Well, this week Google announced it would be allowing people to include +1 on their own website – again, just like you can with other social networking tools. The +1 button will initially be rolled out on some big sites – Reuters, The Huffington Post, Best Buy, etc. It will continue to expand to other sites, and is currently available for anyone who wants to utilize the new tool.

There are instructions on how to add Google’s +1, as well as other details about the release.

There are some pretty significant potential benefits from this new tool. We know that Bing already uses information from Facebook in its search results, and it’s not unreasonable to think that Google is already doing the same with various social networks. This new +1, however, gives Google direct information about how it is used and lets them collect data specific tailored to their tool.

And while we won’t necessarily know exactly how the +1 data is used to rank content (at least not right away) we can be sure it will be taken into consideration. We can also be sure that now that the button is available, people will not only be encouraging you to +1 their site (in addition to “Liking”, “Retweeting”, and “Linking”) but they’ll also be trying to game the system. We’ll see what Google has in place to help combat that.

But if you want to start using +1, you may have to wait; it’s being rolled out gradually. And in order to use it, you’ll have to have a Google profile and be signed into your account. All of that being said, it will be interesting to see how this button is used and the benefits it will bring.

If you are serious about earning money from your website, then you may have mulled about how SEO tools can help you build up your client base.

Free tools include Link Analysis Tool that is used to check the quality of your links in order to determine if your links are connected with reputable websites, which is what you should be looking for. Linking, probably the best technique included in the line of SEO services an internet marketing company can give, is one of the first things that you have to understand to have a better control of your ranking in the Search Engine Rankings Pages (SERPs).

• You can get a Rank Checker which tells you where your pages are on the SERPs and if you have one you can see how you measure up against the competition. Knowing the competition is one of the ways to help you increase your profile, as you can get ideas from your competitors and use those to give your site the extra boost it needs.
• You can go for Keyword Density Analyzers so that you can check the keywords of your site and others’ so that you can ascertain which ones are most popular and if you have a keyword research tool you can work out what people are looking for and work out how you can use this information to promote your site. If you know what people are looking so you can tailor your posts to that need, and keep on updating when the keywords that are trending change. Knowing the current trends is important to any successful website.
• There are some excellent tools and the best at what it does is the oldest, SEOmoz, which has been in operation since 1981, although it was not operating under its current name until 2004. Its programs and software will free up the time it takes you to make links, as, by using its Open Site Explorer, it can identify up to 10,000 links and prioritize them by domain strength, view etc. By using this SEO tool you will be able to see from the daily reports how your links are shaping up, and whether they are working for you or against you. If you have links to sites that have little traffic then this tool will allow you to identify this.
• You need to know what people are thinking and talking about and have different opinions, and one SEO tool that helps you to do this is Recorded Future software which is a “Temporal Analysis Engine” that can crawl through a whole host of online data sources, such as news agencies, government and trade organizations, NGO’s and blogs. With such a tool you can discover current feedbacks topics that are trending so that you can capitalize on these by writing content that is relevant to what others are thinking and feeling. You can predict sales and trends, which helps with brand-building and monitoring. You may feel more inclined to use this when you know that it is backed by both Google and the CIA.
• Another SEO tool that is worth considering is Screaming Frog SEO Spider software. When you let the spider loose, it will crawl the web and give you information on your site including your Meta tags, errors, redirections and other issues which you could rectify. It highlights the things that are amiss in your site and provides you with easy to understand information, in the form of Excel spreadsheets to enable you to work out what you should and shouldn’t do in future.

Internet marketing doesn’t require expertise as long as you know which tools to use to make your job a lot easier. By taking advantage of these free SEO tools, your business is guaranteed of a good spot in the World Wide Web.

About the author: Rose Martin currently works as a search engine optimization specialist from a reputable search engine company. Besides writing web-related articles, she likes to travel and take pictures.

If you have a website of any kind, you probably want more traffic for one reason or another. A business wants to bring in more customers, a blogger wants to build a readership base, and there are many other types of sites with different motives. If you don’t get traffic to your site, you won’t get any sales or comments and you won’t accomplish what you are setting out to do.

How to Get Traffic

You can get traffic many different ways on the internet. You can pay for traffic through pay per click marketing, banner ads, or other advertisements, or you can participate in social media to bring in new visitors. The best way to bring in traffic is through search engine results, although there are some disadvantages.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. It involves techniques that seek to raise the rankings of your site in the search engines. By targeting certain keywords that are frequently searched for, you can gain high rankings which can bring in a lot of traffic.

Cost of SEO

The biggest benefit of SEO is the free traffic. Not only can you potentially get a large amount of traffic, but you don’t need to pay for it. If Google or other search engines like your pages, they will rank them high.

While it doesn’t cost any money directly, it does cost in other ways. If you decide to use an SEO firm, you will have to pay them. If you decide to do SEO techniques on your own, it will cost a lot of time and effort. You will need to optimize your content with keywords and get relevant links to your website.

Fast Results

When you rank for a keyword that you’ve been working for, you get almost instant traffic, assuming that keyword was getting as much traffic as you thought. There are several tools to help you figure out if a keyword is worth going after, but they aren’t always 100% accurate. However, when you do rank for a good keyword, you can expect immediate results.

The problem is that it can take a long time to rank for any keyword, especially if you have a new site. Ranking for a keyword can take anywhere from a few days (usually for older, more authoritative sites) to several years for extremely difficult keywords. Understanding the competition can help you choose the right keywords, and good link building can increase the speed.

Ongoing Work

Some people work really hard to get to number one for a high traffic, very competitive keyword. Then, when they get there, they stay number one for months or years without much more work. This means consistent results with minimum effort.

However, this isn’t always the case. Low competition keywords usually require less upkeep, but highly competitive keywords almost always require regular upkeep such as getting new links, adding new content, etc.

Targeted Traffic

Targeted traffic is extremely beneficial. That is exactly what you get with search engine results. People who are searching for certain keywords that relate to your site want your information. They will visit your site and will likely convert to sales or readers.

Unfortunately, some topics and industries do not bring in sales, and others don’t bring in regular readers. Businesses go after keywords that bring in visitors that only want to look around, not buy. Blogs that are looking for readers will bring in new visitors that come, look for something to buy, and leave forever. Some keywords don’t give you the kind of visitors you want. However, this is an uncommon disadvantage of targeted traffic.

As you can see, there are many aspects of SEO that can go either way. You never really know what works until you start going after certain keywords. You don’t know how long it will take, how much work it will take, or what kind of results you will get. The best you can do is work hard and take advantage of the pros available through SEO.

There are two different kinds of keywords you can use when optimizing your website: short tail and long tail. Short tail keywords have broad application and are highly competitive – such as “gift baskets.” Due to their familiarity, short tail keywords are searched for much more than long tail keywords. An example of a less-competitive, long tail equivalent to “gift baskets” might be “happy birthday gift baskets.” 

So if long tail keywords don’t get searched for nearly as much as short tail, why would anybody use them? First of all, long tail keywords aren’t as competitive, so you have a realistic chance of making the first page of results on Google and other search engines. Depending on the competition, you may even be able to crack the top five, which would be difficult with a short tail keyword like “gift baskets.” This search result positioning is incredibly valuable for internet marketers and is a great tradeoff for short tail keywords, which ultimately get more searches. 

Because long tail keywords are more specific, they generally convert at a high rate. For example, if an internet marketer worked day and night and was able to rank on the first page of search results for “gift baskets,” they would be seen by an enormous number of people each day. But many of the people would be looking for a specific kind of gift basket, which the marketer may not offer. When someone searches for “happy birthday gift basket,” they know exactly what they want and are likely to make a purchase if you offer a good selection of related products.

First of all, Google and other search engines don’t give out all details on each of the algorithms they use to calculate search results and relevancy (even when they’re asked). That being said, we admit there is occasionally a bit of speculation on our end about what different details Google takes into account for its results. However, given some of the other criteria Google uses we felt it reasonable to suggest that they – and other search engines – may give more weight to .mobi domains if the search is being conducted from a mobile device.

Secondly, search engines use hundreds of different criteria when ranking a link – how recently the site has been updated, the last time it was clicked, how long people stayed on when they clicked, etc. So while a .mobi domain will have some influence on the results, it certainly doesn’t mean the site will automatically rank better than a non-.mobi site; it only means the link will get an extra bump in that direction.

Lastly, if you run a search on your mobile device, you may not notice any .mobi sites in the results. Part of this may have to do with what was just mentioned (about .mobi only being one of many criteria) but some of those links may actually redirect the user to a .mobi site. The search results page will display the usual URL (.com, .org, etc.) but the mobile user will actually land on a .mobi page.

So these are some things to consider not only when searching on a mobile device, but when deciding on whether to have a .mobi site.

With the increasing popularity of Google AdSense, contextualized advertising has become a commonly used term. So what is it, exactly? In its simplest form, contextual advertising is advertising that is related to the content of the webpage on which a user views it. In this way, it is put in context with its surroundings and has a much higher chance of being applicable to users. For example, if you were viewing a hunting website, contextualized ads on the webpage might include ads for hunting rifles, scopes, camouflage clothing and game processing. Search engines often use contextualized ads as well, meaning that if you searched for the phrase “deer hunting,” you might see the same ads as given in the previous example.

While early models of contextualized advertising utilized cookies and were considered invasive by many users, PMI Coaching has noted that modern versions are instead based on website content. In addition to being more socially acceptable, modern contextualized advertising is also highly effective. Google AdSense is one of the most well-known services, though there are many other options. Smaller companies include Overture, Kanoodle and Quigo.

Entrepreneurs who want to get the most bang for their buck are increasingly gravitating toward contextualized advertising. Rather than just throwing an idea out there and hoping it sticks, contextualized advertising allows you to provide users with information directly tied to their interests, resulting in higher returns for advertisers and fewer irrelevant ads for website users. In this way, both advertisers and consumers win.