Boy, that is a mouth full.

As an affiliate marketer, one of the things that you need to be able to do is write good pre-sales copy with great SEO properties.  This is hard to do sometimes, but it can make or break your affiliate campaigns when you are counting on search engine traffic.  It's so important (and so misunderstood -- especially by beginners), I felt like we should talk about it here.

I was discussing this with my friend Karon Thackston, and she could not agree more.  Now make no mistake, Karon is a famous SEO copywriter.    If you know anything about Karon, you understand that she's been writing high-ranking and converting copy for clients including Gorton's Seafood and the American Boating Association for over 25 years.    I talked Karon into offering a free hour-long teleclass on SEO copywriting exclusively for you (people on my list).

Free SEO Copywriting Teleseminar

Teleclass: The Simple SEO Copywriting Framework
Signup Link: Just click here! Format:  Audio (via teleconference bridge)
Date:   August 26, 2010
Time: 2:00pm Eastern Time   Length:  Approx. 1 hour

What you'll learn:  In this one-hour teleclass, Karon Thackston presents a simple framework for writing SEO copy including:

• Which keyphrases to use
• How to use them without ruining the flow of your copy
• Precisely where to place keyphrases for maximum impact with Google and other engines
• Which popular advice is a useless, outdated myth you should avoid
• How to organize/outline each page for SEO copy so you don't miss a thing
• And more!

In the mean time, I wanted to share with you the following tips from Karon.  You'll get a lot more stuff like this on the call.

Thanks,
Mark

7 Don'ts for SEO Copywriting

By Karon Thackston © 2010, All Rights Reserved

There is no shortage of don'ts when it comes to SEO copywriting.  It seems this niche got off to a rough start many years ago when early comers somehow misconstrued the core principles of the trade.  Allow me to elaborate on how not to write SEO copy.

1. Don't shove as many keyphrases into the copy as humanly possible.  It's not about the sheer volume of search terms you include.  Yes, Google and other engines should be able to follow what the page is about.  Yes, engines are looking to match a searcher's query with search engine optimized content on your web pages, but which pages land at the top is decided through a series of calculations far more complex than any simple ratio.  When you overload copy with keyphrases you sacrifice quality and user experience.

2.  Don't lose site of balance.  If SEO copywriting isn't about the percentage of keywords within the copy, then what is it about?  Balance.  You have two audiences with SEO copywriting: the search engines and your site visitors.  But surprisingly, the balance doesn't come with serving both masters well.  The balance comes in how much you cater to the engines.  You see, your site visitors always come first.  However, if you write with too little focus on the engines, you won't see good rankings.  If you put too much focus on the engines, you'll start to lose your target audience.  Balance… always balance.

3.  Don't let someone else choose the keywords.  If keyword research isn't a service you offer, an SEO firm, keyword specialist or some other professional that your client hires will have to conduct the research.  Don't just accept keyphrases these folks toss your way.  Ask to see the entire list with recommendations as to which terms would be best strategically.  Then you, as the professional writer, can decide which will also work best within the copy.

4.  Don't sacrifice flow for numbers.  This is a follow-up to number three and is a major issue with bad SEO copywriting.  SEOs or clients sometimes insist on using hacked-up search phrases that simply don't work in a normal sentence. An example?  "Candies samples free."  Many copywriters will just grin and bear it, sacrificing quality and flow for the sake of competitive values or other numbers.  The result is often some obnoxious sentence like, "If you're looking for candies samples free, you've come to the right place!"  Forcing a phrase into the copy at all costs never turns out well.

5.  Don't use keyphrases that don't apply to the page.  If you operate a site about wedding receptions, don't try to force a search term about wedding dresses into the copy just because it pulls a lot of traffic.  (A) Unless you sell, alter or design wedding dresses, it won't be applicable.  (B) Even if you manage to get the page ranked well for the phrase [wedding dresses], once the visitor clicks to your site and realizes you have nothing to do with wedding dresses, they will leave. It's a waste of time and effort and it creates a poor user experience.

6.  Don't use misspellings and correct spellings on the same page.  I fully understand that the misspellings of keyphrases can be valuable search terms.  However, to mix correct spellings and misspellings within the same page of copy looks like you've got a bunch of typos in the content. It's just not professional.  Some writers will go for the old, "We rent limousines (sometimes spelled limosenes) for the most affordable prices in town."  I don't care for that approach. It's just not natural.  Would you ever see brochure or newspaper copy that reads that way?  I think not.

7.  Don't use keyphrases the exact same way every time.  This is how we end up with horrible SEO copy that sounds like a 4th grader wrote it.  (See #4.)  There are lots of ways to use keywords in copy, not just one.  In order to sound natural, you have to get creative with your keyphrase use.  One way is to break up phrases using punctuation.  Since search engines don't pay attention to basic punctuation marks, you can easily write something using the search term [real estate Hawaii] that reads like this: "Currently there is an impressive selection of available real estate.  Hawaii listings can be…"  See?  "Real estate" is at the end of the first sentence and "Hawaii" is at the beginning of the second sentence. The engines ignore the period so there's no problem.

And Here Are Three More Bonus Mistakes To Avoid

8. Don't use all types of search phrases for every situation.  There are many ways in which this "don't" applies.  One quick example is that of an ecommerce site.  It wouldn't be advisable to use specific, long-tail keyphrases on the home page of your site.  They are much too specific in most cases and are better suited for individual product pages.  Broader terms are typically best for an ecommerce home page.  If you don't understand the best applications for the various types of keywords, you're likely to have lackluster results.

9. Don't neglect ALT tags/image attributes.  These tags are the ones associated with images on your pages and they carry a good deal of weight especially if the image is used as a link.  The ALT text counts the same as anchor text in a text-based link.  Depending on a few different factors, ALT text may be a good place for those misspellings mentioned in #6.

10. Don't forget the chain of protocol.  There's a method to the SEO copywriting madness.  The idea is not to get as many different keyphrases onto a page as possible.  Just the opposite, in fact.  Rather than having 12 different search terms used only one time each, you need to use two to four keyphrases (depending on the length of your copy) per page.  The title, META tags, ALT tags, other coding elements and on-page copy need to support each other as far as keyphrase use goes.  Your goal is to let the engines know that you have original, relevant content about a narrow topic.

Unless you have an exceptional number of back links built up, just mentioning [dark chocolate], [chocolate strawberries], [chocolate chip cookies], [chocolate cake], [chocolate desserts], [organic chocolate] and [chocolate cheesecake] once each on a web page isn't likely to do a lot of good.  Instead, pick two or three terms which are closely related and use them several times each along with mentioning them in your tags.

When you avoid making common mistakes, you'll find your SEO copywriting flows much better, is more natural-sounding and ranks higher, too.

Did you get a lot out of this article? Then you'll want to join Karon as my guest during a FREE SEO copywriting teleclass August 26, 2010 at 2:00pm Eastern time. This call - exclusively for MasonWorld readers - will give you a simple framework for writing great SEO copy.  Register today at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/mason-registration.html.

I am secretly testing two new semi-automated backlinking tools, so I have had “links on the brain” this week.  (Don’t worry – I will be revealing at least one of them to you in the next few days.)

I know I sound like a broken record, but this deserves to be repeated.  If you want visitors to your site, you need to make sure that Google knows what your site is about, and you need to have backlinks.  Period.

It’s really that simple.  Aside from making sure that your page is targeted at a keyword, link building is the most important step in search engine optimization. I am amazed at how many people will build a website, and then fail to take the time to promote it.

See, when you build backlinks to your site, the site becomes stronger, and the search engines (especially Google) will find it more easily.

What Is Linking?

I remember being frustrated by all this “internet marketing speak” when I first started out, so let me cover one thing really quickly for all you new people out there (sorry, but this is important).

What is “Linking?”  Linking and gaining backlinks is an important part of search engine optimization.   Linking is simply adding a hypertext link that leads from one site to another website. When we link out to other sites, we’re showing people that these sites should be seen, or that we may recommend them.

If you are gaining links back to your site from another website, this is called backlinking.

Deep linking (a feature of both of the tools that I am currently testing) is linking to a page that is deeper in your website. A link to your home page would not be considered a deep link. A page such as an individual blog post, or a page not on the surface of your site is considered a deep link.

In SEO, backlinks are vitally important in helping you gain better visibility for your website. When you work to acquire links for your website, this is called link building. Make no mistake about it, link building is extremely important, and people are paid good money to do this professionally!

But How To Get Those Links?

The question is how do you build backlinks? Where do you get back links from? There are a lot of different places where you can gain back links (I’ve talked about several of them before).

• You can ask other similar websites if they’d like to exchange links.
• You can write articles and submit them to directories, adding in your links.
• You can submit your website to directories.
• You can create special pages like Squidoo pages or Hub pages and add back links to your site
• You can join “on-line carnivals” where similar topics come together and link to each other
• You can add your link as your signature on forums and message boards
• You can do a press release to gain back links
• You can comment on other websites and blogs to get back links.
• And on and on and on…

When it comes to building your backlinks there are a few things to remember. First you want to build as many quality incoming links as possible. Do not waste your time on junk sites, or sites that are considered “bad neighborhoods”. An example of a bad site is a link farm, or a gambling or porn website.

Another thing that seems to help when it comes to link building is to gain as many links that are relevant to your site. That means trying to stay on the same topic. I don’t actually have hard data to support this, but I know that many “experts” believe this is true.  If your site is about dogs, links coming from baseball sites aren’t relevant. The more incoming relevant, quality links you have (so say the experts), the better your website will do in the search engines.

If you have the ability to request how a site links to you, suggest that they link’s anchor text coming into you matches your primary keyword (or a slight variation) that describes your website. Another thing you might want to suggest is that they link using a deep link. Remember, a deep link is a link deeper than your home page. This is seen as desirable.

Also note that while link exchanges will help build your links, one way links are even better! If you can get incoming links to your site, while not having to link back to the site linking into you, these are seen as stronger links.

Diversity Is Key

One thing that I have found is that getting links from lots of different sources seems to help.  I think this is especially true if you are using automated systems.  Mixing up where your links come from helps to avoid footprints that might be detected by search engines.

That’s why I am testing two new tools (link diversity).  If they work as well as I think they will, I’ll be reporting on at least one of them here next week (maybe sooner!)

Talk to you then!

Just a quick note today to call your attention to some discussion going on in the link building space.

Everyone wants to talk about how to beat the Google ranking algorithm.  And if you are a professional search engine optimizer (SEO), that is a lot of fun to talk about.    In fact, the guys over at SEOmoz recently wrote a great post about their study on Google ranking algorithm. The problem is, you need a Ph.D. in math and statistics to understand the post (well, almost).

See, most of us are just trying to get traffic from Google.  I was talking to Jon Leger about the SEOMoz post last night, and he made me laugh.  During the discussion, he pointed out a few key things missing from the SEOMoz results (and he wrote a post).

Bottom line for me after all that discussion: there are really only two things that you need to know:

Thing 1:  Make sure your keyword is in the title tag of your page. Yes, you should use your keyword phrase elsewhere.  No, keyword meta tags tags don't matter to Google.  Sure, it can help to have the keyword in the page filename.  No, header tags are not very important.  And yes, there are a thousand other details that don't really matter.  You can write a book about on-page SEO -- but it is not very important.  The thing that really seems to matter regarding on-page SEO is the title tag.

Thing 2:  Get more and better links back to your page than your competition. As Josh Spaulding points out, you should avoid the common link building mistake of getting links from just a few places.  You want links from lots of sources.  (For a great free list of ideas on how to get those links, check out this post from Lynn Terry on Effective Link Building Strategy.)  Yes, it helps if the links have related anchor text.  Yes the authority of the domain that the link is coming from matters.  Yes, the authority of your top level domain matters.  And yes, there are a thousand other details that don't really matter.  The thing that really seems to matter is that you have links back to your page (and your domain).

Really that's it.  Want a little known secret boost?  Match your domain name to your keyword as recommended by Jon Leger (make sure it is a .net, .org, or .com).   That is not always possible (depending on your project), but it sure helps when you can do it.

Look -- I know you want things to be more complicated. You want to know guru tricks and ninja SEO secrets.  I get that.  All of those tricks are about details that don't really matter to most of us.  Here is the trick that most of us need to use:

Write great content, put your keyword in your title tag, and get backlinks to that content.

Want more details on how to get links? Check out the Ultimate Link Building Report from Josh Spaulding.  Links are the key to your Google rankings, and Josh shares all of his tricks in this inexpensive report.

I'd love to hear you thoughts on all of this.

Regards,
Mark

I have not written about SEO in a while, but it seems to me like everywhere I turn there is someone telling someone else how they should go look for niches with a low number of competing pages.  They use the logic that since there are relatively few people directly competing for the niche with content, it should be easy to win.

First of all, this makes no sense.  There are more than six billion people on the planet.  Just because there are relatively few people competing for the international power-lifting championship, that does not mean that I can win easily.  Why would I expect the number of competitors to be a direct measure of the strength of the competition on the internet?

Well, I wouldn't.  And you shouldn't either.

Engineering Secrets Revealed

Let me tell you something I have learned as an engineer.  Just because something is correlated to something else, that does not mean one thing is the cause of the other.  This construct is actually called the cum hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy.  Just because you notice that A occurs when B occurs, that does not mean that A causes B.

What am I talking about?  Well, just because you may notice that you can win some niches with low numbers of competing pages, that does not mean that you are winning them because there are a low number of competing pages.  You are wining them if and only if two things are true:

• SEO Thing 1: Your page is optimized for the keyword that you are trying to win (on-page SEO).
• SEO Thing 2: Your page has more authority than other pages that rank for that keyword (off-page SEO).

It is as simple as that.  It does not matter if there are 10 competing pages or 10 Million.  If you are optimized for the keyword and you have the most authority, you will win.   Of the two things, Thing 2 is by far the most important.

Adobe Knows About Authority

Don't believe me about this authority thing?  Google the term "click here" without the quotes.  You will find that the download page for Adobe Acrobat Reader is not optimized for "click here."  Read it if you like.  Take a moment to update your copy of Acrobat Reader.  While it is downloading, contemplate the fact that their download page has a TON of authority for that "click here" keyword because of the millions of pages linking there with the anchor text "click here."

God help anyone who ever introduces a product called "Click Here" - they have not got a prayer of ranking for that product name.

See, backlinks are the key to authority -- that is why products like Leger's 1 Way Links and 3 Way Links are so popular.  Backlinks are the key to authority.

But Why The Correlation Between Low Comp and SEO?

So, why is low competition often correlated with easy rankings?  Often it is because it is a crap keyword that no one wants and no one is talking about.  For example, I completely dominate the phrase "elvis aaron presley collectible necktie".   There are only 1700 pages in competition with me.  Why did I win?  Because of the low competition?  No.  I won because no other sites had pages with any authority for that keyword.  Simple as that.

So, when you are looking at the competition you need to look past the number of competing pages in Google.  Look at the authority including the backlinks.  If you want to learn all about how to win at that game, check out the Ultimate Link Building Report.  That will set you straight.

Thanks,
Mark

Well, you know I like to talk about SEO and back links.  Back links are a critical part of SEO.   You also know that I am a big fan of Jon Leger and his products, incuding his 1WayLinks product.  So I had an idea -- how about some free backlinks for MasonWorld.com readers?

Basically, I thought people might like to take 1WayLinks for a test drive for free.

Update: 2/2/09:  This offer is now closed.  See Jon Leger's site to sign up for the real deal.

21 30 Free Back Links From 1WayLinks

Here is how you can get 21 free do-follow back links to any 3 URLs that you choose (7 links to each of 3 URLs).

1. Link to this post from somewhere using some great anchor text like  "free backlinks".  This gets me some much needed link love.  Thanks!  If you don't have an easy way to generate a link (like a blog), they you can digg this post instead.
2. Twitter the link to this post and tell about this offer.  This gets some traffic to this promotion.  Thanks!
3. Stumble this post. More traffic.  Thanks!
4. Leave me a comment on this post indicating that you intend to participate.  I will confirm that you are "in".
5. Write a good article that includes 3 links to 3 pages of your choice.  Use whatever anchor text that you like.   Use PLR content if you like, but do not violate copyright or plagiarize.
6. Use plain text HTML only. Use anchor tags in your plain text.  No fonts, no paragraph markers, etc.  Just plain text, carriage returns, and anchor tags.  Here is a tutorial on anchor tags if you need it.
7. Email me at links@masonworld.com proving that you have done 1-3 and include the post text.  Use "free links" in the subject line.
8. I will post your article to 7 blogs in the 1WayLinks Network.  This will result in 7 live posts on the net, each containing 3 links for a total of 21 backlinks for you.
9. Be patient. Every post on the 1WayLinks network is approved by an actual human.  Network security is the top priority.  It will take a few days for your posts to go live.
10. I will email you with the list of backlinks.  This list is confidential.  You may not share the URLs with anyone ever.
11. Buy 1WayLinks (if you want). If you like 1WayLinks, I respectfully request that you buy it through my affiliate link.

That's it -- you get to "try" 1WayLinks for "free" and you get some backlinks.  I get some traffic, backlinks and some sales commissions if you like it.

Simple.  Transparent.  No B.S.

Rules for this (can change without notice).

1. This offer can expire without notice.  I will stop offering this at some point.
2. One offer per customer.
3. First come, first served.
4. Whatever I decide goes.  I am a fair guy, so don't worry.  But if I cannot post your content for some reason, the deal is off.  I will explain why.
5. I can change the rules whenever I want (in case I am forgetting something).
6. Post, sites and links must be 100% completely non-religious and family friendly.  No exceptions.  1WayLinks has very strict rules on this.  No profanity, porn, religion (includes Christmas, St. Valentines Day, etc), hate, etc.  They control this, not me.  If you are worried about that, ask me first.
7. Feel free to use PLR for your content if you like.
8. Posts on legal, accounting or health topics must include a disclaimer.
9. Do not put all three of your links at the bottom of the post.  Mix them throughout the content naturally.
10. Again, you may not reveal the location of your posts.  That information is confidential.  I will tell you, but you cannot tell anyone, ever.

That's all I can think of right now.  Let me know if there are any questions.

Jon Leger just moved his 1WayLinks tool from beta to full production.  As most people know, back links are incredibly important in Google (the Google search engine was initially called "back rub" for this reason).   In fact, you may recall a post I recently made about a site that I accidentally got to Page Rank 2 without content using only really weak back links.

Jon's 1WayLinks product promises to give subscribers hundreds of back links per month (750 or more) for a monthly fee.  As a subscriber, you can choose the anchor text and the URL.  It's a very cool service, and like all of Jon's products, superbly run.  I am a member, and if you are looking for back links, I recommend it.   It works great in conjunction with his 3WayLinks product.

However, it this OK?  Is it OK to buy back links like this?

Google Is Not The Law

OK -- so first things first.  There is nothing illegal about 1WayLinks. It is probably true, however, that if Google had a good way to identify the kind of links generated by programs like 1WayLinks, they would discount their weight and probably "slap" the site using them.  Why?

Google is all about money. Period.  End of statement.  Google has a board of directors that answers to shareholders.  Those shareholders invested in Google to make money.  Google's managers report to the Board, and the Board directs those managers to make money for shareholders.  Simple.  Google needs to make money on their search engine.

Luckily for users, Google management believes that the best way to make money on the search engine is to provide the best possible user experience.  The better the user experience, the more users come to the Google search engine and click on ads.

So, Google fights things like 1WayLinks because they know that people (people like me and you) are also trying to make money just like Google will try to use these tools to beat competition in their niche.  In some cases, tools like 1WayLinks can be used to cause inferior content to rank above superior content, degrading the "user experience."   As an aside, what you should realize is that having great content that users value is a good defense against actions by search engines like Google.

In any case, Google is not the law.  These are just two competing business practices

Is 1WayLinks Ethical To Use?

So, the big question (in my mind at least) is -- is 1WayLinks ethical to use?

Let's start with an assumption that Article Marketing is a valid and ethical marketing strategy.  After all, eZineArticles.com is a respected business, and content on that site is highly favored by Google.  You will recall the when you submit an article to eZineArticles.com, you are afforded 2 backlinks in the footer that must be maintained by people that syndicate (copy) your content across the web.

To my knowledge, no few people complain about the ethics of article marketing

So, how is 1WayLinks like article marketing?

• User created content. Both article marketing and 1WayLinks accept user generated content.
• Back links. Both article marketing and 1WayLinks allow back links
• Syndication. Both article marketing and 1WayLinks articles get syndicated.  In the case of 1WayLinks, the syndication is automatic.
• Human review. At both eZineArtices.com and 1WayLinks.net human review is required.

I am sure there are other ways to compare the two services, but for now I'll leave it at that.  From a web surfer's experience, the two are substantially the same.

My conclusion is that 1WayLinks.net is not that much different than article marketing.  Since article marketing is a commonly accepted business practice, I conclude that 1WayLinks is OK and should be accepted by people (and Google) in the same way as article marketing.

Have you checked out the 1WayLinks tool?  Read the sales page and tell me what you think.

Thanks,
Mark

I always see the same question over and over in the forums. I just answered this question today on Warrior, and thought I should add it here for completeness.

Question: I am new to internet marketing, and I want to know how to get my new web page to rank in Google.

Answer: This is a big question. Here is the "simple" way to think about it.

There are 2 things to consider -- on-page SEO and off-page SEO. On-page factors are factors like the title of the page, the headings, the keyword density, related content, etc.

Off-page SEO really means how many pages of authority are linking back to you. Think of these as votes of for your site.

So, here is what you might do (simple rules):

1. Make sure your keywords are in your page title tag
2. Make sure your keywords are in your heading (H1) tags
3. Make sure your keywords appear on the page
4. Get sites to link back to your pages using your keywords as the anchor text (the part that you click on).
5. Make sure your description tag (this is the text that shows up in Google) includes your keywords and calls people to action. The description SELLS your page to people.

Remember, you are not competing with Google. You are competing with your competition on the search engine results page.  Look at what they are doing and do it better.

If you do all of that, you will be off to a good start.

Best regards,
Mark