Marketing & SEO Discussion List - LED Digest

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From: Paul Bedford

Subject: PHP and SSI

> Does using PHP or SSI for headers, navigation,

> side bars, footers etc effect SE ranking?

        - Nancy Cardinali, LED 2083

Bots land on a page normally by following a link. They will land on

your home page if that is where the link leads them but they could

also follow another link and start deeper into your site.

Having said that, using SSI or PHP to include menus, headers,

footers etc will have no effect on the ‘bot as all the elements are

included by the server prior to being served to the ‘bot. It only

receives the complete page. The ‘bot has no way of knowing, nor does

it care, whether the page has other items included in it by the

server or not. If it can follow the links in the menu it will

normally do so.

Regards,

Paul Bedford

------- new post - same topic -------

From: Jill Whalen

Subject: PHP and SSI

> Does using PHP or SSI for headers, navigation,

> side bars, footers etc effect SE ranking?

        - Nancy Cardinali, LED 2083

Not at all.  The way to check is to simply view the source code via

your browser when you're at the site.  Most likely you'll see the

included HTML code just as if it were not an include.  It all

happens before it gets to your browser (or to the search engine

spider) so it's just like you put it there by hand.

Hope this helps!

Jill Whalen

High RankingsR - Helping Sites to Be the Best They Can Be!

http://www.highrankings.com/

------- new post - new topic -------

From: David Grant

Subject: eBay blocking

> ... I was reported [to eBay] for putting in links to my

> website... linking to non-commercial sites is allowed

> on eBay as far as I know, so my plan was to set up

> a separate web site which is purely informative...

        - Paul Harris, LED 2083

Great post, Paul. I am an independent eBay consultant with many

years experience working with eBay sellers. Just last month, one of

my Canadian clients experienced the same thing -- he was booted off

eBay with what eBay called a Section 9 violation. Though Section 9

violation emails are common methods of email fraud, eBay does play

this card on occasion. The Section 9 verbiage eBay uses is very

vague at best. It's been over a month since my Canadian client was

given the boot and eBay has yet to offer details.

In my own conversations with Powersellers, it has been noted by many

that there is NOT uniform enforcement of eBays policies.

Powersellers with a direct rep are given more favorable treatment.

To paraphrase a comment of just last week...

"When I have a listing removed by eBay, I just call my Rep and it's

back up in no time."

Though eBay allows one "off ebay link" in an About Me section, it is

an everyday occurrence to see eBay powersellers regularly

referencing off-eBay content in multiple locations across many eBay

venues.

Another point to note: eBay as an organization does not watch

auctions for policy violations. Rather, they rely on folks, mainly

competitors, who will report a non-conforming auction. Most folks

who blow the whistle do so to lower competitive pressure by having

competing auctions pulled off.

So, the short version -- eBay can and does boot folks with no notice

and at times no legitimate reason... and yes, the rules depend in

part by how much you pay eBay every month. Sad but true. One of the

chapters in my newest eBay book www.winningbidder.net addresses the

need for folks to diversify their marketing strategies and not just

"earn a living on eBay" for this very reason.  If you rely solely on

eBay and are subsequently booted, you are... well out of luck!

David Grant

------- new post - same topic -------

From: Eran Adams

Subject: eBay blocking

Paul,

You now understand that you have made a great mistake:  You have

lost your eBay ID, which if you have done a lot of sales and

positive feedback, is an asset, basically worth money.

But never mind, that is in the past. Your problem is that you do not

have a strategy for eBay.

What professional eBayers do is to get eBay to re-direct the buyers

to their own checkout which is part of their StoreFront website.

This is legitimate, when you use the software of a certified eBay

Auction Management provider. The StoreFronts and checkout of those

providers may not be as powerful and reliable as your own website,

but * it is free *.

The way it works and the logic behind it is:

(1) With all the respect to the experts in this digest, THERE IS

NOBODY that can beat eBay in getting your products to the top of

Google (And eBay UK gets more then 40% of the Internet buyers in the

UK).

(2) Your eBay marketing strategy should not try to attract browsers,

only buyers (every High Street retailer knows it is easier and

cheaper to get a repeat customer that a new customer).

So, once a buyer uses your own checkout, they are YOURS:

(a) You can bombard them with more items from your StoreFront on

their way to the checkout.

(b) Get them to sign to your Newsletter.

(c) Send them a Promo Code that they can use in the next visit to

YOUR store (With the parcel and in the e-mails that you send

automatically as part of the purchase proses.

(d) You can send them as many snail mail leaflets as you wish!!!!!!

That may be a step backwards to many of the experts here, but the

best way to build a business is to get the happy buyer to come back,

and to tell others about it. And all means are kosher!!! And as you

are sending them to proven buyers, we are not talking about a

regular blind post campaign.

Your action plan for now should be:

(A) Get a new eBay ID and work like mad to create a high positive

feedback (Just go to eBay and spend few hundreds pounds on one pound

items).

While you build your ID user:

(B) Investigate the Auction Management providers (For the UK, you

are limited to only two major players, Marketworks and

ChannelAdvisor. The second one may be a little better, but very

expensive for small sellers).

(C) If you never used them, * take 4 weeks off from the rest of your

life * to learn which ever of those you chose. And give up sleeping

in tho se 4 weeks, it will be a very intense and possibly

frustrating learning experience!!!

(D) Open eBay Shop!!!!!

Last words:

* Do not give up your site.

* Ensure your eBay Shop AND you StoreFront are similar or identical

in looks and feel to your current site.

* Use all the tools that eBay gives you (e.g. Shop Home Page, About

Me page...)

* Good luck.

Eran Adams

------- new post - new topic -------

From: Barb Radisavljevic

Subject: Multiple sites

> ... Google, Yahoo, and other large search

> engines considered [sister sites] to be spam.

> Software engineers determined that many

> "sister" sites were created deliberately to

> exploit the engines...

        - Shari Thurow, LED 2078

I've been following this discussion with a lot of interest because

I'm in the process of building a sister site of my own, but not to

get higher search engine ranking.

I currently have two sites that sell mostly the same educational

materials for teachers and home schoolers. The first one is the

largest, but it is free form, created with FrontPage (I'm not a

programmer), and has just been growing as I add new books that come

in, day by day. The navigation is so bad I sometimes can't find what

I'm looking for myself. Since there is no shopping cart, people have

to contact me in some way in order to buy.

As a temporary fix, I got my own domain on a booksellers'

cooperative I belong to and although my domain stands alone, it is

also searched along with the main site. I try to link to my title

descriptions there in answering inquiries from people who just want

one or two books so that they will have the convenience of using the

shopping cart on that site.

But I see this as only a temporary fix. I can't get any separate

stats for this domain, so it's hard to judge whether people are

finding it through the search engines or not. My original site,

clumsy as it is, still generates the most traffic and sales.

The site I'm building now is to have its own shopping cart (Miva),

which I understand is hidden from the search engines, so I want to

build up the content outside the shopping cart. Some of this will be

new content, and some will be revisions of what is on the original

site.

The purpose of the new site is to make it easier for customers to

find what they want and to complete their shopping on line if that's

what they prefer -- not to generate more hits. My thought was to

keep the old site up for a while after the new one starts being

promoted until the new site begin to do as well in the search

engines, but it might not ever do as well, since all pages in the

present site are static and the engines can see every word in the

book descriptions. It's my understanding that these won't be seen in

the Miva shopping cart.

I'm not sure what to do about that, but after all this discussion

I'm wondering if I'm hurting myself to leave the old site, which

ranks pretty well, up after the new site is submitted. I'm not

planning to submit it until it has much more content, and until I

get a good mix of products in the cart, which will take time, I will

probably still link back to my domain on the cooperative.

My rankings have not been hurt any by having the two sites. Do you

think the new site will knock me out? Any advice? I was thinking of

leaving the present site up because it gets so many visitors, and

then maybe linking to the titles I'm describing on the Miva shopping

cart if that is possible.

Barbara Radisavljevic

www.barbsbooks.com

The best books for children and education

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From: Vicki Lambert

Subject: Link exchanges

> ... I've had several supposed requests for

> link exchanges... except that the requestor

> leaves no clue as to his / her own website.

        - Tom Anson, LED 2083

Actually I was just going to send in the same question.  I don't

even sell anything on my site, its just informational and I am

getting requests to do links.  Any info would be helpful here.

Vicki Lambert

------- new post - same topic -------

From: Dirk Johnson

Subject: Link exchanges

Tom,

Without knowing the details, I'll speculate. More than likely this

is a "service provider" who has collected email addresses, one way

or another, for the purpose of link exchange, and is using them on

behalf of their unsuspecting clients. Or it is a site conglomerator

who has a lot of their own spammy sites to promote.

If you do accept link requests, then proper linking protocol

requires that the requesting site link first, and that the requests

include the exact site (with description and title) that is

requesting the link, and, preferably, the location of the link back

to your site.

You can somewhat "defend yourself" in advance. If you provide an

online submission form, they should be using it. If you accept your

link exchange requests via email, then set up a separate email

address for that, and require them to use it, and not just scrape

any email address from your site. If they inadvertently used an

email address that you previously used for link exchange, then they

should be willing to switch.

Sites that fail to follow accepted protocol are either misguided, or

worse. Either way, it's an indicator that they will link to just

about anybody, without regard. They are not really good link

partners, and they give legitimate link exchange a bad name.

Best regards,

Dirk Johnson, Partner - Operations

DomainDrivers LLC

www.domaindrivers.com

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