by Aya Wilkinson

Black Hat technique is a method of Search Engine Optimization that is frowned upon by search engines as well as searchers. If you’ve gotten to the point of searching what Black Hat Optimization is then you already know the purpose of a SEO Consultant what the Search Engine Optimization process. In the past different techniques weren’t separated by good and bad, they were all neutral, however, after a while certain SEO Consultants and other individuals started taking advantage of this process and started using deceit and spamming in order to higher the rank of their web sites. As I mentioned above, these techniques are frowned upon and can easily get a sites rank to be lowered or the site be removed altogether.

Keep in mind that you must avoid Black Hat methods and make sure that your SEO Consultant is aware that you don’t approve of that kind of optimization as they can only lead to trouble. By using these methods you and your company will receive bad reviews from customers long after your web site has been removed by the search engine. There are a couple of Black Hat methods that must be avoided at all costs. When a web site or a page of a web site consists of lists of keywords and tags its called keyword stuffing, or simple word spamming. This Search Engine Optimization method is used to get a higher ranking as well as receive more hits by searchers. If you want to increase traffic to your web site it will not be using this technique, as it will only frustrate the searchers and only get your site removed from the search engine. You, and your SEO Consultant if you choose to have one, can have a good number of true searcher traffic by using the key terms that pertain to your web site in an interesting and useful manner, such as informative text and proper tagging.

The technique that you or your SEO Consultant must avoid is the usage of too many unnecessary keywords in your site will get the attention of search engines. Such use of keywords can be either by posting just lists on the site and nothing else. This will do nothing more than create problems to you and your web site, there are ways of Search Engine Optimization that you can use in order to increase traffic to your web site, and creative ways of using the necessary keywords in texts without attracting the negative attention.

Another Black Hat Search Engine Optimization technique that you and your SEO Consultant should avoid is basically the same as above, however, making the words invisible, because one can’t see the word spamming or word lists doesn’t make it ok to do it. This text is usually masked by making the font the same color as the background, or it being outside the borders of the website. It’s used to attract search engine spiders as well as searchers. It’s the same thing as Keyword Stuffing even if you don’t see the words. This of course, like all the other Black Hat techniques is frowned upon and can lead to web site removal off of the search engine.

Lastly, the final Search Engine Optimization method that is considered Black Hat that you must avoid using is called doorway pages. This method is primarily used to attract search spiders and search engines in order to get higher ranking and more traffic. The web site is made one way for search engines and search engine spiders, and then if a human goes into the web site they are redirected to a different web site. At this point however search engines and spiders have been made smarter and spot doorway pages and don’t list them as well as find them and remove them when necessary. Prior to working with your SEO Consultant make sure that they do not use this method or any of the above methods mentioned as they will not have a long term positive effects.

It’s always tempting to try and find new ways of improving your web sites rating and views, however, unfortunately that doesn’t mean you have to use Black Hat Optimization, as that doesn’t offer any long term profits. For a short period of time your web site will get more visitations and be highly ranked, however, that is short-lived and you lose customers to your web site and company and risk getting your web site removed altogether. The risk is just not worth it and it is time consuming. There are plenty of honest ways, referred to as White Hat, ways of attracting attention and higher rank to your web site.

It’s important not only to know of the Black Hat Search Engine Optimization Techniques, but also learn the White Hat techniques in order to better utilize your tools and create a better web site that serves both you and the searchers. The most important thing that you and your SEO Consultant need to know and research are the type of customers and viewers you want to attract to your web site. Also getting a specialist to work on your site will give you the upper hand as they know different techniques and ways of assisting you and your business. If you choose to use Search Engine Optimization without hiring an SEO Consultant, make sure you know the necessary White Hat techniques and avoid any that are frowned upon by search engines.

In conclusion, keep in mind that the deceitful and frowned upon Black Hat Search Engine Optimization techniques are not the best way to go. The most that they can get for you is short-lived hype followed by your site being removed from the search engine. It’s important to learn and use the White Hat techniques and make sure that your SEO Consultant uses them as well, and get the best out of your web site.

About the Author:

Writing on Search Engine Optimisation is like a passion for Aya Wilkinson. Her writings about latest trends in SEO can be found at the site SEO Consultants She has handsome experience of running the SEO Company

Have you been reading about Internet marketing success stories? Have you ever wondered  how even absolute novices become so successful ?

Internet marketers earning $700 dollars a month and within four or five years making over $800,000 a year in profits.How do the successful online enterprenuers go from just a few dollars or better still ZERO income to several thousands in just a number of years?

Where did the additional sales come from?

Just think about it.

Where did all the traffic that seems to be non-existent come from?

Where are all the new clients from?

How come the sales keep increasing year after year?

They must be doing something different. Yes of course they are doing things differently and more so rightly but don’t forget that in addition to that there are now more people than ever having access to the internet on a daily basis. Presently, in almost every corner of the globe you are likely to be able to link up to the internet even in places where you least expect it. Thanks to the advent of telecommunication companies providing that facility on their networks. You don’t need a computer to access the web; just a phone may be enough.

So just imagine the client base…MASSIVE.

But bear in mind that even if you are employing all the “top-notch” techniques….it will still take time and effort to reach majority of them to ramp up traffic and sales. The top-notch techniques being:

- Provision of a valuable product or service that is in demand
- Search Engine Optimization
- Article marketing
- Email marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Utilizing Web 2.0
- Participating in joint ventures
- Blogging
- Optimizing keywords
- Targeting social media
- Link exchanges
- Networking

As long as you offer something that is valuable and in demand….there will always be plenty of hungry customers who would want what you have.

But remember, it won’t happen overnight

What is RSS?

RSS (also known as “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”) is a format  employed  to publish regularly updated content—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video. The ‘syndication’ in RSS means republishing an article that comes from another source such as a website.

RSS provides a means of publicizing updates about websites. It may or may not include a summary and images of the latest posting. But those that provide summaries (thus Rich Site Summary) allow users to scan through the article so that they could decide  if they want to access the website source. The RSS feed usually contains the title of the update originating from the website. It is also usually the link to the website source.

What are the benefits of RSS?

RSS gives benefits to both readers (users) and web publishers.

1.            It gives you the latest updates.

Whether it is about the weather, new music, software upgrade, local news, or a new posting from a rarely-updates site learn about the latest as soon as it comes out.

2.            It saves on surfing time.

Since an RSS feed provides a summary of the related article, it saves the user’s time by helping s/he decide on which items to prioritize when reading or browsing the net.

3.            It gives the power of subscription to the user.

Users are given a free-hand on which websites to subscribe in their RSS aggregators which they can change at any time they decide differently.

4.            It lessens the clutter in your inbox.

Although your email address will be required to enjoy the services of online RSS aggregators, RSS does not use your email address to send the updates.

5.            It is spam free.

Unlike email subscriptions, RSS does not make use of your email address to send updates thus your privacy is kept safe from spam mails.

6.            Unsubscribing is hassle-free.

Unlike email subscriptions where the user is asked questions on why s/he is unsubscribing and then the user would be asked to confirm unsubscribing, all you have to do is to delete the RSS feed from your aggregator.

7.            It can be used as an advertising or marketing tool.

Users who subscribe or syndicate product websites receive the latest news on products and services without the website sending spam mail. This is advantageous to both the web user and the website owner since advertising becomes targeted; those who are actually interested in their products are kept posted.

What are the drawbacks of RSS?

The disadvantages of RSS use are brought about by its being relatively new technology and some user-preference concerns.

1.            Some users prefer receiving email updates over an RSS feed.

2.            Graphics and photos do not appear in all RSS feeds.

For conciseness and ease of publication, RSS feeds do not display the photos from the original site in announcing the update except for some web-based aggregators

3.            The identity of the source website can be confusing.

Since RSS feeds do not display the actual URL or name of the website, it can sometimes get confusing on what feed a user is actually reading.

4.            Publishers cannot determine how many users are subscribed to their feed and the frequency of their visits. Moreover, they would not know the reasons why users unsubscribe which could be important in improving their advertising.

5.            RSS feeds create higher traffic and demands on the server.

Most readers still prefer the whole update over a brief summary of the entry, thus they still access the site.

6.            Since it is a new technology, many sites still do not support RSS.

How do I start using RSS?

There are two things needed: an RSS feed and an RSS aggregator or reader. The RSS feed comes from an RSS-supported website. There are also websites that provide a list of RSS feeds of different websites. An RSS aggregator is used to read the RSS feed from the source website. It scans and collects data on latest RSS feeds from the worldwide web.

An aggregator comes in two forms: a downloadable program also known as desktop aggregator and an online or web-based aggregator. Downloadable aggregators may require payment before they can be acquired, while internet-based aggregators are usually free of charge. All you need to do is to register an account then you are ready to use their services. Both versions allow you to customize or choose which RSS feeds to enter. Paid aggregators are usually chosen by more experienced users and they usually allow more freedom in customizing feeds.

1.            Choose an RSS aggregator to use. For beginners, web-based aggregators are recommended since they are usually user-friendly

2.            Scan the homepage of your target website for the RSS or XML button. It contains the RSS code you need to enter in the aggregator. Copy this code.

3.            Paste the code (which contains the URL of the website) in your aggregator. There is a space provided for pasting the code.

After you have done these three easy steps, you can start reading the RSS feeds coming from the website. New postings appear as they are published real time at the source website.

I guess you may have realized its been quite a while since I updated my blog.it was a deliberate risk I took purposely to prioritize the internet marketing tools I employ . I have been utilizing article submission in my online business for sometime now and I am very familiar with its successes but sometimes one cannot be sure which marketing tool is the most effective. I  occassionally dare to try out exercises just to be utterly convinced and with this one I must confess I was totally elated at the end.

It is an open secret that the search engines are very unfriendly to sites which are not frequently updated -any hard earned rating would appear to plummet after a while.But from studies  it has been realized that un-updated sites can still enjoy huge traffic with backilnks.

In my case I decided to submit just a few articles with backlinks in my author resource to a significantly reduced  number of article directories with ratings I randomly chose just to observe its influence on my ranking. I had decided  to just try it for a couple of weeks  whilst working on my other  several money making sites.

To my astonishment I observed my rankings were improving  considerably and that even gave me the impetus to linger on with the trial. Considering the number of articles submitted and recipient directories the performance of this technique has proved to be exceptionally impressive and has actually jumped to the top most marketing tool I have decided to employ.

Article submission by all standards is a ‘MUST EMPLOY’ marketing technique for every aspiring internet marketer but therein lies a catch,the content must be UNIQUE and ORIGINAL.

You must not do without article submission.Submit your articles to several article directories, let your voice be heard and be respected as an authority. You can get one of the most sought after ‘article submitter softwares ‘  on the web at onlinebizbay at a heavily discounted price.

Article Submitter is EVERYTHING you need to start driving insane traffic to your web site .

Before I delve into the issue of building competitive websites let me touch on a subject of concern which has made affiliate marketing so attractive.

There is the myth that affiliate marketing is a get rich quick scheme and that one can become rich overnight. If you entertain such a belief I am sorry you might be disappointed .There may be some who are fortunate to make it big in the shortest possible time but that is just a handful. Majority don’t find success with affiliate marketing and those who do so labour for it.

Affiliate marketing demands hard work, patience and perseverance. Don’t get me wrong, affiliate can be tremendously rewarding for anyone but trust me ,it demands time investment ,knowing the right products and the right strategies, without these your efforts may be fruitless.

Now back to business.

If you want to go into affiliate marketing you should consider owning a website, not just any website but a professionally looking one as first impression always counts. If you don’t know how to develop one and you don’t have time on your hands, it would be better to outsource it but before you consider that it would be prudent to check on the various page generation tools and quick launch sites available on the internet. They make website development very easy even for the technologically challenged.

How do you go about building an affiliate website that would stand out from the crowd?

First you must have already decided on the theme of your website, the products or services you will be promoting - this would give you a fair idea of the layout of your web pages

The next is to choose a domain name and webhost. The right choice of a domain is critical to your success. The domain should have keywords which are consistent with your niche as it contributes significantly to drawing visitors to your website.

For hosting, do a little research on the quality of service, support system and the uptime guarantees. There are many webhosts claiming optimum service, Check client reviews for unbiased assessment before purchasing.

Now that you have your domain name and host, you can start creating pages. It is very useful to hop around the various affiliate websites and study the designs and features that attract you as a visitor. Learn and incorporate them into your site - copying ideas is no sin, as the adage says ‘no man is an island’.

If you are not well versed with designing, you can readily purchase already made templates and do some tweaking but I would advise that you put a little effort into learning basic html and web design. It would give you confident control of affairs on your website. Affiliate marketing is a long term venture and you need a good grasp of basic web technology in order to maximize profits.

The key to drawing visitors to your site is quality content .It is a component you must pay serious attention to, in fact in my opinion it should be top priority second to the appearance of your website. The reason why people come to your website is content and if they don’t find it, they would definately go somewhere else.

Write interesting articles concerning your niche. Let visitors acknowledge your expertise, an attribute which would cultivate trust in you. If you already have your affiliate programs insert the links in the articles but with caution. Loading your articles with so many affiliate links would betray you as attempting to exploit your reader. Be circumspect and focus on providing valuable information pointing to vendor sites where necessary. Remember that poor content means low readership, no sales and ultimately no commissions.

Write product reviews on the products you are endorsing. the best way to that is to have a first hand experience with the product itself. It would place you in a better position to provide additional information of value to would be buyers.

Don’t place too many banners on your website. It can be very distracting and may eventually compel the visitor to skip to another site for more interesting stuff. Moreover, banners are not the means of advertising.

 So in synopsis,owning a website as an affiliate is strongly recommended but what matters most is how you build it. The quality of your website makes the difference.

To your success

Bizinspirer

Many people appreciate the significant benefits of blogging and its influence on building credibility and reputation but in order to get the most out blogs the art of writing compelling posts should be consciously developed.If you are directing huge traffic to your site but the content is junk, you achieve nothing. Fortunately you don’t need a degree to write compelling posts. This skill can be easily developed.

There are a number of options for consideration in writing blogs ;focusing on fresh rich content that is well written and valuable to your readers , reviewing various products to help buyers make informed decisions before making purchases or expressing your views and thoughts on news publications.

As I said earlier, developing skills for writing compelling posts is not brain surgery, it all depends on your interest and determination.

Below are some guidelines which are helpful for effective blogging.

• Avoid writing very long sentences and paragraphs. - They usually deter readers from reading further – bear in mind readers usually lose interest within the first 20secs .Short paragraphs incite further reading.

• Make your titles catchy to attract attention but at the same time search engine optimized.

• Stir desire – This very much depends on your goal. If you are promoting an affiliate product it is necessary to generate that compelling craving for that product and if it is for informational purposes only this principle still applies to ensure the reader to stick around for long.

• Don’t be too formal. Most readers tend to relate better to blogs with a more personal touch.

• Inject some humor - A little tickling of the humor nerve makes reading exciting.

• White space is a valuable asset. Employ it.

It makes reading easier.Nothing is harder to read than a thick block of text.

• Use bullet points wherever necessary. They effectively bring out the salient points.

• Select a tone and maintain its consistency throughout the blog.

• Call for action – Make sure you include that call for action in your post or blog. There is always something you want your readers to do, either to leave a comment or purchase a product. A successful blogger does well to ensure that readers stick around for long and take an action.

• Keep out slang terms as some readers are easily offended. Make use of words that are easily understood by many people. Bear in mind that your readers come from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds.

• Avoid using too many abbreviations – it makes reading difficult.

In making a blog to share your opinions, ideas or knowledge,  sincerity should be felt in every post. Readers do readily appreciate that.

If you are interested making serious money from your blogs then I strongly recommend you get a copy Rob Benwell’s valuable informational guide and tools for creating long term blog profits.

To your success

Bizinspirer

1.Develop an interesting title for your topic. Many people will read it.

2.Make sure that you write original content on forums.

 3.Employ auto submission services or software to submit your articles to hundreds of article directories.

4.Download and activate “All-in-one SEO plugin”. This will give your blog some SEO advantages.

5.Download “Sitemap plugin” and activate it.

6.Turn  your blog title into the keywords you want to rank for.

7.Include keywords you want to rank in your blog’s tagline.

8.Publish  a new blog post daily.

9.Submit your blog to blog directories

10.Add more websites to the ‘Ping’ list (Note that this is available only in Wordpress blog admin area).

11.If you are not using wordpress blog, use AutoPinger.com to ‘Ping’ everytime you write a new post.

12.Create valuable and informational videos and upload them on YouTube.com.

13.Upload to many other video directories with TubeMogul.com too.

14.Develop contents that add value.

15.Create a topic for your blog on which you are the first one to talk about. You become the original source of the information and you will be recommended when they talk about the topic you started.

16.Give valuable comments on popular blogs that are related to your blog.

17.If you don’t know any popular blogs, you can do a  search  on Technorati.com

18.Be the first to give comments. The blog readers and owner will notice you and click on the link to your blog.

19.Give comments that stand out.

20.Search for forums which is discussing the same topic as your blog. Join the conversation and remember to put a link at your signature.

1. Update the pages on your website frequently. Stagnant sites are dropped by some search engines. You can even put a date counter on the page to show when it was last updated.

2. Offer additional value on your website. For affiliates and partners you can place links to their sites and products and ask them to do the same for you. You can also advertise their books or videos, if these products relate to your industry and are not in competition with your own product.

3. You can allow customers to ‘opt in’ to get discounts and special offers. Place a link on your site to invite customers to ‘opt in’ to get a monthly newsletter or valuable coupons.

4. Add a link to your primary page with a script ‘Book Mark or Add this site to your Favorites’.

5. Add a link ‘Recommend this site to a Friend’ so that the visitor can email your website link, with a prewritten title, “Thought you might be interested in this”, just by clicking on it.

6. Brand your website so that visitors always know they are on your site. Use consistent colors, logos and slogans and always provide a ‘Contact Us’ link on each page.

7. Create a ‘Our Policies’ page that clearly defines your philosophy and principles in dealing with your customers. Also post your privacy policy as well so that clients know they are secure when they visit your site.

8. Create a FAQ page which addresses most of the doubts and clarifications about your product or your company that are likely to be asked. This helps to resolve most of the customers doubts in their first visit to your site.

8. Ensure that each page on your website has appropriate titles and keywords so that your customer can find their way back to your site if they lose the book mark.

9. Never spam a client, who has opted for newsletters, with unsolicited emails. Later if they decide they want to ‘opt out’ of the mailings, be sure you honor their request and take them off the mailing list. They may still come back if they like your products. But they will certainly not come back if you continue to flood their email box with mails they no longer wish to receive.

To your success

Bizinspirer

You’ve probably come across the word Adwords at least once or twice. You know it has got something to do with Google but if you were asked what AdWords really is, would you be able to answer the question? If your answer is no, reading on will help you do just that.

If you’ve conducted at least one search via Google’s website, then you have already seen these Adwords. These are the text advertisements that appear on the results page of your Google search.

For example, you’re looking up information on digital cameras. You would very likely then type in the words “digital” and “cameras” into the Google search box. Those words are called keywords and Google uses them as the basis to look for information on the Web.

Google publishes its findings back to you on what’s called a results page. The results page is a list of webpages Google suggests you visit to know more about your topic of inquiry (in this case digital cameras).

On the results page there are text ads. One is about an online store that sells cameras, while another is from a company that offers probably photography services.

Now you may think that it’s pretty cool (and coincidental) that the ads that appear on the results page have something to do with your topic of interest. But what you should know is that this coincidence is in fact, planned on purpose by Google – and this is how AdWords works. By typing keywords into the search box, you have identified what kind of advertisers will appear on your results page.

To get a clearer understanding of how this works, try to picture yourself as an owner of a business (in this case, a camera sales and repair shop) with a website. As a business owner, you need to let people know about your business and that means you need to advertise.

Before AdWords, that meant you had to spend a huge amount of money on print, radio or TV ads. For smaller businesses it might mean making flyers and posters to be distributed in your area. But that, too, takes time and money.

To make things less encouraging, there is no surefire way of knowing that the people who’ll be seeing your ad are actually interested in seeing it, much less on your actual product or service.

With AdWords, not only are you showing your advertisement to people who are interested in your product, you also spend a significantly less amount of time and money in producing it. This is because of primarily two reasons:

1. Keywords are what matters.

In placing your ad with Google AdWords, you don’t need to spend on expensive productions. All you need is a keen sense of knowing how your (potential) customer thinks.

As in the previous example, when a person types in “digital cameras” on Google’s search box, it means he is looking for information about the topic, hence, interested in knowing more.

Google allows you to capitalize on this interest by giving you the opportunity to show the user your advertisement for your camera shop. The user is already interested about your line of business and therefore chances are good that he will read your ad.

Knowing what keywords people will use to look up information allows you to address your ad to a more specific target.

2. Pay only when they click through.

The other great thing about Google AdWords is that the cost of advertising is brought down to very manageable levels. Unlike conventional advertisements where you have to pay FIRST before your ad is shown, Google charges you only when a user clicks on your ad to visit your website.

Just how much is charged for every click? Only as much as you want it to be. Google has implemented a bidding system to “sell” keywords where advertisers, just like you, will dictate how much a cost-per-click (CPC) on an ad will be. The general principle being: the more popular the keyword is, the more expensive it can become.

For example in this case, the CPC on a results page using the (more popular) keywords “digital camera” may cost 50 cents while the CPC on an ad appearing on the results page for the (not so popular) keywords “camera lens maintenance” may just be 20 cents.

However, don’t be misled with this seemingly low cost. Agreeing to pay 50 cents per click may not seem much, but if 200 people click on your ad every day, you’re looking at $3000 per month. Even for a medium-sized business, that is still something to consider. This is where smarter advertisers not only spend less in advertising but also increase their revenue by converting more casual visitors to actual customers.

By using more specific keywords you show your ad to a person whose interests are that much closer to what your business is offering. Therefore, when he clicks on your ad to go visit your website, it is no longer your burden to convince him he needs your product or service.

With this setup, it is not far-fetched to being able to conduct a nationwide ad campaign for your business at a dollar a day AND see encouraging results on the bottomline.

In the end however, all these innovations still build on the foundation of knowing your customer and how they think. Once you’ve got this down pat, AdWords then becomes a much more powerful tool that can increase your online business’ potential to make profit.

To your success

bizinspirer