Haydon Rouse

With this post I’ll tell you how you can get some free links to your web site.

Even a free link and some page rank juice from Google.

Social media is now very important when it comes to successfully promoting your web site.  When choosing a product or service people will often base their decision on recommendations made by friends.  However, many of the social media sites can also give your web site some page rank juice and move you up the search engine listings.

Read the rest of this entry »

I received the following new business enquiry. The email was from a domain belonging to a company selling kitchen worktops:

We are interested in Website Optimization and promotion in UK.
Send us please, your prices for this service, inc. quality backlings.
Website address will give after accepting your conditions.

I didn’t bother replying to their email, however it wasn’t because of their bad grammar.  Anyone know what “Backlings” are?   Are they like ducklings?  Perhaps they are tiny little links.

I did send them a new business enquiry myself… Read the rest of this entry »

Every now and then people ask me about programs that are claimed to increase their web site rankings in the search engines. A friend sent me an email today telling me about a new bit of software by Brad Callen, an internet marketer, called “Directory Submitter“. It’s designed to make the process of getting links to your site easier and quicker. Remember, in general, the more links to your web site the better. Reciprocal links (sites that link to each other) are good, but one-way links are better. In general, the search engines will rank your site higher if you have a higher number and more relevant links than your competitor.

The internet is full of directories that list web sites in categories (think Yellow Pages). Some of these directories require you to pay to get listed whilst some are free. The Directory Submitter software enables you to submit to some 1800 free directories getting you those all important links. Read the rest of this entry »

Herne Bay Court’s web site was completed sometime ago. I also launched another new site a few weeks ago on the unusual subject of head lice removal!

RBM Training, a specialist IT trainer for lawyers approached us to completely redesign their web site.  They wanted a classy looking site to promote the company and it’s service to legal firms. Their new site was launched earlier today.

The SEO Championship came to end on 1st May.  My entry came 48th out of approximately 800 contestants.  Not bad at all really.  Shame I didn’t have enough time to dedicate more time to it though.  So how did the winners win?  Well it all boiled down to the number and quality of links to their web sites.  It seems as though the winners paid for other sites to link to them.  I read on one blog that they spent about $500 on links.  Not a huge sum of money, but still a bit of a gamble in order to win a competition.  I’m proud to say that I didn’t pay for a single link to my site!  The winners all seemed to have had some experience of SEO competitions and were able to use their existing portfolio of sites to shoot them up the rankings.  It was a good learning process and for a short time I did make it to the number one spot on MSN.co.uk! (whoopydo)

I recently completed a web site for a client. You can see it here: www.elizabethbonnici.co.uk

It’s a fairly basic site with just static web pages. The site is already ranked highly in the big three (Google, Yahoo and MSN) for “fashion consultant kent”.

I’m also near completing a complete redesign of www.hernebaycourt.co.uk. Hope to launch that it the next few days.

SaxonIS have won the contract to design a site for another Kia dealership called Dover Garage. We’ve put together a basic stock listing page at their site Aldershot Kia whilst the main site is designed.

I’ve been asked a couple of times how my entry into the SEO Championships is doing. Unfortunately, I just haven’t had the time to devote to it, however there is progress. I see Google ranks my Globalwarming Awareness2007 site as 73rd although other sites are quoting my site as being as high as 55th. Note that not all of the sites above me are actually eligble as they aren’t new domains. The competition is fierce and it amazes that the top site owners have time to get so many links. For further information on how the site is doing go to www.globalwarmingawareness2007comp.com

Yes, that is what you should do if you have a web site. Do I do it? No, not as often as I should. The search engines love new, fresh, unique content so you should update your web site as much as possible. Unfortunately, it’s down to time though and www.haydonrouse.com isn’t a priority for me. So do as I say and not as I do!

If you update your web site regularly the search engine robots will keep coming back for more. The more you update the more often they will visit.

By “updating” I really mean adding new content/web pages. A blog is an ideal tool for adding new content to a web site. Once set up, a blog is really easy to use. For the most part it’s just like using a word processor. Bear in mind however that a blog is software and software needs updating. If it’s not updated then the nasty people out there will hack your blog and wreck havoc.

Consider adding a blog to your web site so that updating your web site becomes a breeze, but remember it’s quite a commitment.

I wrote back in January about my entry into the SEO World Championships. To remind you, it’s basically a competition to get a new web site to rank top on the major search engines for the phrase “globalwarming awareness2007“. I managed to get the site listed in Google within about 2 weeks of launch. Not bad. Yahoo listed it shortly afterwards. MSN on the other hand is being a pain in the digital backside.

Anyways, the site was listed in about 197th position on Google yesterday when I checked. Hehe, a long way off the leaders. It’s not surprising really, as I haven’t done any work on it.  There is only the one page with little text.  However, I have a master plan, which I’ll soon be unleashing on the World. There is no guarantee that it will work but I do reckon it will get some attention.

If you’re feeling generous, own a web site and would like to help, then please link to my web site http://globalwarmingawareness2007comp.com using the wording Globalwarming awareness2007.

I remember the day when Netscape was one of THE internet companies. They had one of the most popular browsers on the market and their web site was one of the most popular search engine/directory in the world. This was all BG (Before Google).

Remember the Browser War? This was basically a battle between Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape’s Navigator to get the biggest market share. Microsoft started giving away IE with their operating system and people complained about unfair trading etc. Microsoft were taken to court over it. I can’t imagine the two companies were on good terms.

This is what Netscape.com looks like now, basically a news site…

Notice all the Microsoft Vista ads ! How things change.

If you have a web site you should think about creating linkbait!

If you’re somehow involved with online marketing you’ve probably heard the term “linkbait” before. However, for many people who don’t “live online” they probably haven’t. So this post is for you if you haven’t heard of it before.

The term linkbait is used in the online marketing industry to describe content on a web site that encourages other web site owners to link to it. We all know that getting others to link to our site is good. Not only does it produce more visitors as they click through, but it helps with the search engines. The search engines see a link to your web site as a vote of confidence. Generally, the more links to a site, the more it’s trusted and hence the higher it appears on the search engine results pages. So therefore we all should all try and create linkbait to attract attention/visitors. Whether you call it linkbait or just good content is up for discussion. Linkbait is nothing new then, just a new phrase! However it should get you thinking about how you can create your own linkbait.

Linkbait is simply great content that makes others want to share it with the world. Linkbait should make it as easy as possible for others to create a link to that page. On a linkbait page/site you will therefore often see buttons to enable visitors to add the site to social bookmarking sites like del.icoi.us.com or social news sites like Digg.com. Getting your site featured on these sites can create huge amounts of traffic.

It could be a top ten list, a collection of web sites, breaking news, a controversial comment or opinion. Anything really that is going to get others to link to it. Get thinking!
If any of my existing, or new customers would like help in implementing a link bait campaign please get in touch.

Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated the site.  Very remiss of me.  I’ve got some new sites to tell you about.  Firstly a little creation by me.  It’s a directory site called Search Engine Optimisation UK.  Basically it’s a directory of UK based seo companies and consultants, although there are very few listed at the moment.  Submissions are currently free, so if you are in the seo business and have a web site advertising your services get listed now!

Another new site, but this time not by me!  This site has been created by a guy called Chris Callaghan who after some lessons from me has created The Truth About Bird Flu.  Now some of what he has to say about bird flu is pretty scary stuff and it might make you want to go and live in a cave away from anyone, so be warned.  Anyway, Chris has taken some of my advice and created a great source of information and plugged in some Adsense ads to hopefully earn a few pennies.

As well as several new clients web sites I’m working on, I’ve also decided to enter into the SEO World Championships.  This is basically a competition to see who can get a new site to rank the highest on a search term which does not currently show any web pages. The term that I have to get ranked high on is Globalwarming Awareness2007. The winner wins a new car, which seems a strange prize bearing in mind the ranking phrase.  I think it’s a new Citroen or something.  I don’t think it’s a hybrid car or one of those new environmentally friendly ones.

SEO companies and consultants from around the world are entering so I don’t really stand much chance.  As the saying goes you got to be in it to win it!