I put alot of time into this hopefully it is made a sticky..

Web Marketing & Making money with your website By Todd Hebert Owner The Tire Store and LA Wheels Direct

I first want to start by explaining that designing a website is the easy part. It is what you do after that takes time and must be maintained as outlined in this training paper. Everything included in here is very important and must be followed.

GETTING UP AND RUNNING



1) Site design and optimization
The important thing to designing you website is to make it user friendly but at the same time using your keywords (phrases you want people to search for to find you) numerous times throughout the page. This must be done on every page you create. Some key items you must include on each page are outlined below.

A) Meta Tags - the most important meta tag is your title. You want your main keywords included in your title. Many search engines such as Google rely heavily on title tags. The next important is the description tags although search engines do not rely on these much many of them use them as your listing when your search comes up. You want to use the description tag to promote your page. The final tag that is not quite as important is your keyword tag. Many search engines do not use this anymore but for the ones that do you will want to include this tag.
B) Picture tags You will also want to include alt tags on your pictures. Google especially relies on alt tags to bring pictures into the search results.
C) Internal linking Many skilled webmasters overlook this important aspect of web design. This can also be included in promoting your website below but I chose to include it here. Internal linking can make or brake a website. You want to have links within your website so that both people and search engines can navigate your site. When creating a new page be sure that people can link to other pages on your website via that page such as your home page however where people make a mistake is they put a hyperlink that plainly says HOME Or MAIN PAGE this is wrong. You want this to use anchor text with something descriptive Such as Return to the flower farms main page or More exotic flowers to choose from. Remember internal links count as much as external links.

2) Promoting your website The important thing about promoting your website is that you want to come up naturally in the search results so that it does not cost you for advertising. The thing to remember is this does not happen overnight it takes time, changes made today may not make a difference for a couple of months but keep up with it. Quality inbound links are the key to getting your site to the top of the search engines and there are various ways to do this as described below. One important thing to mention is anchor text is very important you want to change your anchor text often. In case you do not know what anchor text is it is the phrase people see that they click on so for a tire site it might look like this BF Goodrich tires at the best prices.

A) Link exchanges Link exchanges are the best way for a beginning website to get started. A good source is linkmarket.net . Remember from day one work on this for at least 15 minutes every day and stay with it always as much as you can. Every link counts and gets you further up on the search results.
B) Directories Submitting your site to directories is also a must do. Each directory gives you a link that holds a lot of weight. I suggest the Free directories with exception of Yahoo directory that is one of the only paid directories I recommend. Submit to the open directory project (once) This directory can take years to get into but do not keep submitting or you will never get listed. The important thing is to find a section that actually has an editor that is active.
C) Writing Articles There mare many free article sites on the web. You right an article about your product and make sure you are able to include a link to your site in some way.. Article writing takes time but can help you more then anything if done right.
D) Paid advertising Use this alternative when getting started or to compliment what you have already done.. Various search engines offer paid advertising such as Google, Looksmart and yahoo. This can get you a lot of traffic fast but remember it can cost you money just as fast. My advice is to pick keywords that are relevant but not general for instance if you sell Tires you may not want to purchase the keyword tires however BF Goodrich tires might be better.
E) Forum posting This should have bee listed higher up on the list. Online forums are a great place to get your links out there. Many forums allow you to include a link in your signature. I suggest joining a number of forums and change your anchor text and link you point to offer so that each page and keyword is getting exposure. This method is very effective. Remember do not spam forums just go in and answer questions or ask. You do not want to promote your products just post.. Your signature link being posted is what you are trying to accomplish.

3) Putting it all together Maintaining your site takes time but it does not have to interfere with your regular schedule. Listed below are the key things you should try to do following the schedule below.

Daily Exchange links & post in forums


Weekly Write an article or 2 and submit to directories

Bi weekly Change content on your pages, Little changes let the search engines know the page is still active.

Monthly Create new pages atleast 15 this can be done throughout the month but you should try to create atleast 15 new pages per month. The more pages you have the better remember internal linking and optimization. This is always necessary however if you want to make money with your site through alternative methods it is recommended. Remember each page is another page people can find to click on items to make you money.

MAKING MONEY WITH YOUR SITE


It does not matter what kind of site you have you can make money with it. Even if you have a shopping site why not compliment it with some revenue from other sources. Many shopping sites make more money from referral revenue then they make on selling products. Here are some ideas.

Affiliate programs Affiliate programs allow you to promote other peoples products and make commission on what your site sells. This is done by banners, Links, Content links and various other forms. A highly recommended affiliate website to get you started is Commision Junction www.cj.com .

Pay Per click This is a great way to make money and try to put the ads on every page. The 2 top companies are Google with there Adsense program and Yahoo with it’s Yahoo Publisher Network publisher.yahoo.com. You must choose one or the other because Google will ban you if it see’s Yahoo ads on your site.

Selling Advertising Space This is another alternative but I would use it only to compliment the other 2.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

A) Link exchanges Link exchanges are the best way for a beginning website to get started. A good source is linkmarket.net . Remember from day one work on this for at least 15 minutes every day and stay with it always as much as you can. Every link counts and gets you further up on the search results.

According to the new Google guidelines, this is grounds for a ban. They're being debated if you want to come join us. Either the SEO or Google forum, I forget which.

B) Picture tags You will also want to include alt tags on your pictures. Google especially relies on alt tags to bring pictures into the search results.

There is no such thing as an "alt tag". ALT is an ATTRIBUTE of the IMG tag. There is another reason for always using the ALT ATTRIBUTE on images - accessibility, especially if the image is more than just a decoration.

A) Link exchanges Link exchanges are the best way for a beginning website to get started.

Just ANY link is not always going to be helpful. RELEVANCE counts and REPUTATION is a huge factor. I would not want one of my physician practice sites to have links from a punk rock band or other totally irrelevant sector. The quality of the link matters too ! I will not post links to my sites in this or any forum - the source here is NOT relevant to the doctor's practices.

Adding 15 pages/mo ? 15 pages of WHAT ? Just adding drivel for the sake of adding 'stuff' isn't quality, it's just filler.

Write 2 articles/week ? On what ? Not everyone can write coherently, and forget grammar and spelling (even yours here), it's clear where our education in the English language has gone (down the tubes !). There are plenty of people writing articles that shouldn't be - and it shows.

You've got some good stuff here, but not all of it will apply to EVERY site. Much of it does not apply to sites I build.

Originally Posted by LadynRed

There is no such thing as an "alt tag". ALT is an ATTRIBUTE of the IMG tag. There is another reason for always using the ALT ATTRIBUTE on images - accessibility, especially if the image is more than just a decoration.


Just ANY link is not always going to be helpful. RELEVANCE counts and REPUTATION is a huge factor. I would not want one of my physician practice sites to have links from a punk rock band or other totally irrelevant sector. The quality of the link matters too ! I will not post links to my sites in this or any forum - the source here is NOT relevant to the doctor's practices.

Adding 15 pages/mo ? 15 pages of WHAT ? Just adding drivel for the sake of adding 'stuff' isn't quality, it's just filler.

Write 2 articles/week ? On what ? Not everyone can write coherently, and forget grammar and spelling (even yours here), it's clear where our education in the English language has gone (down the tubes !). There are plenty of people writing articles that shouldn't be - and it shows.

You've got some good stuff here, but not all of it will apply to EVERY site. Much of it does not apply to sites I build.

2 articles a week that pertain to your site contenet of course...all links count even from sites not related maybe not as much but links will not hurt you. An example would be I have a site on medical practices but I discovered a great website for clothing so I promoted it buy putting a link on my site as a good source. Do you think Google will ban me for doing so???? an example is weather.com a nationally known website. there website is full of links and advertisements with sites not pertaining to weather however they are surely not banned. I have been in this business for 12 years and I have never had a site banned for any of these reasons. as far as googles new linking language it is a bunch of boloney. For years google has used the same kind of tactics to scare people. If you have a good site you cannot control who links to you so what Google is saying is if a nonrelevant site links to you then regardless you can be banned. How are they to know where the link comes from.. and again in there language it talks about purchased links..are they saying I can only purchase links from them??? Adwords??? but not from anyone else...come on now it is all scare tactics...

What I wrote was a basic set of guidelines to follow and you slam me and pick it apart that is just plain wrong.....This has worked for me for many sites. Everyone has ideas and things they have tried. Is your way the only right way????? if so one of your sites must be webmd.com if you know everything?????? I think you should lighten up a little bit before slamming someone they way you did.. I think most people caan use these guidelines and vary them to fit there needs it is a basic set of guidelines and not set in stone........

Have A Nice day.......

And one more things 15 pages a month is just another guideline. it has been proven that weight is added to bigger sites with more pages...Who said add garbage pages you use the basic guidelines for every page you build making pages rich in content and fully optimized. this will not only gain you more indexed pages but more pageviews which equates to more traffic.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

What I wrote was a basic set of guidelines to follow and you slam me and pick it apart that is just plain wrong.....This has worked for me for many sites. Everyone has ideas and things they have tried. Is your way the only right way????? if so one of your sites must be webmd.com if you know everything?????? I think you should lighten up a little bit before slamming someone they way you did.. I think most people caan use these guidelines and vary them to fit there needs it is a basic set of guidelines and not set in stone........

Het buddy, let me tell you now, as a member of this forum for the last few months, I have come to see the kind of people who criticise people thoughtlessly (of which there are very few on this forum), and the kind of people who criticise people to HELP them, and to prevent other perhaps less-knowlegeable people from following incorrect 'guidelines' as you call them. And let me tell you now, you will not find a more helpful, well-intentioned designer on any forum in the WORLD than LadyNRed. Every point she made was 100% valid. I know it can be hard to take criticism when you put a lot of effort into something, but if you cant learn to take it well, I'd suggest a different career for you, because after the basics, constructive criticism makes up a huge chunk of your continued learning in web design.

What I wrote was a basic set of guidelines to follow and you slam me and pick it apart that is just plain wrong.

Easy, son, don't get your jockeys in a wad.

I was NOT 'slamming' you, I was merely making my own points and asking questions.

I didn't say that you said to add garbage pages, I just posed the question of what you would add in FIFTEEN pages every single month. Maybe you're a prolific writer and have the TIME to do that. I maintain over SIXTY web sites and have a backlog of nearly 50 more to be built on my desk. Let me tell you, I have NO time to add 15 pages per month to each one of them and the doctors for whom those sites were built are busy seeing patients - not writing articles for their web sites.

I also was trying to point out to you that your 'guidelines' just are not going to work for everyone. Not everyone is SELLING something and not everyone is looking to be at the top of the search engines every single day. Not everyone has the time to just sit and write to add pages to their site and, as I said, there are plenty of people who just should NOT write at all.

Most of what you posted is advice to be found on any number of SEO related web sites, like HighRankings.com, SEO Watch, SEOMOZ, etc., etc. I didn't say what you wrote was bad - I just had a few points to make.

Oh.. "how do they know where a link comes from ??" Uuummm .. think about it.....

Danny, thank you

Originally Posted by LadynRed

Easy, son, don't get your jockeys in a wad.

Haha, "don't get your jockeys in a wad"! I've never heard that one before!

Originally Posted by LadynRed

Danny, thank you

Don't mention it he needed to know

Originally Posted by LadynRed

Easy, son, don't get your jockeys in a wad.

I was NOT 'slamming' you, I was merely making my own points and asking questions.

I didn't say that you said to add garbage pages, I just posed the question of what you would add in FIFTEEN pages every single month. Maybe you're a prolific writer and have the TIME to do that. I maintain over SIXTY web sites and have a backlog of nearly 50 more to be built on my desk. Let me tell you, I have NO time to add 15 pages per month to each one of them and the doctors for whom those sites were built are busy seeing patients - not writing articles for their web sites.

I also was trying to point out to you that your 'guidelines' just are not going to work for everyone. Not everyone is SELLING something and not everyone is looking to be at the top of the search engines every single day. Not everyone has the time to just sit and write to add pages to their site and, as I said, there are plenty of people who just should NOT write at all.

Most of what you posted is advice to be found on any number of SEO related web sites, like HighRankings.com, SEO Watch, SEOMOZ, etc., etc. I didn't say what you wrote was bad - I just had a few points to make.

Oh.. "how do they know where a link comes from ??" Uuummm .. think about it.....

Danny, thank you

Point taken...as long as you see mine.. you are absolutely correct these guidelines would not work for everyone including yourself,, They are ste up more for the person working on there own site trying to make money...The jockey shot was a good one I do have to say... I just hope people can use the guidelines if it fits them and I think with all this whole post is a good learning post.. I think my guidelines ar solid for most new designers doing there own thing..And your points work well for the professional designer.. As I said a good learning post and sorry I got so offended just a misunderstanding on both parts I believe. I think you did not see where I was directing the guidlines and I did not see your points the correct way. Hope all is fine now.

Easy, son, don't get your jockeys in a wad.

Good thing you didn't tell me that. I'm all about the Speedos.

Seriously, dude, a lot of this post is a recipe for disaster. Daily link exchanges? Why would you trade a resource that will net a 0 gain or a loss in traffic (and don't say SEO benefits, because they're basically non-existent)?

The idea of complementing a shopping site with ads from other services is ludicrous and is one of those ideas that 99.999% of sales sites can't use. UNLESS your business is maxed out and your site cannot generate any more revenue for it (which is very rare, although I do actually have one site in that boat), then there's no reason to put any ads whatsoever on it. Why send a customer away for pennies when they could buy dollars from you?

Google will not ban anyone for using a competing ad network in conjunction with their own as long as the ads are clearly distinguishable (i.e. the competing contextual ad network's ads look different from the Adsense ads.)

The title tag is not a meta tag. It's a title tag. Period.

The biggest issue with this "article" is that it promotes laziness. "Write an article and submit it." How about "Write an article that people will actually want to read, with unique content, and submit it to places that are relevant"?

This thing needs some serious work, and it won't help most webmasters (I doubt it would help any, but there may be some newbie who can take some of this advice.)

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Good thing you didn't tell me that. I'm all about the Speedos.

Great. To quote Stewie Griffen, "I'm going to throw up about something else now..."

Originally Posted by LadynRed

Just ANY link is not always going to be helpful. RELEVANCE counts and REPUTATION is a huge factor. I would not want one of my physician practice sites to have links from a punk rock band or other totally irrelevant sector. The quality of the link matters too ! I will not post links to my sites in this or any forum - the source here is NOT relevant to the doctor's practices.

You'd be surprised. I have an outstanding doctor, more knowledgeable than 99 % of the ones I've ever seen. I was in the ER a few weeks ago for a bike accident, went back the next day, got the x-rays, and brought them to my own doctor for review. If I could imagine a scenario where it would help people looking at my site to know about a good doctor in Seattle, I don't think a link from a photo site would be a bad thing. It's not directly relevant, although photographers tend to hike and cycle more than most people, and might have more accidents on the trail ... that's a stretch, but I think relevance is overrated. Maybe I'm just too influenced by the book I'm reading right now - The Tipping Point - but I'm starting to look at the web as a more social place than I thought. I don't think a link from a punk rock band would be that different from two accountants talking about finding a good doctor in their neighborhood. As long as that web site didn't have a million random links.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

all links count even from sites not related maybe not as much but links will not hurt you.

Links to your site won't hurt it; but the link exchange deal means links from your site, too. You can absolutely be punished for those, if Google deems the target of the link to be a "bad neighborhood." They really like to use the metaphor that making links is like casting votes. And if they decide you're voting for spam, they're likely to remove your site from their index.

Link exchange schemes violate the published guidelines. You're perfectly free to work outside the rulebook, but the traffic you get from the search engines is free, and they have the right to stop giving it to you really for any reason at all. They don't ban people for fun, but the guidelines are pretty reasonable, so it's a good deal to work within them and get lots of free referrals.

One last post on this thread and I will leave my point alone. I have always exchanged links and have never been banned. I look at it this way if you spend your whole life optimizing for Google by following everything they say then you are waisting alot of time for nothing. I am not saying to not read the guidelines and do the best you can but as I said I exchange links and get alot of traffic from them alone and believe it or not the more links I exchange the more I come up on google Serps.. believe what you want but links do not hurt you as long as you do not exchange with bad neigborhoods. There are valubale links and less valuable links but each link counts in some way. As far as the Title tag It is not considered a meta tag but falls within the head tags with the meta tags so people when talking meta tags also discuss the title tag . Who really gives a crap if it is a meta or not it is still an important tag that work in conjunction with the meta tags. bot you people really have nothing better to do then pick apart such minor things...some people need to get a life.....Sounds to me like they do not like a newcomer to this forum trying to help other people...Maybe I picked a bad forum.......But I know the guidelines work and all of the "Authority's" on here seem to think it is there way or the highway...believe what you want people i was here to help but obviously i am not aloud to because these people are stuck on worshipping google and are not in touch with reality. i have been doing this for 12 years and constantly watch what is going on. I have seen people read some of this BS that people say you cannot do and delete all of there link pages only to find out that these people mislead them and they lost a ton of traffic in the coming months because some google Worshipper said ( you can't do that Matt Cutt's says so or thew Google guidlines say so) well i have news for you the guidelines from google are vague.. now for another point.. adsense and other ads running on a site. 2 people that I know of including myself have been banned from adsense for running yahoo ads on the sight it is in there guidelines but again it is vague. they must be able to distinguish Google ads from others...they can view that how ever they want. Yahoo ads clearly say yahoo on them but when they ban you they tell you they look to much alike...trust me this can happen.....

Good thing you didn't tell me that. I'm all about the Speedos

Ooo... what a vision that conjures up !! LOL

If I could imagine a scenario where it would help people looking at my site to know about a good doctor in Seattle, I don't think a link from a photo site would be a bad thing.

Good point, Forrest, and I would not consider that a bad thing, it's an organic link and the kind of recommendation that doctors like to have.

Todd, I have one last thing to say here. Remember my comment about spelling and grammar ?? Well.. you keep hitting one of my pet peeves..

THERE - is a place -- "over THERE"
THEY'RE - is a contraction for THEY ARE - 'they're banning me'
THEIR - is possessive, relating to 'them' - 'it's THEIR site', 'it's THEIR business'

If you think grammar, proper usage of the language and spelling is not important then you are doing all web readers a disservice.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

I have always exchanged links and have never been banned.

You have always been alive and have never died, right? Now I hope you're not thinking that means you can drive 200 mph down the freeway and be ok, or go jumping off any bridges? You see what I'm getting at here? The past doesn't predict the future, especially in an area like the web where things change faster than the rest of life.

But if you want to just stick your head under the sand and say "it worked in 1997, so it works in 2007" then good luck to you.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

believe what you want but links do not hurt you as long as you do not exchange with bad neigborhoods.

First it was "links do not hurt you," and now we're tacking riders and conditions on to the statement? Well at least you're starting to show some sense, but you really should have thought this through before you started telling people (who don't know better) how to run their sites.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

Who really gives a crap if it is a meta or not

Web designers, web developers, and anyone who works with HTML.

Or did you mean that people better have a lola tag with a datafibulator script to ooba the server's effixley? Moxor the statley! Weejom amiboia.

What's that you say? You don't understand what I'm talking about? THAT'S WHY WE USE TERMS EVERYBODY UNDERSTANDS AND AGREES WHAT THEY MEAN.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

bot you people really have nothing better to do then pick apart such minor things...some people need to get a life.....Sounds to me like they do not like a newcomer to this forum trying to help other people...

We understand you're trying to help other people, but you're going about it in a way that's going to hurt other people. That's why your ideas (not you) are being criticized. So those people you're trying to help don't follow you over the edge of the cliff, like lemmings.

You're the first person I've ever heard say having leisure time is a bad thing.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

Maybe I picked a bad forum.......

Maybe you gave bad advice. Have you even considered that possibility?

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

But I know the guidelines work and all of the "Authority's" on here seem to think it is there way or the highway...

About some things, yes. Because it's the truth. You know, when I'm driving home, if I don't like the highway, I can't just drive on peoples lawns or make my car fly. It's the highway, or not getting home. In some cases, like spam, there's only one right way to do things.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

believe what you want people i was here to help but obviously i am not aloud to because these people are stuck on worshipping google and are not in touch with reality.

Hello, pot, this is the kettle talking. If you think people worship Google, instead of simply working with them to keep getting free traffic like someone already pointed out, there's someone out of touch with reality, but it's not LNR, Adam, Angelosanto or Forrest.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

google Worshipper said ( you can't do that Matt Cutt's says so or thew Google guidlines say so)

Does it make me a Bush worshiper if I stay within the limits of the USA PATRIOT Act because I like not being in Gitmo, or does it just make me smart?

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect

well i have news for you the guidelines from google are vague..

That's opinion, not fact, and news is not made of opinion.

You seem really angry. Please understand the nature of a forum is to discuss ideas. You brought plenty of ideas up, and now people are discussing them. I think the fact that there's a consensus saying "Hey, wait a minute" is telling. And anybody who's not "out of touch with reality" as you put it would notice the same thing.

Originally Posted by LadynRed

Ooo... what a vision that conjures up !! LOL

You know, Adam is always calling you the most sexy web designer. Don't you owe him the same consideration?

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

You know, Adam is always calling you the most sexy web designer. Don't you owe him the same consideration?

He's got a point, LNR. You really need to start looking at those 8x10 glossies I keep sending you...they really do bring out my armpits! (Admit it, you love men with great armpits.)

lawheelsdirect: it has nothing to do with "Google worship" or "obeying guidelines" or anything else that you came up with in your barely coherent rant. It's common sense...why would you exchange traffic and links daily, and thereby send users away from your site daily without, in all likelihood, receiving the same traffic in return? And don't come up with the SEO benefits thing, because there are hundreds of factors that make up the equation...and chances are, you're not seeing any increased sales and traffic as a result of your apparent obsessive-compulsive rank checking (yet another silly idea brought to you by the SEO crowd who haven't yet figured out what a useless exercise rank checking is) that you've tied into one factor, when there are over 100 that make up the equation.

You may have meant well, but your advice is bad and will get people into trouble, including you, sooner or later.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect
But I know the guidelines work and all of the "Authority's" on here seem to think it is there way or the highway...

You mean like the person who posted an article based on his perceived and deeply flawed knowledge of how the guidelines work, apparently expecting the world to wipe his *** for him as a debt of gratitude?

Can I get some fries to go with that hypocrisy?

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect
Who really gives a crap if it is a meta or not

Anyone looking for unbiased and correct information would. Facts are a funny thing when you're trying to present an informational piece...you sort of need them to be correct, or it makes you come across as someone who knows nothing and is just presenting a series of random theories in a Vasityesque attempt to appear authoritiative.

Originally Posted by lawheelsdirect
2 people that I know of including myself have been banned from adsense for running yahoo ads on the sight it is in there guidelines but again it is vague. they must be able to distinguish Google ads from others

The same Yahoo! ads you're running right now to provide a secondary income source, since your primary source isn't working for you because you can't get the right type of traffic to your site because you're too busy trying to get search engine traffic to your site with silly ideas like link exchanges and keyword stuffing, rather than actually providing an even remotely enjoyable customer experience?

This article has established one thing and one thing alone: you know nothing. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can make some money.

You know, Adam is always calling you the most sexy web designer. Don't you owe him the same consideration?

I never said it was a BAD vision !

You really need to start looking at those 8x10 glossies I keep sending you..

Hmm... are you wearing the speedos ???

Maybe.

Tease !

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Facts are a funny thing when you're trying to present an informational piece...you sort of need them to be correct

I wish I didn't give you TP earlier today, 'cause this deserves it more.