Webmaster and SEO Blog May Archive

Best way is to pick out a handful of sites, and link to them first. Don't even tell them that you did, just do it. Some will notice it and write to you with thanks (or maybe blog about it). Once a month has passed, write to the rest of them and say "I've been linking to you for a while, please consider linking back". Most will be flattered and give you the link.

No matter what you do, don't carpet bomb random sites, or even the sites that you love, and say things like, "hey, if you like to me and show me where the link is, I'll link back to you!" Don't ask me to do something you won't even do for me!

And in general, don't carpet bomb. If you send the link request to a thousand sites, we'll know it and you'll get no respect. Give that much better, and when you do give links, don't bury them deep inside your site. Keep them prominent, so they'll actually benefit the other webmasters.

[Ed note: don't send a email saying you saw someones website and think it is great... especially if you have never looked at the website]

1 – "Free Hosts" are never free. There is fine print and you need to find the catch. They may put ads on your site, severely limit your storage or bandwidth so that you'll still end up paying, or end up owning your content or domain name. Cheap hosting is much better.

2 – Make sure you get enough bandwidth for what you're doing. 10-20 gigs a month if you run mostly text with a few, reasonably sized photos. You should be able to get this kind of hosting for much less than $20/month.

3 – If you plan to have more than one site, get a hosting plan that allows for multiple domains on the same, single account. BlueHost.com allows unlimited domains, and does it cheap.

4 – Check out their service reputation. They should offer a member forum and an actual telephone number for times when things go bad.

5 – Look for included ad-ons like PHPNuke, PHPBB2, Joomla and WordPress. If you want a content management system (CMS), it's ideal to have it included with your package.

6 – No package is cheap, especially those offering "unlimited bandwidth", if your site runs so slow that your readers can't see it. Make sure the host doesn't have a thousand sites on a single server, or you'll find your neighbors traffic slowing down your site.

7 – If you're planning on hosting video on your site, look for a much bigger, much more expensive package. You'll still pay less than $50/month, but consider letting YouTube or Revver host your video, which you can imbed right back into your site.

8 – If you're going to have an adult site, find an adult host. Most companies don't permit that sort of content, but you can still find plenty of great hosts just the same.

1 – No numbers. If you want www.YourSite.com, but find it taken, don't use www.1YourSite.com. It may help search engines, but you should cater to people, not search engines.

2 – Stick with dot-com extensions. If you go big as "Craig's List", you'll give up tons of traffic and profit by having the dot-org, instead of the dot-com. Avoid weird ones like dot-TV and dot-biz like the plague.

3 – No hyphens. www.YourSite.com is far better than www.Your-Site.com. People don't remember dashes.

4 – If your name is available, like www.FirstLast.com, take it. If not, it's okay to add a middle initial. Use www.FirstMLast.com if it's free. Easily check availability at WhoIs.sc.

5 – Two words are better than three. www.YourSite.com is better than www.YourSiteName.com. Easier to remember, harder to mistype, and shorter, which is better. Three can still be very good though.

6 – Avoid adding "the" to your domain, if possible. If you own www.TheSiteName.com, word of mouth will goof it and go first to www.SiteName.com from your promotion.

7 – Don't be afraid to invent a new word for your name. Napster was a short, phoenetic, invented word, and everybody found it, remembered it and had no problem typing it. Besides that, you can invent a brand this way. Keep it simple, short, and easy to guess the spelling.

8 – If you're committed to the name, register for the maximum 10-years, and never sweat about losing it by forgetting to renew it.

9 – Last advice, don't pay too much. $12 is a good maximum, but always read the fine print before selecting a registrar.