked as shady, you may get a penalty for that as well.
Bounce Rate. Rumor has it that Google PageRank (or at least their general search engine ranking) is affected by a site's bounce rate. Bounce Rate is the percentage of visitors that leave the first page of a website without visiting any other pages. Bounce Rate is very high for blogs, and lower for other sites where more information is held on other pages. A low bounce rate (say, 40% or lower) reflects a quality site.
Age. Older sites have higher PR. Whether the age of a site is a factor in calculating PageRank, or whether it's just a reflection of more time to build pages and collect backlinks, I don't know, but if you have the choice between two domains, one which was just registered and one which is 5 years old, go with the older one for a PR boost.
Page Rank is a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Only the most esteemed sites get PR10, such as Apple's official site, Google Labs, and Nasa.gov.
There are a number of sites that will calculate or estimate your pagerank for you, as well as toolbars you can download. Google releases updated PR info every few months, but in reality a page's Google PageRank is always changing. So, the Google PageRank that you see might be 3 months out of date. Keep this in mind when comparing your site's PageRank with other sites.
~Joy
In a nutshell, your page rank will help determine how high or low you fall in Google's search results. A very big, successful website will have a high PR which means that when someone does a search on Google, chances are that big, high-pagerank website will be near the top. So why is Google pagerank important? Page Rank is important because the higher your PR, the more search engine traffic you will be getting!
A note: Google PageRank is not the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). They both influence where a site will turn up in search results, but they are independent of each other. A search engine optimized page may not have a high pagerank, nor will a high-pagerank website necessarily be written for SEO.
Your website's Google page rank is sort of like your reputation with Google. Google knows that some sites are better than others, and this influences their results. While the exact algorithms for determining PR are top-secret, here are some of the things that go in to calculating Google PageRank:
Links. Backlinks are the most important factor for determining Google pagerank. Google assumes that if many people are talking about a page, if the page is linked to by many other websites, then it's a quality page. Think about popular sites that get spread around by sites like Digg and Reddit. Lots of people are talking about those sites, so they have a ton of backlinks. More backlinks = more PR.
The best way to get backlinks is, of course, to have quality content that gets noticed. If your page gets Dugg, or Stumbled, or Redded...it? (;), lots of people will see it and hopefully some of them will link to you on their own site. The amount of PR boost you get from a backlink depends on the PR of the site that's linking to you. So if you get a backlink from a huge site like Digg (PR8), it counts more than a link on someone's PR1 blog.
Other ways to get backlinks include commenting on blogs, participating in forums (linking your site in a post, or in your signature), and other techniques that range from kinda sneaky to downright unethical, which I won't discuss here.
Backlinks are the major influence on the calculation of Google PageRank. However, a few other things are taken into account:
Outbound Links. Links on your own site can affect your own PageRank: Namely, they can negatively impact it. If you have too many links on your page (to the tune of over 100), this will give you a penalty. Also, if you link to websites that Google has marked as shady, you may get a penalty for that as well.
Bounce Rate. Rumor has it that Google PageRank (or at least their general search engine ranking) is affected by a site's bounce rate. Bounce Rate is the percentage of visitors that leave the first page of a website without visiting any other pages. Bounce Rate is very high for blogs, and lower for other sites where more information is held on other pages. A low bounce rate (say, 40% or lower) reflects a quality site.
Age. Older sites have higher PR. Whether the age of a site is a factor in calculating PageRank, or whether it's just a reflection of more time to build pages and collect backlinks, I don't know, but if you have the choice between two domains, one which was just registered and one which is 5 years old, go with the older one for a PR boost.
Page Rank is a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Only the most esteemed sites get PR10, such as Apple's official site, Google Labs, and Nasa.gov.
There are a number of sites that will calculate or estimate your pagerank for you, as well as toolbars you can download. Google releases updated PR info every few months, but in reality a page's Google PageRank is always changing. So, the Google PageRank that you see might be 3 months out of date. Keep this in mind when comparing your site's PageRank with other sites.
~Joy
You need Google Analytics for your website!
July 11, 2009 blogging, search engines, SEO, website traffic, websites
--Or something like Google Analytics, anyway.
Google Analytics is a free, easy-to-use method of gathering statistics on your website. You put a small piece of code into your website, and Google will start collecting data on your visitors. You will receive information on how many people are visiting, how long they are staying, what browser they are using, what search keywords or what websites they are coming from to get to your site, and much more.
Google Analytics is an extremely powerful tool, and the best thing about it is that it's totally free. I could expect to pay a high monthly fee for such a service. I have Google Analytics code installed on all four of my websites, and I'm very happy with it.
Google Analytics has a bit of a learning curve, because it's so powerful, but there are many things you can learn from the Google Analytics data. To start out simple, let's see what search engine keywords are bringing people to your website. After you have installed the code, wait a few days for Google Analytics to gather data.
Once Google Analytics has collected some visitor data for your site, scroll down to the Traffic Sources pie chart. If you have a red wedge in your chart, that's your search engine traffic. Click 'view report' and view the full keyword report.
It's very important that you know what search keywords are driving people to your website or blog. When you find out what keywords are working, you can work on making sure those keywords are used more often.
Sometimes, you will get search engine traffic from a search term that is not addressed on your site. For instance, on my knitting blog one person searched for "how to dye roving". I don't have a how-to article about dyeing roving on my blog, but it sure would be a good idea to write one! Make sure that when your readers are searching for something, they will get what they want to find. Google Analytics will help you identify what people are searching for when they come to your page.
That's just one of the ways you can use the power of Google Analytics to improve your website or blog. There are other ways too, so poke around on Google Analytics and learn something about your visitors.
~Joy
Google Analytics is a free, easy-to-use method of gathering statistics on your website. You put a small piece of code into your website, and Google will start collecting data on your visitors. You will receive information on how many people are visiting, how long they are staying, what browser they are using, what search keywords or what websites they are coming from to get to your site, and much more.
Google Analytics is an extremely powerful tool, and the best thing about it is that it's totally free. I could expect to pay a high monthly fee for such a service. I have Google Analytics code installed on all four of my websites, and I'm very happy with it.
Google Analytics has a bit of a learning curve, because it's so powerful, but there are many things you can learn from the Google Analytics data. To start out simple, let's see what search engine keywords are bringing people to your website. After you have installed the code, wait a few days for Google Analytics to gather data.
Once Google Analytics has collected some visitor data for your site, scroll down to the Traffic Sources pie chart. If you have a red wedge in your chart, that's your search engine traffic. Click 'view report' and view the full keyword report.
It's very important that you know what search keywords are driving people to your website or blog. When you find out what keywords are working, you can work on making sure those keywords are used more often.
Sometimes, you will get search engine traffic from a search term that is not addressed on your site. For instance, on my knitting blog one person searched for "how to dye roving". I don't have a how-to article about dyeing roving on my blog, but it sure would be a good idea to write one! Make sure that when your readers are searching for something, they will get what they want to find. Google Analytics will help you identify what people are searching for when they come to your page.
That's just one of the ways you can use the power of Google Analytics to improve your website or blog. There are other ways too, so poke around on Google Analytics and learn something about your visitors.
~Joy
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