When you run and operate a website, you should strive to keep it in order and under control. When doing so, clients and potential ones will check out your site and enjoy your content. Otherwise, if you have a lot of issues with your Web pages, you will cost yourself some business. Furthermore, Google takes this into consideration when looking at website rankings and where to place your site in the organic rankings. With this in mind, Google now looks at secure websites and gives them an extra boost. Here are a few reasons why Google values safe websites.

Legitimacy

Above all else, when determining SEO rankings, Google will want to discover and reward sites that are real. Now, this may sound funny, but in the past, plenty of site owners would make fake websites full of spam or targeted offers. This was not good for visitors as they would not enjoy any true value from the website. When discovering a spam or fake site, Google will knock it out of oblivion and the site owner will not see any traffic.

For this reason, it is obviously important that you show Google and the other search endings that you mean business. When seeing a secure site, Google will know that you have a real website with a legitimate product or service. In reality, a spammer or someone who wants to make a cheap AdSense site will not take much time to use SSL or other methods to secure a site. For this reason alone, if you want to do well in the organic rankings, you must set up your site with https ability. When doing so, you will go a long way in maintaining stable rankings.

Long-term

If you have SSL on your site, it is obvious to most people that you plan to stick around for the long-term. This is important to Google as they want to give their customers value. You must realize, when looking for something important, people will trust Google and will want to land on a website offering true value to its users. Otherwise, in the long run, Google will suffer as the leading search engine wants clients to find what they seek.

So, when you think about it, you will understand why Google would want to place an SSL site on the first pages for many keywords. In the long run, even if you do not have a login system or credit card payment setup, you should consider an SSL certificate as you will go a long way in showing Google and other search engines you are serious about your online ventures and value the long-term strategy you have laid out. Otherwise, your site will look like any other and you will struggle to get on the first page of Google.

Quality

As mentioned, Google has, and always will, value a quality Web page. Meaning, when looking at a page with a lot of great information and plenty of happy customers, you will likely encounter a website with https security.

Think about it for a minute. When you land on a great site such as your email provider, bank or even a local restaurant, it probably has an SSL certificate. Without this, many will leave the site as they will not want to leave it up to chance. As people use other devices and become more aware of the situation, they are likely to convert to this way of thinking. When this happens, not only will you get more traffic, but current clients are likely to stay on your site. For this reason, if you want to do well in the organic search rankings and see your site thrive, you must have an up-to-date SSL certificate. Simply put, if you are truly in it for the long-term, you need to invest a small amount of cash in getting your site secure for every user.

Luckily, with a bit of cash and a couple of hours of your time, you can do so with ease. Then, in the short and long run, you will see your site thrive as people from all over will enjoy a site of high quality with all the necessary safety precautions

Throw up fewer errors

One metric Google takes a look at is the errors on your page. When using old and outdated code, you are likely to cause browser errors to your visitors. While this may not seem like a big deal on your end, it can cause a visitor to grow frustrated. Other times, people with older or outdated computers will struggle to load your website. For this reason, you should take the time to buy and install an SSL certificate. With this ten-minute job, you will see your pages load without any errors. Furthermore, people will take notice and feel more secure about going to your website.

If you have any sort of errors, whether with your SSL certificate or code, you need to fix them quickly as your site will never recover in the rankings and you will have a hard time impressing customers. Remember, with one or two errors, you can see an otherwise perfect site suffer in the organic search rankings.

So, if you can fix it up and make sure it is secure, you will have an upper hand against your competition. This is true even if they have an older page with more content as small errors will kill their SEO strategy.

Visitors

Now when looking at your site, Google will take notice when you have a lot of people come and stay for a long time. On the other hand, when you have a high bounce rate, you will see your site suffer. A bounce rate is the rate in which a person comes to your site and leaves without clicking another link on your site. When a potential client lands on your site, they will want to see a secure page. When they do not, they are likely to leave your site never to return.

On the other hand, if you have a secure site and let customers know this, you will rise in the rankings as Google values a site where people stay for a long time. This is a smart reason for you to rush out and install an SSL certificate. While this is true, you must make sure to do it right as one error can cause you to waste your time and money. Without a doubt, once you test it and make sure it works well, you should advertise this fact and let clients know your site is fully secured.

If you run a website, you must think of the future. While it is easy to make one on the cheap, you must invest in a few things. For starters, you should build a great site that people enjoy. Not only that, you must offer relevant, interesting and unique content that will set your site ahead of the competition. Finally, you must install an SSL certificate as customers will take notice. Furthermore, with https, Google and the leading search engines will value your site and you will see it zoom to the top for many organic search terms.

If you are a small business owner or if you have an innovative product idea that is ready for the market, the most effective way of acquiring customers and drawing attention to what you have to offer is by utilizing the internet. Creating a website is one of the most effective ways of advertising your product, but opening a website alone does not guarantee foot traffic. There are different methods a business owner can use to increase website traffic, but the most successful way is by using Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO consists of various formulas and keywords that ensure a website appears on the top of someone’s search results.

In order to attract visitors to their websites, many business owners are turning to SEO service Companies to increase customers without having to go through the trouble of dealing with SEOs on their own. These companies not only offer website design options, but they also ensure your website appears higher in search engine results – thus attracting more foot traffic to your site. The following are ten things businesses look for in a SEO company in order to make their business more successful.

Fees

SEO companies charge various amounts of fees for their services, but some companies’ pricing is more competitive than others’ pricing. The amount of money a business owner is willing to pay for SEO services depends on his or her needs and what the company offers. For example, many small business owners look for SEO service providers who offer a nominal, one-time fee and who charge an affordable amount to maintain the SEO service as long as the website is up and running.

Small business owners typically prefer SEO providers who do not charge a monthly fee that exceeds thousands of dollars; SEO charges should be equivalent to the services provided. In other words, do not pay for services that are not applicable, and do not pay for a company who does not deliver.

Location

When beginning the search for the right SEO company for the company, business owners should search SEO providers with respect to their own geographic location. If the SEO company is local, business owners can speak with their provider in person rather than having to rely on internet or telephone communication.

Furthermore, SEO firms that are in close proximity with local business owners are more apt to handle small businesses and the type of SEO required to boost internet traffic for their respective sites. While business owners are not required to limit their SEO company to a local firm, many choose their SEO based on its location due to their product knowledge and community reputation.

Reputation

Even if your chosen SEO provider’s website does not appear in the top ten search results, it is not necessarily because the company is incompetent or insufficient. Savvy business owners know to check Ripoff Report or the Better Business Bureau to make sure the company they’ve chosen is not merely running a scam. Furthermore, business owners will research SEO companies’ reviews.

A thorough investigation into testimonials will help determine just how successful an SEO company is at bringing in internet traffic.

Increase in Ranking

One of the more obvious aspects business owners look for in an SEO company is their ability to increase their websites’ ranking in search engine results. Business owners will look to testimonials and reviews for these rankings, but they will also check with the firm itself as well as conduct their own research. Knowing what sites an SEO company is responsible for enables small business owners to perform their own searches and see whether or not those sites show up high on an internet search.

If those sites do not show up, or if the sites show up on Bing! But not Google, business owners must take these factors into consideration before choosing that SEO company to provide services for their websites.

Link Building

Business owners who are interested in SEO services are aware of the fact that links play a large role in the algorithm that determines which sites are displayed prominently and which sites are not when one conducts a search on an internet search engine.

Business owners are more likely to choose an SEO company that ensures link freshness, links with trustworthy sites, and anchor texts and keywords that trigger search engines. Before choosing an SEO provider, savvy business owners will be sure to inquire about the company’s link building services.

Retargeting

Another SEO service business owners are interested in is retargeting. Retargeting is a cookie-based technology that strategically places ads for your business on other sites visited by customers who have viewed your website. SEO companies who provide this service must ensure their retargeting services are ethical and effective, as spam is a consequence many business owners would prefer to avoid. This option is sought after most by established businesses.

PPC Management

PPC Management, or the management of Pay-Per-Click advertisements is an SEO service many new business owners are interested in. SEO services that provide PPC charge a small fee every time an advertisement is clicked on by a potential customer, and the fee ranges depending on the placement of the ad (whether on a linked website or a search engine). It is important to compare competitors’ prices, as this service is largely dependent upon what business owner is trying to accomplish.

Ongoing Services

Experienced business owners know that SEO companies who promise instant results without any ongoing maintenance sound too good to be true – because they are too good to be true. Business owners look for SEO providers that offer consultations and continued support as the business grows. If your SEO company does not provide more than a one-time service, it might be time to find a new provider.

Reputation Management

Many business owners are aware of the horror stories. One bad review leads to a dozen bad reviews, and if you have a spiteful competitor who is willing to cross ethical lines in order to tarnish your reputation, you will lose business.

Reputation management keeps the negativity in check and ensures your website and company will establish and then maintain raving reviews and a high ranking in comparison with other sites and in search engine results. SEO companies provide reputation management services that vary depending on the desires of the business owner, so be sure to ask about specific services provided.

Content Marketing

In order for any online business to be profitable, business owners must maintain excellent content marketing. Without content marketing, search engines will not pick up your website, and consumers will breeze past it as if it were not there at all. Content marketing encompasses aspects of online businesses such as leads, brand awareness, customer service, and customer retention.

Many business owners are too busy to run their business and take care of their online content marketing. Efficient content marketing is the foundation upon which most successful online businesses are built.

Today, most consumers make their purchases through an online format. For business owners who want to make the most of their companies, hiring an SEO company to increase internet traffic will increase sales and improve their companies’ reputation.

There are many Internet search engines available for people to use. However, it is the Google search engine that revolutionized the way that we search for things online. It is also the search engine that websites and businesses live and die with. Being among the top of the Google search ranking for a given subject or keyword can mean an extraordinary amount of unique visitors for a particular website. On the other hand, being buried on the 20th page of search results can result in the failing of a website or business. In the Internet age we are living in, Google is just that important.

Traditional SEO

Getting to the top of the search results and staying there takes a lot of work. Google wants to be certain that the websites it presents in its search results are legitimate and do not represent a problem to the public. They also try to steer away from websites that have business practices that Google believes to be shady. This leads us to the subject of spam.

We hear about spam every day we are online. Our email accounts even have special spam folders to capture and dispose of all the spam emails that we receive. Needless to say, spam remains a huge problem all over the Internet. Google is not taking the issue of spam lying down. In fact, they have made it a mission to punish websites who engage in spamming on a regular basis. Perhaps you run a website and you have received a Google Webmaster email that says your website has been issued a “manual spam penalty for having “pure spam.” Google considers pure spam sites to be the ones they believe have performed the spam infractions that are the most egregious.

Making Google’s S#!% List

So what exactly is pure spam and does Google give any clear definition as to what it considers to be spam? After all, there is no way you can try to fix the problem and comply with Google unless you know what exactly the problem is. If Google sends you a Webmaster email regarding a “manual action” being implied to your site, you need to carefully read the email. There are specific words that they use in their emails. It is important to know exactly what they mean so you can take steps to fix the problem that Google has with your site.

It is hard to recover from Google penalties of any kind, especially a severe penalty such as the removal of your homepage. If you run a website that has been engaged in spamming for a long period of time, and you are currently trying to change your practices and get Google to accept your site again, you have a difficult road ahead of you. You will certainly have more trouble than a site that is guilty of only a few spamming infractions. Sites that have a long history of spamming will not be able to get back into the search results for Google very easily.

Google has been forced to get tough with a lot of sites that continue to spam despite being penalized by Google in the past. In certain cases, the standard method of removing the site’s links has not been an effective enough deterrent to get a website to stop its spamming practices. Enough websites were not slowing their spamming that it made Google realize that it had to up the ante as far as penalizing these sites is concerned. Google has defined the targeted sites as “those sites that display a long-standing practice of delivering mass and deliberate spam.”

Recovery

These sites naturally want to know if there is a possibility of ever getting this huge penalty lifted. While it is possible, if a site has been spamming long enough and in a high enough volume, undoing that amount of spam could be a tough task. In many cases, certain sites have created such a horrible reputation for themselves, and have become so deeply entrenched into the world of spam that it is virtually impossible to get themselves back to respectability and to get Google to lift their penalty.

In some cases, a site has a reputation that is so tarnished and beyond repair that the best thing to do is to shut down the site and start again with a new website that does not have all of the spam baggage associated with it. While it is never a decision that any website owner should make lightly, this is occasionally the best move for all parties involved. It is just a matter of determining if the damage that has already been done can be corrected enough to the point where Google is willing to forgive you and lift the penalty.

Bad Neighbors

Even with Google laying down the law and severely penalizing websites that have been spammed for a long time, you can be sure that sites will continue to do it, knowing full well the risk they are taking. The reason for this is because these sites believe that spamming is what they need to do in order for their site to rank in the search results. Sites that peddle gambling, prescription drugs and payday loans have been at the focal point of spamming for many years. None of these industries shows any signs of curtailing their spamming activities.

Google has also recently confirmed a key piece of information that a large number of webmasters, especially those who spam on a regular basis, have suspected for a very long time. Google stated that a website known for spamming has the ability to contaminate various sites that contain the identical company information and address. Along with this, Google looks into other less known factors to figure out the validity of various sites that are known to be on the shady side. Google is on the lookout for multiple businesses that operate from the identical address. This does not necessarily mean that shady activities are going on, but Google considers it a red flag that causes them to investigate the site further. It could also be one of the reasons that Google eventually decides to penalize a specific site. Payday loan sites are directly in Google’s crosshairs because of their long history of spamming and unethical business practices.

Minimizing Risks

There are some important things that webmasters can do to minimize the penalties and headaches they may face as a result of being targeted by Google. For example, if a webmaster is having problems with spam warnings relating to a specific site, they should immediately separate any other sites they own that are related to the site that is having the problems. This should include such items as WHOIS information, contact information and any affiliate codes that happen to match. This will eliminate any possible “guilt by association” scenarios.

If you submit a request to Google to have your penalty reconsidered and you either get a negative reply or none at all, you should not give up. Consider hiring a professional who has experience with this sort of issue to help you determine what exactly the problem is. If you keep submitting your request to Google without fixing the problem, they may eventually start to ignore you. This is a situation you want to avoid at all costs.

Google Adwords, established in 2000, brought into being the idea that marketers could dissect the algorithm in order to serve up landing pages and online offers that placed highly in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). The race was on for people trying to elbow their way to the first page of the SERPs. At that point, it was all about advertising. Marketers were trying to make sure that their online copy was the one people viewed most often. It was the same game that advertisers played when they tried to get the most views in a television spot playing during the Super Bowl or bought a one-page ad in a big magazine. The idea in advertising is to get the most views by hogging attention in strategic ways in particular high-publicity media channels. However, two things changed SEO from being totally advertising to a more public relations role: Google updates and social networking.

Google Adwords and the Need for Updates

Google may be a free service for billions of people who search it, but it is a business never-the-less. Much of its revenue comes from its advertising program: Adwords. While savvy online marketers were busy gaming the system to get free advertising by stuffing keywords into content and spamming links designed to fool the Adwords system into serving their pages up first, Google was busy perfecting their business to keep activity from damaging their own business model. Updates like Panda, Hummingbird, and Penguin tanked more than one website’s advertising strategy. It made it clear to business owners that Google would no longer tolerate poor quality, attention-hogging, content by making it almost impossible to use their search engine simply to advertise a product offering. Instead, they would be forced to contribute content that created value for the Internet community, if they wanted Google to notice them at all. It was no longer about being attention hogs, it was about making genuine online connections and relaying information that was valuable to the community. The shift from advertising to public relations solidified with the introduction of SEO strategies that no longer could rely on mindless keywords and arbitrary links. Now, marketers had to provide truly interesting and unique content that provided some value to the community. However, the game had already started changing with the introduction of social networking in 2004.

Social Networking

Facebook emerged in 2004 and social networking began to influence how people shared information online. Sites like Twitter and LinkedIn created a way for people to share more information, but now the curators of that information were your peers, not a large organization that you could manipulate with algorithm-hunting SEO strategies. To get noticed on a social networking site, it meant that marketers had to adapt towards creating one-on-one relationships that built a social brand that created trust. Without it, your friends and followers would not bother sharing your information because they would not risk losing their own friends and followers for the offense of social spamming. If you weren’t into public relations before social networking took flight, all of a sudden it became a requirement, simply to compete with others getting all the online shares and likes.

Algorithm-Hunting SEO versus PR SEO

There are stark changes in how a modern-day Internet market approaches SEO these days. It starts at the simple keyword level and goes forward into how that information is shared online. Here are a few different ways, the two models differ.

• • Keywords – The Hummingbird Google update introduced the concept of semantic keyword searching versus coding keywords. In layman’s terms, Google is more interested in what a keyword search means, not what keywords were actually typed into the search engine. This way, they don’t pull up pet accessories when someone types in the query: ”Why am I in the dog house?” Instead, Google now understands that this is a query about relationships, not pets. Thus, the content of your online copy is far more important than the keywords. If you want to place highly for a topic such as relationships, you have to provide a lot of quality content on relationships. The keywords alone will no longer sway Google. What you need to do is community outreach and get into the mind of your reader to make sure your content provides actual value.

• • Publishing – It’s no longer reasonable to assume that publishing on your own website is enough to draw attention to your offers through Google searches. Business owners who want to generate buzz for their offerings have to be involved in social networking. Content marketing is an integral part of SEO, including posting status updates on places like Facebook and Twitter. You can still use hashtags and keywords, but some sites also deal more with images and videos than they do with textual content. You will need to include more than one type of content to keep people interested on a social level. Other content will be viewed in a smartphone and will need mobile-friendly content.

• • Creating Buzz – To create excitement for an offer, in the past, an Internet marketer might have looked to high-ranking pages and site to share that content. They might try to get a retweet from people who had thousands of followers as opposed to the one with just a few friends and followers. They might try to get that person to post a link back to their pages. This is getting harder to do without being penalized for spamming or inappropriate links. It also missed the opportunity to create buzz on a local level. That’s why more marketers are creating buzz in a more social manner, by networking on various sites, not just one social network and one website. Google+ may be the late-comer in the social networking venues, but it is the one tied into the SERPs more, thus it makes sense for marketers to have a presence there, too.

• • Geographic Marketing – One of the biggest benefits to SEO was the ability to enter a global market. However, some businesses soon realized it wasn’t necessary to market the world when they’re selling pizza in a particular neighborhood restaurant. In that situation, businesses had to create positive public relations in their chosen demographic first, to compete successfully in their area. This could be achieved by cultivating good online reviews, shares, and likes from people in their own area. This cements the idea that you have to connect to your chosen demographic to outsell your competitor, instead of focusing on just issuing copy or trying to chase the Google SERPs tail.

There are distinct differences in the way SEO is approached today to when it was initially developed. Marketers want to make sure that they continue to place highly in the SERPs by creating goodwill among their customers, readership, and sponsors. That is more a public relations role than a sales advertiser. It means being genuine, providing high quality copy, and integrating the strategy with good old-fashioned one-on-one connections to fuel interest and excitement for your online offers. Those businesses that take their public relations role seriously will end up naturally ranking higher and win out in the end.

Google first released PageRank to assess the popularity of a webpage and in a recent interview, Matt Cutts has confirmed the existence of AuthorRank on Twitter and discussed the development in a 2013 interview. For some time now, Google has made it possible for authors to link their articles to their Google+ profile pages. This feature appeared to be a convenient way to make it possible to view articles you have written along with a profile photo in search results. The profile photo must be a real likeness and can’t be a graphic or avatar. However, the truth beyond Google AuthorRank is much more involved than that. Google has always tried to provide users with the most authoritative and relevant search results. Toward that aim, Matt Cutts has confirmed that not only is Google AuthorRank a real thing, it uses a special algorithm that effectively sorts subject area experts from non-experts.

AuthorRank Explained

AuthorRank works by integrating a Google+ profile page with all the articles written by that author. Google specifies that it only shows the link when it would benefit users. Authors must configure a website to use AuthorRank before Google can detect articles written by the author. An author can set this up in one of two ways. Using Webmaster tools, an author can verify an email address associated with the domain name that contains the articles. If an author doesn’t want to use the email associated with the domain, it’s possible to insert markup in the article page. Authors can create hidden markup to designate articles using the Google Structured Data Markup Helper tool provided by Google.

Response to Panda

One of the reasons for the AuthorRank addition is to help minimize the effects that Google’s Panda search algorithm had on legitimate websites. Some high-quality websites noticed that their search engine ranking dropped significantly after the release of Panda. By creating authorship code and incorporating the code into the website, webmasters can help sites that are on the fence regain credibility in the eyes of Google. When searching for content, users that come across an author profile can now see all of the articles written by that author in a more visible way. The algorithm allows Google to place most of the search results for a single author in one section. However, this also makes it less likely that search results for the same website will appear further on as Internet users flip through to search results not displayed on the front page. Blackhat spamming and link spamming sites can be controlled more readily and kept out of the search results. Authoritative and honest sites should notice a rise in search engine ranking with the new AuthorRank program.

Search Engine Display

The actual appearance of Google AuthorRank sites can be seen by searching for one of the sample queries provided by Google. “Steven+Levy+Google+Plus” provides you with a list of search results that displays any articles detailing that search query, but at the top of the page you can see Steven Levy’s own blog. This new way of viewing search engine results helps to build trust in articles written by a certain author and provided additional added value to readers. People interested in searching for articles by a specific author can do so with the knowledge that the articles are verified by the article’s author. Google continues to astound people as they unveil what appears to be the true reason behind Google Plus. Not only does Google Plus provide a place to connect with friends and colleagues, it is quickly becoming an indispensable tool for bloggers and content creators. Using Google Authorship may not make an author’s articles reach the top of the search engine results, but it’s beginning to look like it could very well mean the difference in how high those articles get ranked. A similar article that uses verified Google Authorship markup language could very well beat out an article with no such credentials.

Helping Small Business

Google Authorship should help small businesses build their brand and increase their following. So much of what is written on the Internet is difficult to attribute to an authoritative source. By using the appropriate markup language, customers now have one more tool to sort out the spammers and the real deal. Google continues to prove that they are going to continue to develop ways to reduce or eliminate content that seeks only to bring in advertising dollars without providing a real need to users. To this end, authors can build a reputation over time and develop a true following of readers.

The days of purchasing backlinks and using other methods of tricking search engines are coming to an end as Google continues to become more aggressive in the fight against spam and low-quality content. AuthorRank can also help businesses that deal with hacked websites and plagiarism of their content. When Google sees two similar articles, it can check for the appropriate author markup language and give the more authoritative article a higher ranking. The AuthorRank program could substantially reduce the amount of plagiarism, spinned content and automated text that some webmasters have used to boost results.

AuthorRank Requirements

Google requires authors to meet certain criteria for AuthorRank to work properly. The profile picture of the author must clearly identify the author and use a recognizable headshot. The Google+ profile must also be visible and set to public. This setting can be easily changed in the Profile Discovery section of the author’s Google+ profile page. Authors must also use a verified email address with a matching domain name. As an example, a generic Gmail address won’t work to verify a personalized domain name. Finally, make certain that the page doesn’t include a noindex call and ensure that the markup language isn’t visible to the public. Provided the author follows all the steps to set up a profile to use AuthorRank, the results are eligible to appear in Google. However, Google is careful to point out that AuthorRank is only going to be used when it would benefit the searcher.

The Webmaster’s Role

Website owners should start creating profiles for all of the authors on the webpage and following the rules outlined in the Google Webmaster Guidelines. Hiring authors to create real content for your page and attributing articles to those authors is now a great way to increase your viewership. In many ways, Google AuthorRank makes the world small again. Authors and webmasters can now effectively cut through the noise and get their voice heard again. As search engines continue to become more effective and sophisticated, readers can expect to get ever more relevant content.

Matt Cutts has confirmed that in-depth articles that use data should start to see some benefit from the AuthorRank program. However, a complete roll-out and it’s overall role in search engine optimization is still in the early stages of development. While it would be wrong to say authorship directly affects ranking at this point, Google has certainly made it clear that the program will continue to develop and the purpose behind the program is to read out the poor quality, non-attributable content from authoritative and respected content.

Now, when looking at algorithm updates, a lot of people fear their site will fall off the top pages of Google. This was the case in the past as many site owners would use techniques Google and other search engines did not take kindly to. In the past, site owners would routinely buy hundreds of low quality links, post bad content and copy it from other sources. In response, Google knocked these sites out of oblivion and left many site owners wondering what’s next. However, if you are a small business owner, you should realize the last Panda update was not harsh and it actually, in the long run, probably helped you. Here are five reasons why this is the case.

Real content

Above all else, if you are a business owner, you will provide real content. A company will need to make a website with multiple pages from contact us to product description pages. Not only that, many entrepreneurs use a blog as a way to communicate with people from all over the world. On the other hand, people who want to run a spam site or one to make money from advertisements often put up repetitive and uninteresting content written by software programs. For this reason alone, if you are an entrepreneur, you should not worry too much about this as you will already have your own unique and interesting content. To take this further, if you are a small business owner, it is wise to double-check that all content is unique. At the same time, this is a good time for you to read all your Web pages and make sure you took the time to write amazing, unique and interesting content that will convert visitors. Without a doubt, when you do this with care, you will not feel the effects of Panda or any other update. In fact, when updates occur, you will be the first to benefit as your site will fly by all the other ones with spam.

Links

If you run an established and well-liked business, you will, inevitably, enjoy plenty of free website links from others. When you run a business, over time, people will link back to your site when they enjoy your product or service. Other times, if you have been around long enough, you will not even have to worry about your linking campaign. This is true for large companies with a huge following. Sadly, in a bid to rise to the top, some foolish site owners would head to online message boards and other sites looking for answers. When doing so, many end up finding links and buying them from third-party providers. While this worked for a while, it will not work now. Luckily, as mentioned, a serious business owner with a viable and well-liked organization will have no trouble getting links without spending a dime. With this, he or she will rise in the rankings as it is easy to do so when one obtains high quality links over a long period. This is in stark contrast when compared with buying hundreds of links overnight and trying to game the system. With this, you may beat Google and your competition for a few months, but you are one algorithm update away from a huge drop in your organic search rankings.

Other factors

Without a doubt, when looking at your SEO rankings, you will notice some things help more than others. In the past, a lot of people who wanted to make a quick buck would build and design a site and use certain methods to rise to the top. By overusing keywords and getting a lot of links, some site owners landed on page one without effort. As mentioned, times have changed drastically, and a small business owner should embrace, rather than fear, this change. Now, when looking at your site and deciding your rankings, Google will look at a lot more than links and content. Instead, when deciding where to place your site, Google will look at your local and social media metrics. With this, it is hard for you to fake it and rise to the top. This is great news if you are a hardworking business owner who wants to make money and convert your website visitors into users. On the other hand, if you are trying to make fast cash with a website full of spam, you will have trouble. Simply put, now more than ever, Google looks at other metrics that favor an established business owner with a large following.

Slow and steady

By now, if you understand SEO and the recent and past updates, you should know that slow and steady will always win the race. For this reason, if you are a small business owner, you should concentrate on running your business and providing quality service to your existing clients. With this in mind, when it comes to your online marketing and SEO strategy, you should take it easy and make changes slowly. Google will notice when a website suddenly has dozens of links or a bunch of new content. When noticing this, Google will punish the site as it is unnatural for a person to get hundreds of links or followers on Facebook overnight. In fact, this will, realistically, only punish a person who wants to game the system. Remember, if you have a slow approach and take time to ramp up your online marketing and website strategies, you will not have to fear the wrath of panda.

Age

When looking at a site full of spam that somehow reached the top page, you will usually notice the site is not old. On the other hand, when you notice a site sitting on the top page for a long time, you will see that it is established. Think about it, if you own a site for a long time and offer value, you should not worry about recent and future updates. Instead, if you keep doing your work, you will succeed. For this reason alone, if you have an older domain and an established website, you should not fear any future updates. Instead, a site owner with an established business should continue his or her ways. On the other hand, a person who wants to game the system with a brand new site will face an uphill battle and is unlikely to win in the long-term.

A small business owner with a serious and well-thought-out plan should not fear the wrath of Google. No, instead, if you run a great site offering value to your visitors, you will have no problems. This is the case for many people who noticed their sites unaffected by recent updates. In fact, when the next algorithm updates happen, you will, provided you write quality content and have great links from relevant sources, pass up the other sites full of spam. For this reason, if you run a company and fear the next update, you should take a proactive approach as you will end up in a better position in the long run. Remember, algorithm updates are not out to punish honest companies that provide a great product. They are out to get people who try to game the system with spam.

The trend in long-tail keyword use in marketing strategy is largely the result of cost efficiency in advertising. Used as a cost conversion mechanism in search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) online advertising campaign, long-tail keywords reduce cost-per-click while increasing the number of click-through observations. By increasing the rate and quality of SEO and PPC response, long-tail keywords have been the subject of Web search engine providers like Google, as those companies attempt to improve long query proficiency.

The Power of Long-Tail Keyword Advertising

The concept of virtual crowd marketing establishes consumer equity at point of search engine keyword classification. Long-tail keywords from natural language searches online offer key insights into advertising conversion. When visitors observe SEO or PPC advertising spots, the decision to ‘click-through’ to a company website is a discerned one. If conversion of visitors to customers offers the rationale to strategic advertising placement, keyword precision is critical.

Long-tail keywords create a record of natural language searches leading to advertising engagement. Popular for building crowds of customers, long-tail keywords go viral more than any other keyword language taxonomy. Peer-to-peer sharing of a brand, its advertising, and website marketing collateral is more likely in response to long-tail keyword searches. Named after statistical long-tail distributions, the probability that long-tail keyword searches will increase the magnitude of advertising ‘click-through’ frequency is high.

Gaining popularity in the past several years, long-tail keyword advertising is especially agile in its ability to sell a volume of unique items, all under the same name brand. For instance, long-tail keyword advertising strategy is use by online retailer aggregators such as Amazon.com, and Yahoo.com to sell a range of warehoused, and third party goods.

Compatible with operations strategies designed to reduce distribution and inventory costs, long-tail keyword searches capture the most precise advertised item per search engine query. Companies can use reporting on long-tail keyword searches to control inventory and cut logistics costs according to the power law distribution or Pareto distribution theories.

Perfect for application in channel marketing strategies online, long-tail keyword placement allows for flexibility after an advertising campaign goes live. An apt method of creating modular campaign design in businesses where advertising is limited to a niche segment or where product lifecycle is abbreviated, long-tail keyword strategies allow advertisers to leverage user-driven innovation, social network analytics, and multi-scale marketing components in development of an online advertising campaign.

Long-Tail Keyword Strategies

The integration of long-tail keyword strategies in PPC advertising campaigns increases competitive advantage in niche markets. Designating channel advertising placement in niche segments of a market allows a business to target customers precisely where competitors are not. Equally, ratio of quality to cost can may influence the decision to incorporate long-tail keywords in a campaign.

The most efficient and effective keyword strategy for SEO and PPC advertising, long-tail keywords are the highest caliber search results, as the inquirer has added precision to the query. Long-tail keyword strategies are higher return on investment in marketing. With visitor volume expected to be low, on demand ‘click’ through payments structured by SEO and PPC advertising hosts add value to conversion.

Online marketing studies show that long-tail keywords are responsible for upwards of 80% of visitor conversion in a SEO or PPC advertising campaign. The fact that cost-per-lead is far less than average makes long-tail keyword marketing well-suited to market entry in competitive segments.

The ‘5’ Most Effective Long-tail Keyword Strategies

Expand market reach and advance conversion by following the five ‘5’ steps to long-tail keyword advertising strategy:

• 1. Query Reports

Prior to initiating a long-tail keyword strategy, the best method of building a taxonomy is by running an AdWords query report. Running a query on a recent AdWords campaign reports terms not already listed as part of a campaign. Using an existing Google AdWords account is the most expedient and reliable method of building a long-tail keyword list. Reflecting recent user observations, the Search Query Report offers important insights into aggregate response and keyword performance. Query results inform bidding as well. Comparison of competition levels for each keyword enables calibration of an ad campaign according to the highest performing keywords at a lower cost per conversion.

Competitor keyword reporting is critical for design-in of unique advertising content. The use of competitor keyword performance in a long-tail keyword strategy will assist in filling gaps in not covered by another similar advertiser. The benefit of tools like KeywordSpy, AdGooRoo and SpyFU, is that online advertising placement can be channeled to exceed competitor reach, or to generate traffic in segments where they are not. This also reduces cost of bidding. By identifying long-tail opportunities, advertisers can increase conversion and outperform competitors.

• 2. Keyword Localization

The localization of keywords increases foreign language syntax proficiency, as well as assists in the acknowledgement of demographic values. Appending keywords with location terms (i.e. country, state, region, city, town, zip or area code) AdWords Analytics reporting will provide metric reporting on ‘click-through’ traffic resulting from keywords searches. Include qualifying terms to add definition to localization information to maximize the reach of advertised product and service segmentation. Qualifiers used in long-tail natural language searches add new keywords to those results. Supplement keywords with add-ons and commonly used descriptive terms (i.e. color, style, model, type) to structure search syntax more narrowly.

• 3. Website Search Engine Record

Reported data from a website’s search box can add further information about what visitors are searching for. Google’s Custom Site Search box is a popular tool used in long-tail keyword queries. Investigation of a website’s search box often reveals unique information not accessible on a third party site. Review searches for terminology related to products, phrases, and map directions. Reporting of exact data from a website search box adds knowledge to a long-tail keyword strategy.

• 4. Search Engine Referral Traffic

Secondary referral traffic to your website offers another compendium of long-term keyword data. Indices of organic search referral traffic identify which keywords were searched immediately prior to y arrival at a website. Although some of this traffic will be categorized as “Unknown Keywords – SSL”, the benefit to secondary search engine data is that it serves as a simple random sample of a global population of potential consumers.

Much like a snowball sample designed to capture objective response from a large general population of unknown users, search engine referral traffic data offers a natural solution to this concept, generating data about long-tail keyword searches. Tools like HubSpot’s Sources Tool and SEOMoz report on secondary search engine referral traffic, including long-tail keyword search phrases. Analysis of volume of searches redirected to your site increases the chance that the long-tail keywords selected for an online advertising campaign will optimize marketing return on investment.

• 5. Cloud Content

Third party virtualization services can also be used to gather information about search engine content from a website. Cloud aggregation of website traffic data is continuous. Advertisers can source details about website performance at anytime from storage. Cloud-based visualization capabilities optimize long-tail keyword search data in graphical illustration. Reporting of visitor frequencies, as well as trend analyses of long-tail keyword searches from website traffic data found on a cloud, can be used by marketing specialists in creation of an online advertising campaign.

When you run a website and use WordPress, you can make a great blog that people from all over the world love to read. While this is a great outlet to use, it is wise to take a proactive approach to prevent problems such as too many blog comments or spam. Other times, you will have to deal with people who comment multiple times, either on purpose or accident. While it is easy to manually delete comments if you run a small blog and only make a post or two a week, it is a challenge when you run a larger operation and have a lot of blog posts and a busy comments section. Simply put, when you run a blog, you will want to weigh the benefits and downsides. However, when coming up with this plan, you must realize your ideas, strategies and business will grow. For this reason, you will want to come up with a comprehensive and practical solution. At the same time, you will need to devise a plan that works now. With this in mind, here are three ways to remove duplicate comments from WordPress.

Manually

As mentioned, if you have the time and patience, you should manually remove blog comments. To do this, a site owner should log in to his or her WordPress account a couple of times a day. Then, one should look at the comments and make sure users are not posting too frequently. When this happens, you should simply delete all the comments except the original one. Of course, if all comments are spam from the same user, you should delete all of them. To take this further, ideally, the site owner should block the IP address and not allow the user to comment on the blog.

With this, not only can you take an approach which allows you to remove bad users, but you can also avoid a solution causing you to delete legitimate comments. Either way, with a manual removal plan, you can enjoy the best of both worlds. However, if you are a busy webmaster and do not have much time, this is not an ideal solution. Think about it, if you have hundreds of comments a day, you will have a hard time manually removing duplicate ones. In fact, with this system, you would have to hire a person to remove excess comments. Either way, you must think of your long-term wants and needs when coming up with a plan.

When doing so, you will discover that manually deleting has limitations but is perfect if you run a small blog with only a small amount of followers. With that being said, this is the best approach if you want to plan slowly and think you may need to come up with an automated solution in the future. Simply put, when starting out, you can probably rely on this method without much trepidation.

Community based

Now, when people make a lot of comments in a row, you will want to take action. As mentioned, it is only easy to delete multiple comments when times are slow and you run a small blog. However, over time, you will probably want to think of a more comprehensive and effective solution. At the same time, while coming up with a strategy, you will not want to anger or hurt customer’s feelings by making them jump through hoops to make a comment or two.

Instead, with a community based plan, you can do a couple of things. For starters, you can employ a community flagging system. With this, other commenters can inform you of spam comments or multiple ones. This is the perfect solution when you have a lot of interested followers who care about your blog and want to help. While this is a great way to prevent long-term spam and duplicate comment issues, you should know it will still require you to manually log in and remove the duplicate comments. However, this is a great way to save time and allow you to do other things for your visitors. Not only that, with this approach, you will keep the visitor experience a good one as they will not have to deal with a burdensome and annoying approach to simply make a comment or two.

Remember, when you involve your current followers, you can take a lot of guesswork out of it and end up with the best solution for your needs. Again, you must attempt to make the user experience a good one and you can do this with a community based solution. In the long run, this is a great solution that will allow you to save a lot of time and money as you can concentrate on other pressing matters.

Plug-ins

Now, without a doubt, one of the biggest benefits of WordPress is the ability to use so many plug-ins. With many software applications available, you can run your blog and keep things in order with ease. With that in mind, you should consider a solution to your duplicate comment problems. For starters, you should, of course, manually remove some comments. However, as mentioned, most site owners should look for a complete solution.

One way to do this is to use a plug-in which prevents this in the first place. With a proactive approach, you will not have to deal with too many blog comments in the first place. But, it is wise to think about this more deeply as you will want to keep visitors happy and not frustrated. To do this, you must search for the best plug-ins for your situation.

With some software solutions, you can remove duplicate contents without any work on your end. Without a doubt, with this system, you will enjoy a few benefits. For starters, your clients will not notice a bunch of annoying blog comments. At the same time, people will not grow frustrated when dealing with prevention techniques many use.

If you run a blog, you must understand the importance of participation. Think about it, when visitors can make a comment or two you your blog posts, you can reach out and potentially reel a customer in. Other times, with comments, the site owner can gain interest in his or her idea or strategy. While this is true, if you want to have a comments section, you must police it wisely. One way which many bloggers do so is to force people to sign up for accounts or log in. This is annoying, and most will end up clicking the back buttoned of the browser. No, you need to take a proactive approach while still giving the visitor a decent experience. Remember, there are so many sites out there that you cannot afford to annoy users. With this knowledge, you must know how to proceed wisely. Ideally, you should come up with a multi-faceted approach, which allows you to keep the comments flowing and prevent a ton of spam or duplicate ones.

Luckily, with these three easy to follow tips, you can keep people coming back. They will not grow frustrated by reading mountains of duplicate comments by people who made mistakes or wanted to spam the blog comment section.

Bounce Exchange and OuiBounce both provide your website with an option to accept user enrollment to receive newsletters. A newsletter still provides one of the most effective ways to contact your customers and connect with them at a time when it’s most convenient to them. While social media sites have greatly improved the level of communication between you and your subscribers, certain disadvantages do still exist. A newsletter goes directly to the subscribers inbox, and people tend to review items sent by email more carefully than a status update posted on a business page.

Bounce Exchange Overview

Bounce Exchange works by detecting when a customer leaves your page and providing them with an offer to sign up or receive a free offer instead. This can help you sell more products, keep the customer on your page longer and turn a visitor that would otherwise abandon your page into a returning customer. While the product works and can increase the amount of traffic to your site over the long term, the cost of the service is simply astronomical and not affordable for many small business owners. In contrast, OuiBounce provides an open source alternative that allows you to interact with and connect with your customers without the high price tag.

OuiBounce Overview

The open source OuiBounce software provides everything you need to keep visitors on your site and coming back for more. The software was designed with ease of use in mind and provides a simple, and easy to customize platform for your website. Since the software is Open Source, you don’t have to pay to use it and like Bounce Exchange it exhibits intelligent behavior that allows your website to detect when a user is about to leave your site. The library can help you improve conversion rates by seven to 15 percent, depending on the type of website you operate. You can use OuiBounce to provide real value to your customers and give them something free just for signing up and returning to your website.

Helping Users Find Information

New visitors to your website can’t always locate the information your visitor needs and often, the first reaction is to click the back button when this happens. Before the visitor leaves, you can greet them with a pop-up that allows them to sign up for one of your special offers or provide them with a book he can download to peruse while not on your website. People appreciate when you offer free materials and can visit your website and download materials to peruse in their spare time. By providing them with a PDF booklet, or getting them to sign up for a special offer or newsletter you increase the likelihood that he will return in the future.

Types of Offers

When setting up your first campaign, your options are virtually limitless. As with Bounce Exchange, OuiBounce makes it possible to offer a free eBook, invite the visitor to come back and participate in a webinar, give a link to contact a customer service representative or even give the user a sample course to take in their free time.

OuiBounce is Open Source

Useful and relevant content directed at your customers is the goal of OuiBounce and with a community of Open Source developers, you can remain certain that the software will continue to develop and grow. Additionally, since the software is Open Source, you can edit and change the code however you like. Bounce Exchange is proprietary software that can’t be modified, distributed, or sold. Even if you don’t want to use the software on your website, you can modify it to include additional features and offer it to your site visitors as a free or paid download. Bounce Exchange is very similar to OuiBounce and functions as the commercial version of the product. Provided you don’t need extensive individual help setting up and configuring the software, you can use OuiBounce free of charge without the need to pay the hefty annual fees that Bounce Exchange charges.

OuiBounce Usage and Options

In coordination with other site monitoring tools, you can also set OuiBounce to alert visitors to your website after a set amount of time. Use Google Analytics or another site analytics tool to determine the average time spent per page and prompt users with a dialog box before she leaves. You can set the sensitivity of the software, turn on aggressive mode or create a callback to keep your customer engaged and active on your website. Rather than using the pay per user or campaign scheme of Bounce Exchange, you can use the software for free and provide a value added feature to your website.

Sensitivity

The OuiBounce software library provides a few simple options that you need to understand to get the most out of the library. Sensitivity refers to how far away from the edge of the browser the mouse must be before a prompt displays. If you put the sensitivity too high, you will lose visitors because the pop-up ad may display too quickly before they get a chance to view the website. Set it too low and they might leave the website before they have a chance to view your offer. Bounce Exchange provides a similar feature that intelligently determines when someone is about to leave your website. However, the added cost and system resources used by the software make Bounce Exchange a costly alternative in both time and money.

Aggressive Mode

You can configure OuiBounce to use Aggressive Mode to prevent ads from getting in your visitors way. Aggressive mode shows your advertisement only once per customer. This prevents your visitor from having to dismiss the dialog box each time they move the mouse to a certain position in the screen or visit a new page. Once you set up Aggressive Mode, you can feel confident that the user experience remains high by preventing a negative experience with your website. Users that have to constantly battle advertisements and free offers are less likely to return to your website in the future. Unlike Bounce Exchange, you can set this option with a simple code edit.

Minimum Timers

Setting a timer before a pop-up displays is a simple and straightforward process that can potentially add great value to your website. At the point when most users leave your website, you can gently guide your visitors toward your product or service or encourage her to sign up for your newsletter to get additional information in the future. By providing a simple form to provide a name and email address, you can increase the conversion rate and decrease the likelihood that emails you send will get returned or sent to your trash.

Choosing the Right Software

Website owners have to carefully manage their time, expenses and resources. Using a full-featured version of a product such as Bounce Exchange may actually hurt the effectiveness of your website. Too many database connections and data flowing between the website server and the visitor can impede the overall user experience. OuiBounce gets around all of this by using a simple, streamlined and effective library that can add an interactive element to your website. Before spending money on an expensive option like Bounce Exchange, it makes sense to explore the Open Source OuiBounce option.

Thanks to the nearly universal prevalence of the Internet, it seems like everyone and their cousin has a blog, website, or other foothold in cyberspace. Some people use their websites and blogs for fun, others sell stuff, while a rare few actually use their blogs, websites, YouTube channels, and so on to actively influence the world around them. Whatever form or incarnation a person’s web presence might take or the motivation behind its maintenance, though, traffic is the one thing everyone has in common. Everyone needs it, everyone wants it, and in most cases, the majority of users can carve out their own little group of visitors and fans. Here’s the thing about traffic, though: Getting people to visit a website isn’t the hard part. Anyone with enough time and/or money can get some web traffic to their blog, YouTube channel, or what have you. No, the hard part is keeping the traffic once it’s there. The denizens of the Internet are a fickle, flighty lot, and anyone who wishes to attract and retain their allegiance must first gain their attention. Fail in that regard, and there’s only one outcome: The dreaded “bounce”.

Read on to learn what the bounce / bounce rate is, and more importantly, a simple little trick anyone can use to decrease this most unwelcome of analytical metrics.

Bounce Rates: What’s it All About, Anyway?

Before going any further, it’s imperative to understand what the phenomenon commonly known as “the bounce” actually is, as well as what a website’s bounce rate indicates. On the Internet or off of it, knowledge is power, and only those admins and site runners with a firm grasp of these metrics and their consequences can hope to better their situations.

Quite simply, “bounces” are single-serving visitors to a website. They show up, view a single page or piece of content, and then vanish, often forever and without a trace. If you take the total traffic to a website and you parse out this element, that’s your bounce rate. Put another way, if 100 people visit your site, and eighty of them look at more than one page / one thing while five of them bounce according to the above definition, then you, which is to say, your website, have a twenty percent bounce rate.

As you might imagine, the longer a person stays on a particular site, the more interested, engaged, and invested they are in that site. The inverse is also true; a higher bounce rate can mean your site is broken, confusing, or simply boring. Of course, traffic quality can also play a part in a site’s overall bounce rate, as can a variety of other factors. Whatever the reason or problem, the most important question isn’t how to cure the symptom, but how to cure the disease.

How does one lower an unacceptable bounce rate? Simple – withdraw your visitors’ ability to ever bounce in the first place!

Setting Blank Targets, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Share My Traffic

There are plenty of methods to reduce one’s overall bounce rate, and a wise site owner / admin will use as many of them as he or she can. Make sure your website’s design and interface are pleasing and user-friendly. Make sure you have interesting content. Keep your traffic targeted to the purpose/theme of your website, and if you market to them, do it at a whisper, not through a megaphone. All of those things take time and skill to implement, at least to some degree. One of the easiest bounce-reducers, however, is the setting of blank targets. All it takes is a snippet of HTML code (the techie language that makes the whole Internet run), and voilà – watch your bounce rate drop like a stone.

Here’s how it works:

Setting a blank target is simply an instruction to your computer, or more specifically, to your Internet browser, to open external links – that is, links which point to sites or web pages that aren’t your own – in new windows. This will show your visitors the content they’ve requested, but unlike those who don’t set blank targets, it will also keep your own site open. This greatly increases the likelihood that these users will come back and visit your site after they’re done with whatever the other content is. Not only that, but blank targets mean you’re sharing your traffic with other sites instead of simply handing it over without a fight.

The setting of blank external targets is especially useful in the blogging community, which tends to be tight-knit and familial. If you share your traffic by linking to someone else’s interesting, funny, or otherwise worthwhile content, the chances are good that the favor will be returned. Setting blank targets for your external links is, in other words, a win-win situation for everyone. Your users are happy because they get to see the content they enjoy, the individual site owner – that’s you, dear reader! – are happy because their site(s) remain(s) open and available for further viewing (leading to reductions in the overall bounce rate), and one’s fellow site-runners are happy because the traffic everyone wants and needs is being shared rather than hoarded. Put another way, external targeting is a tide which raises all boats, as the old saying goes.

Dude, Where’s My Code?

Here’s the only code anyone needs to set external blank targets. The part that actually opens the new window is in ALL CAPS, but this is for illustrative purposes, not out of necessity. At any rate, the code is below:

<a href=”#” target=”_blank”>Link</a>

This code will, as previously stated, open the linked URL / Web address in a new window while keeping one’s own site open for visitors to come back to later. On that note, it’s time to discuss what not to do with this code.

Blank Targets: How Not to Misfire

If there’s one thing you should never do with this sort of link structure, it is to use it on the internal pages of a website you actually own or run. Why? Because no one likes pop-ups. If a visitor to a certain site gets bombarded with a new window or tab each time they click a link, they will quickly grow angry and resentful. Such feelings will almost certainly cause them to leave soon thereafter. Improper use of external targeting isn’t just a recipe for a significant drop in traffic and the site’s overall reputation, though – it’s also a surefire way to shoot a site’s bounce rate through the roof.

Fortunately, the solution to this grim scenario is an easy one: Keep blank targets set to external links only!

Conclusion

The prudent management of website traffic is a crucial skill for anyone who hopes to make a lasting impression on the Internet. Happily, this guide is the ideal tool for anyone, be they novice or veteran, who wishes to sharply reduce their overall bounces / bounce rate, increase their visitors’ satisfaction levels, and generally enhance the quality of their web properties and the value of their web presence. Happy coding!

More than ever, content matters, and having the right content on your websites is essential for ranking well in the search engines. In addition, great writing has a number of side benefits that can help improve visitor engagement and tertiary search engine metrics. However, most website operators are not great writers, and even those who are generally have better ways to spend their time. In order to succeed in the search engines, you’ll likely need to hire a freelance writer.

Freelance writers create the content on your website, and there a number of ways to use what they write to help your website rank better. In addition, hiring a freelance writers lets you know that you’ll have someone who is ready to create content when you need it. However, you’ll want to make sure you hire the best freelance writer for your needs. Here are a few tips to consider when looking for freelance writers and great website content.

Why Writing Matters

In the past, Google and the other search engines generally ranked websites based on off-site activity. Links to your website would help it grow, and anchor text could have a profound effect. In recent years, however, Google has developed sophisticated algorithms that help it determine if a website is one that visitors will enjoy. Since Google depends on delivering great results, their algorithms must be able to avoid recommending spammy, uninformative pages. One of the ways they do this is by algorithmically determining if the content on your website is well written.

Nobody knows exactly what goes into the algorithm as its contents are guarded closely, but most experts believe that the writing is checking for spelling errors and even basic grammar. There are a number of formulas that have been developed over the years to determine if writing is readable or not, and most believe that Google uses similar techniques. These days, fooling Google is all but impossible; you need good content that is written well.

What do Freelancers do?

The writing field is notoriously difficult, and many writers don’t have full-time employment. As a result, many depend on freelance writing for part- or full-time income. The Internet has increased demand for freelance writers in recent years, and many perform most of their work online. Website operators looking for writers will find plenty to choose from.

Freelance writers with web experience understand the importance of keywords, and they know how to perform necessary research to ensure that the content they deliver is accurate and reliable. While not all writers have the same skills, most take their jobs seriously and are able to perform great work on a consistent basis. By building a relationship with freelance writers and giving them regular work, you can stock your website with content the search engines will love.

Finding a Freelancer

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to find freelance writers online. Writers will often post on Craigslist, and some also work through third-party websites. These websites allow you to place orders at competitive prices and read the work before choosing to accept it or not. These third-party websites have a variety of different ways to facilitate the workflow, so look around to find which works best for your needs.

Many of these websites also allow you to place orders directly with writers you like best. Even though there is a charge for this service, the final prices are competitive. These websites are also great for those who want content created from different voices, and they allow you to diversify your writing without having to reach out to individual writers. For most, third-party writing websites are a smart choice.

Keeping Your Writers Happy

Great freelance writers often have more job offers than time, so they can often afford to be selective. Because of this, offering significantly less than the writer usually charges will often fail. That said, if you feel that your content should be easy to produce, you may want to see if you can negotiate a discounted rate. Similarly, freelance writers enjoy regular work, and they may offer discounts if you promise to deliver work to them on a regular basis.

One of the top complaints that comes from freelance writers is payment difficulties. The writers you hire depend on prompt payment to pay their bills, so make sure to follow through on promises. Many will also demand half of the final bill upfront, so be prepared to put down a bit of money. Great content is worth paying for, and a happy writer will often go the extra mile to keep you coming back to them in the future.

Hiring an Individual Writer

When hiring an individual writer, it’s important to determine when you’ll deliver work, what you expect and how they will be paid. Be upfront, and try to give your writer examples of the kind of work you need. It’s often best to start with a small order that you can read through their work and determine if the produced content meets your needs. Don’t ask for samples longer than a few hundred words as some website operators use this as a scam to get free work.

Freelance writers generally have portfolios, so ask to see examples of previous work before you hire a writer. There is no universal online test for determining how good a writer is, and you’ll have to use your own judgment before hiring someone. Different writers have different styles, and you’ll want to know that the tone and style they use matches your website.

Using Content

Your main website needs great content, so hire a writer if your content could be better. If you aren’t sure how good the content on your main website is, ask a freelance writer to edit it for you. Even small mistakes can hurt your website in the search engine rankings, and potential customers and clients will find misspelling and basic grammar errors to be signs of poor professionalism. Many websites suffer from basic structural issues; freelance writers can help.

You’ll also need content for your blogs and supporting websites, and you’ll want great content for your social media properties. Freelance writers can help you meet all of these goals, so hire a writer with experience writing for different types of platforms. Doing so can allow you to focus on SEO and advertising campaigns while still having great content delivered for your website.

In the past, it was sometimes possible to get mediocre websites to rank well. These days, doing so is nearly impossible, and Google will eventually sniff out any shortcomings eventually. By focusing on creating great content and hiring great freelance writers, you can separate your website for the competition and see long-term, durable results.

In addition, succeeding on today’s web requires regular updates, and most website operators lack the time or expertise needed to continually create top-notch content. Freelance writers depend on their writing for their livelihood, and their experience can help you succeed online. While they aren’t cheap, the service they provide is worth what they charge, and hiring a freelance writer can be the difference between a website that languishes near the bottom and one that climbs to the top of the rankings.