Friday, November 7th, 2008
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The power to make or break any website or blog is the amount of traffic and ROI (return on investment) that can be generated from month to month. When your livelihood depends upon your on site internet presence, it pays to think outside of the box and explore opportunities as they present themselves. Last week I introduced you to the Apple iPhones App for getting your blog iPhone ready and a quality back link from the Apple.com site.
Since it’s Friday and a gorgeous hello “Global Warning” day here in Richmond Virginia, I thought I would take the time to show you just another cool little thing I discovered in my mad labs here at Big Oak SEO - Richmond SEO Company.
I love the power of social media and Web 2.0 style sites, and one of my favorites has been Twitter. Yes that little tool that makes you get your point across in only 140 characters. However if you know how to use those 140 characters wisely it can pay off into huge dividends.
On election day, Nov 4th I was cruising around and saw that Yahoo had jumped into the Twitter arena. More importantly the folks that run the elusive Yahoo Directory. With a quick double check I confirmed it was the good folks at Yahoo and not some cyber loser and huge practical joke.
So I had nothing to lose and put my best 140 characters together and sent a Tweet to the folks at Yahoo - Directory.
a simple tweet: @yahoo_directory So you joined twitter, Check out http://www.parentinghelpme.com
11:53 AM Nov 4th from web in reply to yahoo_directory
Well the power of twitter and a decent website got the attention of the good folks at the Yahoo Directory and guess what…
Yup Today I got into Yahoo Directory from a single tweet. I didn’t even have to use all of the 140 characters twitter allows and I made it in with less than 80 characters and 3 days. Not Bad for an Election Day Result and Global Warming hitting Richmond Virginia this Friday November 7, 2008.
PS: You can Follow this site @BigOakSEO or me @bigebiz on twitter
Popularity: 5% [?]
Posted in Blogging, Link Building | 11 Comments »
Friday, October 24th, 2008
Is your Blog iPhone Applicable?
With the recent craze of iPhone this and iPhone that and the Mac vs PC world of commercials it’s about time we make our own websites or blogs adaptable to the iPhone Apple Mac People. As you can tell I am PC guy and almost resemble the PC guy from those commercials. I learned on a PC and I am not usually accepting of change when it comes to my computer, but adaptable to markets and strategy. I was using Win 95 way past 98 and hit Win 97 around the time Millennium was out. That’s neither here nor there. This is about adapting.
Most blogs these days use word press, and a WP plugin has been developed to enable Iphone’s to easily read your blog. Click on the WPTouch link to grab this plugin. The plugin comes with it’s own CSS and themes for the conversion process, but all you have to do is install the Plugin into your normal Plugin Folder on word press and activate. The plugin takes care of the rest. If you are using WP-Cache or Wp Super Cache plugins then a few minor tweeks are needed.
Now that you installed the Plugin ready for the next coolest thing?
Because you blog is iPhone ready, you can submit it to Apple.com as a website app. You can see some venturous bloggers have already joined the race at http://www.apple.com/webapps/news/
To Join in, is rather simple actually. Go to Apple Developer and create a user account. Simple registration to grab yourself an account. After you are logged in proceed to https://adcweb.apple.com/iphone/
Fill out the details, descriptions and categories.
TIP - HINT: Your “Company Name” will Be a Live Linkable Backlink, so use your Web site or company name and a Major Keyword when filling in the “Company Name” section on the application
You will need a screen shot of you blog and an Icon in the dimensions shown below to successfully complete your application. ( 320 x 356 PNG - For screen Shot and Icon 128 X 128 with a recognized alpha channel )
Once and if approved by Apple your blog will appear in their iPhone Downloads section. Even though this whole process is way cool, I am still a PC guy, at least til 2012 according to my historical upgrade patten.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Posted in Blogging, Social Media Optimization | 11 Comments »
Monday, September 8th, 2008
By now, I’m sure you know the importance of creating fresh, quality content on your site. One of the ways you probably do this is through a blog. These days everyone has a blog, and why not? It’s an easy way to get articles syndicated and ensures you have fresh content on your site, along with many other benefits.
However, in this world of Web 2.0, just having a blog isn’t enough. You need to get out there and take part in your online community. You need to comment on other people’s blogs.
Don’t know why? Well, you’re in luck, because here are the top five reasons to comment on other people’s blogs.
Top 5 Reasons to Comment on Blogs: Get Known in the Community
The goal of SEO is getting your site to rank, which happens when the search engines view you as an authority on a subject. Before the search engines can view you as an authority, people need to view you as such. One of the easiest ways to make this happen is by leaving good, meaningful comments on other people’s blogs.
Think about it like this: No matter how good your content is, if the search engines don’t know about it and people don’t know about it, then you’re just writing for yourself. You need to go to the people. Go to a blog that has a large readership and start leaving good comments. This will introduce you to a large readership.
I promise, when you give beneficial comments, people will respond. The owners of the site will get to know you because of your comments, and users will come to enjoy how useful they are. This successfully accomplishes your first task — having the people regard you as an authority on a subject.
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Popularity: 9% [?]
Posted in Blogging, SEO Strategies, Social Media Optimization | 16 Comments »
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Okay, I fully admit I got this from Search Engine Journal. It was written by Loren Baker, Editor. So be sure to read the original list there with full content. Thank you, Loren.
I put the list I here so I would always know where to find it, since it is our company blog. I did abbreviate the content and I plan on adding more. I hope if any readers find better blog directories, that are particularly excellent, they will add them by commenting below. If they are really good I’ll add them to this list officially.
- Best of the Web Blog Search La Crem de la Crem, Best of the Web’s Blog Directory is very selective and only lists aged and valuable blogs.
- EatonWeb Blog Directory is a real jewel with many aged inbound links and a blog rating system.
- Blog Hub offers a drop down category and member blog list.
- Upon visiting Bloggernity, you find a crisp, clean, and easy to navigate site.
- Blogarama has an impressive listing of over 65,000 blogs.
- Blog Search Engine is owned by Performancing’s parent company and serves search results powered by IceRocket.
- Blog Catalog features a vast directory of categories, from academic to writing, while offering the ability to search by country, language, or user.
- Globe of Blogs has too many features to list. In order to be listed on the site, the blog must not be commercial.
- Blog Universe is the perfect place to promote your video or podcast themed blog.
- Bigger Blogs is a relatively new blog directory with only a few blogs registered. The blog is intertwined with a business directory.
- Bloggeries has the best categories and subcategories home page on the internet
- Bloggapedia has an interesting and eye catching homepage.
- Spillbean is a well-designed blog directory site with categories such as health, society, internet, and personal.
- Blogging Fusion is a blog with over sixty categories.
- Blogflux is not only a tool for bloggers, but a directory that has the listings in alphabetic order.
- Bloglisting are fun, colourful, and catch the attention of the reader.
- Blogio may be a small blog directory with few listings, but it worthy of a submission.
- Blog Explosion claims to be the largest blog promoter on the internet.
- Super Blog Directory is a great site that offers tools to posters that others do not.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Posted in Blogging, Link Building, SEO Tools | 8 Comments »
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
If you feel this blog has given you good advice about SEO, helpful examples for search engine marketing and/or been an interesting read, please think about giving us a vote for Best Marketing Blog. In a world where we say thank you so little, this is an opportunity to say thanks to Big Oak and it’s blog authors. Sorry to interrupt with a shameless solicitation. 
But, if you would like to do us a favor and massage our egos, you can vote for us here: http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/22014#
You will have to sign up for an account to vote (bummer), but you can also nominate and vote for other favorite blogs or even your own blog.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Posted in Blogging, Choosing SEO Company, Out on a Limb | 5 Comments »
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