WebDAV Cloud Server

Consider the following
before using the native Windows clients

How to fix Slow WebDAV Performance in Windows 7:

1. In Internet Explorer, open the Tools menu, then click Internet Options.
   
2. Select the Connections tab.
   
3. Click the LAN Settings button.
   
4. Uncheck the "Automatically detect settings" box.

Unfortunately, Windows' support for WebDAV is a little strange and may not always function correctly. We therefore recommend using one of the following WebDAV clients for Windows:

• NetDrive is free for home users.
  
• WebDrive is a robust product, but a bit pricey.
  
• Total Commander together with the WebDAV plugin provides a FTP like interface to a WebDAV server.

In addition to the above tools, the Microsoft Office products have built in WebDAV support. As an example, Microsoft Word can directly open and edit remote documents by using a WebDAV server. See our Edit Remote Documents Using Microsoft Word tutorial for more information.

Try the WebDAV Cloud Server

Would you like to have your own exclusive WebDAV server installed on an online computer with a lightning fast network and with up to 1000 GBytes of transfer/month? More information

Mapping a Windows Drive to a WebDAV Server

This tutorial shows you how to connect a Folder or a Windows Drive Letter to any WebDAV server, what to do if the command fails, what not to do, and security. This tutorial is for Windows XP/Vista/W7 client users. The video to the right shows how to map a drive to the BarracudaDrive server by using a session URL. The session URL eliminates the login problem found in many Windows WebDAV implementations. Note: you do not have to use a session URL in BarracudaDrive. Simply use the same URL as you use in the browser when mapping the drive.

The Two WebDAV Windows Clients

Microsoft Windows provides two WebDAV clients: Web Folders and WebDAV Mini Redirector. The clients are integrated and come preinstalled with your Windows.

Web Folders (XP only)

The first generation WebDAV client provided by Microsoft is called Web Folders and allows one to drag and drop between a remote WebDAV server and your local computer. The Web Folders client provides functionality similar to (secure) FTP. Note Web Folders is not available on Vista.
How to connect:

1. Go to My Network Places, and click on Add Network Place at the top of the left sidebar.
   
2. The window that pops up is the Add Network Place Wizard. Click Next.
   
3. On the next page, enter the URL of the WebDAV folder in the box named Internet or network address and click Next.
   
4. A window asking for your username and password will pop up at this point. Enter your username and password, and click OK.
   
5. On the next page, enter a name for this share -- this is the name that will show up in the My Network Places listing.
   
6. Click Finish on the next page.

WebDAV Mini Redirector (XP, Vista, and Win7)

The second generation Microsoft WebDAV client is called WebDAV Mini Redirector and allows one to map a WebDAV location to a Drive letter the same way as if you were using a Windows File Sharing/SMB/CIFS share.
WebDAV Mini Redirector limitations:

• No support for HTTPS, i.e. no support for secure connections.
  
• Your WebDAV server must be using port 80, the default port.
  
• Typically fails when transfering larger files.
  
• Gets confused if the user does not have access to read and/or write to a file or directory.

How to connect:

1. Right click on My Computer and select Map Network Drive.
   
2. In the Folder "entry field", enter the URL, and click Finish.
   
3. Enter your username and password in the authentication box that appears.

Be sure to enter the correct username and password. WebDAV Mini Redirector may not take no for an answer and may continue attempting to login until the hacker prevention logic in BarracudaDrive bans your client's IP address. You will get an obscure error message in the console. You can see if you are banned by attempting to login using a browser.
You can use the network drive like you use your C:\ hard drive as soon as the command completes successfully. This means that you can directly work with documents without first copying them, start computer programs, and more over the Internet.

The following image shows a Windows Explorer window listing the content of a WebDAV server.

Windows WebDAV Mini Redirector Authentication Bug:
Many Windows computers have a bug in the digest authentication process and thus authenticating using the above procedure will fail. You have the bug in your computer if the "Windows credentials dialogue" reappears after you have entered the correct username and password. It is possible to circumvent this bug by mapping the drive from the command line. Note, if the "Windows credentials dialogue" reappears, you must reboot your Windows computer before using the command line. Windows will continue to fail if you do not reboot. This is also true if you accidently enter the wrong credentials.
Do the following to map a drive and authenticate from the command line:

1. Open a command window (DOS Window) by clicking the Windows start button and typing in the command "cmd" in the "run" or "search programs ..." box.
   
2. Type the following command in the command window:
   NET USE * http://servername/fs/ password /USER:username

Note: the BarracudaDrive server includes functionality that circumvents the Windows authentication bug. The BarracudaDrive Web-File-Manager includes a WebDAV button that creates a session URL which uses the browser's login session. The session URL solves two problems: it eliminates the login problem and makes the connection more secure since you may terminate the session by logging out in the browser. If you do not use the session URL, the only way to logout is to reboot your Windows computer.

Security

One cannot use a secure connection when using the WebDAV Mini Redirector, i.e. the following command will typically fail:

NET USE * https://barracudaserver.com/dav/

When using WebDAV Mini Redirector, all data exchanged with the BarracudaDrive server is sent unencrypted and might be eavesdropped. Use one of the alternative clients mentioned above if you need secure communication.

What to do if the command fails

Error messages such as "The network name cannot be found" can be related to a number of problems. The first thing to do is to check if your client is disabled.
You can download and run the following command file, which will attempt to start the Windows WebDAV client.

You can alternatively enable the client manually:

Start the WebClient Service

Go to: Control Panel -> Performance And Maintanance -> Administrative Tools -> Services Scroll down until you see WebClient.

Set WebClient to automatic and start the service. Try to connect from a command window and restart Windows if it fails.

Things get a bit complicated if you have the same problem after enabling the WebClient service and after rebooting Windows. You may have to upgrade your WebDAV Mini Redirector Windows client.
You can do a search on Google and you will find many articles related to the WebDAV Mini Redirector problems. You can also see Wikipedia: WebDAV and Microsoft Windows.
Upgrading Windows Vista WebDAV client: Microsoft has ackowledged there are Web Folder issues in Vista, but unless your system is 64-bit, you should be able to get Web Folders working by installing an update from Microsoft and using the instructions and "workarounds" in the following steps:
If you have a 32-bit Vista apply this Software Update for Web Folders (Microsoft.com).

What not to do when using the BarracudaDrive server

You might come up with the idea and connect to localhost, i.e. have the WebDAV Mini Redirector and BarracudaDrive on the same computer. There are no reasons to do this, except for testing.
Never do the following on a Windows computer if BarracudaDrive is running in console mode or if using the free BarracudaDrive version:

net use * http://localhost/dav/

The above command will lead to an endless loop between Windows and BarracudaDrive as BarracudaDrive will try to access the new WebDAV network drive, which loops back into BarracudaDrive. This command will crash your Windows computer.
However, the following command is OK:

net use * http://localhost/dav/C/

How to Move the Firefox Disk Cache To Another Drive

By default, Firefox automatically allocates 50MB for its disk cache and stores it in the "cache" directory located in the same drive where the browser is installed. Users can view the cache directory location by typing about:config in the Firefox address bar. Disk cache is a mechanism for improving the time it takes to read from or write to a hard disk. If the browser's disk cache is located on the same drive where the browser is installed, the browser's performance technically will be affected.

The performance slowdown issue will be more obvious if Firefox is installed on a Solid State Disk, which is not suitable for write operation. The disk can do read date pretty fast but is overall slow in writing to it. Hence, it is good to relocate the disk cache in Firefox to separate the drives for better performance as well as for security reasons.

The Cache location can be changed by adding the "browser.cache.disk.parent_directory" preference and entering a folder path. To do it, type about:config in the Firefox address bar. Right click your mouse and select New String from the Menu. In the dialog box, just type in browser.cache.disk.parent_directory as the preference name and the new path to the cache location, for instance d:\temp. Once this preference is specified, a new directory named "Cache" will be created at the path you set.

Mapping Windows Live SkyDrive as a Network Drive for Windows XP

Windows Live SkyDrive may let you store up to 25 GB of files online for free, but it can be annoying to have to log in to the service through your web browser every time you want to use it. However, there are some ways you can map SkyDrive as a network drive, making it much easier to access and use.

Overview of Skydrive

If you've been looking for a free, reputable site to store and share files online, Windows Live SkyDrive is a great choice. To access SkyDrive, all you need is a Windows Live ID, which is easy enough to create if you don't already have one. Once you have an account set up, you can store up to 25 GB of data on SkyDrive with a limit of 50 MB for each data file.

One downside to SkyDrive is that the Windows Live browser-based interface can be a bit annoying if you want to be able to easily access your files on a regular basis. However, you can work around this problem by mapping Skydrive as a network drive and setting up the folder on your desktop so that you can access your files the same way you would for any file stored on your personal hard drive.

There are a few different ways that this can be done, but we'll focus on two of the simpler ways, both of which take advantage of a free utility that can be downloaded and installed on your system to help you manage files stored in SkyDrive. The first method uses a tool developed by Gladinet, and the second uses SkyDrive Explorer.

Using Gladinet to Map Skydrive

First, we'll walk through the process of using Gladinet to set up SkyDrive as a network drive.

Step 1: To get started, you'll need to download the Gladinet Free Starter Edition that can be found at this link. Click on either the 32-bit or 64-bit download button, depending on which version operating system you are using. (Click on any image in this article for a larger view.)

The installer will walk you through a series of steps. You should be just fine if you accept the default options for each question asked.

Step 2: At the end of the installation process, you can choose to immediately launch Gladinet Cloud Desktop by making sure there is a check in the appropriate box. If you decide to wait until later to set everything up, you can access the application from the Start menu.

Step 3: The first time you run the Gladinet application, you'll have to enter some basic information starting with license information. If you just plan on using the free starter edition, make sure the corresponding radio button is selected.

Step 4: After selecting the license option, click Next to continue. Enter your email address if you want to register the software – this step is optional. When done, click Next again.

Step 5: On the next screen, you'll be given a list of options that you can add as a virtual drive. Put a check in the box next to Windows Live SkyDrive. You can also check any of the other services if you use them and want to set up drives for them now.

Click Next to continue.

Step 6: The next screen will show the settings assigned to your general Gladinet drive. You can either accept the defaults or customize the settings.

Click Finish when done. Now, you'll need to finish following the rest of the steps to set up your Windows Live SkyDrive for easy access.

Step 7: Go to either My Computer or Windows Explorer and locate the newly mapped Gladinet Drive.

Double-click on the drive to open it in Windows Explorer. Now, you will see a selection labeled Windows Live Skydrive.gvm. Double-click on that selection.

Step 8: A window will pop up asking for your Windows Live ID and pass word. Enter this information and click Next to continue.

Step 9: In the next window, click Finish and wait for the drive to be mounted.

During this process, a popup will appear asking you if you want to backup your data. If you do, make the appropriate selections. However, if you just want to finish setting up the network drive for SkyDrive, just hit the Cancel button to continue with the process.

Now, when you return to your newly mapped drive, SkyDrive will show up with its full directory structure, allowing you to use the drive in the same manner you would access any folder on your computer's hard drive.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/58709.aspx#ixzz1N8GOWxbo

How to Map Skydrive as Network Drive in Windows XP

We have covered free tools like Skydrive Explorer and also Gladinet which can help you to access Windows Live Skydrive as a network drive. If you do not want to use a third party tool to access Windows Live Skydrive, you can still map it as a network drive and access any folder in Skydrive. For mapping Skydrive to Windows Explorer, we are using the SSL connection and for this we need the unique ID (WebDAV access) for connecting which can be obtained using a small portable tool.

1. First step is to get the WebDAV access address for your Skydrive account. For this there is a simple portable tool called SkyDrive Simple Viewer developed by Mike. Run the tool and login to your Skydrive and select the folder which you want to map.

In the image above, you can see an address corresponding to the folder I have selected. The address looks like this-

https://cdckda.docs.live.net/sdfsd24645759/Documents.

Here the sdfsd24645759 refers to the path which is the same as a personal sub domain when logging on to SkyDrive the normal way from your web browser. It can look like "http://cid-sdfsd24645759.skydrive.live.com/". The sub domain cdckda refers to the your account and the folder you are trying to access.

2. Next step you need to make some modification to the URL.

The original URL- https://cdckda.docs.live.net/sdfsd24645759/Documents

Modified URL- \cdckda.docs.live.net@SSLsdfsd24645759Documents

We are connecting using the SSL for Windows Live Skydrive.

3. Open Windows Explorer, right click on the Network and select Map Network Drive.

4. In the Map Network Drive option, enter the folder as \cdckda.docs.live.net@SSLsdfsd24645759Documents. You can also chose to reconnect at Login and if you want to connect using multiple account, check the second box as well.

5. It will prompt you to enter the Windows Live credentials after attempting to connect to Skydrive.

Now the network drive will be connected and you can see the drive in Window Explorer.

Thanks to Mike for this detailed tutorial.

How to change firefox cache directory

How to change firefox cache directory

From here

1. In Windows XP, go to C:\Documents and Settings\XXX\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXX.default

2. Create a file called User.js (same directory as Prefs.js)

3. Paste this into it and save:
// Path to Cache folder:
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.parent_directory","x :\\");

X:\\ is the directory you want to place the cache

Useful when you want to place the cache onto a ramdisk

Twitter accounts with at least 1000 followers

Create an account at twitter.com
Then go to flashtweet.com and follow someone who has plenty of friends, like britney spears, follow their friends with flashtweets mass follow.
Then use dossy.org/twitter/karma/ to ditch the people who wont follow you.

Tweetlater.com is also good as you can use it to autorespond when someone follows you, and autofollow for free.

(the paid upgrade is just for recurring tweets and the ability to auto tweet more than 12 times an hour.)

Ultimate List Of Twitter Applications and Websites

Twitter is a real addicting service and I have been using it in and out for quite some time.

Over the time we have come across many useful desktop clients and websites which help make your twitter experience better.

Bringing to you the ultimate list of twitter tools to help you keep tweeting.

Twitter Desktop Clients

There are various ways in which you can update your status on twitter, but the best I think is updating it directly from the desktop.

If you have not been using a twitter desktop client or are looking for various alternatives, here is the ultimate list of twitter clients which will make updating your status much more easier.

TweetDeck

My current favorite, Tweetdeck is a Adobe Air application that has tons of features and is probably one of the best twitter applicaiton you can find.

Thwirl

Thwirl is a Adobe Air application that allows you to update your status from the desktop.

Digsby

Digsby is a multiprotocol IM tool which provides you with twitter support.

TwitterIM

TwitterIM is a solution for MSN and ICQ users. It allows you to update your twitter using MSN or ICQ messengers. Our Review.

Witty

Witty is a twitter client made for Windows Vista. Our Review.

OutTwit

OutTwit is a twitter client for Microsoft Outlook, you can directly update your status from within Outlook. Our Review.

Twessenger

Twesseneer is a twitter add-in for Windows Live Messenger.

Twadget

Twadget is a Vista Sidebar Gadget for twitter.

TwitterFox

Firefox extension that notifies you about your friends statuses in twitter.

Spaz

Spaz is a open source desktop twitter client for Mac, Windows and Linux.

Twitter Websites

There are lots of websites that help you do different things with your twitter account. You can schedule your twits or turn it into a feed, she what people are linking to and more with them.

Check out the list of websites that you can use with your twitter account.

TwitResponse

TwitResponse allows you to schedule your tweets for the future. Our Review.

TweetLater

TweetLater allows you to schedule your tweets for the future.

TwitterBuzz

TwitterBuzz is a website which aggregates content from twitter and shows you what users are linking to.

TwitterFeed

TwitterFeed allows you to post your blog posts as tweets to twitter over a specified interval of time.

Twitterholic

Twitterholic shows you the top 100 users based on the followers they have.

Twittersearch

Twittersearch allows you to search tweets.

TwitThis

TwitThis is a service which allows you to add buttons to your website for users to tweet your blog posts.

Twittervision

Twittervision provides you with a real-time geographic visualization of posts made to twitter.

Do you use any other clients or websites, do let us know in the comments so that I can try them out, and by the way you can also follow me on twitter.

7 Best Ways To Schedule Future Tweets In Twitter

7 best services/applications that help you schedule tweets in the future. 

Twuffer – Twuffer was developed for anyone who has a need to schedule pre-written, post-dated tweets, you can use it for different purposes, like tweeting hourly/daily/monthly announcements, running time based contests and so on.

AutoTweeter – A java based cross platform twitter desktop client that will allow you to schedule future tweets without using any external service.

Future Tweets – Future Tweets is a free service that lets you schedule your Twitter messages. Send it at a specific time in the future or send a recurring tweet daily, weekly, monthly or yearly!

TwitRobot – TwitRobot allows schedule your Twitter messages. Send status updates to Twitter even when your away from your phone or computer.

TwitResponse – This is a service which we had reviewed in the past. TwitResponse allows you to schedule unlimited amount of tweets and send them out in the future, you can easily manage all your scheduled tweets and edit or delete them from your dashboard.

TweetLater – TweetLater allows you to schedule tweets that will be sent out in the future. Pretty simple and easy to use.

TwitMessenger – A new service that allows users to schedule tweets for the future.
Which other service have you used to send out tweets in the future? Have you used any of the ones we listed here? Do let us know through your comments.

20+ Firefox Add-ons For Downloading Images, Videos & Files

File & Page Saving

Backgroundimage Saver – Helps you save the background image of a page even when hidden behind a transparent GIF.

BatchDownload – Assists you in downloading multiple image links at once.

Bazzacuda Image Saver – Will cycle through your open tabs, if any tab has an image and nothing else, the image will be saved and you can have the tab close automatically.

Downloads in Tab – Moves the download manager to a tab.

Download Manager Tweaker – Open the standard download manager as a separate window, a new tab, or the sidebar.

Download Statusbar – Rid yourself of the pop-up download window and manage everything from your status bar.

Download Sort – Automatically save downloads to different directories when using "Save Link As" or "Save Image As".

DownThemAll! – Download one link or multiples, has a built-in accelerator.

Facebook Photo Album Downloader – Download complete Facebook photo albums.

FlashGot – Download one link, selected link, or all the links on a page.

Image Download – Download all the pictures and filter by width, height, type, create sub folders and more.

Image Toolbar – Provides one click to image actions such as downloading.

Launchy – Enables you to open links and mailtos with the external applications of your choice.

OpenDownload – Adds functions similar to IE's 'Open' and 'Run'.

PDF Download – Checks every link to see if it is a PDF, if it is, it gives you the option to open it inside or out Firefox, download it to a folder or view it as HTML.

Pterodactl – Saves the largest image on the page, in all tabs, and renames files to keep from having conflicts.

Save As Image – Saves the currently displayed tab as an image creating an instant screenshot.

SafeDownload – Automatically scan downloaded files for viruses.

Save Complete – Aids you in saving complete webpages.

Save Image In Folder – Save images to special folders on your hard drive.

Save Images – Saves images from the current tab's cache to a specified location.

Save Link In Folder – Save links to special folders on your hard drive.

Screengrab! – Saves the entire web page as an image.

Sourceforge Direct Download – If you frequently download from Sourceforge, this will help you skip the mirror selection step.

ScrapBook – Helps you save portions or entire webpages and then organize them.

TiX Now! – Improves downloading speed from Rapidshare and MegaUpload amongst others.

Video Downloading

Amazing Media Browser – Scans a page for embedded media and helps you download the source files.

Download Embedded – Provides the ability to download several forms of media.

Download Helper – Will extract content from many different sites.

Fast Video Downloader – Can save videos from around 60 video sites.

GetVideo – Provides access to the direct path to get the video.

Google Video Downloader – Adds a button to the status bar to save videos from Google Video.

Media Pirate – The Video Downloader – Gives you the ability to save videos from approximately a dozen sites.

PimpFish Basic Toolbar – Capture video files from numerous sites.

UnPlug – Scans a web page for media players and tells you where the media files are stored so you can download them.

Video Download – Adds a simple right click command to download videos from numerous sites.

How to Write Effective Lead Capture Pages

There is quite a bit of confusion about the difference between a landing page and a lead capture page. A lead capture page is NOT the same as a landing page. For the sake of this article I will be talking about lead capture pages, NOT longer form copy for micro sites and landing pages that sell a product. Why?

Why A Lead Capture Page Is Important

For most websites the lead capture page is the starting point, or at least it should be. You send prospects to a lead capture page, from any and all forms of traffic building: Articles, pay per click ads, SEO links, etc. You should always send them to a lead capture page first, to make it easy for them to respond. If you try to send them to a long form sales letter page before they have responded you will get much lower response. The lead capture page is designed to do ONE thing. Capture a lead. That's all. If you try to make a sale at the same point, you will likely lose the lead. They won't enter their contact information.

What You Need For An Effective Lead Capture Page

In order to effectively capture the lead a few things need to happen: Make sure that the first part of the copy on your landing page exactly matches the promise from the source that drove them to that page. For example, if the link in your article promises a free report titled XYZ - make sure that the landing page matches that. You would be surprised how often marketers describe and offér something specific and then have it lead to a landing page that's slightly different. This causes the reader to disconnect, making it less likely for them to enter their information.

The value exchange must be crystal clear to the prospect. What exactly will they be getting in exchange for providing their contact information? Even if you are giving them free content, you must still sell them on the value of the content. You must clearly express privacy issues. Let them know they won't get bombarded with a zillion emails from you. And then keep your promise. Nothing is worse than signing up to get a free report, and then getting an email every single day that's pure selling and zero content.

Be concise. This is not the place to get into long-winded copy. Prospects are busy. It's so easy to click off the page, without entering the required information. So stay on point. Say exactly what you need to say to get them to respond. Nothing more. Nothing less. Don't ask for too much information. Keep it simple. Name and email address. I've seen lead capture pages that ask for seven different pieces of information. The more you ask of them, the less likely they will fill the form out. Once you lose them, you've probably lost them forever.

How To Build A Relationship With Your Prospect

Use a lead capture page to start to build a relationship with the prospect. Let them know what they are in for with you. Tell them how often they will hear from you. Tell them what additional type of content they will be receiving. If they are receiving a specific 7-day course, tell them that. If it is a sporadically published ezine, tell them that. If it's just a free report, with no followup (bad idea) tell them that.

Write To Sell, DON'T Write For The Search Engines

Focus on copywriting that sells, NOT on SEO keyword copy. Use sales structure like AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. This is NOT the place to worry about using the correct keywords. That is irrelevant. You aren't looking for SEO placement. This is all about sales. You are looking for one person at a time to respond to your ad.

A headline that captures the essence of your proposal, some benefit driven bullets, and maybe a few paragraphs of compelling reasons why they made the right choice signing up. Probably less is more. Most important is to reassure them they've made the right decision by choosing to trust you.

What Elements To Test With Lead Capture Pages

Testing is important as with any marketing. Perhaps the most important variable to test is the title of the free thing you are giving them to sign up. Test different titles/headlines and test different content topics/themes. You'll probably find that one specific combination resonates much better with your target market.

With lead capture pages it's not so much about doing something to persuade them to act, it's more about NOT saying something that will cause them to flee. If you've done your job with your traffic generation, you've already pre-sold them either via your content, your ads, or some other way. Although, you can use the page as a mechanism to screen out those who you DON'T want to sign up. Include specific language to attract your target market, and specific language to repel those who you don't want. Then you'll get the most targeted, qualified, leads.

Having A Good Call To Action Is Critical

Most important of all is the call to action. Your lead capture page must ask for the reader to take a specific action. Don't assume they will automatically fill the form out, just because they clicked there. Tell them exactly what to do to get what you promised them.

The better you are at writing effective lead capture pages the more leads you will capture. And the more leads you get the more you can ultimately convert to sales. If you follow these simple guidelines your lead capture page will get more qualified leads to sign up - and ultimately purchase more from you.

Tips and Tools on How to Grow Your Twitter Following

Growing a large following is something many new Twitter users struggle with. They see all these big accounts with 20, 50 or even 100K followers and wonder how did they ever get there?

Today we will give you some tips and tools on how to grow your following steadily and we'll also make sure that you stay within the Twitter guidelines to avoid account suspension. There are certain practices that are not allowed and the last thing you want is to get your account suspended after you worked hard to get a decent following.

Quality or Quantity?

This is the first thing you have to ask yourself. Do you want a small number of followers where you can easily keep track of the timeline and interact with everybody or do you want to grow as big as possible and utilize Twitter lists to keep up with the tweets you care about?

f you have a Twitter account for personal use, the first option will probably work best for you. If you have any commercial aspirations and would like to promote your brand or business to the world market, your goal will be to reach as many potential clients as possible. Growing your Twitter following is an easy and low cost method to promote your business or brand worldwide.

Tools of the Trade

These are a few tools we use to manage our account. There are many more tools out there but today we will stick to the tools that work for us.

FriendorFollow

Simply enter your user name and it will show you who isn't following back, who is a fan and mutual followings. If you connect with Twitter, it will also give you the option to follow or unfollow users.

Manageflitter

Similar to FriendorFollow but more advanced and it can filter your account for a variety of stats such as users without a profile image or users that are quiet or tweet a lot. There is a pro upgrade available but the basic mode has all the features an average user will need.

Socialoomph

When your account starts to grow exponentially it becomes hard to keep track of all your new followers. If you want to set up a welcome message for all your new followers, this is the tool to use. You can set up an auto DM and welcome new followers. DO NOT add a link to that message because that's what everybody is doing and will only tick people off. Come up with something creative and original within the 140 character limit.

There are also features that will allow you to auto tweet status updates but that is NOT done as you should keep it real on Twitter, more about this at the end of this blog post.

Twiends

Fun and addictive would be the best way to describe this tool! You can actually use this to grow your stats on Twitter, Facebook, Website and YouTube. You can earn credits for connecting with other Twiends users and use those credits to let others connect with you. Sort of like a marketplace. You can even tweak your setting to get higher quality followers and there is an option to purchase credits if you don't have the time to earn credits manually.

Twellow

If you want to find followers in a specific geographical area or category, this is the tool for you. It lets you search for users per city or from a directory of categories. This is great if you have a local business and you want to connect with all the Twitter users in your city for example. You can also follow and unfollow within this tool.

Now How Do I Get Followers?

All the above will help you to manage the new followers as your account starts to grow. Obtaining new followers can done in many ways.

   * Follow users from follow back lists. Many users have created lists consisting of people that returned the follow so there is a good chance those users will follow you as well if you start to follow them.

   * Just Google: "follow back list twitter".

   * Use the Twellow tool to find users in your niche or city and connect with them.

   * Add Twitter links to your website, blog and email signature if you use one.

   * Use the Twiends tool to get new followers.

As your new followers start to roll in it's time to use the account management tools such as FriendorFollow and ManageFlitter. Find out who followed you back and who didn't. You can also unfollow people that didn't return the follow if you wish but DO NOT mass unfollow people or unfollow those who did return the follow. These are bad practices that could get your account suspended. We're not celebrities that have 500K followers and only follow 10 users back. Your account should have a healthy follower ratio.

Remember that you can only follow 10% more than your follower count when you pass the 2000 follower mark. Example: 3000 followers will allow you to follow 3300 users.

Keeping It Real

This is what it's all about. It's alright to try and get a large following but don't do any of the following:

   * Don't spam your product link over and over again.

   * Don't use auto tweet tools except for a meaningful auto DM perhaps.

   * Don't mass follow and unfollow since this could get your account suspended.

   * Don't unfollow those who return the follow just to make yourself look more popular.

If you stick to these guidelines and use the above tools you can easily grow your following to any size you want.

Ten Reasons Why Good Link Will Builders Fail

A good website builder knows that solid links mean solid rankings, but it's an ever changing challenge to get them. Learn how to avoid a loss of link juice now.

Links are incredibly important in getting relevant traffic and good position in search results, but links are like any other relationship... they can go sour. Here's a list of ten reasons why otherwise knowledgeable link builders blow their efforts. Pay attention and don't fall into any of these traps. As a website builder you have got to get this part right or you are heading for disaster.

1. One Hit Wonder

The worse thing that can happen to websites that stumble onto a source of links or who only rely on one method of building links is for that accident or that plan to actually work. That sounds counter intuitive, but if you convince yourself that only one method is needed, you're heading for a fall. You need to diversify your efforts and not have all your eggs in one basket.

2. Quantity Not Quality

The link builder who writes an article, spins it and then uses article submission software can easily develop 1,000 links to a web page in no time at all. The only problem is those links will be worth next to nothing. Building links is not just a numbers game. Links gain their value from the value of their source. A single link from a PR 4 is worth 1,000 links from PR 0 websites.

3. Forgetting that the Webmaster is a Human

Email requests for a link that are addressed to "Dear Webmaster" are the first to be deleted. If you want to pitch a website for a backlink take the time to find a name to address the request to.

4. Staying Strictly Digital

If you are an expert in your field don't be afraid to tell the world... face to face. Volunteer for speaking engagements for your professional organization or even your local chamber. The story on their website will inevitably carry a link to yours.

5. Reliance on Black Hat

Black hat tactics will work. Time after time somebody has found a way to manipulate the system and anyone who has used it has experienced short term success. But the success is short term and sometimes comes with penalties that get your web pages de-indexed. Black hat isn't worth the loss of listing.

6. Failure to Keep Up with the Industry

Link building, like so many aspects of internet marketing is constantly changing. Don't allow yourself to get complacent. Don't rely on a strategy that could become ineffective tomorrow. Take an interest in the industry and stay current.

7. No Support Network

This is a real risk for the small business website in more ways than one. You're not working in a big SEO shop and you can't stroll over to a colleague and bounce an idea off them. Try to develop a network of talented website builders that you can call on for help and be ready to help them when they call you.

8. Loss of Creative Spark

There's more than one way to skin this link cat. Keep your mind open to creative ways to get other quality websites to link to yours. Doing something that is newsworthy for your industry is a sure way to get relevant links back.

9. Building the Perfect Link that Doesn't Get Implemented

Action and consistency are more important than perfection. If you're one of those people who are afraid to click on the submit button because you think your link request isn't absolutely perfect, then just get over it. Live wild and click that button. An imperfect link request has more value in building relationships than a perfect request that isn't ever sent.

10. Becoming Lazy

OK you could change lazy with complacent, but it's the same thing. Link building is a tough skill and not nearly as much fun as website design or even creating content. If you have built a few successful links don't count on those being around forever. Continue your efforts and you'll continue to enjoy quality traffic.

Link building is a task that every website builder has to have at least a working knowledge of. If you see yourself slipping into one of these ten common symptoms of link trouble, snap yourself out of it and double up on the building efforts. The leads and conversions that you gain from the relevant links are your reward for diligently performing this important function.

On-Page Optimization Tactics You Don't Hear About

Backlinking, backlinking, backlinking - it seems to be the only part of SEO anyone ever talks about these days! Let's get our noses out of everybody else's sites and back into ours.

On-page optimization is often overlooked and neglected, but your on-page SEO builds the foundation for all of your off-page optimization efforts. We're going to cover some of the basics here: domain names and title tags, but we're also going to get to topics less discussed when dealing with on-page optimization. I'm talking about things like stemming, your outbound links, your use of synonyms and more. Let's get to it!

Domain Name

Your domain name has a powerful effect on how you rank. Having an EMD (exact match domain) for your keyword is going to do a lot for your ranking. However, this is not crucial to your ranking success. Many people, such as myself, choose to have a domain name that they can brand. It depends on what you're looking to do with your site. If you want to make a small niche site targeting a single keyword, then clearly you will want to get an EMD.

But what if the EMD is not available?

This is a very common problem for internet marketers. From a SEO standpoint, you want to choose an EMD with a non-.com extension first if available. If none are available, then tack another word onto the end of your domain name. You will still have your keyword in your domain and receive SEO benefits from this. For the record, it is better to start your domain with your keyword first. For example, it would be better to choose "dogtraineronline.com" rather than "mydogtrainer.com".

Another trick is making your domain name the plural or non-plural version of your keyword. Google now uses a process called "stemming" that understands plurality and "ing" endings on words among other things. If you add plurality to your domain name, you will rank almost as effectively as for the non-plural version. These same principles can be applied to your title tags, header tags, and meta tags.

Title and Header Tags

We're going to apply the same ideas to our title and header tags. You want to include your keyword, but you can't always just use your keyword. In this case we are going to do the same thing we did with our domain name. Put your keyword first then add more text. Also, with stemming in mind, you can use different tenses or plurality for your keyword. There is also another clever strategy you can use to rank for your keyword without even using it!

Ranking with Synonyms

People don't talk about this too often, but Google actually considers synonyms when choosing results for queries. What does this mean? It means that you can rank for the word "manual" with the word "instructions". Do a Google search right now, seriously right now! Pick a word (manual if you'd like) and put a ~ in-front of it. Example search: ~manual. Every bolded word in the results page is considered to be a synonym. This means that using these words more often is going to help you rank for your keyword as well. They are like super-related LSI keywords.

Text Formatting

There are ways to optimize your text besides keyword density. Text formatting is using bold, italics, font-size, and word placement to improve the relevance of your page to your keyword. Making your keyword bold and/or increasing its font-size will add importance to it in the eyes of the Search Engines. Also, where you put your keyword has an effect as well. Placing your keyword in the first and last sentence of a body of text will improve the relevance of your page as well. With this in mind, here's how you can make a super-optimized blog-post or article:

  1) Place your keyword in the title
  2) Include your keyword in the first and last sentences
  3) Bold your keyword both times
  4) Wrap your keyword in the first and last sentences with h1 and h2 tags respectively

and here's the final tip for internal linking or backlinking

  5) Use your keyword as anchor text AND bold it

This last trick gets ignored a lot. It's a great way to add even more influence to the importance of your keyword and get more out of your anchor text. These are the little steps that people who say on-page optimization doesn't really matter either forget or don't know about.

The biggest on-page optimization blunder of all is negligence of your link profile and how you link out. The links leading to your site aren't the only ones that affect how you rank!

Outbound Links

How you link out to other sites affects how Google trusts and ranks your site. In the TrustRank white papers that included a patent adopted by Google, they mention how good sites link to other good sites. They also say that "good sites seldom link to bad ones". Use this knowledge to enhance your rankings. Link out to authoritative and trusted sites. If you have a ton of links leading to spammy sites it's going to hurt how your site ranks. You can't control who links to you, but you CAN control who you link to, so don't harm your rankings by linking to bad sites.

As an example of this principle in effect, check out Huffington Post's homepage. Their articles rank very well in the search results and they have a PR 8 homepage. If you scroll to the bottom of their site, you will see a massive amount of "dofollow" links all leading to other major, authoritative sites. It's no coincidence that they rank well in the SERPs (search engine results pages). This is a clear example of a site benefiting from linking out to other good sites and gaining trust from Google.

We have complete control over our on-page SEO, and this means our content and our links. We just talked about outbound links and that leaves us with only one other type of link.

Internal Links

Internal links are the links that lead from one page on our site to another. Now is a good time to state a quick fact about search engines and how they index the web. Search engines do not index websites, they index web pages. This means that a site doesn't have authority; rather a web page has authority. The reason all the pages rank well on an authoritative website is because of internal links.

When a large authority site makes a new page, what does that page have? It has a ton of powerful links from other authoritative pages already on the site. This all occurs because of internal linking. So what does it mean for us? It means we need to have a solid internal link-structure to take advantage of our own link juice.

There's no exact science to how you link your pages. Just having a consistent nav-bar is a start, but there is a lot more you can do. If you use Word Press, there are many different related posts plug-ins you can use that will automatically create links to other related posts for you. I recommend having more internal links than external links. A 1 to 3 ratio is a good reference for your outbound to internal links ratio.

There is a practice called PageRank sculpting that involves severely limiting the number of outbound links you have in order to keep more link juice internally. It sounds like a decent idea, but it fails in practice. PageRank moves more cyclically than recognized and a lot more will stay on your site naturally. Also, we just talked about how outbound links can help you rank - don't be afraid to link to other great sites.

Conclusion

I know that many of us have read through (and possibly purchased) countless guides on SEO and been over the same on-page optimization basics again and again. But that's the thing, they are just the basics! This is why everybody assumes that there's nothing more to it and it's deemed as less important than backlinking. Don't fall into the trap! Take care of your site, optimize the way you use your text, optimize the way you use links, prune it daily like a precious shrub.

How to Monetize Your Web Content

Perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions for webmasters has to be: How do I monetize my web pages? How do I earn revenue from my online content?

As a full time online marketer and webmaster, this is a question I have considered many times and found my own answers through many years of trial and error. Of course, I have taken the passive route in my quest for that online income. This means instead of producing my own products, I market and promote affiliate goods and services. I do no direct selling on any of my websites. I collect no money and I don't even have a payment program or system in place.

All my income and commissions come from referring traffic or clients to the affiliate companies which I promote. Totally passive.

These companies do all the selling, delivery of products, customer support, everything... I just get a small percentage for having referred that customer or client. This passive method has worked extremely well for me but keep in mind, selling your products and services will be much more lucrative since you will receive the majority of the income instead of just a small commission or referral fee.

However, if you're like me and want a more "hands-off," passive income from your web content, here are some of the things I have learned over the years. You might find some of these tips helpful in your monetization. I have placed these tips in the form of a "q and a" format...

1. Should I use Google Adsense?

While placing Google Adsense ads on your site or blog is very easy, the rates are extremely low. You can make 10 to 100 times more by using affiliate links instead of these ads. For example, for one Adsense clíck you could get anywhere from a few cents to several dollars, whereas with an affiliate program you can get from $10 to $100+ for a click which turns into a sale. However, Google is one of the most respected and reliable companies on the web. They pay on time and should not be ignored. I have used Adsense for years mainly because you can't always find affiliate programs for some content and besides, you can place both affiliate links and Google Adsense on your pages.

2. Should I use Amazon?

Another very simple way to monetize your content is to place Amazon products and referral links on your pages. Amazon's referral rates are slightly better than Google Adsense especially if you have high volume sales, but they are still lower in general. However, I have found users tend to really trust Amazon and purchase from them more frequently and more often so conversion rates are much higher than any other affiliate program I have used. For this reason alone, Amazon should be on your list if you want to earn money from the web. I have been using them for years and find building your links is really easy. So too is building whole "A Stores" on a particular topic or line of products.

3. What is ClickBank and Should I use It?

ClickBank is one of the biggest affiliate networks for downloadable products such as ebooks and software. They pay some of the largest commissions. 40% to 50% or more is very common. Very reliable. I have been using them for years and you should include some ClickBank products on your pages. Please note that ClickBank does deduct a small percentage of your commissions to cover any returns, but it also means you don't have any dropped commissions - once you make a sale, you will get paíd for it.

4. What are Affiliate Networks?

Affiliate networks, like Commission Junction and LinkShare, are major players in the online affiliate world. These affiliate networks represent thousands of companies which provide products and services that webmasters can promote. They handle all sales transactions and send out your commission checks each month. Most of my affiliate programs are through these affiliate networks with CJ being the top one mainly because they have excellent feedback and tracking.

5. How do I Find a Profitable Affiliate Product or Service?

Regardless of what you're promoting, you must be very careful to pick quality products that are closely related to your content. These two factors will mainly determine your conversion rates, although product ads and display images do play a small part. If you use a network like Commission Junction, they will indicate which company is making the most sales and will also tell you which ads are getting the highest return with the actual dollar amount (EPC earnings per 100 clicks). I always use this data when picking which companies and products I promote on my sites.

6. Why do I Need to Create Different Income Streams?

The real beauty of running an online business is that you can have many different income sources which pay you each month. You should plan on having at least 10 to 20 income streams. If one should dry up, you will have the others to depend upon. Once you have quality traffic coming to your website, it is just a matter of placing different affiliate links on your pages. I like including at least three or four different companies on a page, this way you can easily create different income streams for the same page. Don't just rely on one company or product. Have many different affiliate links and companies throughout your site.

7. What Should be Your Main Strategic Objective?

Don't make this mistake - instead of making one sale and getting paid for it once, pick products and services which give you a recurring or residual income. You do the same promotion and work but get revenue for years to come. I am still earning income on sales I made five years ago. This will significantly improve your bottom line or your return on investment. Products and services which have a monthly billing element are good candidates for residual income... such as web hosting, autoresponder services, telecommunications and so on. Don't rule out forming partnerships with businesses in the same niche as your website. You might be surprised at the response you get.

Effectively monetizing your web content will largely determine if you succeed or not, so try some of the tips above. Of course, there are many other ways to monetize your traffic such as selling direct ads and links on your pages. The list above is not my full list but does include some of my top-performing programs and should also work for you and your web content.

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How to Create the Perfect Domain Name

If you are starting a new business, chances are that you are starting a new website as well.

In addition to making sure that the design and web-tools on your new site are effective and easy to use, you also need to consider what your website is going to be called and how people are going to be able to find it online. This name for your website is referred to as a "domain name".

Domain names are the part of your web address that comes between the "www." and the suffix that you choose, be it ".com", ".biz", ".org", etcetera. This is how people are going to remember your website, and come back to it time and time again.

If you choose the wrong one, you may end up shooting yourself (or your company) in the foot, as you will not be able to effectively attract new customers and clients to your website.

But what makes finding the perfect domain name difficult these days is the fact that all of the very simple ones are taken. If you have a used car dealership in Akron, Ohio, you are never going to be able to register a name like "cars.com", or "usedcars.com", because names like this will either all be taken, or will be extremely expensive to buy. Instead, you must think of something more innovative.

If the name of your car dealership is short and easy to spell, then this would be a great domain to register. But if your dealership is named Kowalcyk�s Lot or Nguyen Cars, you might not be able to count on the public to find your website if it uses those hard-to-spell names.

So what is the solution in a situation like this? Often, the best thing to do is find a simple combination of words that will stick in the public�s consciousness, and be easy to spell. Try something like akroncars.com, yournewcar.com, or buyusednow.com.

Depending on how basic the combination is, the domain name might have already been purchased by someone who is "sitting" on it, trying to sell it to prospective buyers. Try to avoid this situation if you can. For example, buyused.com might go for a high price, while you can purchase buyusednow.com at a more reasonable rate.

The one temptation that you want to stay away from is choosing a suffix other than ".com". The majority of the Internet-using public will assume that any website name ends in this most basic suffix, even if they are told and constantly reminded otherwise.

You do not want to lose traffic because everyone assumes that your website is usedcars.com, when it is really usedcars.org.

The final pitfall you want to avoid is altering a spelling in a way that might confuse people who want to come to your website.

If you go with usedcarz.com, with a "z" instead of an "s", this might be passable, if you mention it in your ads repeatedly, making sure that it is driven into people�s heads that there is a z at the end of the website name.

But it is best to avoid such a situation all together and choose something that is commonly spelled.

How to Avoid Web Design Mistakes Easily

How to Avoid Web Design Mistakes Easily

The planning phase of web design gives your site a good foundation.

It is easy to avoid serious web design mistakes by taking adequate time in the planning phase.

Your site will be much more powerful if you avoid making these design mistakes.

It is difficult to know the usual pitfalls without having adequate experience. I am listing a number of the most common web design mistakes to help you avoid these pitfalls.

One big mistake in web design is in choosing the wrong domain name. Do not choose a domain name until you have done some initial planning. Avoid choosing a domain name that appeals to you because it is cute or because it contains your name. The domain name should match the keywords of your site.

What is the main thing you want to do with your site? Are you selling something or offering a service? If so, then choose keywords based on your product or service.

If you are selling shoes choose keywords based on the type of shoes you are selling. Then pick a domain name that matches the keywords of your site. If your keywords are about basketball and baseball shoes then your domain should relate directly to basketball and baseball shoes.

If you are fortunate enough to obtain the domain name that is exactly the name of your product you will do really well. For instance "http://www.nike.com" would be the best domain name that anyone could have in selling Nike shoes. Don't settle for the name "http://www.sams-shoe-shack.com". Get a domain name that is more specific.

Buy a domain name that contains something about basketball shoes. Avoid hyphenated domain names if possible. It is possible to fix a website with the wrong domain name but if you spend too much time with the wrong one it will become difficult to change.

Many people use a free template to make their site. Avoid the mistake of forcing your site into a template which does not work for it. Make sure that the template has enough sidebars and content areas to suit what you are doing.

Some templates have four or five different pages for different types of data. A page can work fine for articles but not so well for blog posts. If the template that you like does not suit the purposes of your data and message move on.

Don't compromise the vision and message of your site in exchange for a graphic design that you like. If you really like a template and it doesn't fit your data you may find a web designer who would modify it for a reasonable amount.

Don't use site templates or designs which squeeze content into areas where it does not fit. Break lengthy articles up and continued them on another page. Long flowing pages which cause a lot of scrolling are not good.

Use a "read more button" and link it to another page. Use nice margins that space the data nicely. Wall to wall content, that which runs from the left edge of the screen to the right edge is the worst thing in my opinion.

Find out how to introduce margins in your pages and use them religiously. There is no hurry to lump all of your data into a page or two. Space it out so that it is nice and presentable.

Be careful of using old templates or WYSIWYG editors which produce an old style HTML. Before 1997 web pages contained tags that gave style to each line. The same font tag appeared repeatedly in each section of the document. This took a lot of work and made web pages heavy and bloated.

Cascading Style Sheets came with HTML 4. Cascading Style Sheets allow for the styling of an entire page by attaching a style sheet. The use of style sheets replaced the need for the repeated use of font tags. This makes the changing of background colors, or font sizes possible throughout the site in an instant.

A website built with HTML 3 or without a style sheet would be a big mistake. Check into the type of HTML used by your template or editor. If it does not use Cascading Style Sheets move on to another one.

Avoid using Flash to build your website. Flash is a technology produced by Macromedia Corporation. Flash uses nice looking graphics, sound and animation to make some great looking sites. Software is available that allows even the newest amateur to create Flash websites.

The trouble with Flash sites is that they don't do so well with the Search Engines. In a Flash site a Shockwave file contains all of your data. The articles and content that you add are visible to people browsing the site but not to the search engine. The search engine sees the Flash as an object. Thus there is nothing for the search engine to use to rank your site with. It is acceptable to use Flash to make great animation in small areas of your site.

A small Flash object in the sidebar will not hurt anything. An entire site made from Flash will not work so well for you if it is necessary to have good ranking on Google or Bing.

Avoid using images and graphics that are not optimized for the web. High resolution photos intended for printing are not optimized for the web.

These high-resolution photos weigh a lot. Digital cameras produce photos, now, which can weigh as much as 3 to 5 megabytes. That is entirely too heavy for use on a web page. Photo editing programs such as Photoshop and Gimp have features for optimizing photos for the web.

Spending a little time to learn to optimize photos will pay great dividends. Pages that have a lot of heavy images may lose a lot of visitors. People are not patient on the web anymore.

Avoid using copyrighted material on your site. You can get in a lot of trouble by using content and images that belong to someone else.

All material that people post on their websites has copyright protection. You may find that you can get permission to use some things by contacting the website owner.

There are a lot of sites which offer free images and graphics to use on your site. Some article directories allow for the use of articles contributed by their members if you follow some guidelines.

Free templates are available on many sites in exchange for a link back to the author. Follow the rules for copyright and you will not run into any discouraging legal trouble.

These are the biggest mistakes for a web designer. Many of us learn our greatest lessons from making our own mistakes. It is better not to make mistakes if we can learn from the mistakes of others. By avoiding these mistakes your first websites will be more efficient and powerful.

10 Top SEO Facebook Strategies

1. Decide on the Best Title for Your Facebook Page - and Don't Ever Change It

Choosing the right identity on your Facebook Page is crucial. For instance, if your name appears too spammy, people will probably be less likely to talk about it with their associates on their own page and more likely to conceal your updates from their Facebook feed. Secondly, don't give into the temptation to choose a completely common page title. Facebook's intention for Pages is that they legitimately characterize businesses and brand names, as well as stars. Recently, Facebook has been disabling updates for common Pages.

The bottom line: Work with your corporation's true title as the name of the page and when you choose your Page's name, don't alter it. Facebook makes use of your Page name in the title of the Page, and considering that Google dings webpages when their particular titles change, changing your Facebook Page's name can cost you SEO points.

2. Select the Very Best URL for Your Facebook Page

Facebook recently provided the flexibility to choose a title for your Facebook Page, just about the most important SEO option on Facebook to date. Facebook wants Pages to legitimately stand for the identities of businesses. Brand names with commonly used titles have had their rights suspended previously.

The soundest solution would be to decide on a username which authentically presents your online business or company. As soon as you select a Facebook username/URL for your Page, it cannot be altered. So, look for a username you are going to be at ease, and satisfied, with for the future. If you have a company that specializes in replica watches, make the URL something to do with replica watches.

 

3. Use the "About" box to Place Key Phrase-Thick Content at the Top of the Page

One critical SEO approach that needs to be utilized in your Facebook Page whenever achievable is inserting key phrase-thick content as close to the top of the Page as it can be. Since Facebook restricts exactly where Page managers can place substantial sections of textual content on the Wall of Facebook Pages, the "About" box basically is the best location in the CSS structure of the page to incorporate custom content. You will find there's 250 character restriction, so choose your words and phrases sensibly.

4. Use the "Info" Tab to Add Extra Critical Key Phrases, Content, and High Precedence Backlinks on Your Page

Facebook creates an "Info" tab for each Facebook Page which has fields made up of important illustrative data about the Page. It's imperative that you complete all these fields, for the reason that they provide the option to add keyword phrases, content, and hyperlinks that may improve the content material rating within your Facebook Page for many kinds of Google queries. The specific fields existing could differ based on the type you choose for your Page whenever you create it, so pick out the class which most effectively meets your business needs.

5. Develop "Static FBML" Boxes and Tabs to Place Lengthy Content Material Plus More Static Backlinks on Your Page

While chances to place substantial blocks of textual content on the default tab of the Facebook Page tend to be quite restricted, Facebook enables Page managers to set-up supplemental boxes or tabs which could carry any type of subject matter, including text, images, and hyperlinks. Adding content boxes or tabs to your Page could be a terrific way to supercharge the score of your Page.

6. Publish Direct Backlinks Aimed at Your Website Inside Your Page's Stream

Status updates provide a highly effective solution to place direct backlinks at the top of your respective Page. Since Google boosts ranking for webpages which link to relevant internet sites - and penalizes pages which link to irrelevant web pages or that add a great number of inbound links too suddenly - posting hyperlinks in status updates can be quite an effective and reliable approach to better rank your Facebook Page.

You can find 2 methods to submit hyperlinks:

   a. Including the URL within the text of the status update itself.

   b. Using the "attach link" function.

7. Add Pictures with Captions, Activities with Descriptions, and a Conversation Discussion Board

This almost goes without saying, yet it's crucial that you regularly spread useful subject matter on the Facebook Page, along with always making use of all offered illustrative fields on every single kind of content shared. When posting images apply lengthy and key phrase-thick explanations. Use the resources Facebook provides for your entire gain.

8. Create Inbound Links to Your Facebook Page from the Internet by Posting Backlinks to Your Page on All Your Websites

Just as a good number of inbound links from high-authority web pages can help improve PageRank for regular internet websites, acquiring inbound links for your Facebook Page may improve its PR as well. You can accomplish this with text backlinks, but Facebook has also developed a badge which it encourages Page managers to utilize.

9. Get Intra-Facebook Inbound Links by Simply Acquiring More Facebook Supporters

The more fans you get, the more backlinks you will have to your own Page inside of Facebook. For Pages with thousands of supporters, the volume of backlinks mounts up.

10. Reinforce Intra-Facebook Linking by Getting Followers to Review and Like Content in Your Stream

Whenever supporters comment or like content in your Facebook Page's stream, Facebook links their name back to their own Facebook profile page. Subsequently, once the profile stubs of those supporters who've put up feedback and likes on your Page are listed, Google will discover more reciprocal links between your Page and your Page's followers, which it will see to be a much better relationship. This results in a cycle of enhanced link weight from the listed profile page stubs to your Page.

Common SEO Questions

Even though SEO has been around for a long time, there are still plenty of site owners, web developers and marketers who don't have much experience with SEO. This is through no fault of their own, as SEO has only recently been taken out of its silo and incorporated into overall Internet marketing strategies. A few years ago, SEO was looked at as more of a technical practice, something that was handled behind the scenes. Now, SEO has taken a much more active, marketing-driven role. There is no denying that SEO is important if you want your brand to succeed online, but many people still do not fully understand that SEO is a not magic bullet. It will not solve all your marketing online problems overnight, nor will it supplement your offline marketing questions. Too many site owners are caught off-guard by black hat SEO spammers and con-men, looking to take advantage of "SEO newbies." Here are a few of the most common SEO questions and the white hat responses:

Q: How long will it take me to rank in Google?

A: There is no guarantée as to how fast your site will rank in Google, Bing, Yahoo or any of the other search engines. There are a lot of factors that your SEO is fighting against to help your site perform. If your site launched in a small niche with few competitors (grasshopper breeding), it might rank well faster because there was little opposition. If you launched your site in a highly competitive market (dog breeding), it could take much longer for your site to rank for your chosen keywords. There is no set time frame since each site and industry is different.

Q: How important is my Google PageRank?

A: PageRank is the numeric value given to your website based on its relevance and importance according to Google. Once upon time, it was a major contributing factor for Google's algorithm, as a higher PageRank score (out of ten) signified that your site was useful and had a good trust factor with the search engines. Now the Google algorithm takes into account hundreds, if not thousands of contributing factors when determining where a site will fall in the SERP. While having a high PageRank is nice, it is by no means the most important factor or sign of SEO success.

Q: Which search engine is more important? Google or Bing?

A: Google still has the lion's share of search volume, but Bing has steadily been gaining traffic over the last few months. You shouldn't ignore one in favor of the other. The simple truth is that a different type of user chooses Google over Bing and vice versa. Failing to optimize for both players means your site is invisible to their audience. Google and Bing also fill their search results with slightly different information, so ranking well in one doesn't mean your site is doing well in the other.

Q: How long do I have to do SEO for?

A: SEO is not a set-it-and-forget-it kind of tool. It takes constant attention and action to keep your SEO relevant and working. Yes, SEO will build on itself over time, but that doesn't mean you get to 6 months and call it quits and hope your past work will carry you through. The Internet is expanding at an unbelievable rate, which means that every day there are more and more websites vying for the same amount of space. If you want to keep your site competitive and continue growing your online presence, you have to be prepared to strap in for the long haul. SEO isn't ever truly finished.

Q: What does SEO really do for my site?

A: SEO is much more than just getting your site to rank well in the search engines. Good SEO will also help build your brand presence online, help maintain (or fix) your brand's online reputation, drive traffic to your site and improve your conversion rate, establish your company as an industry leader or expert, help you connect with your customers and much more.

Q: Who should handle my site's SEO?

A: If you don't have the knowledge or experience to handle your site's SEO, then you have to decide between bringing in someone to handle your SEO in-house or outsourcing your SEO to an SEO company or consultant. If you want to keep it in-house, your SEO manager needs to be incorporated into your marketing department, not the web design/development or IT team. Everything that your marketing department does to promote you company can be leveraged for SEO. Your SEO manager needs to work with the marketing team to keep their efforts in line.

If you want to outsource your SEO, be sure to do so to a reputable, white hat SEO firm! They should be US based and speak English fluently. A lot of SEO focuses on creating and publishing content and you need someone who understands the US market. Any company or consultant who promises to have your site ranking number one in Google by the end of the month is probably a black hat SEO practitioner and should be avoided.

Q: How do I measure SEO success?

A: There are a few ways to tell if your SEO is doing well. First off, what kind of traffic growth are you seeing? Good SEO should produce additional traffic that steadily increases over time. Peaks and valleys isn't a good sign. You can also look at how well your site is ranking for your chosen keywords. Did your site jump from page 6 to page 3? That means your site is establishing a stronger trust factor with the search engines and is performing well. The biggest indication of SEO success is your conversion rate. Of the traffic that arrived to your site, what percentage of them converted? Each site has a different goal. It could be for someone to call the company, download a trial form of some software, signup for a newsletter, etc. A higher conversion rate means that more targéted traffic is being delivered to your site, a sign that your SEO is doing a good job of positioning your site.

These are by no means the only questions you may have when beginning your SEO process, but they are some of the most common. A lot of SEO is learning and adapting. If you are looking to handle your site's SEO by yourself, you might want to consider taking an SEO training session to learn the basics and answer more strategically minded questions.