SEO Project #1 - Tips On Setting Goals | Effective Goal Setting Strategies - Update #17

24 June 2008

Previous Post For This Project

My goal list for this project can be found at the end of the post.

Setting goals is an important element to any project. I’m as guilty as the next guy for neglecting this important element of success at times. But from my experience, when I write my goals down and refer to them daily, I generally accomplish more in less time.

Here are a 5 tips on setting goals that I’ve found useful.

1. Take baby steps. Set achievable realistic goals. If you are living in a cardboard box on Main Street, don’t set a goal to buy a 1 Million Dollar house by next week. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than making the jump from homeless to millionaire in a few weeks.

2. Write your goals down on paper and put them somewhere you will see them everyday. This is one of the best ways I’ve found to hold myself accountable and stay focused. I put my goals on my bathroom sink. It’s hard to forget when there’s a list starring you in the face while your brushing your teeth. (If you don’t have any teeth or don’t brush the ones you have, the bathroom sink may not be the best spot for you. Pick somewhere else.)

3. Work toward achieving your goals every day. I probably won’t spend all day working toward achieving my goals, but I will spend some time everyday working toward achieving my goal list. Some days this may mean spending a few hours and other days it may mean only a few minutes. The important thing I’ve found is to make progress every single day.

4. Creating a plan of action is an effective goal setting strategy. Say for example your goal is to double your income. You can write that down and read it everyday, but how are you going to achieve it? You need a plan of action.

That plan could include a different career path. It may require additional education or training. It may mean opening a part-time business. The steps required to reach your goal should be a part of your plan of action.

5. Don’t be afraid to let your goals evolve. I don’t consider my goals written in stone. As I work toward achieving them, I’ll sometimes make changes. It could be for a variety of reasons. Maybe I learn that reaching a particular goal doesn’t have the outcome I first predicted. It could be I realize that my goal is going to take more time that I first thought. Whatever the reason, you should always be reviewing your goal sheet and making changes where required.

Has setting goals been an effective strategy for you?

Goal List For SEO Project #1

I. Achieve a $500 a month income from this site.

Plan of Action:

A. This goal will be accomplished by reaching the organic traffic goals listed below.

II. Increase organic traffic to 1,000 uniques a month.

Plan of Action:

A. Recent first page listing for my main keyword phrase should have me 25% of the way there.

B. Continue adding content to target easy to rank for long tail keywords.

C. Article marketing has been a very effective method for getting my current rankings. Continue to use article marking to target more of my main keyword phrases that have 1,000 or more searches per month.

D. Use virtual assistant to build 100 links per week.

III. Create a useful resource that can garner traffic by word of mouth by those interested in my niche.

Plan of Action:

A. Install a live person chat on my site and interact with my visitors to find out what type of information they are looking for.

B. Hire a writer to produce top quality content that other sites in my industry will want to link to.

C. Offer a free newsletter to stay in touch with my visitors.

D. Install a blog and/or forum to interact with my visitors.

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SEO Project #1 - Project Progress Review - Light At the End of the Tunnel - Update #16

24 June 2008

Previous Post For This Project

I have to admit I’ve been out of it lately. I’ve been so disgusted with my progress on this project. Keep in mind, this is my first SEO project. I’ve never been down this road before. I’m very inpatient by nature. What I want, I want now! I’ll spend all night working to get it. I’ll spend three days with no sleep if I have to. Bottom line, the 82% of my personality that is classified as type A wants results yesterday for the work I do today!

I’m quickly learning that SEO doesn’t work that way. The work I do today, may not yield results for several weeks and maybe months. It’s been hard for me to stay focused on this project. It was one of the reasons I hired a virtual assistant. I need someone to stay focused on this project when my attention is elsewhere.

I spent the entire day thinking about scrapping this project. It is currently making about $300 a month from the PPC traffic. I could just leave things as they are and it’d pay for my vacation every year.

Then this afternoon, I finally got the break I needed. My primary keyword phrase, that gets an estimated 3,600 searches a day, finally made it off page 2 of Google and is now on position 5 of page 1. I also found I’m ranking in position 1 page 1 for that same keyword phrase on MSN. Finally, I’m starting to see the results from 2 months of work!

Now this project I was considering scrapping has my full attention and focus. I’m going to have the site redesigned to feature a link to my best content from the home page. I’m also going to add a blog and start interviewing some of the industry experts.

If you are having problems ranking your site, just hang in there. I’m a total SEO newbie and I’ve been able to make it happen. I still have a long way to go with this site, but at least now I can see some progress and know my work isn’t wasted.

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SEO Project #1 - Hire a Virtual Assistant - Update #15

17 June 2008

Previous Post For This Project 

It’s been about six weeks since I started this project.  I had every intention of dedicating a lot of time to this project and posting every day.  Obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way.  I’ve been busy vacationing with my family and working on other projects that put food on the table.  It’s hard to set aside the time needed to rank a site that isn’t producing much income.  That’s why this post is so relevant.

A friend of mine recommended I hire someone to help.  It sounded like a good idea, so I posted an ad over at elance to find an individual with experience that was interested in working a minimum of 10 hours a week.  I was surprised at the number of offers I got.  I finally settled on a guy named Ashok from India.

Like me, Ashok has a degree in engineering, so he understands my attention to detail.  He speaks excellent English and I am very confident things are going to go well.  Ashok is going to be spending 10 hours a week building links and helping with some of the tasks I previously posted about.

So if time is a problem for you, why not consider hiring a virtual assistant?  I think it is going to be one of the best choices I’ve made so far.  If things go as well as I anticipate, I’ll increase Ashok’s hours and start to use him for more of my projects.

Have you hired a virtual assistant?  How has that worked out for you?

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SEO Project #1 - Article Marketing Secrets - Update #14

28 May 2008

Previous Post For This Project

I started writing about this project with the intent of posting everyday for 30 days and then checking on my results. My apologies. It hasn’t worked out that way. A week ago, my daughter Jillian got out of school for the summer and we’ve been having fun. We’ve been to Dollywood, spent the weekend on our boat, and have plans to spend next week at Disney World in Orlando.

I haven’t ditched work completely. I’ve been building back links using the methods mentioned in my previous posts. I’m happy to report I am already moving up the rankings for some of my long tail keywords. Unfortunately, none of my targeted keywords have shown up in the first 5 pages of Google just yet.

Article Marketing Tips

On my last post, I mentioned that I had 20 additional pages of content created. I’ve already added this new content to my site and it has already been indexed. One way to build new back links from relevant pages is to submit these articles to article directories and link back to my site using my targeted keywords as anchor text. However, most people agree that there are some issues regarding Google and duplicate content. For this reason, I’m not interested in submitting the same articles on my site to 50 different article directories.

Instead, I had the articles rewritten. I don’t use one of the cheesy content rewriter softwares. These things take good content and spit out garbage. Instead, I have a writer that specializes in rewrites. Each article is well written and is different enough that I don’t have to worry about Google’s duplicate content penalty.

In the past, I’d use Article Post Robot to submit my articles across several hundred article directories. This was very effective a few years ago and helped me get great rankings for my CD and DVD Wholesale site. The problem is this method has been less effective over the past year.

Instead, I’ve turned to Josh Spaulding for help. Josh specializes in article marketing and wrote this post about his unique article submission strategy. I’ve adopted a similar strategy for this project. I submit half of my articles to article directories that have a PR6 or greater home page. Article Post Robot makes separating these directories easy and there are about 20 PR6 directories in total. The other half of my articles I submit to PR6 and PR5 directories. There are an additional 40 PR5 directories in Article Post Robot.

I’m rotating my author bio box to link back to the original article, my home page, and my main keyword articles using my targeted anchor text. I’ll be submitting 2 - 3 of these articles a day, so I expect to have them all submitted in about a week.

If you are going to use articles to market your site, I’d highly recommend purchasing Article Post Robot (affiliate link). I’ve used this software for several years. It literally saves me hundreds of hours by automating many of the tasks required to submit articles across multiple article directories.

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I’d also recommend picking up a copy of Article Marketing Domination (affiliate link) by Josh Spaulding. Josh is recognized as an expert on article marketing. You will not go wrong using his advice.

article marketing domination

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SEO Project #1 - I Added An Additional 20 Pages of Content To My Site - Update #13

19 May 2008

I received 20 articles from one of my writers this weekend. I just finished adding them to my project site. These articles were not specifically written to target any keywords. The purpose of these articles were to provide good and useful information that a visitor interested in my niche would be searching for. This doesn’t mean that I neglected targeting specific keywords or phrases. But the content wasn’t written for that purpose. It was written for my visitors.

These additional articles will more than double the size of my site. This will allow me to target more long tail keywords and provide additional authority to the site.

The process I use to add content to my site goes beyond just posting a few articles and calling it quits. Here is the process I currently have in place.

1. Add Article To Site

A. Determine Which Keywords / Keyword Phrases Relate to Article

B. Use Keyword Phrase in Page Title

C. Use Variation of Keyword Phrase in <h1> Tags For Article Title

D. Name File Seperating Keywords With Hyphens (my-keyword-phrase.htm)

2. Add New Pages to Sitemap

3. Bookmark 1- 2 Articles Each Day Using Socialmarker.com

4. Prepare Articles to Be Added to Article Directories

A. Monitor Google Index to Ensure Article Has Been Indexed On My Site

B. Have Another Writer Create a Rewrite of the Original Article

C. Post Rewrite to Top Article Directories Alternating Links Back to Original Article, Home Page, and Main Keyword Articles Using Targeted Anchor Text

I ran my Web CEO ranking checker and was pleased to see my site is starting to show on the first five pages in Google for my keywords. I’m far from finished, but it is a good indication that things are headed in the right direction.

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Dollywood Theme Park - Gatlinburg / Piegeon Forge, Tennessee

19 May 2008

Earlier this year, I made a family trip to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with my wife Priscilla, baby boy Jordan, and daughter Jillian.  This is when we realized Jillian, who is 6 years old now, was tall enough to ride everything.  Jillian and I had such a good time and Pigeon Forge is only 4 hours from where I live in Nashville, I bought season passes for me and her to return a couple of times a month.  So, I took last weekend off and spent it with Jillian at Dollywood.

I’m terrified of heights.  I’ll ride any roller coaster out there, but I hate rides that leave me suspended in the air long enoughto think about it.     The Ferris Wheel is one ride I refuse to get on.  It is way to high and way to slow!

My little girl is fearless.  She’ll ride anything.  It is a little embarrassing to have a six year old pulling you to a ride saying, “Dad, you’ll be alright.  I’ll take care of you.”

This year, Dollywood added a new 17.5 million dollar roller coaster called the Mystery Mine.  It is one of our favorite rides.  I never buy the pictures these parks try to sell you when you get off a ride, but when I seen our pictures from the Mystery Mine, I couldn’t resist.

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If you haven’t visited the Great Smokey Mountains in Gatlinburg / Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, you are missing a treat.  There is so much to do outside of Dollywood.  There are lots of great dinner shows, fun activities, and nature trails.  You could spend an entire week there and not get bored.  It is one of my favorite places to go.

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Yahoo Directory Submission - Update #5

19 May 2008

Previous Yahoo Directory Update

It has been more than a month since my site was added to the Yahoo Directory. This will be the last of my weekly updates. At some point, I may provide an additional update if I see some significant changes that I can attribute to my Yahoo Directory Submission.

The results of my directory submission were disappointing to say the least. If you compare my search rankings to those I posted 4 weeks ago, you’ll see my rankings suffered across Google, Yahoo, and MSN. I’m not trying to make the connection that a Yahoo Directory submission will hurt your rankings. That would be absurd. But in my test, it was clear a Yahoo Directory listing didn’t help my rankings.

To be fair, my site has been around for a while and already had decent rankings. Aaron Wall told me from the beginning that a Yahoo Directory listing usually gives more pop to a new site than an already established site. At some point, I may purchase a listing for one of my new sites to get an idea of exactly what effect it can have on a new site.

Do you have any experience with a Yahoo Directory Listing? If so, I’d love to hear your results.


Click For Larger Image
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I ran this report with Web CEO Ranking Checker. (Affiliate Link - Read this before you consider buying it.)

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SEO Project #1 - Get Your Entire Site Indexed - Add A Sitemap to Your Site - Update #12

17 May 2008

Previous Post For This Project 

I’ve noticed a handful of my pages haven’t been indexed by Google.  I’ve double checked and insured these weren’t orphaned pages.  There weren’t but there really isn’t any indication of why these pages haven’t been indexed yet.

I’m going to see if I can encourage Google to index these pages by loading a Sitemap on my site.  If you are interested in using a free software to create sitemaps, please view my previous post for more detailed information.

I will not be posting tomorrow.  I have plans to take my daughter to Gatlinburg to visit Dollywood tomorrow.  It’s going to be our second third trip there this year.  It’s nearly 2:00 am here. We’ll be leaving in about 2 hours.  I’ve got to get some sleep!

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SEO Project #1 - Web Directories - A Great Source of One Way Backlinks - Update #11

16 May 2008

Previous Post For This Project

Submitting your site to web directories can be a great source of one way backlinks.  There are literally thousands of directories that you can submit your site to for free.  Most SEO experts recommend submitting to directories as a great way to get a new site off the ground.

Personally, submitting to a lot of free directories can be time consuming.  You can buy software to automate some of the submission tasks, but it can still take a lot of time.  If I were going to be using any paid directories, I’d probably take the time and submit them myself.  But in my case, I’m interested in the free directories only.  So how can I submit my site to hundreds of directories without spending a lot of time doing so?

For me, the best option was to pay a company to do the submissions for me.  You can find a lot of companies offering directory submission services just by doing a Google search.  I purchased a 500 directory submission package from Social Marker for only $30.  This package let me supply 5 unique anchor titles and descriptions.

If you are determined to do your submissions manually, you can view a list of free and paid directories using the links below.
Free Web Directories 

Paid Web Directories 

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SEO Project #1 - Forums - A Great Way to Get Backlinks and Network With Related Sites- Update #10

14 May 2008

Previous Post For This Project

There are hundreds maybe even thousands of different forums.  But for my purpose, I can divide forums into two different categories.  There are the forums that allow you to use a signature with backlinks and those that don’t.

For my purpose, I’m interested in finding forums related to my niche that allow backlinks.   In addition to allowing me to network with others interested in my subject matter, the backlinks will provide some SEO value to my project site.

I have the same policy with forum posting as I do with leaving blog comments.  I’ll never post on a forum for the sole purpose of getting a link.  If I can’t provide something useful to the conversation, then I will not post.  I do not post general and useless comments.  My goal is to provide additional content to the forum owner in exchange for the link to my site.  When done correctly, it is a win - win for everyone.

I’ve found ten forums related to my niche that allow backlinks in the signature.  I’ve signed up for all of them and will check in everyday to see if there is some way I can contribute.

Finding forums related to your niche should be pretty easy.  There are tens of thousands of forums that cover a wide variety of subject matters.  Here is a good list to start with.  Not all of these forums will allow backlinks, so be sure to check before signing up.

Huge List of Forums Powered by VBulletin

http://www.vbulletin.com/links.php

Forum Directorys

http://www.ajdee.com/pages/Forums/index.html

http://www.forumpromotion.co.uk/directory.php

Individual Forums

http://www.countycricketclubs.co.uk
http://www.buyingfirsttime.co.uk
http://www.TechnicalTalk.net
http://www.acorndomains.co.uk
http://www.davidcastle.org/BB
http://www.a4uforum.co.uk
http://www.startups.co.uk
http://www.obesitydiscussion.com
http://www.ls1tech.com
http://www.ls2.com
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/
http://forums.seroundtable.com/
http://www.v7n.com/forums/
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/
http://paymentprocessing.cc/
http://webhostingtalk.com/
http://namePros.com/
http://www.webdigity.com/
http://talk.iwebtool.com
http://www.lex224.com/forums/index.php
http://www.affiliateseeking.com/forums/
http://forums.seo.com/
http://www.worldofghosts.co.uk
http://www.extreme-mobile.com
http://www.games2web.com/forums/
http://www.submitexpress.com/bbs/
http://www getpaidforum com
http://www googlecommunity com
http://www.v7n.com/
http://www.istoritve.com
http://www.ozzu.com/
http://www.highrankings.com/forum/
http://forums.seroundtable.com/
http://www.forums.digitalpoint.com
http://www.frogengine.com/forum
http://www.burf.com/forum/
http://www.webproworld.com/
http://www.seoforum.ws
http://www.ewealth.com
http://www.enter-the-ether.com
http://www.searchen.com
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/
http://www.namepros.com/
http://forums.slickdeals.net/
http://www.freewebmastersresource.com/forums/
http://forum.gnonline.net
http://www.work-from-home-ic.com
http://www.Robert-Burns.eu/forum/
http://forum.webdevcom.net/
http://forum.weblamp.net/
http://forums.instantposition.com/
http://forums.lilengine.com/
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/
http://resource-zone.com/forum/
http://seo.anthonyparsons.com/forum/
http://wowdirectory.com/bulletin/
http://www.akamarketing.com/webmaster-forums/
http://www.bandofgonzos.com/phpbb/index.php
http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/
http://www.engineseeker.com/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi
http://www.geekvillage.com/forums/
http://www.greatnexus.com/forums/
http://www.highrankings.com/forum/
http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/
http://www.link-forum.com/
http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/marketing-forum/
http://www.ozzu.com/
http://www.resellerboard.com/
http://www.searchen.com/forum/index.php
http://www.searchengineforums.com/
http://www.searchguild.com/
http://www.search-this.com/forums/
http://www.seochat.com/
http://www.seoelite.com/chat/index.php
http://www.seoforum.biz/
http://www.seo-forums.com/
http://www.seoguide.org/forums.php
http://www.seo-guy.com/forum/
http://www.seoproject.com/forum/
http://www.seozip.com/forums/
http://www.siteownersforums.com/
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/
http://www.textlinkbrokers.com/forum
http://www.top25web.com/bbs/index.php
http://www.webmaster-forums.net/
http://www.webmasters-forum.net/forums/index.php
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/
http://www.webmasterworld.com/
http://www.web-mastery.net/
http://www.webproworld.com/forum.php
http://www.webworkshop.net/seoforum/index.php
http://www.big-boards.com/
http://www.seomeeting.com/
http://www.aardvarksport.net/chat
http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/
http://www.nameslot.com
http://www.domainnameforumz.com
http://www.businessforum.net
http://webmasters-meet.com/
http://www.v7n.com/forums/
http://www.googlecommunity.com/
http://www.webmaster-talk.com
http://www.experienceadvertising.com/forum
http://www.dynastygamers.net
http://Webicy.com - Webmaster Forum
http://www.honeymoontravels.org
http://www.ecofriendlygifts.org
http://www.entertainmentsource.org
http://www.indian-exporter.com
http://www.costmeticsurgery.org
http://www.bizpromotion.co.in
http://www.yorkshireforum.net/forums
http://www.9mb.com
http://forums.ukwebmasterworld.com/
http://www.online-it-support.co.uk/
http://forums.ukwebmasterworld.com

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