TALES, FAILS AND BETRAYALS OF SEARCH ENGINE PLACEM

TALES, FAILS AND BETRAYALS OF SEARCH ENGINE PLACEMENT Part 1

by: Gina Novelle

This is the first of a series of articles about a subject so many people want to learn; the unsizzled truth of search engines. What do you really know about how a web site is placed? Are you being told the truth? Not only will these articles enlighten you, but along the way, I will create a new web site and in the next 2 months we will watch where it lands!

You will learn about the tricks, and tools I use. If I have an affiliation with any of the companies I recommend, I will let you know. I’m going to start at the very beginning. Therefore, I will assume you have little or no knowledge of how web pages get to the top of the search engines.

There is a reason that large web site companies have names like eBay, Google, and Yahoo! These names are unique, limited in characters, easy to spell, easy to say and the biggest reason – they are easy to REMEMBER! I also noticed that they are sounds my toddler makes! I’m not a psychologist, so I won’t go there, but you get my point. I’m not saying that your web site name should be googoogaga.com, but the more unique the name, the less chance of duplication by others. Before you consider purchasing a web name, first check it out! Oh by the way, the name googoogaga.com is already taken.

You think you have a great name for a web site? Go to the following search engine addresses and type in the name. Remember people use spaces if they type in more than one word. This is why your site name should be short! Think of compound words or terms used together, like ขcash stash.ข

http://www.google.com

http://www.yahoo.com

http://www.altavista.com

http://www.msn.com

http://www.aol.com (search is at the very bottom of their page)

Many people purchase a web name that matches their birth name, as in www.stanleygeorge.com. Just look in your local phone book and see how many others have your name. Why would you think your name would be unique in an entire world of people? Okay, Okay, don’t fret just yet, even if you did use your name as a web name. You will learn how to remedy that situation in this article.

When picking a name for your web site, you want to think of the following items.

Describes what you do

Is easy to spell

Is easy to remember

Has a word or words that people will use in a search

Or is Unique enough to create curiosity

That’s the problem with the web names today. Most items people type in a search engine is already used. So I take a different approach to web names. If unable to get a ขsearch termข for a name, then I go for unique names. My new web site for this article is http://www.popcornfart.com. Okay, does that strike a curiosity? Where did I get the name? Actually, it was a saying from my grandfather. Yes, I did check the web, and very few items came up with that verbiage. Now for the lesson in the name game!

You can purchase a name without a web site. Read that again. You can buy just a name! Oh, no one told you that? Here’s the best part! You can redirect that name to an existing web site, to a free web site, or even to a page on a web site. That’s right! You can pick any name and have it redirected. Think of it, as call forwarding! If your current name is not the most advantageous to the search engines, or is too long, you can buy a better name, and have it automatically pull up your web site. Just like call forwarding your phone, only your new web site address is seen online.

I’m not affiliated with this company, but I’ve been working with them for over 5 years. They only sell names, and ways to redirect them. When you purchase a name from them, you also get redirection email for free. I’ll explain more about redirection email in the part II of this article. For now, check out, http://www.namesecure.com.

Using their home page, you will be able to type in a web name you want to purchase. You will be surprised that so many of the names are already taken. Get creative and think of something unique. Take your time!

You must open an account with Namesecure which includes a user name and password. I found it easier to first setup the account, then purchase the name. Their web site can be confusing to new users, so go slow. Don’t go crazy and purchase names you will not use. I know it is tempting, because names on this site are reasonably priced. Don’t purchase extra stuff! With the name, you automatically get email forwarding. Buy the name for only 2 years, as the web changes quickly.

The order is usually processed in about two days, sometimes in 15 minutes. The name will then appear in your account. Sign back into your account, then click on the word ขmodify/updateข next to your name. A new page appears and on the third tab below your new name you will see ขWeb Settings.ข That is where you tell the new name to redirect to your existing web site. The amount of time to redirect also varies. I’ve had some names redirect in 10 minutes, others took 8 hours.

So now you know, multiple names that redirect appear as multiple web sites. Don’t miss Part II of this article – online soon!

Copyright by Gina Novelle at http://www.thirdpocket.com

About The Author

Gina Novelle is a published free lance writer! She writes ขHowToข articles, press releases, and other informational articles. She works with clients that want to obtain a web presence, and is available to write for you. Her Background can be found at http://www.thirdpocket.com/wall.htm, and mailto:[email protected].

This article was posted on November 01, 2004

by Gina Novelle

Clickbank Vendors: Two Simple Ways You Can Help Af

Clickbank Vendors: Two Simple Ways You Can Help Affiliates Protect Their Sales.

by: John Hocking

1) How To Remove Your Affiliates Clickbank Id From The URL.
As a merchant, you can hide the clickbank affiliate id for your affiliates by creating a redirect page and pointing your default hoplink to the redirect.
When some uses your hoplink http://hop.clickbank.net/?affid/yourid, the cookie will be set and they will land on your redirect page.
The redirect will send them to your domain without adding the ?hop= information. The cookie is already set and does not need to be shown.
This will help protect your affiliates commission and give your site a more professional appearance.
In the code examples below, you will need to replace [ and ] with less then and greater then symbols.
Create a file called hoplink.php
Add the following code

[?php
header(กLocation: http://www.yourdomain.comก);
exit;
?]

Upload hoplink.php to the root of your domain.
Login into your clickbank account.
Click to view or modify your account settings.
Click to modify your account.
Under Business Info, change the url of your website to be http://www.yourdomain.com/hoplink.php
Click on save changes.
Now when a visitor clicks on a hoplink, it appears that they came directly to your site and the affiliateกs id is no longer exposed. For this technique to be completely effective, the affiliate needs to cloak the hoplink as well.
2) How to Cloak Your Clickbank Vendor Id Using PHP
Most clickbank affiliate theft is caused by the fact that is easy to rebuild a hoplink and get credit for your own purchase. All you really need to know is the vendor id.
All you have to do is look at the source code of a typical sales link and you will see the vendor id.
For example: http://www.clickbank.net/sell.cgi?YourVendorId/1/Product_Description
To rebuild the hoplink you simply use http://hop.clickbank.net/?AffiliatesId/YourVendorId
Now when you click on the hoplink and the original affiliate has lost a sale.
As you can see, without knowing the vendor id, you can not successfully rebuild the hoplink and the affiliates sale would be protected.
Below is an example of how to do this in PHP.
You will need to replace [ and ] with less then and greater then symbols.
Create a file called order.php
Add the following code

[?php
header(กLocation: http://www.clickbank.net/sell.cgi?YourVendorId/1/Product_Descriptionก);
exit;
?]

Just replace YourVendorID with your Clickbank ID
Replace 1 with your product number
Replace Product_Description with your Product Description
Upload order.php into the same folder as your sales page.
Now link to order.php instead of using the raw order link and your Vendor ID is never exposed
This will make it very hard for affiliates to rob other affiliates of their commissions.
I encourage you to make these simple changes to protect the commissions of your affiliates.
Copyright 2004 John Hocking

About The Author

John Hocking is the creator of http://www.guidetoebookmarketing.com, a resource site on creating and marketing ebooks. You will find hundreds of resources, articles and ebook reviews. Learn how to create viral ebooks at http://www.viralebook.com

This article was posted on May 14, 2004

by John Hocking

301 Redirects and Search Engine Optimization

301 Redirects and Search Engine Optimization

by: Mario Sanchez

There are multiple reasons to redirect URLs. For one, your web pages may have moved but their old URLs may still live in usersก bookmarks or in search engine indexes. Without implementing some sort or redirection, that traffic would be lost to a 404 Error Page.

On occasions, you may also want to register several extensions for your domain name: กmydomain.comก, กmydomain.netก and กmydomain.orgก, and have กmydomain.netก and กmydomain.orgก automatically redirect visitors to your site, hosted under กmydomain.comก.

Furthermore, if your company sells several products, you may want to give each of them an individual domain name, and have it point to a specific subdirectory of your main site. For example, if you own a site called กbusinessvideos.comก that sells a product called กMarketing Made Easyก, you may want to set up a domain such as กmarketingmadeeasy.comก, and redirect it to subdirectory: www.businessvideos.com/marketingmadeeasy/.

There are several ways to redirect domains, however, most of them will get you in trouble with the search engines. The search engine friendly way to redirect URLs is to use what is know as a 301 redirect (you can see how Google and Yahoo! specifically endorse this kind of redirection). Here is my take about the different redirection methods and their implications on search engine optimization:

MetaRefresh Javascript Redirect

You can redirect visitors by placing a snippet of javascript code within the HTML code of the page you want to redirect. With this method, you can specify the number of seconds before the visitor is automatically redirected to the new page. Search engines don’t like this method, because of the potential for abuse: you could write an optimized page for a noncompetitive search term, and then automatically redirect your unsuspecting visitor to whatever URL you want. For example, it could be relatively easy to write a page about english literature, have it indexed and highly ranked by the search engines, and then redirect your visitor to a casino or Viagra site. If search engines allowed this, users would quickly stop trusting them. That is why search engines penalize this practice, and why you should avoid it.

Parked Domains

You could register an additional domain name, park it, and make it point to the DNS servers of your main siteกs hosting account, so that when somebody types the additional domain, they will be transported to your main site. However, this approach may lead to search engines listing the same content twice, one for your main domain, and one for your additional domain. In the past, unscrupulous webmasters would use multiple domains to spam search engines and directories, making them list the same pages hundreds of times under different domains. Even if your intentions are good, we don’t recommend this approach to redirecting your additional domains, since search engines may penalize your site for duplicate content.

302 and 301 Redirects

When a request for a page or URL is made by a browser, agent or spider, the web server where the page is hosted checks a file called ก.htaccessก. This file contains instructions on how to handle specific requests and also plays a key role in security. The ก.htaccessก file can be modified so that it instructs browsers, agents or spiders that the page has either temporarily moved (302 redirect) or permanently moved (301 redirect). It is usually possible to implement this redirect without messing with the ก.htaccessก file directly, using your web hostกs control panel instead.

>From a search engine perspective, 301 redirects are the only acceptable way to redirect URLs. In the case of moved pages, search engines will index only the new URL, but will transfer link popularity from the old URL to the new one so that search engine rankings are not affected. The same behavior occurs when additional domains are set to point to the main domain through a 301 redirect.

The URL Forwarding Feature

Most domain registrars offer a feature called URL Forwarding. With this feature, you can register a new domain, such as กmydomain.netก, and have it point to mydomain.com (or to any other URL). The problem, however, is that registrars usually do this by implementing a 302 redirect (page moved temporarily). While Google handles 302 redirects very well, passing link popularity from the additional domain to the main one, other search engines don’t do this well, diluting link popularity by splitting it between the two domains, and negatively affecting rankings. Therefore, it is better not to use this method, and implement a 301 redirect instead.

Redirecting Old URLs

To ก301 redirectก an old URL to a new one, just go to your web hostกs control panel, and choose the ‘redirectsก option. You can then set up the redirect by filling the blanks. You want to chose redirect option กPermanentก to implement a 301 redirect.

Redirecting additional domains

To 301 redirect an additional domain (like in the case of the .net or the .org version of your domain name), you have to set it up as an addon domain with your web host (some hosts offer this option for free, and some others charge a small monthly fee per domain). If the additional domain was not registered with your web host, you will first have to go to your domain registrar and change the DNS (domain name servers) to the DNS of your web host (you may have to wait a couple of days before this change becomes functional). Once youกve done this, go to your web hostกs control panel, choose the กAdd On Domainsก option, and set up your add on domain as follows:

New Domain Name: additionaldomain.com (Do not put any http:// or www)

Username/directory/subdomain: additionaldomain (Enter กadditionaldomainก by itself. Do not put any ก.comก or กwwwก)

Password: 123ABC (Enter whatever password you want).

Then, set up the redirection by filling the appropriate box with the URL of the landing page (where you want your traffic to go).

Once your additional domain is redirecting to your landing page, take this one last step to see if everything is working fine: go to a server header checking tool, type your addon domain in the query box and hit enter. If you get a message similar to this: กStatus Code HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanentlyก, then your 301 redirect is working.

You can also use 301 redirection for common mispelled versions of your domain name, or for other good domain names that you don’t want your competitors to get.

About The Author

Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest ( http://www.theinternetdigest.net ), an internet marketing content site packed with useful articles and resources, and SEO Tutorial (http://www.seotutorial.info) where you can learn the basics of search engine optimization in four easy steps.

This article was posted on March 06

by Mario Sanchez