The presentation provides 10 very common Facebook myths & busts them very similar to the hit television show “Myth Busters”.

Enjoy the presentation:

Whilst directory links are no longer as valuable or effective as what they used to be, they can find creditable & quality links that are not going to break the budget.

Directories can provide relevant & quality links and will still be considered important with users finding them to be quality resources.

Be smart with your directory submissions and don’t waste your money by trying to grow your inbound link profile significantly for the sake of having tons of links.

Be clever and focus on finding the most relevant directories that are going to provide a quality link back to your website that will also provide value to users instead of just providing a list of services to users as you may not get the desired results from this approach.

So what do you look for when trying to determine if a directory is going to be valuable to your website?

I came across a fabulous article that interviews Greg Hartnett from BOTW on http://www.avivadirectory.com from back in 2007 and found some of the information valuable with of the approaches provided here very similar to what I have been considering whilst completing link building for myself!

Here are some of his questions & suggestions  you should consider when choosing quality directories:

• Check the history of the directory using who is?
• Check the age of the directory?
  If the directory has a good history of being a good resource I would be more inclined to consider using the directory.
• You must consider the links that are already in the directory – You need to determine whether the links are just included to any one who is willing to pay.
  Or are the directory listings containing relevant information for each of the categories.
• Does the directory adding in their own resources to provide relevant information?
  Or is the directory solely focused on generating revenue relying on paid submissions?
• Is the directory focus around providing a list of services for webmasters?
  Or is the directory focused on a user experience?
• Does the directory provide a clear navigation throughout the directory categories?
  Not only is this focusing on the relevance of the link you are placing in the directory but more importantly is the ability for users to be able to navigate through the directory clearly & easily
• Are the websites in the directory being listed in a relevant way?
• Are the categories included in the URL structure to make the page your link is on more relevant to the link you are including?

I am sure there are more things to look for when choosing a directory to submit to that I have not included here.

Please feel free to include you suggestions in the comments.

Are you completing advanced linking, competitor analysis or search queries that you don’t want your competitors (or any one else for that matter) to find.

Well here are some tips to protect your little pockets of gold:

Step 1. Open your browser
Go to Firefox (or your normal browser for that matter) – I have used Firefox here because I prefer Firefox for its ability to use so many useful plugins for SEO and more.

Step 2. Open about:config in broswer
In the search or browser bar enter in about:config – WARNING this may void your warranty. You should receive warning message in a pop up. If/When this occurs accept this and continue. Just be careful .

Step 3. Go to the filter box
Select the filter box and type in “referrer”. A line will appear saying ‘network.http.sendReferrerHeader‘ select this line which will prompt you with a dialog box. Once the dialog box loads enter 0 and press enter
This should prevent Firefox from passing your referrer string.

Step 4. Double check Firefox is not passing your referrer string.
To Double check Firefox is not passing your referrer string either click this link to http://www.whatismyreferer.com/ or enter this into your search/browser bar.

Note:
If you are smart and want to take this even further you can use the referrer logs that you are trying to protect against your competitors by checking your referral logs to analyse how advanced your competitors, SEOers & webmasters are analysing your website too.

Thanks to Casey Henry from Grand Rapids Web Designs for this addition – “if you leave your referrer off, it will hinder your ability to use some sites. Another thanks to SEOmoz for providing very helpfuil SEO tips, tools, information & techniques.

Wanting to find the right tool for finding the most suitable keyword domain?

As provided in SEOmoz:

“Joel Ohman & John Gadbois recently launched http://www.domainsuperstar.com/, which has an impressive collection of keyword-research based tools to help find domains for sale.”

I have recently been using this site and have been absolutely wrapped with the ability to be able to:

• A list of domains that are currently being auctioned with SEO stats information
• A type-in traffic finder for domains
• A keyword domain repository
• Domains dropping soon (potentially very valuable if you have good timing)
• Recently expired domains
• The typical AJAX based domain search lookup

Whilst keyword domain are not the be all and end all, I have found that they definitely have a big impact on getting your website ranking on the first page quicker especially if you are able to get a .com or in my instance a .com.au domain name.

The domain name is very targeted using your keyword and the Search Engines seem to take this into account and return the benefits of having the keyword in your domain.

Finally SEOmoz have mentioned the following from Joel (domainsuperstar.com creator):

“Also, the Type-In Traffic Finder and the Keyword Domain Repository show domains that are available for anyone to hand register via their registrar of choice just like the Dropped Domain Finder – they do not have to be bought from a 3rd party like the auction domains. Just thought that I would mention that in case some people maybe are uncomfortable bidding on an auction domain for whatever reason.”

Did you know that your hosting company may be effecting your optimisation?

Using 301 & 302 Redirects can be potentially ineffective with some hosting companies providing the ability to use a 301 or 302 redirect but are set up in a way that is not SEO friendly when redirecting a domain from one hosting company to another

Hosting Companies including GoDaddy provide the 301 & 302 Redirect however the schemes that these Hosting Companies use are not spider-friendly.

So how do you know if your hosting company is impacting your SEO you ask?

Simple….

Using tools like HttpFox provide you the ability to check the HTTP response codes that spiders &/or browsers. Be warned though some of the more popular versions of HttpFox will provide you with limited information for example providing you with only the first or last HTTP response code.

We will explore some of the quicker ways of generating creative link bait increase your in bound links to your blog or website

The myth about creating Link Bait:

Creating natural links can always be difficult.

Titles &/or slogans for articles or pages of your website  can be difficult to include our keyword for our SEO strategy as well as be interesting or catchy enough to stand out and grab peoples
attentions. Especially if you are not a creative person.

But as we are continuing to experience these difficulties & continue to look for creative ways to  grab users attention we are continuing to see more fabulous tools available to assist us conquer these demons.

The fishing approach to creating great Link Bait

Creating natural inbound links to your website or article can be difficult and time consuming, like when you go fishing.

• First you have to choose your spot,
• Decide on your approach choosing the right bait for the right fish
• Baiting the hook properly
• Casting your line and
• Waiting for the fish to bite

It is a very similar process when creating link bait for your articles.

• First you have to choose your spot to promote your article or web page to target the correct audience
• Decide on what the approach you are going to take when writing the articles content to meet your target audience -  is it going to be informative, is it a how to article, etc
• Baiting your article with creative, catchy titles & slogans
• Submitting your article to the most appropriate resources
• Waiting for exposure of the article and your intended audience to read, evaluate and decide whether it is useful, relevant &/or appropriate to link to

The Reality about creating Link Bait:

Every one is creative and can write something that is creative, and captures readers attention. By creating catchy & insightful titles and content can make this ever challenging process so much easier, especially with the use of fabulous tools including:

• Linkbait Generator – Generates clever titles using the subject of your next article
• Slogan generator – Creates a slogan for you using only a keyword of your choosing

So if your having a hard time trying to be creative think about some of the exciting tools made available to assist you with your copy writing and take your blog or website to the next level.

Bounce rates are a continuing issue for websites and depending on your website can become your arch nemesis.
So how do you effectively combat this over growing problem.

Well here we have 5 fabulous ways that will assist you in battle against lowering your bounce rate:

• Provide Relevant & up to date Content – When copy writing , firstly you need to determine what you are writing about and consider who your target audience is. You need to ensure that if you are talking about purple apples then the article continues to talk about apples and the amazing new purple apple and doesn’t start talking about pineapples. This will build up the relevancy of your article or web page & make it more appealing for visitors wanting to find out more about purple apples.

• Use appropriate Language that is going to reach your Target Audience - If your content talks to your visitors, you will reduce your bounce rate.You need to gain an insight into the right lingo that is going to best reach your target audience. Gaining a better understanding into your target audience and the right terminology will not only assist you copy writing but will ensure that you are getting your message through to your target audience.

• Provide a Clear Navigation & website structure - Every page in your website should have clear & intuitive navigation to guide the user through your website with easy & without confusion. Familiarity is the key. Ensure you are capturing the users interest and appropriately internal linking them to find all of the information they are looking for on the relevant topic

• Provide Plenty of Relevant Content – Be sure to provide enough content to your site visitors. If you have a page about pink elephants, make sure that you are providing information for your visitors on Pink Elephants. So other suggestions include: providing a comparison between competitors, products and services. Review products, competitors or services. Make sure you provide a paragraph (maybe 250 – 500 words) rather than just a sentence or two.

• Update Your Content on a regular basis to provide your visitors with current events, news and information – Revisit the pages content for the pages that are providing the highest bounce rates, especially if these pages are dated to ensure you are providing the latest information on your topic

Google has announced that it will be including Site Speed into its Algorithm

Firstly what is all this talk about Site Speed?

Site speed reflects how quickly a website responds to web requests. Speeding up websites is extremely important for not only website owners, but for more importantly Internet users.

Let me tell you all about the inclusion of Site Speed into Google’s Algorithm:

As user experience is continuing to become a very important aspect of your website to create a more pleasurable experience for visitors, we are seeing this being reflected through other channels including Google.

Website that are increasing becoming faster to load create a happier environment for visitors which is being reflected in your website stats (Analytics) with users spending more time on your website and visiting more pages.

Not only does the speed of your website improve user experience it can also reduce the cost of operating your website as well, which is something that all site owners love to hear.

As mentioned at Velocity in 2009:

“Eric Schurman (Bing) and Jake Brutlag (Google Search) co-presented results from latency experiments conducted independently on each site. Bing found that a 2 second slowdown changed queries/user by -1.8% and revenue/user by -4.3%. Google Search found that a 400 millisecond delay resulted in a -0.59% change in searches/user. What’s more, even after the delay was removed, these users still had -0.21% fewer searches, indicating that a slower user experience affects long term behavior. (video, slides)” – http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/07/velocity-making-your-site-fast.html

So what does this mean for us?

What this means is visitors and able to interact on your website more efficiently and able to see more of your website which gives you more opportunities to capitalize on this and providing more opportunities to convert in creative and clever ways.

Whilst site speed is extremely important for a site owner as well as from user experience, please be aware that the site speed definately does not place as much weight as relevancy or creditibility of your website, with less than 1% of search queries affected by the site speed.

Finally the signal for site speed only applies for visitors searching in English on Google.com at this point.

Free Site Speed Tools Available

Google is using a variety of sources to determine the speed of a site relative to other sites. So if you want to check on the speed of your website here are some fabulous free tools:

• Page Speed, an open source Firefox/Firebug add-on that evaluates the performance of web pages and gives suggestions for improvement.
• YSlow, a free tool from Yahoo! that suggests ways to improve website speed.
• WebPagetest shows a waterfall view of your pages’ load performance plus an optimization checklist.
• In Webmaster Tools, Labs > Site Performance shows the speed of your website as experienced by users around the world.

• Blogarama
• eMarketing Blog Directory
• BlogStreet
• Globe of Blogs
• kmax.ws: blog links
• Weblogs.com
• BlogWise
• BlogHop
• The Octopus Files
• BlogUniverse

We will be the judge…