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 Search Engine Bytes #1
Questions & Answers with Michael Campbell
Q - I'm considering hosting a large number of mini-sites built around a theme directory (fly fishing), but am concerned about the same IP number being utilized for all. As I understand it, this would be the situation if all these mini-sites were hosted through the same account.
So the question is... will this screw up my search engine campaign of cross-promoting (and linking) sites for a common product line? For example, the mini-sites will focus on fly rods, the flies, fly reels etc. Should they be designed as stand alone sales sites and also be "satellites" linked to the main search directory?
A - Lumping all your sites on the same IP address is ok for most people. It works fine if you have sites on a wide variety of topics, or rely on paid advertising to get traffic.
If your mini sites are on the same topic, I would avoid hosting them on the same IP address, or entire C class block of IP addresses.
Spread the hosting around in terms of IP addresses and geographical locations. There are many free or low cost hosting services that you can use for this purpose. The buck a month hostica.com comes to mind.
For best search engine positioning, cross link each mini site to the next. Be sure that each mini site also leads to a central destination or hub, on a central topic or theme, bringing all the mini satellite sites into agreement.
The mini sites don't necessarily need to be commerce or sales sites. All they need to do, is convince readers to click on the links that lead to the central site, where the ecommerce takes place.
Q - I see you as a bit of a SE (search engine) Guru and I just want to comment on something. Everybody wants to get into page one of the search engine - but how many places are there? Maybe 15-20 listings on the number one page.
Which begs the question, is it worth paid submission at Inktomi and other engines, if you are not guaranteed listings on the first 1-2 pages of results? But of course no one can guarantee this! Your thoughts please regarding this issue?
A - Most people paying for inclusion are professional optimizers (SEOs). By paying for inclusion at Inktomi, they are getting their pages spidered every two days. Hence, their positioning changes very quickly. Once listed in Inktomi, it guarantees placement in all their partners like Hotbot, MSN, AOL and dozens of others. This link will get you listed in two days or less - http://www.cdzn.com/ink
Most optimizers think paid inclusion is the best thing since sliced bread. It reminds them of the old days on the internet, when the once mighty Infoseek would take a mere 24 hours to index any changes. What fun that was!
It becomes a game of experimenting, observing, tracking, making adjustments and repeating the process, until you knock off the pages ahead of you in the listings. You keep tweaking your html, linking structures and keyword densities until you make it into the first page of results.
It's not easy, until you know how. You learn how, by using tools like WebPosition Gold 2, GRSEO, reading Nothing but 'Net (VP - went offline since 2003) and Planet Ocean's Winning the Search Engine Wars. This stuff will set you back around $400 bucks and at least one month of learning. Then you need to practice to get good at it.
If you don't know how to optimize a page, or don't want to learn, then don't waste your money. Paying for inclusion won't really help you. The top 20 spots are taken by practicing and professional SEOs. Without optimization knowledge, you'll need to rely on pay per click advertising at Overture.com, Google's Adwords, or other forms of paid advertising (banners, sponsorship, etc.) to get on the front page of the search engines.
Q - I bought Nothing but Net and have been working on implementing a lot of your advice on site layout, SEO, doorway pages, etc. Several of my pages are now appearing in the top of the search engines. The primary change that seems to have made this work, has been the addition of a doorway page and an informational hook page.
I'm attempting recreate the search engine cluster that I printed from your Vault. I have lots more to do, but at his point, this is super! What I need to know, is if the multiple doorway technique still a good way to go? I certainly don't want to get blacklisted in the search engines.
A - Doorway pages - as I've written many times - are just one part of an overall strategy. An eclectic mix of hallways, doorways, minisites, info pages, blogs, reciprocal links and mininet empires, are the key to success. Just don't make too many doorways. Don't overuse any one strategy. Make sure each page is different, with fresh content.
1) Make sure the doorway page focuses on the keyword phrase the user actually searched for. Do not use off topic, misleading content or redirects of any kind.
2) Focus doorways and minisites on search phrases with makes and model numbers in them. Focus on specifics. Doing so will keep them laser like in focus and have far less competition in the search engines.
3) Make sure doorways contain valuable content about the item in question. Any full page magazine ad will contain
enough info about a product to create a doorway page. Visit the manufacturer's web site for more info, stats and specs to add to your page.
4) Make sure the doorway page is at least a 30 second read. If it doesn't take this long, repeat step 3 and add content until it does.
5) Don't call them doorways or gateways or hook pages anymore. They are valuable information pages. They are web site content.
In summary:
Get a domain. Get hosting. Set up a home page. Make your doorway pages. Link to your doorways from the home page. Think of them as internal pages. Link these internal pages (what used to be called doorways) to affiliate programs or your commerce site. Make money. Repeat the process.
The shifting tide of the search engines has caused a rise and fall of doorway pages. Now they are ready to rise again. Except this time, instead of having doorways lead to a home page, the home page leads to the doorways, which lead to offsite pages. Sounds a lot like a minisite, doesn't it?
You can learn even more about setting up profitable minisites by reading Phil Wiley's ebook Mini Site Profits: http://www.cdzn.com/mini
Make 5 - 5 page minisites on the same topic, link 'em together and watch how fast you rise in the search engines. Stay tuned to this newsletter. I'm currently working on linking diagrams, to show you exactly how its done.
Q - I have an online store that promotes CDs. You mention in the Vault, to create five sites and put related topics on each.
Do you mean categories like musical dvds, music videos and wireless headphones. Must I make a list of keywords for each topic and work out the density of keywords? And what about cross linking? Do you mean linking each site together and then linking the sites to the main store?
A - Yes, all those musical items are related, and would make good doorway pages when stored on the five sites. The more targeted the pages are, the better. Focus on a single band or singer, make a doorway page for the artist and drive the traffic to a page featuring the artist on your main store.
Yes, you'll need to make a list of keywords, whatever you want your site to be known for, then work out the densities for top scoring pages. But don't stress on it too much because densities can change often.
Focus on creating one or two pages with exact densities by following the templates in the Vault. Then make a whole bunch of pages, similar but not exactly like the top scoring ones. They'll have a density, but you don't need to know or stress out about what it is. Just make a volume of doorway pages and vary the content.
Yes, you can link your sites together and to the main store as well. But how you link them, what you say in those links, and the order in which you submit your pages is very important.
Stay tuned for the next issue of this newsletter, for the second half of the doorway page strategy. We've already
covered link popularity for doorway pages and provided a top doorway page strategy in the Vault. Next issue is controlling the "reputation" of each page on your main site, and how to get your home page known for generic search
terms.
Q - Obviously, you are a big fan of networks of minisites and something always puzzles me. Is it better for SEO (search engine optimization) to have a network of 1 site and 5 minisites interlinking with each other? OR, is it better to link to 100 sites, and have those 100 sites, link back to you, via a reciprocal linking arrangement with them?
I do not know what to focus on, as there is a lot of conflicting information these days. I would be grateful for
your opinion on this.
A - The beauty of the mininet is that you do not need anyone else. You can create your own empire of interlinked sites. If you have a couple of friends. They can join in the fun as well. You can all link to each other. Asking strangers to link to you can be a little tough. There are correct ways to do it, as described in the 131 Legitimate Linking Strategies Paper, which is posted in the Vault. (note: or you can read it from here, but highly suggested to join the Vault - it's free.)
Having 100 links coming into your site would help, just by the shear volume. A better choice would be 10 or even five high quality links.
The best links to your site, would come from sites on related topics. You can tell when they are on the same topic as your site, if the title of their page contains your keywords. The second trick is to get them to link to you, using keywords of YOUR choice. (Tall order to ask from a stranger.)
Ultimately, you want the incoming link and the title of the page containing the link to be in agreement. This will build a reputation for whatever page they point to.
Then - as I've said many times - make sure your page reputation (the incoming stuff) matches your topic (what your page is about), by including those very same keywords in the title of your page, in headline text at the very top of the page, in the first paragraph, and peppered at about a 2-5% keyword density, throughout the text of your page.
So in short, yes, every link helps. But each quality link that builds reputation, is ten times better than one that does not. Just FYI, the best way to get quality links is to use OptiLink - http://www.cdzn.com/opl
It will save you hours of research and within seconds, tell who links to you, what their page titles are, what the links say, what your density is, and what areas need improvement. One run of this software can give you the info you need, to dramatically improve your search engine positioning.
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The above answers have been reprinted with permission from Michael Campbell and Dynamic Media Corporation, Inc. and is copyright 2000-2003. Michael is a well-known Internet marketer and a leading search engine specialist who also publishes a free newsletter called Internet Marketing Secrets.
Campbell gives you FREE heavy hitting SEO information. To qualify, join to his superb newsletter. Once inside, send your questions to one of his email addresses and I guarantee a personal professional response within couple of hours.
Michael hits a home run with his latest search engine book, Revenge of the Mininet. Grab a copy of this step-by-step guide and discover how to create your own mininet empire. 52 meat pages including diagrams, explanations, drawings and a candid interview on 'how-to' information that will help you launch and build your online business. This is one of the most comprehensive book on building minisites I've ever seen. Highly recommended -
http://www.revengeofthemininet.com/
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