Hi
Gang,
Thanks for
being here, I value every one of you
and truly hope that you become successful online!
I've been
working on the re-design nonstop and I am not done obviously.
I still have lots of content, navigation, tools, etc.
to add so you will see it coming bit by bit.
Still, there's
a good amount of useful content added. Take a look at
every page via the links to the left.
I didn't
realize how much time it would take to re-design this
site, you might say I am furthering my online education
by doing this re-design...I've learned a lot about HTML,
enough to be dangerous!
3 Free Resources
1.
If you haven't gone to Mark
Hendrick's Vault, you should take a look.
There's lots of no cost resources for
you to download. There's terrific new resources that have
been added, check it our below!
Mark's
Vault
2.
Clickalyzer's Instant
Affiliate Program - This software will allow
you to set up and track affiliates so you can make more
sales. Another solid product from Clickalyzer. I use Clickalyzer
to track stats, see which pages are popular, how long
visitors stay on certain pages, see which pages work and
which don't etc. Its a great tracking tool.
Warning!
Some marketers will try to sell you this tracking software
from "Clickalyzer", don't pay for it.
I am choosing to give it away to you for FREE...I
value you as a member of this web site!
Get Clickalyzer's
Instant
Affiliate Program here at no cost.
Once you sign up, you will be given the code to use on
your web site to track your affiliates.
3.
Jack Humphrey's site "Equipment.com".
This site used to be pay per membership but is now FREE.
Tons of tools, free stuff, articles, etc.
Check it
out here ---> Equipment.com
There's
2 articles in this edition and an intro "Site
Navigation With HTML".
Enjoy the
issue!
Once again,
thanks for being here, your membership to this e-zine
is what matters most to me as an Internet marketer.
"The Regular
Guy"
Karl Augustine
P.S. Webmasters:
If your site is complementary
sites to 9 Mistakes Online and would like to exchange
links, please go to the "Add URL"
link at the bottom of all pages of this site. I'll be
happy to exchange links with you. Thanks.
In
this edition of "Starting
Smart!"
*Intro
by Karl, 1 topic - Site Navigation
With HTML.
*Featured Article #1: "Black
Hat SEO And The Sneaky Re-direct" Copyright
2004 Ed
Zivkovic
*Remember to get your Viral tools to boost traffic to
your web site and make money at the same time.
*Featured
Article #2: "Why
Robots.txt?" Copyright 2004
Matt Benya
*Welcome new subscribers!
*Copyright and Publisher Info
Intro
by Karl...
1.
Site
Navigation With HTML.
I suppose
this information could be for the newbie and seasoned
marketer as well, it all depends on how "webmaster-ish"
you are.
After getting
the graphics set, which was broken into many separate
files, I had a template made that I can use to build any
new web page I wanted. The template in Dreamweaver allows
me to have the same look and feel on each page without
having to utilize existing pages as the guide.
In the template,
I have 2 different libraries, the Navigation library and
the Contact library. A library is just a piece of a page
that is set within the template that is always there on
every new page. The 2 libraries on this site are at the
left -with all the Navigation links - and on the bottom
- with all the contact info. These 2 pieces of the site
are the same on every page I have changed over with the
new graphics set.
The value
of a library is simply this; I can change the information
in that library and instantly save it into the template
of every page automatically. So, for instance, instead
of having to change my contact phone # on every page (that
would be exhausting!), all I have to do is change it in
the "Contact" library and save the library back
into the main template, update the pages (automatically
done) and reload the pages.
Nice! What
a time saver.
What
can you learn from this? I made a huge
mistake not doing type of design in the first place so
I had to re-do this entire site when the design changed.
I simply didn't take the time to learn the best site design,
no one to blame but me.
Make sure
that you know what you want to do with your site, and
design it accordingly!
If you plan
well (I didn't), you'll save yourself a lot of time, something
in short supply.
Enjoy the
rest of this edition and thanks again for reading.
Karl Augustine
"The Regular Guy"
(c) Karl Augustine
*Featured
Article:
"Black
Hat SEO and the
Sneaky Redirect "
-
Copyright 2004
Ed Zivkovic
Are shades of grey SEO really
Black Hat SEO?
Black hat SEO is a strategy
which gets a web page or entire site banned from a search
engine.
A shade of grey is when you
use a black hat strategy but site has not been banned
yet. Remember the acronym for
YET: You're Entitled Too!
There are many different
opinions on the subject of Search Engine Optimization.
Many folks will deliver advice which will work to get
you top 10 rankings but what is really the difference
between Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO?
There has been many good
attempts to define Black Hat SEO.
All are relevant and an example
can be found at http://www.blackhatseo.com.
The site contains a page
of example Black Hat SEO and a directory of not recommended
products and services.
But is there more to it than
just keyword stuffing, hidden text and spamming image
alt tags?
If you read the the Webmaster
guidelines at Google: http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html,
you'll notice that sneaky Redirection pages are not welcome.
(This does not include
the 301 redirect.)
What are Sneaky Redirection
Pages?
Sneaky redirection pages
are set up in in groups of 10 or 20. They all target similar
and related keywords or phrases. The only links on these
pages are links to other pages in the same family creating
a false sense of related linking.
They do not contain content
that any human would be interested in. These pages show up high in Search Engine
Results Pages (SERPS). When you click on one of these
pages from a search engine result, you will be redirected
to another page. (Usually a high pressure sales page.)
Is this misleading? You bet.
Why? Because the page you click on from the serps is not the page you actually get
to read.
Can Sneaky Redirects
be considered as a Black Hat SEO tactic?
I think so. The reason being that if your page is discovered, it does get banned.
These pages are smart when it comes to getting a higher
search engine position but they will vanish if another
marketer reports your page.
What SEO Strategy
Should You Use?
All SEO strategies have value.
I think that the focus of attention should be to avoid
Black Hat SEO if your intention is to keep your site from
being banned.
Visit SEO forums and use
the ideas that you feel comfortable with. There are many
SEO forums out there.
Here is one to get you started:
http://www.searchguild.com
Be aware of search engine
guidelines. If you read conflicting information, or if
the tactic does not feel 100% OK, maybe the tactic should
be placed on the back burner or even avoided forever.
About the Author:
The author, Ed Zivkovic is
a self-taught webmaster.
His website contains articles
with all sorts of tips for work
at home webmasters. Here is the site: http://www.ezau.com
| Webmasters:
Feel free to publish
any article that I have written to your web site.
To get a list of articles
that are "publishable",
click below - new browser
Karl's
Articles You Can Publish |
Get
your Viral Tools Here!
Viral marketing
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*Featured
Article #2:
"Why
Robots.txt?"
Copyright 2004 Matt Benya
I am sure that a lot of you
have heard of the file named robots.txt (also called a
"robot exclusion file") before. But what does
this file really pertain to? Basically you can think of
a robots.txt file as a list of rules that search engines
follow when they spider your site. A robots.txt file gives
you the Webmaster a say in what does and does not get
indexed when spiders come to your little corner of the
web.
Okay I can hear a few people
asking why anyone would want to keep some things from
being indexed. I thought the goal was to get indexed,
right? Well yes and no, there are quite a few instances
when blocking spider access to certain areas or pages
is almost a must. Here are several examples of what a
person might want to restrict access to: temporary files
or directories, presentations, information with a specific
sequential order, testing directories or cgi-bin.
As you can see just from
these few examples there are definitely files that you
would most certainly want to keep from being indexed.
While there is a Meta tag
(<meta name="Robots" Content="attributes">)
available that does in essence the same thing as a robots.txt
file it is not currently 100% supported by search engines.
Another drawback is that the tag needs to go on every
page you do not want indexed, as opposed to one central
point of control.
Writing 101
All right I have given you
a few vague examples as to what might be included in such
a file, essentially there is never going to be a set list
of things that should and should not be indexed, a robots.txt
file needs to be tailored to your site and your content.
There is however a very specific format that needs to
be followed when creating a robots.txt file.
Step 1: First
a robots.txt file needs to be created in Unix format,
or Unix line ender mode. The reason for this is to ensure
that there are no carriage returns inserted into your
file. I would suggest looking at Notepad++ (http://notepad-
plus.sourceforge.net/uk/about.php), my personal favorite
text editor due to the amount of languages and formatting
it supports.
Notepad++ is able to create
a document directly in Unix format by selecting the "Convert
to Unix Format" from the "Format" option.
Other plain text editors should be able to achieve the
same results however stay away from editors like WordPad
or Microsoft Word when creating your robots.txt file.
Also I do not recommend using HTML editors for this task.
Step 2: Now
lets begin adding some content to our file. A robots.txt
file is made up of two fields. The first line is the User-agent
line. This line specifies the spider/robot that we are
intending to limit or allow.
An example of this would
be:
User-agent: googlebot
In addition to allowing or
restricting specific spiders you can use a wildcard and
target all spiders coming to your site. To do this you
simply need to place an asterisk (*) in for your User-agent.
Example:
User-agent: *
Step 3:
Now we will begin to disallow our desired content; either
a file or a whole directory can be kept from being index
with a robots.txt file. We will do this with the second
line of our file the Disallow: directive line.
Here is an example:
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Or for a file:
Disallow: /temp/temp.html
Moreover you are not limited
to just one Disallow per User- agent and in fact you can
get pretty granular as to what you give spiders access
to. Just make sure that you give each Disallow its own
line. If you leave the Disallow field empty (i.e. Disallow:
) you are giving permission for all files and directories
to be indexed.
One word of caution when
writing your robots exclusion file; if you are not careful
you can shut one or all spider's access to your site off
completely. This would be done by prohibiting access at
the root level by using a slash (/).
Example:
Disallow: /
If you were to use the asterisk
wildcard to specify your User- agent with the above example
you would block all search engines from every part of
your site.
Step 4: That
is all there is to creating a robots.txt file. The final
step is to upload it to the root directory of your site:
www.yoursite.com/. Make sure that you upload it as ASCII
just like all other text files and you are done.
Step 5:
Writing a robots.txt file is pretty straightforward after
you get comfortable with the files configuration. Once
your file is complete and uploaded it is good practice
to have it validated; you can do this through www.searchengineworld.com
(http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/robotcheck.cgi).
Notes: Aside from search
engine specific information you are also able to comment
your robots.txt file. This is achieved by using the pound
sign (#). Though you can place a comment after the Disallow
field it is not recommended. Instead make sure that you
begin your comments on a new line starting with the pound
sign.
Example:
# Just making a comment
User-agent: googlebot
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
If you are hesitant about
the different steps involved in creating a robots.txt
file there are applications available that will help you
through the creation process. One application that does
this is RoboGen from Rietta Solutions (http://www.rietta.com/).
RoboGen provides you with
an Explorer like view that lets you browse the files and
directories that you want to restrict access to and creates
the robot exclusion file as you go.
In Closing
As with all things there
are going to be some drawbacks you will need to contend
with. With the robots.txt file it is the road map effect
that it causes; for those with the desire to attempt to
see what you do not want made publicly available the file
provides them with a prime place to begin looking. Since
all robot exclusion files are named the same and are always
in the same place probing people will know where to find
it.
Still the pros out weight
the cons. And by having a robots.txt file present on your
site you keep important or private information from ending
up in a search engine's cache making it publicly available
to a mass audience. This is what the file is there for.
If on the other hand you have something that not only
needs to be kept private but also needs to be protected
you should make sure that access is restricted through
much more secure and appropriate means.
Robot exclusion files were
designed as a method for Webmasters to
delimit the access robots have to their sites, providing
robots with one central place to look when they begin
the task of indexing. To this end the file serves it purpose
extremely well and when used properly it makes the job
of a Webmaster much easier.
Matt Benya
is a co-owner of Primate Studios www.primatestudios.com
- an independent development house focusing on CGI
illustration, Web design and multimedia. With 20+ years of art experience
and a degree in Network administration Matt is well suited to translate your needs
to the Web.
Featured
resource - Niche Marketing:
Priya Shah has written an
excellent book about niche marketing. The case studies
a step by step guides that Priya delivers regarding getting
top listings for your chosen keywords is "dead on".
I know these tactics work
because I have implemented them myself for my other site
and have gotten top listings for many of my chosen keywords
to dominate my niche. (Check out SEO
Exert Interview to see proof).
Priya's book "Number
1 In Your Niche" is a must read if you want
a fast track to dominating your niche!
I have read the book and
used the information in the book to profit handsomely
from a specific niche. This eBook is a must read.
Click
here to read more about "Number
One In Your Niche!"
*Welcome
New Subscribers!
For those of you just joining,
welcome!
Your time is valuable
and I'll do my level best to make this "read"
time well spent. I am just a regular guy, just like many
of you out there. I stuck with it, and now am having a
blast doing what I love to do. Keep a positive attitude
and you can do just about anything...seems like old news,
but it works and we all can use a little reminding now
and then.
Please forward this e-zine
in its entirety to any friends or colleagues who you think
may find it useful. Or, refer someone by using the Bravenet
button at the bottom of the page.
Thanks for helping
us grow!
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http://www.9mistakes-online.com/startingsmartnewsletter.htm
