“Hi Lynn, I have a quick question. In order to have a successful blog, do you have to target keywords? I’m blogging mainly to give information, but it would be nice to profit from it as well.

Do I need to target certain keywords in my posts in order to acquire traffic, or is posting frequently good enough? Do you target certain keywords in your blog posts to gain traffic? Say if I submit a post to my blog about extra curricular activities… do I have to target certain keywords about that specific post in order for traffic to start rolling in?

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.” – Scarlet

Hi Scarlet,

This is a great question. Most of the people reading along will expect a solid “yes” in my response. And while I will say that yes, you need to target specific keyword phrases when writing content, I want to give you a more detailed answer than that.

If you do not intentionally optimize your content (blog posts, articles, forum threads, etc) for a specific keyword phrase, and intentionally get backlinks to that content, you will still get traffic and readers.

This is true for two reasons:

First is “accidental SEO”. Whether you intentionally choose and optimize with a “keyword phrase”, your content may still come up in the major search engines for an obscure search term. This is how I first learned about SEO (search engine optimization) and the importance of keyword targeting.

I checked my stats one day (this was 8-10 years ago) and noticed certain archived pages of my site were getting substantial search engine traffic. There were certain phrases or a combination of words in the content, and the search engines deemed those pages relevant to those searches.

It was then that I started targeting my pages to specific searches, by optimizing the pages for specific keyword phrases. This gave me more control over the type of visitor I attracted, better rankings for better search terms, and a stronger “message to market match” between my targeting and my call-to-action.

If you would like to attract a specific type of reader, the type that is highly interested in your content, then you’ll want to target specific keyword phrases for the content you publish on the web. This will give you much more traffic, and more targeted traffic, and also result in higher profit potential.

The second reason is because there are other traffic sources, outside of the major search engines. You might attract readers through interviews, networking, personal recommendations from others, social media, offline exposure, etc.

You would be wise to accept the first, have a strategy for the second, and also intentionally optimize your content to attract highly targeted visitors to your pages. Ignoring the major (keyword-driven) search engines would be like an offline business (a plumber, for example) ignoring the Yellow Pages.

Best,

Also see: How to Increase Blog Traffic Fast

_

This week I’ll be a guest on the Hot Seminar Series to discuss taking a blog to max profit potential – including my strategies for getting the most out of every post.

Kelly McCausey is the host of the summer series, and she has been digging into my blog archives to check things out before the interview on Wednesday.

In a recent post she asked me about my objective – and whether I started my blog with a specific plan in mind:

So many people start blogging on a whim and end up fizzling out after a little while. According to the archives on your blog, you started blogging in the spring of 2006 and you definitely never fizzled. I have a feeling that starting a blog was not a decision that you made lightly, right?

Did you have a plan for your blog from the beginning and have you pretty well stuck to it?

Looking forward to your reply,

Kelly

Hi Kelly

I actually started blogging in August 2004, so this month marks 6 years that I’ve been blogging full time. I started out on blogger.com – then moved over to WordPress, and the domain ClickNewz.com, in March 2006.

My original objective was simply to share what I was doing, and what was working, in my online business. It was very much like a personal business journal in the beginning. I didn’t optimize my posts with a keyword phrase, didn’t monetize the posts or the blog in any way, etc.

It wasn’t until later, and with the rising popularity of blogging for profit, that I began testing and talking about those things ON that platform. Even still, my blog remains a personal biz journal. I continue to share what I am learning, what I’m using, the books I read, the challenges I face and the solutions I find.

While it wasn’t my original objective to monetize my blog, meaning I didn’t start a blog with the intention of making money at it, it has become a consistent revenue source. This is a natural result of testing ways to make money online, creating live examples and then sharing the results with my readers. Which is what I do.

If you read through my years of archives, you’ll see as much personal history of my business growth as you will “internet marketing tips”. Almost all of the tips & reviews are intertwined with my thoughts and personal experience – because it started out as, and still is, a business journal.

Intentional or not, it obviously works – and works well. Which is another lesson I learned and then shared along the way. And one I continue to implement on new niche blogs outside of the internet marketing space.

Had I started a blog with the sole purpose of making money, I may have “fizzled out” myself. Blogging is a lot more work than some other methods I’ve used to make money online – such as affiliate marketing.

Blogging meaning writing conversationally and continuously.

I do use WordPress as a platform for Affiliate Sites now (versus HTML or traditional static websites), but using WordPress doesn’t mean you’re “blogging” – it can also be used to create pages that look just like the traditional websites.

If you’re going to blog it pays to choose a topic you’ll never tire of writing or talking about. I’ve started many blogs over the last 6 years. Several of them did fizzle out. Those that stuck were the blogs that had to do with my deepest personal interests – such as this one about my online business that you’re reading now.

Best,

p.s. Even though I write my blog in much the same way as I keep my private business journal, I do have a strategy. I shared that in detail, giving the 7 elements I include, here: How to Write a Blog Post. What to write and how to write it are the two biggest questions I hear – followed by how to increase blog traffic. < That link will give you my favorite method of getting high quality visitors to your blog.

After my last post, I received an email from Ralph with a question about how to sell products online as an affiliate – specifically physical products through networks like Commission Junction and Linkshare…

Lynn,
I read your wonderful post about the life of a super affiliate – It was great and I know you put in long hours and hard work to get to this stage.

Lynn, I am a newbie and would like to know when you promote affiliate products from LinkShare and Commission Junction – Do you build a landing/sales page and market it by writing articles with a link back to the landing page? I am trying to understand the best way to get started marketing physical products.

Thank you,
Ralph

Hi Ralph,

The process of selling anything online as an Affiliate is pretty simple. People get online to search for products, information, deals, to get help with their buying decision, etc. Your job as an Affiliate is to add value to that process.

First you have to figure out what your buyers are searching for, and where they are searching. Are they the type to ask peer groups for recommendations? Do they search on Google? Are they on Facebook or Twitter?

What are they asking and talking about online? The first place to start is with traditional search. You find out which keyword phrases your market is using, and you target those keyword phrases with your product recommendations.

How to Sell Products Online

What you’re asking is how you frame those recommendations, and how you set up the pages that have your affiliate link to the product(s) you want to sell.

The key is to look at each keyword phrase you are targeting, and come up with a strong message to market match for that search. Consider what they are really searching for, and how you can offer them the ideal solution. Are they looking for information, a specific solution to a problem, reviews/comparisons, pricing or deals?

Whatever they are searching for, specifically, that’s what you want to deliver.

It’s easiest to just ignore all the internet marketing terminology (landing page, mini site, authority site, flycatcher page, etc) and instead consider how you can best serve that market. This concept is easily lost if you get sidetracked by all of the buzz words and trends, but it’s the key to good conversion rates.

In the Affiliate Site Options post I shared some specific examples of various types of affiliate sites. Look those over to get a better idea of ways you can serve your market. Some of them are ecommerce-style sites that look more like an online store, but send the visitor to the merchant (via an affiliate link) to checkout and purchase the featured product. Others are blogs or informational sites that answer questions and lead into a call-to-action.

To answer your question more specifically, I don’t generally create a one-page promotion as an affiliate. I create a blog or website around a market or topic, and use that to recommend products. I never create an affiliate site around a specific product, but around the topic.

For example, instead creating an affiliate site around “brinkman grills” or “weber grills”, I might create an affiliate site like GrillDominator.com – which is currently available, by the way – that includes all grill types (gas, smoker, charcoal), reviews and comparisons, instructions & products needed to build your own grill, etc.

I prefer to build an authority site on a topic, and then make recommendations on the keyword level. Meaning each page of the site serves it’s own purpose, and leads the visitor into a specific call-to-action that matches the search that brought them there.

Article Marketing is something that I use for inbound links, often to specific pages on my affiliate site – which is called deep linking. It’s very effective, but it is just one of my marketing strategies in the overall marketing plan.

In the GrillDominator.com example I gave above, I would use grill recipes that get searched frequently as content for my articles. They are informational searches (vs commercial searches) but highly relevant to the site topic… and so great for a source of quality inbound links.

The more we talk about it, the more complicated it sounds. But it really just boils down to common sense marketing, and figuring out how you can best serve your market. Get in the shoes of your ideal visitor every time you analyze a keyword phrase. Consider what you would be looking for if you were searching that phrase yourself – and create that. Your market will thank you for it. Everyone is sick of wading through junk to get to the results they’re actually looking for…

I hope this answers your question. If not, or you have more questions, feel free to ask below. That goes for anyone reading along, of course.

Best,

Simple blogging tips for using the More Tag and custom Post Excerpts on your WordPress blog

If you use a traditional blogging format, several posts show up on the main page of your blog. You can set the number of posts that display under Settings > Reading.

This setting will not only control the number of posts that show on the main page, but also on the category and other archive pages. The excerpts that display on those pages are not controlled by the More Tag. They show the excerpt you create for each post (or automatically create an excerpt for you by default).

While WordPress will create an excerpt for each post automatically, you should create your own excerpt for each post. This gives you the opportunity to write a custom snippet that compels visitors to click through and read the entire post.

You do this by typing in your preferred excerpt for a blog post just below the composition window, in a box labeled “Excerpt”:

Tip: use your keyword phrase in your excerpt

The excerpt is different than using the More Tag, and you can learn more about it’s uses here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Excerpt

In addition to creating custom snippets for your category and archives pages, the Excerpt is used in Aweber’s Blog Broadcast to give your email subscribers a snippet of what each blog post is about. Using a custom excerpt can dramatically increase your click-through rate from those email notifications.

How Many Posts Should You Display?

I currently have ClickNewz set to display the six most recent blog posts, but you should set yours according to what works best with your WordPress theme. Ideally you’ll coordinate it with the length of your sidebar. This allows you to balance the content on your main page and eliminate too much “white space” either in the content area or the sidebar area.

(Since my excerpts have been a bit longer than usual lately, you’ll notice more white space below the content in the right sidebar. Not ideal.)

If you are displaying full posts instead of excerpts on the main page of your blog, that page could get quite long if you have it set to display more than one. It’s best to use ~5 post excerpts so that you can give your visitors a quick view and a sampling of your most recent content.

Using the More Tag

# more – WordPress tag that breaks a post into “teaser” and content sections. Type a few paragraphs, insert this tag, then compose the rest of your post. On your blog’s home page you’ll see only those first paragraphs with a hyperlink ((more…)), which when followed displays the rest of the post’s content. source: writing blog posts

The More Tag is used to control the way your posts display on the main page of your blog. You’ll find this tag in the menu bar at the top of your composition window. You can also type in the More Tag using this code:

(!–more–)

(you’ll need to replace the ( and ) with in the code above. So it’s a bracket, explanation point, two hyphens, the word “more”, two hyphens, and an ending bracket.)

There are two things consider when using the More Tag: how much content you want to display, and creating a lead-in to compel visitors to click through to read the rest of your blog post.

Since the More Tag is used only on the main page of your blog, this is a great way to offer new visitors a teaser of current posts and get them engaged enough to click through and read a specific blog post.

When I blog, I know that I am going to use the More Tag, and so I write my posts to lead into that More Tag. Here’s a recent example of a blog post as it showed on the main page here at ClickNewz:

The use of images before the More Tag will draw your readers eyes to the post, and a compelling statement or lead-in to your topic just before the More Tag will encourage them to click through and read the rest of the post.

Your blog post & page display formatting is important. Make good use of both Excerpts and the More Tag, and use them strategically to lead your visitors deeper into the content on your blog.

Best,

p.s. Want more great blogging tips? See http://www.probloggerworkbook.com

You may have noticed I’ve been writing a lot about SEO copywriting lately. More than that, I’ve been working on a content optimization software solution for the last 6 months with a team of very smart people.

It’s called Scribe, and it makes SEO copywriting simple. Creating search optimized web pages, blog posts, and press releases used to be time consuming at best and mystifying at worst.

Not anymore.

What is Scribe?

Scribe is an SEO software service for WordPress that analyzes the content of web pages, blog posts, online press releases, you name it… at the click of a button.

The Scribe API then reports back to the WordPress interface and tells web writers, bloggers, affiliate marketers, and small business owners how to tweak their content to get more search engine traffic, all while maintaining quality reader-focused copy.

It’s like having an SEO expert as an editorial assistant.

How does Scribe Work?

Right now Scribe works through a WordPress plugin combined with an API (tech jargon for saying one piece of software talks to another). The Scribe API key you’ll receive when you sign up allows you to tap into the Scribe content optimization algorithm on our servers right from your WordPress interface.

Scribe works with WordPress if you’re able to fill in a custom title tag and meta description for the post or page. While Scribe was originally developed for Thesis Theme for WordPress users, it also works with the free All in One SEO plugin, the Hybrid theme, and the Headway theme.

We’ve got other platforms coming soon, including a standalone web version next month, and you’ll have access to all of those additional Scribe platforms at no extra charge when you sign up for our great introductory offer.

Why is Scribe Different?

What’s innovative about Scribe is the way it differs from typical SEO tools. Instead of asking you for a keyword phrase and then pushing you to construct content around it, Scribe:

• Analyzes what you’ve already written, preserving your natural flow
• Reveals what search engines will think you’re writing about
• Suggests changes to better reflect the language searchers are using
• Guides you through remaining content elements based on SEO best practices

With Scribe you’ll:

• Optimize content faster
• Eliminate guesswork about keywords
• Employ SEO best practices
• Preserve people-focused copy
• Increase targeted traffic!

What’s this Going to Cost Me?

As many of you know by now, I like to reward early-adopters with the best pricing, unlike general business “wisdom” that says you extract the most cash from the most willing.

So normally, Scribe will come in 3 plan levels at 3 different monthly price points:

• Advanced: 300 evaluations a month (around 100 pages or posts) for $97
• Publisher: 120 evaluations a month (around 40 pages or posts) for $47
• Starter: 30 evaluations a month (around 10 pages or posts) for $27

But until February 19, 2009, at 6:00 pm Central, you get the Advanced plan for the Starter price – only $27 per month (and you keep that price for as long as you stick with Scribe).

• Take the Scribe tour
• Buy Scribe Now
• Who’s Behind Scribe?
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Take Scribe on a Free Test Drive

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and wants you to know that Thesis + Scribe = SEO Made Simple. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

People are always asking me about a tool or software program to help them keep track of their search engine rankings.

I don’t actually use anything, so I never have a good answer. My standard response is:

“I check the top 10 results at the 3 major search engines, searching the keyword phrase I’m trying to rank for. If my page is not there- in the top 10 results – I close my browser and get back to work!”

I was talking to Saku of SEO Rank Monitor last week, and he offered to let me take his online tool for a test drive and check it out. While there are several programs and tools that let you check your rankings, this one is different because it can interact directly with your Google Analytics account…

From a review on Yoast:

…uses the Google Analytics API to combine rankings data with visitor data, showing you what the difference really is between position 1 and position 2. It’s also the fastest rankings tracker I’ve ever seen, ranking a few dozen keywords for me in a few minutes, and then on a daily basis after that, giving some awesome ranking charts…

They offer a full feature tour of the SEO Rank Monitor dashboard, and a 30-day free trial to let you check it out before you decide to sign up for one of their two packages. The best value is the Pro Package which allows you to track up to 10 domains and 2500 keywords.

All of the tracking & ranking data is stored remotely on their server. That allows you to access it all over the world by logging in from any web browser.

What makes SEO Rank Monitor different – and better – than other SEO tools out there is the option to connect it to your Google Analytics account. You can then retrieve data about your visitors for all your tracked keywords…

In addition to tracking your own keywords and campaigns, the dashboard also includes a Competitor Monitor which allows you to keep up with the success of your competition. Or easily find keywords with little or no competition.

All of the stats and data are laid out nicely in visual, easy-to-read charts & graphs with the option to export into other formats.

I took Saku up on the offer to give it a test drive, and logged in to one of his accounts. At a glance I could see where keyword phrases were ranking across Google, Yahoo and Bing. I could also tell which keyword phrases were moving in the SERPs. Specifically which terms were moving up in the results, and which phrases were moving down.

The charts load quite fast, and it’s very easy to navigate.

Inside the Analytics Monitor, it gives you a Keyword Value. You can look over this chart and see where you rank for various keyword phrases – and the Keyword Value tells you the number of click through’s you can expect with a number one ranking for each of those keywords.

Definitely cool, and a tool I’ll be checking out more. Give it a test drive with their 30-day trial and let me know what you think!

-> http://www.seorankmonitor.com

Best,

Disclosure: this post was sponsored by SEO Rank Monitor

When choosing Long Tail Keywords to create content, you can use modifiers to find keyword phrases with Commercial Intent. This will help you find ways to reach the buyers in your market.

To find these buyers that are searching in your market, you simply include single keyword modifiers with your primary keywords when doing your keyword research.

Below are a list of modifiers, along with specific keyword phrase examples, which should generate even more ideas for you to test:

• buy
• purchase
• shop
• order

This helps you find long tail keyword phrases used by people who have an obvious intent to buy. Examples include:

- order flowers online for delivery (79)
- purchase old movies (430)
- buy movies online (104)
- buy mini muffin pans (3, 448)
- shop nascar (790)

The number out to the right is the approximate number of searches per day according to WordTracker’s Free Keyword Tool.

Other modifiers I try include:

• shipping
• get
• online
• coupons
• deal
• delivery
• best
• comparison
• review

Again, some specific examples of keyword phrases using these qualifiers:

- hearing aid comparisons (671)
- free shipping on clothes (192)
- free shipping office supplies (81)
- digital slr camera reviews (235)
- who makes the best mp3 player (586)
- best way to get a software engineering degree online (118)
- delivery of wine as a gift (366)

As you can see, these keyword phrases are used by people who are searching online to help them with their buying decision. These are phrases with Commercial Intent (CI), and the phrases you should be targeting to make sales online.

Also See: The Products People Are Searching For Online

Informational Keyword Modifiers

I also use modifiers to find keyword phrases where people are searching for free information, which helps for creating link-building content and info products.

• free
• download
• tips
• how
• how to

Also See: Ideas for How-To Content and How-To Info Products Products

Using modifiers in your keyword research will help you come up with the specific content and products that your market is searching for online. Whether you are creating info products, building an email list with an informational opt-in incentive, or creating “money pages” as a merchant or an affiliate, these modifiers can help you bring in the most qualified visitors to your offers.

Best,

p.s. You can use any number of keyword research tools. I use WordTracker’s Free Keyword Tool, and simply keep it open in a new tab. I refer to it no less than a dozen times a day to find phrases when: starting a new forum thread, writing a blog post or article, creating an email newsletter, etc.

Dislosure: I am an affiliate for WordTracker. The link given above is a referral link, but the tool is 100% free – not a trial offer. I have been using the free tool for years with no requirements other than the occasional captcha screen.

A common link building task is to post blog comments on blogs with the dofollow plugin installed. Since blogs have the NoFollow attribute on links in the comment area by default, linkers search for ‘dofollow blogs’ to get inbound links that count (that pass PageRank).

To be clear, there is no such thing as a “dofollow link”. It’s simply a link that does not have the NoFollow attribute. For more on that, see the NoFollow Attribute section in the Link Building 101 post.

There are browser plugins that will tell you whether links are dofollow or nofollow, and there are also Do Follow Blog Directories that will give you a list of blogs that offer dofollow links in the comment section…

DoFollow Resources

• DoFollow WordPress Plugin (this is the plugin I use here at ClickNewz)
• Firefox Add-on: NoDoFollow highlights & color codes follow/nofollow links
• DoFollow Blogs Directory sorted by niche/category
• DoFollow Community digg-style social network for do-follow blogs

You can find more directories and lists of “dofollow blogs” by doing a search on Google: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=dofollow+blogs

But there’s one major problem with this as a link-building strategy…

Anchor Text & Comment Spam

The problem with using blog commenting as a link building strategy is that you have to use your keyword phrase in the Name field in order to get your preferred anchor text hyperlinked to your URL:

Bloggers don’t like this, and often they won’t approve your comment if you use a keyword phrase in the Name field. Some have statements to that effect printed on their blog, others simply trash the comments.

It’s a personal call, and each blogger handles it how they please. As for me, I tolerate to an extent… but only if the comment itself really contributes to the discussion. Otherwise it’s a quick delete – and annoying to boot.

So your first major hurdle is finding dofollow blogs in your niche, or relevant to the page you want to link. Second is getting keyword rich hyperlinks with your blog comments approved and displayed.

To be honest, it’s probably not the absolute best use of your time. Meaning, I wouldn’t make this your top link building strategy…

Pingbacks vs Blog Comments

A pingback occurs when one blog post links to another. This will happen whether you are linking to your own blog posts (internally), or linking to someone else’s blog post on a different domain. It’s a great way to interlink related content.

Internally, between your own blog posts, interlinking can help your readers find more information from you. They may be reading an older post and click through the pingback to read your newer, related content. Or they may be reading a new post and follow links that reference topics you’ve discussed in detail already.

A pingback usually looks very much like a blog comment:

As you can see, the pingback uses the Post Title of your blog post as the anchor text for the hyperlink. In this case “Link Building 101: What is a Backlink?” is the anchor text, linking back to my post with a bit of the post text as the “comment”.

Obviously if you are using keyword-rich Post Titles (and you should be!), this is a better way to get a keyword-rich link from a relevant blog post.

And not only does this give you the inbound link you were hoping for, but pingbacks also get a much higher click-through rate (CTR) than blog comments. Readers view pingbacks as add-ons to the discussion, connections to related conversations.

Think about it. Which one are you most likely to click on yourself?

Note: Not all blogs are set up to display pingbacks, and not all bloggers will approve pingbacks. Pingback spam is like comment spam – rampant. You’ll want to locate blogs that display quality pingbacks, and make sure your post is relevant to their post (ie quality content that contributes to the topic).

How To Create A Quality Pingback

First, you should have a collection of related blogs in your niche in your Feed Reader or bookmarks. While scanning through their blog posts, you want to look for two things: topics you’ve already blogged about, or new topics that interest you.

When you find a great blog post on a topic you have already blogged about, you can go back to your published post and edit it. Include a link to their blog post from yours, click “update post”, and this will initiate a pingback to their blog post.

You might add a short paragraph that says “also see XYZ by ABC on this topic for a detailed explanation of 123″ or something like that. The goal is that it makes sense within your post, to human readers, and that it interlinks the two related posts – from your blog to theirs, and theirs to yours.

When you find a new topic in your niche, and you have an opinion to add to that conversation, you can create a blog post in response – instead of leaving a comment.

This serves two purposes: it introduces the topic to your own readers, and opens it up for discussion at your blog – and it also creates a pingback, connecting the two blog posts on that topic.

I also seek out relevant blog posts to quote as sources within my own blog posts. Once I have a topic in mind, I search for blogs that display pingbacks that are on topic and worth quoting – to add weight to my own thoughts on the topic.

Here’s an example, from my blog post on Social Marketing Pitfalls:

As you can see, I quoted a blog post by Tim Bossie and linked to the source. This created a pingback on his blog post:

I know – it says Trackback instead of Pingback. I am still not quite sure what the difference is between the two. They seem to be very similar if not the same from where I’m sitting. Regardless, it happens by linking to one blog post… from another blog post. See Pingback and Trackback.

Also see: What’s A Pingback? And How To Write Links by Sue Waters.

The web is made up of conversations, micro-topics and links that connect them. If you’re not interlinking relevant content, you’re doing a disservice to your readers – and to the web as a whole.

The bottom line…

Blog commenting is good, but Pingbacks are better. Pingbacks take less of your time, and add quality content to your own blog at the same time.

Even better than both are links within the actual content area of a blog post. If you’re spending a lot of time on blog commenting for link building, your time could be better spent doing guest blogging and/or article marketing.

Not that blog comments and pingbacks aren’t good, because they are… but if you’re counting every minute while trying to grow your online business, do the things that count the most.

Stay tuned because we’re going to discuss quality of links next, and how to get the highest quality inbound links to your pages…

Best,

p.s. I mentioned that Pingbacks get a much higher click-through rate from blog comment sections. And they do. I take 5 minutes when writing a blog post to search out relevant posts to link to and add them in. It provides greater resources and depth for my readers, while also creating that pingback on the linked-to post.

Pingback Tip: If you are responding to another blog post, write your Post Title carefully. This is what will display as the anchor text in the pingback on their blog… and a compelling title can really increase your click-through rate!

We’ve discussed web page optimization, link building, and an effective link building strategy… so you know that you need backlinks to your pages in order for them to rank well in the major search engines.

But how many backlinks do you need?

The answer is: the number it takes to out-rank a competing page. If both pages are equally optimized for the same keyword phrase, and in most cases even if they’re not, it’s the number of backlinks that will determine who ranks highest for that search query. But not just the number of backlinks…

Why Some Sites Rank Higher Than Others… With Fewer Backlinks

Often, when analyzing backlinks, you’ll notice that a page with fewer links outranks a page that has more. The reason for this is in the quality of those links. Link Popularity is the number of inbound links, Link Reputation is the quality of those links. Quality is determined by a number of factors:

The type of link – article directory, social bookmark, etc. The variation in link types. The location of the link (content area vs footer, for example). The relevancy of the page linking to it, the anchor text used in the link, etc.

Another factor is the total number of unique domains linking to that page. Three links from one domain will not carry as much weight as three links from three different domains.

A little digging in the competing page’s list of backlinks can usually tell you exactly what it would take to outrank that page with your own. All you need is more total links, or higher quality links than theirs.

How To Analyze Backlinks

This method works well whether you want to analyze your own backlinks, or those of a web page you are competing with for placement in the search results.

Since inbound links (off-page optimization) carry so much weight in Google rankings, this is the one area you’ll do most of your competition analysis.

Here’s the quick & easy process I use to analyze backlinks:

• Search your chosen keyword phrase at Google.com.
• Click through the top results, and view the web page.
• Copy the URL of that page from the address bar.
• Go to Yahoo.com and use the search bar…
• Type in “link:” and then paste in the URL of the page.

example- link:http://www.clicknewz.com/1993/how-to-write-a-blog-post/

That will take you to Yahoo Site Explorer and will show you the total number of inbound links to that specific web page (URL). Once you’re there, you can use the drop-down box to select “except from this domain” to exclude all of that site’s internal links and see only the inbound links from other domains.

It’s easier than it sounds once I type it all out – give it a try and you’ll see it actually only takes a minute tops. A lot of people use fancy software programs, browser plugins or various other methods. I like to keep it simple.

Let’s walk through this together so you can see exactly how it’s done:

Tip: use the buttons in the lower right hand corner of the video to view it in HQ (high quality), or to view it in full screen mode.

What you’re looking for is the total number of backlinks to that page, and the total number of external backlinks (not including the site’s own internal linking). I tend to go for less competitive keyword phrases, and rule out competing with large numbers of backlinks and/or obvious authority sites.

That said, sometimes the number of backlinks alone can be deceiving so you may want to dig a little deeper. If they have a lot of backlinks and you really want to compete for their spot, then you can analyze the quality of those backlinks.

When analyzing a list of backlinks, count the actual number of unique domains linking to that page. If there are 5 links from one domain, count that as just one. You can also click through each link in the list, and look for the backlink.

See where it is placed on the page, as links within the content area carry more weight than links in static areas of the site: sidebar, footer, navigation, etc.

How relevant is the content to the page it’s linking to? Is it a pet site linking to a dog page (relevant), or a gardening blog leading to a dog page (not relevant)?

Also see if they are using your keyword phrase as the anchor text for that link.

The most important part of that research is to count the number of instances they use your keyword phrase in the anchor text. The total number of those links… will tell you how many links you need with that exact anchor text to out-rank the page.

While you’re analyzing the backlinks of competing web pages, you’ll often find great sources for inbound links for your own page. Look at who is linking to their page, and how, and make notes of places you can get your own link on that page – or on similar pages. Your competitors backlinks are a goldmine of link sources!

Watch the video, try it out, and see for yourself how simple this is

Best,

p.s. Next we’ll look at ways to get high quality inbound links, and exactly what types of links you’ll need for your pages to rank well in the major search engines.

Be sure to subscribe below for updates by email so you don’t miss a single tutorial in this in-depth Link Building series:

Before we get started with the new Link Building Series this week, I want to make sure everyone understands basic web page optimization.

While link-building plays a big part in getting top search engine rankings, what you do on the page is going to dramatically influence your CTR (click-through rate) and your conversion rate. So – first things first…

Web Page Optimization Begins With Keyword Selection

The first step is to choose the keyword phrase you most want your page to rank well for in the major search engines. Each page of your site, or blog post, will be optimized for a relevant keyword phrase.

The main page is optimized for your most general keyword phrase, the categories slightly more specific keyword phrases, and your pages/posts should be optimized for very specific keyword phrases – called long tail keyword phrases.

Long Tail keyword phrases are phrases with 3 or more words.

Let me give you a quick visual example of how this would be set up on a website about nail art. Your first step is to use your favorite keyword research tool and type in the phrase “nail art”. You can use WordTracker’s free keyword suggestion tool:

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com

• Home/Main Page
  - Nail Art
• Categories/Navigation
  - Nail Art Designs
  - Freehand Nail Art
  - Nail Art Supplies
• Pages/Posts
  - acrylic nail art designs
  - professional nail art supplies
  - nail art step by step

That’s a very basic example, and it will vary with niches and keyword depth, but the goal is to start general and then get more and more specific as you get deeper into your site.

Note: While long tail keyword phrases generally have less search volume, they bring in a more targeted visitor and result in much higher conversion rates. Longtail keyword phrases also contain variations of shorter keyword phrases.

To give you an example one of my blog posts is optimized for starting a free online business, but also ranks well for the shorter phrase: free online business.

As that example implies, you can optimize a web page for more than one keyword phrase. I choose a Primary Keyword Phrase (the phrase I most want my page or post to rank well for) and also choose a secondary keyword phrase (or two). We’ll get into this more during the Link-Building series.

Web Page Optimization 101

Now that you have selected your keyword phrases, it’s time to optimize your pages. There are 7 places on your page where you want to include your Primary Keyword Phrase on each individual web page:

• File Name
• Title Tag
• Text Header
• Sub-Headings
• Within Content
• Within the Meta Description tag
• Anchor Text of Incoming Links

I’ll often name my images with my Primary Keyword Phrase as well, if relevant, but that’s as much keeping my images organized for which post they go to as it is “image optimization”.

I don’t pay attention to things like keyword density, keyword proximity, or any other fancy SEO terms. I simply use my Primary Keyword Phrase in each of those places, and a few times within the actual content. Usually in the first paragraph, the last paragraph, and maybe once more somewhere in the middle (a couple of times on longer posts/pages). That’s it. Keep it simple

Web Page Optimization for Blogs

Optimizing blogs is very similar to optimizing web pages. I don’t use any fancy plug-ins to achieve this on my own blog. This post actually stands as a visual example where you can see all 7 elements listed above.

Even though you are viewing this blog post in your browser, I’ll point out each of the elements here so you can get a better feel for how it is done. This post is optimized for the phrase “web page optimization” – a low volume phrase (around 9 searches a day, or 3,285/year).

With a blog, the title of the post also becomes the Title Tag or page title as well as the Text Header. As you can see, I’ve used the phrase in both the title and the file name:

If you look at the top of your browser, you’ll see the post title is in the Title Bar and you’ll also see it as the text header above the post. You’ll also see that I used the Primary Keyword Phrase in the sub-headings throughout the post:

Once you publish a blog post, the post title is also used as the Anchor Text for internal links throughout your blog – specifically to your post, from your archive listings. Your post titles will often contain additional words, diluting the keyword phrase in that Anchor Text. With this post, the additional word is “checklist”.

So my blog will create internal links to this post like this:
Web Page Optimization Checklist instead of Web Page Optimization (preferred).

This is where our link-building strategy will help, which we’ll focus on next.

How do on-page factors affect CTR & Conversions?

Ahh yes – I almost forgot to come back around and explain that.

Before anyone ever arrives on your web page, they run across your link – either in the search results or on another website. What they see in the search results is your Title Tag and your URL. Or if they find your link on a web page and hover over it, they see the Anchor Text and the URL.

Example:

What you say in those few words will determine whether they click on your link or not. A compelling title may grab their attention in the search results. Or a descriptive file name may encourage them to click through to read the topic.

As for increasing your conversions, that’s all in selecting the right keyword phrase. You want a very strong message to market match between your keywords and your content. Meaning your phrase defines what they can expect.

With this post, the phrase “web page optimization” very clearly defines what a visitor will find when they click through. This will increase your chance of gaining a new subscriber or making a sale (ie increase your conversion rate) – versus the other option: they click the back button.

Recommended Reading:

What I have given you here is a basic overview of web page optimization. For a more in-depth understanding of SEO I highly recommend that you download (and read!) SEO Fast Start, a free search engine optimization guide by Dan Thies.

Grab it while it’s free!

Best,

p.s. Also see my tutorial on writing SEO Content that outlines how to choose the best keywords & phrases for individual blog posts or web pages.

Stay tuned – this Link Building series is going to be fun