While great content will always get you noticed, I have come to the somewhat obvious conclusion that “Content is NOT King, Google is King” on the web. This is a slightly different mindset when it comes to getting traffic and marketing on the net.

This new mindset doesn’t change the fact that you still have to create great content, but it changes the way one goes about promoting that content on the web.

In the last few years, Google’s share of the search market has grown to 65% or much more in most areas of the world. This domination of online search puts Google in control of what content is seen – regardless of its quality.

It plays a major role in your content’s visibility, a role so great that without Google’s approval, your content is not exactly dead in the water, but your chances of succeeding is much less than with a thumbs-up from Google.

Now, the real turning point (light bulb moment) for me was Google’s recent promotion of its own products or data, as in the whole “Google Plus Your World” search results features which were introduced a few weeks ago. Google is actively showing and promoting its Google+ profiles and posts within its SERPs.

Many believe Google is sacrificing both relevancy and quality by only showing its own data (as opposed to Twitter’s and Facebook’s profiles/posts which Google claims it no longer has access to) when Google users are logged into their accounts.

Those same critics also believe Google has stepped over the line and has become too self-promotional in the way it is now handling search. These critics say Google is promoting its other products such as YouTube, Blogger… over other outside entries in their search results.

Regardless of your view on this matter, there’s no denying Google has become much more pro-active in promoting its products. You can now see ads on TV and elsewhere for Google Chrome, Android, Adwords… all promoting Google’s products.

Why is all this important?

Many believe, myself included, that Google is aiming for control of all aspects of the web – not only search, but video and social as well. They want to control what web users search, see and how they socialize on the net. Google wants to be in the driver’s seat – plain and simple.

But Google’s influence will go much further than those three areas; Google probably would also like to control the browser (Chrome) we use, the operating system (Android) and the device (Chromebook) we view those results on. Only Microsoft comes close to doing the same thing, but they have really not presented a search engine which can beat Google and fall short in this respect.

This leaves Google in the Captain’s chair. It now controls what content on the web is seen and viewed. While this control is not complete, it is growing stronger month by month, year by year.

What is extremely troubling and a little hard to understand, Google is now JUDGING your WHOLE site instead of just the webpage/ content in question. This new attitude is reflected in the recent Panda Series of updates which was supposedly aimed at removing duplicate and low quality content from the web.

However, if a webmaster or site triggers just one of Google’s new rules… their whole site is lowered in the rankings, including their perfectly good high quality content. It is like saying you can’t have visitors into your house, because you have an untidy attic. Your visitors will never see the attic, but Google as Gatekeeper of the web, with the Panda Updates and other restrictions, makes sure your rightful visitors don’t even make it to the door.

This absurd, arbitrary ruling by Google is extremely hard to understand by small web site owners and businesses who don’t have the resources/manpower to re-design their sites at a drop of a hat. Whatever happened to Google’s motto of “Don’t be evil” or “Do no evil” when it comes to judging and penalizing WHOLE websites, instead of the pages in question. Many webmasters would be satisfied with “Don’t be cruel” when Google is ranking their sites.

Likewise, Google is rolling out another rule which states webmasters can’t have too many ads “above the fold” or their whole site will be penalized, not just the offending page in question. Ironically, at the same time, Google is actively telling webmasters to place Adsense above the fold… but they have no problem with placing their own ads above the fold.

What does this all mean?

To put it bluntly, you must make sure your content passes ALL of Google’s hurdles if you truly want it to succeed on the web. The long series of Panda Updates really pointed this out to many webmasters who failed to jump a few hurdles and saw their rankings drop from sight in Google.

To put it even more bluntly, webmasters and marketers must please Google if they want their content to have the best results. While quality content is still important, without Google’s approval your great content will go nowhere fast.

In addition, webmasters and marketers must optimize their content not only for Google search, but also for other Google products such as Google+, YouTube… and they must make sure their content displays properly in the Chrome browser because Google is taking data from these users to rank your content.

Quality content is no longer king of the web, Google is king of the web and you better play by Google’s rules or you might as well take your ball and go home.

Your personal New Year’s resolutions are important. You bet.

However, if you’re a SaaS or Internet marketer, your best-laid plans for 2012 may hit the skids if you fail to avoid new website legal compliance gotchas that emerged in 2011.

So, It’s highly recommended that you add to your personal resolutions the requirement to review the checklist of critical developments and related gotchas in these 2 categories: privacy and Internet marketing.

Privacy

Privacy developments have led the way in terms of new developments in the last few years, and 2011 was no exception. These are the new key developments and related gotchas to avoid.

* Readability of Privacy Policies. In its Preliminary Staff Report issued in December, 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stated its criticism of “long, incomprehensible privacy policies that consumers typically do not read, let alone understand”. The FTC stated its policy that “although privacy policies may not be a good tool for communicating with most consumers, they still could play an important role in promoting transparency, accountability, and competition among companies on privacy issues – but only if the policies are clear, concise, and easy-to-read”. So, the gotcha to avoid is clear: review your Privacy Policy and replace the disclaimer boilerplate language with clear and easy-to-read text.

* Location Data Now Subject to Privacy Protections. In its Preliminary Staff Report, the FTC also added a new category of information that’s now subject to privacy regulation which includes location data. If your site collects location data via GPS (also referred to as “Covered Information”), avoid this gotcha by disclosing in your Privacy Policy how location data is collected, what’s actually collected, and how it’s used and shared.

* Behavioral Advertising. On March 14, 2011, the FTC announced a settlement regarding behavioral advertising, and along with it, the FTC’s policy requiring prior notice and an opt out mechanism for the collection of data online for behavioral advertising purposes. Behavioral ads are based on anonymous data collected on how a user’s computer browses the Internet, including websites visited, searches made, and content read. This data is used to create a behavioral profile that is linked to a specific demographic. If your site collects behavioral data or serves behavioral ads, avoid this gotcha by full disclosure in your Privacy Policy.

* Undisclosed Uses of Personal Information. On March 20, 2011, the FTC announced a new settlement regarding its established policy regarding undisclosed uses of personal information. This is the big gotcha to be avoided at all costs: collection, use, or sharing of personal or covered information in a manner that is materially different from, or contrary to, the stated purpose in your Privacy Policy. For example, if you collect personal or covered information for one online service, but use this information for a new online service without permission, you could be in big trouble with the FTC.

Internet Marketing

New Internet marketing regulations were numerous in 2011. This is a checklist of the new key developments and related gotchas to avoid.

* ROSCA’s Limitations on Data Pass Transactions. On December 29, 2010, President Obama signed the Restore Online Shopper’s Confidence Act (ROSCA) that regulates credit and debit card data pass transactions. ROSCA prohibits cross-sell Internet marketing schemes where Merchant 1 makes an online sale to a consumer and then passes billing information (the “data pass”). ROSCA permits transfer of the consumer, but not the consumer’s billing information, and that’s the gotcha to avoid.

* ROSCA’s Limitations on Sites With Continuity Income. Websites with continuity income are now regulated. The typical continuity income site would be a membership site where a consumer agrees, for a price or for free, to receive a product or service for an initial period of time, after which the consumer will be charged without giving additional consent for another period of time. If your site is a continuity income site, avoid this gotcha by (i) clearly and conspicuously disclosing all material terms of the plan prior to obtaining billing information, (ii) obtaining express informed consent before charging the consumer’s account, and (iii) providing a simple mechanism for canceling the plan.

* Defamatory Blog Posts. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) shields operators of “interactive computer services” from liability for defamatory posts by visitors. However, if you make the defamatory statement in your blog yourself, you’re not protected by the CDA Section 230. A key development in 2011 involved a defamatory blog post in a blog that was a direct competitor of the defamed person, and the blog operator also re-posted the defamatory statements as a stand-alone post together with a new heading and some additional comments. Although the court found that CDA Section 230 still provided a shield from liability, this was a very close case with a strong dissent. So, the gotcha to avoid is to not repost or even enhance potentially defamatory posts by visitors.

Conclusion

Beginning in 2009, we’ve experienced a tsunami of new legal regulations affecting websites and Internet marketing. And the tsunami continued in 2011. The old “wild, wild west” days are over.

It’s critically important for SaaS providers and Internet marketers to stay on top of new developments and to avoid the related gotchas. The price for failure to comply in terms of liability exposure can be very high. While this checklist is not exhaustive, it’ll provide a good start as you plan ahead for 2012.

This article is provided for educational and informative purposes only. This information does not constitute legal advice, and should not be construed as such.

Ever go to a web site and find that after poking around a few pages you just click off and go to another site? Of course. It happens millions of times a day on the web. Why? Good question!

If you can’t get people to stick around your site and eventually contact you, your website is just taking up cyberspace.

What does a results-producing website need? Let’s start with quality design, clear formatting and substantial content on every page. And you need to answer the “What’s in it for me?” question every step of the way. But that’s just the beginning.

Even sites that have all the bases covered often miss the key to turning visitors into clients. It’s the difference between a website that “just sits there” and one that gets a prospect to give you a call or send an email saying, “Can you help me?”

And that big key is called the “Call-to-Action.” And you don’t just use it once, but over and over throughout your site. Here are some important calls-to-action that you can easily add to your site:

1. At the bottom of every page tell people where to go next.

Then include a link that points there. If you don’t, your visitors will scratch their heads thinking, “Where do I go next?” and then scroll up to the navigation bar to figure it out. Don’t make them think. Make it obvious where they should go next.

Your directions might say something like: “Now that you have a better idea of the kind of clients we work with, click here to learn about the results you can expect to receive from our services.”

2. A “Contact us” link, also at the bottom of every page.

Who knows when the inspiration will strike to contact you? Have you ever been on a website and wanted to contact the company but couldn’t find an email address or a phone number? Bye, bye business. And make that Contact Us page more than a phone number, email and address. Tell them what will happen when they contact you. Make it easy to do business with you.

3. A response form at the bottom of every services page.

Take an extra step here. Insert a small form that they can fill out to request even more information about that service. Get their name, email, company name and the answers to a few questions about their needs. Yes, people do fill out these forms. But keep them simple!

4. Have them do something that will get them involved.

This is the psychology behind the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes. It would be easier to just have people mail back the form. But they found that the more involvement, the better the response. You might try a survey of some kind.

5. Have prospects apply to be your client.

When I promote my high-end groups I decided instead of a “payment link” at the end of the description of the groups, to put in an application form. This way I can screen applicants, since I don’t accept everyone. Then I send an acceptance email to those I feel will get the most from the group with a payment link. The conversion rate is still very high. When I accepted individual clients, I used a similar application form.

6. Capture their name and email address.

This is really the number one purpose of a website. Offer a pithy article or report, plus an email newsletter (in that order) in exchange for their contact information. Once you have them on your eZine list, the marketing really starts. I call it “keep-in-touch marketing.”

7. Offer ongoing calls-to-action in your eZine.

I generate much more business from the eZine than from new visitors to the website. Think of the web as the place where you introduce yourself to your prospects. And think of the eZine as the place they get to know you. Then invite them to explore your services in more depth (by sending them back to the website). Now go back to your site and start inserting all these calls-to-action. I promise you’ll start getting better results!

The More Clients Bottom Line: Every single marketing activity needs to include a call-to-action. But the website is a “call-to-action machine” that moves people step-by-step through the marketing process. And this is true marketing leverage, because you don’t even have to be there to do it.

Blog marketing is a wonderful way to connect with your audience, to provide valuable and useful information to prospects and customers, to sell your products and services, and to drive traffic to your website. However, before you begin to blog or even start to set one up, you
have one very important decision to make. Which blogging platform will you use? Here are a few tips on how to use blog platforms successfully.

The Big Three and Beyond

A blog platform is essentially a product which a blog or website is based on. In many cases they’re the service you use to host and publish your blog. In the blogging world, there are three big players with a host of smaller platforms. The big three are:

* Blogger, now owned by Google
* Typepad
* WordPress

There is also MoveableType.org, which is an open source publishing platform. Another is Joomla, which offers blogging capabilities but is considered more of a website platform than a blogging platform. There are many other website hosts which offer blogging functions; however, they’re not traditional platforms.

When you choose a blogging platform, you’re looking for a few key ingredients. You’re looking for:

* Ease of use - If you have to jump through hoops and read a 1000 page manual to get a blog up and running, you’re not going to want to do it. Intuitive interfaces and easy to find information are essential.

* Functionality - It needs to be user friendly for your customers and prospects, and that means easy to navigate and easy to use.

* Features - You want your blog to be able to do what you want and need it to do, including sell products and services, host contests, take feedback and so on.

* Price – Always a consideration.

* Customization - You want to be able to make your blog look and feel exactly like you want it to without a ton of work, time and money.

* Reputation - You want a platform that’s going to be around for years and years to come so you don’t have to switch your blog to a different platform.

Before you choose a blogging platform you’ll want to spend some time determining what you want your blog to accomplish. If for example you want to optimize your blog for the first page of the search engines, you’re going to want a blog that is easy to optimize and maybe has search engine optimization plug-ins. This means making a list of your requirements before you even begin comparing blogging platforms.

Another important thing to consider is where your blog is going to be hosted. TypePad and Blogger are both hosted blogs, meaning your URL will be http://www.yournamehere.typepad.com/.

The same is true for Blogger. WordPress gives you the option. You can host your blog on WordPress or redirect it to another host so your URL is whatever you want it to be.

Read everything about your blogging platform before you go through the work to customize it and set it up. Some hosted blogging platforms do not allow advertising, for example, and if that’s something you want to do, then you’ll need to consider those restrictions before you
sign on.

The good news is that blogging is free and unless you hire a professional designer to customize it then your start-up expenses are nominal. (There’s a $10 fee to redirect a WordPress blog to another host.) Choosing your blogging platform just takes a little time and research.

Happy blogging!

I wish I could come up with a new brilliant post every day – some days it’s so hard to come up with a topic to blog about.  I like to browse forums and other blogs to see what people are talking about and to get some ideas for different subjects to post about.  Here is a list of 50 blog post ideas for business blogging for any industry. You can apply it in most niches I think. Some of these ideas are the bomb and will bring you publicity and popularity while others focus on highlighting your expertise or are part of a social networking strategy. Some of the post ideas are all of these at once.

1. Envision the future of your industry by extrapolating the current developments
2. Explain why everybody should care for your trade and not only specialists
3. Make a list of famous people who deal or dealt with issues related to your business
4. List 30 or more online resources for business people in your industry
5. Review a publication dealing with your industry
6. Make a list of the top myths in your industry and debunk them
7. Disagree with a high level personality in your business, prove her or him wrong
8. Make a list of the top 10 blogs in your niche
9. Report from a trade fair
10. Compare the your national market to markets abroad
11. Collect the best blog postings in your niche and compile a best of-list
12. Expand your focus to a similar area of expertise by comparing
13. Write down a code of ethics for your blog and your business as a whole
14. Explore and depict a niche social media platform for your trade, if there is none use a forum to do that
15. Add a forum to your blog or site if your site has a big enough community to sustain it
16. Break the rules of your trade by remodeling them and adapting to current situation, write about it
17. Go off topic and link a topic from everyday life back to your business “10 Ways SEO is like Base-Jumping”
18. Make a list of WordPress plugins that are most useful for your industry “The 10 Best WordPress plugins for Graphic Designers”
19. Reach out to your clients and fans: “What would you like to change in [insert your product or service here]?”
20. Display attractive images of your products, several of them, in the best case your own products
21. Analyze the current climate in your industry and explain the ramifications
22. Identify leaders in your area and ask them to guest post on your blog or write for their blog instead
23. Show what went wrong in your company, why and how you dealt with it, learning from mistakes is very helpful for others
24. Compare the new vs the old ways of doing your buisness
25. Highlight top female bloggers or experts in your trade
26. Create fictional and visionary product description
27. Satirize a very well known personality, be it of your trade or outside of it
28. Write an allegory about your idol doing your business like “The Bruce Lee Method of Business Blogging”
29. Thank your 10 favorite readers and/or commenters
30. Expose a scam in your industry (make sure to consult a lawyer in advance)
31. Take a big brand (or several) and use it as an example for best practices vs mistakes
32. Use humor to lighten up a boring topic “I Can Haz Pay Per Cat? The Lolcats Way of PPC”
33. Explain the local advantages of your company, do not hide behind modesty: “Oxford: SEO since 1542″
34. Review a book dealing with your topic that really displays thinking outside the box
35. Combine your topic with another one, usually but wrongfully not combined with yours, like SEO and graphic design
36. Express your own personal view an a highly debatable issue and do not just repeat common ground opinions
37. Make a short movie to show on your blog, this can be something funny or just simply you speaking
38. Create a list of indispensable software or web tools for your job
39. Take a common issue many people care about and explain how it relates to your business
40. Introduce a new business model in your trade or better, several of them
41. Be the first to break news, for instance reveal your new product via the blog
42. Check your search engine referers and write postings for those queries that had no matches until now
43. Check in your stats which post is the most popular one and write a follow up
44. Join a trade organization and explain why you did it
45. Make a donation to a good cause and blog about it
46. Introduce the 10 most promising bloggers in your industry
47. Check Digg, StumbleUpon or Technorati to find out what’s most popular right now and find a new angle to it
48. Engage in a discussion on a forum and reprint on your blog
49. Ask people on Twitter a question and blog the best replies
50. Make a list of blogging ideas specifically for your industry

Remember that business blogging is about value. That’s indeed the most crucial difference between private and business blogs. In private blogs people want to express themselves, business bloggers want to create value for others. So while writing a post for a business blog always consider this question: Of what use can this article be to potential clients, people in my industry and the general public?”

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) shields operators of “interactive computer services” from liability for defamatory posts by visitors. The big question is how far does this protection go – what are its limits?

A recent ruling by a divided New York Court of Appeals provides insight into the answer. If you operate a blog site, take heed.

Section 230 And Blog Site Liability For Defamatory Posts

Defamation is an intentional false communication, made either orally or in writing, published to a third party, which injures another person or company’s good name or reputation.

Prior to the enactment of the CDA in 1996, courts routinely held online providers liable for defamatory statements posted by their visitors. Liability was based on a theory that viewed the online provider which provided the medium for the defamatory statements to be essentially the same as a publisher or speaker of the defamatory statement.

Congress came to the rescue in the form of Section 230 of the CDA which provides: “No provider or user of any interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” 47 USCA Sec. 230(c). This means 2 things for blog site operators:

* a blog site operator will be shielded from liability for defamatory posts by others (i.e. “another information content provider”); however,

* if the blog site operator makes the defamatory post himself or herself, then the blog site operator will be not be shielded from liability.

New York Court of Appeals Decision

The New York Court of Appeals case generally followed the typical fact pattern of a CDA Section 230 case. The defendant hosts an online forum, and an anonymous user posts statements that are presumably defamatory. Specifically, the post alleged that the plaintiff was a racist, was anti-Semitic, and that he abused his employees. If these were the only facts, Section 230 would clearly shield the forum host from liability.

However, additional facts caused the case to be a close one; specifically:

* the plaintiff is an executive of a real estate company, and the online forum defendant is a direct competitor of the plaintiff, and

* the defendant forum administrator re-posted the statements as a stand-alone post together with a new heading and some additional comments.

The plaintiff argued that the Section 230 shield from liability should not apply because the defendant forum administrator should be liable as if he had made the alleged defamatory statements himself. In support of this allegation, the plaintiff argued that the defendant’s website encouraged visitors to post derogatory comments. In addition, the plaintiff argued that the re-posting by the forum administrator amounted to unprotected statements by the forum administrator himself.

The court ruled in favor of the defendant forum administrator, finding that Section 230 provided the liability shield, despite the additional facts. However, a strong dissent authored by the Chief Judge indicated just how close this case was.

Conclusion

Blog site operators should take comfort that CDA Section 230 provides a shield from liability for defamatory statements made by visitors.

The New York Court of Appeals case was a very close one that easily could have gone the other way in another jurisdiction, given the additional facts. For this reason, to avoid liability blog site operators should refrain from any activity that could be argued as indicating they made the statements themselves, including encouraging derogatory comments and reposting comments by visitors.

This article is provided for educational and informative purposes only. This information does not constitute legal advice, and should not be construed as such.

I get asked all the time – how do I get my site to the top ranking on Google? If there was an easy and quick solution – we’d all be doing it – and we’d all be at the top page of Google.

But, it doesn’t work that way. It takes knowing what works – and the commitment (plus time and effort) to get the results.

We all want top rankings from Google. Why? As people online are increasingly using the Internet (and most of the time Google) to search for information or resources – top ranked websites in the Google search results are getting the most clicks. How much more traffic and
visibility do the top ranking websites get in the results?

A ton – The top ranking gets more than 50% of the clicks from a search. #2 gets close to 14%. After that you’re in the single digits (not even worth mentioning if you’re not on page one of Google.) More clicks = more traffic = more leads.

So, it’s important to know how Google determines page rank. Page rank represents how important a site is on the Internet. Google figures that when one site links to another site, it is like a vote for the other site. The more votes – the more important the site must be.

But, the importance of the site that is casting the vote also determines how important the vote itself is. Google calculates a site’s importance from the votes cast for it. So, the importance of each vote is also taken into account when determining page rank.

It’s basically Google’s way of deciding a site’s importance. The more important the site, the higher it will appear in the page rankings.

I will break down the 3 most important concepts to increase your page ranking and get on page one of Google.

1. Content. Content is king – more important than anything else. No matter how slick or compelling your website looks – or how many other sites link to it – the content has to got to rock. It must be relevant and keyword rich for the search terms that people are looking for on Google. If you can create killer content and match that to exactly what people are searching for – you’ve reached Google page rank nirvana.

2. Consistency. Now that you’re churning out fresh and relevant content – you must do it consistently. Once a week just doesn’t work anymore. Writing an article for your newsletter once a week is not going to bring you a ton of traffic. Why? Because that content once a week won’t get you on page one of Google (top page rank.) What does? Blogging. You need to be blogging 2-3 times a week (if not more) to consistently put out new content that gets noticed and gets traffic. That will get you on page one of Google. And the blog posts don’t need to be long, drawn out articles (see content point above to ensure you’re putting out the best content.)

3. Compelling. If it’s not interesting to read or worth the time and effort for someone to consume it – don’t bother. Your content (blog posts and articles) literally has to rock the reader’s world. Keep it interesting and the reader will want to share it with others and comment on the relevance. This helps build visibility and back links (which helps your Google page rank.)

There you have it. An SEO lesson on Google page rank and 3 important strategies to ensure your site is up at the top. I look forward to seeing you there with me.

Until next time – Learn It, Love It, Live It!

Starting a blog from scratch can be intimidating. There are a countless number of established blogs on the web, and you must differentiate yourself to compete. These ten steps can help guide you on your way to penetrating the elite fraternity of professional bloggers, and building a loyal readership.

1. Have a Plan

One of my favorite quotes comes from Lewis Carrol and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by way of the Cheshire Cat – “If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you expect to get there?”

Decide early on what the specific goals of your blog might be. If you don’t outline your goals, you will risk writing meandering content that will lack focus. Write a detailed business plan and content schedule to avoid getting too far off track. Compiling a list of article topics early on can help you avoid the dilemma of writers block every blogger experiences.

2. Be Yourself

Whatever you do, don’t try to be something you’re not. This can be one of the most difficult obstacles for newbies to overcome when launching a blog. After all, you probably decided to go out on your own after reading other blogs and websites. Everyone is influenced to some degree, but to truly be successful, you must find a way to stand out from the pack. Take a break from reading your competitors’ material for a few days before launching to avoid the temptation to imitate and to crystallize your blog concept.

3. Be Unique

Quite often, aspiring bloggers make the decision to begin publishing content because they have a unique opinion and a voice that is unheard. This is the way it’s supposed to be, and Google rewards the concept through high search rankings. Bloggers whose only goal is to make money often write uninspiring content, and find themselves banging their collective heads against the wall to improve their SERPs.
Research other blogs in your niche to see what is being talked about, and more importantly, what is not.

4. Show Your Personality

I know many bloggers who are funny, entertaining, and interesting, but don’t let their true colors show in their posts. Think about your audience only so far as determining your voice. Speak from the heart and don’t worry about what people think.

5. Write With a Purpose

Another mistake many bloggers make is to get trapped into the idea that they must post content every single day. If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say it. You never know when a potentially loyal reader will stumble across your content. It is always beneficial to have your best content front and center when new users visit your site. Furthermore, if you post entries that are hollow, or appear to be forced, you risk turning off the users who followed you for your unique perspective.

6. Interact With Your Audience

User generated content is the best kind of content. It’s easy, free, and hands-off. However, it’s not always easy to sit back and let readers write your content for you. In the early stages of blogging, it’s important to respond to every single comment, even if it’s simply to agree with the commenter’s sentiments. Users are more likely to join an existing conversation than to kick one off by logging the first comment.

7. Link to Quality Content

Don’t be afraid to share interesting content from other blogs. A common mistake bloggers make is to be overly stingy with external linking. It’s easy to read a Page Rank 101 guide that admonishes sharing link juice, but you may find that linking to interesting content improves your ranking. Linking to great content adds value to your users and should add value to your blog. Additionally, webmasters might notice incoming links to their sites and decide to link back to you.

8. Write Conversationally

Your written word should sound as if it were flowing from your tongue. Avoid the temptation to break out a thesaurus to use flowery language. Readers can spot unnatural language from a mile away, and if they feel it isn’t genuine, you may lose credibility. Rather, you should use your unique voice and perspective to your advantage.

9. Detail Your Credibility

Chances are you have chosen to blog about something you know a thing or two about. Be sure your readers know this. Tell them why you are writing about your subject matter and don’t be shy when it comes to your qualifications. Readers want to read blogs written by experts, so let them know why they should listen to you. Create an “about” page that serves as a virtual resume listing your relative experience and accomplishments.

10. Utilize Social Media

Add social media links to your site to show new readers that they’re not alone. Facebook likes, fans, and Twitter followers serve as testimonials from like-minded readers on the web. If you are just starting out, ask your friends and existing social network to share and endorse your content. Users are more likely to share content that has already been shared.

Today, with blogs being so popular and powerful, the best way to use content is to provide guest posts for bloggers. Below are ten tips to help you become a successful guest poster.

1. Quality Content – Be sure to write an effective guest post. The content has to benefit the visitors of the blog where you will be posted. Don’t try to pass off a badly written, self-promoting sales letter as quality content. All this will do is ruin your reputation. Write something to make people think or provide really helpful information. That type of content will really help the readers and give them a reason to check out you and your site/blog. So, you, the readers and the blog owner will all benefit.

2. Form Partnerships – Work with the blog owner. Let him know that if he uses your guest post you will work very hard to promote your post so as to bring the blog more traffic helping you both. Take time to discuss with the blog owner what his readers are looking for and what interests them.

3. SEO – Take the time to do some search engine optimization on your post. Don’t just leave it to the blog owner. Optimize your post with relevant keywords in the title and body. If your post does well with Google you could continue to receive traffic, and sales for a long time to come.

4. Use Images – Enhance your post with images such as graphs, tables, or any image that will bring depth and more strength to your content. This will grab more attention from the reader thus increasing the chances for your post to be read and your links to be visited.

5. Original Content – Most blog owners will probably request original content that has not been submitted or published anywhere else on the net. Be sure to follow the owner’s guidelines. Don’t try to sneak in an article you have posted elsewhere because the owner will probably check.

6. Proper Format – Discuss with the blog owner which format they would like your post to be. Some blog owners will prefer the post to be written in specific font, size, etc. If you can provide the specifications they need, it will save them a lot of time and work.

7. Respond to Comments - Watch for comments on your post and when they do come in be sure to respond to them properly. Encourage interaction on your post to increase popularity and bring the blog owner more traffic which, in turn brings you more traffic.

8. Don’t Just Be a Poster – Be sure to read and research the blog for which you will be posting. Know what type of posts the owner looks for and what type get the most reaction from the readers. You want your post to get a lot of attention and interaction as well. Link to other posts in the blog that might be pertinent to your post. This will help with SEO as well as show the blog owner that you have taken the time to read his blog.

9. Look for Something Unique – When you take the time to read the blog you can find topics that might not yet have been tackled on that blog and you can offer a wider scope of information for the blog owner’s readers. This will show the blog owner that you can fill a void in his blog that has yet to be filled.

10. Show Some Personality – Don’t make your content just a bunch of facts and statistics. Put thought into it and add depth and meaning. Use your experience and knowledge to add layers of interest. By adding a little of your personality to your content, you are providing something that no one else has on the blog.

Becoming a successful guest blogger might take some time and work, but it will be worth it for the blog owners and for you and your business. Blogs are the now of marketing and being able to get your content on a good number of quality blogs should increase your traffic and sales dramatically!

Like millions of other website owners, I use Google Analytics to analyze my website stats. And while I actually like GA a lot, it isn’t perfect. My biggest pet-peeve with the software is the fact it doesn’t provide real-time results. It has a lag time of at least an hour or two before you can view most of your data, and a full 24-hour lag time on full data reporting. With all the brilliant engineers Google employs, that particular flaw has never made any logical sense to me.

That negative aspect of GA has been bugging the heck out of me for years. Well, finally, that’s all about to change and fast.

How fast? By the time you read this article or shortly thereafter, GA will be providing real-time analytics. All I have to say is, it’s about time!

Google Analytics Announces Real-Time Reporting

On September 29th, John Jersin of the Google Analytics team announced:

“Today we’re very excited to bring real time data to Google Analytics with the launch of Google Analytics Real-Time: a set of new reports that show what’s happening on your site as it happens.

You’ll find the Real-Time reports only in the new version of Google Analytics. If you’re not already using the new version, you can start by clicking the “New Version” link in the top right of Google Analytics. Real-Time reports are in the Dashboards tab (though they will move to the Home tab in the updated interface next week). You will have access to Real-Time reports if you are an Administrator on your Analytics account, or if you have access to a profile without profile filters. Real-Time does not support profile filters.

We just turned the reports on for a number of you, and over the coming weeks, everyone will have access to Real-Time. If you can’t wait, sign up for early access here: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/realtimeanalytics/.” Source: (Google Analytics)

Obviously, this is great news. But having access to real-time data will be wasted if you don’t follow the practice of testing your marketing to obtain optimum results. While testing sounds like common sense on the surface, you’d be surprised how many marketers don’t bother testing at all. They operate blindly – throwing a bunch of crap against the wall to see what sticks. That’s no way to run a business and is a recipe for disaster.

So Why is Testing So Important?

Testing allows your business to operate as efficiently and profitably as it possibly can. Or, in the words of Pat Benatar, testing allows you to “hit the competition with your best shot!” Testing is crucial to your overall business success. I can’t emphasize that enough. In my opinion, you should test every aspect of your marketing to make sure you’re obtaining maximum efficiency and profitability.

Me personally, I’m a fanatical tester. I test different advertising methods. I test the color of my websites. I test font styles and sizes. When I write articles and ads, I test headlines and copy. I test forum signatures. I test various website analytics programs for accuracy. I test domain names for SEO effectiveness. I test mailing list services for efficiency. In a nutshell, I test virtually everything, as it relates to the marketing of my business.

But whatever you do, don’t just test blindly. Closely monitor and record your results, so that your findings are as accurate as possible. Google’s Website Optimizer is an excellent free, multivariate testing software that allows you to test virtually every aspect of your marketing.

Split-Test Your Marketing

For example, Google Website Optimizer gives you the ability to split-test your marketing. What’s split-testing?

In a nutshell, split-testing is basically a method of testing multiple versions of your sales pages and ads in order to determine which version performs best, and is the most profitable. Testing should include fonts or font size, the size and wording of your headline, the images you use, the price of your product, paragraph text, text color, etc.

If that first definition wasn’t layman enough for you, here’s another one:

Split-testing is the method of creating multiple versions of your ads to see which version converts more visitors into sales.

Always Track Your Advertising

In order to ensure that you’re not throwing your money down the drain, when it comes to your marketing campaigns, it’s important to always track your advertising.

Always make sure to carefully track the results of your direct mail, pay-per-click ads, ezine ads, banner ads, etc.

Advertising is measurable by the amount of responses you get per dollar spent, and you can quickly analyze your results to determine whether or not your advertising is profitable, or if you need to make adjustments to your ads. If you’re not effectively tracking your advertising, you’re foolishly leaving money on the table. That’s what amateurs do, not professionals.

One last thing:Testing isn’t something you should do every now and then. For best results, you should develop the habit of testing your marketing constantly.

While it certainly isn’t as much work as crafting the body of a superior article, selecting a title for a piece is definitely an important element of the entire process of content creation. The title of an article is a multifunction web tool, providing opportunities for engagement with the reader and search engine in equal measure. Putting some thought into the title and how best to leverage its effects will help title choices provide a solid return on investment instead of burdening an otherwise good project needlessly.

Making Wordplay Work

The necessity of a good title is rather self evident if one plays a small game. Borrowed from Christopher Hitchens’ autobiography, Hitch 22, the game basically goes like this: Pick a popular movie title and change it just slightly to get a “title that didn’t quite make it” — Quiet of the Lambs, American Pastry, Mister Zhivago, the American Samurai and such all demonstrate the importance of getting things just right. A small change can eliminate the value of good wordplay or an entertaining twist of phrase in favor of something more bland and pointless.

To that end, try to put some thought into the title. Reference popular works — for example, a comparison piece doesn’t go wrong by referring to “A Tale of Two…” Alternatively, the title could reference a key quotation or phrase within the body of the text itself. Don’t ignore something that seems to work, but double check creative title ideas against someone else’s opinion, just to be sure.

Words are Key

The title is a crucial part of the Search Engine Optimization process. Keyword spiders and algorithms often look at the first words in an article, and the title is no exception. Having the core keyword worked into the title will consistently help return better results within Internet searches.

However, this comes with particular caveats: Some keywords, particularly keyword phrases, are long and clunky and can interfere with the aesthetics of a title. If the keyword phrase in question is “how to brew your own beer,” that’s one thing. A clever preface can be put before it, with how to brew your own beer as a subtitle or addendum to the main line. On the other hand, the keywords might be “Legal Advice Auto Accident,” which is more difficult to work into a clever title. Experiment with a few approaches, and consider putting only a few of the keywords into the title or breaking them up into a fresh sentence.

Another trick concerns where to put the title. In many blog posts the title will have its own section. However, also consider putting the title and its keywords into the body of the paragraph itself. Some search engines ignore separate title fields and focus on the content of the article itself, so this can help keep a writer from robbing themselves of good keyword return.

Brevity, Please

Particularly in the academic world, titles of articles and papers tend to be long and quite dense. “An Analysis of the Savior Archetype in Modern English Literature” certainly tells us what the paper is about, but could also easily be summed up as “The Savior in Modern Literature” and loses nothing of its statement of intent.

Further, keyword optimization becomes less effective the further into a document one gets, and this includes the size of the title. Proper keyword effect selects for shorter, more efficient use of titles, so avoid the temptation to put the whole topic into the title line. Go for simpler, brief word choices that allow expression of the important information without going on and on.

Hyphenated titles are very popular for this reason. A single word can capture the intent of the message, such as “Betrayed,” and then be followed with keywords. To take an example from the news, perhaps the keywords are “WikiLeaks” and “PayPal.” The title could then be “Betrayed — WikiLeaks Banned from PayPal.”

To Joke or Not to Joke

Not every lighthearted article responds well to a joking title. People are oddly finicky and picky about when they’ll accept humor, and the use of puns in a title is a risky gamble. Yet it undoubtedly works — consider the example of the Focker movie trilogy starring Ben Stiller.

Obviously if the article is a serious piece, a pun should be avoided unless it’s executed in the vein of dark humor. Serious work demands a serious title.

However, an important rule of thumb is to be very cautious about industries or groups in jokes. Consider for whom the article is intended. If it is aimed at a wider public audience, such as a newsletter or advertisement intended to bring people into a site for discussion or purchases, then an excellent inside joke would be misplaced. Not everyone understands the jargon, so it should be limited. On the other hand, a specialty letter crafted specifically for professionals of the plumbing craft could easily get away with jokes about piping and other internally-recognized puns. As with any online venture, the goal is clearly to keep the audience first and foremost in mind when selecting a title, rather than simply hoping they’ll “get” it.

I came across this great list in an email today. This is one of those lists you’ll want print out and stick on the wall right next to your monitor.

Focus on your Industry

1. Write 10 ways your industry will change this year
2. Break down the new laws that will affect your niche in 2010
3. Create a list of the best industry resources
4. Talk about why things are better today (or not) than they were 10 years ago
5. Attend industry events and blog about them
6. Your best marketing tips
7. How your industry is like Your Favorite TV Show [I suggest using Glee. Because that's my favorite show.]
8. The ugly truth about your industry
9. The 8 people in your industry you want to meet
10. What someone needs to consider before getting involved in your industry
11. Comment on an industry-related conversation going on in LinkedIn or Google Groups
12. Talk about the “thing” that would rock your industry if invented or put together
13. Create a chart that breaks down a complicated industry issue or problem
14. Interview someone well-known in your world and profile them
15. Rewrite an old post with fresh eyes and new ideas
16. Publish a presentation you gave somewhere else (with permission)
17. Have a chat with a competitor and blog about it (again, with permission)
18. Search Google News for relevant press releases and news about your industry. Write your own take.
19. Debunk a long-standing myth
20. Host a seminar or meetup and blog about
21. Create a list of the 10 books that someone in your industry should read.
22. Post about what you’d like to see fixed in your industry
23. Conferences people in your industry should attend/speak at
24. Your favorite untapped traffic sources in your industry
25. Issues in your space that deserve more attention

Go Social

1. How you’re using Twitter to increase earnings
2. Post a video that has nothing to do with your industry but that you think people would enjoy.
3. Post a picture. [Browse StumleUpon for inspiration]
4. Participate in a blog meme like last month’s Best of 09
5. Share the best social media campaigns you’ve seen, big and small
6. Hold a contest and pit people against each other
7. Create a poll. Blog the result.
8. Invite a guest blogger to post on your blog
9. How social media increased your ROI this year
10. How social media did nothing but confuse you this year
11. Search Delicious for popular posts on your topics and take a new stance
12. Go to your industry’s Wikipedia page and see what people are talking about in the Discussions area.

Comment on it on your blog.

13. Post photos from your company party/team building workshop
14. Find a question on Yahoo Answers or OnStartups and respond on your blog
15. Create a list of the Must Follow Twitter people in your industry

About your Business

1. Why you’re different (and better) than your competition
2. A video tutorial showing how to use your most popular product
3. The problems your sales people hear about most
4. The answer to the most common email you get
5. Share the tools do you use to do your job
6. The secret ways to use your site/product
7. The top 10 WordPress plugins you use on your site
8. How you use your favorite social media site
9. How you built your email list
10. How you’re using Facebook
11. Look at your site logs & answer customer questions
12. How you delegate tasks (or what you mucked up by not delegating)
13. Use Wordtracker’s Keyword Question Tool and answer popular questions
14. Write about why you’re not using social media at all
15. Answer questions left in your comment section
16. Write about the personal branding tactics you use
17. Give 5 reasons to sign up to your email newsletter
18. How you learned to do what you do
19. Create a list of your favorite X
20. What you’re doing to beat the summer slump or winter blues
21. Share a case study
22. Provide an end of the week link roundup
23. Review something
24. Reveal the best niche blogs to guestblog for
25. What keeps you up at night
26. Share a time when you got it wrong in 2010
27. Your strategies for coming up with blog topics.
28. Branding tips that have worked for your business
29. 50 reasons why someone should hire you
30. 5 things people should be focusing on but aren’t
31. What can other industries learn from yours

Highlight Your Customers

1. Put the spotlight on your most active commenters
2. Praise your best customers
3. Post a question and let the community to answer it
4. How customers can woo your customer service department for free stuff
5. Give something away to one of your blog readers.
6. Feature a video detailing a customer’s success with your product
7. Share your biggest screw up with a customerand how you made it right
8. Publish a customer testimonial
9. Explain the benefits of being a customer
10. Share local organizations you support and ask customers to share their favorites
11. How customers can connect with you on social media
12. Hold an event for Twitter followers to meet and blog it
Get Personal

1. What have you read lately that inspired/angered you?
2. Introduce your staff
3. Share the best decision you made as a SMB
4. Your biggest challenge as a SMB owner
5. What you love best about being a SMB owner. What you don’t like.
6. The danger of doing everything by yourself
7. Write about the achievement you’re most proud of
8. A time when you got it right in 2009
9. Create a video introducing your team to your community
10. Get your rant on
11. How to remain productive working at home
12. Introduce a new employee and what they bring to the table
13. Share the local vendors you trust
14. Give people a video tour of your building
15. Describe your company culture
16. Your new baby (whether that’s a real baby, a pet, a new project for 2010, the car you’ve been restoring for the past two years, etc)
17. Share your company’s history or story
18. Tell a story not about your company
19. Share 10 things you’re thankful for
20. What’s next for your company
21. A list of your most trafficked posts

The point is, there are TONS of things for a small business owner to blog about and share with their audience. Now that I’ve helped get the ball rolling, get to it. (find more at smallbiztrends,com)

Content may be king, but to torture a metaphor somewhat, even the most brilliant crown can grow tarnished. Generating good content isn’t always an easy thing, and it requires a great deal of effort to avoid getting into rote postings and halfhearted content that isn’t of the quality a blog and its audience deserve.

A lot already has been written about the common mistakes bloggers can make. Text walls, keyword cipher content, bland posts on stuff that’s been covered before — these things are not good. But simply pointing out what not to do isn’t very helpful. After all, anyone can “not do” certain things. But as any fiction writer worth the name will say, listing and focusing on all the things one isn’t going to do results in one not doing anything at all. There has to be a positive focus and some manner of a goal. To that end, what are some of the things bloggers can do to keep their content fresh and interesting?

Step 1 — Alternate Angles

Keeping content interesting doesn’t necessarily always involve doing something completely and utterly unrelated. It can, instead, involve taking a new approach to the tried-and-true material at hand, and coming at it from a new direction that brings together previous posts in a different way.

For example, consider a blog focused on consumer advocacy and customers’ rights. The main focus of the blog could be on specific instances of consumer abuse, such as dangerous products or other examples of corporate irresponsibility. This is an example of a highly-specialized blog with a narrow intent.

However, posting all the time about corporate abuses might get disheartening — both to the writer and the reader — so the blogger should try introducing a post series on corporate hijinks that are more hilarious than harmful. A practical example of this is the Cake Wrecks blog; while the main content is specifically focused on truly terrible cake designs, the blog also features a “Sunday Sweets” post series focusing on cakes done particularly well.

Step 2 — Fresh Faces

There is a lot of debate in the blogging community about the value of guest posters. Without going into all the assorted arguments, the fact is that if a blogger trusts someone enough to let them submit a post for publication, it can be a valuable tool for a number of reasons.

Guest posters offer several opportunities for the experienced blogger. They can establish networking options between the audiences of the respective writers, particularly if drawn between blogs. If drawn from the comments section, they can give the blog audience something to aspire to and more reason to become active with the blog. In the special event that a blogger can get a big name in the field to write a post, the credibility and prestige of the blog generally benefits as well.

Step 3 — Cause Crusades

Many of the more successful blogs touch on some manner of major social issues. Consumer advocacy, personal rights, political freedoms — each of these topics is the subject of major discourse in the world at large. Many people in a blogger’s audience probably want to do something to help out with a cause, but they aren’t sure how. They might not know how to check out a nonprofit’s credentials the way a savvy fundraising blogger might, or might not know specific organizations related to their personal cause of choice.

Blogs are a great force in the field of micro-transaction fundraising. If a blog has even 5,000 followers and can convince them to donate 50 cents apiece on average, that translates to $2,500 in real dollars raised. That money can pay for quite a few things, be it advertising space, medical procedures or even a research grant for a small lab doing vital inquiry. As an example, consider the success of Penny Arcade, which leveraged its extensive comic and blog audience’s goodwill to create a charity dedicated to giving sick children as many games and reading materials as they could. It’s one of the fastest growing charities in history, and started as “just an idea.”

Step 4 — Evading Ennui

Sometimes there isn’t any way to get around the fact that a specific topic is played out. Be it the activities of a certain politician, a specific corporate scandal or even a general topic such as free speech, people eventually get tired of writing and reading the same material. Sometimes no new news stories come up, or there isn’t any fresh information to cover.

In such cases, it’s perfectly acceptable to switch topics. Perhaps the topic change need not be exceptionally drastic. Consider the earlier example of a consumer advocacy blog. Perhaps there simply are no new or funny stories to cover that won’t seem boring or rehashed. This might be the time to discuss the theory of the blog, the “why” angle behind the matter. Our blogger could write a post explaining his or her personal experiences with corporate indifference, or discuss the good that consumer advocacy has done for people in the past.

Other times, the change could be as drastic as can be. Maybe a blogger just enjoys a particular band or bit of music, and writes an entirely personal post sharing the music and how they came to love it. The readers get a personal connection, and the blogger can let his mind work on the big problems again.

One of the best ways to keep a fresh angle in blogging is the guest blogger. They can provide good content, take some of the work load off the primary blogger and can bring new perspectives and ideas that the parent blogger can follow up on in later posts as he or she sees fit. Guest blogging also promotes inter-community relations, resulting in shared links and audiences, and can bring together previously unrelated audiences who find they share interests. It may not be for everyone, but those who embrace guest posting have a lot going for them.

So where, exactly, does one find these mysterious guest posters?

Guest #1 — The Ascended Commenter

An active and successful blog should have an equally active comments section. Comments are a great way to gauge the level of interest a group has in the message of a blog. Sometimes a blog post will spawn a series of comments that end up being as or even more enriching than the blog itself, including links to other sites and videos that further expand on the message.

Some commenters are active, regular members of the community and consistently provide very good and insightful material on a number of topics. Those who participate in all the best discussions and are always there to provide discussion on the topics raised are a prime source for good guest-posting material.

If you have such a gem of a commenter, contact them and ask them if they’d be interested in writing up a guest post. Give them all the guidelines and style rules your publication uses, and of course draft-check their work to make sure it fits the needs of the site, but definitely recruit your commenters into your service. This will have the two-fold effect of creating guest posts and improving the quality of commentary in the blog as a whole. As guests see they can be invited to post, they will be encouraged to become more active if they want to do the same.

Guest # 2 — Fellow Bloggers

Many blogs provide cross-links to other blogs who discuss the same or similar issues. Blogs on cooking provide links to other blogs on cooking, or to blogs on cookware and appliances, and so on. Bloggers exercising good blogging judgment also go to their colleagues’ blogs and participate in the comments sections as well.

Just like inviting in a member of the commentary team, calling in a fellow blogger is a great idea. As mentioned, it encourages cross-promotion of both blogs. Even though the audiences of the publications may not overlap 100 percent, each will at least see some benefit as visitors from the other blog come by to have a look. At least some will subscribe, and that’s a big overall goal.

One of the best ways to arrange this is to propose a swap. Both bloggers trade posts for a day, so that both can get the benefit of the exchange. Additionally, try to focus on bloggers with a similar but slightly different focus. The idea is to get new information out there, after all.

Guest #3 — The Celebrity

People like big names; there’s really no getting around it and no shame in it. Experts are good at what they do, and good at it for a reason. If our aforementioned cooking blog is able to get an authority figure with a big name in the community to post, they really should take advantage of the opportunity.

Celebrities are often hard to get a hold of, but not impossible. They are people, too, and they often have interests that they like to follow. Sometimes it requires contacting their agent or handler, but it can be rewarding to a blog to have a star pop on and offer some advice on the topic at hand.

On the other hand, such a post should stick firmly to the message at hand. Making it a chance for the celeb to simply promote his new cause or book might distract from the goal of the blog, and nobody wants that.

Guest #4 — A Polite Opponent

There is a benefit in bringing aboard someone whose views differ from those of the core audience for the blog. The most important mode of discussion for the web today is dialog. People want to talk, they want to learn and be heard. Unfortunately, the largest mode of dialog is argument and flaming, and very little gets accomplished in this circumstance.

On the other hand, if a blog has taken a principled and reasonable stand on a topic, chances are they have an open-minded yet critical commenter or “rival” whose views differ from their own. This is common in philosophy-and politics-oriented publications.

In these cases, consider contacting a rival and asking for an exchange of views. This may seem a bit odd, but it really can make all the difference. It will show both parties that the other side is willing to talk and reason about things. It will give both audiences a sense of pride in their chosen blogger. It will create a greater dialog and benefit the web as a whole and, if handled properly, it will almost always be a hit and generate a great deal of discussion. Take the risk and see if a civil exchange of conflicting ideas is right for your blog.

Some people say the mysterious Google TrustRank is what really determines SERP positions on result pages. It was obviously created to decide how trusted a website is by looking at various factors including security and the length of time a domain has been around on the web. They have never made an official explanation on this and have never spoken of it. However, there is no doubt that there are two elements that determine trust; user perception and trust ranking.

If you’re serious about website design or online business then this should be your number one priority. If not, you shouldn’t be looking too far into the future of your empire because you won’t be able to build up good relationships with leads or customers.

Why is It Important to Build Trusted Relationships?

Well first of all, you’re probably going to lose more than 80% of your potential buyers because the internet is well known for scams and spam. People don’t like to take a chance, especially when the online market is so competitive. The other reason is your best mate Google – if Google doesn’t trust you, people won’t find you, and if people can’t find you then there’s no point in running an internet business at all. Becoming a trusted site in their eyes will not only make you more visible to the online world, but to many others too.

How to Build Trust with Search Engines and Visitors

As mentioned earlier in this article, there are two main factors that will affect your business relationships, user perception and trust ranking. User perception is how a visitor understands a site in their eyes so doing the following will help gain trust quickly:-

Blogging – Shows visitors that you are posting quality content on a regular basis and talking about relevant subjects to keep them interested.

Tweeting – Shows that you are active, especially if you post tweets every couple of hours which is what you should be doing with Twitter anyway.

Quality – People will trust you if it looks like you put time and effort into making your site look stunning as well as professional. It should be tested by humans for humans and have a good user experience. Make sure everyone gets a great first impression.

Being Real – Make sure you have a telephone number along with other contact details including an address if there is one so people know your business is real.

Simply put, people who have had bad experiences with dodgy sites are careful about the sites they trust and purchase from.

The second element is TrustRank, the unofficial set of factors that determine how trusted a site is by using sophisticated algorithms affecting the Search Engine Ranking Process (SERP) rankings:-

Legal Issues – In the EU, you must have a Privacy Policy explaining how cookies are used and handled if they are collected. People have seen better positions in search results by placing the policy link in their footer.

SSL Certificates – This is a definite factor for online businesses. Major search engines can tell how trusted a site is by a Trust Authority. Companies such as VeriSign provide secure and trusted certificates with EV (Extended Validation – the green bar that appears with the HTTPS in the URL) features which is instantly recognized by visitors, spiders or crawlers.

Domain Age – Even if you use paid services to hide WHOIS data, its been said that Google can see the actual data anyway so the data should only be hidden if really needed. The age of a domain name can show that you’ve been around a while and it can be a good idea to have at least 10 years registered on it.

Links - The sites that link to you and the sites you link to yourself can tell a lot about an organization. It not only determines your PageRank, but if you have links to sites Google may consider spam or junk, it can affect your authority too. Make sure all your links are of good quality and are completely relevant.

There are other factors, but Google will probably never tell us. An interesting fact is that TrustRank was actually registered by the corporate giant in 2005 along with a patent to go with it. So it’s definitely real and it could mean more to the SERP than PageRank. Give it a try and see if it makes any difference because it’s definitely worth it.