Incoming Links, Anchor Text and Google Rank

Incoming links from appropriate anchor text will help increase your ranking at the search engines and drive additional traffic to your Web site or blog.

On 1/31/05 I blogged about my dad/client Dr. Robert Brooks and how he ranked #1 at Google for "resilience speaker" but didn't show in the top 10,000 listings for the simpler "resilience."

Without changing the content on his home page (except to update a newsletter title or two) he went from 10,000+ to 44, according to Keyword Tracker.

The only change we made was that I had blogged about him and used the phrase "resilience"--a common theme in his work--in the anchor text of the link to his Web site.

Now, I've seen some odd behavior at Google as reported by Keyword Tracker. Flyte's rank for "Maine Web Designer" jumps from 10,000+ to 50 seemingly overnight AND back again. A problem with Google, Keyword Tracker or me? Don't know.

In any case, over time, incoming links--especially when they come from good anchor text--will help improve your standing at Google and other search engines.

Soon "give props" will give way to "give links."

Rich Brooks
Link Bearer

Promoting Your Blog: Ping-o-Matic

You can drive traffic to your blog by pinging.

Hey, I want more traffic. But what's pinging?

Pinging is when one computer sends a message to another in order to generate a response.

It's often used on the Internet to troubleshoot problems. The tech support at your hosting company uses it to determine why your Web site isn't loading or why it's loading so slowly.

Borrrrr-ing. What can pinging do for my blog's traffic?

Certain Web sites want to know when you post something new to your blog so they can promote it to the world. By pinging these Web sites you can get the word out easily.

Most blogging software will ping to at least one of these blogging sites automatically. TypePad pings weblogs.com and blo.gs once you save your post. However, you can easily promote your new post to dozens more.

A good place to start is Ping-o-Matic. All you need to do is visit their site, enter your blog's name and URL, and click "Submit Links." Your new post will be sent to up to 18 different sites.

That's cool. What's it cost?

Ummm...nothing. But you do have to visit their site each time you want to promote your blog.

Rich Brooks
Pinger

How Long Will It Take To Write Your Web Site Copy?

Writing copy is a time-consuming process. This is what I tell every client before we begin, but few believe me. However, here's a calculation you can do yourself to determine how long it will take you to create your copy.

# of Web pages x the time it takes you to write and edit one page = your required commitment.

If you have a 20 page Web site and it takes you on average 90 minutes to write and edit a page, you're looking at a time commitment of 30 hours. This on top of all the other work you're already doing just to pay the bills! Suddenly one month to create all your content doesn't seem like a lot of time.

Keep in mind that besides writing a compelling piece of copy and editing it, you also want to create a descriptive, keyword-rich title and appropriate headers, include links to other pages within (and outside your site) if appropriate, and finish off with a call to action. You'll probably also want to run the final product past a trusted friend or associate, and make further changes based on their input. (I.e., is too full of jargon or too focused on you, rather than the needs of your visitors.)

If it takes you less than 90 minutes to create this compelling piece of copy, you're either extremely gifted, or not nearly critical enough of your own work. (I'm sure it's the former.)

Rich Brooks
I'm not a copywriter, but I play one on TV

Constant Contact, Topica & AWeber

We currently use Constant Contact, Topica and AWeber for our (and our clients') email marketing campaigns. All three offer good service, reasonable pricing, great tracking tools and have been around long enough for me to feel comfortable that they're not going to disappear overnight.

However, we recently started to move away from Topica towards Constant Contact, to the point where we've recently become resellers. In fact, we're setting up all of our new clients on Constant Contact. (We still use AWeber, but I primarily use them for their autoresponder service, which I used to create the 7 Days to Search Engine Success e-course. We also continue to use Topica for the clients whom we set up there, and for one-time email blasts, such as "alert me when this site goes live.")

I chose Constant Contact for a few reasons, but mostly because we could create customized template "wizards". This allows us to design elegant HTML emails for our clients which they can use to send out their own newsletters. They can do this all through a Web browser, and not need to understand a lick of HTML. We weren't getting this from Topica.

But here's why I'm starting to get evangelistic about Constant Contact. Five minutes ago Kevin from Constant Contact called me to ask how the reseller program was working out for me. He had read the survey I completed and wanted to follow up on some specific issues that I had raised! He also told me about some new cool features that were coming out, but didn't make me feel like he was selling it to me, more like he thought I should know. (The sign of a great salesperson.)

I've never received a phone call from Topica, and in fact, I don't believe they have a phone at all. All their support goes through email. Not sure how they order pizza.

In any case, you can't really go wrong with any of these outfits, but my vote goes with Constant Contact.

Rich Brooks
Constant Contact Reseller

Chez Suz: Fun and Flirty Tees

Flyte launched a new Web site for Chez Suz...sexy, "fun and flirty" tees with real estate related slogans.

With slogans like, "Under Contract," "For Rent," and "Roommate Wanted," the tees are perfect for any "fabulous femme" who wants to promote her market status to the world.

Props to Susan Price, the titular owner of Chez Suz who's a natural entrepreneur. She came up with the idea, researched it, hired a professional photographer (Stewart Smith) and model, hired a great Maine Web site design firm, ;^) and got a lot of publicity.

Flyte set her up with a Constant Contact account and designed a custom template for her so she can manage her own email marketing. She's now able to send out customized HTML newsletters to alert subscribers to upcoming trunk shows and other events...all without knowing a lick of HTML.

How is she getting people to subscribe to a newsletter about t-shirt trunk sales? She's giving away a free tee every month to a subscriber from her list. For that very small investment each month she's providing a compelling reason for people to share their email address with her. (I think that might have been my brilliant idea, but I'm not 100% sure.)

Currently the products are only available in select stores and at trunk shows, but very soon the site will be e-commerce enabled.

Rich Brooks
Fellow Entrepreneur

Copywriting: From Vague to Compelling

Three Ways to Turn Vague Attributes Into Compelling Copy

Strong article on copywriting by Jonathan Kranz. A number of good examples, although I wish there were a few more. This whet my appetite for more details.

Here's my favorite quote:

If you want to scare the cloak off Little Red Riding Hood, don't lecture her about the woods and its perils—put the wolf's hot breath on her neck.

Rich Brooks
Completely Clickable

Upgrading to TypePad Pro

Over the weekend I upgraded from TypePad Basic ($4.95/mo) to TypePad Pro ($14.95/mo.)

Why? Because I'm rolling in dough.

Actually, because I wanted to take advantage of some of the Pro features, such as getting my hands dirty under the hood, and being able to affect the layout of the pages. To be honest, maybe there's a good DIY tutorial out there, but I'm not sure how people without a solid understanding of XHTML and CSS would be able to make changes to the underlying code of their site. I guess they could always hire flyte to design and customize their business blog for them.

Upgrading from one plan to the other is simple. After logging in, it's a matter of navigating to Control Panel > Account Info > Upgrade/Downgrade account and clicking on the level you want. Confirm that you're willing to pay the extra amount and presto-chango you're at the higher level.

You immediately get more space and a bigger bandwidth allowance. I'm not sure if you get more designs, but you do get access to their advanced editor, which allows you to see and make changes to the code. This is what I used to add the image of the 7 Days to Search Engine Success e-Course and the corresponding "Buy Now" button, as well as the blog subscription box.

I did notice a slight bug, however. Both of these items required a <form> tag. When I posted the new code in--which I had tested as an XHTML page in Dreamweaver--and then saved it, everything after the closing </form> tag was gone! This happened a couple of times before I realized what had happened, and then one more time while I was testing my hypothesis. It was as if the closing </form> tag was telling TypePad that this was the end of the code in the column. Maybe it's a Mac/Firefox thing, I don't know.

I was able to get around this by reposting the whole bit of code after saving it and having it truncated, and for whatever reason, this worked.

(Did I just confuse you? I've reread those last two paragraphs 3 times and I'm still not sure.)

I was a little disappointed as I thought I might have access to the page as a whole, and it didn't seem from my first attempts that I could. Instead, you can go in and affect the coding in separate sections of the page, i.e., sidebar1, sidebar2, Main Index template, etc. However, I could be wrong on this, and if I uncover evidence to the contrary I'll be sure to post something on it, and hopefully link to it from this post.

Rich Brooks
TypePad Pro Blogger

Bloglet: Subscribing to Blogs

I want to thank Patsi Krakoff for the tip of adding a Bloglet signup box to my business blog.

Now, all of you who are dying to know the moment I post about search engine optimization, email marketing, business blogs or entrepreneurial advice, can get immediate satisfaction by subscribing to my blog.

  Subscribe to flyte's blog and never miss a post again!

Rich Brooks
Conscientious Blogger

Dr. Robert Brooks, Books on Resilience & PayPal

Today we added PayPal to the Web site of Dr. Robert Brooks. Now he can sell his books on resilience securely through his Web site.

Up until now, people would either click on the Amazon link or print the order form, fill it out, mail it to him with a check, and then he would send out the book, often with a hand-written inscription. (Yes, he does his own fulfillment.)

It will be interesting to see what type of impact this has on his book sales through his Web site.

Two of his newer books include "Angry Children, Worried Parents: Seven Steps to Help Families Manage Anger," and "The Power of Resilience: Achieving Balance, Confidence, and Personal Strength in Your Life." Both books were co-written with Dr. Sam Goldstein.

Rich Brooks
Resilient Web Developer

Dish Divas Awarded "Best Health and Nutrition Book"

Congratulations to flyte clients Carolyn O'Neil and Densie Webb, a.k.a. the Dish Divas, on being awarded The Best Health and Nutrition Book at the 10th Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

In their book, "The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous", the authors dish on nutrition, eating in, dining out, drinking, exercising, and just being fabulous.

Now, if only they would send their Web development team a free copy so we could be fabulous...er.

Rich Brooks
Diva in Training