Wow! It has been a while since my last post on a two week challenge to become the "Coolest guy in Australia". I managed to crack the first page holding positions 7, 8 and 9, with minimal effort!
I have learned quite a lot from my search engine experiments which has lead me to quite a lot of SEO gigs around Australia.
Unfortunately it hasn't given me much time to blog as often as I would like to, but I love the challenge of taking on a new SEO project and getting results.
I am currently, between other projects, working on promoting three websites for a party planning company in Melbourne. There is a good spread of competition, but I know the odds are in my favour, thanks to a secret weapon I have. Can't give away too much just yet, but once I achieve number one rankings for the clients keywords I will post an update. But for now here are the sites I am working with:
Can't wait for winter to be over! The Coolest guy on Google, is currently also the Coldest guy on Google! ;)
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Coolest guy in Australia (update)
Well, it's day 2 into my two week challenge and things seem to be going well.
I am currently on page three of Google for the search term "Coolest guy in Australia" (minus the quotes"). Not bad for a day, but I am looking for real results!
One thing that was missed in my previous post, is that Google LOVES keywords in the URL. Unfortunately blogspot ran out of room and cut Australia off the end of the URL! So this post is a bit of an addition to the first one with some cool tips for rating high in the search engines.
Having broken down keywords in the URL rates highly in Google, so it is no wonder why most SEO software for content management systems use URL re-writing to change something like www.website.com/index.php?post=213 to the title, such as www.website.com/index/coolest-guy-in-australia.html.
This is a good way to get around if you don't have a domain name with the keywords you are trying to promote. Sure it helps .... it helps a lot! But it's not the end of the world if you cant secure that keyword rich domain.
If you couldn't get www.coolestguyinaustralia.com, you could always get another name and set up some pages with these keywords e.g. www.otherdomain.com/coolest-guy-in-australia.html
WTF? That heading doesn't even make sense? The point of this lesson, is that Google also LOVES Heading tags. Headings to Google weigh more in the Google formula than if that sentence was without the heading tags.
So, to wrap it up for the day. To get a well placed page in Google:
I am currently on page three of Google for the search term "Coolest guy in Australia" (minus the quotes"). Not bad for a day, but I am looking for real results!
One thing that was missed in my previous post, is that Google LOVES keywords in the URL. Unfortunately blogspot ran out of room and cut Australia off the end of the URL! So this post is a bit of an addition to the first one with some cool tips for rating high in the search engines.
Having broken down keywords in the URL rates highly in Google, so it is no wonder why most SEO software for content management systems use URL re-writing to change something like www.website.com/index.php?post=213 to the title, such as www.website.com/index/coolest-guy-in-australia.html.
This is a good way to get around if you don't have a domain name with the keywords you are trying to promote. Sure it helps .... it helps a lot! But it's not the end of the world if you cant secure that keyword rich domain.
If you couldn't get www.coolestguyinaustralia.com, you could always get another name and set up some pages with these keywords e.g. www.otherdomain.com/coolest-guy-in-australia.html
Coolest Heading in Australia?
WTF? That heading doesn't even make sense? The point of this lesson, is that Google also LOVES Heading tags. Headings to Google weigh more in the Google formula than if that sentence was without the heading tags.
So, to wrap it up for the day. To get a well placed page in Google:
- Keywords in URL
- Keywords in Heading tags
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
the NEW Coolest guy in Australia (Me!)
Setting myself a mini challenge. Not content with holding positions one, two and three for the natural search term "Coolest guy on Google". I now am setting myself a two week challenge to become the "Coolest guy in Australia".
I really feel that your old pal Jezhug can achieve this. How? Well Google already knows I am the coolest, but I forgot to tell the number one search engine that I am also Australian. Therefore by default I should be crowned the coolest guy in Australia also.
I am just going to rely on three techniques and allow two weeks to see if I am successful.
I really feel that your old pal Jezhug can achieve this. How? Well Google already knows I am the coolest, but I forgot to tell the number one search engine that I am also Australian. Therefore by default I should be crowned the coolest guy in Australia also.
I am just going to rely on three techniques and allow two weeks to see if I am successful.
- Use of Blogspot labels, e.g. Coolest, guy, Google ..... Oh and of course Jezhug!
- 10 of the best "Coolest guy in Australia" backlinks I can find.
- A cool picture of the flag for Australia with good use of IMG ALT tags with the keywords ..... well you get the gist!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Coolest Guy in the World
I decided to run a test. The results may surprise you.
The below graph is a screenshot in Alexa of the top two results for the natural Google search term of "Coolest Guy in the World". Number one is my arch-nemesis "Brad Fallon" (nah, not really, he is a really cool guy and well deserved of that number one spot). The second was the CollegeHumor website with the awesome video.
The below graph is a screenshot in Alexa of the top two results for the natural Google search term of "Coolest Guy in the World". Number one is my arch-nemesis "Brad Fallon" (nah, not really, he is a really cool guy and well deserved of that number one spot). The second was the CollegeHumor website with the awesome video.
While Brads site generates high traffic it is barely a blip on the radar (that slight bump between Oct 12 and Oct 19) in comparison to CollegeHumor.
It just goes to show, you don't need massive traffic to be the number one on Google for your given search terms. You just need grab a good SEO book and build up a growing list of backlinks. Relevance will beat high traffic any day.
I know it's a bit like comparing apples from oranges as most of the traffic from CollegeHumor comes from many different sources. e.g. coming from a completely unrelated link and finding the video from the site.
But what would be more beneficial to your site? Higher rankings in the search engines or more actual traffic? For example, what if I was to leave a comment under the Coolest guy in the World video saying "That was awesome! Kind of reminds me of this video ** insert obvious link to my own site with embedded YouTube clip here **".
That comment could potentially send thousands of new visitors from a high traffic site to your own.
All is fair in love and Search Engine Optimization, so find that balance of getting to the top of Google (plus the other search engines) AND getting the traffic to your site from other sources.
Remember, you may be number one on Google today but you may not be there tomorrow ;)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Re-writing the book of cool!
Well, it's been about a month since my last blog post. I have been busy working with some great clients on improving their online presence.
In Australia today it is the famous Melbourne Cup, got a place bet with "Crime Scene" who came second. Shame it didn't come in first as it had 40:1 odds!..... Oh, sorry. Went off track there for a while, but what I was trying to explain was why Google's logo has all of the pretty hats! Now when I first started this experiment, their were no predictive results from Google. That was why I decided to go for these exact keywords. Now it shows 412,000 results.
The results speak for themselves. This blog is ranked number one for the search term "Coolest Guy on Google". Coming in second is the Facebook group I set up for the Coolest Guy on Google. And in third place .... yes, me again. My Hubpage for the Coolest Guy on Google.
I believe one of the contributing factors to my success is due to my Twitter account which has a backlink to this blog. For someone who is as anti-social as myself, I have really taken to all forms of social media like a duck to water.
this has probably made me even less sociable, opting to send messages via Facebook rather than visiting them in person.
I am addicted to finding new apps and widgets to expand my social profiles. Do a Google search for "jezhug" and you will see what I mean. 1,700 results at the time of this posting! But they all serve a purpose. Everyone of them has a backlink to this blog or some other site I am promoting.
The "jezhug" Google search is a great back linking example. Why? Because jezhug is not a word. It is simply a unique nickname I picked for myself for internet use. All links with the word "jezhug" were created by me or are byproducts of my excessive internet use!
The results speak for themselves. This blog is ranked number one for the search term "Coolest Guy on Google". Coming in second is the Facebook group I set up for the Coolest Guy on Google. And in third place .... yes, me again. My Hubpage for the Coolest Guy on Google.I believe one of the contributing factors to my success is due to my Twitter account which has a backlink to this blog. For someone who is as anti-social as myself, I have really taken to all forms of social media like a duck to water.
this has probably made me even less sociable, opting to send messages via Facebook rather than visiting them in person.I am addicted to finding new apps and widgets to expand my social profiles. Do a Google search for "jezhug" and you will see what I mean. 1,700 results at the time of this posting! But they all serve a purpose. Everyone of them has a backlink to this blog or some other site I am promoting.
The "jezhug" Google search is a great back linking example. Why? Because jezhug is not a word. It is simply a unique nickname I picked for myself for internet use. All links with the word "jezhug" were created by me or are byproducts of my excessive internet use!
Any of the sites listed on page one are GOLD! I have set up many links, the good ones rise to the top of the search engines while the weaker ones slowly move down the list.
These page one sites are great backlinks, and if you don't set up profiles at these sites with a link to your own site, then be prepared to hand over your search engine listing spot to to someone that will ;)
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Save time with the Coolest internet tools around
I have just discovered http://ping.fm/ - A very powerful tool!
What is ping.fm? It is a feed management tool to allow you to send status updates to multiple sites. This means you can integrate your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Friendfeed and much more, in one handy location.
What is ping.fm? It is a feed management tool to allow you to send status updates to multiple sites. This means you can integrate your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Friendfeed and much more, in one handy location.
Use with caution. There may be some places you don't want to update. For example, this post was a one line update from ping.fm, which prompted me to write a new post ;)
While I am still far off being a ping.fm Jedi master, I can see this site will have some huge benefits to me as I am setting up so many social networking site profiles with little time to send updates to them.
Another favorite time saver I have for Twitter is Twaiter! It is a brilliant way to schedule your tweets. Now I can tweet even in my sleep, reaching followers all around the world.You can set up your tweet and choose to schedule it daily, weekly, monthly, yearly at any time you want!
These are both sites that would have great benefits to business and they are both absolutely free! Check them out today.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
How to make money online WITHOUT a website!
Coolest & easiest ways to make cash online (Without having to resort to surveys and get rich quick schemes!)
Yes. You can have a massive online portfolio without even owning a domain name! How? I hear you ask. There are many sites that allow you to submit content and make money from ads around the content.
I recently heard a great story from a fellow Internet Marketer who had a website that usually made him a few dollars every day from Google Adsense revenue. You can imagine his surprise when one day he logged in and found he had made over $1,000 in one day!
Why? Well, even he didn't know at first. Did Google make a mistake?
After a bit of research, he found out that one of his articles had the word "Star Wars" in it, and Yahoo had indexed his website at number one for the natural term "Star Wars". The new Star Wars movie was released and everyone flocked to his site in search of Star Wars merchandise and left via a Google Ad offering what the visitors came for!
I should point out, this guy is quite successful and has many online sources of income. You could have that too!
The best way I would recommend for you to start making money is not to look for how other people make their money online. Also, never look to make fast money. Ask yourself, "What interests me?". Everyone has a hobby or passion that separates them from the rest. If you can provide good information topics you are passionate about, then you will get visitors.
Blogging for Bucks
Blogging can be one of the best ways to make money online without a website. Why? people want to hear what real people have to say on things. For example, you have a blog post on two different televisions, pointing out all the pros and cons of both models. At the bottom of your blog post maybe you have a Google Ad or an Amazon widget advertising both models of televisions and how much someone could save by buying them online.
Does this sound easy enough? Well here are two of the best free online blogging sites around.
Blogger or Blogspot is owned by Google (No suprises there!) and is one of the most simple platforms for expressing your opinion online. It has a monetize tab up the top allowing you to set the position of the Google Adsense Ads on your page or you can add widgets to create extra sources of income such as Kontera Ads or an Amazon widget! The Amazon widget is great for bloggers as you can make commissions from products you don't own, selling anything from books to bicycles! Check out Blogspot.
Wordpress is the entrepreneurs choice for blogging. You can set up a free blog through wordpress.com or if you want to jump straight into the deep end you can buy a domain name, a hosting plan and download Wordpress at wordpress.org. If you are new to all this I would start with a free one. Wordpress has many great plugins and themes to add your own personal touches to your blog. Check out Wordpress.
Ok, so you have the blog started. It is time to up the ante!
Become a publisher
If the heading didn't scare you off, you are ready to be published. I'm not talking about writing a whole book, just a small article about something that interest you. Maybe its Scrap booking or deep sea diving! Whatever drives you, I can tell you there are other people right now looking to learn more about it! The more diverse the subject, the better chance you have of ranking highly in the search engines.
Don't despair if their are thousands of pages on your favorite topic, you can always niche it.
E.g. A Google search on photography - 259,000,000 for photography
But by adding landscape I get much less results - 16,700,000 for landscape photography
Still a scary number, but a much greater chance of making some impact in the search engines. Each post could add a different niche to your topic so you can get more visitors looking for unique content to read.
You could submit a great short article then at the bottom of the article you tell them they can find more information at your blog and give them the link!
There are two fantastic article sites that I use that also allow you to make cash from the ads around your content:
Hubpages is my personal favorite from a marketing point of view (as my previous posts suggest). It is very easy to use, has some great ways to monetize your article and Google loves it! Think carefully about your title and you could have a page one hit in Google in no time at all. Check out Hubpages.
Squidoo, like Hubpages has a huuuuge following. Plenty of ways to make money and is also very user friendly. Not as user friendly as hubpages, but is possibly more popular. Check out Squidoo.
Some key features of both of these cool sites are Amazon, Google Adsense and Ebay integration. The Ebay option is great if you say sell items on Ebay such as beads. You then put up an article about how to make a nice handmade necklace and when the reader gets to the bottom of the article they see all the items they need to make the item - directly from your Ebay listings!
For greater success, use both sites and re-spin the article to make them unique. Google may index them both highly so you can have your own spin off article your own competition.
Yes. You can have a massive online portfolio without even owning a domain name! How? I hear you ask. There are many sites that allow you to submit content and make money from ads around the content.
I recently heard a great story from a fellow Internet Marketer who had a website that usually made him a few dollars every day from Google Adsense revenue. You can imagine his surprise when one day he logged in and found he had made over $1,000 in one day!
Why? Well, even he didn't know at first. Did Google make a mistake?
After a bit of research, he found out that one of his articles had the word "Star Wars" in it, and Yahoo had indexed his website at number one for the natural term "Star Wars". The new Star Wars movie was released and everyone flocked to his site in search of Star Wars merchandise and left via a Google Ad offering what the visitors came for!
I should point out, this guy is quite successful and has many online sources of income. You could have that too!
The best way I would recommend for you to start making money is not to look for how other people make their money online. Also, never look to make fast money. Ask yourself, "What interests me?". Everyone has a hobby or passion that separates them from the rest. If you can provide good information topics you are passionate about, then you will get visitors.
Blogging for Bucks
Blogging can be one of the best ways to make money online without a website. Why? people want to hear what real people have to say on things. For example, you have a blog post on two different televisions, pointing out all the pros and cons of both models. At the bottom of your blog post maybe you have a Google Ad or an Amazon widget advertising both models of televisions and how much someone could save by buying them online.
Does this sound easy enough? Well here are two of the best free online blogging sites around.
Blogger or Blogspot is owned by Google (No suprises there!) and is one of the most simple platforms for expressing your opinion online. It has a monetize tab up the top allowing you to set the position of the Google Adsense Ads on your page or you can add widgets to create extra sources of income such as Kontera Ads or an Amazon widget! The Amazon widget is great for bloggers as you can make commissions from products you don't own, selling anything from books to bicycles! Check out Blogspot.Wordpress is the entrepreneurs choice for blogging. You can set up a free blog through wordpress.com or if you want to jump straight into the deep end you can buy a domain name, a hosting plan and download Wordpress at wordpress.org. If you are new to all this I would start with a free one. Wordpress has many great plugins and themes to add your own personal touches to your blog. Check out Wordpress.Ok, so you have the blog started. It is time to up the ante!
Become a publisher
If the heading didn't scare you off, you are ready to be published. I'm not talking about writing a whole book, just a small article about something that interest you. Maybe its Scrap booking or deep sea diving! Whatever drives you, I can tell you there are other people right now looking to learn more about it! The more diverse the subject, the better chance you have of ranking highly in the search engines.
Don't despair if their are thousands of pages on your favorite topic, you can always niche it.
E.g. A Google search on photography - 259,000,000 for photography
But by adding landscape I get much less results - 16,700,000 for landscape photography
Still a scary number, but a much greater chance of making some impact in the search engines. Each post could add a different niche to your topic so you can get more visitors looking for unique content to read.
You could submit a great short article then at the bottom of the article you tell them they can find more information at your blog and give them the link!
There are two fantastic article sites that I use that also allow you to make cash from the ads around your content:
Hubpages is my personal favorite from a marketing point of view (as my previous posts suggest). It is very easy to use, has some great ways to monetize your article and Google loves it! Think carefully about your title and you could have a page one hit in Google in no time at all. Check out Hubpages.
Squidoo, like Hubpages has a huuuuge following. Plenty of ways to make money and is also very user friendly. Not as user friendly as hubpages, but is possibly more popular. Check out Squidoo.Some key features of both of these cool sites are Amazon, Google Adsense and Ebay integration. The Ebay option is great if you say sell items on Ebay such as beads. You then put up an article about how to make a nice handmade necklace and when the reader gets to the bottom of the article they see all the items they need to make the item - directly from your Ebay listings!
For greater success, use both sites and re-spin the article to make them unique. Google may index them both highly so you can have your own spin off article your own competition.
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