EzSEO Newsletter # 217
September 5, 2008 by Andy
This week:
1. WordPress Affiliate Sites
2. WordPress Tutorial – XI
3. Page Length in Google Top 10
4. Stomping the Search Engines 2?
Hi again
This week’s newsletter is early. One of the reasons is the time-sensitive notice in part 1, but also I want to forget work this weekend and spend time with my daughter before she starts back at school on Monday.
I went to the Jungle Park in the south of Tenerife yesterday with my wife and daughter. It was amazing to see the "Eagle" show, where they had a range of hawks, eagles and vultures flying around the arena within feet of the spectators (I doubt this type of thing would ever be allowed in the UK). They have some American Bald Eagles at the show, and it reminded us of the bald eagles we saw in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia soaring high over the lakes and mountains earlier this year. They really are amazing animals.
A couple of weeks ago we were at the Parrot Park in the North of Tenerife where we saw dolphins and killer whale shows. The animals looked happy enough and were certainly eager to perform, however, with the whales and dolphins I was left with a sad feeling. Are those animals really happy, or are they performing because they are kept hungry? At least the birds at the Jungle Park seemed happy, as they could just fly off during the shows if they wanted to.
OK, let’s get on…
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1. WordPress Affiliate Sites
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WordPress is a free site building tool that more and more professional marketers are using, not just for blogs, but for affiliate sites. In many ways it offers unparalleled flexibility, and I am a full convert to WordPress (I have used Dreamweaver for several years).
Not only am I building all of my new affiliate sites in WordPress, I am also converting some of my old Dreamweaver sites over to the WordPress platform. That is the level of confidence I have in the tool.
Anyone who wants to learn how I create affiliate sites using WordPress can join my WordPress for Affiliate Sites community.
The course is still being written, as I am only staying a couple of weeks ahead of the first members who joined this community (I have just finished the videos and other materials for module 5, and some of community members start module 4 this week). That way, you see a real site being built in "real-time", and problems dealt with as they turn up. There is no staging and no hiding ;O)
Modules of the course are designed to be done in as little as two hours a week (so people who work full time can do it too), and the action plan check list you get with each module will become a permanent reference as you go through this course, and in the future when you cut yourself loose and look to expand your affiliate empire.
For more details, see:
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2. WordPress Tutorial – XI
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Last week we looked at using tags in our WordPress pages.
This week I want to show you how to manually upgrade WordPress. Before you say you don’t need to because you have the Automatic WordPress plugin, so do I, but it doesn’t always work.
You can view this tutorial on the Affiliate Minder website, as well as any tutorials you may have missed.
When you get there, click the link on the right to "Wordpress Tutorials".
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3. Page Length in Google Top 10
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If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me how many words the content on their site should have, I’d have at least $20 :O)
Seriously though, my answer is always the same – an article should be as long as it takes to cover the topic.
One thing I have noticed over the years is that the length of the content on the top 10 pages in Google has increased. I thought it would be interesting to count the words on a bunch of top 10 pages, so here are my results.
For the keyword "RGP contact lens", the top 10 pages (actually it was 8 of the 10, since one site was flash, and another didn’t load so I excluded both of them) the average page was 911 words in length.
For the keyword "heart rate monitor", 8 out of the top 10 pages averaged 1339 words per page. Note two pages were excluded again, for the same reasons as above.
For the keyword phrase "bbq plans", the top pages averaged 790 words per page.
Now, obviously the words I am counting includes menus and sidebars, but these do contribute content to the page.
I know from some emails I get that some people worry about their content being TOO LONG. I think the results of this quick study shows that length is not something you should be worried about. In fact, longer is probably better.
Why would longer content rank better? Well my own thoughts on this are that longer content can include a lot more theme words than shorter content, while not looking "keyword stuffed". Longer content would then be a better match for Google’s LSI algorithms, since those pages will hit more of that themes "buttons".
I’m hoping to look at more factors that top pages have in common in the next few newsletters.
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4. Stomping the Search Engines 2?
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It seems everyone and his dog is promoting the new Stomping the Search Engines 2 course. In case you missed this:
"Simply TRY the premiere issue of "The Net Effect" for FREE, and get the full "Stomping the Search Engines 2" Premium SEO Course FREE, too! You pay ONLY Shipping and Handling!"
So what is this all about and is it worth the effort?
A few days ago, I received a parcel from the US. I wasn’t expecting one, so was a little surprised. On opening it, I found a "press version" of the new Stomping the Search Engine course, plus a glossy magazine called the Net Effect.
I didn’t look at the videos until yesterday as I was enthralled by the Net Effect Magazine. It is chock-a-block full of great information on SEO, and so it should be when you consider who is behind the content of the magazine. SEO Guru Jerry West, links master Leslie Rhode, Dan Thies – master SEO & Keyword Research specialist, plus a host of others.
In a word, this magazine is superb. I have no idea (even as I write this) how much they will be charging for it, but I for one will be subscribing to it as long as its not an arm and a leg. I use to subscribe to John Reese’s traffic secrets for $95 a month, but this to me has a lot more relevant and interesting information.
So, what about the Stomping the Search Engines 2 course? Well, unlike the first one that was audio only, this one is video, and the videos are done very well indeed. This is probably the best, and most up-to-date course on SEO, and one I highly recommend. The fact that you can get this for "fr.ee" means there is no risk to you (other than the shipping and handling).
Get this course now, from here:
Well, that’s it for this issue. If you want to read the recent issues of this newsletter, you can read them online at my blog:
http://ezseonews.com/blog/index.php
For older newsletters, you will need to visit the old archives at:
Have a great week!
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