Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide

If you have an online presence in the form of a website or blog and are serious about getting traffic, it is crucial that you optimize your website correctly.
A well optimized website (or post) can mean the difference between appearing at the number one position (or on the first page) in Google’s results for a particular keyword and getting thousands of visitors.. and appearing  on page 200 of Google’s results and getting no visitors.
(A tool I personally use and recommend for keyword analysis and discovery is Market Samurai.)
The higher your website  appears in Google’s results, the more traffic will be funneled your way and the more sales you will get.. it is as simple as that.
Search engine optimization or SEO  can sometimes seem like a daunting task, but when you know what you are doing it is really quite simple.
Thankfully, Google has recently updated their free search engine optimization starter guide, which gives a fantastic rundown of,

• SEO basics
• Improving site structure
• Optimizing content
• Dealing with crawlers
• SEO for mobile phones
• Promotion and analysis

This SEO guide makes the optimization process a breeze.
Please feel free to download and share!

Finally..

If you liked this post please register to receive The Social Media Guide’s free newsletter that’s packed with tips, guides, downloads and more!

Enjoy!

Blog, Featured, Google, SEO, Social Media — By Matthew Tommasi on 9 October 2010 8:48 pm

How to Speed up Search Engine Indexing

Image via Wikipedia

It’s a common knowledge that nowadays users don’t only search for trusted sources of information but also for fresh content. That’s why the last couple of years, the Search engines have been working on how to speed up their indexing process. Few months ago, Google has announced the completion of their new indexing system called Caffeine which promises fresher results and faster indexation.

The truth is that comparing to the past, the indexing process has became much faster. Nevertheless lots of webmasters still face indexing problems either when they launch a new website or when they add new pages. In this article we will discuss 5 simple SEO techniques that can help you speed up the indexation of your website.

1. Add links on high traffic websites

The best thing you can do in such situations is to increase the number of links that point to your homepage or to the page that you want to index. The number of incoming links and the PageRank of the domain, affect directly both the total number of indexed pages of the website and the speed of indexation.

As a result by adding links from high traffic websites you can reduce the indexing time. This is because the more links a page receives, the greater the probabilities are to be indexed. So if you face indexing problems make sure you add your link in your blog, post a thread in a relevant forum, write press releases or articles that contain the link and submit them to several websites. Additionally social media can be handy tools in such situation, despite the fact that in most of the cases their links are nofollowed. Have in mind that even if the major search engines claim that they do not follow the nofollowed links, experiments have shown that not only they do follow them but also that they index the pages faster (Note that the fact that they follow them does not mean that they pass any link juice to them).

2. Use XML and HTML sitemaps

Theoretically Search Engines are able to extract the links of a page and follow them without needing your help. Nevertheless it is highly recommended to use XML or HTML sitemaps since it is proven that they can help the indexation process. After creating the XML sitemaps make sure you submit them to the Webmaster Consoles of the various search engines and include them in robots.txt. So make sure you keep your sitemaps up-to-date and resubmit them when you have major changes in your website.

3. Work on your Link Structure

As we saw in previous articles, link structure is extremely important for SEO because it can affect your rankings, the PageRank distribution and the indexation. Thus if you face indexing problems check your link structure and ensure that the not-indexed pages are linked properly from webpages that are as close as possible to the root (homepage). Also make sure that your site does not have duplicate content problems that could affect both the number of pages that get indexed and the average crawl period.

A good method to achieve the faster indexation of a new page is to add a link directly from your homepage. Finally if you want to increase the number of indexed pages, make sure you have a tree-like link structure in your website and that your important pages are no more than 3 clicks away from the home page (Three-click rule).

4. Change the crawl rate

Another way to decrease the indexing time in Google is to change the crawl rate from the Google Webmaster Tools Console. Setting the crawl rate to “faster” will allow Googlebot to crawl more pages but unfortunately it will also increase the generated traffic on your server. Of course since the maximum allowed crawl rate that you can set is roughly 1 request every 3-4 seconds (actually 0.5 requests per second + 2 seconds pause between requests), this should not cause serious problems for your server.

 

 

 

 

5. Use the available tools

The major search engines provide various tools that can help you manage your website. Bing provides you with the Bing Toolbox, Google supports the Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo offers the Yahoo Site Explorer. In all the above consoles you can manage the indexation settings of your website and your submitted sitemaps. Make sure that you use all of them and that you regularly monitor your websites for warnings and errors. Also resubmit or ping search engine sitemap services when you make a significant amount of changes on your website. A good tool that can help you speed up this pinging process is the Site Submitter, nevertheless it is highly recommended that you use also the official tools of every search engine.

If you follow all the above tips and you still face indexing problems then you should check whether your website is banned from the search engines, if it is developed with search engine friendly techniques, whether you have enough domain authority to index the particular amount of pages or if you have made a serious SEO mistake (for example block the search engines by using robots.txt or meta-robots etc). A good way to detect such mistakes is to use the Web SEO Analysis tool which provides detailed diagnostics.  Finally most of the major search engines have special groups and forums where you can seek for help, so make sure you visit them and post your questions.

If you like this article, use the bookmark buttons on the top of the page and share it with other users.

Posted by bbriniotis on 30th of August, 2010 at 11:17

Social Media Optimisation For Seo – A 21St Century Marketing Strategy

Image via Wikipedia

Facebook, Twitter, Digg and Buzz are just four of the main players at the forefront of the Social Media revolution and are gaining in popularity in each day not just for tech savvy individuals but for businesses as well. The popularity of Social Media sites for individuals is obvious, it enables them to share news, views and on a base level communicate without e-mailing or texting. For business the benefits aren’t quite as obvious but free advertising is probably the thing that encourages them to sign up in the first instance.
When a business sets up an account on a Social Media site they are in effect putting themselves, products and services in the shop window for all to see and although the vast majority of people would probably just glance at their profile and move on there are a small minority that will be interested and take note. The respect in which some these Social Media sites are held in by Google and co is also a contributory factor in a company setting up a profile and this is where a number of Search Engine Optimisation companies have seen a real opportunity to broaden the portfolio of services they offer.
Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is an ever evolving industry and experts in the field were quick to recognise the enhanced search rankings and overall web presence that effective Social Media optimisation could bring to a website. SMO in conjunction with a comprehensive SEO campaign can help website owners increase their inbound traffic significantly. Typically, the content on Social Media sites is constantly updated and if there is one thing that search engines like its fresh content and as a result will cache the site and the inbound link contained within more regularly which ultimately heightens the authority in which the site is regarded by Google and the like.
Many people dismiss the Social Media sites as a waste of time and trivial but this far from the truth especially in regard to enhancing a company’s online profile. Setting up and maintaining the Social Media pages for a company on a plethora of sites is generally very time consuming so it may be prudent to engage the services of an SEO company that specialise in SMO as an additional service.
by Andy Birt
Managing Director

Searchlight Marketing Industry Advisor: How to Build Links Google Likes

Searchlight Marketing Industry Advisor
Tools, Tips & Trends for Your Online Success

December 7, 2009

In This Issue

The Open Directory Project

How to Submit to DMOZ

Selling Advantages for B2B Suppliers

Technical Writer for Hire

Dear Gabor,

The last few  issues reviewed changes you can make to your own site (the so-called on-page factors). Today, I discuss off-page factors that can affect your search engine visibility: link building.
While on-page factors can improve your results in a few days, incoming links are essential to maintaining search rankings long-term. The effect of a good link can often take several weeks, however, which is why I recommend link-building as on ongoing marketing and Web promotion strategy.
There IS one type of link that seems to kick in fairly quickly, and that's a link from Google's favorite directory.

The Open Directory Project aka DMOZ

Since Google drives about 63% of all Internet traffic, I tend to focus on them, but all search engines measure the quality of an incoming link in their search algorithm.
Google, however, places a lot of weight on

The Open Directory Project, or DMOZ, as it's commonly referred to in the industry.
The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.
Sites listed in DMOZ are used to populate Google's Index, as well as 400 other directories that use DMOZ data. Getting listed in this directory boosts your search engine rank because search engines know that if a site's been accepted, then it's undergone a hand review by a real human being.
In other words, a directory editor evaluated your site, determined it to be of good quality and listed it. Search engines don't get much more of a guarantee of site quality than that!

The Dos & Don'ts of DMOZ

The downside is that if your site is violating search engine guidelines, then the directory editor who reviews your site could flag your site as spam, seriously damaging your rankings.
With DMOZ, however, the editors are much more subjective. Remember, when you're submitting a site to a directory, you're asking someone to come to your site and manually review it for quality.
So make sure that your site is totally clean and compliant with search engine guidelines. Presenting a professional look and feel is equally important.
The most frequent complaint of site owners is that DMOZ will often use the directory title and description for your listing in the regular search results. And directories create pretty boring titles and descriptions, usually insisting that your title be your company name; no keywords allowed.
But there may be a hidden advantage for B2B suppliers.

Selling Advantages for B2B Suppliers

While most consumer sites are all about selling, research shows that B2B buyers and specifiers actually demand in-depth product information and descriptive content well before they decide to buy.
Because

DMOZ's submission guidelines require that you submit an objective description rather than one filled with promotional sales copy, this restriction will actually work in your favor. Your best strategy is to make sure your description is well-written and contains your most popular, active keywords.
Your ability to write clear, concise, technical copy leading to your Home page will work to entice your visitor to click through so that they can learn more. You've also satisfied the category editor.
While it takes time and effort to properly submit your site to DMOZ (and there's no guarantee that your site will be accepted), Google considers them to be a respected, authoritative and important site link. In essence, this is the definition of a high quality link.
This exercise also prepares you to craft a proper listing for other vertical directories that exist for your industry including local search directories like Yelp and Citysearch.

Technical Writer Who Knows SEO

As a professional Web communications specialist, I'm skilled at writing copy for both people and search engines. Most B2B Web sites I review are heavy-laden with industry jargon and broad terms like "systems integrators" when a Consumer Products Company buyer is looking for "material handling equipment."
Anyone researching vendors to solve a specific problem or gather information as their first step in the buying cycle will use key terms that are relevant to him or her.
That's why writing Web copy today requires not only a deep knowledge of search behavior, but also how to conduct effective keyword research that will turn more visitors into buyers.
To learn more about my

technical writing services and pricing, visit my Web site.

Web marketing evolves daily, and it's often impossible to keep pace unless you're immersed in the field like I am. If you have a question about any aspect of online marketing - from setting a budget for your pay-per-click campaign to keyword research - just drop me a line or give me a call. My phone consultation costs you nothing except time.
But, then again, if you believe as do I that time IS money, then maybe I can help save you both.
Until next time,

Nicolette Beard, Principal
Searchlight Marketing
Web Communications
SEO Strategies
nbeard@slmkt.com
713-419-1976

Special SEO Advice from Web CEO

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Testimonials: Clients: “I use Web CEO everyday at work. In fact, I hounded the CEO into purchasing the Professional Un-leashed edition with which he is very satisfied that I did. I think Web CEO is "the" SEO/SEM tool to use that far out runs any of the competition around today or, in my opinion, anything that could be dreamed up in the future, as you guys have created a sensational, professional and substantial piece of marketing genius that was profoundly necessary for the professional SEO Marketer like me.” Steven J. Ram Project Manager Free Articles Directory FYI - http://www.articlesfyi.com/ “I bought a copy ... on the 14th and today I am No.1 of Google for “Website Design Fleet” and for “Monthly Maintenance Plans” and rank well for several other keywords too. Many thanks for such a great product!” Andy Allen http://www.mistera.co.uk/ “It's very refreshing to find a company that actually cares about this sort of feedback and takes the time to respond quickly to customer concerns. I've been in a "customer service" roll for almost 8 years now, Telecommunications and IT in general, I greatly appreciate the level of customer service that you have been providing me.” Paul Wells http://www.hasafraker.com/

Twazzup: the best Twitter search service yet?

Image via CrunchBase

Twitter may have been hit by yet another viral attack over the Easter weekend but its popularity shows no sign of decreasing in 2009. In fact, the way people tweet on the social network is becoming increasingly central to how web users become aware of breaking news today. So it's no wonder that the world of Twitter search engines is expanding by the week, and new entry Twazzup looks set to take the crown.
Back in February, bigmouthmedia SEO consultant R. Falconer wrote about how Twitter Search - a real time search engine that was recently integrated into the main Twitter site - could be the key to making the micro blogging service money. After all, a popular search engine paves the way to selling advertising - and that's just how Google, the world's most popular search engine, started out in 1998.
However, Twazzup, a new Twitter search engine that launched yesterday, seems to trump Twitter Search in almost every respect. For instance, much has been said about the general untidiness of the way in which Twitter Search results are presented. Users can see real time results, popular search trends and tweets in any language, but actually sorting through this list can be tiresome. Twazzup, on the other hand, separates its results in a much more meaningful fashion.
A search for Gordon Brown reveals real time tweets about the British Prime Minister along the left of the page in the same style as Twitter Search. But along the right, popular tweets are highlighted and a real time updated list of the most popular links on Twitter is revealed. What's more, a list of Top Trendmakers is revealed, a feature that could act as a helpful guide for newcomers to Twitter looking for people to follow.

Twazzup may seem like the most dynamic Twitter search engine at the moment, but it's not the only one trying to improve on the offerings of the official Twitter Search. Twitalyzer Search is a new concept which aims to measure the influence of particular Twitterers, in order to provide users with more authoritative results. According to the site, a Twitter member's influence in Twitter is measured through a range of variables, including relative reach (determined by the number of followers), relative authority (the number of times you are retweeted) and relative clout (how often you are referenced by others). This method of ranking Tweets is certainly a better way to sort through real time results without the use of a Google-like algorithm, but its usefulness still pales in comparison to Twazzup's advanced offerings.
Another site that wants to create waves is social search engine OneRiot. OneRiot's Twitter search function doesn't return relevant tweets, but instead links that are shared by Twitterers. But while this function may be useful for newshounds attempting to establish which news articles are the most popular with Twitter members, the results are virtually meaningless without the actual tweets beside them to compare.
Twazzup's innovative take on sorting through real time tweets appears to offer a service that's superior to its competitors. If it takes off, it could emerge as a serious contender against Google News, which last week made some concession towards the new appetite for real time results by launching a Google Trends-like article timeline for topic clusters, indicating the number of sources per story and when each was released.
Essentially, Twazzup has upped the ante for Twitter search engines - especially the officially integrated Twitter Search. In order to stay relevant and not risk losing its users, the search engine will need to incorporate some of the same multi-dimensional search functionality. Alternatively, Twitter could always offer Twazzup an acquisition deal and integrate the engine, in the same way Google bought YouTube in 2006, a service that was far more popular that Google Video. But since Twitter is struggling to monetise its activities, it looks like we may be waiting some time yet.

Webmaster Tool Box

Image via Wikipedia

Here is a collection of what we consider "must have" tools for webmasters. These tools will benefit any webmaster, both novices and experts alike. Arm yourself with these tools in order to achieve a more professional online presence.

1. Custom 404 Page
Use a custom 404 page, so that if a user incorrectly types a webpage URL, they will still retain navigational options within your site and be provided alternative solutions. When a domain is correctly entered, but a specific webpage's URL is entered incorrectly, it is possible to display your custom error page to the visitor. By providing users with a navigational bar and further assistance, rather than leaving them with a generic "page not found" error screen, you can often keep prospective customers on your site by providing them with navigation alternatives.
2. UrlTrends
UrlTrends is a service that shows historical trends, so that webmasters can see how their SEO efforts are affecting websites in the search engines. UrlTrends should be used in conjunction with web-logging software.
UrlTrends - www.urltrends.com
3. Favicon
Polish your website by adding a Favorite Icon. When a "favicon" is available on your site, and the site URL is entered in the user's web browser URL box, the favicon will be displayed beside the URL. This gives the website a more professional and polished look.
Favicon HTMLKit - www.htmlkit.com
4. Color Matching
Match the primary web colors with those used in your logo. Simply choose a preferred color using the ColorBlender service below, and a 6-color matching palette and blend will be automatically calculated for you.
ColorBlender - www.colorblender.com
5. Online WYSIWYG Editing
Online webpage editing allows for collaboration, so that different users can log in and edit web pages.
Edit - www.edit.com
6. RSS Feeds
No longer considered to be just a nice addition, RSS feeds are now a "must have" for popular websites! Create RSS feeds for newsletters, press releases, educational articles, product tutorials, new product promotions, or just about any other sort of web content. FeedForAll - www.feedforall.com
7. MaxEmail
MaxEmail's very affordable Internet fax and voicemail service allows a fax message to be delivered to an email address as a PDF formatted attachment. This allows fax messages to follow you regardless of your location. And, it also eliminates the need for a costly extra telephone line and a dedicated fax machine.
MaxEmail - maxemail.com
8. Royalty-Free Images
Locate stock photos to incorporate into your web design. Use royalty-free stock photography to add professional, high-quality images to your website.
Photo Wizard - www.photo-wizard.net
9. Submit Corner Web Assessment Tools
These web assessment tools help you use search engines to effectively monitor who links to your website, how many links, and who your competitors are. The tools include search indexing, link tracking, and competitor identification.
Submit Corner - www.SubmitCorner.com
10. Ranks.nl
This service assesses keyword density and prominence of a domain. The tool parses keywords and assesses the number of times a keyword occurs, and then discerns the density of the keywords.
Ranks.nl - ranks.nl/tools/spider.html
11. Webmaster Toolkit
The Webmaster Toolkit is a collection of webmaster tools developed to help webmasters with daily webmaster chores. The suite of free tools and resources included continues to grow, and contains something useful for the beginner and the advanced webmaster alike.
Webmaster Toolkit - www.webmaster-toolkit.com
12. HTML Web Templates
Make it clean and professional. Use easy-to-edit HTML web templates for web design.
Web Design - www.webmaster-templates.net or www.webdesign-elements.com
13. TrafficZap
This website includes script, page rank checker, link popularity checker, and more.
TrafficZap - www.trafficzap.com
14. Compete.com
Web Analytics - Stay on top of rivals with site metrics and audience profiles for the top 1,000,000 web domains. Identify rival search marketing strategies to take your SEM and SEO efforts to the next level.
SiteAnalytics - siteanalytics.compete.com
15. Thumbshots
Easily add thumbshot images to your webpages. Integrate website thumbnails by simply copying and pasting HTML code. Additional software is not needed.
Thumbshots - www.thumbshots.org
Use top-notch tools to make web maintenance and management a little easier.
About The Author
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll audio recording and editing software.

Google Optimization: Using Search Operators

Image by rustybrick via Flickr

The underlying premise of SEO suggests that you understand the task at hand when it comes to outranking the other 999 entrants for any given keyword.
Google stops indexing a particular keyword after 1,000 results when assessing the aggregate relevance score to determine which results are spawned. By truly understanding this, you can discover a great deal from using a few basic Google search operators to determine what type of foothold a competitor has for a given keyword or niche.

Basic Competitive Analysis Metrics

1. Start with the keyword you are interested in researching. Place the keyword "in quotes" in a Google search box.
For example "SEO" returns 262,000,000 competing pages with the chronological order of the strongest sites first.
Then look to the right and determine the number of competing pages you are up against "for that keyword". It will say results 1 of 10 of (the number of competing pages).
This allows you to assess the competitive landscape with one brief metric. The extent of what you consider a competitive keyword depends on the website. For example, most websites can acquire a keyword under 50,000 competing pages with ease and competitive keywords start above 100,000 results and ascend into the millions (pages in index / divided by the top 1,000 results).

The next few metrics will allow you to understand where your SEO ceiling is (what threshold your website has for keyword benchmarks). Our blog for example can devour a keyword with up to 1,000,000 competing pages just from one post of mentioning those keywords (without backlinks).
So, all the talk about building website authority does have a place when you understand the implications to rank with less effort. Authority sites have the ability to zero in on a keyword and skip over hundreds of other websites and reach the top 10 results by the merit of trust and internal link weight and dynamism they possess. In keeping with the topic at hand, let's move to the next metric.

2. Evaluate your competitors domain and determine the amount of pages they have by using this search command in Google. You can use the #1 site and the #10 site to gauge an average of pages required to capture the keyword or, if you want you can use the #1st, 2nd and 3rd site that rank for the selected keyword to see which formulas they are entrenched in.
site:competitorsite.com (this shows you how many pages they have indexed in Google)

3. Next, determine how saturated their website is with the keyword in question.
site:competitorsite.com keyword
This shows you how many pages are indexed that include the keyword within their website. If the site in the top 10 is an authority domain, it can rank from one keyword alone in the title tag, description tag or having the keyword in the body text (or any combination of these three metrics).
While most websites do not have that luxury, often dozens or hundreds of pages are required to cross the tipping point of co-occurrence for that keyword within the website and acquire a top ranking. However each keyword has a threshold which is going to vary depending on the unique metrics of each website (which is why you need to look at more than one site for evaluation).

4. Now that you know that your competitor's site contains Y amount of pages and X amount of those pages are dedicated to a specific keyword, you can go the the most relevant listing returned from their site and look at the off page factors (which means finding out how many backlinks are linking to that page). To do so, use Yahoo Site Explorer and type the specific URL in and look at the inlinks tab to see how many pages are linking to that page.

For example, if the homepage is returned as the top ranking result for the keyword using the competitorsite.com keyword search command, ignore it and look for an actual page that has a title, or relevant shingle with the keyword (in the title, URL or description).
If they targeted a keyword using a broad match method (which means it was not necessarily the objective, but their site acquired the ranking based on ambient factors, then you will only see a sparse mention of the keyword). The point being, the homepage is a catch all and will not provide you with the same amount of depth when attempting to data mine deep links from your competitors.

The idea is, you want to know (a) how many pages they have indexed (b) how many pages contain the keyword (c) how many deep links (how many links just to that page) the top ranking page has (from outside the site) as well as (d) how well the site in internally linked (for that keyword).
We can determine criteria a-c with simple search commands, and you can also determine if the site is treated as an authority based on the keywords that appear in bold when using the site: command, websites start transforming into authority sites through topical relevance after 200-300 pages are developed around a topic (if they are linked and optimized properly).

5. Crunch the numbers and assess the competitive landscape of the keyword in question.
For example, if you know that the top 3 sites all have an average of 1000 pages and out of those 1000 pages 50% or more of them contain the keyword in question and your site has 20 pages, then you are not being realistic with your ranking objectives.
I am not suggesting to go add 1000 pages overnight (as that would not be natural) but rather, start chipping away at the keyword using a variety of SEO tactics.

6. Check the allintitle, allintext and allinanchor thresholds for the selected competitors' sites. This means finding where they rank in Google (in the top 1,000 results before the results get obscured / redundant) using the following search operators.
allintitle:keyword (who has the highest occurrence of keyword in title)
allintext:keyword (who has the highest occurrence of keyword in their body text)
allinanchor:keyword (who has the highest occurrence of anchor text / links with this keyword)
Using Google again, you can look at the competitor's on page and off page metrics, instead of breaking them out individually, you can just use NicheWatch instead, or our Ultimate SEO Toolkit, to perform this function.

The Conclusion
SEO is only limited by your imagination when it comes to determining the extent of how you use tactics for discovery and analysis. We covered a few simple metrics using Google search operators above that allow you to isolate co-occurrence and determine the global keyword density for a site.
This does provide a preliminary analysis to at least let you know what your up against (qualifying a competitor or your domain to a keyword). If you reverse engineer the averages, you can find the tipping point for essentially any keyword and craft a plan of action to acquire it.
For example 1,000 pages indexed, 900 have the keyword in exact match and the main landing page has 50 inbound links from Page Rank 4 pages. Now you have a threshold to exceed. Although this is a preliminary method, sometimes looking at basic metrics such as these can provide an immense amount of insight and determine the next competitive threshold you target for analysis.

About The Author:
Jeffrey Smith is an active internet marketing optimization strategist, consultant and the founder of Seo Design Solutions Seo Company. He has actively been involved in internet marketing since 1995 and brings a wealth of collective experiences and fresh marketing strategies to individuals involved in online business.

What is it: Scribd?

Image via Wikipedia

Scribd began with a simple observation – that there's a writer in all of us. And that even more fundamental than our desire for self-expression is our need to learn and be inspired.

Today, Scribd is the place where you publish, discover and discuss original writings and documents. More than 50 million people each month are finding or sharing fun, functional or fantastical writings and documents on Scribd.com and tens of thousands of other websites that have embedded Scribd's document reader.

We built a technology that's broken all barriers to traditional publishing and in the process also built one of the largest readerships in the world.

Democratizing Publishing

With Scribd's iPaper document reader, anyone can easily upload and immediately share their original works on Scribd.com or any other website. iPaper transforms PDF, Word, PowerPoint and many other file formats into an elegant web display. Your work can be shared with Scribd's community of passionate readers, and because every word of your document is indexed for search engine optimization, your screenplay, novel or even sheet music and recipes also can be discovered by the world.

You can create (or liberate from your hard drive) anything you want to share – that comparative essay on Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, the first three chapters of the book you've been meaning to finish, journal entries from your trip to Thailand... Scribd provides a creative and useful new platform for readers, authors, publishers and anyone else seeking to express themselves, share ideas and exchange information.

To know better for example view:

The Small Area of Logistics Opportunities

Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn | Guy Kawasaki

Image via CrunchBase

by:Mario Sundar
When Guy Kawasaki blogged about the Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn, LinkedIn had 8.5 million users in 130 industries. Since then we’ve grown to over 12 million users covering 147 industries, but many of Guy’s suggestions on using LinkedIn (see below), still remain a great way for professionals to strengthen their online brand reputation and leverage their professional network. Happy Reading!

1. Increase your visibility.
   By adding connections, you increase the likelihood that people will see your profile first when they’re searching for someone to hire or do business with. In addition to appearing at the top of search results  (which is a major plus if you’re one of the 52,000 product managers on LinkedIn), people would much rather work with people who their friends know and trust.
   
2. Improve your connectability.
   Most new users put only their current company in their profile. By doing so, they severely limit their ability to connect with people. You should fill out your profile like it’s an executive bio, so include
   past companies, education, affiliations, and activities.
   You can also include a link to your profile as part of an email signature. The added benefit is that the link enables people to see all your credentials, which would be awkward if not downright strange, as
   an attachment.
   
3. Improve your Google PageRank.
   LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index. Since LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high PageRank in Google, this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you.
   To do this, create a public profile and select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name. To strengthen the visibility of this page in
   search engines, use this link in various places on the web> For example, when you comment in a blog, include a link to your profile in your signature.
   
4. Enhance your search engine results.
   In addition to your name, you can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Your LinkedIn profile allows you to publicize websites. There are a few pre-selected categories like “My Website,” “My Company,” etc.
   If you select “Other” you can modify the name of the link. If you’re linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link, and voila! instant search-engine optimization for your site. To make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to “Full View.”
   
5. Perform blind, “reverse,” and company reference checks.
   LinkedIn’s reference check tool to input a company name and the years the person worked at the company to search for references. Your search will find the people who worked at the company during the same time period. Since references provided by a candidate will generally be glowing, this is a good way to get more balanced data.
   Companies will typically check your references before hiring you, but have you ever thought of checking your prospective manager’s references? Most interviewees don’t have the audacity to ask a
   potential boss for references, but with LinkedIn you have a way to scope her out.
   You can also check up on the company itself by finding the person who used to have the job that you’re interviewing for. Do this by searching for job title and company, but be sure to uncheck “Current titles only.” By contacting people who used to hold the position, you can get the inside scoop on the job, manager and growth potential.
   By the way, if using LinkedIn in these ways becomes a common practice, we’re apt to see more truthful resumes. There’s nothing more amusing than to find out that the candidate who claims to have caused some huge success was a total bozo who was just along for the ride.
   
6. Increase the relevancy of your job search.
   Use LinkedIn’s advanced search to find people with educational and work experience like yours to see where they work. For example, a programmer would use search keywords such as “Ruby on Rails,” “C++,” “Python,” “Java,” and “evangelist” to find out where other programmers with these skills work.
   
7. Make your interview go smoother.
   You can use LinkedIn to find the people that you’re meeting. Knowing that you went to the same school, plays hockey, or shares acquaintances is a lot better than an awkward silence after, “I’m doing fine, thank you.”
   
8. Gauge the health of a company.
   Perform an advanced search for company name and uncheck the “Current Companies Only” box. This will enable you to scrutinize the rate of turnover and whether key people are abandoning ship. Former employees usually give more candid opinions about a company’s prospects than someone who’s still on board.
   
9. Gauge the health of an industry.
   If you’re thinking of investing or working in a sector, use LinkedIn to find people who worked for competitors—or even better, companies who failed. For example, suppose you wanted to build a next generation online pet store, you’d probably learn a lot from speaking with former Pets.com or WebVan employees.
   
10. Track startups.
    You can see people in your network who are initiating new startups by doing an advanced search for a range of keywords such as “stealth” or “new startup.” Apply the “Sort By” filter to “Degrees away from you” in order to see the people closest to you first. [Republished from: Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn via "How to Change the World" -- Guy Kawasaki's blog]
    

Guy is known for bringing the concept of technology evangelism to the masses through his pioneering work at Apple’s Macintosh group. In addition to blogging the above post earlier this year, he has also blogged on topics ranging from LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover to LinkedIn and the Art of avoiding an Asshole Boss. [Source: Guy Kawasaki's weblog -- How to Change the World]

Increase Site Traffic Easily And Affordably

Image by Coneee via Flickr

 By Giorgos Kontopoulos
Many people doing business online have great websites but don't seem to be selling anything. Their products or services are top-notch, and their looks both professional and unique. So why aren't they making any money? The issue is that it really doesn't matter how amazing your website is if no one ever sees it.
Here are 45 ways you can increase your website traffic easily and affordably.1. Create your site with search engines in mind. Most people who look up something on the internet do so by using a search engine. Use words and phrases related to your business throughout your site.
2. Blog about your site. Even if you don't have a dedicated blog for your website, mention it in your personal blog. You might even make multiple blogs-a personal one, a business one, etc.
3. Update these blogs on a regular basis (at least once a week).
4. Tag your blogs on sites like http://del.icio.us and www.technorati.com.
5. Use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to advertise your website.
6. Put your website address in your email signature.
7. Put your website in the signature area of any forum you post on regularly, especially if the forum is related to your service or product.
8. Add an RSS feed to your website news section or your website blog.

9. Watch for any grammar/spelling errors on your website. No one will stick around your site if it has obvious (and avoidable) errors on it. Proofread!
10. Likewise, make certain all the links on your website work.
11. Look at what kind of navigation tools you are using on your site. Some may not work with every web browser.
12. Write good articles and press releases about your website. The goal here is to get keywords into the article that will send people to your site.
13. List your website at DMOZ ( http://dmoz.org).
14. Review products on epinion.com and other review sites that are similar to yours.
15. Post comments on other blogs and websites that discuss products or services similar to yours. Be sure to include your website if there is space for a URL.
16. Put up business-related photos on sites like Flickr and tag them with your website address.
17. Make comments on blogs related to your website, and encourage people to comment on your blog.
Continue reading this article.

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About the Author:
Giorgos Kontopoulos is a web consultant from Greece. He is one of the authors of GeoLand.org where he can often be found blogging about issues related to web development and search engine optimization.

What is it: Sphinn?

Image by egoodman via Flickr

Sphinn is a social site for search and interactive marketers. It's designed to allow you to share and discover news stories, read and take part in discussions, discover events of interest and network with others. Here's a summary of how to get started:

• Read News & Discussions: The Hot Topics area of Sphinn is what you'll see by default when you come into the site. That's why the little Hot Topics "tab" will be colored green. This area shows you news stories submitted to Sphinn and discussions within the site that have been voted the most active recently by the Sphinn community. If you're busy and want to know what's hot, Hot Topics delivers this to you at a glance. You can even get information sent to you via email or news feed.
• Share News: Read a news story you want to share with others? Use the Submit Topics tab to enter the story's URL, and then your submission will appear within the New Topics area of Sphinn. If enough people "Sphinn" it, the story might move into the Hot Topics area. Submit stories that got "hot" on a regular basis, and you could appear as one of the top Sphinners. To submit, you have to be come a member. It's free and easy -- takes only a few seconds and an email address. Sign-up here.
• Start Discussions: Want to talk about something relating to internet or search engine marketing? Also use the Submit Topics tag, give your topic a title and start the discussion off with your post. Others can then add their comments to what you've said, and you can respond in turn. Like news stories, new discussions show up within the New Topics area and move to the Hot Topics area if enough members Sphinn them.
• Network: Looking to meet other online marketers? Sphinn makes it easy. Submit interesting stories or make important points in discussions, and people might decide to stalk you. Don't worry -- stalking's a good thing at Sphinn! It means someone's interested in following what you're doing here. You can view all your stalkers at any time (and choose to share this with the public, if you want). Find some of them interesting? Stalk them back, and that turns them into friends at Sphinn. The Network page is where you can search for people in addition to finding them through news stories and discussions.
• Find Events: Made some friends online that you'd like to meet in person? There's always plenty of in-person events going on related to search and interactive marketing. Use the Events Calendar to see what's coming up. You can also associate yourself with an event, so that others know you'll be going. Or check out those already saying they'll be there!

That's the fast overview of Sphinn. There's more you can do, such as drill-down to find news and discussions in particular categories of interest (such as Google AdWords or SEO), and the help area will explain more details about Sphinn to you. There are also tools you can use to bookmark stories to Sphinn or place a Sphinn button your marketing site, so that your readers can share your content with the Sphinn community.
Aside from the community itself, Sphinn has a staff of administrators and moderators to watch over things. You'll find them listed here on our staff page. Need to contact someone about an issue? Use the contact page.
By the way, Sphinn is part of the Third Door Media network. Be sure to check out our other sites for search marketers:

• Search Engine Land: A hub for news and information about search engine marketing, optimization and how search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live.com and Ask.com work for searchers.
• Search Marketing Now: SMN webcasts combine the most authoritative and actionable education about search engine marketing issues with the convenience of attending online
• Search Marketing Expo: SMX is our search marketing conference and expo offering education and networking in locations in the US and Europe throughout the year.

Finally, why Sphinn? We liked the idea of a place where marketers could put their own spin on news by commenting on stories or having discussions. But spin.com was taken, as was spinn.com and sphinnn.com was a N too far, we felt. So we went with sphinn.com, pronouncing it "sp-hinn."

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