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• New York Times® Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
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More factors that may yet influence your rankings at least with Search Engines:

—————————————————————– 

Can your website usability influence your search engine rankings? 
Do search engines care about the usability of your web pages? Does it make a difference whether your web pages are easy to navigate or not?

A recent patent application from Yahoo indicates that search engines might take a look at your web page design. The document includes a long list of factors that search engines can consider to determine the usability of a web page.

Why can usability be important to search engines?

The patent application contains a short paragraph that explains why search engines might consider the usability of web pages:

"It can be important to make web pages easy and pleasing to use, which can be particularly important for web pages it is desired to monetize. [...].

If such web pages are not easy and pleasing to use, the money-making potential of those web pages can be jeopardized. One conventional indication of whether a web page is easy and pleasing to use is called 'clutter.'"

Web pages with good usability usually have a higher conversion rate than cluttered web pages. Web pages with good usability often have a higher quality than other web pages and search engines try to return high quality web pages in their search results.

Which factors can search engines analyze to determine the clutter of your pages?

Yahoo's patent applications provides a list of 51 web page elements that can be analyzed to determine the clutter of a web page:

Total number of links
Total number of words
Total number of images (non-ad images)
Image area above the fold (non-ad images)
Dimensions of page
Page area (total)
Page length
Total number of tables
Maximum table columns (per table)
Maximum table rows (per table)
Total rows
Total columns
Total cells
Average cell padding (per table)
Average cell spacing (per table)
Dimensions of fold
Fold area
Location of center of fold relative to center of page
Total number of font sizes used for links
Total number of font sizes used for headings
Total number of font sizes used for body text
Total number of font sizes
Presence of “tiny” text
Total number of colors (excluding ads)
Alignment of page elements
Average page luminosity
Fixed vs. relative page width
Page weight (proxy for load time)
Total number of ads
Total ad area
Area of individual ads
Area of largest ad above the fold
Largest ad area
Total area of ads above the fold
Page space allocated to ads
Total number of external ads above the fold
Total number of external ads below the fold
Total number of external ads
Total number of internal ads above the fold
Total number of internal ads below the fold
Total number of internal ads
Number of sponsored link ads above the fold
Number of sponsored link ads below the fold
Total number of sponsored link ads
Number of image ads above the fold
Number of image ads below the fold
Total number of image ads
Number of text ads above the fold
Number of text ads below the fold
Total number of text ads
Position of ads on page
According to the patent application, Yahoo might also consider the presence of animated and flashing ads and the average ad luminosity.

What does this mean to your web pages?

Good website usability can greatly improve the conversion rate of your website. If your website gets many visitors but only a few sales then it might be that your web pages are too cluttered and that you have to improve your website design.

Google has a similar patent application with the name "Detecting and rejecting annoying documents" so it seems that good website design becomes more and more important if you want to get high search engine rankings.

The HTML code of your web pages must make a good impression to search engines. If search engines find that your web pages don't have the right content then these pages cannot get high search engine rankings.

Analyze your web pages with IBP's Top 10 Optimizer to find out how search engines see the contents of your web pages and what you can do to improve your pages so that they get top 10 rankings on Google and Yahoo.
 
Visit http://www.Axandra.com
 

http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html 

Although many do not lend merit to a page rank, it can be best used as a barometer of sorts to measure how you can rank in Google.

It's worth the time to read. 

Starting today, the minimum bids for some Sponsored Search keywords are no longer fixed at $.10. Minimum bids can now be lower or higher than $.10. Content Match minimum bids currently will remain at $.10. Throughout the next week, you may start noticing new minimum bids on some of your keywords. You will be notified by email and within your account when the status of any of your keywords is affected.

The amount set as your minimum bid on a keyword in Sponsored Search can vary depending on multiple factors, such as:

•	The number of bidders and bid amounts in the particular keyword market
•	The quality of your keywords, or their relevance to advertisers, as measured by the quality of the ads associated with them

How it Works

•	Your keyword is active—or eligible for display—when your current bid is equal to or greater than your minimum bid for that keyword.
•	Your keyword becomes inactive if your bid falls below your minimum, and won't be displayed unless your minimum bid is met.
•	You'll be notified when your bid is too low, and will have up to several days to adjust your bid.

When you visit another website, do find yourself wanting more information and cannot find it?

• What does the product do for me? What are it's usages?
• But does it come in another color?
• What sizes do they come in?
• Are there any guarantees?
• How is that shipped?
• How do I handle returns?
• Does it help the environment?

You may want to link to a FAQ page, or provide the information on that web page. Make the web experience a complete one. The goal is to use the website to answer most if not all the commonly asked questions without your interventon and to convert those visitors into sales.

To make it easier for visitors to decided to use your products or services, you need to answer these "Who, What, Where, When, Why and How" questions briefly and clearly. You need to decide on how "briefly" you want to make your answers, but be sure to use enough verbiage to convey a complete thought or explain your company, service or product.

As time goes on, you will add to your web pages by learning more about your customers and what they are searching for.  Then adding more content to those web pages so you can help yourself and those visitors looking for your goods or services. You will be developing clear answers to those questions while expanding your website that will result in increasing your web marketing. 

 Good Luck

I have been to so many website, that I feel lost when I visit some sites. Does the website have a Title? Does it clearly state what the site is for? Is there a mission or summary paragraph that encapsulates the site's purpose?

How can I purchase the product, or do I have to hunt around the site to find it? Where is the information I need? Do I have to look at every webpage to locate it?

How do I contact someone? 

I t is so important that the first page grabs your attention, but also it must include the following:

• Who you are
• What you offer
• Why you offer it
• When do you offer it
• Where can you get it
• How can I get it

If a visitor has to guess at any of these questions, then the site just doesn't do it's job. It is important to take the time to answer these questions and to provide a website that will hold on to it's visitors. You can always update the site, but more importantly, you need to start with a clear message.

Smitty 

http://www.smittysholdings.com

Although this is basic overview of some of the techniques used to optimize a web page, there are many more techniques to use. You may wish to contact us to find out more about how we can help you optimize your web site.

What do I need to know about the updated display URL policy?

Based on feedback from both our advertisers and users, and consistent with our efforts to present relevant results, we'll no longer allow certain exceptions to our display URL policy. These include, but aren't limited to, redirects and vanity URLs. In line with our existing policy, we'll continue to require that your ad's display URL matches its destination URL (the URL of your landing page). This policy will be strictly enforced for new ads, regardless of previous exceptions. For more details about the current display URL policy, please visit

https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=47173.

Here are some other important aspects of the policy you may want to keep in mind:

Tracking URLs

Your ads will be approved if the URL of your landing page domain matches that of your display URL domain.

For example, the following would be acceptable:

    * Display URL: www.google.com/adwords
    * Destination URL: www.trackingurl.com/google123
    * Landing page URL: www.google.com

However, this example would be unacceptable:

    * Display URL: www.google.com/adwords
    * Destination URL: www.trackingurl.com/google123
    * Landing page URL: www.trackingurl.com

Sub-Domains

The use of sub-domains and additional text within the display will continue to be acceptable, provided the top-level domain matches the URL of your landing page.

For example, the display URLs below would be acceptable for the landing page URL of http://sub.google.com/miscellaneous, as the top-level domains match:

    * sub.google.com
    * google.com/extratext
    * www.google.com/extratext

For that matter, any file from a popular software application, sent by e-mail or accessible at a website, is no longer trustworthy. Why? Data thieves are increasingly using them as snares in attacks that focus on patrons of companies and agencies that collect sensitive data, or zero in on specific individuals within certain organizations.

For the whole article: 

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/

NEW YORK — Hulu, the online video joint venture of News Corp and General Electric's NBC Universal, will make its public debut on Wednesday with programming from Time Warner's Warner Bros Television Group, Lionsgate and from sports leagues
http://www.hulu.com/

At launch, Hulu will offer full-length episodes of more than 250 TV series from current hits such as The Simpsons as well as older shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It also will offer 100 movies including The Big Lebowski and Mulholland Drive.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/

Every webmaster should have some basic understanding of these simple SEO techniques if they want to achieve Top Rankings for their site. The more you know about these Search Engine Optimization techniques; the better your web pages will fare in the different search engines, especially Google.

Optimizing your pages for the search engines should be your main priority because conquering and dominating your chosen keywords is often cited as one of the major determining factors in the success of your online site or business. You must have a rudimentary grasp of how SEO can work for you and your site.

These simple SEO Tips will help you understand the basics and help you reach your online goals.

1. Title Tag

The Title Tag is located at the top of your html page and it tells the search engines what your page is about. When you open your page in a browser these are the words at the very top of the screen. Despite its simplicity, the title tag is crucial to 'on-page optimization'; it should include your main keywords and it should be 63 characters or less if you want your title to appear in full on Google.

Many SEO experts create web pages in a three-prong approach. They place the title in:

- the title tag - on the webpage itself - and in the URL for that page

Sometimes they will just pick the main keywords from the title and place them in the anchor url instead. For example: www.yourwebsite.com/keywords.html

2. Meta Description Tag

The Meta Tag contains the description for your web page. Your description will show up in all the search engines so you have to be careful to write precisely and objectively. It should be about 140 characters or around 20 words. Make sure to include your keywords but don't spam - don't repeat your keywords more than twice - using variations is helpful.

Keep in mind, successful webmasters make their descriptions stand out from the crowd and entice the surfer to click their link. It is also the first contact with your potential visitor or prospect so make a good first impression.

3. Anchor Tag or URL

The anchor tag is used to form links within websites or from site to site. This tag should have your title or the main keywords from your page title to be the most effective.

Anchor text is also important to know - these are the underlined, clickable text or words in a link. <*A xhref="url"> anchor text <*/A>

If you want to check Google for all web pages containing your keywords in the anchor tags.

Just type into Google Search:

allinanchor:yourkeywords

4. Finding Backlinks

One of the keys to higher rankings is building quality links from relevant, related quality sites. The search engines, especially Google, count each link as a "vote" for your site or content. Many experts suggest you include your main keywords in the anchor text of these inbound links in order to rank high.

If you want to find the number of backlinks your site has.

Just type into Google Search:

link:yourURL

and it will give you the number of backlinks you have.

Google doesn't give you all your existing backlinks, so you can try Yahoo! to find a more exact number.

Just open Yahoo! and type in:   linkdomain:yourURL

5. Checking Indexed Pages

If is very important for you to know what content the search engines have indexed from your site. You can also check to see how your links are displayed and to see if any titles or descriptions are missing from your pages.

You can see how many of your pages are indexed in Google by using the site command.

Just type into Google Search:

site:yourURL

Another way to look at your pages in Google is to type in "http://yoursite" and "www.yoursite" with the quotation marks to see the exact number of listings for each.

6. Checking Google Cache

You can also check to see the Google Cache of your site by using the cache command. You will also discover when it was last retrieved.

Just type into Google Search:

cache:yourURL

7. Finding Associated Keywords

Keywords are the heart of the Internet, you must dominate the search engines for your chosen keywords if you are to succeed online. So make sure you have your main keywords in the Meta Keyword Tag on your page. Many experts suggest you place your page's main keywords in the first and last 25 words on that page.

You must also be able to find and use variations of your keywords to completely conquer your targeted niche. To find what other keywords Google has associated with your main keywords, just use the tilde ~ command to find associated phrases in Google.

Just type into Google search:

~keywords

Variations will be highlighted in bold print.

8. Finding Titled Keywords

If you want to find competing sites that have your keywords in the title just use the allintitle command.

Just type into Google search:

allintitle:yourkeywords

In summary, if used consistently, these basic SEO techniques should help improve your rankings and keep you in the picture with regards to your standings in the search engines. Your site's stats or raw traffic logs will also confirm the rise or fall of your keyword rankings. You must have complete knowledge of both your site and your keywords in the search engines, especially Google. Since Google will deliver most of your quality traffic, you must optimize for it and be aware of what is happening to your site and keywords within Google. This is yet another example where knowledge equals success.

===========================================================
The author is now a full-time web marketer who regularly sells 1000's of dollars worth of affiliate products/services each day. He owns and runs numerous websites, including two sites on Internet marketing. For the latest web marketing tools try: http://www.bizwaremagic.com or http://www.marketingtoolguide.com
2008 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Timeouts can ruin rankings! One of the biggest factors that causes slow loading web pages is the size and number of the images on that web page. You must find the balance of images to content. Optimize the images to the smallest size without losing image quality. Be aware of using too many images and preloaders (preloaders do help a good deal for mouseovers and other effects). Loading images can take time, so keep them small.

Another factor is the web hosting server your website is on. Watch out for timeouts, you may have other web sites hammering the web server ruining your performance. If that is the case - contact your web hosting company and let them know. Having a slow server or poorly loading web site will impact your rankings. If the search engine spider cannot index the web site, the site will not be found.

JMHO

-=Smitty=- 

A robots.txt file basically tells the search engine spiders what not to look at. Which directories to ignore or skip.

The robots.txt file is locate in the root directory of your web site. Example: http://www.yourwebsite.com/robots.txt

How do you create a robots.txt file?

The robots.txt file is a plain text file. This is the basic format: 

User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /images/
Disallow: /admin/

As of recently many of the major search engines adopted a new function, you can add the sitemap.xml file to the robots.txt file: 

Sitemap: http://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml 

The search engine spiders do look for the robots.txt file.

For more information about robots.txt file creation:

http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/robots.html 

The search engine spiders will hit the main frame usually the index.html and see nothing - just the html code on the page and move on. The core information is usually on the pages being drawn into the frames, but the frame commands have been abused in the past. Drawing web pages from other websites into the site owner's frames, as if the content is owned by the site drawing it in. This is a huge no-no with the search engines. 

Site owners wanted to maintain control of the visitor - similar to the way about.com operates. But those web pages will not get indexed.

In the light of keeping things short and easy to read - The only other thing I want to say is - avoid frames - end of story.

-=Smitty=- 

You must have text on the web page for the search engines to digest. Images offer nothing for the search engine spiders to read. Although the use of image alt tags are recommended for all images, the alt tag does not carry the same weight as text, bold, italic and especially hyperlinked due to web designers stuffing the alt tags with keywords and information that has nothing to do with the web page.

If you use an image, you need an alt tag. 

Balance the images and text on every web page. Your content will be the primary factor in your rankings. You need to ask yourself "Does your web page convey a message?" Ask yourself what the message is? If you can answer it from what you read off your web page then you are on target.

-=Smitty=-