Do You REALLY Want to be Found Online?

Maybe you’re like me…

Thinking you want your site to be found online, but not doing nearly enough to make sure it happens.

You figure…

  • I’ll get to it…
  • I’ll take care of it when I get my product or service ready…
  • The traffic I get now is just fine…
  • And the BIG LIE: If I build it, they will come!

I don’t believe any of that, but sometimes I just get a little lazy.  I don’t do everything I need to do when it comes to making sure people can find me when they are looking for what I have to offer.  Maybe you can relate…

Is you blog getting the traffic it deserves?

Does your product or service site get a constant stream of FREE prospects?

If not, you should probably be looking for some simple ways you can bring the site visitors you want.  Not that there’s a lack of such information out there.  You can find more than enough material to cover every conceivable traffic generation strategy out there

Some of these strategies use tools to fool search engines into bringing you visitors (hey, they may work for a month or so!), some promise listings in just hours…  And if you really care about the one person a year who searches for “internet guru wannabe”, they could probably do it!

But… When it comes to real life searches for phrases that people actually search for, you need to seek out those who have actually done what you are attempting, and find out what really works.  You don’t want theory, you want fact.

If you’ve been to my site in the past year, and actually explored the sites I recommend, and resources I promote, you’ll know that Fred Black’s blog has been on the list since the very beginning.   There’s a reason for that, which I’ll get to in a moment.

First, head over to this “sales page” for his latest product, and I’ll explain when you get back…

Fred Black’s Search Engine Optimization

Seriously, please check it out before coming back…

Free Search Engine Traffic Exposed

Ok…  Let me tell you WHY I have his site featured here on my “blogroll” to the right.  It’s because I found him by searching for “internet business” (quotes or no quotes, it doesn’t matter).  Why was I searching for that phrase?  Because a so-called “internet business expert” kept claiming that he knew the secrets to everything from search engine optimization to product creation.

The funny thing is that nothing he said ever panned out.  Yes, HE had/has a cult following under various real and pseudo names, but if they ever broke away from the mantra, and did even the slightest amount of research, they’d find no substance behind most of his products and services.  If you watched what he does, and what he says, they are miles apart.

But I digress.

What I found was that Fred’s blog was at the top for this search, and it made me wonder why, and how he could pull this off.  It’s not like he’s Apple Computer or something.  He’s an honest guy working online and off, by providing people what they are looking for.  In this case, Internet Business advise and tools.  Heck, his free courses are better than most of the paid ones I’ve seen.

Have you been to his site yet?

Anyway…  Someone who can get to the top of this phrase without mega bucks is someone who should be listened to.

I’ve already started putting his information into practice, and expect great results over time.

So, if you want to know what works in SEO, from someone who actually knows what he’s talking about, check out his SEO Brain Dump  for the real scoop.  He makes it easy to understand, and takes the fear out of generating free website traffic.

If you’ve had experience in SEO for your site, I’d love to hear about it.  Just post a comment below.  If your experience has been less than spetacular, check out Fred’s course.

Popularity: 65% [?]

Are Your Google Search Results Tainted?

I’ve been wondering about this for a while, and finally decided to try a few things.

If you have a web site, and are working at ranking well for a certain keyword, you may not know what page you really show up in Google for one simple reason:

You’re logged into your google account when you make the search (or have Google Toolbar)

Yep, that’s it. Now, I’ve finally verified it in a non-internet marketing related niche. Let me explain so you can try some things on your own.

As far as I know, this only applies to Google, and for those with a Google tool bar or a Google account that they are usually logged in to. Who knows, it might apply to other search engines are well.

I was looking for where this niche site ranked on a specific 2 word phrase. One day the results would show #15 (second page), the next it would be #9 or 10 (first page). Since no changes were made on to the site, and it seemed to bounce around at will, I initially chalked it up to changes the competitors were making to their sites, or a Google change.

Still, after a few weeks, it got me wondering just why this was happening.

I seemed to remember that Google wants to “help” the searcher by using past searches and site visits as an aid in coming up with the best possible results for all new searches. If you have an Amazon account, you’ll be very familiar with all of the little tricks that they use to give you recommendations based on past searches, and purchases there. This is the same thing, but done by your search engine of choice!

So, I did the search in my normal Firefox browser. It came up at #9. I was logged into my Google account for this search.

Next I went to Internet Explorer, which I only use as a cookie and settings-free browser to perform certain tests on. I entered the same search, and the target site showed as #15 (page 2). I was not logged in to any account, and cookies were cleared.

I went back to my Firefox browser, and logged out of my Google account. Entered the search phrase, and came back as #15, just like in Internet Explorer.

Experiment over for now.

My guess is that since I’d frequently visited the site(s) I was trying to rank, it moved the results up when I searched on a phrase that the site was included in–much like Amazon will start finding reasons to show new/different results as you browse or shop.

Lesson learned:

You may not know exactly what page your site will show up for any given keyword, for any given individual. Their results may be based on past searches, just like yours are when logged into your Google account.

What can you do about it? I suspect: not much, other than to keep generating good, related content to inch ever higher in the overall rankings.

Just remember not to spout off about your page one ranking without at least checking whether you get the same results after logging off of your account. Even then, you don’t know if they’re logged in and getting entirely different results as well.

Thoughts on this? Comment below…

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