Sam Tilston SEO

Android SEO Rank Pro

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:36:06 +0000

I’ve just released a rank checker for the Google Android operating system. Have it running on my nexus one and it’s working great. So if you need to check search positions on the go then grab yourself a copy.

SEO Rank Pro allows you to check keyword positions for your website in Google.

Supports many international Google engines.
Check multiple keywords.
Very accurate.
Check you search positions fast and easily.

How To Write Linkbait

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:25:45 +0000

Over the years I’ve produced countless pieces of ‘linkbait’ for an array of different clients, and as a result have gradually developed a successful and trusty routine by which to work. Below are what I believe to be the most important steps to follow in order to supply your client with a piece of work which is effective enough to signify that your services are invaluable.

Know your client

To most people this would be filed under ‘Common Sense’ but believe me, there are some who wouldn’t even consider such a step. How do you expect to produce a unique and link-worthy article related to your client’s business if you don’t understand what they do? Even when working with existing clients – for whom I’ve written previously – the very first thing I do before starting work is become acquainted/re-acquainted with the client’s product and/or industry. Start by exploring the client’s own website. Do they have a News section related to the industry? If so, read it. Do they have an existing blog containing previous linkbait? Read that too. In fact, read the whole website and you’ll be surprised at how worthwhile such an elementary task can be.

Research, research, research

Although Wikipedia can’t always be trusted, it happens to be a great starting point when researching a topic. For example, if your client operates in the travel industry one of your first stops should be the Tourism page at Wikipedia where you’ll find a wealth of knowledge related to your client’s work that could prove invaluable when writing content. To illustrate my point: a quick glance at that very page will provide you with information about the history of tourism, niche forms of tourism, recent developments in the world of tourism…all subjects on which – with some tweaking and further investigation – a piece of linkbait could be written. Speaking of recent developments, another fantastic place to frequent is Google News. A quick search for “insurance industry” results in a goldmine of extremely recent information related to your new insurance client from which you can pull a trending topic to write about. While you’re at it, use those same search terms at websites like Digg, Reddit, Metafilter, Delicious and even Flickr, and sort the results according to popularity. This will all serve as inspiration whilst also making you aware of articles and photos that have already set the online world alight.

Tread on fresh ground

Following on nicely from the last point: once you’ve discovered those stories which have already gone viral, make it a priority to avoid re-hashing the same material. It’s wholly unlikely that a re-jigged version of a popular article will go viral for a second time so, unless you really have something new and of additional value to bring to the table, avoid touching it like the plague otherwise it will look lazy, you’ll have wasted valuable time and could even attract negative feedback from the very online community you’re hoping to engage with. Instead, use these stories to discover the type of article people have been drawn to and use that as inspiration.

Stop obsessing about lists

Although it’s true that list-based articles are easy to digest, don’t interpret that as a reason to arrange everything you write into bullet-points at the expense of a simpler but just as interesting piece. The old adage ‘Quality not Quantity’ still applies when writing linkbait and a short, traditional article about a bizarre hotel that’s rarely been seen before can result in just as much traffic and links – if not more – than an enormous list of less interesting hotels which have already done the rounds. Your client is hopefully paying you to bring in links and exposure, not to regularly fill the company blog with Top 10 lists that rarely perform. Another question worth asking yourself is this: if each stretch of sand on that ‘Top 10 Unique Beaches’ list is fascinating in its own right, why not buck the trend and instead post one beach each week as part of a series? Readers returning each week to see the latest addition to a fascinating series is an extremely valuable occurrence and will do your client’s website no harm at all.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Humans are suckers for visual stimulation, and for that reason a photograph of the world’s most expensive office chair will, without doubt, attract more attention and links than a thousand word description of the same seat. My point is this: don’t be afraid to use photographs when writing linkbait. In fact, make it your mission to include at least one picture. Also, don’t be afraid to use large, high quality ones as there’s nothing worse than reading an article online which relies on a photograph, only to find yourself squinting to appreciate it due to its size and/or quality. If you’re worried about bandwidth, host your pictures at Flickr. It’s free.

Keep it simple

Remember that the objective of writing linkbait is to attract as wide a readership as possible. Using the word ‘pusillanimous’ when you could have used ‘courageous’ is a surefire way to alienate a large percentage of your potential audience, so speak in a voice that the majority of people will understand without needing to check a dictionary, or else risk losing readers unnecessarily.

Cite your sources

As well as being good practice, citing sources for both the information within the linkbait and any photographs used will build trust amongst your readership, which will in turn make them more likely to link to your article. I can’t think of any website owner who would happily send their readers to an article that suspiciously lacks any source links. Further, sending readers to external websites by way of source links is a great way to make others aware of your work when they check their traffic logs.

Keep the title snappy

We’re all told not to judge a book by its cover but, in all honesty, it’s something the majority of us will continue to do throughout life. First impressions do matter and it’s the same with linkbait titles, so to spend two days writing an article for a client only to fall at the last hurdle by naming it ‘10 very awesome beds that I would love to lie on’ is inexcusably bad form. Keep the title short, punchy, even intriguing. Ask a question that begs to be answered. Even include a carefully chosen pun if you have to, but most of all, before you hand it over to the client, imagine yourself coming face-to-face with that very title for the first time. Would you carry on reading? If not, try again.

The Top 100 SEO & SEM Resources

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:09:07 +0000

If you are wanting to learn about SEO & SEM then the following resources may come in useful. I have identified and categorised what I believe to be the best search engine optimisation and search engine marketing resources on the web.

Search engine blogs

If you are wanting to do well in SEO then you should keep up to date with all of the latest search engine news, here are links to 10 of the best sources on the web:

SEO blogs

Here are links to 10 of the best search engine optimisation blogs from around the web, all of them provide solid SEO tips, advice and information.

SEO company blogs

Most of the SEO companies out there now have a blog added on to their websites mainly because they can help so much with rankings, many of them publish rubbish but there are some that produce quality content, here are 10 of the best:

Link building blogs

Here is a list of blogs that specialise in providing information about link building techniques such as link baiting, social media promotion and more.

Online marketing blogs

The following 10 blogs provide online marketing and social media marketing tips, information and advice. I read all of them on a regular basis and you should to if you want to stay ahead of the game.

Search engine directories

If you are looking for new search engines that you want to rank high on then the following list of search engine directories and lists will come in useful:

SEO & SEM directories

If you are looking to find SEO or SEM companies / consultants then you should check out the following list of directories. Some of them just list companies, others also list resources.

SEO tools

The following sites all provide useful search engine optimisation tools. Some of them just provide one, others provide a whole range of tools for things like keyword research, link popularity and more.

SEO forums

One of the best ways to learn about search engine optimisation is to join a few SEO forums, ask questions read what other people have to say, plus you can usually get free links for your site whilst you are learning as many of the forums allow you to have a signature link or two for your sites.

Web directories

Here is a list of 10 of the best web directories for search engine optimisation, some of them are free to submit to, others charge either a one off or annual review fee.

Get Links from the Top 50 Authority Domains

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:28:27 +0000

I nicked this list from the Google Cache, great blog

Here is a list of the top 50 or so. (Sometimes we have to resort to subdomains)…

Google.com: get in the directory
Adobe.com: followed forum links
Blogspot.com: If you cant figure out how to get a link on blogspot, give up now.
Yahoo.com: join the directory
Youtube.com: Create your own channel
Wikipedia.org: Add it, it will be nofollowed, but still worth it.
W3.org : Newsletter Auto-Linking
Facebook.com: Facebook Apps (check out the retailer icons)
Wordpress.org: Write a Good Plugin (Author Homepage)
Myspace.com: If you can’t figure out how to get a link on myspace, you need to give up on SEO.
Microsoft.com: Amapedia FTW
Macromedia.com: Get Mentioned, hard link to get
Wordpress.com: Create a Blog, If you can’t figure out how to get a link on wordpress.com, you need to give up on SEO.
Flickr.com: Add and Edit a Comment

Create a comment with a link in it like this… text. Flickr will add a nofollow after the HREF, but the rel=”follow” will already have been parsed. Sneaky, eh?
StatCounter.com: Member profile Contact Info
Miibeian.gov.cn : Good luck
Msn.com: Movies Search Results
Apple.com: Get Written About. Yeah, this one is tough.
AOL.com: Propeller cross-domain. Now that is clever!
MapQuest.com : Map Listings
Sourceforge.net: Forum Profile Pages

NYtimes.com: It never ceases to amaze me what spammers can find.
Feedburner.com: Feed Links Count.
CNN.com: Create a Fan Nation Blog
Free.fr: Create a Site
Tripod.com: If you don’t know how to get a link from tripod, you need to give up on SEO.
Live.com: Create a blog on Windows Live Spaces
Go.com: Create a Sports Nation Fan Blog
Addthis.com: Only nofollows from forum links.
Typepad.com: Create a Blog
PHPbb.com: Signature Links
Digg.com: Go Popular. Write fantastic content and get on the homepage of Digg to get PR flowing links.
technorati.com: Site Reactions Pages and others
del.icio.us (now delicious.com): Get mentioned on the blog
php.net: Become a Mirror
imdb.com: make a movie or documentary
about.com: followed links in the forums
ebay.com: user pages have followed links
rambler.ru: forum links followed
blogger.com: Get into the “Blogs I follow”
fc2.com: Blog
joomla.org: followed links in the forum
google.de: Directory
creativecommons.org: Try installing ccHost and mentioning your installation
Mysql.com: Forge Comments

Free Links on Guardian.co.uk Website

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:55:36 +0000

Another major UK newspaper site, one of the strongest domains on the internet too…..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2009/may/18/labour-candidates-mps-expenses-brown

Some acai berry spam on there, nice.

Enjoy.

Free Links on Independent.co.uk Website

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:46:16 +0000

Checkout the link spam on this major UK newspaper websites.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/the-online-fashion-100-1663809.html

Those are some really great free links.

Enjoy.

Contact Eric Schmidt CEO of Google

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:23:44 +0000

Leave a voicemail for him:

Call 650-253-0000
Dial 8 wait for message to end.
press 2
press *
Press 7246438
press 1
Leave Him a Message

Enjoy.

Automatic Personalised Search

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:50:49 +0000

Previously when a user was logged into Google all search results were tailored to the user. When logged out all users from a country were displayed the same results. This is no more. From now on, Google looks at the past 180 days of your search activity a displays search results tailored to that search history. If you want to turn this off for testing you need to append &pws=0 to the end of the search query string.

Enjoy.

Google Live Search

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:34:41 +0000

Google DNS Servers

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:56:02 +0000

Google has just launched their own free public DNS servers, this will help speed up your internet browsing. You can find out how to configure your machine to use them here. I’ve always used OpenDNS servers which are very good, it will be interesting to see how they compare to the new Google DNS Servers.

Enjoy.