So, you want to send a press release?

April 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Don’t ever write a press release for SEO. That’s just shooting yourself in the head. In fact, you deserve to be shot in the head if you ever say “press release for SEO” again. Michael Martinez - Director of Search Strategies for 1st Query

A key element in getting links back to your site and improving your traffic is understand where your target audience and circles of influence get their information and be there.

Obviously our goal with this site is to learn SEO and how to get positioned in the top spots for our target keywords. But the question remains, “What do you do to get people to your site now?” An even more important question is, “What can I do today to get people to come and link to my site?”

The press release can be a powerful tool for people who know how to use it effectively. If you have a gift for communication and you know how to properly distribute a press release, it can help you reach influential people, consumers, bloggers and important minds in your niche. If you can do this, your traffic will grow and your inbound links will increase. Ultimately, (in an indirect way) the press release is another great SEO tool.

That said, a press release is not the ultimate, secret magic trick. Press releases have become a huge source of search spam lately and you have to realize that if you’re going to take the time to write a press release it better be damn good and highly newsworthy. If it’s not, you’re just wasting your time.

Here are 10 tips on how to use a press release to further your SEO efforts. We’ll also look at what you need to do to fully distribute your work so your efforts provide you with the greatest benefit possible.

If you haven’t reviewed my basic intro to writing a press release, please do so now before continuing. Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

How to write an effective press release

March 26, 2008 | 1 Comment

Online press releases have become an integral part of online marketing and SEO. Not only can you use this affordable and effective method to get the word out about your news item, but–if you know what you’re doing–you can allow it to play double duty and contribute to your SEO campaign.

By properly crafting your press release you’ll gain attention from industry experts, bloggers and the press all while improving your visibility. As an added–and very important–bonus, the interest that you generate can prompt people to create a “buzz” about your event with real traffic and increase inbound links to your site. Usually these links are the coveted inline links from content (mixed into content) that are so hard to get these days. Inline links are highly valuable to an SEO campaign and highly respected by Google.

What’s really cool about press releases is that you can affordably distribute your release through many easy to use online services. There are even some free distribution services available. Even for the pay services though, the cost is minimal compared to paying for traffic by the click. Press release services offer distribution for one flat fee so it’s much easier to estimate your costs and budget. Plus you get the residual SEO benefits of permanent links back to your site if you craft a well written and effective release that gains the attention of influential people.

To start off I’ll give you a quick summary about how to properly craft a press release. There are many other great resources on the web that are specificaly targeted to writing press releases so I won’t go into great detail here. Then in my next post I’ll move on to our target subject: Press Releases for SEO. Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

8 Big Reasons Why PageRank Matters

March 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Now that I’ve taken the time to tell you about the common PageRank myths, I wanted to spin this another direction and tell you why PageRank does actually matter. I’m not trying to confuse you here if you follow my logic.

You see, there’s truth and there’s reality.

The TRUTH is that PageRank alone does not DIRECTLY influence your rankings and you shouldn’t spend all your time obsessing over it. It’s just a small part of many elements that go into the algorithms that decide who ranks for what.

The REALITY is that PageRank can indirectly influence your rankings in many ways. It can be used as a general score to be applied for the credibility of your site and–let it be said–Not everyone can get a high PageRank score overnight. This statement can’t be disputed. So, if a site does have a high PR score, it is a loose measure of it’s quality and respect on the web. Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

PageRank myths and tips

March 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

For those who don’t know what Google PR is (and I’m not talking public relations here) let me help you out. PageRank is Google’s way of assigning a rating to your site based on the amount of incoming links that you have to a particular page. High quality incoming links are like gold when talkin’ bout SEO. Therefore, you’d think that we should all be checkin’ our PageRank score on the hour right? Not so fast. Let’s quickly summarize what PageRank is and what it does and then we’ll talk a bit about why you shouldn’t take it quite so seriously. Let me summarize the process: Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

10 Golden Rules of SEO Copywriting

March 9, 2008 | 2 Comments

Copywriting is for brainy, spectical wearing, tight lipped, thick heeled librarian geek types you say? Think again. Talented copywriters are in high demand these days because the vast majority of your SEO success now hinges on this person.

If you haven’t learned that your punctuation and grammar guides are your friends and that picking up a good book on how to write better, more personable and interesting copy is a good idea, then it’s time to get intimate and cozy with this advice: quality copywriting is critcal to successful SEO. If you want a successful blog, website or SEO campaign you need to improve your writing–or die trying. Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

SEO copywriting 3.0

March 5, 2008 | 2 Comments

“Pretend… that a single visitor could make the difference between success and failure for your business. She has no time to waste poking around your site trying to figure out what you’re all about… What do you tell her? You’d likely explain by giving her the essential information about how you can help, and why you perfectly meet her needs, right? And I’m betting you’d want to explain it in the most compelling fashion you could, given what’s riding on the deal. In a nutshell, that’s what Google wants you to do with the content on your site.”
Brian Clark - Copyblogger.com

Copywriting for SEO is evolving into a highly skilled talent that goes way beyond just blindly stuffing your pages full of keywords. Readers are expecting more, it’s becoming harder to attract readers and the search engines are getting smarter; they know when they spider pages if it’s properly written and if it “reads” appropriately. Most importantly, search engines like links. Without highly useful, compelling, relevant content, you simply won’t get links; you simply won’t rank in the search engines. Because of this we need to know how to effectively write for SEO. Today I would almost suggest that the business of SEO is copywriting. Without a talent for writing your site will simply die. Period. Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

Page Titles > The Worst Practices

February 28, 2008 | 1 Comment

An important part of marketing your site on the web is knowing what you should NOT do. You can sometimes do more harm than good if you dive in and start swinging your sword–and we all have–trying to fight your way to the top with reckless abandon.

Fortunately, with the issue of page titles you can make changes and have them corrected or improved fairly quickly. That’s no excuse not to get it right the first time though. Below are some items that you should combine with my previous summary about how to write great page titles.

Hopefully this information does not surprise you in the least but acts as a quick reminder as to what you should stay away from or where you need to make minor corrections in your past work. Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

How To Write Effective Web Page Titles

February 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Here I am, trying to write the definitive guide to web page titles. It’s a lofty goal and one that I probably won’t actually accomplish but I’m hoping to come out on the other side with a very useful guide for everyone. This is a very important guide because of this fact: Your page title is one of the most important parts of effective SEO; it can make or break your top rankings so pay attention my young padewon.

A well crafted page title will not only increase your position in the search results, but it will give the searcher a better
understanding of what your page is about at a glance. There are many important parts to effective SEO but learning how to write better web page titles ranks up at the top (no pun intended). It’s a place that you should spend a lot of time and energy. I hope this guide serves you well. Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

Organizing An SEO Campaign

February 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

533377543_19dd1f3da6_m.jpgOrganization is one of the biggest challenges with SEO; at least for me it is. For years I would start optimizing my site, submitting my site and researching keywords with no real system in place to get the job done effectively. After a month or two I couldn’t even remember if I completed the most obvious steps in the process like submitting my site to DMOZ.org. So I would either cross my fingers in the hope that I actually did do it or I would submit again. Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

Keyword Research Checklist

February 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

list.jpgI love lists and I can guarantee that lists will be a recurring theme here at QuickStartSEO.com. My brain is usually like soup and it’s very hard for me to keep things straight and recall them when I need them. Hopefully this list will serve you well as an SEO reference going forward if you need a handy reference too. I’ll also link back to my previous entries discussing keyword research on this site just in case you need to reference the information in more detail. Read more


Posted by Christopher Auman | Filed Under SEO Training 

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