| LED Digest 2119: Be The Change You Wish To See |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Reg. from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. March 17, 2006 Issue #2119 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== Email List Services or Software ==-- ~ Tom Connelly "I have been sending out short email bulletins to members." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== The LED Downhill Spiral? ==-- ~ Derek Andrews "Search engine ranking is an easy hole to fall into." ~ Peter D'Aprix "This LED is not a one way street, after all, without participation, then it goes down the tubes." ~ Tom Anson "I miss the good old days, and wish I had an idea of how we could re-capture some of the magic..." --== Getting Pages Ranked ==-- ~ Lorelle Smith "...use the keyword phrase in the anchor text of incoming links..." ~ Mike Banks Valentine "Internal linking is critical to ranking..." ~ Stephen Mareches "MSN has added some new features to their search functions." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== 301 Redirects [was: URL Naming] ==-- ~ Magnus Brättemark --== Outsourcing ==-- ~ Alex Hughart ~ John Smart =========== NEW ================================== From: Tom Connelly Subject: Email List Services or Software Hello All, I'm the organising secretary of a UK society (British Society of Clinical Hypnosis) and as such have been sending out short email bulletins to members. It usually amounts to about 700 emails per month. I used a piece of software called 'Worldcast' to do this and this has worked well for a year or so. However, my ISP has now put a restriction on the email server which stops me from using this software. It's a pity and I can understand the action they are taking - spam is a serious problem (having been on the net for some years with an email fixed by the society I regularly get 7 spam emails for every wanted email) but all my emails are very much wanted by members and I need to find a way to send them. Can anyone suggest a possible solution to this? I know there are some services that allow newsletters to be sent from the web browser but these do not seem to fit the bill. This is because they work on a 'subscribe to email' system but I need to be able to upload a list of emails, the content of which may change slightly each month as members enter and leave the society. Any ideas? Thanks in advance, Tom Connelly www.bsch.org.uk ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Derek Andrews Subject: Downhill LED > ... over the last year the Digest seems to have > become self obsessed with Google and Rankings, > I feel the Digest is now boring. - Paul Morris, LED 2118 Search engine ranking is an easy hole to fall into. I have seen this happen on several lists, and in the past I have been as guilty as anyone of fueling the fire. I believe that this situation comes about because the desired outcome (your ranking) is so easy to quantify. But what would we be talking about if it was so easy and cheap to measure other factors like: - how well does our product rank in people's desire to buy it? - how well does the page convert customers compared to those of our competitors? or even: - how does my search engine listing rank in terms of click-throughs? Admittedly many of these things can be tested, but for many small businesses it is too expensive or time consuming, or we don't have sufficient visitors for the results to be statistically valid. Derek Andrews, woodturner http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com http://chipshop.blogspot.com - a blog for my customers -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Peter D'Aprix Subject: Downhill LED > I wonder now if the Digest is caught in a > downward spiralling loop, driven by a small > few who snipe at each other or continuously > clap each other on the back. - Paul Morris, LED 2118 Perhaps Mr. Morris might consider contributing some lively topics of discussion that he feels have been ignored recently and help enlighten us all by bringing to the table important things to consider in this business that we have all been blind to recently. This LED is not a one way street, after all, without participation, then it goes down the tubes. What say you, Paul? Help us keep this great e-publication a stimulating and pertinent tool. Peter D'Aprix - Visual Communications peter, peterdaprix.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Tom Anson Subject: Downhill LED While I'd hate to say it out loud, I have some agreement with Paul Morris about the current state of LED Digest. I still find it a valuable resource, but it is not the same as when I first started reading it almost six years ago. When I was getting started online, LED was the resource for me. It would not be over-stated to say that I owe almost everything to LED, either directly or indirectly. It not only provided me with the answers to any of my many questions, it gave me the background to know what the questions were. Without the active discussion of so many different aspects of being online, I wouldn't have had a clue what 90% of this stuff is about. And, if I had taken the time to read everything thoroughly in the beginning, it could have saved me thousands of dollars that I foolishly spent on things that did not work. Over the last few years (since a little before the demise of I-Sales, et al), the breadth and depth of discussion has suffered. It seems that many of our contributors have moved on to other forums (although we still hear from some of them now and then). I miss the good old days, and wish I had an idea of how we could re-capture some of the magic of those times. Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Lorelle Smith Subject: Getting ranked > I am also trying to get > restaurantplus.com/restaurant-pos-software.htm to > place using keywords "restaurant pos software". - Bob Sheridan, LED 2118 One thing to do whenever possible is use the keyword phrase (the primary one the page is optimized for) in the anchor text of incoming links (or in the alt attribute if the links is from an image). Yours says "RestaurantPlus POS Software" so it's not a match. (This also shows how little stock the engines place in keyword-rich filenames, doesn't it!) Also, is this the only incoming link to the page? That shows the search engines it's not that important. Another place for a match is the heading in the page. Yours says "Restaurant Point of Sale POS Software" so it needs to be changed as well. You've got it in font size 5, but an <.h1> tag might be better to use. That's what it's for. This is something a lot of people get tripped up on. It has to be the exact phrase -- remember, it was indexed by a machine that sees things in binary (either / or). It's a good thing, too, as most words in our language do double or even triple duty. I suppose the day is coming when search engines can grasp language nuances, but in the meantime, use the exact intact phrase. Another problem with Bob's page is that it was obviously written for the search engines, NOT humans. ALWAYS write for humans. Who knows how many sales have been lost? Bob said he wanted restaurant-pos-software.htm to be found for "restaurant pos software" but how is a search engine supposed to know that? That exact phrase is on the visible page only 3 times -- few and far between a very long page full of other words. The good news is, this is easy to rectify with a professional SEO copywriter. Lorelle Smith, The Keywordsmith SEO/Internet Marketing Consultant http://www.keywordsmith.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Mike Banks Valentine Subject: Getting ranked > Is anyone willing to share some ideas for improving > ranking of web sub-pages? I believe I have done > everything correctly... and have sufficient "content" > on the web pages. - Bob Sheridan, LED 2118 Bob, Put the pages on your sitemap - they aren't listed there now, and consequently, are not indexed at Google. The pages look fine (except for the FrontPage generated code clutter) but obviously can't be indexed if they aren't given a path to crawl. You've apparently left them unlinked from other pages, so they can't be found. Run the following queries from Google: info:www.restaurantplus.com/pos-point-of-sale-hardware.htm Info:www.restaurantplus.com/restaurant-pos-software.htm You'll see they both turn up empty "no information is available for the URL www.restaurantplus.com/restaurant-pos-software.htm" results. Internal linking is critical to ranking as well and if no other pages link to these pages, they are not seen as important to your site - even when they are on the sitemap or have single links from another page or two. Mike Banks Valentine http://realityseo.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Stephen Mareches Subject: Getting pages indexed Hi Bob, I did a quick check at MSN and Google and found that your site is quite well indexed by both search engines. Using "site:www.restaurantplus.com" (without the quotes) at both we can quickly see the pages they've indexed and this search returns many pages that have been indexed on your site. Using "link:www.restaurantplus.com" at Google we see web pages that have linked to your site. I tried "link:www.restaurantplus.com" at MSN and found even more pages linking to your site. MSN has added some new features to their search functions. Go to search.msn.com and click "About MSN Search". If you check out Search Builder you'll be given the clues to check out different types of searches for your domain that you may find helpful. Stephen Mareches, Web Consultant Sophia Solutions www.sophiasolutions.net ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: Magnus Brattemark Subject: URL naming > Google and Yahoo both support 301 redirects for links. - Ian Smith, LED 2118 Hi Ian, Thanks for the advice. I don't know if I'm wrong, but I have understood that to make a 301 redirect my site has to be hosted on an apache server. Unfortunately (in this case) my site is on an ISS server. Is there a solution also for that server, or do I have to move? Best regards, Magnus Brattemark Alfa Travel Guide - Central America www.alfatravelguide.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Alex Hughart Subject: Outsourcing > Some may consider it "corporate greed" to send work > offshore and save money. I call it a common sense > way to solve a problem and delight the customer. - Marty Milette, LED 2118 Marty, Just briefly, a little clarification, not to bore other LEDers anymore. $10 an hour for you to pay and for a developer in India to earn is certainly a 'win-win' situation. This is how globalization should ideally work, with competence and added value as the only determining factors and that's smart business. Paying workers in some dumpy sweatshop $10 per month, making them work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week and using child labor can be called by all means 'corporate greed', if not immoral and criminal. Companies who exploit people like that, whether they do it directly (offshore) or by pretending that they don't know about it (onshore) are the 'greedy' ones mentioned in my post (I don't know if that's the case in other posts). Alex Hughart -------- new post - same topic -------- From: John Smart Subject: Outsourcing This is definitely something that works for some not others. We advertise the fact that we are American owned, run and staffed - our clients seem to like that. I won't be leasing another Dell after this one expires because the financial team is in India. Before I get flamed for racism my objections are with Dell's Management of off-shore staff. Every problem I have takes forever to resolve. Resolutions are promised and not forthcoming - and I end up talking to someone whom I cannot understand (I grew up in an area heavily populated with Indians, plus my ear can understand a thick Scottish accent. I feel that it is not unreasonable for me to expect an American company to be able to communicate with me in this countries chosen language). The way Marty [Milette] writes out his situation, he is clearly doing what is best for him and his company. Who are we to question that? Is he unpatriotic? No - he is keeping his business in profit, allowing him to pay more taxes and potentially employ more stateside staff. Would we have done the same thing? It would depend on many factors, some of us would, some would not. In the exact same situation I may have done the same thing. After all, each time our manufacturing company is approached by a spammer, I have to really consider it. No, I don't want to be a spammer- but do I want the volume of sales they are promising me? John Smart, Technical Director InternetDesign.com - A Human Touch in a Digital World ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains © Copyright 1995-2006 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi |
