RSS Feed Tips for the Beginner!

RSS Feed Tips for the Beginner!

A logical question I'm often ask is....."what are RSS feeds anyway"? We see this term on many web sites; "subscribe to this RSS feed". RSS is the three letter acronym for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. An RSS feed allow you to get real time information every time new content is posted to a particular web site that you have an interest in....and you receive the latest updates on that particular subject, product or service directly from the web site source to your desktop. What a convenient way to stay informed about your favorite online authors, writings, weather, news, products or services and other areas of interest you may have.

You will save an incredible amount of time by using an RSS feed. You won't have to surf the web for updated information, it will be automatically forwarded to you until you decided you no longer want such a service. You can cancel at any time. This will save a lot of junk from hitting your e-mail in box and wasting time going through a ton of worthless e-mails. You choose which feeds you want to review on a regular basis and turn it on and off at will. Your e-mail address will be required, however, the RSS aggregators does not use your e-mail address to send any updates. One great feature you will enjoy....it is spam free. Your e-mail address is kept private and safe from e-mail brokers and spammers.

If and when you want to unsubscribe from the RSS feed you merely delete the RSS feed information from your aggregator. If you are enjoying the latest news on a given subject and your interest changes, just unsubscribe. There is a definite advantage here for you the subscriber and/or the site owner where the feed is coming from. You are in control and when your interest changes you have helped the site owner because they will now only be providing information to those individuals who are truly interested in their product or services, giving the web owner more time to laser focus on people who have a true interest in their business opportunity.

If you are a writer with interest in the same information category as the RSS feed, you can republish the article from another web site or information source. When using other peoples articles please give that author credit for their work. By putting the authors entire article as written in quotes and giving that author credit for the informative article, you can republish that article in your own blog, forum, e-mail etc. You get the point here....new content and information on your web site complimenting your products or services. Use this feature wisely and you will find that RSS feeds are a great way to promote your business as well.

Some advantages and disadvantages must be considered when using feeds like this. Normally, the feeds will be text only without a bunch of photos or graphics. This will save you a lot of time in your reviews of the feed and if you want pictures and graphics you can always visit the business web site for that information. Some web based aggregators may provide other than just text. Choose wisely.

If you haven't used RSS feeds in your business before, it's well worth a try. Do your research regarding RSS feeds and see if feeds will works for you. You need to make sure your web site supports RSS feeds. Most aggregators are very user friendly, so it should be rather simple to set up this process even though you may be a bit computer challenged. Check it out and see if you are comfortable with this type of system working for you.

When reviewing a web site and you like what you see....and you decide to keep up to date on the sites new products, continued articles and so forth, you can look for the RSS or XML button somewhere on the site. Normally it will provide you with a simple code with subscription instruction that follow. This code will contain the URL address of the web site of interest. When you get it all set up the information you receive from the site will be in real time.

There are some distinct advantage for the web owner. This provides the web owners time to laser focus targeted leads for follow up. This will provide more time for the follow up simply because you are now focusing on only the individuals who are interested in a specific product or service, thus eliminating the normal hit and miss operation your may be accustom to. The focus here can develop into a very powerful marketing strategy. By contacting networking organizations, sporting stores or club, this process could develop into a lucrative business venture.

By using your imagination here, you will probably come up with a dozen or more different ways you may want to consider. The sky is the limit here and may be an avenue you've never considered before, but well worth pursuing now. Good Luck!

The eBiz Solutions Team is standing by to assist you in your marketing ideas. Call today for your free 30 minute consultation.

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L Miller SEM/SEO Consulting

Private Line: 321-594-4405
Skype: larrylmiller121

The Most Popular Link on the Internet!

Search Engine Algorithms and You!

Search Engine Algorithms and You!

SEO which is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization is a complex process the search engines uses to analyize your web site to see if your site has earned the right to be indexed by the search engines. Not all web sites meet the criteria of the search engines to qualify or stay qualified....for any given period of time. Each search engine has a different set of guidelines for this process. Meeting the qualifications of Google may not be what Yahoo or Bing are looking for, for you to earn high page for your web site.

Each of the search engines uses literally hundreds of checks and balances to establish whether your web site will qualify for indexing in their systems. Understanding the differences of what each search engine are looking for and working with those guidelines....will you achieve good page ranking with the search engines.

There are no regulations in place for SEO Consulting Firms who claims to be SEO gurus. There are more and more individual claiming to be the most knowledgeable in SEO practices. All titles of these organizations are self imposed, however, there are certain unfair practices known as the black hat SEO.

It is recommended that when searching for an SEO company to represent your business opportunity....that good page standings of past projects may represent the quality of work done by that organization. In other words where does that company stand with the search engines. What is their page rank...have they proved they can do the job you need to promote your business opportunity in a timely fashinon?

Another area of interest is the number of links of the organization. Does it even have any links? If so....are these links pointing to the target web site and what is the quality of those links. Are those links good links or are there broken links included in the total. These are just some of the questions you need answered before you commit to hiring someone just because they are cheap and say they are the expert in search engine optimization. A legitimate company can give you a printed report of their link popularity. Ask for it!

When considering the process of Search Engine Optimization you may not understand any of the complex strategies of this ever changing aspect of online marketing. This is where a professional who specializes in top positions with the search engines really comes into play. SEO is a complex process and for the average lay person they can't fathom the process. Most admit it's not worth learning or pursuing the ongoing studies required to keep up with the changes that occur on a regular basis. Learning this process in a long and grueling journey and just about the time you think you have all the information to do well....the rules and engine algorithms change. Unless you live with this process daily and are on top of this game every day, something critically important is going to be overlooked and may cost you dearly in search engine rankings. Once you loose momentum with your page rank positions it seem like it takes forever to regain your previous acceptable positions again. A qualified pro lives this process and can help you in this ever changing world called internet marketing.

There are no legitimate guarantees that can be declared for page rank positions with the search engines. The different algorithms of the various search engines will prohibit any site to be indexed and page ranked using a broad brush approach. The guidelines and the criteria the search engines uses is not available to the general public, so any consulting company that says other wise is misleading you. Guidelines with all the search engines are closely guarded secrects that only a trusted few employees of the search engines staff even have a clue of how it all works. We all get the same information....and that information comes only when it's made available by the individual search engines.

The successful outcome of any SEO campaign is accomplished by trial and more trials over an extended period of time. What works for some SEO Campaigns may not work for another project. Flexibility in this process is an acquired virtue. Using some of the old proven techniques as well as new changes of the search engine algorithms....is the only way to generate a positive outcome for your marketing campaigns. This whole process does not happen overnight....the secret to a successful SEO campaign is consistency and using all the marketing tools available....plus the ability of the SEO professional to meld all of these ingredients together and present your business opportunity to the search engines correctly. Once this information is all put together in the search engines algorithm then and only then will the search engines point your optimized web site to the potential clients when a search query using your keywords and phrases is made by the user.

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L Miller SEM/SEO Consulting

Private Line: 321-594-4405
Skype: larrylmiller121

The Most Powerful Link on the Internet!

Are You Marketing Challenged...Need Help?!?

Are You Marketing Challenged...Need Help?!?

If you're just getting started on the internet....getting started on the right foot is imperative....and learning the process of marketing your business opportunity on the internet is a prerequisite to become successful on line! Learn some simple yet effective tips from the professionals that will help accelerate your learning process!

Most of us have been through the process of searching the web for that unbelievable program that will make us an overnight millionaire. You know....the one where you can retire on some tropical island and drink those exotic island drinks all day while laying on the beach getting a suntan. That program that is the most wonderful thing since sliced bread! The one that you don't have to advertise, make phone calls or do any recruiting. All you have to do is check your back statement every morning to see how much money your made while you were sleeping last night. That type of advertising lies....insults my intelligence.

How much money have you wasted on that kind of to good to be true junk? Everyone I talk to has been through the same ridiculous fantasy. I was in a meeting the other day and one of the individuals in the meeting had spent over $10,000 buying junk programs that was hyped supposedly make them get rich quickly. They had not make one nickle with all that wasted money. If you don't remember anything else in this article today, remember this one statement....There is NO legitimate get rich scheme that will make you rich overnight!! It takes work and dedication to be successful on the internet just like any other business. Everything else is a outright lie.

By putting together a fancy web site with a lot of flash and hyped up content will ruin your chances of success on the internet. The search engines are not interested in flash, pictures and junk content and they will punish you for this type of site. They may even ban you from the internet. The Search Engines are interested in one thing....and that is good keyword rich relevant content about your products or service. By writing articles with good keyword rich content on a daily basis, search engine like Google will push your site to higher and higher page ranking.

I reviewed a survey the other day, stating that more than 78% of the people who are doing a search for a product or service will Google the topic for information about a business or individual before they will do business with them. Most people won't go past page one or maybe page two of Google in researching their interest. If you're not positioned on page 1 or 2 of the search engines....you may never be found on the internet.

By consistently writing new articles with good keyword rich content, Google will position you in their rankings so that people will find you quicker than if you just have a lot of glitz, glamour and moving text on your web site. I reviewed a site the other morning for a potential client who couldn't understand why his site (which was well designed and looked good) was going nowhere. When I reviewed the source code which is where the search engine look....there was NO keywords....NO meta tag description....and NO links. Plus there had been NO new content added to the web site since the site was built in June of 2005. It doesn't take a take a rocket expert to figure out what's wrong with that picture. However, if you don't have the expertise to investigate the source, how would anyone ever know to look at the inner structure of the web site. You wouldn't. Without proper training you probably don't have a clue where to look either. This is where professional help can be the difference between success and possible failure. Don't go this road alone....get the help you need, when you need it.

If you need assistance, the eBiz Solutions Team is standing by to assist you in your marketing endeavors. Call today for your 30 minute consultation....it's Free!!!

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L Miller SEM/SEO Consulting

Private Line: 321-594-4405
Skype: larrylmiller121

>The Most Powerful Link on the Internet!

Gain Knowledge by Writing!

Gain Knowledge by Writing!

Writing articles is sometimes an arduous task that we all despise from time to time. Most of us say "I can't write" so therefore I don't waste my time. One of the great secrets of learning to write....is writing. Writing good content requires research, therefore, in your research you will gain an incredible amount of vital information about a particulat subject. With this knowledge you will be prepared to write informative articles about your products, services or maybe a blog regarding your favorite sporting event.

Most of us have had an opportunity to watch some of the Vancouver 2010 performances in the last couple of weeks. What fantastic performances and dedication of success we've seen. Do you think this was the first time these athletes ever put on a pair of skates or others who skied the downhill at speed nearing 100 miles per hour....o you think this was their first competition? Absolutely not....every single one has been practicing since they were able to walk in most cases. These athletes spend hours and hours everyday of the week honing their skills to perfection. Every single individual has a coach that is working with them to make them live, breath and train for an event that only last for maybe 5 minutes or so. What drives these athletes to put their bodies thru intense pain just to win? Gold...Silver...Bronze Medals and the pride of being the best in the world. They have just generated a reputation for themselves that will follow them for the rest of their life....letting the world know that they were the best....even though it was only for about 5 minutes of fame.

Writing requires the same regiment, dedication and training to become successful in writing....you learn to write by writing. Write like you talk....and the words your trying to convey will come across in a sincere and acceptable manner to your audience. Get a coach if necessary, but keep up with your training by writing...and writing until you have honed your skills of writing to perfection in your mind. This dedication will reflect in your writings and you will see more and more people subscribing to your way of thinking.

One suggestion would be to read an article by one of the great writers on any subject....you can think of. Try making an outline of that article....then write an informative article of your own....talking about the same thought you just studied. You will be amazed how much content you can write after you've taken the time to study a particular subject and put into your own words. You may have to re-write your article more than once. So What? Write it and re-write it until your comfortable with the flow of information about your subject matter. Write as you saw and understood the subject of interest. Sharing information is a tremendous way to become popular on the internet. You become an authority, an expert if you will....to the person who is gleaning information from your writings. You are getting your 5 minutes of fame. Just as the athletes have earned their right to participate in an event, you to must earn the right to become a recognizable authority on the internet about your product or service.

Consistently writing articles with keyword rich specific content and posting those articles on the internet is one of the keys to unlock the power of successful marketing. Individuals surfing on the internet are looking for straight forward information about a product or service they may have an interested in. The first impression will normally determine whether you will get their business or if that potential client will become a client of your competition. One chance is normally all you will get to impress a potential client, so make that opportunity the very best you can with full and fair disclosure of information.

Brief, precise, keyword rich, relative information is what people are looking for. Don't try to hype a product and go on and on about your opportunity being the latest and greatest widget. This is a major turn off! Shoppers don't like questionable content and false promises when looking to purchase an item online. Shoppers are looking for straight forward information....about their interest at that moment. Nothing more and nothing less.

The potential client will normally follow the cycle of human behavior. They will scan the content looking for keywords that will trigger additional interest in what they are already looking for. It is a good practice when writing to make your keywords stand out so the potential client can find those keywords quickly. You can bold or italics your keywords if you like. This also indicates to the search engines these are keywords. You must submit short articles with keyword specific meaning, to stimulate that individual's attention to the point of purchasing what you have to offer. Throwing a lot of hype and repetitious information will bore the user very quickly. Thus driving the user elsewhere to purchase the product or service of interest.

One suggestion....which is recommended by the experts is the....the 3 to 4 second rule. Get the potential clients Attention....spark an Interest....create a Desire ....and influence that individual to take Action. A decision will always follow this process. The decision to purchase a product or service from you is the goal here....or they will go elsewhere if the information is boring or questionable. Be very specific....informative....and truthful, the rest will fall into place. Shading the truth will always come back and bite you where it hurts the most. Don't succumb to taking the fateful path of shadowing the truth....always tell it like it is....even if it hurts.

The eBiz Solutions Team is standing by to assist you in this process. Call today for your free 30 minute consultation.

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L. Miller SEM/SEO Consulting

Private Line: 321-594-4405
Skype: larrylmiller121

The Most Powerful Link on the Internet!

Visualization Will Become a Reality!

Visualization Will Become a Reality!

Have you ever dreamed of having a successful online business? Most of us have, at one time or another. However, statistics show that less than 5% of individuals using the internet actually make money. This computes to 95% of the people who are online end up spending money....not making money. People are spending their money on junk and get rich quick schemes that don't work. They are chasing the mythical pot of gold at the end of a rainbow....only to find it doesn't exist.

Why do so many people fail on the internet? It's really a simple answer. They believe all the hype of getting filthy rich, then spending the rest of their life laying on the beach on some beautiful island and never working again. Be realistic folks. Who do you know that has accomplished this incredible feat? Nobody! Human beings dream of getting something for nothing and that's exactly what they get....absolutely nothing.

You're not alone in your desires to become successful in life. All of us have that desire at one time or another. The difference in those who become successful and those who fail is quite elementary. Visualization! You must visualize your success....to become successful. If you don't visualize success....you're destined to failure. Success breeds success....failure is generated by hanging with people who are failures

I had the honor of being a student of Butch Hamilton and train with the "Master" himself in marketing strategies. I read one of Butch's articles recently on Visualization Marketing. What an eye opener. Butch stated "I believe that visualization is the first step in achieving desired success. It is simply the act of thinking about what you wish to accomplish". That article was absolutely powerful and helped me so much in my attitude and direction and has helped me to become the success I am today.

I applaud the statement Butch made "what we think is what we become". How true this is. If we visualize success in our life....success will happen. Conversely, if we think we are going to fail....that's exactly what will happen in your life. You are what you think!

There have been numerous articles and books written about this concept. It's nothing new....it's just we don't follow through on good advise most of the time. A book written many years ago....Think and Grow Rich....is an excellent example of this theory. Positive thoughts breed success. On the other hand negative thinking not only affects you, but is contagious to everyone around you. Negative thoughts can be the death of your actions today....or your opportunity of success tomorrow.

You are the only one who can change your negative thoughts. Surround yourself with positive individuals and see the immediate difference it will make in your life. Positive thoughts build confidence....and will create good things happening all around you. Negative thoughts will....immediately destroy success. A person with a negative attitude will drag you down quickly and you will become just like individuals you hang with.

The art and science of online marketing is all about visualizing your success. Don't just think about it. Do it! This process is not an overnight happening. Depending on your abilities and efforts you put into your dreams today....will forever impact the development of your success.

Change your attitude....think positive....and visualize where your online journey can lead you. Whatever obstacles you must overcome....make it happen, commit to make that change immediately. If you're around negative people....get new friends. If you need to get training....find the information to change your situation immediately. There are professionals who can help you in your "quest for success." Visualize where you want to be in the next twelve month, and then pursue that goal with all the abilities you can muster....you can make it happen.

Another quote from Butch that pretty well sums it up. "When I speak to others about visualization....visualization can act as the opposite just as effectively. If you are consistently thinking that you cannot be successful, cannot make money, cannot pay your bills and that you cannot achieve any type of success, then you will be exactly right." When you talk to yourself about visualizaing your success....you can be your own best friend, or your worst enemy." It's your future that's a stake here....so make the right choices....or suffer the consequences of your bad choices. Visualize success, work hard to accomplish your goals and you will reap the rewards of a job well done.

Good luck in your personal visualization process. The eBiz Solutions Team is standing by to assist you in your desires for success. Call today for your free 30 minute consultation.

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L Miller   SEM/SEO Consulting

Private Line: 321-595-4405
Skype: larrylmiller121

The Most Powerful Link on the Internet!

Sitemaps For Your Web Sites!

Sitemaps For Your Web Sites!

If your just in building a web site or maybe just rebuilt your current site.....how can you get your efforts seen by the general public and the search engines. In addition to your normal promotion activities there is one thing that will help you to gain the exposure you're trying to generate. Many of the search engines have or are in the process of putting more and more credence on using sitemaps in your web site.

You can talk to any webmaster and they will have their own spin on how sitemaps play in search engine optimization and site recognition. A sitemap is nothing more than a road map of your web site showing search engines and the users where to find specific information. This is an excellent tool for finding your information by both the search engines and the consumer who may be searching for information about your product or service.

In yesterdays article we discussed the Robots.txt files and it's function which is telling the engines what to index...or not to index. The difference here is clear that the sitempas are an excellent way to communicate with the search engines and potential clients of what is in your web site. There is nothing in the search engine guidelines that says you must have a Robots.txt file or a sitempap feature in your web site, however, it has been my experience that both of these functions has enhanced the popularity of my web site visibility with the search engines and consumers.

To get the maximum benefits out of the sitemap it's best to create two different sitemaps for your site. One for the search engine spiders and the other one for the visitors who come to your site. Having two sitemaps, each having a specific function is not regarded as duplicate content with the search engines.

Better visibility and easy navigation for the search engines are just a couple of benefits of the sitemap. By using sitemaps you are notifying the search engines of any changes to your web site. This is an immediate notification, however, the search engines may not get around to spidering your site....from a few minutes to even a day or so. That's OK, just let the robots, spiders and the search engines do their job.

By submitting your sitemap to the search engines, you will add one more promotion ingredient.....in addition to external links you already have in your site to get the search engines to your site for indexing. By using the sitemap it will help find broken internal links for you to repair before submitting your site to the search engines. If your site is relatively new.... the sitemap will definitely help the search engines find the information they need in your site to index your site correctly.

Not all search engines require a sitemap, however, you will have a leg up on the competition when all the search engines adopt the sitemap as a integral part of optimization. It really doesn't hurt to have an extra advantage when promoting on line.

There is a rather simple process you can follow when creating sitemaps. There are several sitemap generators offered on line that will help you get started in the right direction. This author does not recommend any particular sitemap generator. First you must generate a sitemap either with a generator or by hand, and upload the sitemap to your site. Once you have done these two simple steps then notify Google and other engines about your sitemap. If you don't know how to do this procedure then do some research and learn the process.

Many webmasters will merely list all of the URLs listed on a web site and place them in a text file and then upload to their site. It's totally up to you since creating a sitemap is optional.

It is my opinion, sitemaps are an effective method of keeping the search engines as well as the users informed about your web site. If you don't understand this concept....then do your research and learn as much as you can. Once you are more familiar with the sitemap structure and its function, you will probably start using sitemaps in all of your opportunities.

The eBiz Solutions Team is standing by to assist you in your online marketing endeavors. Call today for your free 30 minute consultation.

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L Miller    SEM/SEO Consulting

Private Line: 321-594-4405
Skype: larrylmiller121

The Most Powerful Link on the Internet!

Understanding and Using Robots.txt Files!

Understanding and Using Robots.txt Files!

We all get a bit excited when the search engines visits our web site frequently and indexes our content. However, there are certain things that we don't want the search engines to spider because of private information that we don't want the world to see. Another scenario would be that we may have more than one version of a page on our site. We can tell the search engines in our robot.txt file which page to crawl and which ones to ignore. We definitely don't want both of these pages to be crawled and end up with the search engine nailing you for spam because of the duplicate content in the two similar versions of one page.

Another reason you may want to tell the spiders not to spider a page would be to save some bandwidth by excluding some of the images, style sheets or javascript. With the robot.txt file you can be very specific about what you want spidered and not spidered.

What does Robots.txt file really mean? The robots.txt is a text file (not html) you put on your web site to inform the search robots which pages of your site you would like crawled and which ones you don't want the spiders to crawl. Placing a robots.txt file in your site is not mandated by the search engines, however, the search engines will normally follow your instructions you would put in this file. This process is similar to putting a sign on your web site saying "Do Not Enter" on an unlocked door. This file is not a fire wall so the search engine may still spider your site.

Another way you could tell the engines which files and folders to not spider would be with the use of a robots metatag. Some engines don't read metatags, so the information in the robots metatag would not be seen at all by certain engines. The preferred way to be specific to all the engines would be with the use of the robots.txt file....not robots metatags.

Where you position your robots.txt file is vitally important. It must be in the main directory or the search engines will not find the file. The engines do not search the whole site, they look in the main directory and if they don't find the file there, the engine would assume that such a file does not exist. As a result, then the engine would index everything they find in your site. Even though this file is not required by the engines, if you don't put the file in the right place the search engines will likely index the entire site, including your private information you wanted to keep confidential.

The structure of the robots.txt file has little to no flexibility. Learning the function and structure is pretty simple if you do a bit of study and learn it's function and purpose. There are program that are available online that will help you in this process. By filling in a few blanks and a click of the mouse you can construct a very effective text file that will be very specific to the search engines. Don't attempt to get creative here, it will hurt you in the long run.

When you start trying to manipulate these files and try to allow different engines or directories you can get into trouble rather quickly. Make sure you type your commands very carefully...check and double check your spelling, positioning of colons, slashes and make sure the spelling of the engines is correct. Even though this file is rather simple in it's intent, making simple mistakes can be devastating. This may be where it would be wise to use some form of a validator to check your entries for accuracy. This author does not recommend or endorse any particular product here. Do your research...then decide if this type of validation system is for you. Good Luck in your marketing endeavors.

The eBiz Solutions Team is standing by to assist you with any questions you may have. Call for your free 30 minute consultation today.

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L Miller SEM/SEO Consulting

Private Line: 321-594-4405
Skype: larrylmiller121

The Most Powerful Link on the Internet!