# General Business Category > Business Online Forum > [Article] 30 Day Challenge To Get Your Business Online

## Jovana

_I love online marketing for small businesses_. I've seen my customers lives (and pockets) transformed by growing their online presence and establishing their brand and marketing online. However, for the "cash-strapped" business person, it can often be very , _very_ depressing when you first venture into the online world. There is so much information out there that you feel like pulling out your hair, or even worse, giving up the whole "online thing". 

I hear it all the time. As soon as I tell people what I do - I get a crazy amount of questions and "oohhhs" and "ahhhs" because people think what I do is like magic... but it's not. It's a simple science that anyone can replicate whether or not they have any experience online. The more you read, the more you learn, the better you'll do.

So, I figured, it'd be fun to start a thread where I have a 30 day plan, where I give daily updates on what you should be doing to get the "six pillars" of online marketing set up almost cost-free.  :Smile:  

I'll go through everything - hosting - domains - keyword research - seo - social media marketing - content, email, mobile marketing - online reputation management.

I'll show you how to do everything free or has cost effective as possible.

I will also offer my knowledge and advice for free in this thread, or you can PM me for my email or Skype.  (I charge businesses overseas $150 per HOUR for consulting - so I hope you'll take me up on this offer - I love having my brain picked and pushing people into the right direction).

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Funkie (27-Jul-13), Nono M (12-Mar-18), polpak (22-Jun-13)

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## Jovana

Day 1

If you're a new business or a business that has no online presence what so ever, you need to start right from the beginning. Finding a home for your brand.

The easiest way to "_create_" an online space for your business is to purchase a domain name. 

1. You can purchase a domain at the following domain registrars:

Godaddy.com (perfect for SA businesses who want to cater to an international client base)
Webafrica.co.za (perfect for SA businesses who cater to only SA people)

*I do not recommend Hetzner.*

If you're going to cater to only South African customers, buy yourself a .co.za. If you want to cater to international clients then I'd rather suggest purchasing a .com  :Smile:  

If you want a domain (but can't afford the R120 yearly renewal fee), try http://www.za.net/ > they offer free domain names. And I've used them before. Take for instance my email address:

jovana at sumar.za.net 

I only use the domain for email purposes but it's been active and working for the last three years. You can only use these domain names for personal use or a personal business. You cannot use these domains for affiliate marketing. 

2. Take time to pick your domain name.

It needs to be _brandable_ and short. Ideally , it should be your business name.

glambikes.com 
salonaquella.co.za.

Please, for the love of God , don't make it an EMD (exact match domain). I.E. If you're a business who sells... lawnmowers in johannesburg. 

I've seen this sold to businesses all over - buying a domain for the keyword that you want to rank... i.e. lawnmowersjohannesburg.co.za. The idea behind this is that EMD's rank higher in google - which has some truth - but EMD's are not as powerful as they used to be with Google Panda (you'll find out what that is later).

This is NOT good. You need a domain that is brandable and easy to remember. Make it as short as possible. 

You need to remember, it has to look goods on business cards, future marketing materials, etc. 

Don't buy before you're 100% certain. I had a client purchase 5 different domain names because they were so indecisive. 

*WHY IS UR DOMAIN NAME IMPORTANT*

Your domain, and consequently your website, will most likely (if you work on your online marketing properly) become a serious asset for your business. 

Once you have a domain picked (and bought) you're ready to go onto Day 2!

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adrianh (09-May-12), AndyD (09-May-12), Blurock (14-Feb-12), Dave A (13-Feb-12), Nono M (12-Mar-18), Norri (13-Feb-12), wynn (12-Mar-13)

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## Just Gone

Thanks Jovana ........... looking forward to Day 2  :Smile:

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## Dave A

Jovana, I'm really looking forward to the next 29 days  :Smile: 

A quick comment on domain registrations - Dealing direct with Uniforum for co.za registrations costs only R50.00 per annum. Unfortunately it's not particularly user friendly for a novice, though - and you need somewhere to park the domain if you haven't got hosting set up yet.




> Please, for the love of God , don't make it an EMD (exact match domain). I.E. If you're a business who sells... lawnmowers in johannesburg. 
> 
> I've seen this sold to businesses all over - buying a domain for the keyword that you want to rank... i.e. lawnmowersjohannesburg.co.za. The idea behind this is that EMD's rank higher in google - which has some truth - but EMD's are not as powerful as they used to be with Google Panda (you'll find out what that is later).


We're using "brand related" domains *and* EMDs, so I particularly look forward to hearing more on your concerns about EMDs in due course.

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## Jovana

Sorry for the delay guys, I'll upload the next couple of days tomorrow  :Smile: 

Being interviewed on radio and have been busy double-checking all my sales funnels are ready!!!

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## Just Gone

> Sorry for the delay guys, I'll upload the next couple of days tomorrow 
> 
> Being interviewed on radio and have been busy double-checking all my sales funnels are ready!!!


No problem Jovana ........... dont stress doll ........ just do one day at a time ......... otherwise we ....... well maybe me wont be able to keep up  :Wink:

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## Dave A

> just do one day at a time ......... otherwise we ....... well maybe me wont be able to keep up


 :Stick Out Tongue:  True for me too!

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## Upstairs

Any particular reason why you do not like Hetzner?

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## Mark Atkinson

> Any particular reason why you do not like Hetzner?


Echo that.  Was wondering the exact same thing.

I switched every single one of my domains and panels to Hetzner and have been very happy thus far.  

Oddly enough, it's almost as if a piece of me (as a web designer) dies every time a client takes out hosting with WebAfrica.  I *would* recommend their hosting to all my competitors.  :Wink:

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## derekjay

Great initiative Jovana - so many SA small business fail to see the value in the online space and have this misconception that it's incredibly complicated. Good work!

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PlatinumWealth.co.za (20-Jan-17)

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## KEITHO

> Great initiative Jovana - so many SA small business fail to see the value in the online space and have this misconception that it's incredibly complicated. Good work!


Hi guys 

Mweb offers uncapped hosting for only R19 PM
you get a co.za domain
and 1 free email address
they have a site builder to help you create your website


Keith

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## harounkola

Looking forward to the rest of this course

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## sykotik

Is this thread dead?? so keen for the remaining 29 days, been so swamped busy creating my discussion forum and ecomm store, with so many unknowns...

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## Bizfact

Please tell me more. I hope this still exists Jovana

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## nostresswebsites

Hi

The first day was great, please upload the rest?

Regards,
Francois

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## Cpt Chaos

Wonder what went wrong with this thread, would've been good to see the remainder of the posts

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## workshop

I am based in Knysna trying to do much the same. But it's a mission. We actually give sites away, threatening to broaden their horizons, transform their lives. But we never quite seem to get there. It's a bit like the story of the rainbow. There is always a distraction. So, I have only had one catch in fourteen years of fishing the net. But it's enough and we soldier on.

Comments on www.iteachknysna.com would be appreciated.

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## workshop

The mistake that most of us make is to expect too much, too soon. One wants to start as simply as possible. To learn how to drive. And Wordpress is the ideal tool. It doesn't matter whether you are setting up a site to profile your business or whether you intend to use it to offer an online service. It's all the same. Once you have decided on a domain name you need somewhere to host it. 

And there are so many options, it is difficult to choose. But bear in mind that this is likely to be the first of many sites and you are going to make a lot of mistakes before you get it right. So my advice, while you are still learning, is to go cheap and choose a service provider that has been around for long enough to give you some assurance they won't fall over and die on you. I use shared servers, based in the States, paying anything from $7 to $10 a month for a hosting account that allows one to Add On multiple domains.

These generally come with a cpanel to manage your sites and install scripts like Wordpress. It is easy enough to do once you know how. But this is all stuff you can come back to later. 

Right now you want a site to practice on. Decide on a domain name, choose a hosting service and get someone to set you up with your first site. Weebly and Wix do this for free. But it's not Wordpress and I am not sure whether you get a database with their free offering. I doubt it. Their service also comes with the constraint that you build your site using their scripts and if you want to move at any time all you take with you is your domain. So it makes sense to pay R60 to R100 a month for hosting and a couple of hundred for an installer to set it up for you.

What you get is www.iteachknysna.com without the classifieds plug-in. Yes, it is ugly. The point however, is that it works. And believe me if you are going to set up a web site, that is what you want. You want something that you can drive, something you can grow and develop. Worry about spending money on it much, much later.

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## workshop

You now have a domain, a hosting account and a web site. What's next?

Go to http://yourdomain.co.za/wp-admin
Copy your user name and Paste
Copy your password and Paste
Click Log In

This should get you in to the admin console/dashboard

Look for and click on Page - in the menu on the left
Select Add New
Enter a title - Test
And for text - use Test again
Click on Publish

Don't worry about breaking anything
Everything can be edited and fixed

And if that worked do the same. But create a Post this time

Once done if you look top left you will see "Your Domain" next to a Wordpress logo
Click on it
Select view site

If you get this far there are a few more buttons to push but you are mostly done. You have just created your first site, created your very own wave, you have just gone global. This to me is the beginning of everything. This is communication. The very essence of the word. You have the ability, we all have the ability of communicating with anyone or everyone, no matter who they are or where they are.

All that is required is for you to push those last few buttons and you are there.

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## workshop

The next thing you need to do is to start thinking Google
This is not complicated either
Google started with an idea, just like all the rest
And there is only one simple rule you need to think about

"Do no evil"

It's no more complicated than that.
Log in to your dashboard
Go to All Pages
Double click the Test page you created
Scroll down till you find All in One SEO
(if it's not there speak to your installer)
Add a key word rich Page Title tag and save

It will take Google three days to three weeks to pick it up and you are on your way
You will have to come back to add the description and key words but that doesn't really worry Google
You must also add some key word rich content on the page but once again Google's primary interest is that title tag and your back links which we will get onto later.

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## Dave A

It seems the challenge has been taken up anew  :Smile:

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## workshop

Don Quixote rides again in the relentless pursuit of.............................

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## workshop

We have set up a site, baited a hook for the Google spider and thrown our line into the water
And we now wait.....and wait......and wait
This is what fishing is all about

But while we are waiting we need to reflect on what we are doing and why

Ultimately we want a list of search phrases (key words) that visitors are going to use to find your site
We want the most obvious (primary key words)
And we want the not so obvious ones (long tailed key words)
They are all important
This process is called key word research
A service you will pay an expert a lot of money for when you learn how to do it yourself
It's exhausting, an endless task
where the tracks you follow fan out, converge and disappear in a swirl of dust.
(I like that last bit).

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## workshop

We are waiting for Google to pick up the title tag on your test page
We have a list of search phrases and key words which we keep adding to as new combinations come to mind
We now need to start building the site.

This we do by building static pages
And the first page we create is the Contact page
Someone might very well stumble across your unfinished site and want to contact you.

Go to your dashboard
Select Pages in the menu on the left
Select Add New
Enter a title - Contact
Add your contact details to the text box 
Scroll down to All in One SEO
Enter your area, city, province, country  and the name of your business or any combination you consider to be more appropriate 

Click on Publish

This is how you build your site
Page by page, day by day, month by month
You need to seed your key words into the title tags of the pages you create
Building a word picture and site structure that Google can use

Don't try and do everything all in one sitting
This is an ongoing effort and anyone who does happen to find your first clumsy attempt
Won't give a damn 
They might even stop to ask you how to do it.

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## workshop

We have set up a title tag for both your test page www.yourdomain.co.za/test
As well as your contact page www.yourdomain.co.za/contact
These are known as child or internal pages


But we still need a title tag for your home page www.yourdomain.co.za
And it might have been better to have attended to this first
This is where we place your primary key words

But it doesn't really matter

Google is busy and it can take up to three weeks before they pick up and digest what you are doing
So the chances are that you have time to tidy up before they arrive
And if you do miss the bus there will be another and then another
So make a few mistakes, learn from those mistakes 
Everything can and should be edited and changed on an ongoing basis

But do understand that at the same you do need patience
And whilst listening to the chatter don't believe everything you hear
Experiment and explore for yourself, watch, listen and share.

Go to your dashboard
Look for Settings at the bottom of the menu on the left
Select All in One SEO
(If it's not there ask your installer why not)
Change plug-in status to Enabled
And add a Title tag for your home page in the appropriate field

This should (as far as is possible) look like a page title
But in practice you want to cram it full of all your primary key words
You need to be careful to avoid key word stuffing, however 

And there you have the conundrum that will face you for evermore
There are no rules in this game
Just guidelines and common sense.

Ignore Description and Key Words for now
Scroll down to and click on Update Options
It's done

Finally click on the site name top left of your screen, next to the Wordpress logo
This will take you to your home page
Point your cursor anywhere in the body of the page
Right click
Select View Source
And you will be confronted with the gobbledy gook that is used to tell the browser what to display
You are looking for <title>Key words</title> 
It's right near the beginning and that is what Google feeds on, what you need to set up in every page and post you make and what you need to edit and fine tune till you get it 99% right.

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## workshop

This is not the sort of advice you are going to get from the professionals
And at this stage most will be curling at the edges
But then again, three, four five years ago there were very few professionals who even knew what a targeted back link is
And to them it was all pretty pictures, eye candy and how much you can afford?

But that's all wrong.
If you want to drive a vroom vroom
You need to know how to steer the confounded thing. 

Forget about branding, no one is looking and if they do so what?
You are digging the foundations and can worry finishes when you have a roof over your head and a constant stream of visitors. 

The next page you want to create should tell whoever visits your site something about your business
And you are going to be surprised at how little you know about the business you run
You are also going to write more than you need to 
But don't agonise over it, get it down, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and all. It can all be changed later.
And once again don't forget All in One SEO and your title tag
You are placing another piece to the puzzle.

That done we are going to change the landing page
Right now we get presented with the default _Hello World_ post and "Just another Wordpress blog"
This we want to change to Your Domain

Go to your dashboard
Find and select Settings - bottom left in your menu on the left
Select Reading
And change Front Page displays to A Static Page
Choose the page you have just created
Click on Save Changes.

Go to Your Domain top left
Click and view your site and new landing page.

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## workshop

Far too many people baulk at publishing an unfinished, incomplete web site.
They would rather spend R1500 to R15000 to get someone to do it for them and then to forget about it
Don't. It does not work for any of us
All that is going to happen is that you will turn around and tell everyone that the internet does nothing and is a waste of money.

That's not right
The internet works just fine
You are the problem!

All it takes is a bit of spare time.
Get to know the medium
What it can do, what it can't do
Get yourself to the point where you can make informed decisions
And then start making those decisions.

This is ninety percent common sense
And if you lack imagination like I do
The other ten percent it takes for someone else to make it look good.

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## workshop

But if it's look and feel good, that is a must have
It's easy enough

Go to your dashboard
Select Appearance from the menu on the left
Click on Themes
Choose a Theme, any theme
Click on Activate

Go to Your Domain, top left next to the Word Press logo
And view your handiwork
You have just designed (changed the look and feel) on your first site

It's that simple

You literally have thousands of designs, thousands of templates to choose from
Some are good, some are not, some are free, some are not
But understand that you can come up with something that looks the part
And we will get to downloading templates all in good time.

What you need to know now, is that you can, if it is really that important for you.

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## workshop

We have created an About Us page, a Contact page and a test page
We have changed the landing page to the About Us page
We have primed the pages for Google's spider by setting up key word rich title tags for each page from a list of search phrases we have drawn up

We now need an Enquiries Form
To add some functionality to the site we are creating

Go to Plug-ins on your Dashboard
Select Installed Plug-ins and look for Fast Secure Contact Form
(if it's not there ask your installer why not?)
Once again as with your graphics you have a host of functional options to choose from
If you want an Enquiry Form or Classifieds or a Shopping Cart you download, plug-in and learn from the mistakes you make
In this case we are assuming the plug-in is ready and waiting for you
And all you have to do is to activate it.

Select Pages then Add New
Add a title Enquiries
Add [si-contact-form form='1'] to the body of the form
Add some key words in the All in One title field. Something that is relevant to your location - possibly your business name and address.
Click on Publish

Try it out
It probably won't work
But there is a reason for that

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Dave A (09-Apr-13)

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## workshop

And the reason is that there is a good chance we haven't looked at the site settings and the mail is going to the wrong address.

Select Settings from the bottom of the menu on your dashboard
Go to General
You can edit the site Title (not to be confused with the title tag)
Change the tagline from "Just Another Wordpress Blog" to something like _Another Very Useful Web Site_

Make sure the email address is good
You don't want to allow the public to register so skip that
Change the time zone to UTC+2
The rest of the settings at your discretion
Save Changes and test your Enquiry form

Go to Permalinks
I use "Post Name"
Save Changes

I also use Log In Lock
To keep the little furry critters out
But we don't have to worry about that just yet
As long as you keep your scripts up to date you should be bullet proof.

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## workshop

We have covered most of the basic moves
All except uploading images 
And as with everything else it's also very basic

Open your dashboard
Select Pages and All Pages
Double click your Test page to open and Edit it
Change the title to something relevant
Delete Test in the text box
Click on Add Media (just above the tool bar)
Select Upload Files
You should see a Select Files in the centre of your page
This opens a window which allows you to browse the folders on your work station
Select a picture
Open and it will upload
Enter an appropriate Title for the picture, a caption which will appear under the picture and an alt tag using key words to make a second or alternative "title"
Select Align Left
And choose an appropriate size
Click Insert into Page

Finally Select Update under Publish on the right of your screen
And you are done

If you label your pictures correctly this is supposed to help with ranking but it's not something I can swear to
I have not paid it that much attention 
What I do know is that it makes sense to label pictures with a phrase someone searching for pictures might use 
This to find the picture you have just posted
This will bring you traffic, not so sure about ranking but traffic, if anyone is searching for your picture

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## workshop

Try a Google search for www.yourdomain.co.za
If it shows in the search results it means Google has found you and indexed your site

That's it you are done
You have all the tools you need to build yourself a business on the net
You have a future, an open door to an index of opportunities

EXCITING!
i think so
not everyone will see it the way I do 
but i do believe that its exciting

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Dave A (13-Apr-13), vieome (12-Apr-13), wynn (12-Apr-13)

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## workshop

Exciting! Why?

Because in the real world this should all take thirty minutes or less
I have dragged it out over the last two weeks
But that is only because this is a thirty day challenge
Theoretically it takes no more than half an hour to put tools that are needed, into the hands of almost anyone who wants to start a business.
This with virtually no start up costs, minimal overheads and whenever they can make time.
That to me is exciting.

But are we finished?
Not yet
There is still another two weeks to go

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## workshop

If it is this easy why is it not happening?
Why do most freeze like startled rabbits?
Why do so many good ideas never happen?




> The internet works just fine
> You are the problem!


It's not complicated
It's all the baggage, the preconceptions and particularly the expectations
That derail the simplest of plans

The first thing you have to get your head around is that nothing is original
You are not the only one working on whatever idea you have
There are no absolutes or proprietary rights on the net
It's person who figures out that all value on the net is the cumulative sum of an infinite number of smaller parts, that is going to be the first past the post
The person who understands that:
First you have to make yourself useful
Next you have to get seen
Thereafter you have to get usedAnd that it is only once you are getting used that you can start adding value and building the business you want.

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## workshop

You also have to learn that you have to mould yourself to, the ideas you have, to fit the resources that you have available to you
You are using Wordpress. It can only do so much. You are the one who has to bend, to change and to learn.

These simple rules apply, irrespective of whether you are building a site to profile your business or to market products or services on the net.

Your ideas are going to change, adapt and grow as you learn more.
And once you have a clear idea of what you want to do and more importantly how you are going to do it
You can start thinking of ways to customise the applications you start with.

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## workshop

I think we should start by creating a simple site profiling a business
We have already done most of the work
We have a list of the key words we are targeting
We have set up the title tags on the pages we have already created
Google has found the site and indexed it
What we need to do now is to build pages adding content and building a structured  organised profile of the business and services offered
As we add static pages to the site we bleed the secondary key words down into the title tags of the internal or child pages.
You want to break your business up into three, four, half a dozen different divisions, departments or sections
And to then add child pages to each
This gives your site bulk and depth , something that Google likes.

Go to your admin dashboard
Select Pages/All Pages
Double click one of the pages you have created
This opens a window which allows you to edit the page
Across on the right of the page you will see Page Attributes under Publish
The first field allows you to structure a menu hierarchy with the Parent page at the top 
Followed by child or internal pages.

Change no parent in the drop down box to one of the other pages you have created
And click Update
Click through to the live site and view the changes you have made.
Note that you can also change the order in which the Pages appear in the menu 
The last field under Attributes is Order and you can control their position by allocating them a higher or lower numerical value.

You now start building your business profile, fine tuning the word picture you are creating for the Google spiders.

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## workshop

It takes Google anything from three days to three weeks to pick up new pages or to review the edits you make
And you now need to start pegging your ranking or position in the search results for each of key word searches you are targeting
Google has put together a very useful package Google Analytics which I have never bothered to familiarise myself with or to use
This because they are a little too protective about the stuff that is really important.

But it's something that you might want to look at and you can make up your own mind.

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## Dave A

> Google has put together a very useful package Google Analytics which I have never bothered to familiarise myself with or to use
> This because they are a little too protective about the stuff that is really important.


I've heard of other reasons as to why people are not so keen on GA, but your one is a first for me!

What important information do you want that GA doesn't give?

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## workshop

> What important information do you want that GA doesn't give?


Does Google allow you to  to peg your position in their search results for specific terms? They never used to.

They are forced to go to great lengths to counter link spam and it serves their interest to tie us all up in knots, to keep us busy, busy busy. They lead and fan inane debates about this, that and every looney tune they can think of. It's a bit like going to gym. Although the one thing I have been meaning to look at is the key word research tools they offer. 

But once again if you are not balancing precariously on the top rung it is questionable whether common sense, trial and error takes less time and produces better results

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## Dave A

> Does Google allow you to  to peg your position in their search results for specific terms? They never used to.


Aah! Indeed, that would be outside of GA's current scope. It still provides a mine of useful information on your actual visitors, though.

Seeing as you mention Google's keyword research tool, let me try to sum up the most important tools Google provides for webmasters and where they fit in:

Google Analytics will provide stats based on your website's *actual visitors*.
Google Webmaster Tools will provide stats on your website's *actual search performance*.
Google Keyword Research Tool will provide stats on *keyword potential*.

On a side note, I've given the .co.za URL options where possible (seeing as we're primarily an SA site). And while I noted that they have slightly different content to the .com landing page versions, I'm confident the functionality will be the same.

On the loony tunes aspect - yes, if you burrow through everything these tools have to offer straight off the bat you will go nuts.
My suggestion is pick some key metrics you think are important, and focus on those in the beginning.

In terms of the performance tracking tools, top of that list for a newbie would probably be:
*For Google Analytics:*
Visits.
Unique visits.
Pageviews.
Traffic sources (direct, referral, search organic ((and search paid if you're using Adwords)) ).
And perhaps location of visitors.

*For Webmaster tools:*
No. of indexed pages.
Error reports.
Search displays and clicks (by keyword and by page)
Sitemap reports.
Crawl rates.
And perhaps Links (inbound).

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## workshop

Something that does make sense is registering for Google Maps
Click on Maps
Click on Put your business on Google Maps
And follow the prompts
You need a valid mail address to create a Google account
As well as a contactable telephone number to verify the upload
Otherwise it is straight forward 

And it amazes me that most people never get around to doing it
Myself included.

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## workshop

At this stage I think we should recap
Decide on a hosting service
Register a domain
Get an installer to set up Wordpress
Draw up a list key words
And three word search phrases
Go to Settings/All in One SEO, enable it
Add a key word rich Title
Go to Plugins/Installed Plugins
And activate FS Contact form
Go to Pages/All Pages
Delete the default page and select Add New
Set up an Enquiries form, not forgetting the All in One title field  
Select Add New and create an About Us page not forgetting the All in One title tag
Go to Settings/Reading and change your landing page to you the About Us page
Check your site settings
After a week to ten days start searching for your domain name on Google
When it does pop up you will know you have been visited and can expect a follow up every three weeks or so
Google will watch and index your every move
Register with Google Maps
And you can start building your site creating pages for each service centre
Adding a few pictures to brighten up what is essentially a drab and boring web site
And you structure each service centre by creating child or internal pages (not forgetting the All in One title tags)  
This is when you start thinking page layout, look and feel

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Dave A (19-Apr-13)

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## bizwiz

thxs Mark
I am reading

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## workshop

Thirty mins tops. That is all it takes to get someone started.

I think they have done away with the footer on the 2012 Template so lets change the template to 2010 which I am comfortable
And when you have lots of time you can play and experiment with the different options, learning the pros and cons on themes you want to work with
Go to Appearances/Themes
Click to activate Twenty Ten
Go to Widgets on the menu on the left and select

You will find the current menu options in the Primary Widget Area on the right of the page
We want to move most of these out of the way and into the footer.

Click on the Back button to take you back to the Dashboard and Appearances/Widgets
We are now going to Delete those widgets from the Sidebar
Go to the Primary Widget Area click on the open arrow next to Categories
Click on Delete
Do the same for Recent Posts and Recent Comments.

Move Archives to the Third Footer Area and Meta to the Fourth and delete them as well
Take a look at your Home page
It is beginning to take shape
You might want to move Recent Posts and Recent Comments to Footer Area Two
But that is Widgets done and that is the first step you have taken working with Templates
Experiment and enjoy!

----------


## raffle

Made the changes, easy when you know. Altho I had forgotten how intimidating that dashboard looks.

----------


## workshop

It is easy when you know how
And if you understand the importance of passing these skills on to next person
It even gets easier and then easier.

Why?

And once again 
That question has an easy answer
If you can impress the importance of sharing knowledge and skills with and onto the next person
And there are more and more people doing the same thing
The chances are that they are going to figure out the very thing that is eluding you right now
And having done so, 
They might just make the effort to pass it back to you, along with everyone else. 

The perfect world, maybe
But one that also makes perfect sense.
To me at least.

----------


## workshop

Next we are going to change the image in the header.
You can replace it with picture or a customised logo and graphic

----------


## workshop

Go to Appearances and click on Header
Your first option is to Select an Image
Go to the browse window and go to Pictures on your C drive
Select the image you want to use and click Open
This takes you back to your Dashboard
Click Upload
You now get the option to crop your Image
But select Skip and use as is
(I am in hurry to finish)
Go the the bottom of the page and Save
And Voila you are now a designer with a bright new future as a web site developer/designer.

But before you get too carried away go to the top of the page where you will see a link to View your site
And yes you have customised the header and yes it is that easy. 
But the chances are that there is still a bit of work to do on that image.

----------


## workshop

I am not very good at "design" and try to get by with what I can resize and crop with Picture Manager
This is despite the fact I am almost certain that there are very useful, free tools available, that allow one to do what those that are more imaginative than I, to create logo's, brand and design.
I just don't have the time nor the need, let alone the inclination to learn
If I really need more than a resize and crop job I get a tame designer to design it 

But most of the time I go to Pictures
Open the picture I want
Right click it
And select Open with....Picture Manager
Click on Picture in the options menu
Select Resize
I use "Percentage of original" 
And reduce/increase the width until New Size under Size Setting Summary shows a width of 940 pixels
This is the recommended size of the image used in the default Wordpress header
I then click OK
And Save As after opening File in the Main Menu options

Next click on Pictures again
Select Crop and chop off bits from the top and bottom until the image is as close to 198 pixels high
When you are ready Save As and you should have an image that works
It's a hack job, yes
You have butchered a perfectly good picture
But it works
And sometimes the client even thanks me once I have uploaded it

Next we will try getting a little cleverer 
Sometimes you end up with a demanding and difficult client who won't accept second best
And that is when you need to get creative.

----------


## workshop

We have now mastered the default template 
All it took was a few quick and easy key strokes
And you have already figured out that you can do stuff with the background
You can insert even more stuff into the code

You don't really need me any longer

You can almost fly
You have found the template download function and have been looking at the options you have
Options offered by the wider community which you have by now become a part of.

But pause for a moment and reflect once again on your part in this. 
We have reached the point where I am struggling to appear to know anymore than you.
And this is where you need to start participating, to start sharing what you know and understand
There are an infinite number of templates to choose from
Some you will be able to figure out for yourself, others you are going to need help with
This is where we need to build an active workgroup.

And no we are not finished yet
We have a couple of pages set up
We have primed them for Google
And whilst we have been waiting we have taken steps to dress the site

What's next?

----------


## workshop

We have created a simple site
We now have to start thinking
And trying to figure out how we are going to use the web

What do we want?

In most cases we want to profile the business we run
This could be as simple as a Home page equivalent of a business card on the net
A web site we point prospective clients to for contact details on signage pamphlets and other adverts
Or something a little more ambitious where we profile the business
And we direct clients to it who looking for details and information about the business.

A site we would build by simply adding and organising pages.
But why not optimise it for the search engines and slap together an internet marketing plan
We have already touched on the basics.

But you must understand that this is a bit like fishing
Google does things slowly, so kick off your shoes, put the kettle on and start lighting your pipe.
You are going to learn that everyone has an opinion about something none of us really understands
And whilst you need to listen, don't believe anything anyone has to say on the subject

 :No:

----------

Dave A (27-Apr-13)

----------


## workshop

Start by building links you place on other sites that link back to yours
Start the way we all started by looking for and placing your site on free link directories
But try to avoid the fast talkers. Those who guarantee to list you on 4,000,000 search engines and the first page of Google.
And not because this can damage your chances of ranking. Its just the wrong mindset. Something that should be avoided.

Google will not, cannot penalise you for links pointing to your site. You have no control over these links.
They will however judge you on the quality of the sites who you link out to. This is where you must take care.
When you vote, vote wisely. Don't link to just anyone for the asking. Stay away from reciprocal linking requests

Only link out to sites you know and respect.

----------


## workshop

Links are a contentious subject
You will get bombarded with advice about high PR and dot.edu links, authority links, relevance and contextual gobbledy gook
And whilst some it may well be grounded in fact, tread cautiously, especially when asked for your paypal details.

Apply and rely on your common sense
A quality link is a link which lasts the longest
Find out what is meant by a no follow tag and what a targeted back link is.
Take your time, build your link profile slowly
And ensure that whatever you do, you make yourself useful.

Wordpress comments by default are no follow
This because of link spam, the need to manage link spam.
Don't do it. Link building takes time, time costs money.

You want links that last
You want quality 
And link spam is not quality
It is here today, gone tomorrow.

----------


## workshop

And this is what is commonly referred to as SEO
All you need to become another expert is patience, practice and common sense
Ask questions and share your experience
And whilst we are waiting we might as well get back to building the web site

Nothing will have changed
It will all be exactly the same
Just as you left it

That's what I like about the web
It is timeless

----------


## workshop

We have an About Us page, a What We Do section, a Contact Details page and an Enquiry Form
And we have been creating child pages under What We Do to introduce the visitor to the different divisions in the company
And next thing we have to look at are Posts.

You make periodic posts to make announcements, news and to keep the site ticking over
Google likes updates, key word rich content, key word rich title tags and targeted back links
Posts are an essential part of any SEO programme
But you don't have to post every day twice a day
Once every three months is just as effective.

So post as and when there is a need to post
SEO is 99% common sense and there is nothing to be gained by faking it.
The only thing you achieve by posting more frequently is to encourage the spider to visit your site more often and use so much more of your bandwidth.
Its not going to make the slightest difference to your positioning in the search results.

Keep it simple, keep it real




> We have created a simple site
> We now have to start thinking
> And trying to figure out how we are going to use the web

----------


## lance71

This is all great info and great advice. I would like to know - for now - specifically about the link building part of SEO. How would we go about finding long lasting links and secondly how would we know these would be long lasting?

----------


## workshop

You don't. And before we start.
There is one simple rule. Keep it real and always make yourself useful.
Don't forget it 

I will introduce you to the seedier side of town. A place where all the spammers, scammers and fast talking types hang out. I will show you how they do it and how not to do it. Something you have to do, have to learn in order to understand that it is pointless to waste your time running faster and faster, just to stay still. Then once you know and understand the futility of it all, we will start looking for the real thing. 

Sadly however I am afraid it may well also be a fruitless quest, as in the search for the holy grail

----------


## lance71

That is great and I am looking forward to finding out more and gaining this knowledge on this.

----------


## lance71

Being brand new to the whole SEO world i am excited to learn more.

----------


## workshop

There is not a lot to learn
Mostly ethics and common sense
Stuff that tends to get a little blurred in the heat of the chase

But other than that it is down to experience and lots of patience.

----------


## workshop

I am afraid I have thrust you into the lions den. 

Have a look at https://www.facebook.com/villagecard

This is not SEO. 
This is social media marketing. 
They go hand in hand. But are very different

The link we placed on a brand new web site has pulled you from nowhere to page #10 for printing in Pretoria. That is SEO
The exposure you are getting on Facebook is more about traffic than link building and ranking. 

The links we place on Facebook have little or no effect on your Google ranking. The same applies to blog comments, forum posting and wherever links use the no follow tag

----------


## Dave A

> The same applies to blog comments, forum posting and wherever links use the no follow tag


 :Hmmm:  That's not entirely true.

Public blog comments and forum post are an excellent source of link juice when they're are not marked with nofollow tags.

And Google *does* follow and crawl pages linked via nofollow tags, so they're not entirely worthless. The link just doesn't pass on any PageRank score (at least officially - I'd suggest one could take that theory with a pinch of salt too).

----------


## workshop

Which is why it is important to understand the need to contribute rather than simply looting whatever and wherever one can; thinking that it is OK. Wordpress comments are "no follow" by default. Yet the Akismet spam control plugin is still an essential add on for every Wordpress web site.

----------


## workshop

> The same applies to blog comments, forum posting and wherever links are tagged as "no follow"


Maybe I should have said:

"The same applies to blog comments and forum posting that are no followed or wherever else you find the no follow tag"

What the web masters are saying by using the no follow tag is that they don't want link spam. 
And that should be enough to get link builders to back off
But unfortunately it is not. 




> And Google *does* follow and crawl pages linked via nofollow tags, so they're not entirely worthless. The link just doesn't pass on any PageRank score (at least officially - I'd suggest one could take that theory with a pinch of salt too).


Do links from Facebook and other social media sites that are no followed help one to improve a sites ranking in the search results?

----------


## lance71

So basically follow and no follow links will help in this quest?

----------


## workshop

One can never be certain. But if you are link building for SEO purposes best to stay clear of "no follow" links
The web master is telling you that they don't want you using their site to build links
And building links which get deleted or which are of questionable value is simply a waste of time.

You build links to last. You want to search for links that are going to give you mileage, three years at the very least.
They are a low value, high volume asset.
And links need time to grow and to mature. 
So look for fertile ground where you are wanted and welcomed and where the site has a purpose other than just offering the links you want.

"No Follow" links should be used if you are building traffic as opposed to optimising your rankings
And once again you want choose the time and place and to ensure you are contributing and giving users every reason to follow and look at what you have

----------


## lance71

How would you be able to find out or tell if the site has follow or no follow links? Go into the source code?

----------


## workshop

Right click the page where the link appears
Select view source code
And see if it looks anything like this <a href="http://www.example.com/" rel="nofollow">Link text</a>

----------


## lance71

I have just seen I’m 4th for large quantity printing Gauteng  :Big Grin: 

Moving up nicely, and well happy with that so far.

----------


## IanF

> I have just seen I’m 4th for large quantity printing Gauteng 
> 
> Moving up nicely, and well happy with that so far.


Lance that is great, of the inquiries you get from that what % is converted to sales. We stopped advertising in the yellow pages as printers as the quality of inquiries was not worth it for us.

----------


## workshop

> I have just seen I’m 4th for large quantity printing Gauteng 
> 
> Moving up nicely, and well happy with that so far.


If you work slowly and steadily at this you will get them all.
But that is only half of it. 




> Lance that is great, of the inquiries you get from that what % is converted to sales. We stopped advertising in the yellow pages as printers as the quality of inquiries was not worth it for us.


Google rankings bring you occasional enquiries. 
It depends on who is looking


We will grow the link building into a community build
That is where the work comes from.
Google, the internet is just another tool you use in conjunction with everything else you do 
It is mostly free for those that care to experiment and explore
And it is fast becoming the most useful and powerful tool we have to make this stuff happen

----------


## lance71

Im afraid to say i have had no inquiries so far which makes me wonder a bit but I am being patient and hoping for the best.

----------


## workshop

A watched pot never boils
It's a fishing float

All ways of saying you will eventually realise that you will only get a bite when you least expect it. 
And not as often as you would like.
None of this is easy. 
If it was we would all be doing it and then it would get even more competitive. 

Right now you and I have a head start on everyone else. 
We are at least looking. 
But I cant stress it enough, temper your expectations and rather think long term

----------


## workshop

Have you checked:

Large quantity print runs in Pretoria
Large quantity printing in Pretoria

This is just the beginning
Something you want to work at slowly and steadily 
Month after month

----------


## workshop

When we first started discussing SEO we agreed on an amount of R95 a month. At the time I tried to stress the fact that the biggest obstacle one hits, is a clients expectations. We  then went on to place a couple of links that pointed back to your site and it started popping up all over Google. This resulted in movement. You were catapulted from nowhere to somewhere. This was nothing short of spectacular, to me at least. 




> Im afraid to say i have had no inquiries so far which makes me wonder a bit but I am being patient and hoping for the best.


Google is an open book. 

A tool anyone can use and this is where it goes pear shaped. You are prepared to pay $10 a month in the hope that you get what you want. And you are going to receive many mails offering you 100 directory submissions, blog comments, forum posts not to mention articles that they will write and submit for you. And sooner or later you are going to try it. You won't be wrong. Their links or at least some of them will work. But the net result is that you will become part of a problem. Part of a plethora of totally useless web sites created solely to generate links that are intended to get you and everyone else to the front of the search results. 

And you are wasting both your time and your money.

These sites are eventually going to hit a filter, the links will be devalued and the owner will dump the domain. This leaves you in the invidious situation where you find you have to keep running faster and faster just to stay in the same place, trapped on a treadmill of your own making. Don't go there. Don't waste your time and money. Rather learn the value of patience and do it properly the first time out.

On the other side of the coin you may have noted that after posting the "sponsored" link on Another Lazy Day you popped up on Page #10 of the results. But your site has now dropped off the radar for "printing in Pretoria". The chances are that after the song and dance I made some mean spirited malignant type reported it as spam. This is to be expected. There is a holier than thou troupe of so called experts who believe they have a divine right to charge you for hot air, jargon and bluster. They are the dark side. The spoilers and disinformation experts. 

Give me the quick change artists any day of the week. Life in their lane is fast and furious. They lie with a smile on their face. And why not? You are the one who is driven. You are the one who can't wait for the tree to grow. Why should they not lighten your pocket by telling you what you want to believe, even though you should know better.

 :Big Grin:

----------


## lance71

Does that mean my site has been blacklisted by Google?

----------


## IanF

Lance google still loves you and you are 4th from my side in JHB. Maybe put something different in your first few lines, like 24 hour turnaround or printer of the year. I struggle with something different to say. And stay away from saying cheap. A few years ago I did offer printing at the agreed time or it is free.

----------


## workshop

> Does that mean my site has been blacklisted by Google?


The Google monster is not real. Whilst they do build in filters they don't do the judge, jury and executioner thing. You cannot get blacklisted or penalised for links that point to your web site. The worst that can happen is that they devalue stuff they don't like. They might also devalue the site where we posted the link. 

But I doubt it. 

Google generally take a long term view of things. Ultimately with everything being equal, time sifts the good from the bad and it all comes back to you. You are the builder. You decide. You sow and you reap. Do it right first time around and spend what you have to spend, wisely.

----------


## workshop

And this is the unsolicited letter you can expect

_



			
				Hello,

We are a fast growing company based in India with primary focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Link building and all Internet Services.

We have a dedicated team of 80 professionals to serve you in building appropriate links and developing SEO.

We can provide you with a fresh, professional image via a recognizable trademark or logo design. Our experts work to tight deadlines and are wholly dedicated to maintaining your online presence.

Most firms overseas have achieved a significant amount of savings by Outsourcing either complete or part of their work to us in India.

Other Affordable Search Engine Optimization Services Provided By Us:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
2. Link Building
3. Press Release
4. Article Submission/Article Writing
5. Blog Submissions/Writing
6. Directory Submission
7. Social Media Optimization.

Take advantage of our highly successful internet marketing service at very Affordable Price.

If you have any query, we will be more than happy to provide you our quick assistance.

Kind Regards,
Sweta Arya
			
		

_

Most specialists out source the services they offer and it can get very, very complicated. Some good, some bad and a space where short term gain tends to trump common sense.

----------

Dave A (27-Jun-13)

----------


## lance71

> Lance google still loves you and you are 4th from my side in JHB. Maybe put something different in your first few lines, like 24 hour turnaround or printer of the year. I struggle with something different to say. And stay away from saying cheap. A few years ago I did offer printing at the agreed time or it is free.


Thanks Ian, I will definitely start looking into these kinds of options, I mainly want to get my graphic design and website design up near the top too, but I am wondering if Pretoria is perhaps not the correct target?

----------


## lance71

> The Google monster is not real. Whilst they do build in filters they don't do the judge, jury and executioner thing. You cannot get blacklisted or penalised for links that point to your web site. The worst that can happen is that they devalue stuff they don't like. They might also devalue the site where we posted the link. 
> 
> But I doubt it. 
> 
> Google generally take a long term view of things. Ultimately with everything being equal, time sifts the good from the bad and it all comes back to you. You are the builder. You decide. You sow and you reap. Do it right first time around and spend what you have to spend, wisely.


Alright so I wont worry about it for now but continue to try and build the links and try find a stable place to do that?  :Thumbup:

----------


## Wiz

> Do links from Facebook and other social media sites that are no followed help one to improve a sites ranking in the search results?


Links from Facebook, Twitter etc does helps your site in SERP's but with different criteria. Google does count social media shares etc, the more active you're on social media the better chances of rankings. Google has a algorithm which covers social media. I bet search engines are smart enough to count a social vote and cannot directly ignore it. 

Matt cutts on Social media - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM5ap8NqkuY

A SEO campaign without social media optimization cannot provide the desired results.

----------


## workshop

Wiz when I place a link on a host site I watch it and I wait. And I track the response. I have never yet seen so much as a flicker of interest from Facebook. But then again I might be doing it all wrong. Is there any way of adding anchor text to the links on Facebook? 

As for Matt Cutts he is a master of saying nothing. He just keeps repeating the one golden rule and that is to "make yourself useful". "Don't foul your own nest" and like chickens we are, that is precisely what we do". Am I wrong? Do you believe no follow links are going to get you closer to page #1?

----------


## Wiz

> Wiz when I place a link on a host site I watch it and I wait. And I track the response. I have never yet seen so much as a flicker of interest from Facebook. But then again I might be doing it all wrong. Is there any way of adding anchor text to the links on Facebook? 
> 
> As for Matt Cutts he is a master of saying nothing. He just keeps repeating the one golden rule and that is to "make yourself useful". "Don't foul your own nest" and like chickens we are, that is precisely what we do". Am I wrong? Do you believe no follow links are going to get you closer to page #1?


It depends mainly on which site you're promoting , if you're trying to get back-links from Facebook and the page where all fans are fake its of no use to you. If people are real and not some users created with bots, you may get some response depending on your campaign. A site with good traffic + perfect campaign should surely help you to get some decent traffic. But the fact is totally dependent on how many real visitors which are interested in your product and how well you convince them to click your link.

No matter how wonderful your campaign is, if the users are fake or not interested in your product you won't get any conversions.

Well i am not a big fan of Matt Cutts but somehow he does provide you some information about a topic. He won't disclose anything neither you can interpret it exactly. Everything depends on your experiment, something works and something doesn't. You need to learn the things yourself and No so called guru will tell you the algorithms.
Nofollow attribute won't help you much due to the its trust factor. However i do feel a Nofollow link from trusted site like Wikipedia helps to improve the trust factor.

A good link profile is a combination of back-links with Nofollow attribute as well as back-links without Nofollow attribute.

I'm Drunk. Forgive me for any grammar errors etc. :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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Dave A (29-Jun-13)

----------


## Dave A

> He won't disclose anything neither you can interpret it exactly.


At times you certainly have to be very careful about how you interpret his musings  :Wink: 

NOFOLLOW links is a classic case in point. When Google (via Matt) started talking about NOFOLLOW tags, what they said was they don't pass PageRank, they're not used in the division of web page's PageRank score for the purposes of passing PageRank, and they should be used for all paid links and where the source wasn't vouching for the credibility of the page the link was pointing to.

The SEO community then took it upon themselves to infer Google wasn't following these links and that they were worthless for SEO purposes. On a number of occasions I pointed out that if you read the statements carefully (and had some sense of the "style" of Matt Cutts), Google probably *was* following the links and that they weren't *entirely* worthless.

And then a few years later Matt pointed out that he had never said they don't follow NOFOLLOW tagged links...

More recently (and this would be a couple of years ago now) Matt then made a post that 6 months previously they had started including NOFOLLOW tagged links in the division of a page's PageRank, however the score allocated to NOFOLLOW links wasn't passed on and essentially was lost. He thought he'd better let us know because it seemed no-one in the SEO community had noticed the change...

I'd given up hanging around SEO communities some time earlier, and that particular post pretty much sealed the deal for me. As "amateurs", there isn't much more to be gained once you've got the basics of sound SEO practices down pat. All too often, today's finer point that gives you a slight edge becomes tomorrow's handicap, and you end up chasing your tail trying to keep up with it all.

Google's challenge as a search engine - to deliver what the user is looking for; relevant, reliable content out of a search - doesn't change. And the basic, important indicators that can be relied on to determine just what that content should be isn't going to change either - subject match and credibility. Grasp that, and understand a few basic tools and principles, and you're 90% there no matter what the next big trick might be.

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Wiz (29-Jun-13)

----------


## workshop

> ... if you're trying to get back-links from Facebook and the page where all fans are fake its of no use to you. If people are real and not some users created with bots, you may get some response depending on your campaign.


I don't think we are talking about the same thing. If I am optimising a site for search engine rankings I look for anchor text, I also want to be able to point the links to internal pages and above all else I want shelf life. Quality links are difficult to find. It takes time and it gets expensive. As far as Facebook goes, it does nothing to a site's serps. So I don't bother and no follow tags are a red flag that tell me the web master is twitchy about link spam. So I don't go there either, unless its traffic that I am after. And traffic is more about community building and networking that it is SEO.

I do accept that if you are clever and slick, ones Facebook friends might boost your traffic and convert into sales. But I only really use it as a second option. One can get key word rich posts to rank in the search results and indirectly pass traffic. But I do not consider this to be part of a SEO brief either. That is more like social media marketing.    








> At times you certainly have to be very careful about how you interpret his musings 
>  As "amateurs", there isn't much more to be gained once you've got the basics of sound SEO practices down pat. All too often, today's finer point that gives you a slight edge becomes tomorrow's handicap, and you end up chasing your tail trying to keep up with it all.
> 
> Google's challenge as a search engine - to deliver what the user is looking for; relevant, reliable content out of a search - doesn't change. And the basic, important indicators that can be relied on to determine just what that content should be isn't going to change either - subject match and credibility. Grasp that, and understand a few basic tools and principles, and you're 90% there no matter what the next big trick might be.


Subject match is one I have difficulty with. How does one measure relevance? Where does one draw the line?
And credibility is another. I have a nasty feeling that Google not only tolerates bad grammar and spelling mistakes. But I suspect they prefer the company of street people and backyard operators. What does one have to do to get that rubber stamp?

----------


## workshop

> Google's challenge as a search engine - to deliver what the user is looking for; relevant, reliable content out of a search - doesn't change. And the basic, important indicators that can be relied on to determine just what that content should be isn't going to change either - subject match and credibility. Grasp that, and understand a few basic tools and principles, and you're 90% there no matter what the next big trick might be.


But how does a small one man business get themselves seen? What are the basic tools and principals? What does one understand by subject match? Are we just talking about page content? And as for credibility, this is the real killer. It doesn't take long for the average webmaster to start asking should I or shouldn't I?

----------


## Dave A

SEO is a topic that has come up fairly regularly on TFSA over the years. I went hunting TFSA for relevant threads on SEO that might help. Here are some (in no particular order):
top 10 SEO tips
help needed with website SEO
What is SEO
The standards of web design in SA
Google Analytics 101 - What You Absolutely Need To Know

----------


## workshop

Dave the problem is that none of it is quite as simple as succumbing to the temptation to spam. Can we not simplify this into half a dozen simple steps? Unfortunately link spam works. The hustlers and link pimps do deliver. So why not "out source"? It takes a lots less effort and time than beating around the bush trying to flush it all out into the open.

----------


## workshop

Have packed Lance off to Digital Point
Not even a cheep out him 

 :Big Grin:

----------


## workshop

> Can we not simplify this into half a dozen simple steps?


1. Title Tag - Stuff it full of all the key words you can think of that are relevant to a search for the business you run. Start with you primary key words and try to make it look half way sensible. Try to arrange them to look like a title that relates to the business you are in. At the same time understand that this a temporary fix. Key word stuffing is not a good idea long term. You want to create child pages and bleed your secondary key words down into your internal pages. You want to keep refining, improving and building a word picture Google can feed on.
2. Wait for Google to find your site and index it. Peg your ranking for the search terms you are most interested in. You then monitor you movement giving Google ten days to three weeks on average. 
3. Start building back links from third party web sites. You don't want links that point to an internal page on the host site and then back to your site. You don't want no follow links either. You do however want anchor text which should contain a key word combination you are targeting. Directories which insist you use your site name are a waste of time. You need flexibility. You also want links that point to your internal pages and most important of all you want them to last.
4. Ideally you want links from sites that service the same niche market but these are difficult to come by. So treat them as a bonus. 
5. This is all you need to get started. And you have to understand that it is going to take months and years to get your site to where you want it. Forget days and weeks. This is long term, ongoing drudgery. Don't waste your time running in circles. Digital Point will provide you with an endless supply of low quality here today, gone tomorrow links. They are useful. But they are going to have to be replaced sooner than later.
6. You are also going to be offered all sorts on incentives to part with your money. Don't believe them. Authority sites are authority sites because they don't hand out links for the asking. Network, build and make sure that give back as much as you take. Live dangerously if you must. But don't think you can beat the system. And I almost forgot, don't do reciprocal exchanges. Google will penalise you if you link out to a bad neighbourhood.

----------


## Dave A

After 1, I'd strongly recommend:

Content tag: Treat it as an advert that will appear in the Google SERP listing and will help people to decide whether to click your listing or someone else's.

----------


## Wiz

A bit more information on Anchor Text to be used.

Anchor Text Links -
A business has to make sure the anchor text (keywords which business wants to rank for) which they are using to build links have good amount of variation. A good anchor text profile is indeed very important if you want to survive algorithm updates which Google rolls out from time to time.

A Good anchor text profile should contain a good combination.

*Branded Anchor text
Exact match Anchor Text
Images Anchor Text
Naked Links
Random Anchor Text
Diversified / long tail anchor text
Related Anchor Text
Generic Anchor Text*

Google Algorithm should never know that links were created by you. The whole reason behind such variations is to tell google that links have been created by the sole owners of the respective site in a legitimate manner.

----------


## workshop

> Google Algorithm should never know that links were created by you.


Not sure I agree.

Firstly Google does not penalise any site for third party links that could be placed by a competitor. The worst that can happen is that the links from the host site are devalued. I also think that it is a mistake to start out believing that Google is working against you. Rather recognise that you are part of a wider community that is looking for the information you have to offer and that you are doing whatever you can to make yourself seen. There is nothing wrong with this.

The question we need to ask is where do we draw the line between what is acceptable behaviour and what is not?

This gets down to one's personal ethics. And as a rule, despite all everyone has to say, Google does not have the time or inclination to micro manage something as obtuse as this. They work on the basis that all value on the net is the cumulative sum of an infinite number of smaller parts. And yes the Google Algorithm is a filter. But we don't want to waste time trying to figure it out. It doesn't apply to us. Nor do we want to waste time waiting out and hanging onto every word uttered by Matt Cutts. I have no doubt that Google employs some very smart people whose job it is to guide the communities that grow up around this witches cauldron. I can think of no better way to keep the trolls busy other than by leading them on and getting them to chase their own tails and spin in ever faster circles. 

So you are the one who makes that decision. Are you the genuine article, the real deal? Or are you just another troll on the take? This is important. It is your attitude that that sets the tone for everything you are doing on the net and if you get off on the wrong foot you are making a big mistake. Anyone can get to the front of Google search results. The question is whether you have what it takes to hang onto that position, to compete fairly and to grow. Google is micro friendly, Google understands that small is beautiful, it's an opportunity not a threat. Understand that and you too can become part of the grand design.

----------


## workshop

> 1. Title Tag - Stuff it full of all the key words you can think of that are relevant to a search for the business you run. 
> 4. Ideally you want links from sites that service the same niche market but these are difficult to come by. So treat them as a bonus. 
> 6. And I almost forgot, don't do reciprocal exchanges.


These are the points that should be challenged. Key Word stuffing is lazy and it's clumsy. But the point I am trying to make is that once you have got started you never stop. This is not a once off event you pay through the nose to "outsource". You need to learn how to do this sort of stuff yourself. You are going to be editing, changing and fine tuning these things all the time. So best you focus on what tools you need to give you the means to do this.

Content and relevance are important. Yes but it is still possible to get an unfinished page to rank. The content you are going to add merely adds value to what you start. Google likes people with ideas. Scribble it down. Google will pick it up, index it and even move you to where they can point a spotlight at the stuff you want to do. Google will give you the break no one else will, even though they know that there is a nine in ten chance that you will never finish. But that is not important because someone else will pick it up if you don't. 

In time you also want to become recognised as an authority in your particular niche. So Google places value on "organic" links from other sites in the same market. But there are two points here. Firstly this is not something you want to try to fake. This is something that takes time and has got no place in a SEO campaign. Here we are talking results not triggers. So learn to be patient. SEO is about building foundations which nobody but Google is ever going to see.  It is possible to get a blank page to rank with back links from pages that have nothing whatsoever to do with the topic you are targeting.    

And finally who says reciprocal links don't work? Of course they work. The point is that they are dangerous. There are a lot of very strange people out there. They say one thing and mean another. They are dishonest, selfish, greedy and it's all perfectly normally. Business is business. So take care. Know who you are linking out to. Google will penalise you if you link out to the Bad Guys. If you give a lift to a perfect stranger there is a good chance that they change direction when you are not watching. What was a perfectly respectable neighbourhood when you place the link becomes the sort of place you don't want to be overnight. BOO!  :Slap:

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## lance71

> After 1, I'd strongly recommend:
> 
> Content tag: Treat it as an advert that will appear in the Google SERP listing and will help people to decide whether to click your listing or someone else's.


Can you exaplin a bit more what you mean by this, sorry it's all quite new to me so don't want to lose out on any info. How would this work and how should it be done?

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## workshop

It's a mistake to try to cover everything in one sitting. Focus on the basics and refine your best practices, as you go along. Keep it simple. Understand what you have to do to get your site to move. Don't worry about what you might miss if you blink. You will have plenty of time to retrace your steps. Ninety percent of this is trial and error.

----------


## lance71

> It's a mistake to try to cover everything in one sitting. Focus on the basics and refine your best practices, as you go along. Keep it simple. Understand what you have to do to get your site to move. Don't worry about what you might miss if you blink. You will have plenty of time to retrace your steps. Ninety percent of this is trial and error.


Got it  :Big Grin:  will focus on what I know so far. Thanks

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## Dave A

> Can you exaplin a bit more what you mean by this


As an example, in the image below I've highlighted where the content of the description meta tag shows up in a Google search result:



And this is the thread it's linking to: IT34 on efiling?

Being a forum site, the only viable solution to automatically populate the tag is to grab the first part of the content, use that for the description meta tag, and hope for the best. This makes the content of the description tag as good as the poster's ability to make an attractive opening post in the thread, really. 

But when you're setting up your own pages in Wordpress, you have control over what appears in the description meta (the page description). So think about it and make it appealing. It could be the difference between someone clicking on your result instead of the next door neighbour.

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## lance71

Thanks Dave, I see what you mean and that is new to my knowledge. So contrary to these some of these SEO tips saying Description and Keywords don't matter much - they actually do.

Luckily I still make mine as best I can.

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## workshop

aaah.....but that depends on what you mean by SEO. And this is where it gets tricky. What is SEO and what is not? If you are trying to improve your visibility in the search results you don't want to be chasing paper in the wind. Traffic and click throughs are not SEO, in my mind. You optimise a site to improve your ranking to get visibility and to get traffic as a result. This is one step removed from what I understand SEO to be. Is the distinction important? I believe it is.

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## Dave A

> Traffic and click throughs are not SEO, in my mind.


True, if we ignore that every click is a vote for your "ad" and will help promote your "ad" up the SERPs.

Probably should have made the "if" bigger.

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## workshop

You have personally seen serp's move due to click throughs? I haven't put it to the test. But would be most surprised if it makes any significant difference. All it would take to get to the top is a clicking machine. To me SEO is what you can see. What you do, to get to the point where you start experiencing organic growth.

Content tags like graphics and design are nice. But they are no more than filler, "good practice", add ons;, not essential to the immediate task. Most people tend to lose interest if they don't see results. That is why I believe you want to cut to the chase, focus on the essentials and to then start filling in the gaps when you have customers looking at the menu at the door. There is nothing worse than playing to an empty house.

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## Dave A

> You have personally seen serp's move due to click throughs?


Indeed I have. No-one has ever mentioned the influence of click through rates on SERP rankings before?

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## workshop

So if I carry Adwords on my site and someone sits and clicks on them, I am going to get paid by Google and the clients site is going to rocket through the serp's? No ways. Google is cleverer than that. So I build a "robot" to cut from IP address to IP address and being an ethical sort I will go to great lengths to make it look organic and edible. I am afraid I must see it before I believe. No doubt this is a convinction which might consign me to the bottom shelf to shovel coals for eternity. But I do like to know what it is I am spending my money on. And that is a difficult one to put to the test.

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## Dave A

Are we talking about Adwords, or organic search? Let's not confuse the two.
Also, Google has been well aware of click bombing for the longest time and has taken extensive measures to identify and discount its effects.

When it comes to bots and blackhat SEO issues - I think for the purposes of this thread all we need say is:
It exists.
Search engines hate it and do whatever they can to penalise it severely once discovered.




> I am afraid I must see it before I believe.


No problem. Please don't believe me and proceed accordingly. In fact, use a lousy description that no-one will click and see how that improves things.

(You really haven't thought this through, have you)

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## workshop

> (You really haven't thought this through, have you)


To the contrary, I think of nothing else. But my personal experience tells me a different story. 

Most of us are obtuse. Despite everything I do, to put them off, they still ask questions, they still make enquiries. Enquiries that convert into sales. It is the way things work for me. I can do almost everything that needs doing with little or no help from anyone else. That does not however mean that I do not understand that I can do better by listening to and learning from others. 

This is where there is a common disconnect.  




> When it comes to bots and blackhat SEO issues - I think for the purposes of this thread all we need say is:
> It exists.
> Search engines hate it and do whatever they can to penalise it severely once discovered.
> [/SIZE]


Do we refrain from unsound practices because of the threat of being penalised or because it is just plain dumb? There is a difference.   :No: 

Where do you draw the lines? Where does Google draw the lines?

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## Dave A

> Do we refrain from unsound practices because of the threat of being penalised or because it is just plain dumb?


As someone who would personally prefer search results to point to the best information rather than the most artificially promoted information, I fall in the latter category. Unfortunately some have no such concerns for the bigger picture. (Or even concern for the consequences of penalties, for that matter - but what else can anyone do when it comes to these folk  :Stick Out Tongue:  ).




> Where do you draw the lines? Where does Google draw the lines?


Billion dollar questions...

ps. It looks like you missed something I left for you.

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## workshop

> ps. It looks like you missed something I left for you.


I concede. 
You are right I missed it. 
But despite everything, it still doesn't mean you are not wrong  :Embarrassment: 

Let's try another one:

"You have to post four times a day to get Google to take notice of you"

Everyone has different ideas about all these things. And it all gets quite confusing, if you know no better.

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## Dave A

Is the fishing in Knysna good at this time of year?

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## workshop

A lot better than off the net. But as with everything, you need to know where to throw the hook.
Local knowledge is everything and a stainless steel braai makes it a perfect evening

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## workshop

> "You have to post four times a day to get Google to take notice of you"


Yes: Google likes big. But why post if you have got nothing to say? 
Yes: The spider will visit you more often. But that doesn't help you in the serp's

Google likes big. That is true. So common practice turns this into an unwritten rule which gets translated to mean that you have got to keep updating your site. 
Yes? No?

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## Dave A

> So common practice turns this into an unwritten rule which gets translated to mean that you have got to...


The source of many a dogma, to be sure.

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## workshop

The problem with all dogma is that when one loses sight of the essentials it starts to get complicated.




> Unfortunately some have no such concerns for the bigger picture. (Or even concern for the consequences of penalties, for that matter - but what else can anyone do when it comes to these folk  ).


And as it becomes more complicated, it simply becomes a game where each player pits themselves against Google. And the more they win the wider that divide becomes. Which is damned silly.

What we should be doing is sticking to the basics, demonstrating how simple it all really is. We should be reinforcing the importance of working with Google, of nurturing and growing what we start. Google has no interest in micro managing anyone's portfolio. They don't have to. Time does it for them. So there is no need to get shifty eyed, to talk in whispers and assume airs and graces. Authority this and organic that is nothing but hot air and gobbledy gook. 

SEO is common sense, ethics and a personal commitment.

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## workshop

There was a time before the Big Moment when Google advised webmasters to go forth and add their web sites to listing directories. But this was way back then. Things were nice and simple in those days. But then came the flashy suits, gold teeth and sweat shops. There was Adsense, the link pimps, Page Rank and the fast talking marketing gurus. Full of bravado, the noise was deafening. They, the market, lost all sense of sense of respect, responsibility and restraint. That was until one memorable night when Google mounted an ambush and swept them all off the board with a couple of deft key strokes.

There was silence. For a while.

And today those self-same experts are back, charging those self-same clients to remove all the links they placed to create an unnatural linking pattern. Nothing has changed. Nothing ever will change. Google  does not penalise anyone for links over which they have no control. Right or wrong?

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## Dave A

In any war there will always be some level of slaughter of innocents.

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## workshop

No innocents, just greed and short sighted thinking. No slaughter either. Just fast talking and sleight of hand.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Google has just got smarter, making it easier to pick out what is relevant and what is not. SEO is something anyone can pick up and master over time. Common sense, determination and patience is all that is needed. Google does the rest.

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## lance71

I would just like to give you all an update on the progress of my site.

Although I have increased in the rankings in Google, I have also increased in the amount of traffic I am getting, yesterday had the most in one day being 7 visitors (I know not much but its looking better)

Now just to convert these into sales.  :Big Grin:

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## workshop

If you get sales you will be lucky. Expect to get an enquiry when you least expect it and you can't go wrong. But don't make the mistake of thinking you are going to hook a fish for a little while. Most of that traffic is noise rather than buyers looking for the services you offer.

However it's probably time to give some thought to structuring your site. This is where it gets difficult. What I am interested in is building a site for Google. Whereas you want to convert the genuine visitors, you do get, into sales. 



> After 1, I'd strongly recommend:
> 
> Content tag: Treat it as an advert that will appear in the Google SERP listing and will help people to decide whether to click your listing or someone else's.


You need to consider things like design, your info tags and sales psyche. Whereas I will have you spinning in circles creating page after page and fine tuning the way you arrange your title tags.

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## lance71

Yes that was going to be my next step, asking for any advice on the design of my site that would increase traffic turning into sales.

I have recently added a call to action on each page with a contact us now button.

Also another update - i have received 2 enquiries so far from my site this week  :Smile:  things are definitely looking up.

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## workshop

Treat those as beginners luck. The worlds a tough place and it shouldn't be this easy. I am not the person to speak to about design. But there are some things I like and some I don't. Keep the waffle to a minimum. Visual is good as long as it is quick and pertinent. A visitor wants to find what they are looking for in one, two at the most, clicks.

However to get back to SEO, you do want page after page after page of quality relevant content which adds value and depth to the title tags you use. Stuff you want to use to draw visitors to your site but which you don't necessarily want other visitors to waste their time with. So tuck it all away in a corner that is difficult to find. And there is no reason not to use a blog script. 

Wordpress works with static pages on the one hand and Posts, News, Updates on the other. The problem here is the way they file and display Posts. Those that know about these things get all in a flutter over duplicate content and you are supposed to "no index" this and "no index" that. This is an area I have never really got to grips with. And it's important.

Short term it all works just fine. But when you are strategically placing links you want them to last for as long as possible. And the question I ask is what happens as the post gets pushed further and further into the archives? Part of me says minimise duplicate content. The other part says this could be a mistake. Rather leave it up to Google to filter it all out. I worry that by trying to double guess what Google wants, I might very well "no index" the one record I shouldn't.

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## Dave A

> Wordpress works with static pages on the one hand and Posts, News, Updates on the other. The problem here is the way they file and display Posts. Those that know about these things get all in a flutter over duplicate content and you are supposed to "no index" this and "no index" that. This is an area I have never really got to grips with. And it's important.


I feel your pain.

I'd love to link to a study on Google crawling and indexing I presented on another site, but the owner has since initiated an IP block on huge chunks of the world that includes Africa. The study related to vBulletin sites specifically, but I'm very confident the findings apply to other significant mainstream content publishing platforms such as Wordpress too.

The major search engines had announced the creation of certain sitemap tags to improve webmaster reporting on their content - things like number of posts, number of authors etc. in a given thread. What I managed to prove was that Google was ignoring these additional information entries in sitemaps and were quite clearly using their own algorithm specifically tailored for that main stream content platform to extract and interpret this additional information. 

A typical example would be something like a thread with 75 posts, but only 10 posts were shown per page.
The sitemap would report the correct post and author count, together with the last post date for the thread.
Google would show the post and author count and the last post date based on the *first page only*.

The consequences of this discovery are... complicated. Particularly if you start chasing down the rabbit hole to figure out what the best SEO strategy might be as a result of this discovery. 

Personally, between recognising that stuff that was paying the bills were making new and important demands on my time, and that Google was pretty much doing things their own way anyway if they could recognise your platform, I abandoned the rabbit hole - and proceeded on the basis that the best way forward at that point was not to risk confusing Google with too many alterations to the default platform pattern. (Essentially leave the platform as close to default as you can and let the platform developers and Google figure things out between them.)

And I seriously suggest this is the way to go for the purposes of this 30 day challenge.

What *is* interesting on this front is in the Labs section of webmaster tools, there's a new tool to identify and classify your structured page content. I haven't had a gap to explore it properly yet, but it does look like an interesting option to tell Google more without the technical challenges of messing around with the actual code on your site. Might be worth a look if you're looking for a new challenge.

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## workshop

Dave you lost me there. I think what you were saying was that it is a mistake to try to second guess Google? This because it soaks up a whole lot of valuable time?

 :Confused: 

If so I couldn't agree more. I watch to see what works and that is what I focus on. Sometimes to the exclusion of things I should be paying attention to. Webmaster Tools I haven't ever looked at. What should I been doing there?

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## Funkie

Hi Jovana!
I have just joined the forum while I was browsing in the forum I came across your thread which I enjoyed very much.
I would like you to take me through the 30 day challenge for my newly website.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind Regards,
Patrick.

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## Dave A

> Webmaster Tools I haven't ever looked at. What should I been doing there?


Register at Webmaster tools.
Add your website(s) to your profile.
Add your sitemaps or RSS feeds (or both).

Check in from time to time to get some useful information on crawl and indexing stats, search performance, associated keywords, internal and inbound links.

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## lance71

I think all these little tools have their place. I use the webmaster tools, analytics and the clever stat.

I haven't really played around with the webmaster tools enough to comment on it though besides it being useful to report errors etc on the site.

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## workshop

Lance's web site has moved from nowhere to somewhere for all the search terms we started with. And all it took were a few links with anchor text that points to page title tags. Simple stuff, nothing hair-raisingly complicated about SEO. Common sense mostly. 

But he needs to keep doing it. He needs to keep placing links, fine tuning those title tags and adding new pages, new title tags and new content. Not every day. Just enough to keep Google interested and to spread the net he has cast. A little bit of effort on a regular basis.

He also needs to keep telling himself that there is a huge difference between what he does for SEO and what he does to draw and secure traffic to his site. He needs to network, to market and strategise or in simple terms to do stuff that is going to get him seen. And once again nothing he can't, anyone can't, do on their own in their spare time. I believe this last point is critically important. Most users still believe in Voodoo dolls and miracle cures. They believe they can achieve the impossible by throwing money they don't have, at someone who wants it. 

Mistake!

Internet marketing takes time. And whilst you need to make mistakes to learn, you want to make sensible mistakes rather than expensive mistakes. You want to get your site working, to learn what makes it work and when you have some traffic to worry about, take it to a professional to spruce it up so you can start converting the traffic you are getting. Take it to an SEO expert who has the know how and resources to get around those stone walls you keep bumping into. Take it to someone who understands and who has an affinity for social media marketing. And make damned sure you get much more bounce for every ounce.

----------


## workshop

We have started work on a project to try and demonstrate that anyone can use the net. In this case unskilled work seekers who do not have access to or use of it themselves. We also make a very important point. Web sites have to be managed. And if our work seekers want their online CV to work they are going to have to knock on doors and make sure the employers click the right buttons http://thexchange.biz/projects/work-in-knysna

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## workshop

We want to set up a training centre and are going to be experimenting with a crowd funding project the Digital Drive. Has anyone had any experience with this?

----------


## Dave A

> Has anyone had any experience with this?


With setting up a training centre, or with crowd funding?

----------


## workshop

The crowd funding. It is an interesting concept but like everything is not as simple as it first appears to be.

----------


## workshop

Crowd funding does work. But you have to be focused, you need to be slick and a step ahead. And it is the few rather than the many when it comes to success stories.The question we are asking is how we can reverse that, create opportunities and open doors?

In the interim we have set up a site www.onthecoals.co.za which is getting enquiries for firewood. But that is about it. It is merely a service that we offer. Firewood sellers do not advertise or should I rather say, they do not pay to advertise. So how can one turn this into an opportunity, how can one build a small business out of what we started? Is the concept of an online workshop and incubator practical? It is simple enough. But is it simple enough to work?

It is easy to set up a web site, to get it online. But it is a little more difficult to get a web site to pay. The devil is in the detail.

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## NeilMadd23

Quite an interesting topic this very important for small business

----------


## workshop

Google is the most cost effective advertising tool available to business, be they big or small. That is if you can cut through all the noise and get to grips with the basics. We are running a workshop where we are building small home run businesses from scratch and off the smell of an oil rag. 

It is a lot more difficult than it should be.

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## workshop

I am working on a project to build a small home run business _marketing_ spit braais. If anyone is rash enough to take up this challenge we could end up building something of value from nothing more than a song and a prayer. Anyone interested?

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## workshop

There are two fundamental mistakes most people make when they start thinking internet. The first is that it is complicated and expensive. Not so. It is no more complicated than doodling on one great big doodle pad. Secondly they start getting silly. They start worrying about proprietary rights and anyone who might try to nick their idea. What they don't understand is that nothing is ever original. That there are already more people than they will ever know, who are already working on that self same idea. And that they have ever reason to search them out to try to work with them. 

I forget who originally came up with the idea that became Google. But it was a couple of students working out of their backyard. Look at what it is today. The key to the internet is others. Others who find whatever it is you are doing. Others with whom you work and who help you to grow your ideas into reality.

I have a workshop site that is already generating a micro-income and I would like to talk to others that might be interested in growing this into a community resource that works for all of us.

----------


## workshop

Here we have an index of possibilities. Opportunities available to anyone curious enough to open and step through the door. A game that's all about trial, error and experimenting with ideas. A bit like fishing for those who get up early enough.

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## workshop

> Hi there, I would like to know if there is a company that can provide dinner for 2 adults every night in Knysna. Due to home circumstances, it becomes quite a strain to have varied, healthy meals. Please respond ASAP. Thank you


 - Catering Contacts

There you have it. Something as simple as this. I know of half a dozen people who have started up businesses offering pre-prepared meals. But none of them last. Some even set up expensive web sites. But they still make every excuse they can think of, to duck the question.

I don't understand why. It is so simple!

Google works. It is inexpensive, doesn't take up time you don't have and it is not complicated. What more does a small home run business need? That is besides a measure of common sense. A sense of community perhaps?

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## ians

I have numerous products which i designed manufacture and sell. They are all on hold as i suck and marketing and distribution.

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## ians

My braai cabinet. You spoke of a spit braai, so i thought i would add this pic.

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## ians

I have a mind which doesnt sleep. Check out the cranky woodworker and custom kick boats, just to get an idea. If i could just find someone to market and sell my products.

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## workshop

Message me and let me have an email address. I will put up a page for you, we can work on some text and we then wait. You don't happen to know a caterer or two who do spit braais on call?

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## workshop

> I have a mind which doesnt sleep. Check out the cranky woodworker and custom kick boats, just to get an idea. If i could just find someone to market and sell my products.


Google _braai cabinets_ and you should find On the Coals where I have posted the two pictures you put up. Someone looking for a braai cabinet is going to find them. It might not be next week, it might not be next month. It might even take a year or two. But the point is that they will be found. 

That is an opportunity. Something that anyone can do.

And what I find exciting is the fact that what we are talking about is a global village. Where anyone becomes everyone. And everyone has a reason to work together with everyone else. Ideas, opportunities and results.

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## workshop

[QUOTE=workshop;129491..... what I find exciting is the fact that what we are talking about is a global village. Where anyone becomes everyone. And everyone has a reason to work together with everyone else. Ideas, opportunities and results.[/QUOTE]

Something that terrifies most. We get comfortable knowing our boundaries and when you strip those away, most freeze like a startled rabbit in the glare of the hunters spotlight. There is something very comforting about proprietary rights and territorial integrity. Socialism is a very nasty concept.

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## Homeandsecure

Where is the rest of the days... cant find em

----------

Russelvn (24-Nov-16)

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## workshop

The days just drift by. And we just sit on the brink watching, waiting.

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## workshop

I give in. Can't ignore it any longer. Key word stuffing the meta title is not a best practice. I admit it. It has taken me close on ten years to change the way I have always done these things. But we can't always ignore that there is a need to change. 

Google has been very slow to respond to one of the workshop sites I am working on. After making every excuse I could think of, I conceded that maybe things have changed. I took the key words I had primed into a page title, moved them to content and in next to no time there it was bouncing around in the search results I was looking for. 

So whilst it is still possible to get a blank page to rank, it is not as easy as it used to be.

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## Dave A

> I took the key words I had primed into a page title, moved them to content and in next to no time there it was bouncing around in the search results I was looking for.


It's no use having key words in the title if they're not also in the content  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## workshop

> So whilst it is still possible to get a blank page to rank, it is not as easy as it used to be.


Not necessarily. Maybe pointless. But it is possible to get a blank page to rank and that is point made. Far too many people believe a web site is a one shot project that they throw money at. Not so.  :No:  

It is a process which works so much better if the owner is hands on and prepared to make mistakes.

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## workshop

> people think it's magic... but it's not. It's a simple science that anyone can replicate whether or not they have any experience online. The more you read, the more you learn, the better you'll do.


This is where it all started. And the question that is begging to be asked is why it takes so long?

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## Dave A

> This is where it all started. And the question that is begging to be asked is why it takes so long?


If you're going to spend time getting blank pages to rank - well that's a clue.

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## workshop

It is not the blank pages that are a problem. They do what they are supposed to do. They work. They generate leads. The problem is finding service providers to follow up and make use of them. It's bizarre.

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## soum500

Hello
I am imparting to keep up with the changing work, I am passionate about online marketing. I create small blog on different topic and I use the affiliate programs to monetize them. Seo is the hardest part of the blog job. I hate to know what seo strategy you are going to use for your site.

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## workshop

Every site is different. Every point in a programme is different. It begins with the start up. Thereafter you build, tweak and fine tune, learning something new from every mistake you make. There are no rules to follow, besides making your site useful. If your site is not useful, if it has no purpose or value for the visitor then it is just clutter, cyber spam.

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## workshop

Something that one is hearing more about, is the alternative lifestyle enjoyed by digital nomads. Normally those that can code or design or both. People who have the experience and a skill that allows them to pack up their office into a lap top and travel. But what about those of us with little or no skills? Can one realistically earn enough by simply fishing off the net?

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## Lycorahavyn

if the business idea is really good, then you can spend less time

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