SEO Tips

Record-Breaking Hits from Stumbleupon

February 12, 2014 By Jonan Castillon

It might not be impressive for those who are receiving thousands of views on Stumbleupon but for me it’s record-breaking.

For posting “The Real Deal Look Back You Might Not Want to See at All“, I garnered 51 views (or 53 as of writing) from Stumbleupon — a very far cry from the usual one or two hits for a post I would “Stumble”.

If you want more views for your site, Stumbleupon is one good source of traffic.

Please follow me on Stumbleupon and find out the topics that I usually ‘stumble’ upon by click on this link –> http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/jonancastillon

The Importance of SEO and Pay-Per-Click Advertising

December 22, 2013 By Jonan Castillon

Many business site owners are satisfied with having Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising as their means of promoting their website in the internet.

You can’t blame them because launching PPC campaign provides that calming assurance that visitors would come and browse your site.

Also, they are confident that because they have paid for PPC advertising service, their ads will show up and generate traffic as expected.

Furthermore, seeing their company website appear on the paid search result area, especially appearing at the top of the fold of the page, presents great advantage.

For most of them, PPC is sufficient and spending for search engine optimization is an added expense for internet advertising.

Realities of Pay-Per-Click Advertising

How many of these website owners are aware that PPC advertising is not the same as paying advertisements in newspapers and magazines. It is not at all similar with TV and radio advertising.

A business website owner must realize that PPC advertising is keyword based. He still has to bid for the keywords or key phrases they are using for their website to appear on the paid search list result.

When someone outbid him, his website will be placed lower than the site that won the bid. It follows then that his site will be at the bottom when many key phrase bidders have higher tender than his offer.

One way to recover from bottom position is to offer higher value for the keywords or key phrases he is competing for his website.

Imagine how expensive it could get and eventually it would become heavy burden on the budget to sustain.

After losing in the bidding wars for top position in the paid section of the search page result, you will suffer another blow if your site is not appearing on top list in the main search result listing.

Neglecting SEO in favor of PPC campaign will be a double blow for you because you have missed the competition in the free search listing.

Advantage of doing SEO and PPC

Most internet marketers agree that SEO and PPC should not be pitted against each other. They are two pieces of the same puzzle that comprises the whole internet business field.

Companies that have realized the strong advantage of having both SEO and PPC advertising campaigns gets the benefit of covering two frontiers. And when their sites get to top listing, they have the benefit of both worlds.

According to a study on how the eyes ranges across the internet page, websites that appear on top paid section and organic lists receive more attention and chances of being clicked and visited.

Those sites that end up in the lower and bottom listings, sponsored or organic sections have low probability of being seen and clicked.

This is as far as first page of search result listing is concerned.

It goes without saying that getting traffic juice would be scarce or nil when your site lands on second and further down the pages.

Positive Effects of Publishing Contents Daily

July 28, 2013 By Jonan Castillon

We have heard the popular saying ‘An apple a day drives the doctor away’ but…

Have you heard of ‘A blog post a day attracts readers from far and away’?

It has been a known fact traffic increases when you are posting articles on your sites daily.

I challenged a client to try posting a blog daily for a week and see the results.

His company is engaged in infrastructure management or infrastructure asset management industry, a very technical and specific niche.

The results are fantastic. The table below shows the statistics:

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In addition to gaining visitors, you get to evaluate what sort of topics or themes that generate more interest from readers.

The topic about New Zealand being rated as the safest country in 2013 generated the highest visitors.

It also got the highest number of shares in social media.

Lifestyle, tourism, entertainment, and sports are topics that have been proven to be traffic magnets.

Publishing contents along these themes could surely boost website visitors.

Are you getting the best out of your website? Is it performing according to your expectation?

Contact Online Writing Niche today!

The Advantages of Excellent Community Management in Social Media Marketing

September 11, 2012 By Jonan Castillon

The effectiveness of social media marketing for business promotion encouraged companies to engage strongly on it. Realizing how social media sites provide excellent venue for people to converge and interact, companies see a potential community to market their products.

Seeing social media as a very significant frontier for marketing, businesses create their social media accounts. They spend time and money to build followers and subscribers and take time interacting with the community they created. They also expand their social media presence through joining and participating in other groups.

Social Media Community Management — Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Online community managers have changed social media marketing from just merely putting out information and promotions regarding company products and events. It has proceeded to engaging with consumers, listening to client’s needs, garnering feedback for the company.

It is important to consider that a strong community is built on sharing and helping. A community that thrives on one-way communication, where dialogues are dominated by one, and members are exploited as mere marketing venues, will not exist long.

Thus, excellent community management sees to it that the real community spirit is created; members are given great value through encouraging participation and interacting with them.

If you want your company to perform well and become popular in customer service, sales, building relationships, coordination and cooperation, then invest on good community management strategies.

There are also software solutions that enhance your social media engagement, enable your community managers to monitor efficiently company related conversations, issues and allowing them to sort it out, respond, and redirect for further action.

Through community management, your company creates a bridge between the company (internal) and the community (external) with the goal of communing or being one with them in talks and discussions.

The focal point in community management is presenting the universal values of trust and loyalty rather than be engrossed in gaining sales.

Achieve well in social media marketing through a community management program that empowers and builds a genuine community.

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Google Penguin Joins Google Panda Against Webspam

May 13, 2012 By Jonan Castillon

By now, everyone in the internet marketing world is aware of Google Penguin, the label of the latest changes in Google’s algorithm. This recent Google Algorithm changes was launched on 24 April 2012.

Web masters and SEO gurus see Google Penguin as extension of Google Panda. There are those who see it as two Google algorithm animals joining forces to topple web spam and promote high quality websites in search engine results.

With the 52 Google Penguin changes (or improvements), people in the internet marketing industry are keeping their search engine optimization “horses” at bay.

There is a need to retrospect and introspect all SEO actions done in the past to ensure that all, if not a large percentage of it is Google Penguin compliant.

Forewarnings of Google Penguin’s coming

Google has warned about “black hat webspam”, which they observe is being done every day. The scheme includes from stuffing contents with keywords unrelated to the topic to doing hidden links and building links with irrelevant sites or spam sites.

Site owners and SEO companies that have engaged in link buying schemes for the mere purpose of achieving high rank for their sites are Google’s target in the recent algorithm changes. Popular internet marketing experts keep the SEO people updated how Google Penguin is faring with regards to its algorithm purpose.

Thus, towards the end of April 2012, Google announced that they are launching algorithm changes that would combat webspam. It mentioned about sites having violated Google’s requirements for website quality, both in links and contents, will be slapped with decreased ranking.

According to Inside Search – the official Google Search blog, the latest changes in Google algorithm are not only to diminish webspam but most of all, to reward sites that have been committed to their quality guidelines. Google Penguin is designed to encourage high quality content to benefit browsers who are searching for good information.

Black Hat Webspam Techniques Undesirable to Google

Google has been battling webspam and other black hat SEO techniques that some individuals and companies are perpetuating to gain rankings in Google.

With Google Panda’s implementation in 2011, we have seen how many sites, some of them popular article directories, reformed their editorial policies and avoid becoming link farms.

Google Penguin is an improvement of Google’s on-going desire to clean the search engine world of those who might have passed through Google Panda’s filter.

Among these webspam practices that Google Penguin is trying to crack down are as follows:

Keyword stuffing is the practice of web content writers to fill up the copy with keywords which results to unintelligible text or contents. Often times the keywords are mentioned out of context. It could also be lists or paragraphs of keywords repeated all throughout the text.
Link schemes include link-building techniques that intend to manipulate PageRank. They are links built with irrelevant and questionable sites.
When there is so much reciprocal links and link exchanges, the sites could be penalized for unwarranted link schemes.
Termed as “money links”, links bought or sold that passes PageRank are considered as link scheming.
Cloaking is a practice wherein a website presents different content or URL to browsers and search engines.
Google considers sites using sneaky JavaScript redirects in violation of their Webmaster Guidelines because it shows different content for users while redirecting search engines to a different one.
There are sites that create doorway pages and use it to rank for a particular keyword or phrase. They may be made within the domain or constructed on separate domains. The main purpose is to redirect readers to a single destination.
Duplicate content refers to bulk of text within the site that is a complete copy of existing content. It also refers to similarly matched contents among sites.

Google Webmaster Tools offer detailed explanation on how to resolve these issues presented here. It also details how a particular site can be corrected and be compliant with existing webmaster guidelines, particularly with Google Penguin.

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Accelerated Website Your Gateway to Business Success

April 22, 2012 By Jonan Castillon

Is your website accelerated to achieve business success?

Do you wonder why your present website is not performing as you expected it to be?

You must take time to consult the website design experts and let them improve and accelerate your website.

It’s about time you develop your site as your gateway to business success. Don’t ever think that your website is a mere representation of your business online.

You must look seriously at your website as the business itself, where you generate sales leads and convert them to actual sales.

Overtake your competitors with your accelerated website

Are you aware that in New Zealand, 60 per cent of people conduct online search before they decide to buy a product or service?

Your competitors have known this all along. They have been spending for online optimization campaign like Google AdWords, social media, and other online activities that would improve their conversion rates.

When potential customers search the internet to buy what they need, will your website appear on the top search result list? Will they visit, inquire, and buy from your website?

Don’t neglect giving attention to your website’s performance because you are confident and currently satisfied with how your business is doing as of the moment.

The online buying trend is inevitable. Observe how the present younger generation is interacting, learning and playing through online.

They are growing up seeing their parents and living the online lifestyle. As they become professionals, most of their transactions will be done via online.

Surely, most transactions will be done through the internet as the years go on. Thus, it is important that your business is also doing well at the online frontier.

Stay ahead of the competition with your accelerated website

The great challenge of being ahead in the business competition is sustaining your lead. In this dynamic search engine world, no business online could ever be confident totally of taking the lead in perpetuity.

Bullish competitors would surely double (even triple) their efforts to be on top of search engine list especially when they know the internet leads that you get for being on top.

Contact a search engine optimisation expert and website design company now to fortify your gains for having an accelerated website.

Learn how they are able to assist their clients in gaining more new business through their accelerated website.

Let their SEO portfolio convince you that this is the best SEO company that could bring success in your quest for more business online.

Hire an SEO expert company to accelerate your website and help grow your business online.

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Advantages of Choosing the Website Design Company that Knows SEO

March 30, 2012 By Jonan Castillon

Most companies that I have asked what their immediate basis was for choosing their website design service replied that attractive website design portfolios is primary. For sure, most business owners are satisfied with having a business site that has strong visual impact.

Well, there is nothing wrong with having a very attractive and functional website because that’s the way business websites should be. However, website development must be done with SEO factors in mind.

For what would you gain in having the best website design in the world when internet browsers are not visiting it nor it appears on top search results list for searches related to it?

I have the privilege of working with eNow Limited, a search engine optimization and website design company based in Christchurch as Internet Marketing Specialist. The work exposed me to all types of website designs, especially business websites and it includes analysing these sites in terms of SEO.

It is my outlook that website design is the “rocket vehicle” that carries one’s business in the internet and search engine optimization is the “rocket fuel” that hurls it to the top search results page each time a related search is made.

Thus, in choosing your website design company, it is important to consider that it knows search engine optimization, too. Let me share two advantages of choosing a web design company that is also an SEO expert.

Website meta elements are created according to SEO standards

In the course of conducting SEO analysis of prospect client’s websites, eNow is amazed by how website design meta elements, particularly titles and descriptions, were not crafted carefully to provide proper information on the particular web page.

They also discovered sites that have existed without the meta keywords included in their metadata tags.

Their website designer probably was not aware of the importance of website metadata elements, particularly the titles and descriptions. Google uses the titles and descriptions when it generates the search results list.

A website design company with search optimization expertise will make sure that metadata management is done well in favour of the business site.

Web contents are keyword optimized

As we all know, any website design framework, despite its sophistication and beauty would be useless without web contents.

A website design company at the same time engaging in SEO services will see to it that the contents are optimised for the site’s chosen keywords. It will also check that site navigation is also done through keywords linked to the relevant inner pages of the site.

So you’re thinking of reconstructing your company website? Or maybe you are wondering why despite your site’s sophisticated design it is not gaining traffic?

Go to the website design company that is capable of providing search engine optimisation while building your site.

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How I Succeeded in Gaining for My Blog the PageRank of 3 in Less than 4 Months

September 12, 2011 By Jonan Castillon

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I wrote this post in 2011 and since then, there have been a lot of changes in Google Algorithm, making obsolete the tips to getting PageRank.

Nevertheless, this is worth reading as it would provide a glimpse of SEO dynamics two years ago.

I am happy to relate how I succeeded in gaining PR 3 for my blog in less than four months.

Of course, PageRank is not everything and not the ultimate goal for creating a blog.

For those who are experts, gaining PageRank for a site is a simple feat. In my three years of being a blogger, attaining PR 3 for my site is quite an achievement.

I started Central Philippine University Blog on March 8, 2011 with the introductory page as its first post.

I also created pages and categories but these are all blank pages, which I reserved for future blog posts.

I never expected that PR 3 could be attained in just four months considering that my two other sites, From Worry to Glory earned PR1 in 21 months and Online Writing Niche, PR2 in nine months.

I am not knowledgeable about how PageRank is computed and I am not aware of the specific elements and requirements that would facilitate the achievement of PR for a site.

Just like what a blogger does, I wrote and posted contents.

With my SEO knowledge, I built inbound and outbound links and promoted the blog through social media sites, especially Twitter and Facebook.

I bought the domain centralphilippineuniversity.org in March 2011. I decided to have the blog remain its free hosting with WordPress.com.

After posting initially the introductory page in March, Central Philippine University Blog became idle for a month. In May, I made additional posts and from then on, I supplied fresh blog contents regularly.

In the last week of July 2011, less than four months after I created Central Philippine University Blog, I noticed that the PR checker on my toolbar showed the number “3”. I was quite elated to find out that Central Philippine University Blog earned PR3.

So, what did my blog has when it gained PR3?

Between March to July, I posted 18 articles composed of 450-500 words average.
Google had indexed 176 pages.
Back links numbered 156.
Traffic or number of visits averaged 35 per day.
I posted 10 videos.
Photos enhance the blog articles.

Well, I’m not saying that these are the exact bases that caused Google to give Central Philippine University Blog PR3. I listed these elements of my blog when it gained PR3 so that it would serve as benchmark.

I believe that as long as you are committed to posting quality contents, building internal and external links to enhance your article, you will succeed in gaining traffic and following. Sure enough, PageRank would follow.

The Joy of Knowing that My Blogs have Gained PageRank

August 24, 2011 By Jonan Castillon

Google PageRank — Image: 89studio / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Gaining PageRank from Google is perhaps one of the best achievements that a search engine optimizer could attain.

PageRank is Google’s system of gauging the value or importance of your site. It is named after Larry Page, the founder of Google. PageRank is a Google trademark, which process is patented officially in the US Patent Office.

Search Engine Land explains that “PageRank is Google’s system of counting link votes and determining which pages are most important based on them. These scores are then used along with many other things to determine if a page will rank well in a search.”

Despite the fact that Google had removed PageRank in its Google Web Master Tools interface to encourage bloggers and webmasters to focus on other factors that qualify a site, PageRank has remained as a primary website quality indicator.

PageRank or PR rating ranges between 0 to 10; and PR 10 as the highest. Google and Facebook have perfect PR10 each, while Twitter has PR9.

When I started my first blog, “From Worry to Glory” in September 2009, I don’t have any idea about SEO writing nor about PR. What was in my mind then is to publish my writings through my blog.

Then I created “Online Writing Niche” in July 2010 with the thought of achieving PageRank for it. At that time I already knew about the importance of PR.

After ten months without any development, I told myself that gaining PR is only for those who have the knowledge and expertise in blogging and search engine optimization.

Then in June 2011, I was quite elated to see that my blogs, “From Worry to Glory” and “Online Writing Niche” earned a PR.

“From Worry to Glory”, which is a motivational and inspirational blog, got PR1 after one year and nine months.

“Online Writing Niche”, which is a blog on Internet marketing, gained PR2 after ten months.

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Record-Breaking Hits from Stumbleupon