How To Get One Way Back Links From Other Webmasters

To be able to achieve success in the World Wide Web, you need traffic. Traffic, as has been said many times, is the lifeblood of any website. Without traffic, you can never achieve any profit in cyberspace.

The best way to generate the traffic that you need is by placing highly in the search engine results. And to do this, your website needs to have a high page rank. One of the more vital determinative factors of increasing your website’s page rank is the number of relevant back links pointing to your URL.

Now here’s the catch. It’s not as easy as exchanging back links with another webmaster. What you need is to gain one way back links from different sources. This is what search engines want. And this is what you should aim for.

How can you convince other webmasters to include a link of yours in their web pages? Here are some tactics you can employ.

- The best way to get some unilateral links is to ask other webmasters. You don’t have to employ subterfuge, as some of these webmasters will be kind enough to assent to your request. There’s no need to bribe them with all varieties of kindness even. You’ll be surprised with the sheer number of webmaster who will actually agree to your request. The important thing is that you try this route.

- Often however, it’s a “what’s in it for me” business. Offering a link back to his website usually does the trick, but then again, we’re after one way links here, not reciprocal ones. One of the better ways to win his assent is to offer him something that he needs for his website. We’re talking about content, of course, as every webmaster needs content. Write an article for him, and exclusively for him, with a subject that is relevant to his website. Then ask if you can include your link within the article. 90% of the time, such a webmaster will agree. How can he say no to free content?

- Another offer you can use as lure for webmasters for that vital virtual real estate that can host your website’s URL is an incentive program. If your website is selling some products, for example, you can tell the webmaster that you’d give the visitors that will come from his website a substantial discount. Such visitors will develop a sense of loyalty for the webmaster, and your proposition will be something that he’ll find difficult to dismiss.

- By far the best way to encourage webmasters from all over the World Wide Web to include your link in their web pages is by establishing an affiliate program. Such an affiliate program will reward these webmasters a specified commission for every sale they will manage to refer. John Reese, in one of his amazing Traffic Secrets conventions, said that if you’re not using affiliate programs, there’s something seriously wrong with you. Indeed, affiliate programs are the most efficient and the most expedient way of building your back links.

- Viral marketing is the next most effective way of gaining some back links, and this time, you won’t even have to actively invite people to include your URL in their web pages. Viral marketing comes in many forms. Just take a look at www.blogthings.com which provides a slew of cool additions for blog users. Because of the very interesting nature of what it provides, the website garners thousands of visitors per day without even having to advertise them. It’s all word of mouth. MySpace grew the same way. It’s system is viral in nature, and it expanded by nature as well.

 

 

Social Media Marketing Tools - Putting Your Finger on the Pulse of the Web

Copyright (c) 2011 Enzo F. Cesario

Time makes a mockery of most predictions. Once derided as the tools and hobbies of hopeless shut-ins and intellectual ivory tower sorts, social media sites such as PayPal, Facebook and LinkedIn have become the home of an entirely new, powerhouse economy. Where hundreds of years of war and diplomacy have failed, social media marketing has succeeded in bringing people around the globe together in the pursuit of common interests and open markets. Social media marketing is the home of successful brand promotion, and finding the right mix of tools to take advantage of it has become the defining issue of the modern brand.

When people refer to SMM tools, they are discussing a host of applications and programs that allow real-time and long-term feedback on the performance of their social networks. This kind of information goes beyond the purely mechanistic approach of SEO and website performance, moving into the realm of genuine social engineering. Social media tools can track the number of times a brand is being mentioned across each network, compare traffic between networks, determine where the buzz is starting and which path it took to get from, say, Digg to Facebook. Knowing the focus of each of these tools and the best way to use them is the key to bringing all this power under control and using it to help promote a brand to its full potential.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck is an excellent platform for brands to manage social networks. A simple, efficient, all-in-one approach makes TweetDeck very useful for getting updates out quickly to a number of locations. TweetDeck supports Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, GoogleBuzz, LinkedIn and Foursquare, giving a user easy access to all of the major networks. Users can send out status updates to any or all of these at once, allowing unified messages to be spread in a single step, without the potential to forget one. However, it does have its limitations. Very heavy traffic to multiple accounts can slow down its efficiency, making it more of a startup and middleweight tool than a long-term solution.

HootSuite

Similar to TweetDeck in that it is targeted toward smaller businesses, HootSuite is an alternative tool that allows for several levels of customization. For starters, the basic package is completely free, and will support five networks of the user's choosing. Currently available platforms include Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn, MySpace, FourSquare, Facebook and PingFm. Upgrading to paid subscriptions allows additional networks to be included.

HootSuite really shines because it offers steady "streams" of information about each of the user's networks, allowing the aforementioned real-time monitoring of web traffic. If a particular network is flagging or performing particularly well, it will be brought to the manager's attention. Further, HootSuite provides user bios and links to various users' social networking profiles, allowing a brand to tailor its content to the needs of the market more efficiently. The information is a bit limited in the default package, but even upgrading to the $5.99 a month subscription brings a great deal more detail to hand.

Engage121

For larger businesses looking to make their mark in the social networking world, Engage121 offers a number of more powerful options. This is a program for professional social networking managers, because it is entirely customizable to the exact needs of a business. One of its touted features, for example, is the ability of a local office to examine, modify and approve messages from the central branch. In this vein, a generic message can be sent out about company directives, while allowing each branch to add or delete content based on the relevance it has to their own particular mission. Thus a large clothing chain won't waste time sending out messages about their new swimwear line to their regional users in Alaska.

However, it has to be stressed once again that Engage 121 is not a tool for beginners. The sheer number of options can be daunting to put in the hands of an inexperienced manager. It's best to offer it to someone with a great deal of skill under his or her hat who can offer a specific plan of attack for using this tool.

General Thoughts

As a more broad consideration, there's no reason to limit oneself to any one of these applications, or indeed any of their competitors. A sound SMM strategy might, in fact, use several programs at once, either to get multiple sources of information or to test out which works best for a given company's needs. Then as the brand grows and needs increase, the manager can move up to more robust software and applications that better service the needs of the company.

Above all, remember the axiom that these tools are based on the need to promote communication between brand and audience. They are not meant to reduce the users of the network to data that can be analyzed and directed — these are people with their own minds and agendas, who will respond in kind if they feel slighted or taken advantage of. Instead, they should be used as a way to get information about what people want to talk about and to build a brand's reputation.

________________________________

Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist
and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content
agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos
and social media in the "voice" of our client's
brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more
recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to
http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at
http://www.iBrandCasting.com/

Website Keyword Selection

By M. Saqib Ansari

Search engines are the vehicles that drive potential customers to your websites. Since search engines are the first stop for people on the Internet looking for goods or services, the position that your website appears in search results is an important factor. But in order for visitors to reach their target site (your website), you need to provide them with specific and effective signs that will direct them right to your site. You do this by creating carefully chosen keywords.
Find the exactly right words or phrases, and presto! hoards of traffic will be pulling up to your front door. But if your keywords are too general or too over-used, the possibility of visitors actually making it all the way to your site or of seeing any real profits from the visitors that do arrive decreases dramatically.
Your keywords serve as the foundation of your marketing strategy. If they are not chosen with great precision, no matter how aggressive your marketing campaign may be, the right people may never get the chance to find out about it. So your first step in developing your strategy is to gather and evaluate keywords and phrases.
You probably think that you already know EXACTLY the right words for your search phrases. Unfortunately, if you haven't followed certain specific steps, you are probably WRONG. It's hard to focus when you are right in the center of your business network, which is the reason that you may not be able to choose the most efficient keywords from the inside. You need to be able to think like your customers. And since you are a business owner and not the consumer, your best bet is to go directly to the source.
Instead of plunging in and scribbling down a list of potential search words and phrases yourself, ask for words from as many potential customers as you can. You will most likely find out that your understanding of your business and your customers' understanding is significantly different.
The consumer is an invaluable resource. You will find the words you gather from them are words and phrases you probably never would have considered from deep inside the trenches of your business.
Only after you have gathered as many words and phrases from outside resources should you add your own keyword to the list. Once you have this list in hand, you are ready for the next step: evaluation.
The aim of evaluation is to narrow down your list to a small number of words and phrases that will direct the highest number of quality visitors to your website. By "quality visitors" I mean those consumers who are most likely to make a purchase rather than just cruise around your site and take off for greener pastures. In evaluating the effectiveness of keywords, bear in mind three elements:

1. Popularity
2. Specificity
3. Motivation

Popularity is the easiest to evaluate because it is an objective quality. The more popular your keyword is, the more likely the chances are that it will be typed into a search engine which will then bring up your URL.
You can now purchase software that will rate the popularity of keywords and phrases by giving words a number rating based on real search engine activity. Software such as WordTracker will even suggest variations of your words and phrases. The higher the number that the software assigns to a given keyword, the more traffic you can logically expect to be directed to your site. The only fallacy with this concept is the more popular the keyword is, the greater the search engine position you will need to obtain. If you are down at the bottom of the search results, the consumer will probably never scroll down to find you.
Popularity isn't enough to declare a keyword a good choice. You must move on to the next criteria, which is specificity. The more specific your keyword is, the greater the likelihood that the consumer who is ready to purchase your goods or services will find you.
Let's look at a hypothetical example. Imagine that you have obtained popularity rankings for the keyword "automobile companies." However, you company specializes in bodywork only. The keyword "automobile body shops" would rank lower on the popularity scale than "automobile companies," but it would nevertheless serve you much better. Instead of getting a slew of people interested in everything from buying a car to changing their oil filters, you will get only those consumers with trashed front ends or crumpled fenders being directed to your site. In other words, consumers ready to buy your services are the ones who will immediately find you. Not only that, but the greater the specificity of your keyword is, the less competition you will face.
The third factor is consumer motivation. Once again, this requires putting yourself inside the mind of the customer rather than the seller to figure out what motivation prompts a person looking for a service or product to type in a particular word or phrase. Let's look at another example, such as a consumer who is searching for a job as an IT manager in a new city. If you have to choose between "Seattle job listings" and "Seattle IT recruiters" which do you think will benefit the consumer more? If you were looking for this type of specific job, which keyword would you type in? The second one, of course! Using the second keyword targets people who have decided on their career, have the necessary experience, and are ready to enlist you as their recruiter, rather than someone just out of school who is casually trying to figure out what to do with his or her life in between beer parties. You want to find people who are ready to act or make a purchase, and this requires subtle tinkering of your keywords until your find the most specific and directly targeted phrases to bring the most motivated traffic to you site.
Once you have chosen your keywords, your work is not done. You must continually evaluate performance across a variety of search engines, bearing in mind that times and trends change, as does popular lingo. You cannot rely on your log traffic analysis alone because it will not tell you how many of your visitors actually made a purchase.
Luckily, some new tools have been invented to help you determine the effectiveness of your keywords by individual search engines. There is currently a software that analyzes consumer behavior in relation to consumer traffic. This allows you to discern which keywords are bringing you the most valuable customers.
This is an essential concept: numbers alone do not make a good keyword; profits per visitor do. You need to find keywords that direct consumers to your site who actually buy your product, fill out your forms, or download your product. This is the most important factor in evaluating the efficacy of a keyword or phrase, and should be the sword you wield when discarding and replacing ineffective or inefficient keywords with keywords that bring in better profits.
Ongoing analysis of tested keywords is the formula for search engine success. This may sound like a lot of work - and it is! But the amount of informed effort you put into your keyword campaign is what will ultimately generate your business' revenues.

Article source: http://www.articles-heaven.com/articles/?Keywords-Selection&articleid=159

Web Hosting & Search Engine Optimization

If you feel that everything possible has been done to your web site to meet all high search engine ranking criteria and you still do not find your site ranked at the top of search engines, you web hosting service may be to blame...

How Can My Web Host Affect My Rankings?

• If your server is not guaranteed to be up 99.9% of the time, there is a good chance your site will be down when a spider or editor visits your pages.  If your site is not viewable, it could be detrimental to your rankings. 
   
• If you do not have twenty-four hour access to your files, this will eventually slow the optimization process of your site. 
   
• Free hosting services can be slow, often require pop-up ads and experience frequent down time. 
   
• There could be numerous banned web sites being hosted from your server or from the very same IP address that your site resides on.

What You Want In A Hosting Service 
For Successful Search Engine Optimization...

• A unique I.P. address for each of your sites. (There is some controversy over the necessity of this, but we highly recommend having a unique I.P. address for each site and that you are sharing your I.P. with no one.  If you are sharing your IP with multiple sites, the search engines could automatically ignore your site if there have been many incidents of spamming from other sites using the same IP as you are using.) 
   
• Guaranteed 99.9% up-time -- Be sure to monitor this. 
   
• A service that allows you twenty-four hour access to your files. 
   
• The ability to up-load files at YOUR convenience. 
   
• Technical assistance that is available at least during business hours on normal occasions.

Following the above tips will give your site one more added boost to increasing the accessibility of your pages for better indexing and ranking potential.

Source : http://www.internetmarketingwebsites.com/web-hosting-search-engine-optimization.htm

 

 

Use of H1 tags in SEO

H1 tags are one of the most important part of SEO which is the header tag situated in body of a website. It can be termed as the most simple form of header found on a web page. Through h1 tags search engines come to know about the site content details. If its used in proper co-ordination with anchor text and title tag then you can even expect increased density of website traffic from major search engines like Yahoo, MSN and Google. 

 

Although the feature of h1 tags is not new and is present since years, but from last few years its significance has grown due to increased demand by Google. It carries much more importance than keyword meta tag and description meta tag. The best position to place these H1 tags is at the header situated above the content. Experts recommend to exclude the HREF links from the tag. When you keep a link in h1 tag, it gives the impression to the search engines that the linked web page is more important rather than the present page. 

 

Those desiring to keep a descriptive link to their own page can use the link along with proper anchor text including content of that particular web page. The tags produced by h1 are of largest form, and are very important requiring to be used independently having same HTML commands. 

 

They also consists of same attributes having higher level of suitability like the Class, Align and ID attributes. Always keep the header tag at the top of the web page. You should know this that- when Google scans a web page, it goes from top left to the bottom right of the page. Search engines generally view websites from text perspective instead of graphical point of view. 

 

Place the h1 header tag on the top left hand side or middle part of your web page, as here the main content is found. You can even use the h1 header tag as the title for the content present on that particular page. 

 

You can also construct sub-keywords having same heading tags. In order to separate the text in the tags they are made BOLD, thus they get separated from other text on the page. 

 

Usually search engines are in the search of important and authentic text on the web pages. And when h1 tags are used, they are considered signifying anything important thus giving more visibility to the heading tags.

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• According to Google, 20% of its searches are local search
• Google uses local business listings at the top of their search engine results

For as little as $20 NeedMoreHits will review, optimize and post your business listing in Google ensuring you get maximum exposure through out the organic and local search results in Google.
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What is your website worth?

The real SEO question. What is my website worth? Answering such a question is near impossible. However using one of the latest website valuation tools such as RealWebWorth you may see an estimation of what your website or domain could be worth.
Keep in mind this is going by your back links, Alexa rank, Google page rank and any other statistics used in the valuation algorithm. Simply put, this is how much your website maybe worth purely from a statistical standpoint
Before seeking a loan to buy that website or domain youíve always dreamed of, it is important that you spend some time doing some traffic and back link research. After all, Such a risk is unnecessary in this day and age. One of the best ways of finding this information is using a website calculator. Compare websites relative to your own. You get a sneak peak at how they are doing and what their keywords are etc.
RealWebWorth also includes some basic Alexa graphs so you can view how the website has performed over the last few months. You may view the top50 of the highest valued websites on the internet. The top50 gives you an overview of how these high traffic sites perform against each other.

Drive Traffic With Google Local Business Listings

Are you looking for a cost effective way to further promote your business online?
Register your business today!

• According to Google, 20% of its searches are local search
• Google uses local business listings at the top of their search engine results

For as little as $20 NeedMoreHits will review, optimize and post your business listing in Google ensuring you get maximum exposure through out the organic and local search results in Google.
Register your business today @ NeedMoreHits.com!
Website calculators are not just for SEO companies but also for the average Joe wanting to keep track of his siteís potential value. Unlike most website calculators RealWebWorth lets you value a subdomain and give you a rough idea of how much its worth. A subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. For example, mail.example.com and calendar.example.com are subdomains of the example.com domain.
Simple is better. RealWebWorth is not alone as a website calculator. There are heaps to choose from. A lot have fancy websites with so many numbers, its bound to make your head spin. RealWebWorth keeps its calculations simple and direct. If you want to know more you can drop an email through to their contact form.
Best of all you donít have to pay a cent for the use of this amazing website valuation tool. Save time and work smarter. Instead of doing hours of endless research let them do it for you. If you are in doubt always do your own research before investing your grandmaís inheritance.
Visit RealWebWorth to start calculating your websites today!

Yahoo Instant Search

Before Google solidified its hold on the Internet, Yahoo Search was the top Web destination. Now, Yahoo is struggling to compete and take its place back at the top.
The year 2011 seems like a promising year for Yahoo Search, though. Just this 23rd of March, the search engine released Yahoo Search Direct, a new tool similar to Google Instant Search.
As with Google Instant Search, Search Direct gives you results as you type in the search box. So what’s in it for us users? Well, for starters, you get faster results, and there is less typing and clicking involved.

Search Direct brings you results in real time the moment you click inside the search window. A dropdown box shows the latest trending searches even before you’ve entered one single character.
Once you’ve typed in the keywords you have in mind, the trending list is replaced with an auto-suggest list and the window to its right is filled with results relevant to your query.
Once you hit enter, you’ll be redirected to the regular Yahoo Search results page and be greeted by the usual blue links.
As of now, Search Direct is still in beta phase in the US. Later this year, the new tool will expand to other markets and Yahoo products.

Search Direct is a lot like Google Instant Search, but the two are not entirely the same. For one, unlike Google Instant Search, Search Direct’s real-time results only show up on the drop-down window but not in the actual results page.
Benefits

Thanks to Search Direct, you don’t have to leave the search box to get relevant information. While you may be directed to Yahoo’s own in-house content (such as Yahoo Shopping), that’s hardly a problem, and it only makes sense for Yahoo to promote its own websites.
Here are more of Search Direct’s advantages:

1.      Faster Searches

Some of the most successful inventions in human history let us accomplish taxing activities with very little energy and effort. This is partly why Search Direct is a winner. You do not have to finish typing a search term since you get results right away.
That said, Search Direct also saves time.

2.      Smarter Predictions

How many times have you gone on a search engine to look for something but do not know what it is exactly you are looking for? Search Direct helps you know what to look for by suggesting keywords related to your query. The top suggestions are shown in grey text right below the search box, so you can stop typing after finding a relevant suggestion.
How to Turn Off Search Direct
Some people are more comfortable with regular search, though. Here are the steps to turn Search Direct off or on.

1.      Click the Options link found to the right of the Search button, then hit Preferences.

2.      Select Edit beside Search Direct.

3.      Choose either On or Off.

4.      Click Save, and you’re done.

To save this setting, you have to log in to your Yahoo account.

Tips on Coping with Google Panda and How to Get Traffic with Non-Google Techniques

Tips on Coping with Google Panda and How to Get Traffic with Non-Google Techniques

Google Panda is perhaps the most significant algorithm update to ever hit the Internet, yet. It's been a month since Google rolled out the new algorithm and it's still one of the hottest topics in the SEO world. This isn't surprising, though, because the update practically reshaped the search landscape.

According to Google, the new algorithm is intended to improve search quality - Panda is aimed at eradicating duplicated content, low-quality articles and pages with worthless information.

Millions of pages in just about every topic area took a dramatic drop down the search results. Content farms are the main target, but in the process of filtering out content farms, several high quality sites were also affected. To add insult to injury, many of the high quality affected sites do their own SEO and are clueless as to how to fix the damage.

The website Mahalo.com, a massive information resource, has been practically squeezed out of Google's organic search rankings. As a result, Mahalo reported a 10% employee reduction.

While a massive number of websites have been scurrying to get their lost rankings back, some have used Google Panda to their advantage. Some unaffected sites announce traffic increase of about 10% ever since Panda's release.

All this commotion over Google Panda and its impact over search results bring us back to one of the most basic ingredient of online marketing: high quality, compelling and relevant content.

If your Google search positioning suddenly dropped like a stone, don't hit the panic button just yet. There are ways to redeem your website and get back in the game.

1. Check if Panda is the culprit.

Panda was rolled out on February 24th, so if your rankings plummeted before or much later, the reason could be something else. Check your analytics before you blame the new algorithm.

Countries outside the United States haven't experienced Panda yet. Start filtering out US-based visits to get to the bottom of the dip in rankings.

2. Look at each of your site's pages.

Google Panda looks at individual pages for low-value, scraped or shallow content. Therefore, you can easily find out where to start the site revamp by looking at pages that have performed terribly since the algorithm change.

3. Create original, interesting and deep content.

It only makes sense to re-evaluate your site's content and do a content overhaul. The basic SEO rules are still the same. Create great content – the kind you'd like to read online. Authoritative, useful and unique content always wins. If you think content that simply rotates around keywords work, you couldn't be more wrong because that is exactly what Google Panda wants to eliminate. Do what's necessary to have content that's valuable to readers.

4. Remember, Google Search is not the ONLY source of traffic

Google has somehow bent the Internet and everything in it to its will. This brings us to one vital peace of advice: don't depend solely on a third party business model, e.g. Google. Otherwise, you're bound to fail at one point or another.

Get a clue from what Google continually aims for: making its users happy, not content makers or website owners.

Also, Google always points out the need to establish a brand, not a website. This is why the search engine tends to support established brands.

Considering the above tip, your next step should be generating strategies that will take your eggs out of Google's search basket. Here are invaluable techniques to help you start.

·         Social media

Facebook and Twitter are effective destinations for social media advertising. What's great about social media is that you have the opportunity to directly interact with existing and potential customers. Just note that this isn't meant to boost your search engine rankings because Facebook and Twitter aren't really ranking factors.

·         Alternate Search Engines

Let's not forget there is 100's of other search engines that generate good amounts of traffic and often it is much easier to include your site and optimize for these engines. We've always been told to not put our eggs in the one basket, making sure your site is listed in the other hundred plus search engines is the most effective way of "spreading your egg's".

·         Paid search

If ranking high organically is difficult, try Yahoo Search Marketing, especially if you have enough funds for it. Search marketing is an effective alternative for driving Web traffic.

·         Google Images and News

While this still falls under the reigns of Google, being included in these destinations doesn't depend on organic traffic. Include alt tags for your images so that Google can identify them and your photos will be optimized. News sites or blogs have a good chance of being optimized on Google News, so make the most of this feature to drive good traffic.

·         E-mail and Newsletter

E-mails provide a direct line to customers or site visitors, while newsletters feature top deals or news. Both these platforms are good non-Google methods of improving traffic.

Panda is yet to effect 100% of the world wide web, for the lucky few you may want to look at employing some of the above points to secure your alternate sources of traffic.

Web Browsing, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Your Web browser can enhance your Internet experience, but of course, the speed of your Internet connection matters, too. Still, you won't have to pull your hair out of frustration if you're using a browser that won't crash or freeze all of a sudden.
Here is a Web browser review that summarizes the pros and cons of the best and worst browsers.

Google Chrome Review

Let's start off the showdown with Google's killer Web browser, Google Chrome. The search company entered the arena of Web browsers with a remarkable entry. Everyone seems to love Chrome's simplicity, compatibility, speed and advanced features.
While Chrome's features are relatively complex, they're engineered in such a way that users can easily use them.
The download manager is very convenient and inconspicuous. It's integrated at the bottom of the window and just sits there while the downloading is occurring.
Another one of Chrome's interesting features is the drag and drop function. You simply highlight a text or link on a webpage and drag it to your search bar to get search results.
With the recent roll-out of Chrome 10, the browser seems to have earned more followers. The pinned tabs feature is a delight and the minimalist layout allows you to maximize the display of your entire computer monitor.
The browser has problems with Windows OS integration, though. However, Chrome's biggest drawback is the lack of add-ons. For instance, it doesn't have toolbars for StumbleUpon, S3Fox, AdBlock or other applications that many depend on. If it weren't for that, Chrome would probably be the best Web browser.

Mozilla Firefox Review

Of course, there's good old Firefox. This product from Mozilla is reportedly the fastest browser as far as download speed goes.
Most Internet users are impressed by the browser's security functions. There's a pop-up blocker that prevents 100% of pop-ups from showing up, and the spyware feature has greatly protected so many computers from certain viruses.
Firefox's tabbed browsing capability is one of the main reasons why the browser became such a hit a few years back.
Now that Firefox 4 is here, it looks like the browser is still ready to fight despite the tight competition. The new and improved version boasts interesting features like Tab Groups, which allows you to group regularly used pages together. There's also a new layout that maximizes a lot of monitor space.
One disappointing thing about Firefox, however is that it easily crashes if you've opened too many tabs. In fact, this is the reason why Mozilla invested so much in the memory recovery feature.

Internet Explorer Review

Developed by Microsoft, Internet Explorer has generated a lot of support, as well as hate. While some say that it's the worst Web browser ever, many still use Internet Explorer because it comes pre-installed in Windows-based computers.
Yet another streamlined new browser, Internet Explorer 9, looks like it's ready to compete. Overall speed performance is impressive, and graphics are delivered better. IE 9 also boasts of sharper looking fonts so that you can easily drag and drop tabs, just like with Chrome.
The final version of this new IE was released last March 14, 2011.
Earlier Internet Explorer versions were a pain sometimes. The entire browser would freeze and crash at times if one single page failed to load. With IE 8, however, only the affected tab would close if it got bugged.
Speed-wise, Internet Explorer 8 is definitely better than its predecessors. The faster downloading has considerably helped Microsoft win back some customers.
Integration with other Microsoft applications is another plus. Internet Explorer 8 can easily work with Outlook Web Access, among other computer programs.
IE 8 has its fair share of shortcomings. For one, it only supports Windows, and it lacks a download manager. What's more, launching the browser takes a frustratingly long time.
Internet Explorer 9 looks promising, but it has a problem with websites that show up incorrectly.

Apple Safari Review

A favorite among many Mac users, Safari has come a long way. It was even more loved when it became available for PC users in 2007. Of course, there are others who think that Safari is better left to Mac users.
One good thing about Safari is that it looks clean. One look at the browser and you'll figure out where the options are and what most of them are for.
Simplicity and ease of navigation give the browser more cool points. There's no need for a lot of customization, and this may be one thing that make it run effectively and smoothly.
Safari 5, specifically, is praised for its cover flow, lovely interface elements, fast JavaScript performance and good tab integration.
On the other hand, people looking for themes and personalization may get turned off by the Safari's simplicity. More importantly, Safari doesn't come with extensions (yet).

Bottom line

The browser of your choice remains a matter of personal preference. On the other hand, you can't help but notice differences among these browsers. One thing's for sure; you will always have a choice if you're big on speed, features, add-ons, security or convenience.

Local Search Optimization Tips

Drive Traffic With Google Local Business Listings

Are you looking for a cost effective way to further promote your business online?
Register your business today!

• According to Google, 20% of its searches are local search
• Google uses local business listings at the top of their search engine results

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What is your website worth?

The real SEO question. What is my website worth? Answering such a question is near impossible. However using one of the latest website valuation tools such as RealWebWorth you may see an estimation of what your website or domain could be worth. Keep in mind this is going by your back links, Alexa rank, Google page rank and any other statistics used in the valuation algorithm. Simply put, this is how much your website maybe worth purely from a statistical standpoint.

Before seeking a loan to buy that website or domain youíve always dreamed of, it is important that you spend some time doing some traffic and back link research. After all, Such a risk is unnecessary in this day and age. One of the best ways of finding this information is using a website calculator. Compare websites relative to your own. You get a sneak peak at how they are doing and what their keywords are etc.
RealWebWorth also includes some basic Alexa graphs so you can view how the website has performed over the last few months. You may view the top50 of the highest valued websites on the internet. The top50 gives you an overview of how these high traffic sites perform against each other.

Drive Traffic With Google Local Business Listings

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• According to Google, 20% of its searches are local search
• Google uses local business listings at the top of their search engine results

For as little as $20 NeedMoreHits will review, optimize and post your business listing in Google ensuring you get maximum exposure through out the organic and local search results in Google.
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Website calculators are not just for SEO companies but also for the average Joe wanting to keep track of his siteís potential value. Unlike most website calculators RealWebWorth lets you value a subdomain and give you a rough idea of how much its worth. A subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. For example, mail.example.com and calendar.example.com are subdomains of the example.com domain.
Simple is better. RealWebWorth is not alone as a website calculator. There are heaps to choose from. A lot have fancy websites with so many numbers, its bound to make your head spin. RealWebWorth keeps its calculations simple and direct. If you want to know more you can drop an email through to their contact form.
Best of all you donít have to pay a cent for the use of this amazing website valuation tool. Save time and work smarter. Instead of doing hours of endless research let them do it for you. If you are in doubt always do your own research before investing your grandmaís inheritance.
Visit RealWebWorth to start calculating your websites today!

How Google+ Will Effect SEO?

The Internet is buzzing with headlines and reactions about Google's new social network, Google+. Recently launched this summer, Google+ is set to become Facebook's greatest rival yet. Considering that the new social media platform is another product that Google has under its belt, Google+ may just be more than a Facebook contender. If it really uses the power already wielded by Google, G+ may have a tremendous impact on search engine rankings.

Signs That Indicate Influence on Search Rankings

Even before G+ was rolled out, Facebook and Twitter were already integrated into the search engine results pages (SERPs). In fact, before Google and Twitter's real-time tweet stream deal expired just a few weeks ago, the number of times a link is retweeted would directly affect how that link is indexed in the search results.

Now that Google+ is here, users can engage in online social activities within Google itself, although the chances of G+ beating out Facebook and Twitter look pretty slim as of now since the new Google product is still very new.

With that said, it's hard not to expect that Google+ will influence a page's organic rankings, especially when Google pulled the plug on its real-time Twitter stream feature.

The +1 Button

Speculations about Google+'s search engine relevance have sprouted, but you may not speculate anymore once you've understood Google's equally promising new tool, the +1 button.

Google actually dropped an official announcement on YouTube regarding the use of the +1 button. According to the video, every time the +1 button in the SERPs is clicked, users are telling Google that that particular search result is more relevant to the keyword they're searching for. The video also says that Google considers "+1'd" results in indexing pages.

So, the personalized annotations can help certain sites rank higher since users will be given search matches that are more pertinent to their keywords.

However, that's when you use the +1 button on the search results. What about Google+'s +1 button?
Google+'s +1 button is a clone of Facebook's "Like" button. You can click on +1 to confirm that you like a post in the way you can click on the "Like" button if you like something on Facebook.

Google+ may have copied many of Facebook's best features, but what makes this new social network interesting is that you can view search engine results, not just G+ posts, your friends have +1'd by clicking on their Google profile's +1's tab.

There's only one setback. Unlike Facebook, Google+ doesn't post your +1's on the homepage feed. To see your friends' +1's, you have to go to their individual Google profiles, hope they've enabled the +1's tab, and repeat this entire process for the rest of your friends.

Social Interaction and Content Quality

If you've been keeping a sharp eye on Google's latest updates and algorithm changes, you've probably noticed that the search company has been emphasizing high-quality content that users will find useful and relevant. When you throw the +1 button into the mix, creating valuable content becomes even more essential. While we still don't see our friends +1's in the Google+ homepage feed, this is very likely to happen eventually.

Google's motives have always been tricky. Even so, every Internet marketer and webmaster should consider taking advantage of Google+ as evidence of social interaction being integrated into the search rankings is becoming clearer, even if it's too early to say that Google+ will have a huge role in your search engine positioning.

The Best Email Marketing Services

1. Are Approved as Bulk Mailers

Many email accounts and most ISPs limit the number of emails that you can send at one time, further, most ISPs guard against bulk emailing, as it is often spam. Legitimate services typically have strong relationships with ISPs and are able to send bulk email.

2. Follow Professional Mailing Practices

For those of you using Outlook or another email account, mistakes can happen.Perhaps the most common mistake is exposing your entire list in the To: line, which violates all of your list members' confidentiality and exposes their email addresses. In addition, failure to includeunsubscribe instructions, an unsubscribe link or a physical mailing address is now against the law. Email services provide an automatic unsubscribe that is oft en effective immediately, and require inclusion of a physical address in every email.

3. Provide List Hosting and Management

An email marketing service hosts your email list and automatically performs critical list management functions. These functions can include signup for new subscribers, editing capabilities so that subscribers can edit their own profiles, and the ability to unsubscribe with one click. Because you are required by law to process an unsubscribe request within 10 days, the unsubscribe functionality alone is critical to successful email marketing.

4. Require No Technical Skill or Support Staff

Whether you are using your email account (and going it alone), or using a bulk email soft ware package, you will find that an email marketing service can save you precious time and money. With a service, the bandwidth, power and flexibility are 'built-in.' You do not have to worry about the technology or infrastructure required to send your email campaigns.

5. Handle Formatting

Email services usually send emails in multipart format. This means that your emails will be delivered to your subscribers in the correct format every time. In comparison, your email account can't tell which email format each recipient is able to receive - HTML or text. If you send HTML from that account, some of your recipients will get gibberish that they can't read. In addition, the size of your email may exceed the requirements of the ISP or corporate domain, making it more susceptible to blocking and filtering. If you send only plain text, you'll be missing out on response rates of up to 35% higher with HTML.

6. Create Great Looking Emails

Some email marketing services provide professional HTML templates to make email creation easy by eliminating the need for any HTML skill. Templates are pre-formatted to help you organize your content. They include appropriate fonts, colors and placeholders for graphics and company logos that are easily customized to create a look that matches your company's website or brand. .

7. Get Higher Email Deliverability

A good email marketing service maintains strong permission policies and has an active anti-blocking team working with ISPs on your behalf to ensure that your email is delivered. A service delivers your emails with proper protocols, develops relationships with ISPs and is white listed to be sure your permission based email gets through.
An email marketing service monitors all outgoing email to ensure that all major ISPs and corporate domains are successfully accepting your email.

8. Deliver Measurable Results

An email marketing service enables you to measure the response of each email campaign. Many services report the number of emails sent, opened, who opened, who clicked through and which links they clicked on. Reports also show new subscribes, unsubscribes, bounces and formal spam complaints. These reports help you track and measure your success, target more effectively, determine warm leads and improve your results over time. By understanding the individual and campaign results, you will know your subscribers better, and build more effective future email campaigns

9. Include Frequent Updates and Enhancements

Using an email marketing service guarantees that you will always have the most current tools available to meet the changing requirements of the industry without having additional updates to install as required in the case of most purchased bulk email soft ware. It is critical to keep up with email marketing legal compliance and new technology on the spam elimination front. Most new technologies that are being employed by ISPs to eliminate SPAM will require changes in both how you send email, and what you send. A good email marketing service provides regular updates and new features to enhance functionality, comply with the law, and optimize email delivery though ISPs. delivery and response and minimize the spam in your subscribers' inbox.

10. Comply With Email Laws

As email marketing matures, so do the laws. An email marketing service will ensure that your email campaigns are compliant with legislation. For example, the U.S. CAN SPAM law that went into effect in January of 2004 required that every email campaign sent include the physical address of the sender, and that unsubscribes be honored within 10 days of the subscriber's request. Because email marketing service providers are responsible for ensuring their customers' compliance, they focus on the law and ensure that their services are up-to date on compliance.

Comparing types of Web Hosting

Free web hosting

Many ISPs offer small scale web hosting free to customers on a paid internet plan. There are also a number of public platforms where you can host your webpages for free, although your webpage might have unwanted ads and there are often no guarantees as to reliability. Free hosting can also mean your site could be slow to load. This option is generally best suited to fun or non-essential webpages such as personal websites.
Pros: Free
Cons: Can be slow or subject to unexpected downtime
Sponsored ads may appear on your webpages

Shared web hosting

Shared hosting means your website is hosted on a server shared by owners of other websites. The physical server and its software host multiple webpages, so it is often cheap. It can also be slow as you're sharing the server's resources with others. Another potential problem is that other users' web applications can compromise the stability of a shared server.
Pros: Cheap
No ads

Cons: Can be slow or unstable

Dedicated web hosting

Dedicated hosting means you have a web server dedicated to hosting your website. Website speed will usually be very good because the server's resources are reserved for your website only. It may cost more because you pay for the operation and upkeep of the server. Dedicated web hosting is better for websites that need significant system resources (e.g. e-commerce and membership based websites).
Pros: More stable and faster
You control your server
Cons: More expensive
May require technical expertise to solve server problems

Virtual web hosting

In virtual web hosting, many users can share one system's resources (such as the CPU), but the server environment is configured so that you have your own ‘private' server. Each user is generally allocated a percentage of the system resources so they don't affect the function of other users' websites. This means you can install your own web applications and host your website without competing against other users for speed and resources.
Pros: Your own virtual private server with associated speed and stability
Cheaper than dedicated hosting
Cons: Service levels can vary greatly across different virtual hosting providers

Collocated or managed web hosting

Collocated web hosting means you provide your own web server and it is housed by a web host in a facility such as a data centre. Even though it is stored off your premises, you still have control over what applications and scripts you install. Collocated hosting has similar benefits to dedicated web hosting. You may be able to upgrade this service to managed web hosting, in which the web host provides support services.
Pros: Highly secure and stable
Cons: Can be expensive

When unmanaged, you are still responsible for problems with your server