My 2¢ Worth

s our next publication date falls on U.S. Thanksgiving, Web Sm@rts will be published on Wednesday next week.

t really makes you wonder just where does time go? Seems like just yesterday I was eagerly awaiting the first new buds on the trees or the first sighting of a Robin which would mark the arrival of Spring.

eanwhile what we have here is snow flurries, bitter cold temperatures and winds to 30 and 40 miles per hour which feels a lot like winter to me while the calendar tells me it's only Autumn.

've always said, "If you're going to live in Minnesota — you've gotta be tough." Looks like I'm not tough enough. This winter storm sure took me by surprise. And to think a couple days ago I was still walking around in shirt-sleeves...

Feature Article

Do Not Ever Link to a Site Without Doing This First!

by: John Krycek theMouseworks.ca

Links are a crucial part of attaining high search rankings, but you must be very careful about to whom you link. I'm going to help you develop a simple link strategy for your website that will help you decide which sites to link to so you're making your way up the search engine rankings and not accidentally hurling yourself backwards.

So the natural questions are:

• Should I link to everyone I can find?
• Should I allow everyone to link to me?
• Should I get one of those "link to 2,000 site for $10" things?

The answer to all of the above is NO!

Develop A Link Strategy

We're going to do an easy-to-digest version of what a search engine optimizer would do if you were to hire one. There are many reasons for having your site professionally optimized which would take up articles in themselves. This is one of the attack strategies for determining optimum, quality links for your site.

Step 1 Where are your competitors linked?

Don't arbitrarily find random sites that you like and link to them. A little bit of research goes a long way. Start with your competitors. Type the keywords for your site into a search engine. You have them, right? This is the list of key word phrases that you want to score the number one position when someone types them in a search. Who appears in the top 10 positions? They're your direct competition that is doing something right or they wouldn't be coming up first. So let's look underneath and see how they got it to work and save you a year of work!

Go back to your search engine and type "link:www.competitorsite.com". Up will pop a long list of sites that have a direct link to your competitor. Do this for your top 10 competitors. Do you see any trends in those results? Do you see any similar sites, or perhaps directory listings? Take some notes. A spreadsheet or a few sheets of loose-leaf paper is helpful and analyze what you've uncovered. You should have a good solid list of links that are helping your competitors rank high!

Step 2 Search for similar themed sites.

Look at your keyword list again. Do these words appear more so on any of the pages you have listed so far? Narrow down your list to sites that have at least the same theme or related content to yours. Even your competition will have quite a few odd links.

If there are 300 links to a site that sells pumpkins, it's natural to have a car dealer or an airline in there too. Chances are they were so pleased with their pumpkin purchase that they added the site to their own web page. You can disregard these right away.

Take your list and look at the potential link site for similarities to your topic. If in the pumpkin market your competition links to a site that tells all about how to cook pumpkin seeds, see if you can find other sites that tell how to make pumpkin pie, make jack-o-lanterns AND cook pumpkin seeds. Make a list of these sites as potentially better ones.

Step 3 Look at the Google Page Rank

You can find a page's page rank by looking at your Google tool bar if you have it installed or by going to a site like http://www.top25web.com/pagerank.php. The actual importance of Google Page Rank to Google searches in particular seems to depend on whom you talk with. It shouldn't be the make or break, but it can help to choose between several similar sites if your unsure of which one to go with.

Page Rank is more of a relative scale of the number and quality of links to a site. The higher the rank, the higher the number. The lower, the worse. It's not unheard of for a link from a site with a Page Rank of 6 or 7 to boost up a low score by a couple numbers. This seems to, at least in Google's case, get a site indexed much faster. And the faster you're indexed, the faster you can start climbing.

Step 4 How many sites link to your selections so far and how good are they?

The more links a site has pointing to it, the more important it appears to be to the search engines. Say your looking at company ABC to put a link on their site to you. Let's first see how many sites link to company ABC. (Just as you looked at your competition). We know search engines place more weight on sites linked to you that have similar content. Now the big search databases seem to know what kind of content is on those linking pages.

Using the pumpkin model, if your potential target is teaming with 100 inbound links from gambling, girls, horses, moons, leprechauns and horoscopes then throw it in the trash pile fast, even if it has a Page Rank of 8 (very rare).

Find that site that has 10 links good, quality links to it. From a pumpkin farmer, a vegetable recipe blog, Halloween and Thanksgiving festivities, how the first settlers used the pumpkin to build houses, etc and has a Page Rank of 5. This is the better choice. Quality, related themes and content to your site and keywords outweighs quantity of random, useless links.

Step 5 Your final list

Don't think you can do this in an hour, or a day! It's quite a bit of work just to find good, potential targets. Here's a bonus... when you have your finished your first wave a link possibilities, here's great way to give it a solid foundation.

Find some relevant directories to list with. Directories of a given theme will have many, many similar links pointing to it. Directories are usually considered to have Authority. (It's not uncommon to have to pay a fee for the good ones anyway.) Try to find a directory of pumpkin farms and pumpkin recipes to build your other links upon.

Another bonus. Avoid this mistake at all costs! Do NOT link to Link Farms or Free for all sites or any sites that will give you 1000 links for $10. These are not directories, but collections of completely unrelated links that exist solely to try to boost search engines rankings. Search engines ban many of these sites. The consequences of being listed with a banned site could ban you, and then you're doomed. The only way to succeed is to build your links honestly and strategically with a plan and method.

Note: Search engines give more weight to one-way links rather than reciprocal links. i.e. links that link to your site without asking for one in return. The easiest way to get these is to buy them. This plan will work on all the different kinds of links you can get.

So now you have some potential sites to link to. In the next article learn how to phrase your link for maximum effectiveness. The sites to link with is only the first half... the quality of the words you use that make up the link's content called anchor text are just as crucial! Hint: using the same link in every web site is a very bad idea. See you soon!

**************

John Krycek a creative director at theMouseworks.ca web and graphic design in Toronto. Learn more about search engine optimization, internet marketing, web development and graphic design in easy, non-technical, up front English at www.themouseworks.ca !

Nowrap for Tables

Are your tables wrapping text and making some cells taller that others as a result? There's a very simple solution to this problem, an attribute of the <td> tag within your table. It's called nowrap and has no other value than itself. Here's how it works:

<td nowrap>

What this does is preclude text from wrapping inside the cell, but it will have the effect of stretching your tables horizontally. But if you want nice clean tables that don't have cell height variations, it's an effective method of ensuring all text stays on one line.

* Get these syndicated tip feeds for your web site, free. *

Second Article

3 Ways to Talk so Clients Listen

by: Robert Moment sellintegrity.com

People talk to you everyday-sometimes effectively, often times not. But when it comes to business, you can't afford to not have people listen. If you want your clients to really hear what you have to say, you have to know how to say it in the most effective manner possible. In any given situation- business or otherwise-a person's main motivation is, "What's in it for me?" That means whatever you say has to be geared towards answering that very question for your listener.

If you're ready to get your point across and be heard, read on to find how to use a client's self-interest to your advantage and talk so they really listen.

1. Preparation

A great sales pitch or presentation always starts long before the client arrives. No matter what you're selling, no one's going to buy it if you don't know your stuff. Preparation is key: you have to know what you're talking about if you want anyone to really listen. Of course , just what kind of preparation will depend on the nature of the material you're presenting, but remember that going the extra mile here will make clients take notice later.

When preparing for any kind of meeting or presentation , take time in advance to go over all the material you're talking about. You should know the topic well, and have plenty of specifics to use for examples. It can also help to consider beforehand some of the questions that clients might ask. Anticipating their needs will help you be able to answer queries quickly and effectively.

2. Presentation

Next , no matter what you're talking about, how you present it has everything to do with how well clients will listen. Anyone adequately prepared can talk for hours-but part of your planning should be how best to present the given material. Decide before you begin just what kind of examples to use, or if there are any ways you can enhance your presentation with audio-visual material, pictures, or illustrations.

For big presentations, you'll want to practice in the mirror or for friends to make sure you're getting the key points across. To be more effective on a daily basis with all your clients, think of what you say as "mini" presentations. Start by examining your speech for little words like "um" and "ah" that weaken the effect of what you're trying to say- you'll be amazed at how much more attentively people listen.

As well, take the time to make sure you're well presented: tidily dressed , on time, and polite. Remember that your presentation isn't just what you say- you're a whole package, and how you present yourself needs to reflect that.

3. Passion

Finally, the key to talking so clients is conveying to them your passion. If you're passionate about something, it comes through in the way you speak, in the way you hold your self, it even shows on your face. There's no amount of preparation or presentation skill that can make up for a lack of passion for the topic or proposal at hand. The most effective speakers are the ones who combine topic or proposal at hand. The most effective speakers are the ones who combine all three in a way that makes people sit up and listen. The trick is to find your own personal balance and make your passion come through above all else.

So what if you're not passionate about the material? We've all done jobs we didn't like at one point or another, but you find a way to be enthusiastic and energetic about what you're doing by appreciating other sides of it. Getting passionate about something may only mean shifting your point of view. Always try to see things from the client's side, in order to understand just how what you're doing would benefit them. They'll really hear what you have to say when you make it vital and important to them-that's where your passion should lie.

Remember always that a good talker is also a great listener, and take the time to listen carefully when your clients talk. Take care to keep the client's interest in mind and you're on your way to always talking in a way that makes people listen.

Preparation, presentation and passion- three simple concepts that when used correctly can make you a great speaker. In private and public life these principles apply, and if you look closely at any of the successful people in your life, you're certain to find them in action. If you prepare in advance and take the time to present yourself and the material well, your passion will come through, and that's when people really listen.

**************

Robert Moment is a business strategist and author of "It Only Takes a Moment to Score" found on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Robert shows entrepreneurs how to turn ideas into wealth, how to avoid becoming a statistic - and have FUN! Download the FREE Special Report, "17 Ways to Turn Your Content into Money" at www.sellintegrity.com

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