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If you are using WordPress as the platform for your blog or website, you should be looking into plugins that can really help optimize your blog and/or website. This blog is a wordpress blog and even without any plugins it optimizes fairly well. Here you’ll find a list of some SEO WordPress plugins that you can use to help optimize your blog. So far, I have used 2 and I believe one has made a difference, even in the smallest way.

You can start downloading these now by reading their features and functionality and clicking on the link to go directly to the wordpress press and begin downloading instantly.

ALL IN ONE SEO PACK
Some Features:
Automatically optimizes your titles for search engines
Generates META tags automatically
Avoids the typical duplicate content found on WordPress blogs
For beginners, you don’t even have to look at the options, it works out-of-the-box. Just install.
You can override any title and set any META description and any META keywords you want.
Built-in API so other plugins/themes can access and extend functionality
Advanced Canonical URLs

Google Sitemap Generator
Function:
This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to better index your blog. With such a sitemap, it’s much easier for the crawlers to see the complete structure of your site and retrieve it more efficiently. The plugin supports all kinds of WordPress generated pages as well as custom URLs. Additionally it notifies all major search engines every time you create a post about the new content.

Platinum SEO Pack
Some Features:
Automatic 301 redirects for any permalink changes
Canonical URLs
Optimized Post and Page Titles for search engines
Generates all SEO relevant META tags automatically
Option to specify meta description and meta keywords tag for categories and tag pages. (http://techblissonline.com/wordpress-categories/)**
Option to turn off Page title or Post title rewrites for any particular post or page(http://techblissonline.com/page-title/)**
Option to turn off Page title or Post title format for any particular post or page
Helps you avoid duplicate content
Lets you override any title and set any META description and META keywords, for any post or page
Compatible with most other plugins, like Auto Meta, Ultimate Tag Warrior and others.However you may have to disable All in One SEO pack
You don’t have to fear changing permalinks. If you are not satisfied with the current permalink, change it through Settings Permalinks in your admin panel, without worrying about loss of Page rank or google penalty.Platinum SEO plugin will take care of issuing a 301 redirect to the new location.This is a new essential feature, not present in All in one SEO.
Add index, noindex, follow or nofollow, noodp, noydir, noarchive, nosnippet meta tags to any post/page.These options are not available in All in one SEO Pack.Find out why this option to set post/page level Meta Robots Tag useful?

SEO Friendly Images
Functionality:
SEO Friendly Images is a WordPress optimization plugin which automatically updates all images with proper ALT and TITLE attributes. If your images do not have ALT and TITLE already set, SEO Friendly Images will add them according the options you set. Additionally this makes the post W3C/xHTML valid as well.

SEO No Duplicate
Functionality:
This simple plugin helps you easily tell the search engine bots the preferred version of a page by specifying the canonical properly within your head tag.

Why would you do such a thing? Simply because many black-hat SEO folks abuse duplicate content to gain search ranking and search engine try really hard to detect and penalize them. The last thing you want to do is present yourself as an SEO spammer to search engines.

Broken Link Checker
Some Features:
Monitors links in your posts, pages, the blogroll, and custom fields (optional).
Detects links that don’t work and missing images.
Notifies you on the Dashboard if any are found.
Also detects redirected links.
Makes broken links display differently in posts (optional).
Link checking intervals can be configured.
New/modified posts are checked ASAP.
You view broken links, redirects, and a complete list of links used on your site, in the Tools -> Broken Links tab.
Searching and filtering links by URL, anchor text and so on is also possible.
Each link can be edited or unlinked directly via the plugin’s page, without manually editing each post.

source: http://palatnikfactor.com/

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In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake catastrophe, many localized internet search tools are becoming vital to the coordination of relief efforts. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of those tools.

According to experts, Google has stepped forward with the help of its online services. The search engine is redirecting rescuers to the victims through the World Wide Web.

Derek Gordon, of MediaPost, says that Google Earth has been one of the most useful tools for relief efforts. The tool is being used by workers to navigate through the devastated streets of Port-au-Prince.

Google has also introduced a special People Finder Tool, a web app that allows users to post information that they have about Haiti victims. The app can also be used to search for information about friends and relatives.

The online effort has definitely been strong in aiding relief workers.

source: Last Click News

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There’s no doubt that writing up product descriptions is hard work. Product descriptions are possibly the hardest of all web copy to write. They have to persuade the user to buy the product, but at the same time avoid scaring them off with too much marketing pushiness. They can clinch the deal, or they can turn the user away. Even worse, every product needs a description, and if you’re interested in the search engine optimisation of your site, each description needs to be unique. Getting rid of every word of manufacturer descriptions can be a mammoth task if you have been using them on your site. Part of the problem can be overcome by simply rewriting the manufacturer descriptions, but for good SEO content it’s better to start from scratch. It can be helpful to consult your SEO expert for product content, and you can talk to us at SEO Consult. In the meantime, there is some research any business can do for themselves. The first thing to note is basic information. Both online and offline, shoppers want to know specific details about a product. The manufacturer’s information should include basic product specifications, but if it doesn’t it may be time to get out a set of scales and a ruler. Having the product specs on hand will also save time when you approach a writer. Next, browse the web. Consumer reviews are a great source of information for product descriptions, not only because they reveal customer thinking but because they can provide keywords and terms that you may have missed. Internet users are a great resource for your site’s SEO. Note any terms that you’re unfamiliar with. When looking at consumer reviews, think about what your users will want to know about your products. Note the reasons consumers give for buying the product and whether there were any complaints about its function. Negative reviews are just as important as positive ones. Some customers will provide handy hints on how to use the product, or unexpected bonuses of owning the product. These can all be worked into your description copy to sell the product on your site. It’s also a good idea to see if the product has won any awards, gained good reviews from noteworthy people or has any major faults. This last is very important to acknowledge in the product description. If you found a negative review, it’s likely your site users will as well. Confronting the product’s problems and offering a solution, such as free returns when the user is unsatisfied, can convince users to buy from you rather than from your competition. Your research can also provide you with ideas on how to use your product description to further your site’s SEO. Unexpected keywords are a boon when looking at consumer reviews. Related products are another. Keep an eye out for suggestions of items that go well with that product. You can then use this information to point that page’s link power to a suitable main page.

source: http://www.seoconsult.co.uk/SEOBlog/onpage-optimisation/how-to-write-great-seo-descriptions.html

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by Mike Moran from searchengineguide.com

Yes, you really can learn SEO from your spouse. If you’re married, you know something about SEO that you might not be putting to use. Think about how you landed your mate. When you do, you’ll be learning something about how to do search marketing the right way.

The other day, I wrote a newsletter entitled, “Search Marketing Is Like Dating,” where I explained how what you know about dating gives you the right attitude for search marketing. Some folks commented that it’s more like marriage than dating and asked me to expand the analogy, so here ya go.

The mistake people make is to treat SEO as though it’s all about getting the first date, by doing anything to attract Google. Instead, you need to think about a relationship, just as you did to win your spouse’s heart. So, rather than chasing popular keywords and algorithm changes, think about the steps you took to find your mate:

• Put yourself out there. You didn’t find your future spouse by sitting home on Saturday night. You went out and you socialized. Likewise, you must make sure your Web site has interesting pages and that Google can index them.
• Use your network to meet the right people. Some of you met your spouses through dumb luck, but many of you were introduced by someone you knew. Your network tells a lot about you and the people you meet. SEO has its own network, too–the pages that are linked to your pages are the way your pages get introduced to search engines and to customers. If you create pages that others care about, those pages will develop the network that gets them the attention they deserve.
• Look your best. When you finally get out on that date, yes, you want to look your best, but being with the right person is more important than how you look. Similarly, optimizing your pages to be their most attractive to Google is important, but doing so for the right keywords makes all the difference.

Stop thinking about search as a first date–it’s a long-term relationship with Google and the other search engines. Even more important, it’s a relationship with the searchers who become your customers. Don’t look for flashy tactics that get you a first look. Instead, concentrate on what will work in the long run. That’s what will make SEO something that drives business instead of just temporary attention.

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Via Expert: SEO.com (Dan Patterson)

The Benefits of SEO over PPC

When it comes to search engine marketing strategies, you basically have two strategies you can turn to: search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click (PPC). They both have their place, but SEO definitely has its advantages. Below are 3 of the main advantages of doing SEO.

1- Free Traffic

This is usually the first one that most people think of when they think of SEO. It doesn’t matter how many clicks you get from organic or SEO listings, they are free. On the other hand, if you get traffic from the PPC side of things you have to pay for every single click.

2- Great Visibility

Unless you speak a language such as Arabic, you’re used to reading from left to right. And when it comes to placement on the search results pages, most people start by looking at the left side before they look at the right side. If you can get your site ranking in the top 3 results for your main keywords you have great visibility over the PPC results that are showing up on the right hand side of the search results.

3- Credibility

More and more users are beginning to understand the way the search results pages work. They’ve learned the difference between paid and organic results. If your site shows up first in the sponsored listings people know that you’re paying good money to get there. But if you can land the top spot on the organic side it shows that you have honest credibility. Otherwise, why would you rank there?

We know that it’s because of SEO work that you rank there, but to the average user they feel that you are there because you are a trusted source. This is a level of credibility that you won’t be able to get through PPC.

PPC has its place in things as well, but don’t forget that SEO has some advantages that you cannot get by just launching a PPC campaign. Yes it takes longer to get the rankings and traffic, but it’s worth it in the end.

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The best Internet marketing strategies of 2009 revolved around establishing credibility and targeted exposure. The search engine optimization company says similar tactics will work in 2010.

Salt Lake City (Vocus/PRWEB ) December 9, 2009 — In response to an eMarketer.com study stating that businesses will spend up to 75 percent more on Internet marketing this holiday season, SEO.com – a full-service Internet marketing company in Salt Lake City – announces the top 10 most effective Internet marketing strategies of 2009.

“Businesses want to make sure every penny goes to something that produces results,” said Dave Bascom, chief executive of SEO.com. “For that reason, more and more money is being allocated to Internet marketing because it’s measurable and has proven to increase ROI.”

There are a wide variety of Internet marketing methods, the most effective being the ones that establish credibility, trust and directly target a demographic.

“Credibility is the most important,” said Ash Buckles, SEO.com’s director of search engine optimization. “When people are watching their money closely, they will only buy from companies and Web sites that they trust.”

Credibility, Buckles said, depends on how well a site is architected, how many other sites and networks link back to your site, how much social media and buzz surrounds a domain, how often a site goes down, how unique a site’s content is and how fast a site loads.

The Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies of 2009:

1.   Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Web sites in the top of the search results are viewed as the leaders of their industry, and more than 80 percent of Web users click on the first listings. Good SEO services will consistently deliver a huge return on investment.

2.   Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn – Social media marketing engages customers on a personal level, and can rapidly create buzz around a product, brand or business. In 2008, Pubcon search conference spent $75,000 to marketing their conference. In 2009, Pubcon saved that money and used strictly social media advertising with great success.

3.   Keyword Research – Everything revolves around discovering what words and phrases your customers are searching for online.

4.   Video Marketing – This is becoming more important both on-site and off-site. Videos help convert Web site visitors into sales. In the universal search results, people tend to click on links with videos more than those without – even if the video link is ranked lower.

5.   Online Public Relations – This builds credibility online, in the mainstream media and for potential customers. Online public relations can help create a lot of buzz about your site through bloggers and industry sites, and can boost organic SEO.

6.   Link Building – A key element in search engine optimization. Search engines like “popular sites.” From the search engine’s point of view, a credible and popular site will have a lot of links pointing to it.

7.   Blogging – Blogs provide additional site content (which search engines love), graphics and other viral content to disseminate information and tie in with social media. Blogs can build your credibility by establishing your site as the hub for industry information.

8.   Conversion Web Design – A good Web design will keep visitors on your site and sell them products or services. In the end, it all comes down to a site that makes money.

9.   Paid Search Marketing – Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is an extremely targeted strategy with measurable, immediate results. This enables a more efficient spending of marketing dollars.

10.   Email Marketing – Nurture relationships and retain existing customers. It’s much easier to keep old customers than to get new ones. Send good offers and valuable information that’s customized to their needs.

“To have success on the Internet, you need a combination of all these strategies to drive traffic to your site, establish credibility of your brand and convert traffic into sales,” Bascom said.

About SEO.com

SEO.com is an SEO firm that makes its clients money by driving traffic to their websites through aggressive search engine optimization, paid search marketing, social media marketing and blogging. SEO.com then turns those visitors into sales through conversion-focused Web design and development and copywriting. Clients range from small startups to Fortune 100 companies. Follow SEO.com on Twitter for the latest SEO industry news.

source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/top10/marketing-strategies/prweb3314364.htm

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A Link request can be extremely effective for link building but it is a tool that is underused by bloggers. One reason is, many blog owners are hesitant to ask for links. They think it is too intrusive and spammy. Or they are not confident in the content. Others have tried sending a few requests without visible success and they just stop

When one is just starting to do SEO, There are some techniques available to begin to build links effectively.

To a search engine like Google, a backlink is like a vote of confidence, therefore, the more backlinks a site has, the more the search engine will pay attention to the site.

The number of links to and from the website as well as the relative importance of those links help to determine the rank of the site in a search engine like Google.

The links also help in SERPs or search engine results page. As google likes backlinks, those links are taken into consideration when considering the website ranking on SERPs.

If you are looking to increase your exposure and enhance your position by showing Google’s algorithm what it wants to see (many links pointing to your site), then you should start a link building campaign to get some good rankings for your website.

If you want links to your site, you have to start with the linking audience in mind. Before you even create a post, put yourself in their shoes. Understand their personality and figure out what they like by being familiar with their blog. As you check out their site, you will get an idea of the kind of content they would gladly link to.

The next step is to simply create that content.

By using this strategy, you can confidently ask for a link. You content is valuable to the linker and their audience so your link request is a favor to them instead of just a favor to you. It’s a win-win situation. You get a link and they provide value to their their audience by pointing to useful content.
Most bloggers write about what they want to write about. But if you want successful link requests, you have to write about what your link audience wants.

It will take more time when you focus on others since you have to spend time browsing through their sites. But the rewards are great when you get the links and improve your rankings and traffic.

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WordPress is getting more popular by the day. It enables people to set up a blog, and even a complete website within minutes.
With all the great free plugins and designs out there it is really an easy to use and complete blogging solution.

I get asked for specific SEO tips for WordPress very often. Basically all the ‘usual’ SEO stuff is also applicable for WordPress.
But besides that, there are a few tips for WordPress I’d like to share with you.
Here it goes:

1. Use Permalinks

Be sure to use Permalinks on your blog.
By default WordPress uses web URLs which have question marks and lots of numbers in them. These links are hard to spider for search engines, and therefor your postings aren’t indexed as fast and as good as you want to.
WordPress offers you the ability however, to create a custom URL structure for your permalinks and archives.
You can find this option in your Admin panel. Choose ‘Options’ in the menu and there ‘Permalinks’.
This brings us immediately to Tip 2:

2. Place your titles up front in your URLs

In the Permalinks section you can choose for the ‘Date and name based’ option. This will place the year, month, day and post title in your URL.
For SEO purposes it’s better to have your post title up front. So instead you should choose for the ‘Custom’ option and put in something like:
/%postname%/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/

This will give you an URL like this:

[http://www.seo-portal.com/section-targeting-for-adsense/2006/07/06/]

3. Tags

Tags are a great SEO addition to your blog. They enable search engines to crawl your website more easily and in addition to that, create specific pages for your tags/keywords.
You can install the Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin on your WordPress blog. Get the plugin here: http://www.neato.co.nz/ultimate-tag-warrior/

4. Page Titles

Make sure you set good titles on your pages. We discussed putting the post title up front in your URL. You should do the same thing for your Titles.
You can do this by changing the tag in your header.php (located in wp-content/themes/your theme/)

5. Choose your Post Titles carefully

Your Post Titles should be as clear as possible. Don’t stuff your titles with keywords you are targeting with your whole blog.
Choose your keywords carefully per posting, and get those words in your Post Title.

6. Autolinks

Cross link to your own posts and pages in your own content. Do this by linking your keywords to the relevant postings.
To facilitate this work, you can install the SH-Autolink plugin.
http://www.rockschtar.de/wp-plugin-sh-autolink/

7. Related Posts

Put links to related posts under your postings. This helps search engines crawling your site and indexing all your postings.
You can get a plugin for this here: http://www.w-a-s-a-b-i.com/archives/2006/02/02/wordpress-related-entries-20/

8. Ping Services

Everytime you post or edit a posting or page, your WordPress blog can notify lots of sites that you updated your blog.
Be sure to use this feature!
You can set up this feature in Options >> Writing. You can find a list of sites to ping on the WordPress site:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Update_Services

9. Google Sitemaps

Google has a tool for webmasters called Google Sitemaps(http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/). This will help Google index your website, and let’s you tell Google which pages
are most important. If you make use of this feature, you will be able to see for what searches your site was shown in the results.
This helps you optimizing your appearance in Google.
You can use this plugin to automatically create a sitemap for your WordPress blog:

http://www.arnebrachhold.de/2005/06/05/google-sitemaps-generator-v2-final

10. Categories

Categories help you organize your content. If you have the permalinks turned on, the category names will appear in your URL.
This is why it is also very important to name your categories carefully; Try to use keywords to name your categories and don’t be afraid to make a load.
WordPress enables you to make use of subcategories and sub-subcategories etc. etc. This way you can narrow down your focus on certain keyword phrases.
Consider the following example:

You have a website about selling photocamera’s. You could organize your articles/postings like this:
fotocamera’s >> Digital camera’s >> SLR >> Nikon
If a user would be searching for “digital SLR camera nikon” the deepest nested category would have a good optimized url for this search as the url would be something like this
http://www.yoursite.com/fotocameras/digital-cameras/SLR/nikon/

You can make use of the King Categories Widget to organize your categories:
http://www.blog.mediaprojekte.de/cms-systeme/wordpress/wordpress-widget-king-categories/

Author: Christian Van Den Berge
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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The process is called “search engine optimization” and is commonly referred to as SEO. It’s killing the Internet if it hasn’t already. I’ve complained about it before but it’s too late to do anything about it except moan more.

Essentially the process involves tricking Google or Bing or Yahoo into ranking your particular Web site higher than the competition by reverse-engineering the tricks used by Google, et al to rank sites in the first place. The problem with the technique is that it ruins the search experience for users and also requires the search engine folks to constantly work on countermeasures to minimize the impact of SEO techniques. SEO techniques then adapt to the changes, and then begins round two, then three, etc.

This behind-the-scenes war is why there is no one major search-optimization trick or large consulting firm doing this. It’s all underground and consists of thousands of individual specialists who consult for just a few companies and chat among themselves in the background. Nothing can get too big—such as a subscription service— because Google and Microsoft will simply subscribe and take action immediately. As it now stands there is a long enough lag time between the implementation of an SEO trick and the countermeasure for a company or individual to get a lot of attention and make extra money. The result is kind of an arms race in the world of search.

The problem, as I see it, is the horrid results of certain searches ruining the enduser experience. Try and find the best cell phone deal on the Internet. Do it by using a search engine. Every hit is some commercial site trying to sell you something. Almost every time you ask for certain advice the pages get clogged with things for sale. What if I don’t want to buy anything and just want to find out about something or know the facts? Impossible. The results hardly ever link to a PC Magazine comparative review or any objective analysis. Just faux reviews and fake objectivity leading you to some product for sale.

All sorts of tricks are used too. My favorite is the site that pretends to review the top three, four or five products. It’s usually designed to sell one of the products; we’ll call it product B. The reviews tend to show that only two of the products in category A and B are actually any good. C and D are just terrible. Seems objective so far, no? So the reviewer then goes into great detail and the differences between A and B are dissected. They are both close in quality and usefulness. But wait, A is way too expensive and B despite all its minor flaws is so much the better deal that you should buy B. Click here to buy B.

Before we are done with the Internet this is the only sort of site that will exist. And, oh, by the way, product B is a piece of crap, okay?

People who just have a few trusted sources that they can count on (such as PC Magazine) are better off using those than doing blind searches when it comes to comparative analysis. But I can assure you that most people will use Google, Bing or Yahoo before anything else.

You can tell how well or poorly the search engine countermeasures are doing when you search for something, and you click on a link and the link leads to another search engine with the same term auto-entry in its search engine. This trick kills me. You are looking for something innocuous such as “hub cap” and the result you get is one of those parker pages that is a faux search engine with a bunch of ads somehow related to hub caps and often a Google Adsense ad. How can this even happen?

My advice to Web site managers, when you see this sort of result, is to contact THAT site and hire the consultant doing SEO for it. This sort of thing is no accident.

There’s a sudden preoccupation with SEO. Perhaps it’s only an epidemic in Silicon Valley, but you can’t even do a blog post without everyone being worried about the SEO implicatons. “No, use a different word!” “Misspelling helps get attention!”

I’m not sure where this is all headed, but it’s kind of like the Open Source movement. It relies on a large and vague group of mavens, and that group just keeps growing. I can assure you there are more people thinking about SEO than there are people at Google thinking about how to stop them. It’s like Open Source coders far outnumbering Microsoft coders.

Now every person who has ever put up a Web site is reading more and more about SEO. So just wait, and get ready.

Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2357605,00.asp

Author: John C. Dvorak

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