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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.

What makes the submitter software useful is it takes you directly to the submission page of each directory. That will save you a load of time. The other main benefit is that it fills in a lot of the submission form for you. Again, saving lots of time.

When using the Directory Submitter you must make sure you select the right category relevant to the subject of your web site. If you don’t, you’ll annoy the hell out of the owner of the directory and he/she will just delete your application.

The marketing blurb for the software says that you can “Instantly get quality, 1 way links, in as little as 1 mouse click!” I don’t think it’s quite as easy as it sounds.
You still have to find the right category and I often find directories don’t make it easy to find the right one for your particular subject/product (if there is a relevant category at all). You still have to squint, work out the anti spam captcha codes and enter them in.

When submitting you should also vary the title and description you use. The software allows you to enter in more than one, but it’s a little fiddly switching them over.

In theory you could do everything that this program does yourself. You could do it manually by trawling your way around all the directories or you could try and automate the process. Here’s how…

There are several sites and online tools that list directories you can submit to. eg…
http://www.onewaytextlink.com/
http://www.123promotion.co.uk/directorymanager

You could then set up an auto form filler piece of software (http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best/auto_fill-form.html) to auto fill in the submission forms yourself.

Doing it that way might not be as slick, but it’s still an option. Overall though, the Directory Submitter software will save you load of time. There is a free version allowing you to submit to 200 directories. Upgrading costs $47 which allows you to submit to over 1,800. $47 - what’s that? Like £24. Well worth the time saved.

Download your free copy

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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)

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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I’ve recently launched my latest creation for a client… www.telefaxdatasystems.co.uk.  It was a complete redesign with a lot of emphasis on getting the site listed in the search engines.  The site makes a lot of use of css and javascript.  I incorporated a fancy expanding text facility on the home page.  Rather than bombarding the site visitor with a lot of text I thought I would “hide” some of it unless the visitor particularly wants to read it.  So on the homepage towards the bottom are what look like normal links, except when you click on them it displays the information just beneath the link text on the same web page.

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