SeoBlackhat.co.uk

The last I checked, were still in a recession, but despite the recession and the news of all the layoffs, business is pushing ahead. Some analysts state that the news of layoffs is a sign of worse things to come.

Me?

I love hearing about layoffs. Ive been laid off and while it was tough, it was a throw you in the water to see if you will sink or swim experience. People are laid off for two main reasons: poor performance or they make too much.

I have spoken with a lot of people in charge of some big companies, and when you get them in a setting away from their office and the stress, the feedback is nearly the same:

Were going to be just fine. We purged our company of those who didnt want to work for a full day. They felt they were entitled to a paycheck just for showing up. We will still meet production numbers even with 5,000 less on the payroll.

Those are sharp words, but they are true. Back when I was with WordPerfect, we ballooned to nearly 6,000 employees, but due to competition from Microsoft and shrinking margins, there were massive layoffs and three years later we had just over 500 employees.

Why was it with 5,500 fewer people, we were able to sell more packages and release more products than we did before? Seriously, there were 11 buildings to house all those workers and in the end we were in just one, yet we not only met the old production numbers, we out did them.

It all comes down to having the right people, people who want to work and love what they do. Even if you are a consultant, the company who hired you wants the same too.

So what should you do? A Needs Analysis. If you own your own company, you are going to perform one on your company, if you are a consultant, you are going to perform one for them. Might I suggest performing this service for your client free of charge.

Am I crazy?

Maybe. But in these tough times, offering something of value (the needs analysis) to something you value (your customer) is never a bad decision. Plus, your goal is to get more business from your customer, and you cant get new business if your customer goes under.

We all know that you cant help a customer until you know what he or she needs. You cant provide a solution until you actually know what the problem is to solve. Determining what they need to solve this problem is key – and often, the customer doesnt even know what their actual problem is. They might know the symptoms, but they dont know the root.

Doctors diagnose a customer (patient) by asking Where does it hurt and administering tests. Rainmakers diagnose customer problems by asking questions and LISTENING intently to the answers and reading body language (or listening to voice influxion on the phone).

Asking questions randomly is going to solve one thing: wasting everyones time. You must be prepared. Asking general questions such as, What are your goals? or What are your challenges? is also a waste of time. Honestly, what do you expect to get as an answer to What are your goals? If it was me, my reply would be To make more money than I spend.

During tough times and high stress, think like the makers of Tylenol. They are, in a word, brilliant in how they market their product.

Their tag line is a simple, Feel better, Tylenol.

The #1 benefit they have marketed is, Use our product and feel better.

Is there anything more powerful?

Stress, Anxiety, Noise, and life in general all weight heavily on you or your client. If you take those away, what is the outcome?

Exactly. It is the best outcome. Since that is your goal, how do you get there. With one simple question.

What keeps you up at night? or What is your biggest stress right now?

The answer is where you attack with a series of follow-up questions until you know exactly the root of the cause and can formulate an action plan from there.

Here are some questions I have used in the past and make sure you take great notes:

- What have you tried? (remember that just because they tried it doesnt mean it wont work if you try again with a slightly different approach)

- What would you estimate this problem is costing you a week? (never just ask what it is costing them, get it in a time frame everyone can understand)

- If the problem remains unchecked, what will it do to your company in 30 days? (this compounds the seriousness of the issue and gives a timetable every consultant can work in – 30 days)

- What is your timetable? (when do they want a solution?)

- What is their budget for this problem? (this is key, as this is how you get paid. If it is high priority, their budget will reflect this. You also need to compare their budget to fix the problem in comparison to how much it is costing them a week. For example, if the problem is costing them $20k a week and they say their budget is $10k, theres a problem. In 30 days, they will lose $80k. You could propose to fix their problem for half of the loss, or $40k).

- Who else are you talking to? (Find out if you have any competition on this project).

Your meeting needs to be one hour or less. This is why preparation is key and the right questions are asked. Respect their time and you will be rewarded. Spending all day at their offices will just bog down the process. Get in, ask your questions, get out. Formulate a plan of action and win the business.

Q: Tell me more about Google SiteLinks. How do they determine which links are used?

A:

I have tested SiteLinks algo pretty hard and the one thing I have learned is that the algo is NOT easily influenced. In other words, attempts to “steer” Google to the links you want included doesn’t work on a consistent basis.

As far as getting certain keywords to appear as SiteLinks for your domain, it has mostly to do with your site being “the” landing spot for that search. It isn’t as easy as you might think. For example, I am getting a Mac this weekend. It is my ritual, a new laptop every Labor Day, and this year, I’m going Mac … let’s see if it sticks this time.

If I do a search for “Apple” … apple.com has SiteLinks. However, it does NOT have SiteLinks for the following phrases: iPhone, iTunes, iPod, Mac. The only phrase I could get to come up for Apple.com with SiteLinks was “macintosh”, and that was really one of my “last gasp” phrases to try.

So, as you can see, even the large companies have issues when it comes to getting the right keywords tagged with SiteLinks for their domains.

Q: Does the geographic location of the web host matter for search? Organic? Local?

A: I had a great discussion about this with three Google engineers. The actual location of the server does not matter. Even though there is some “chatter” that it does matter, the choice where to host is clearly yours as a business owner. However, where people tend to get into trouble is the TLD (Top Level Domain). For example, if you had a web business in Portland, Oregon, it wouldn’t make too much sense to have a co.uk domain would it? And the same is true the other way around. If you want localized traffic, and you’re in the UK, get both the .com and .co.uk domains. Build out the .co.uk and 301 redirect the .com to your localized domain. This way you keep your brand, but you are far more likely to get localized traffic with the proper TLD than without it.

Tip: If you are in the US, you don’t need a local host to rank well locally. Your “dot com” doesn’t need to be hosted in Portland if you are also in Portland. You can host in Miami and rank just as well in the local search.

Q: What changes is Google working on right now?

A: I was able to get some info when a group of Googlers thought I was an employee by accident. The biggest issues was a new filter they are working on which would “kill half the businesses here tonight.” The individual who said that was pretty young, and I have learned over the years in this industry that young people like to talk and say bold things in order to get attention and have a feeling of “betterment”.

I don’t believe that statement for many reasons, first, he has no clue about the level of people at the party … as SES attracts mainly newbies. And I followed this comment up with a few Google engineers that I am good friends with and they basically laughed it off. I was on the Organic SEO panel with Aaron (he’s on Matt Cutts’ team) and there are no big filters being worked on currently.

First things first – lets define the Supplemental Index. The best way is to take it straight from Google

A supplemental result is just like a regular web result, except that its pulled from our supplemental index. Were able to place fewer restraints on sites that we crawl for this supplemental index than we do on sites that are crawled for our main index. For example, the number of parameters in a URL might exclude a site from being crawled for inclusion in our main index; however, it could still be crawled and added to our supplemental index.

If youre a webmaster, please note that the index in which a site is included is completely automated; theres no way to select or change the index in which a site appears. Please also be assured that the index in which a site is included doesnt affect its PageRank. For tips on maintaining a crawler-friendly site, please visit our webmaster guidelines.

Reference: Googles Webmaster Help Center

ok this is working flawlessly

its quite simple, the code I have produced in older posts look for it, and then you add the code in a html file..

another example, 1st line on www.sexaddicts.us

As you can see people will click on the 1st line of video’s.. so I am getting hits all the time on my adsense.

Currently averaging approx 200 per blog I have this on per month

Another example:

Just remember to keep your CTR DOWN, post your adsense on legit sites on posts, my CTR IS ALWAYS LESS THAN 1%

Search Engine Cheat Sheet Posted

The Search Engine Cheat Sheet which was originally posted in the On-Page Factors eBook is now posted in the Tutorial section and it has been updated.

There were a few updated changes, here they are:

The displayed characters each engine accepts changed:

Google increased one character from 65 to 66. Here is an example of the new longer Title tag:

Yahoo! is currently 71 characters as evidenced by this example:

Microsofts Live.com shows 70 characters:

What does this mean? Basically that you have one extra character to play with when creating your Title tags. I just posted the information from Live and Yahoo! to show how the other two engines are currently behaving, but Google is still your main focal point. Since they are the lowest, you target that number.

Why?

The testing numbers are stil accurate. Titles which have ellipses (the three dots at the end) have a lower click through rate than Titles which do not.

Simply put, Video SEO is the art and science of ensuring that your video content attracts as much traffic as possible.

You have basically two options: You can host the videos on your own site or use Amazons S3 servers, or you can post them on YouTube and embed them in your pages.

Important Tip: If you post your videos on shared service like YouTube, make sure you read the Terms of Use. Often, by posting the video on their server you are transferring ownership of the video to them.

Where do viewers discover video online?

44% – Discover Randomly
43% – Via Sharing
43% – Via Video Websites
39% – Via Search Engines
27% – Via Marketing Email
4% – Via RSS & MRSS Feeds

Fact: 38% of users who search Google in 2008 were served VIDEO as part of Universal Search in the SERPs.

First Generation Video Search Engines:

• Depends primarily on Metadata and on-page text
• Most are moving to Second Generation
• Examples: Google Video, AOL Video, TruVEO, Yahoo! Video, Live Search

Second Generation Video Search Engines:

• Use Metadata, on-page text, UGC (User-Generated Content: Comments, Annotations, etc.), and advanced recognition technologies (speech, visual, facial, OCR, etc.)
• Examples: Blinkx, ClipBlast, VideoSurf, VideoCrawler

SEO Tips and Tricks for Video

• Search Engines cant read the video content, so it is recommended NOT to do a full transcript of the video, but rather a Cliff Notes summary of the content. Why? Instead of just having someone read the full transcript, which could be boring without the visual support. Plus, the summary can be an enticement to view the video, which could lead to conversion.
• Video search engines need to be told what the video is about using Metadata and On-Page text, just as you would a normal page with a few wrinkles.
• If possible, have multiple video formats available: flv, mov, mpeg, mp4, etc.
• Include the word video at the end of the filename along with your main keyword phrase. Use hyphens to separate words.
• Use In-File Metadata which will include: Metadata Title, Author, Date and Description.
• Keep in mind that video search engines arent real good at indexing Metadata right now, but they are getting better at it.
• Use only 1 video per URL and use unique URLs
• Place your videos in a folder just off the root, dont place them many levels deep.
• If you you have a lot of videos, you may consider using a subdomain (i.e. http://videos.yourdomain.com/).
• I dont recommend .tv extensions right now. You may want to register them, but dont use them for video just yet. The brandability is still poor.
• If you want a new domain for your videos, you might consider using your keyword term with video or media
  at the end. (Example: IndiaTravelMedia.com).
• Use embedded players, dont use pop-up players, they are annoying and many have pop-up blockers.
• Make sure your navigation includes a link to your video content.

Tips to Make Your Videos Viral

• Allow visitors to grab your embedded code to use on their sites or blogs.
• Include social bookmarking tool links (Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.)
• Enable comments to invite conversation.
• Allow users to subscribe to your videos (so you can get them back with future video releases) via RSS/MRSS
• Use internal linking to promote your videos
• Use MRSS Feed Syndication

http://www.blinkx.com/rssupload

http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/submit

http://www.reelseo.com/submit-videos-rss-mrss

Google Video Sitemaps & XML Feed

Google has XML Sitemaps for Video. eMarketer projects that 87% of the total U.S. Internet audience will watch videos online by 2011. Guess who dominates in the video search market? Yeah, Google.

If you use the XML function, which I highly recommend, make sure you provide a thumbnail URL so you increase the likelihood your video is included in Googles video index.

• If you want your users to be able to watch your videos on Google video, make sure to set the player to Autoplay so that users will be shown the video after they click on the result.
• When you submit a Video Sitemap to Google, it isnt only searchable in Google Video, but on other Google products as well. This can help you DOMINATE the video landscape.

How can you dominate? Well, think of this. We have all seen the famous eye tracking study of the SERPs, but have you seen the one when video thumbnails are presented to the user?

Now, if that isnt an eye opening experience, I dont know what is. Check out how much more of the page is getting the users attention. This drives the point home that people are heavily attracted to images. This is why you need video to dominate the SERPs.

A Page Layout Example

1. There is plenty of text around the video to give SEO support so the engine will know the theme of the video content.

2. Write an effective and compelling Title

3. The description needs to work hand-in-hand with the Title to gain interest from the visitor.

4. The video should be embedded with Social Bookmarking icons, rating option, Email to a friend, the link code and embed code to allow for the video to go viral.

5. Include a transcript, but not a full transcript. Keep it to a Cliff Notes summary.

6. Allow comments to bring life into the video posting.

7. Use cross linking for other related videos or related content on your own site or network of sites.

8. An option would be to include Vertical Channel Content, but this is optional.

9. Contextual ads can be used to monetize the site, but it is a good idea to have them tucked away to not distract from the real reason they are there – to watch your video content and become hooked.

10. Tag cloud. Keywords are placed here to raise awareness more for the video search engines indexing the page.

More Video Tips

• If you have a long video, break it up into many shorter videos. Visitors are more likely to click the Next button than they are to sit through a long video.
• Adobe Premiere Pro and OnLocation are solid desktop solutions for video editing.
• Link to your video from your site
• Send the link to your new video to your subscriber list on YouTubew

Many members ask me on a regular basis how you can ensure that you have an IP address that is clean, so let me tell you.

You will want to do a deep check on the IP address, meaning you want to check the main sources of the black lists. The following list is what I use to check IPs that have been assigned to me by my host. Before I give you this list please NEVER do the following:

You: Are all of these IP addresses you just assigned to me clean?

Host: Absolutely. We check and cross check all the IP addresses before assigning them.

You: Great, thanks!

This is a huge mistake, never take their word for it. Verify that the IP address is clean by using the following tools:

Open RBL – This program will check against many of the popular blacklists and will give you a quick overview of the blacklist giving you a status of that IP address on the lists.

The following are good separate blacklist checkers, as they tend to be quite trigger happy when blacklisting IPs.

http://www.ordb.org/lookup/
http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml
http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/index.lasso

This is another great way of making you feel like you are in full control of your business and allows you to ensure that you are given exactly what you have asked for. Webhosts give away dirty IP addresses on a regular basis so take the time to protect your business and verify that every IP address is germ free.

Finally I have got my finger out of my arse, and installed the cookie stuffing script

I have had alot of people asking about Forums and VIP service So once again here we go. I have alot to add and to update.

The VIP service will get access to tools not seen in the SEO Community, and alot of quality Info ect..

People wanting to Buy VIP status can go here: BUY VIP or Just click the bottom banner on the blog. Payments can be made through paypal, wire, cheque and Credit Cards via Plimus.

Previous Followers & Members Contact me for Discounts

Also the Cookie Stuffing Script is Complete, which can enable forum stuffing , Image stuffing, SWF Stuffing & Fake the referrer , plus live statistics all with front end and backend login. Possible the best Cookie Stuffing script made to date.

I will start of by saying my method of adsense behind image works pretty well, altho it is very blackhat if you need good money fast thats the way to do it…. However..

I know I am not an AdSense Monster but I feel I do well for myself even though I use things differently than most do. I use AdSense to help with my PPC bill. Let me show you quickly and then well go through some points that can help you with your AdSense.

Create a plan for why you are going to use AdSense. You will want to do this because the amount you are earning per click is a fraction of the amount an advertiser is earning. That is the reason why they are paying you to do it, you will make more money then they will.

Caution: Do not settle for many 50 cents when you could be making $12.00 instead.

Robots.txt Tip:

To ensure that you get your site indexed properly by Google Media Bot ensure you place the following code into your robots.txt file. After you put it in you will see a difference so make sure you put it in there. One of the main benefits of having this code is that it will place relevant ads and fewer PSAs. You dont need to be nervous about the Disallow statement that is in the code, it is the syntax of the robots.txt file. It doesnt have anything after it so this means its not disallowing anything from the bot meaning you are giving full access to all your pages to the spider.

User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Disallow:

When AdSense first came about I decided to sign up and placed the ads onto one of my affiliate sites. It turned out that my conversion ratio for that affiliate program didnt have much movement keeping a consistent rate. When I looked a bit further I noticed that I had a 6% CTR. Before AdSense my conversion rate was approximately 2% so it turned out I was earning money from 8% of the visitors I received. Not too shabby.

I decided to test this out on more sites and the same figure came back to me but the conversion still stayed quite consistent. So why exactly was this happening? I did an exit survey but that didnt give any details since the people leaving didnt seem to fill out my survey. I came to the conclusion that the people that purchased my stuff were already going to buy anyways with or without ads showing. For those that were leaving higher percentages were hitting the back button and the other handful looked for a way out and they usually were the ones that hit the AdSense ads.

In all honesty its not my fault they didnt find what they were looking for. There is no possible way you can please everyone and nor would I like too, but I would like to maximize the revenue my site gets so I came up with a plan. Take a look at the plan I came up with:

1) Having a targeted monthly budget is key so when I launch my affiliate program I will already have the list of keywords that will convert. As an example we will use a budget of $1,000.00 per month.

2) Target the average CPC. This is actually pretty easy to do. You never want to have a bid that is more than 50% of the revenue youd earn per visitor. So for example your PPC campaign has a commission of $50.00 with a conversion ratio of 1% youll have revenue of 50 cents per visitor ($50.00/100=$0.50). To ensure you have profit this means you can not go over $0.25 per click. By bidding more then that you will actually see yourself loosing money and this is the main thing you want to avoid. Now for another example lets say your conversion ratio increased to 4% meaning youd have revenue of $2.00 per visitor, meaning you can now have a bid of $1.00 per click. Quite amazing isnt it?

3) With AdSense try to project a 6% CTR with a revenue of $0.50 per click. For every 100 views you get to your page youd get revenue of $3.00 or $300.00 EPM (Earnings per Thousand Views).

4) For our example we spent $1,000.00 a month for our PPC with an average of $0.25 a click. You brought 4,000 visitors into your site holding an average number of page views being 3 per, or 12,000 page views.

5) 1% conversion: 40 sales x $50.00 = $2,000.00 (Affiliate Revenue)
6% AdSense CTR: 720 clicks x $0.50 = $360.00 (AdSense Revenue)
Subtract the PPC Spend – $1,000 (PPC Spend)

On Average seoblackhat.co.uk is getting over 7000 unique hits a day. So I will be offering a sponsorship program if you need traffic to your website. Obviously You need a website and preferably a banner or Link..

So hit me up, and I will add your links on my blog. People who request to sponsor seoblackhat.co.uk will have a hidden advantage.. more will e explained upon request, but can guarantee you 5000+ per hits per url

So if you need traffic leave a post below or contact me on skype = spyboy73