Blog Tip #5: Make sure search engines can spider your blog easily

Make sure your navigation bar is present on all pages of your blog. Your previous posts or at least the popular ones should be linked to all pages so they get spidered easily.

Most of the standard blog set-ups (WordPress, TypePad, Blogger) will give you an option to have Archives and Blog Archives module to do this automatically for you.

Remember, we are going to submit only the primary domain and RSS feeds to the directories and search engines and they will only find all of your pages and posts if they are linked on the main page.

Blog Tip #1: Use your main keyword in your blog domain

The first thing to do is to ensure that your blogs URL contains the primary keyword you want to optimize for. Using the targeted keyword in sub-domains also helps.

For example, if you want to start a blog site about diving then the primary keyword you want your URL to contain is diving. So choose a URL like www.divingblog.com.

You can also use the keyword in subdomains like www.fiji-resort.com/diving

SEO tips for tourism blogs

I am constantly asked about some simple tips and techniques to start to make a difference in the all important search engines.

So I have pulled together some simple rules for search engine optimization and if you start following them then your blog will rank much higher in Search Engines.

ClusterMaps

Here is cool wee tool that shows the international nature of our websites.

Locate all site visitors on a map on your blog. See at a glance where your site's visitors are located: instantaneously, even when the numbers are enormous! Visitors don't need to click on anything: just viewing your page is sufficient.

One thumbnail map on your site shows it all: They provide the HTML that gives you a thumbnail map, like the one on the right at the bottom right of my page, and the map embedded here.

When it loads, it increments a counter and shows the locations of all the visitors to your page, cumulatively (even for huge numbers). Clicking on it zooms in to a big world map, and lets you zoom in to the continents.

Cool widget for travel sites when the globe is what people are looking for!

See ClusterMaps website to sign up, the best part of course is it's free!

Microsoft adCenter

Your ideal audience is among the millions. PPC helps find them for you.

MSN reaches nearly two out of three Web customers, and Live Search reaches over 40 million a month.¹ Reach the right customers with search ads targeted at the audience you want.

How does search advertising work?

• Pay only when people click your ads.
• Set your own price per click.
• See when your clicks lead to sales.
• Target your ads to the times, places, and customers you want the most.
• Use built-in tools to get keyword ideas, audience information, and detailed reports on your ads.

¹ Nielsen/NetRatings, Competitive Site Reports, November 2004

So what exactly is Pay Per Action (PPA)?

The Google AdWords (for advertisers) and AdSense (for publishers) programs currently charge/pay each time an advert is clicked on and this is open to abuse by fraud publishers clicking on their own adverts or using automated click-bots to gain revenue.

Google is oh so very aware of this and some sites are quoting figures of up to 30% of all clicks could be considered fraudulent.This is a hell of a lot of profit for the fraud-gangsters and a huge cost for advertisers even if only a small percentage of this is undetected.

Despite the click fraud problem the advertising model does work really well and continues to attract both advertisers and publishers. This just shows how effective online ad campaigns really are!

Google Pay Per Action PPA

Google announced recently that they will be offering Pay Per Action (PPA) advertising in addition to their well established Pay Per Click (PPC) program.Currently in beta, and only available to US based subscribers, will this new program make huge waves in the affiliate advertising community?

See the Google website here...

Here's what Google say themselves:

"Increase your advertising reach while paying only for actions that you define. First, you'll create an ad and define the action that you want a user to perform when they visit your site, such as signing up for your newsletter or purchasing a product. Then you'll set the amount that you're willing to pay when this action is completed. Finally, you'll install conversion tracking code on your website so that we can verify when an action has been completed.

Once you've completed these steps, publishers in the Google content network can choose to place your ads on their website. You'll only pay when a user clicks on your ad, visits your site, and completes your desired action.

Pay-per-action ads complement your current campaigns by providing a new pricing model that extends your reach and allows you to pay only when a defined action is completed on your site. This beta feature is currently available to AdWords advertisers in the United States on a limited basis as part of our beta test."

In the next few days I will answer some of the obvious questions in regards to this enw program which holds a lot of promise for the SME Tourism Products out there.

Lead Generation for the Complex Sale: Boost the Quality and Quantity of Leads to Increase Your ROI

With the complex sale emerging as the norm in today’s business-to-business environment, it’s more challenging than ever to keep a consistent stream of qualified leads in your sales pipeline. You’ve probably lost critical hours by relying on outdated methods or spinning your wheels looking for new tactics to push the sales needle forward.

Lead Generation for the Complex Sale arms you with a sophisticated multimodal approach to generating highly profitable leads. Brian Carroll, CEO of InTouch Incorporated and expert in lead generation solutions, reveals key strategies that you can implement immediately to win new customers, accelerate growth, and improve your sales performance.

You'll start by defining your ideal leads and targeting your ideal customer. Then, you'll construct your lead generation plan, a crucial step to staying ahead of your competition long-term. To help you put your plan into action, Carroll guides you step by step to:

* Align sales and marketing efforts to optimize the number of leads
* Use multiple lead generation vehicles, including e-mail, referrals, public relations, speaking events, webinars, and more
* Create value for the prospective customer throughout the buying process
* Manage a large group of leads without feeling overwhelmed
* Identify and prioritize your best prospects
* Increase the percentage of leads who become profitable customers
* Avoid lulls in the sales cycle
* How to increases the percentage of leads who become profitable customers
* Know how to identify and prioritize your best prospects
* Ready yourself for what's next – new and promising tactics

With Lead Generation for the Complex Sale you'll learn how to target prospects early in the buying process and make the most efficient use of sales productivity and marketing resources. Plus, you’ll pursue and capture future opportunities for viable leads.

In a business environment where your competition is growing and your budget is inevitably shrinking, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale gives you the power to drive a fast, optimal return on your investment and keep a steady stream of new customers coming your way.

Google Analytics

Again another tool that you just cannot do without. And it's free!

Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. Focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors.

Google Analytics has the enterprise level capabilities you'd expect from a high end web analytics offering and also provides timesaving integration with AdWords. Of course, Google Analytic tracks all of your non-AdWords initiatives as well.

In the next few posts I will try and run through how easy it is to set this up, and how to use the info this tool gives you.

Google Webmaster Tools

I can't recommend looking after your own web real estate enough.

With 84% of all web searches on Google, you'd better check what Google has indexed and how and where.

Google Webmaster Tools