Alternatives To Google Adwords
The days of neutral and free search engines are long gone. All the major search engines make money these days, and lots of it as well. Most use Pay Per Click ads which appear on their search result pages in addition to other methods, such as paid listings for example. Pay per click advertising seemed to be the perfect solution both for the search engines and companies eager to get as many visitors to their website as possible and have a marketing budget to do just that. The advertiser builds an ad around a keyword and submits it to a search engine which displays the ad when a search for the keyword is executed. The advertiser pays a nominal sum to the search engine for every click through from a visitor.
The problem with PPC is the competition. The advertiser with the highest bid wins the best placement which is usually at the very top of the search result pages. Google being the most popular search engine is also the most expensive in terms of bids for specific keywords. However, you can generate good amounts of traffic using other search placements through Microsoft Adcenter, Yahoo Search Advertising and Search Feed, Ask.com Sponsored Listings, Looksmart AdCenter, Miva, ABCsearch, Enhance, Mamma Coperic Media. It is very likely that these will charge you less than Google for a top advertising spot for a specific keyword. It also makes sense to use many different search engines to bring in traffic as oppose to using only Google. So if you’re thinking about using PPC ads to support your campaign and have the budget to do so, don’t spend it all in one place!
Choosing a Good Domain Name
If you are at a stage where you are choosing a domain name remember that is an important step in your online presence. There are various good guides on how to choose a domain name, but from an seo perspective it is best to choose a domain name that is keyword specific and directly related to your activity.
It is possible to buy a domain name and receive traffic to your website through that domain immediately. For instance a misspelled domain name of a popular word will often receive traffic because people type in the word incorrectly. Of course you don’t to market your activity with a misspelled domain name. However, just like a misspelled domain can bring in traffic so can a domain that is keyword specific ie. meditation.org. Many people will type this directly into their browser bypassing Google or any other search engine. I would suggest looking into keyword research before actually choosing the keywords for your domain.
You can try the Google Keyword Tool which will produce estimates of how many people look for specific keywords in a given month and year. The tool will also show the advertiser competition for specific keywords. The best thing to do is to choose a popular keyword/s with the least amount of advertisers (competition). Remember that search engines like Google assign a priority to the keywords in your domain name, but even more so when your content is also optimised for those specific keywords.
If you are an established brand it’s best to run the website in your organisations name. It is a common practice that a large organisation or a company purchase additional domains for their individual product or service websites which are also marketed independently. This type of practice tends to generate a lot more traffic and convert much better.
What SEO software can I use?
Filed under: Link Building, SEO Techniques, Software Reviews
I think that without a doubt one of the best SEO tools that are available today is the SEO Elite for $167 and SEO Administrator for $129-$199.
SEO Elite
It is well worth this kind of investment in my opinion. I’ve used this SEO software quite successfully for over two years now and I’ve definitely saved money in a long run. Most SEO professionals use this software, or very similar custom made software to manage SEO campaigns on behalf of their clients and charging a fortune for it!
The best thing is that even if you are a novice SEO or a webmaster and need to bring in more traffic to your site this software will help you with its easy to follow instructions. Creating SEO campaigns using SEO Elite is quite intinuitive even for a beginner. If you’re more advanced you can use its more advanced options. To buy the software click here.
SEO Administrator
Another great SEO software is the SEO Administrator. This is really a great tool and I find it better than SEO Elite, and it is also cheaper because you can get the standard version just for $129. At present the company is also offering a free expert edition worth $199 in exchange for a link from a page with a Google PR of 3 or higher. A great offer which will probably soon expire. :( Or maybe not, it’s a great link bait and will definitely help the company with its SEO and link building campaigns. Offering the software for a link is very good way of getting quality links pointing to your site and in effect increasing your keyword rankings and volume of visitors.
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SEO Software
