Wednesday, December 31, 2008

7 Top Tips for SEO Success

Get to the Top of Google mindmap 
Last October, I got the chance to read David Viney's "Get to the Top on Google". Fortunately for you, the whole book can also be read online.

In the last chapter of the book, Viney summarized his top tips for search engine success in 7 points and I added my insight to each:
  1. Find a great niche and create good content
    I believe that this is important especially when you get more serious in your publishing endeavors. Tools like WordTracker becomes like a daily companion when figuring out topics to write about and the correct slant to approach it based on what user wants.

    With the right content, traffic can also come naturally. Attaining a certain number of visitors in a month will require content build-up dedication and this is a big challenge that even I had to overcome.
  2. Lay the right foundation
    If I'll create a blog or site all over again, I will visit blog directories or advertising programs and figure out how blogs are classified. This I will use as a guide when creating my site structure. I will likely invest in a domain name right away at the minimum.
  3. Do everything you can with your assets under control
    This includes fixing your sitemap, monitoring analytics, enhance your tags, improve page size, caching, among others.
  4. Spend more time on directory submissions (paid, reciprocal, free, deep linking), article writing, and online press releases.
    This means all ways possible to get your site linked or be featured. Of course, this anchors on having good content in the first place.
  5. Use paid advertising to complement organic search campaign
    For paid advertising, focus on long tail keywords (3 words and up) and must have a decent landing page that allows you to achieve your goal.
  6. Put focus if website has a local angle
    Tap into local directory listings, geographic targeting, language enhancement, among others.
  7. Promote your site with Web 2.0 tools
    This includes having a blog, use tagging, and really simple syndication (RSS). Target wikis, lenses, and social networking sites to further secure your ranking.
I must admit that reading Viney's book at a glance may make you underestimate its content especially if you are already into SEO like me. However, when I started mind mapping it, I was blown away on the richness of its content. The mind map I posted only covers up to 3.2 out of 7.4. The full one shall be made available to DigitalFilipino.com Club members including our updated SEO worksheet template.

Indeed, in this book, David Viney has proven that SEO is not rocket science. In fact, I could even say, "David Viney brings sexy back to SEO".

Friday, December 12, 2008

Preparing for a Texas Holdem Poker Match

During the DigitalFilipino Club and Bloggers Networking Event in Davao, Cebu, and Manila last October at Casino Filipino, bloggers had the opportunity to play Baccarat and Poker during the socials part of the event. I wasn't able to join for I don't really know how to play the game. However, the task is now at hand to plan for the club's next networking event. This includes including karaoke, billiards, and poker match for fun during the socials part. In preparation for it, I decided to learn how to play Texas Holdem.

I visited the Online Poker Tutor hoping to find some info about it. I found out that Texas Holdem is very popular as it requires skill, knowledge, and luck combined. It requires bluffing as well. I remember that some of the skilled players then don't like to play with beginners as they don't observe rules or patterns that regular players do. I guess the least I want is to be in this situation and find an opportunity to learn further online or offline.

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I wish the site had photos and videos to allow newbie readers like me to learn further based from the information shared.

A suggestion I got is to try some online sites for preparation. This lead me to the Poker Room where sites listed by Online Poker Tutor were all tried, tested, and reviewed. I noticed though that the skill required online and offline are different as players are unable to analyze the movement of their competitors when they play the game.

I hope being able to practice playing this game further so that I wouldn't get lost and play comfortably well in our upcoming networking event this February 2009.

High Stake SEO Gambling

In my column yesterday, I talked about the benefits and some lessons learned in joining an SEO competition. As this blog is where I got the chance to put my initial SEO knowledge to the test, I will be using this to chronicle some of the highlights in this journey.

On day 15, our entry entered page 1 for the first time with the site having no less than 200 visits a day. I'm quite happy about this as it took me 75 days before I was able to hit 100 visits in ituloy angsulong and never got around to reach 200.

I'll be writing more about our lessons learned in this area and will share it with our club members this February once this whole competition is over.

My view of an SEO competition, at least when joining, is like entering a high-stake do-or-die gambling game. If you want to conquer or outperform yourself, what you've done in the past, you have to give everything. This also includes putting everything aside, including emotion or biases, just to hit that big goal. And with the right leader, worthy of such support, the journey is just beginning for us.