Why You Should Learn HTML

Why You Should Learn HTML

by: Debra Hamer

Do you have a website or are you planning on creating a website in the near future? You owe it to yourself to at least learn some basic HTML (HyperText Markup Language). Even if someone else is creating and maintaining your website there are some basics you should know. What if that person is not available and you need to add or make changes to your website? I’ve always believed if you have a business, computer, website, or whatever, you need to know how it works. Don’t depend on someone else. Besides why pay someone else when you can do it yourself free of charge.
In this article I will explain some basic HTML formats for you. Believe me it will come in handy at one point or another. I, myself, have only learned some of the basics and I have been able to add, change, and make corrections on my own website by myself.
When you come across a website you like and would like to use a similar layout or text pattern, look at the page in HTML code. You can do this by clicking on ขViewข at the top of the screen, then choose ขDocument Sourceข or ขSourceข and you can see the page as a HTML document. If you are using AOL then right click on any area on the page without any text or images, then select ขView Sourceข. At first it will look like Greek to you but after learning some basic HTML it will start to make sense.
First you will need a word processor program such as Windows ขNotepadข or any other word processor you might have. You are working with simple text. You will need to save your document using the ขsave asข command and give it an html suffix, ex: Mynewdocument.html or Mynewdocument.htm (you can use either suffix html or htm).
HTML works in a simple, logical format. It reads top to bottom and left to right. What are used to set sections apart like bigger text, smaller text, bold text, underlined text are tags. Tags are commands. If you wanted a line of text to be bold you will place a tag at the point you want the bold text to start and a tag at the end of where you want the bold text to stop.
All tags start with the lessthan sign , always. What is between these signs is the tag or command. You will need to learn what tag does what. Let’s first learn the bold command. The following is an example of making your text bold. The tag for bold is ขBข. You can use uppercase or lowercase, it doesn’t matter. Here is an example:
Note: Due to the HTML codes in the article being formatted and possibly not showing up on the page in normal view I have replaced the signs with the bracket characters [ and ]. Just remember to use the signs and not the [ and ] signs in your document.
This is how it will look in HTML format [B]This text needs to be bold[/B]
Here is how it will look when converted to normal view – This text needs to be bold
Did you notice the slight difference in the ending tag? There is a slash / before the B. That means it is the end tag. Only the text between the start and end tags will be in bold. Now let’s add a twist by putting one of the words in italics.
This is how it will look in HTML format [B] This [I]text[/I] needs to be bold[/B]
Here is how it will look in normal view – This text needs to be bold
There are some tags that are an exception to the rule about having to have a start and end tag. You don’t have to have an end tag when using these tags. Here are some examples.
[HR] this command places a line across the page. HR stands for ขhorizontal referenceข.
[BR] this command breaks the text and jumps to the next line, like the return key.
[P] this command stand for ขparagraphข, it does the same thing as the [BR] command but skips a line.
Every page you create with HTML will need the HTML tag [HTML] which denotes it is an HTML document and the end HTML tag [/HTML] will be at the end of your document. The next tags will be your start Title tag [TITLE] and your end Title tag [/TITLE]. The title of your document will go in between these two tags. The title will show up in the title bar on your browser when you are looking at the page in normal view.
The following are some tags for Headings (there are 6 heading commands) and Font size (there are 12 font size commands):
[H1]This is Heading 1[/H1] – H1 is the largest heading
[H6]This is Heading 6[/H6] H6 is the smallest heading
So, by using H1 through H6 you can change the size of your heading. Same applies to your font size. You will use [font size =ข+1ข] through [font size=ข+12] and don’t forget your end tags!
You may notice that your text always starts at the left of the page. If you want your text to start in the center or to the right you will need to specify where you want your text to start. Here are some examples of aligning text:
[CENTER]Center this Text![/CENTER] your text will be centered on the page.
Center this Text!
To align to the right you need to set the text as a paragraph unto itself by using the [P] tag and adding an attribute to it.
[P ALIGN=ขrightข]Text here will align on the right of the page[/P]
Text here will align on the right of the page
Why did I put an end tag [/p] since the paragraph command does not require an end tag (remember exceptions to the rule?) Anytime you use an attribute tag, as in the above example, you will need to have an end tag, whether you’re using the paragraph command [P] or the return command [BR]. Using the [P] or [BR] command by itself does not require an end tag, but if you are adding an attribute then an end tag must be used.
Adding an image to your page would require the following tag:
[IMG SRC=ขimage.jpgข] you would replace ขimage.jpgข with your own image file. IMG stands for image and SRC stands for source. You’re telling your browser where to find your image file. Your image file could have a gif, jpg, or a bmp association.
Ok now let’s get a little more complicated and create a hyperlink on your document. This creates blue underlined words on the page that someone can click on and go to another location. An example is you’re creating a link to another website.
[A HREF=http://www.profitfromhomebiz.comก]Profit From Home Biz[/A] this is what in looks like in HTML code. Note you are adding a description of the link that will be underlined, see the example below.
Profit From Home Biz – what it looks like in normal view. When someone clicks on this link they would be taken to my website.
This is a very important HTML format for when you need to add links onto your webpage. You may already know or will learn that reciprocal linking is very important in promoting your website and obtaining a higher page rank with the search engines. Sometimes the HTML code is provided for you and all you have to do is ขcopy and pasteข the code into your webpage. Often it is not, so you have to figure out how to put the information into HTML code yourself. Just learning this HTML command has been a timesaver for me.
I hope this article has helped you learn some basic HTML and how it can benefit you. I know, I know there are HTML text editors out there you can use and they can do all of this for you. I have used a couple myself, but I still like to know how to do things on my own. I bet you do too! Sometimes it’s just faster and easier to do it yourself.
I’ve just given you some very basic formats in using HTML, but you can find a lot more resources and information about learning HTML on the internet. Just do a search and I’m sure you will be overwhelmed at what’s out there. To view this article with the correct HTML formats please visit www.profitfromhomebiz.com/articles.

About The Author

Debra Hamer is the owner of the http://profitfromhomebiz.com website where you can find lots of tips, tools and resources for starting your own work at home business. Visit her PlugInProfitSite at http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main4256 to have your own website setup and ready to go within 24 hours, complete with everything you need to start making a profit.

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 30, 2004

by Debra Hamer

Search Engine Marketing 101: What Search Engines S

Search Engine Marketing 101: What Search Engines See When They Visit Your Web Site

by: Robin Nobles

If you have a Web site, have you ever wondered what a search engine sees when it visits your site to add the site to its index? Do you know that it doesn’t see the beautiful graphics or the fancy Web design? Do you know that it only sees the source code, or the กskeletonก of your Web site?

Do you realize that knowing this little tidbit of information and doing something about it can make a huge difference in your search engine rankings and, ultimately, the success of your online business?

One very important thing that you need to remember is: the search engines like simplicity. The simpler your Web site is, the easier it is for the engine to determine what your Web site is about. And, if the search engine can determine exactly what your Web site is about, you have a better chance at top rankings under the keyword phrases that are important for your online business.

Letกs look at this concept in action with a page I recently created for one of my online businesses: Search Engine Workshops.

http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/searchengineseminars.html

As you can see, itกs a very plain, simple page that was not created to be the กmainก or กhomeก page of a Web site. Rather, it was created to pull in traffic through the keyword phrase, กsearch engine seminars.ก

What I really want you to see is the source code of the page. So, when viewing the page, click on View on the top menu bar, then Source or Source Code.

The most important part of a Web page is what appears at the very top of the page. Why? Because a search engine starts at the top of the page and begins moving down as it indexes.

So, what appears in the section of your Web page is very important, because the section is at the top of the page.

Letกs look at the section of the source code:

Search Engine Seminarsyour path to success on the Web!

There are only three tags in the section of this Web page: the title tag, the keyword META tag, and the description META tag. Because the title tag is in the section, and because of the importance that most engines place on the tag, it is considered one of the most important tags on your page, so it should always be the first tag in the section.

Notice that in the title and keyword META tag, the important keyword phrase (search engine seminars) appears as the first words in the tag. In the description META tag, the keyword phrase is still toward the beginning of the tag, as opposed to the end.

In other words, where you place your keyword phrase in the tags and content of your page is important. If you place your keyword phrase toward the beginning of all of your important tags and toward the beginning of the contents, you’re กprovingก to the engines that the page is really about that particular topic.

Iกve mentioned one reason why the title tag is important, but thereกs another reason too. The title tag is important because it almost always appears as the title of the site in the search engine results. Your description META tag may appear in the search engine results as well and is considered important by the some of the engines. So, when you create your title and description tags, remember two things: put your keyword phrase toward the beginning of the tags, and make the tags captivating and designed to pull in traffic.

Think of it this way. If your site is #10 in the search engine rankings, but if the sites above yours haven’t gone to the trouble to create appealing titles and descriptions, a search engine user may skip over those sites to visit yours.

Now, letกs go back to the source code. Look for this tag, which isn’t far from the tag:

This is the image, or graphics, tag for the Search Engine Workshops banner that appears at the very top of the page. Notice that the engine doesn’t กseeก the graphic itself. It sees the name of the graphic (banner3.jpg), and it sees the ALT text that describes the image. It sees the width and height of the graphic. But, it doesn’t see the graphic itself. So, the engine doesn’t know that the graphic says, กSearch Engine Workshops.ก

Next, look for this tag, which directly follows the image tag:

Search Engine Seminars

An tag is a heading tag, and heading tags are very important to a Web page. Try to put a heading tag at the very top of your page, if at all possible, and use your important keyword phrase in that heading tag. When you look back at my actual Web page, do you see the words กSearch Engine Seminarsก right under the graphic? Thatกs the heading tag.

Now, look for this tag in the source code:

Is your Web site achieving the success that. . .

This is where the contents of the Web page begin. Look on the actual Web page and find the text: กIs your Web site achieving the success that . . .ก Notice that the keyword phrase (search engine seminars) appears in the first paragraph.

In other words, with all of these tags and the placement of our keyword phrase in the pageกs contents, we’re proving to the engines that the page is really about กsearch engine seminars.ก

So, letกs visit your site on the Web. View the source code. Whatกs in the section? Are your title and description tags using the keyword phrase thatกs important for that particular page? Are your title and description tags captivating and designed to pull in traffic? Each page of your site should have different title and description tags, and those tags should be based on the focus of that page what that page is really about: in other words, its keyword phrase.

How many graphics do you have before the actual contents of your site? If you have a lot of graphics, navigation bars, or buttons before the contents of your page, the engine has to sort through all of that source code before it gets to the actual keyword containing content.

Does your page contain lengthy JavaScript or other code that pushes the important contents toward the bottom of the page? If so, it could be hindering your chances at top rankings.

Are you using a heading tag that contains your important keyword phrase toward the very top of your page? Is your keyword phrase used in the first paragraph of the page? Is it used in several places throughout the page?

Look back at my page. Notice that the keyword phrase, search engine seminars, is used as link text to describe several links. Are you using your keyword phrase to describe links that are leaving the page? If not, try to do so.

Study your own site carefully, and apply these guidelines to your pages.

Doing whatever you can to push your important keyword phrase toward the top of the page and toward the beginning of your tags is the first step toward having a successful Web site thatกs ranked in the top of the search engine rankings.

If you would like to learn more about how to achieve top search engine rankings, visit: http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles.html

Or, sign up for online training at: http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/courses.html or 3day search engine marketing workshops at: http://www.searchengineworkshops.com.

About The Author

Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists, has trained several thousand people in her online search engine marketing (http://www.academywebspecialists.com) training programs. Visit the Academyกs training site to learn more (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com). She also teaches 3day handson search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).

Copyright 2002 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 18, 2002

by Robin Nobles

How Do I Submit My Site To Search Engines?

How Do I Submit My Site To Search Engines?

by: Vinu Thomas

Youกve built up a good site, put in a lot of content, but none of the search engines lists your site? If youกd like to know how to go ahead with Search Engine Submission the right way, read on.

How do I get my site to be included in searchengines? Thatกs a question a lot of people ask me. My question back to them is กIs your Site Searchengine ready?ก. A lot of sites don’t get spidered into search engine results just because the pages are not searchengine friendly. Search engines like to see a lot of text on your site. This means that if your site is filled with Flash animations and graphics, instead of text for content, your site probably not show up in searchengine results. Another reason your site might be loosing out in search engine rankings could be the lack of metatags.

So what are metatags? Metatags are small pieces of code which you embed into your pages which informs your search engines about your siteกs contents, how to spider your site, and other such instructions.

Most search engines look at your pageกs metatags and title tag to get the relevant information to index your site. So you should make sure that all your pages have the relevant details in metatags. The three most important tags for your site are กDESCRIPTIONก and กKEYWORDSก metatags and the ‘titleก tag on all pages.

The กDESCRIPTIONก tag is used to describe the contents of the page. You should enter a short description of the page in this tag. Hereกs how the tag will look when you enter the description of the page:

The กKEYWORDSก tag is used to tell the search engine which keywords words you feel are important in the page. This helps in the ranking process of search engines. In your keywords tag, use as many combinations of your search term as you can, without repeating the same terms too many times. Some search engines penalize a site for repeating keywords. Hereกs how a keywords tag would look :

Every page you have on your site should have a Title tag. All search engines use the content of your title tag to index the content of your site. So make sure youกve got a Title tag and the Title has some relevance to the content in your page. An example of the title tag :

How to submit your site

So once youกve entered your tags properly, your start of the HTML code for the page should look like this :

How to submit your site

These three tags by themselves should give a boost to your ranking once the search engine crawls your site. If you want a tool to make the tags for you, check out my MetaTag Generator Script at: http://www.vinuthomas.com/gate.html?name=MetaMaker. This online tool helps you generate the basic and some advanced metatags for your pages.

Now how do you get the search engine to crawl your site? Youกll have to start submitting your site to the searchengines for them to start crawling your site. Here are the Submission URLกs for some of the major search engines:

Google: http://www.google.com/addurl.html

Exact Seek: http://www.exactseek.com/add.html

All The Web: http://addurl.alltheweb.com/add_url

MSN Search : http://submitit.bcentral.com/msnsubmit.htm

Altavista : http://addurl.altavista.com/addurl/new

Scrub The Web: http://www.scrubtheweb.com/addurl.html

Sympatico : http://pre.sympatico.ca/en/search/submit.html

True Search : http://www.truesearch.com/addurl/

Lycos : http://insite.lycos.com/

Ask Jeeves/Teoma : http://ask.ineedhits.com/sitesubmit.asp

About The Author

Vinu Thomas is a consultant on Webdesign and Internet Technologies. His website is http://www.vinuthomas.com. You can read more articles on Search Engine Tips @ http://www.vinuthomas.com/sectionslistarticles8.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 17, 2004

by Vinu Thomas

8 Essential SEO techniques

8 Essential SEO techniques

by: Matt Colyer

1) Title Tag The title tag is the most powerful onsite SEO technique you have, so use it creatively! What you place in the title tag should only be one thing, the exact keyword you used for the web page that you are trying to optimize. Every single web page should have itกs own title tag.
2) ALT Tags ALT tags were meant to be for text browsers because the images didn’t show in text browsers and the ATL tags would tell the visitor what itกs about. You should put your main keyword(s) in the ALT tags, but don’t over do it because you could get dropped in the results or even worse banned for life!
3) Link Popularity Link popularity is the most powerful SEO tool out of all them. Most search engines don’t even consider web sites if there is not at least one or two links pointing to the web site. Having another site(s) link to your web site is important when it comes to getting your site a good ranking. Your keywords should be in the links you get and keep the keywords short. When you receive requests for a link exchange, check the site out before linking with them, check for spam (Repeat keywords, hidden text, etc.).
4) Keyword Density This is also vital and should be used with research. You should use the keyword(s) once in the title tag, once in the heading tag, once in bold text, and get the density between 5% to 20% (Don’t over do it!). Also use your keyword(s) both low and high on the web page, keyword(s) should be in the first sentence and in the last one.
5) Page Size Your web pageกs speed is important to your visitors and the search engines. Why? Because the robots will be able to spider your web page faster and easier. Try your best to keep your web page over 5k and under 15k in size.
6) Rich Theme Search engines are looking at themes more and more. Build content (Articles, FAQ, tips, etc.) much as possible and keep the web pages around 200 to 500 words. Create content thatกs related to your market and link them out to other related content on your site. Try to get 200 web pages or more.
7) Web Site Design This is also important, if you want to get indexed! Text content should out weigh the HTML content. The pages should validate and be usable in all of todayกs leading edge browsers. Stay away from flash and Java Script, search engines dislike them both a lot.
8) Insite Cross Linking This will help you get all of your web pages indexed by the search engines. Your web pages should be no more than three clicks away from the home page. Link to topic related quality content across your site. This will also help build you a better theme through out your web site. On every page you should link back to your home page and your main service(s).

About The Author

Matt Colyer is the owner of the Marhen.com Network which includes www.linkexchangeit.com and is a parttime SEO. He also is a php, CGI and ASP developer. You can read more articles like this at www.marhen.com/articles/index.php.

This article was posted on July 29, 2004

by Matt Colyer

The Skinny on RFID

The Skinny on RFID

by: John Hanson

RFID is the abbreviation for Radio Frequency Identification. RFID is a method used to store and retrieve data using RFID transponders or tags. RFID tags have antennas that allow them to accept and respond to queries from the RFID transceiver. There are passive and active RFID tags. The difference between the two is that passive tags do not need an internal power source, but active tags do. RFID technology is already used in many technologies today. The future of RFID technology seems limitless as new ways to utilize its effectiveness are discovered frequently.

Passive and Active Tags

As stated before, passive RFID tags do not have an internal power supply. There is a minute electrical current induced in the antenna by the radio signal it receives. This small current is enough to power the tag to respond to the signal. Passive RFID tags have a very brief response because of their limited power. They are very small, and may be used in the future for medical purposes or, as some fear, tracking devices. Passive RFID tags can be embedded within the skin because of their small size. The smallest RFID tag in existence in 2005 was 0.4 mm by 0.4 mm. Passive tags have a read distance that ranges from 10mm to almost 6 meters. Passive tags are cheaper than active RFID tags and as a result are more commercially available. Active RFID tags have a longer range and larger memory capacity than passive RFID tags and may therefore be able to store a significantly higher amount of information. Active RFID tags may have a battery life of up to 10 years.

How it Works

In order to understand the uses, and potential uses, of RFID technology, one must understand the RFID system. RFID systems consist of tag readers, tags, edge servers, middleware, and application software. Having an RFID system will allow data to be transmitted by a tag, which is then read by the RFID reader and processed in accordance with the application’s specifications. Data transmitted can have information about the location of the tag, or specifics concerning the product tagged. Typical RFID systems have a small and inexpensive tag on a product. There is then an ขinterrogatorข which has a certain range in which to detect the RFID tag, activate it, and receive the response.

Current and Potential Uses

RFID technology is used in every day life. RFID tags are found in CD stores and in library books. When an alarm goes off because an item was not purchased or checked out, that is the RFID tag responding. WalMart has even used RFID tags on shipments to improve supply chain management. Other RFID tags are used to track trucks in shipping yards. More recently, RFID tags have been used in automated tool booth systems like the EZPass system on the east coast. Mobile gas also implemented RFID technology to allow customers to simply pull up to the pump, pump gas, and then leave without having to scan a credit card or pay a cashier.

RFID technology has great potential and is constantly being improved. RFID workers are constantly trying to improve the current usage in systems like EZPass. It was recently announced that the eastern states will be improving EZPass so that cars can move faster through the toolbooth (35mph rather than 5mph). RFID technology may also be used to monitor inmates, and potentially parolees. Some consumers worry as to citizen privacy invasions by the government. RFID technology is always growing, and the government may be able to use RFID to inspect citizens, or keep track of them. Currently, however, RFID technology seems to be limited to the innovation sphere. RFID technology has been utilized to make the lives of consumers easier and more efficient. Despite the qualms of some citizens, RFID has a very bright future.

About The Author

John Hanson enjoys writing about new technologies, especially RFID technology.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 19

by John Hanson

The Best Traffic Generation Tool Is Free

The Best Traffic Generation Tool Is Free

by: Diane Hughes

Although search engines have been around since the beginning of the Web, many businesses (large and small) are just now waking up to the gigantic benefit search engines provide. What other medium gives you at absolutely no cost whatsoever a way to drive unlimited traffic to your site? None. That’s why, once people understand search engine optimization (SEO), they get hooked!
I want to give you some basics to follow in order to help get your site ranked at the top of popular search engines like Yahoo! and Google. I also want to provide you with some exceptional resources so you can further your SEO education in the future.
What Is Search Engine Optimization?
SEO is the process of creating a Web site that fosters the design, coding, copy, and linkbuilding elements search engines most like to see. Through the process of SEO, you can develop a site (or alter an existing site) so that the engines will move you up to the top of the search results. That means people who are actually looking to find what you have to sell will click to your site before your competition’s.
How Does SEO Work?
There are three fundamental parts to the SEO equation: coding, copywriting, and link popularity.
Coding is the manipulation of your HTML code so that it is clean, uncluttered, positioned correctly, and easily accessible to the search engine spiders and bots. You want to be sure the most important information to the spiders is located up top where they can quickly and easily find it. You also want to ensure that java scripts and other such coding are moved out of the spiders’ way.
Copywriting relates to the text on your site. Search engine copywriting pertains to being able to write in such a way that you include your primary keyphrases in strategic places so that you get the most กpointsก from the engines.
Link popularity deals with how many sites have links that point back to your site (and vice versa). The theory is, that if others think highly enough of your site to link to it, your site must be of good quality.
When you have a good combination of all three primary elements, you stand a much better chance of ranking high with the engines.
Doesn’t SEO Depend On META Tags?
It used to… a long, LONG time ago. When the ‘Net was first founded, just about all you had to do to get high rankings was to shove a bunch of keyphrases into your keyword tag. Now, however, the engines are smarter. They pay no attention to the keyword tags and very little attention to the description tag. The only tag that carries much weight anymore is the title tag. It is extremely important.
Isn’t SEO Copywriting Just Using Keyphrases As Many Times As You Can?
No! Not only does that put you at risk of spamming the search engines, it makes your copy sound horrible to your human site visitors. What good are high search engine rankings if your copy doesn’t convert those visitors into paying customers?
You need to find creative and strategic places to use keyphrases so that you maintain the balance between natural language and keyphrase use.
How do you learn all you need to know about SEO? From the pros! Here are several resources you can use to improve your education:
High Rankings Forum http://www.highrankings.com/forum/
Best Practices Forum http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forum/
Search Engine Watch Newsletter http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Search Engine Guide Newsletter http://www.searchengineguide.com
EMarketing News http://www.emarketingnews.co.uk/
Search Engine Optimization Fast Start http://www.cannedbooks.com/
The StepbyStep Copywriting Course http://www.copywritingcourse.com
How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy) http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword
The Nittygritty of Writing for the Engines http://www.highrankings.com/seowriting.htm
It’s not hype. I can tell you from seeing it firsthand. It’s well worth the time to learn SEO.
With a little effort, you can quickly have your site pulling in plenty of targeted traffic at no cost to you whatsoever.
Copyright 2004 Diane Hughes

About The Author

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

This article was posted on May 24, 2004

by Diane Hughes

Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRa

Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRank System?

by: Linda J Bruton

By now, most bloggers have heard the announcement that the Big 3 search engines Google, Yahoo, and MSN have united in support of a new tag that will supposedly combat comment spam. The new tag is a nofollow attribute that can be added to links. When added to links in comment tags, the search engines will ignore them.

An excellent discussion of this new tag and how it works can be found at Danny Sullivanกs Search Engine Watch:

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050118204728

Google announced the new tag in a 1/18/2005 post to their own blog: http://www.google.com/googleblog/

And Microsoft added their support to the new tag in this post: http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/archive/2005/01/18/nofollow_tags.aspx

At first blush, anything that can help cut down the comment spam that most bloggers are daily subjected to would seem to be a good thing. It can be pretty upsetting to access your blog in the morning and find 50 junk comments with links to casino, adult, and pharmacy sites. If your blog has any PageRank, you can expect to find more of this garbage polluting your site every day. Fighting the spread of comment spam has become a necessity.

But after first cheering the proactiveness of the search engines, many bloggers have stepped back and taken a closer look and they don’t like what they see. You can read a sampling of their thoughts at Search Engine Watch Forum:

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=3797

Brian Turnerกs incisive article กNew Nofollow Tag Cheers Bloggers but Fails Blogsก discusses some of the potential abuses of the new nofollow tag:

http://www.platinax.co.uk/news/archives/2005/01/new_nofollow_ta.html

And Jim Prykeกs article กBloggers Cheer Google As Their Search Rankings Plummetก makes it very clear that not only will this NOT stop comment spam. But it will actually hurt bloggers as a community:

http://netinstitute.com/archives/2005/01/20/bloggerscheergoogleastheirsearchrankingsplummet

For an hilarious take on the new tag and how it will get abused, be sure to take a look at Link Condom: http://www.linkcondom.com

I have to agree with these bloggers that the nofollow tag won’t even put a dent in the problem of comment spam. You have to realize that the comment spammers who cause the most problems are the ones who use automated bots to spread their spam onto every blog they find. The fact that they find a blog using the nofollow tag won’t stop the bot from posting. If you have a popular blog, youกll still wake up every morning to find 50 casino/pharmacy/adult ads on your blog. Youกll still have to spend the time deleting those posts to clean up your blog.

You see, the problem to bloggers isn’t that those comment links pass PR. Itกs the fact that those spam posts make your blog look like garbage. Whether the links pass PR or not isn’t the big issue for bloggers. Itกs the time it takes to get rid of unwanted comments and the detraction to their sites. The nofollow tag won’t do a thing about that problem. Youกll still have the problems, even if you use the tag.

Think about this: how effective have email filters been in stopping email spam? As most of us know, theyกve hardly done any good at all. Email spam becomes a bigger problem every day. Spammers really don’t care if some of their emails are blocked. They just send more of it to compensate. The same will be true of the automated comment spam bots.

The fact of the matter is, there are already much better tools in most blogging software to fight comment spam AND save the time and effort of the blogger at the same time. There are already a number of plugins for WordPress, Moveable Type, and other blogs. There will undoubtedly be more in the future. These tools are already more effective at fighting comment spam than this nofollow tag will ever be.

What is unfortunate is that the people the nofollow tag will really hurt is bloggers themselves. Traditionally, bloggers have read and commented in each otherกs blogs. And these comments have added value. When I write an article for my blog, I love it when other bloggers take the time to add their insights on the topic Iกm discussing. These comments add content to my site and continue the discussion. This is one of the reasons blogs are so easy to grow into topicspecific informationrich sites that are popular with readers. Unlike static sites, they offer twoway communication between reader and blogger. They become communities.

When someone adds this kind of value to my blog, I am more than happy to give them a link to their blog that passes PR. That will help them build the readership of their own blog, grow the community even larger, and add to the richness of the discussion. These are exactly the kinds of links that any webmaster should want on their site!

Adding a nofollow tag to comments can only quash this discussion. It can only discourage commenters with the most to contribute from taking the time to add to the discussion. After all, if the time I spend on another blog doesn’t contribute to the growth of the blogging community as a whole or aid in the visibility of my own blog, am I going to spend as much time and effort doing it?

Anything that decreases the open flow of discussion currently enjoyed in the blogging community is a bad deal for bloggers.

The question that should be asked is this: why is comment spam so profitable? After all, if it weren’t profitable, so many people wouldn’t be going to such ridiculous lengths to do it.

The answer to this is obviously Googleกs linkheavy PageRank algorithm that forces webmasters to get every link they can to get their siteกs indexed and ranked. Most webmasters know that in order to get ranked in Google, they had better have a ton of links to their site.

Thatกs the problem with PageRank as an algorithm. It encourages artificial linking between sites that no longer has any relevance whatsoever to the goal of providing good resources to visitors. Do we really believe that most reciprocal link directories provide a resource to our visitors? Not likely! If websites are real estate, reciprocal link directories are the slums, the seedy bars and tattoo parlors on the edges of polite society.

Whole businesses have sprung up as a reaction to PageRank. Iกm talking about the link auction and link selling sites. Under the PageRank system, sites aren’t being ranked by who provides the best content, but by who has the deepest pockets to buy the most links. Or, in the case of comment spammers, whoever wants to spread their bots all over the internet spamming blogs. This system has over time totally skewed the natural linking between sites that once dominated the internet the very thing that Googleกs PageRank system is supposed to reward.

Ironically, blogs are one of the few places left on the web where linking is actually about providing good content to visitors and rewarding value provided on other sites. Bloggers as a group are the most likely to link to sites because of the content value to their visitors. Their links are very likely to be very topic specific. You don’t find that on other sites. These are the kinds of links that I would assume Google would want to encourage through their PageRank system, not those junky reciprocal link directories or purchased links.

It would seem to me that the only effective way to cut down on comment spam and all the artificial linking techniques Google purportedly wants to thwart is not by making life harder for bloggers the very people who link in the most relevant fashion. But at taking a second look at their own PageRank system and whether it is really serving the usefulness of their own search engine and the whole web in 2005.

About The Author

For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to visit my กWhy Marketers Should Blogก weblog at (what else) http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com.

This article was posted on January 27, 2005

by Linda J Bruton

Importance of Meta Tags Optimization

Importance of Meta Tags Optimization

by: Buniei Ahn

In this article, we simply talk about what Meta Tags are, their importance, the important Meta Tags and useful tips on how to optimize your Meta Tags for a better ranking with the search engines. กMeta Tag Optimization is an important aspect of your site optimization process. Careful handling can get you great Ranking Results ก What are Meta Tags?
Meta Tags are the information inserted in the area of the HTML code of your web pages, where apart from the Title Tag, other information inserted is not visible to the person surfing your web page but is intended for the search engine crawlers. Meta Tags are included so that the search engines are able to list your site in their indexes more accurately.
Using Meta Tags in HTML is not necessary while making your web pages. There are many websites that don’t feel the requirement to use Meta Tags at all. In short Meta information is used to communicate information to the search engine crawlers that a human visitor may not be concerned with. Infoseek and AltaVista were the first major crawler based search engines to support Meta keywords Tag in 1996. Inktomi and Lycos too followed thereafter.
Why are Meta Tags used?
Meta Tags were originally designed to provide webmasters with a way to help search engines know what their site was about. This in turn helped the search engines decide how to rank the sites in their search results. Making Meta Tags is a simple process. As the competition increased, webmasters started manipulating this tool through spamming of keywords. In turn most search engines withdrew their support to Meta keywords Tag, which included Lycos and AltaVista. From being considered as one of the most reliable and important tool, Meta Tags are now often abused. In the present day scenario a vital feature that the Meta Tags provide to the websites is the ability to control, to a certain extent, how some search engines describe its web pages. Apart from this, Meta Tags also offer the ability to specify that a certain website page should not be indexed.
Using Meta Tags, however, provides no guarantee that your website page would rank highly in the search engine rankings. Due to the rampant abuse and manipulation of the Meta keywords Tag by webmasters, most search engines don’t support it anymore.
Types of Meta Tags
The more important Meta Tags are discussed below in detail.
The Title Tag
The Title Tag is not a Meta Tag. However, since it’s a very important Tag, we thought it necessary to discuss it here. The Title Tag is an HTML code that shows the words that appear at the top title bar of your browser. The Title Tag is not displayed anywhere else on the page. It is these words or phrase that appear as the title of your page in the hyperlink listings on the search engine results.
The users inturn click on this hyperlink to go to your website from Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Therefore, the significance of the Title Tag is evident as all search engines use the Title Tag to gather information about your site.
The Meta Description Tag
The Meta Description Tag is an HTML code that allows you to give a short and concise summary of your web page content. The words placed in this Meta Tag, are often used in the SERP, just below the Title Tag as a brief description of your page. In the Search Engine Results Pages, after reading the Title of the page, a user goes through the description of the page and decides whether she wants to go to your site or not. It is therefore important that your Meta Description Tag is nicely composed describing your page offering while enticing the user to click on your listing.
The Meta Keywords Tag
Most search engines do not read the Meta Keywords Tag anymore. It is okay to ignore the Meta Keywords Tags. However, if you feel more comfortable using it, you can have about 15 important nonrepetitive keywords in this Tag, separated by commas.
Meta Robots Tag
The Meta Robots Tag gives you the ability to specify whether search engines should index that page or follow the links appearing on that page. However, there is no need for using Meta Robots tag if one is already using detailed robots.txt file to block any specific indexing.
The various commands used under Meta Robots Tag are:
Index: allows the spider to index that page.
Noindex: instructs the spider not to index the page.
Follow: instructs the spider to follow the links from that page and index them.
Nofollow: instructs the spider not to follow links from that page for indexing.
Note: Use only one of the above given commands.
If you have not specified any Meta Robots Tag on a page, by default, the spiders understand that the page and all the links appearing on that page are open for indexing. Therefore, it makes more sense to use this Meta Tag in case you don’t want certain parts of your web page indexed.

About The Author

Finding Your Home Business Niche

Copyright © Buniei Ahn, The Home Biz Guy

http://www.internetmarketpower.com

http://www.pluginprofit.com/main3666

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 09, 2004

by Buniei Ahn

The Top 3 Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Websiteกs Se

The Top 3 Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Websiteกs Search Engine Rankings and How to Fix Them!

by: Richard Martin

Getting your website up and running is hard enough. After spending hours getting the HTML code just right and trying to make sure that you provide a great user experience, the last thing you want to do is change everything around in order to get your site ranked higher on the search engines. Follow these tips from the beginning and youกll see the benefits.

1) Not changing the title tag from page to page. A lot of people realize the importance of the title tag. But few sites change the title tag from page to page. If you have a large site with a lot of different pages targeting different keywords, then change the title tag to reflect the keywords of the particular page. Keeping the title tag the same throughout the site may optimize the site as a whole, but you are limiting the amount of search terms that you can use. The shorter the title the better, you don’t want to get caught stuffing the title tag with too many terms. Just change it from page to page.

2) Not using a H1 tag. Use a H1 tag. Really. No, itกs no 1996, but search engine bots love the H1 tag. They view it as ขhey, this is so important, itกs in the H1 tag.ข Everybody got carried away with putting neat graphics and flash on their site and have neglected this tag. In fact a lot of sites use a graphical banner where their H1 should be. While these certainly look good, search engine bots can’t read graphics, they are just bots. Use the H1 tag and use your keywords in it. It will help the visiting Search Engine bot determine what your site or page is about.

3) Using ขHomeข as a link text. Everyone uses ขhomeข as the text to link back to their index page. However, this might not be the best choice. After all, it is a link. We all know how important links are in search engine rankings. When you use the word ขhomeข, the search engine bot will chalk up another point to ขhomeข for your site. Why not use a keyword as this text? If your site is about hubcaps…why not use ขhubcapsข for the link text? This will help you in that it a)adds a link within your site using ขhubcapsข and b) help the search engine bot figure out a little better what your site has to offer.

About The Author

Richard Martin is a contributing writer at http://www.legalclips.com. LegalClips.com is a collection of injury lawyer articles and other legal resources.

You may reproduce this article on your website. We would appreciate a link back to our site Lawyer articles from you. This article may not be altered and links should be kept live.

This article was posted on January 27

by Richard Martin

The Meta Tag Myth

The Meta Tag Myth

by: Bobby Heard

The more the better right? Wrong. At least when it comes to meta tags. The history of the meta tag started off as a nice tool that web sites could use to show the search engines what the site was about without the words showing up on the actual page. It seemed like a great idea until people started to abuse the meta tag. They would add highly searched for keywords that were unrelated to their site in their meta tags in hopes of attracting additional traffic. The search engines caught on and lowered the importance of meta tags they figured out that if they put more emphasis on the visible content of a site, people would have a much more difficult time ขcheatingข. Turns out that they were right.

Now, don’t get me wrong, meta tags still do carry some significance. They need to be consistent with the content of your site, but most importantly they’re somewhat of a measure of the legitimacy of your site. The most common myth when it comes to search engine optimization is that the best meta tag is the one packed with the most information. This couldn’t’t be further from the truth.

The keyword meta tag has been abused more than any other meta tag and does not carry as much importance as most of the others because of this reason. Most search engines only read the first few characters of the tag, if they read it at all, because they know that most keyword meta tags are filled with spam Just the same words repeated over and over. That is why it’s important to get your most important keywords to the front of your keyword meta tag.

The meta tag that still carries the most importance is the description meta tag. This is because it serves as a description for the particular page of your site that it is included in. Description meta tags should be unique to each page of your site, as search engines frequently use it as the description under your page title that appears in the search results. Obviously, you want your description to be representative of the page being displayed.

So in conclusion, don’t use meta tags the way we all have a compulsive urge to by packing it with everything that we can think of. It seems like a good idea, but it will only help you to fail in your goal of the holy grail: higher rankings.

About The Author

Bobby Heard is the VP at Abalone Designs and is an active writer of SEO articles. More articles he has written are available at www.abalone.ca/resources/.

This article was posted on December 18, 2004

by Bobby Heard

There Should Be More to your SEO Consultant Than R

There Should Be More to your SEO Consultant Than Rankings

by: David Leonhardt, SEO Consultant

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions in SEO is that ranking at Google and Yahoo is all that counts in search engine optimization. Potential clients come to me with a single goal: กGet me a topten ranking at Google.ก Some will also mention MSN, and a few will rhyme off a list of search engines and want to rank well at the top 200 of them.

It is time to separate fact from fiction.

Yes, your SEO consultant can get you a topten placement at Google. But…

If the placement is for กdirty brown shoesก, it probably won’t help your shoe store one bit, even if I get you the first place ranking. Few people are actually searching for that term.

Being number ten might not help much either, depending on the term. People searching for กEssential Nectar liquid vitaminsก, will probably click on the first result they see, or at least on one of the กabovethefoldก results that do not require scrolling. On the other hand, someone searching for กliquid vitaminsก might check through two pages of results to familiarize herself with the options available.

If your title tag reads like a cheap list of search terms, it will not be enticing. For instance, if it reads: กvitamins, liquid vitamins, multivitamins, multivitaminsก, you might skip over it in favor of the next result that reads กLiquid vitamins from the Liquid Vitamin Supplements Storeก.

If your description tag is a mess, people will more likely skip over your listing, even if it does rank number one, in favor of one that sounds like what they are looking for. Google and others use the description tag usually when the term searched for is found in it, so make sure to include your key search terms in a description tag that actually reads well.

I recently responded to a forum question, which went something like this: My site ranks number one for this term at this engine. The term is searched this many times per day, and the engine has this percentage marketshare. Can I expect this many visitors?

Thatกs not an SEO challenge; thatกs a math problem: searches x marketshare = visitors

I responded with a few factors that override mathematics in the SEO game, including the siteกs title tag and description tag, as well as whether the term lends itself to scrolling. I also pointed out that it depends on the title tags and description tags of the competition, too.

Another factor that makes predicting traffic difficult is the abandonment factor – how many people click on none of the results because they get interrupted or confused, or abandon the search for a new one because they find themselves offtopic or searching too broadly.

It also depends on how many sponsored links there are and how they are marked. Often at Yahoo and Lycos, for example, there are so many ads that the average searcher might never scroll a screen or two to see the organic (natural) results.

And, of course, it also depends on the color of the walls in the room the searcher is clicking from, the weather outside and how well they slept last night. But there is little you can do about that.

What you can do is to work with your SEO consultant to choose the most effective search terms for your business and make sure he develops a title tag and description tag that sell to both humans and the search engines. Then make sure he is monitoring not just the rankings for your key search terms, but also the description used by each of the search engines.

A good ranking at Google and Yahoo is just one measure of your SEO consultantกs success. A more complete evaluation is that he is your partner in building longterm, targeted traffic

About The Author

David Leonhardt is an SEO consultant

http://www.seowriter.net/freelance/seoconsultant.html

and a website marketing consultant:

http://www.seowriter.net/freelance/marketingconsultant.html

Pick up a copy of his SEO ebook:

http://www.seowriter.net/books/seobook.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 10

by David Leonhardt, SEO Consultant

SEO 101… These Tags Really Do Matter.

SEO 101… These Tags Really Do Matter.

by: Ron Hutton

In search of the coveted search engine traffic? Yes? Then don’t ignore your meta tags. If anyone tells you that meta tags are not important, they are seriously misinformed. Follow these simple rules and the clicks will come. Skip them and the high search engine rankings that you work so hard for will never deliver on the true traffic potential.

Imagine that you check your incoming email and there are two messages waiting for you. You look at the summary information for each and they appear as follows:

MESSAGE #1:

From: [email protected]

Subject: iaviq qiegaie aeiapih

MESSAGE #2:

From: [email protected]

Subject: An กinsiderก shortcut guide to creating sensational ads

If you’re interested in how to write killer ads, which message gets opened and which goes in the trash? Itกs obvious I know, but itกs relevant.

Test the search engine results for one of your website pages and hereกs what youกll find…

The search engine results pages (SERPs) for the big 4 search engines (Google, Yahoo, Altavista and MSN) display information to their users by spidering your web pages and grabbing the text from various areas. When someone conducts a search and sees your web page in the results, hereกs what you can expect them to see:

GOOGLE:

Your title tag

Your description meta tag

***********

YAHOO!:

Your title tag

Your description meta tag

Text from the upper area of your web page

***********

ALTAVISTA: Your title tag

Your description meta tag

Text from the upper area of your web page

***********

MSN: Your title tag

Text from the upper area of your web page

Do you see the parallel between your web pageกs title tag and description meta tag in comparison to the กfromก address and subject line in our email analogy above? The copy that you use in these tags becomes your advertisement to the world when your pages are displayed in search results.

Since each of the top 4 search engines display your title tag first, take some time and think through what you want people to see. Offer benefits. Offer a solution. And when you write the copy for your title tag, use your targeted keyword / phrase at the beginning of the title statement. Search engines place a high value on the title tag.

Your description tag (used by Google, Yahoo and Altavista) should serve as your call to action. Write your description in such a way that it compliments the title tag and motivates the searcher to click through to your site for the answers to their specific problem or need. Your targeted keyword phrase should be included once but not at the very beginning of the description.

How important is it that your website name be included in the title tag or description meta tag? You can draw your own conclusions, but in my view itกs not important. The link to your website will show people where they’re going from the SERPs, and after landing on your site the URL in their browser along with your siteกs branding will help them remember where theyกve landed.

Don’t shortcut or poopoo your siteกs title tags and description meta tags. When the day comes that you’re ranked number one in your niche (and you will be), make sure that Google, Yahoo, Altavista and MSN display the information that will motivate searchers to click though to your site instead of the site listed just below you. Itกs your traffic. You earned it.

Copyright 2005 Ron Hutton

About The Author

Ron Hutton is a 20 year sales and marketing veteran with a passion for coaching and training. Subscribe to กGoThrive Onlineก, for Free Video Tutorials for Internet Marketing and big juicy marketing tips in small, easytochew, bite size servings. Free Video Tutorial Archives Here: http://www.gothrive.com/freevideolibrary/videodirectory.html

This article was posted on August 08

by Ron Hutton