Hi and welcome to my 1st Blog on SEO Positives new website!

Each week I will be providing you with my digital marketing Top Tips on how your online business can stay ahead of your competitors! We look after some of the biggest clients on the internet, here are a few of them: promocodes.co.uk, luggagesuperstore.co.uk, voijeans.co.uk, partybritain.co.uk and spabreak.co.uk for more examples please see our case studies.

1.    Blogging

Creating a Blog on your website is an essential part of your online marketing strategy and vital to keep your visitors engaged with news about your business. Your blog is like a newsfeed, so it’s essential to create unique interesting articles which contain links to relevant pages back within your website. If you copy and paste another article and re blog it, remember Google could penalise your site for copied text. As a general rule of thumb only use 1 link per 100 words, this will help Google crawl for keywords associated about your business. A perfect example to see how it’s done is by clicking on the words that are underlined within this article. Remember to update this as much as possible and I would suggest you spend 30 minutes daily doing this task which will benefit your websites online presence massively.

2. XML Sitemap

Your website is like a book, your menu bar is like a contents page so this needs to be clear and simple so that your visitors can navigate around your site and look at pages. You may already have a site map on your website which is like an index page in a book. By creating an XML sitemap which is tailor made especially for Google, allowing it to crawl/read your keywords on all your pages. Please see our website for an excellent example of an XML Sitemap.

3. Google Analytics

Any one that has an online presence for a personal website, small or giant online business should have Google analytics. It’s a vital part of your marketing strategy and its one of the most powerful web analytics tracking solutions that will help you understand customer trends visiting your site. This will help you improve and implement new strategies for customers to purchase or contact you resulting in a conversion. In addition Google Adwords (PPC) customers can even see their Analytics data from inside their Adwords account, plus Google Analytics is free for anyone to use.

The infamous file sharing website has been taken down. Try visiting Megaupload.com, the site is no longer up. The FBI made four arrests along with the closure of the file sharing website. Many internet users are shocked by this news as SOPA’s protest was only yesterday in which a huge number of highly trafficked sites closed down in hope of taking down SOPA.

Interestingly enough, the taking down of Megaupload and arrests have caught the attention of international hacktivist group Anonymous. Anon released a message to the public via YouTube to declare the beginning of some sort of cyber-war between the citizens of the United States of America and the Government. Anonymous also urged viewers to share the video via various social media platforms. In retaliation to the FBI’s actions, Anonymous attacked many government sites which resulted in them being offline for some time.

There is a huge amount of protest going on against SOPA and also PIPA as many internet users believe this will censor the internet. Most agree that online piracy needs to be combatted, but this is not an effective method to fix the issue.

This act by the FBI shows that even without SOPA’s approval, they can take any site down and arrest whoever they want, according to Anon anyway. Whether SOPA is passed will be decided in four days, we can only wait and see what will happen to the internet.

If the bill passes it will hugely affect the web in ways that cannot be fathomed. Search engines will be forced to alter their results, which will result in biased results, directly affecting the process and general industry of SEO and PPC.

If SOPA is not approved, it is likely that the US government will find another bill that the citizens of America will be happy about and to deal with online piracy once and for all.

SEO Positive ‘s new blog has been live for a few days now but I thought it was about time we made the grand tour. The whole site has been redesigned and a few pages have been added, such as social media, whereas PPC, SEO and all of our favourites.

Fitting the site’s redesign, the blog has also been pepped up. We have added practically all of the social buttons and even an author bio for each post. We have also thrown in a really specific categorical system so the article you are searching for will be easier than ever to locate.

One of the best new things about our blog is that we have author sections, so if you are looking for an article from a specific writer here at SEO Positive, then they are easier than ever to locate. You can even get an RSS feed specifically for one author if you would like. Just add /feed to the URL. This can also be done with our main blog so you can get all blog updates sent straight to your email for you to read.

If you want to keep up to date with all of SEO Positive latest news and updates, just follow us on twitter or keep visiting our blog for all of the latest SEO, PPC , Social Media and all other industry related news.

It has been made public as of now that Google are definitely against the SOPA act, and they definitely have just reason to be. Although they are with the SOPA movement, you won’t be sent to a black screen, Google has used their staggering traffic to the best of their ability.

If you log onto Google.com, you will notice at the bottom of the page there is a message from congress which states “Tell congress: Please don’t censor the web”, and by clicking this link, it will take you to another section of Google in which you can sign an online petition to stop SOPA and PIPA, on top of that… information about the two bills are available. More importantly the effects of these bills are explained which is something that is hard to find. Then there is a community section that proves the growing community that are opposing the movements. Internet giants such as Facebook, Twitter, eBay, PayPal and of course Google, not to mention the countless others who are opposing the censorship of the internet.

The Effects

According to Google, SOPA and PIPA will do more harm than good. This is because it will force internet businesses to closely monitor everything linking to their site and if they are in violation of any new laws according to SOPA and PIPA, then it could potentially mean the end of the business, which will leave a huge number of people jobless.

It would be different if SOPA and PIPA actually worked, according to the big G!, these acts won’t stop online piracy. The regulations written in these bills wont successfully shut down their sites, they will simply transfer them to another domain and continue until they are caught again.

Conclusion

Anyone who works on the internet frequently has had their work stolen and pirated before. Whether you’re a writer or film maker, it happens so often and there is not much we can do about it. We do need a bill or law to prevent online piracy. However we need one that will work and not end up crippling the internet as we know it. This change will have a huge effect on social media and could potentially put a stop to it, not to mention SEO and PPC as the algorithm will be a completely different and most likely biased, and that is if it hasn’t been banned by a government.

SOPA is the stop online piracy act that many sites are partaking in. Sites such as Wikipedia, eBay and even Google are protesting this act, Wikipedia are even taking their site down for the day and so are many other sites. This will show how much the bill will affect the average joe and help to raise awareness about the act.

Whether you are for, or against SOPA, we really need to consider both sides, especially before we jump into any rash decisions like take our site down for the day because of SOPA. Granted, if this act does become approved, then the internet will be a completely different place for every user. Many huge sites are taking action against SOPA and if you are against the act, you must think abou what will happen if you join the blackout movement.

Points To Consider

The first point would be the obvious “am I going to make a difference”. The chances are that you won’t. As blunt as that may be, it is the truth. Compare your impact to what a site like Google would have. If Google blacked out their site for the day, then it would have a massive effect on users of the internet. It is the most popular site on the web so there would be a devastating impact, if anything would get the word out about SOPA, then no doubt it would be by Google. That said, your site is most likely no were near as popular… Unless your name is Mark Zuckerberg.  Consider how much money you would lose to having a website down for a day, it can be fatal for some sites, this loss would need an indefinite gain, and unfortunately since there isn’t, then I feel it would not be a wise move to blindly jump on the SOPA band wagon, in terms of blacking your site out.

Another point would be to think of other ways you can help the cause. You can raise awareness from other methods, whether you’re for SOPA or against it, there has to be something you can do, this is where you can use your own personal experience and creativity to “fight the power”.

Conclusion

There are many reasons in which why not to jump into the SOPA act, whether you are a supporter or not. If you are not getting traffic on a scale of Facebook, Google and Twitter, it is unwise to jump into a decision like that. The best thing you can do is use your skills, whether you are a plumber or a SEO company, there is something you can do to help your side of the argument.

Checking your SERP’s can be a time consuming task, whether on a mobile phone or a desktop computer, 9 times out of 10, SEO ‘s are searching their keywords into Google and CTRL F for their website until they find it. Well there a small solution called Serps.

To download this free SEO app, just search SERP into the app store and it is the application with the purple line graph. It only takes a few seconds to download and install, depending on your web connection. When you first access the app, you will be taken to a domains section. This is where you add your domain(s) that you wish to check the rankings for. Make certain that you enter the full domain and spell it correctly as this will affect the results given.

The next step is to add the keywords for your domains, you can have as many keywords as you want. The only problem with this (similar to many SERP checkers, is that a few mistakes are made, thus the results will not be accurate. From further investigation I have found that when searching for a result on Google (computer search) map results and so on will appear, this shows up as maps.google.co.uk. On top of that, there are a few occasions where domains will be repeated. This obviously affects the results, however the duplicates are shown next to each other and all that is required is to make a note of how many repeats there are and then take the off of the position which the app shows you.

Because of the mistakes that are present in this app, some may feel it is worthless and takes just as much time as counting your positions from Google’s results. This may be true on a desktop however the positions displayed on a mobile device are different to what a desktop computer would be. That being said, it is more accurate to find any repetitions instead of counting results that would be different on a computer.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, a reliable SERP checker has not been found yet. Although a close second is available on a mobile device, saying that, it is the users choice whether they use this app is it can provide uncertain results. It is a good alternative to checking SERP’s on a smart phone.

On a fine and bright morning, you take your seat with a cup of coffee and start doing the usual stuff in Google analytics. It is a perfect setting for a great day but lol! Something is wrong in Analytics. It just cannot happen. How could the number of visitor plummet to an all time low? And the mad rush begins. Most of us, especially who have to deal with visitors trending, conversion optimization, PPC and other stuffs are well aware of the fact that this is not anything unusual as long as you are completely dependent on a single entity – Google. A slight change in algo or a minor tweaks in its existing pattern and you lose everything you have built up so dearly for long. A single wrong move in your online marketing can devastate all your good efforts. So, if you are tired of playing the patience game with Google or looking for an alternative way of generating some leads, here we are going to list some ideas that can be catapulted into success depending on how well you are using them.

Less is More: After the panda update, we have realized the hard way of course that quality and quantity cannot go hand in hand. I personally feel that we need to upload only those articles that have spark on them and that can trigger fierce debate. So, that means, you need to publish those articles that really adds value to users experience. Now, these kinds of articles take time to write. So, take your time and publish 1 article in a week rather than go on heaping up garbage on garbage. Great article will lead to great brand presence and this has got nothing to do with Google. You will have a steady flow direct traffic no matter what Google introduces.

Tweet To Blow Away: Twitter is a great marketing tool but still majority of marketers are clueless about how to use it to their advantage. You do not need to tweet insistently or 24X7. This has got nothing to marketing. You need to make people retweet your coverage without doing anything sneaky and this is bottom line with twitter marketing. It is a vicious circle of promotion and all you need to do is to make it roll. Just a push and there it goes. It will keep driving visitors to your website who are really interested about your product or service.

Connect via Facebook: Facebook is one such source that could help you keep alive your website even if it got thrashing from Google panda. To draw a good amount of traffic, you need to create a buzz in facebook and this can be done by adding some controversial elements in your posts and then posting that thing in the facebook wall. As the debate rages on, more and more facebook users will be engaged in the discussion and the number of visitors from facebook will surge. However, to make it work on regular basis, you need to do a real brain storming session before we publish something.

Do More than What is Necessary: Just blatant promoting for driving traffic to a website may not work all the time. So, why not reverse the trend. Rather than slapping a facebook fanpage box in the website, we can work hard to make social presence of the website as an inseparable part of the living presence of the website. Website should be transformed into a social content delivery mechanic that contributes to the growth the website as a whole.

Tie up: You can either save your skins by signing business partnership with some websites that are similar to your niche, forgetting the old animosity. But this pact has its own share of advantages and shortcomings. On the positive note, it can help you get some supports for the rainy days but on the slip side, your brand image may come under fire. Another alternative way is getting your articles published in other sites. Now, this is a win-win situation for both the parties. The hosting site is getting a really well written article whereas you will get some visitors thanks to the presence of a link at the end of the article.

Do Not Miss Out On Opportunity: You need to monitor every single metrics and changes of your website analytics daily. Out of these complex analytics, you should try to find out the perfect scope for new opportunity that may come along the way. A small opportunity can be snowballed into a massive opportunity that may drive a considerable amount of traffic to your website.

Author Bio
Michael Evans is a writer who enjoys writing in the tech niche and he also promotes Flash templates with the integrated Flash CMS.

We have all downloaded things at a snail’s pace, whether it be: music, a program or even a film, we stare at the computer screen hours on end, begging for it to go a little faster. Thanks to netindex, I can safely list the top 5 places to download stuff from. This is based on the average download speed for that country

Lithuania              -              31.74mbps

South Korea       -              29.74mbps

Latvia                    -              26.77mbps

Sweden                 -              26.08mbps

Romania              -              25.77mbps

Just for a comparison, the UK gets 11.38mbps and the US gets 12.19mbps, which is insane to compare because that is almost twice the speed and those that live in the UK and US would like to think of their country as pretty developed and somewhat high tech.

Lithuania holds the title for fastest download speeds. SEO could be done at twice the speed in Lithuania compared to the UK, especially the link building process which involves heavy browsing.

The reason for Lithuania’s super fast internet speeds cannot be said for sure as there could be a million and one different factors effecting countries like the UK in a negative way or Lithuania in a positive way. All that can be said is that if you are in the area, make sure you get all of your downloads done.

Do not exist; Twitter marks all of their links that are outbound as no follow. Even the links in Twitter user’s bio, but that does not mean Twitter cannot be used to bring in links.

The Twitter feed known as Twylah, pulls all tweets from your Twitter stream and post them on your profile page. The only problem with this is that Twitter users will most likely be using URL shorteners which such as bit.ly, this means that the URL will not have an anchor text, which would be very helpful, however having that link which points to your site is better than nothing.

If your Twitter profile is on topic the majority of the time, then the links that are sent out will be seen as more important. Not only that, but if you do some link building to your Twylah page to increase its’ PR and SEO value, then the links that Twylah send out will become even more important!

If you want to make the most out of Twylahs links, stop using URL shorteners as this will help with branding. However if your posts are too long, then you will either have to live with bit.ly’s or shorten the rest of your content.

You must not get too carried away with this using Twitter as a link building service, if you would like to do this then I would suggest creating a dummy profile just for SEO links. Because if your following on Twitter joined before you started using Twitter as a link builder, you will no doubt lose your following.

Conclusion

Twylah is a great way to pull in free links, but it is essential to not get carried away with it, make sure your original use for Twitter is still there, otherwise you will find your profile is losing follows gradually until you have none left.

For People that like to check their SEO information, and if you are doing any SEO work you should be. It is hard to find a tool or extension that will accurately tell you you’re sites information, such as links and social media stats. Google Chrome is one of the fastest browsers around and people are switching from other browsers purely because of this. However, many SEO’s are still on Firefox, this is because Google Chrome has “less” tools for SEO, well this is not the case. I have found and tested a great extension for Chrome that tells you everything you would need to know for your website.

The tool is called SEO Site Tools and can be found here . This tool organises all of the information you could need and pulls the data from different, reliable sources. The different factors that are covered are as follows: External Page Data, Page Elements, Social Media, Page Terms, Server/Domain info and Suggestions.

To really get a feel of this extension you will have to use it for yourself, but I must say that ample information is provided and it is worth switching over to Chrome if your only concern is SEO tools because Google has those tools and browsing speed that Firefox can’t compete with.