5 Mistakes Affiliates make

mistakes Affiliate marketers make

Jason Calacanis in Athens – opencoffee.gr xv

Jason Calacanis  The serial internet entrepreneur
Grace us with his presence and advise here in  Athens  at the opencoffee xv meeting, held on Tuesday the 7th.

Jason Calacanis shared his experiences, thoughts, comments up’s & downs whilst developing some of his companies in the past. evangelizing the spirit of entrepreneurship here in Greece, and the pity of fear stopping us to do so.

So lets together and start sharing what we know, develop teams & work groups to develop something and make Greece proud online. 

Jason Calacanis we thank you your time and advice.
we sincerely hope to see you again.

Among  Jason Calacanis where other speakers like Elias Politakis, founder, will demo (right in our mobiles) the innovative wireless services of MobileFX, taking the IT marketing in grland to new heights. Cheers to you Elia

others where M. Rizos from mtv.  shaming the greek youth. and Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, trying to make a difference for entrepreneurs on the political front.

10 Tips for Business Blogging

1 Research other blogs in your field and make a list of what you do and don’t like.
2  Research other blogs in your field and make a list of what you do and don’t like.
3 Ensure that your blog page design works on — at least — Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox for Windows and Macs.
4 Let customers know about what products and services you offer along with pricing guidelines.
5 Have a professional create your layout — it’s a small price to ensure you have a standards compliant site that is accessible to the most people.
6 Get a relevant and easy to remember URL address and site name.
7 Don’t clutter your blog with a lot of ads and other diversions — people mostly want to see what they came to see. Make sure they can see it easily.
8 Refrain from using animations or anything that requires the user to install a plug-in.
9 Avoid a black background — it’s almost always wrong for a business site.
10 Do not make the creation of revenue more important than the blog itself. If you are going for revenue, do not let it interfere with the delivery or content of your blog.

SEO For Yahoo

SEO For Yahoo!

This article is part two of a four part series on optimizing your website for the the three major search engines. Part one, titled “SEO For MSN” covered optimizing your website to rank highly on MSN. In this article we will cover optimizing your website for Yahoo!

Yahoo! is the second biggest of the three major engines and includes an enormous network of websites. The algorithm is based on that of Inktomi which Yahoo! purchased back in 2002 as part of their plan to stop serving Google results to search queries. The algorithm itself can pose a problem for some SEO’s as we optimize client website to rank highly on multiple search engines due to the way that it deffers from Google and MSN. That said, any issue can be addressed provided that the right attention is given to the right details.

The Factors

To optimize and rank highly on Yahoo!, as with any of the major engines, specific areas need to be addressed. On Yahoo! the major areas are as follows:

* Keyword density
* Site structure
* Backlinks
* Aging

Keyword Density

As noted in the article on MSN, it would be unwise for me to specify a keyword density for you to target on your website. There are two reasons for this. First, if there is a delay between the writing of this article and when you read it specific numbers could well send you off in the wrong direction. Second, you will need to analyze your specific competitors to determine what the best density is in your area and for your type of website. Optimal keyword densities are no longer a one-size-fits-all calculation. Your industry and site-type will affect the optimal densities and thus, a complete analysis using a tool such as Total Optimizer Pro will be necessary.

Additionally, optimal keyword densities change on a regular basis and so you will need to periodically reanalyze your densities and compare them with others in the top 10 to insure that your densities remain within the optimal levels. When using Total Optimizer Pro for the onsite analysis we generally aim our densities for the upper end of the top 10 results but not aiming to be the top. Generally you will see a range that appears much like a bell curve with a couple sites in the very low range (0.5 to 1.0%) and a couple site in the very high range (5.0 to 8.0%). The rest will generally fall in the middle. Ignore those in the very low and very high range and target towards the upper end though not the highest of the remaining sites and you will be on target.

Site Structure

On no other engine is site structure more important than on Yahoo! While having a good site structure is important for a vaiety of reasons, it was on Yahoo! that Beanstalk noted the most significant gains when we brought our homepage and key internals into compliance with W3C standards (the rest of the site will be brought into compliance as part of our complete redesign scheduled for launch on April 24th). While slight gains were noticeable on both Google and MSN they were so minor that they may well have just been part of the ebb-and-flow of the results. On Yahoo! however we noted a three page jump the day the changes were picked up. No other changes to the site were performed during this time.

The site structure is important for two key reasons. First, the site structure determines the order in which your page content gets seen by the search engines and thus, whch content will be given the highest priority. Content that occurs higher up in the code of your page (not necessarily in your browser) is given a higher weight than content lower down in the code. Second, a properly structured site will be lower in code through the use of CSS, reduced or eliminated table use, etc. The reduction in code will push the content higher up the page as far as a search engine is concerned and thus, it will be given more weight.

Backlinks

Like the other two major engines, having a solid backlink count from relevant sites using good anchor text practices is a major factor on Yahoo! for any reasonably competitive phrase. When it comes to calculating backlinks Yahoo! is far more similar to Google than MSN. Aspects of backlink counts that must be taken into consideration when optimizing your website for Yahoo!:

* Quality of site – like Google has attempted to do in the past with PageRank and is learning to do with TrustRank, sheer numbers aren’t what will get you high rankings on Yahoo!, the quality of those links is more important. We must remember than PageRank is a Google calculation, not Yahoo! and so it alone cannot determine the value of a link when we are optimizing for this engine. It can be used as a quasi-benchmark however when determining if a link is a quality link on Yahoo! we are better off to considered whether it is from a site that is ranking well on Yahoo! for the same or related phrases, does it come from a site that it related to ours, does the site link to a site that is ranking well on Yahoo! and does the link come from a trusted domain. For these purposes a trusted domain can be considered any domain that is over 3 years old, has a solid number of backlinks coming from a wide variety of sites and which at least a solid number of are non-reciprocal links.
* Position of link – like all the major engines, the position of your link on the page is important. A link at or near the bottom of the page is less valuable than a link nearer to the top. Also, if your link is on a page with other links, the effect that link will have on your rankings decreases respective to the number of links on the linking page.
* Anchor text – the text used to link to your site will help reinforce that the keywords in that anchor text are associated with your site/page. Also, if that anchor text in in the midst of the content it will hold greater weight than if that anchor text is in a directory-style format above a description (i.e. link a standard links page)
* Non-reciprocal links – reciprocal links are certainly still valuable on Yahoo! however it is important to supplement these links with non-reciprocal links in the form of directory listings and other one-way links.

Aging

The bane of new websites is the aging delay. Many focus on Google’s “sandbox” when they think of aging delays however Yahoo! employs one as well, though it is lighter and lasts a shorter duration of time. New sites and links are not given the same weight as sites and links that have been around for a while. The aging delay on sites has been extended over the past couple years however it isn’t as severe as that imposed by Google. New sites can expect to find it extremely difficult to rank for competitive phrase inside of 6 months even if everything else is in place. To add to the difficulty is a delay on the value of links. When a new site launches it obviosly has no links. These links are subjesct to a delay that appears to be somewhere between 3 to 4 months before they hold their full weight.

The combination of these delays can make it very difficult for new sites to rank for competitive phrases inside of 8 to 12 months however because the restrictions are lighter than those imposed by Google one can expect to see rankings for secondary, tertiary and completely unexpected phrases far faster on Yahoo!

Conclusion

If is important to note that a very important area that needs to be considered is coming in part four of this series. Simply optimizing your website for Yahoo! will likely not get you the traffic you’re hoping for. Part three will cover optimizing your website for Google and part four will be titled “SEO For The Big Three: Tieing It Together” and will outline how to tie all the optimization tactics together into a concise strategy that will result in top rankings on all three major engines.

Is Your Website an Asset Or a Liability?

Remember back in the good ol’ days when having a website was something every company needed and wanted? Websites were the wave of the future, and the dream of transitioning to conducting business online filled our heads with visions of a revolution in the way commerce was conducted. With a website, a company could reach clients and interact with potential customers on a global scale. A website was indicative of a company’s technological prowess, symbolic of the desire to innovate and evolve with developments in the industry.

Today, this mindset has changed drastically. We all know that we need a website, but many of us think that simply having one is enough. In fact, there is research indicating that many firms with an online presence haven’t touched their websites in years. They haven’t spent any time improving functionality and appearance, and they have yet to consider the basics of website usability and the inherent potential of search engine optimization. Of course, we all recognize by now that having a website is an essential business asset, if it’s done correctly. It’s easy to see that if your site is an outdated eyesore, it becomes a liability that hurts you more than it helps you. Conversely, a well-designed site can make all the difference. It’s the first place users go to research your products and services, serves as a lead generator, a CRM tool, and even to make purchases.

We’ve all heard the adage about first impressions, and it’s no secret that they’re the most important factor in the way people remember their first encounter with you or with your website. On one hand, a well-designed, user-friendly website will showcase your business and your brand, impressing clients. On the other hand, an outdated and otherwise bad website can hurt you far more than it can help you. Potential customers will eliminate you as a possible vendor after interacting with your brand and substandard website for only a few minutes.

I’ll utilize a real estate analogy here to expand upon this thought. You’ll impress guests when they arrive at your home if it’s clean, well-kept, landscaped, painted, and overall welcoming. But, if you arrive at a home that’s dilapidated and falling apart with chipped paint and an overgrown lawn, you’ll think a lot of less of whoever lives there. Are they lazy slobs? Maybe. Or maybe they just haven’t had time to take care of the property. Either way, your first impression is less than positive. We all try not to “judge a book by its cover,” but in an online atmosphere, a company’s website is their cover, the digital face they present to the world, so in that case you can’t not judge the book by its cover. After all, that’s all you have to go by.

So this must leave you wondering: Is my website an asset or a liability? By answering the following questions, you can find out if it’s time for an overhaul or just some simple changes. Or maybe your site doesn’t need any work at all. Ready to find out?

  Home Page

• Can visiting users tell immediately who you are and what you offer?
• Is your site organized in a clear fashion that promotes navigation?
• Is your home page an information destination or just a messy landing page?
• Does your home page give a good first impression that entices users to click through your links?

  Performance Issues

• Do your images, videos, and pages load quickly?
• Does your site utilize clean, un-bloated code?
• Does your site have a “search” function? If so, is it fast and useful?
• Have you performed quality assurance testing to ensure your site looks the same across different browsers?

  Content Is King

• Is your content written clearly and persuasively? Does it speak to your target market?
• Have you included useful and relevant resources like case studies, white papers, articles, or links?
• Does your content effectively describe your products, services, and benefits?
• Is your content keyword focused to cater to users and search engines alike?

  Links & Navigation

• First and foremost: Do all your links work?
• Are your links clearly marked?
• Do your links utilize descriptive and enticing anchor text?
• Is your navigation menu or framework consistent throughout your site?
• Does your navigation menu provide access to your entire site?

  Critical Pages

• Is there a top-level page that describes your products and services?
• Do you have an “About Us” page to describe your company?
• Is the “Contact Us” page clear, informative, and thorough?
• Do you have a page where users can ask questions or answer their own?
• Do you have a Testimonials section?
• Do you have a blog that you update frequently?
• Do you have social bookmarking buttons to take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies?

  Usability

• Is your site organized so that information is easy to find?
• Do you have a site map that wireframes this organizational structure and links to all your pages?
• Is your site “user-friendly?”
• Is your type scannable, easy to read, and written for the web?
• Do you utilize bullets, headlines, and other stylistic elements to organize and present content?
• Do you have calls to action that prompt users to take desired actions?
• Are you using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control the layout of the site?

  Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Is your site search engine friendly?
• Have you optimized your site for specific and relevant keywords?
• Have you acquired a network of high-quality, relevant links?
• Have you utilized online PR or social media marketing for its SEO benefits?
• Does your navigation menu provide access to your entire site?

Now that you’ve answered all of these questions, you need to decide what to do next. Start with some competitve analysis to see what your competitors are doing and what you need to do to catch up. Then, survey users to see what they think and act upon that feedback; don’t wait, evaluate and reciprocate.

So make as many changes as you can to improve your website, turning it back into a business asset instead of a liability, and watch as your web presence creates leads and ultimately sales that impact your bottom line.

About The Author
Nick Yorchak is an SEO expert and Search Engine Marketing Specialist at Fusionbox, a full-service Denver Internet marketing, web design, and web development company. He can be reached at his Fusionbox email (nyorchak@fusionbox.com) or at (303)952-7490.

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Adsense and other publishers ads

Adsense and other publishers ads

AdSense publishers may display third party advertisements on sites and
pages showing Google ads as long as the formatting or color scheme of
these ads is sufficiently different from the layout of the Google ads. In
other words, if you choose to place non-Google ads on the same site or
page as Google ads, it should always be clear to the user that the ads are
served by different advertising networks and that the non-Google ads have
no association with Google. If the formats are naturally similar, we’d ask
that you use different color schemes for the competing ads.

We appreciate your patience and look forward to your continued
participation in AdSense.