EzSEO Newsletter # 244

 

In this issue:

1. Being a Rockstar

2. Disgruntled Subscribers

3. Discount on Keyword Research Pro

4. An interesting read..

5. Backlink Checker

Hi Again

I hope you have had a good week.  This week I’ve got a couple of follow ups from last week’s newsletter, plus an interesting article to get you thinking – is SEO Copywriting dead?  And finally, I found a great site to help you analyze backlinks.  Let’s get on…

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1. Being a Rockstar
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Its always nice to get a bit of feedback on previous newsletters.  One "testimonial" that came in this week was from Jim Bruce, who left the following comment on the blog (you can read the full comment online if you want after newsletter #243) after buying the Rockstar eBook I recommended last week:

"Recently, I bought ‘How to be a Rockstar WordPress Designer’ through your link. I was looking to design a WordPress theme for a client of mine. What a great book!! I actually haven’t finished at this moment but am almost done. So far, I’ve learned how to take the HTML mock-up of the client?s site and turn it into a WordPress theme.

This book is so step-by-step, I can’t believe it… Wonderful is the only words that I have for it… Thanks so much for finding it and recommending it for your subscribers like me".

I feel the same about this book.  For those who want to learn more about creating WordPress templates this book will really get you up to speed designing great looking themes.

No PHP knowledge is required but a good working knowledge of HTML and CSS helps: 

Designing WordPress Templates

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2. Disgruntled Subscribers
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I got an email this week, which is very similar to emails I receive once every couple of months.  Here it is:

"Dear Andy,

I enjoy your newsletter but get frustrated to be always receiving your midweek online notification email. I never don’t get your first email so the second email feels a bit like spam.

Is there any chance I can unsubscribe from your second follow up email? If not, I may have to unsubscribe totally.

Regards,

Francis"

OK, I get it that not everyone likes to receive the follow up.  However, before I tell you a solution to this, let me state my case. 

In most cases, my newsletter takes a few hours to write (usually early on a Sunday morning) and usually contains a lot of good information (for fr.ee).  I am a teacher by training, and teach is what I try to do in every issue.  I put a lot of effort into creating tutorials, recording videos, writing reviews, finding quality resources, stimulating ideas etc, and I want to make sure that those who have expressed an interest in receiving the newsletter actually do.

I have done some testing on this, and up to 10% of people on this list click through on the link to the online version when I send out the reminder.  Since a large number of people do "use" the follow up, it is here to stay.

If you signed up for this newsletter because you wanted to receive it, I would think a second email is a small price.  This newsletter is here to try to help people succeed online, and succeeding takes some effort.  If whether you stay subscribed, hinges on whether I dump the follow up reminder, then unsubscribe – this newsletter is not for you.

OK, here is a fix for those who want to stay subscribed but find the second email an annoyance.

Email clients (at least the good ones like Thunderbird) allow you to setup filters.  If you are using Thunderbird, go to tools -> message filters, and create a new filter that looks for "is now online" in the subject line AND comes from my newsletter email address.  Simply select to send the email to trash.  The follow up email will then automatically be trashed without you ever seeing it.

This is a good tip for all types of email you receive.  I make extensive use of this type of filtering to send incoming emails to various folders I have created. 

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3. Discount on Keyword Research Pro
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Last week I showed you a new keyword research tool called Keyword Research Pro.  If you missed that, go back and watch the short video I recorded for you in issue #234 .

Fabian Lim (the author) currently has a discount available for this product of $20.  Just use the code "20off" and the price will change to $77.  I don’t think this coupon will be available for much longer though, so if you want it, get it now.  I cannot remember but I read another newsletter where I think they stated it would be available until 16th or 18th of June – I am not totally sure and its too early on Sunday morning to write Fabian an email to ask.

You can find out more about Keyword Research Pro here:

Keyword Research Pro

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4. An interesting read..
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I found and interesting article earlier this week by a guy called Glen Murray.  He reckons SEO Copywriting is dead.  Read the article first, and I’ll tell you why I disagree with him:

Is SEO Copywriting Dead?

(NOTE: Yo may need to copy and paste the whole URL into your web browser if it is split on multiple lines).

Read it?  OK good.  What did you think about the article?

Glen’s summary stated:

"Helpful, informative copy doesn’t require optimization. It?s the topic selection and site structure that require SEO thought."

Before I tell you what I think, do YOU agree or disagree with the above?

Anyone who has been reading my newsletter for any length of time probably already knows what I am about to say.  In fact, let me quote a paragraph from an earlier newsletter of mine:

"If you are an expert in a topic, theme words just flow as you write about your topic (because they are part of your natural vocabulary).  However, for those of us who are not an expert in a topic, we need to know what "theme" words we should be using in the content.  By making sure we include those "theme" words in the correct context, we can be fairly sure that we are writing a good article, and one that Google will approve of."

In Glenn’s examples, he used a range of theme words in the "unoptimized" content without trying, so he must have been knowledgeable in that niche. 

He wrote naturally and produced quality themed content. 

The search engines were left in no doubt what the article was about.  In his case he did not need to optimize the content because he was an expert in that niche.  Theme words were used in the content because they were REQUIRED in order to write a quality article.

Read the comment at the end of Glen’s article by Jay Greathouse.  Jay has it spot on in my opinion.

Let me leave you with a question to think about.

If I asked you to write an article on the workings of the steam engine, I am sure you would end up with an article that was filled with words and phrases like:

  how steam engines work,   inner and outer firebox,   steam engine,   steam locomotive,   steam engines,   driving wheels,   safety valve,   outer firebox,   regulator valve,   expansion link,   hot gases,   blast pipe,   exhaust steam,   steam locomotives,   front truck,   vertical cylinders,   industrial revolution.,   safety valves,   main steam,   superheater header,   power strokes,   water level,   valve gear,   steam dome,   spent steam,   boiler tubes,   vertical boiler,   steam,   engine,   cylinder,   locomotive,   oil,   rail,   box,   boiler,   cylinders,   valve,   railroad,   work,   rod,   age,   water,   low,   wheel,   engines,   train,   heat,   firebox,   piston,   locomotives,   hot,   trains,   pipe,   wheels,   smoke,   power,   control,   exhaust,   gas,   part,   pressure,   rev,   fuel,   smokebox,   gases,   gear,   engineer,   heater,   valves,   stroke,   coal

(NOTE: Those are just some of the words and phrases that KRA Pro returned when I used ran the search using the "Keyword Spider").

Question:  Is it possible to write an article on how a steam engine works WITHOUT using most of these words & phrases?

Question: Would you write those words and phrases in naturally?  Well you might if you are an expert on steam engines. 

MY POINT:  SEO optimization of articles occurs naturally as you write content you are knowledgeable about.  If you do not know a topic, you will still need to use a vocabulary that identifies the niche, because to write an interesting and informative article on such a topic without using these words would be impossible.  

The difference is a subtle one.  If you know the topic, you automatically know the words that are needed.  If you don’t know the topic, you need to find the words that are needed and then use them.

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5. Backlink Checker
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We all know that Google hides some of the backlinks that our pages get.  They don’t want people reverse engineering their algorithm, so they don’t give us all the pieces of the puzzle. 

There are some other ways to get more accurate backlink information, and one I found this week is:

Majestic SEO

Here is a quote from their website:

"Majestic-SEO is worlds biggest backlinks and anchor text database where you can get detailed reports about your competitors backlinks and anchor text.

Our own robots crawled over 77 billion webpages and analyzed almost 539 billion unique links and their anchor text to calculate who link to who and with what anchor text."

I ran my bloodsugardiabetic.com website through their checker (this is the site I built for my students in my WordPress for Affiliate Sites course) just to see what info they provide.  Here are some interesting stats on that site that I did not know before:

We (Majestic SEO) have 367 backlinks in total and 174 external backlinks from 62 referring domains. The report below used 49 unique anchor texts and 62 referring domains.

WOW..  62 domains are linking to my site.  That’s not bad considering I don’t do article marketing and I don’t do link exchanges.  The only links I acquired personally were from 5 or 6 quality directories.  I guess providing quality content attracts links after all – who would have thought ;O)

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/

For older newsletters, you will need to visit the old archives at:

http://ezseonews.com/archives

Have a great week!

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If you enjoyed this newsletter, please recommend it to your friends. Also if you have any tips of your own, questions or
comments, please leave a comment at the online version of this newsletter: http://ezseonews.com

Any tips or questions & answers I print in this newsletter will also be put up on the web version of the newsletter with a link to your site if you want it. That’s extra free traffic for your site as well as an incoming link to your site.

The contents of this newsletter is copyright 2009 Andrew Williams.  If you want to republish any of the articles, you must get permission from the author.

This newsletter disclaims all responsibility for the advertising copy or the product advertised. You cannot rely on the fact that the newsletter has examined the product or recommends or endorses the product, unless it clearly says that it has, when you make your decision whether or not to purchase the product or interact with the advertiser. You are advised to do your own investigation before buying. Additionally, this newsletter may accept articles that we do not write or investigate the accuracy of and for which we may receive direct or indirect benefit or compensation. We specifically disclaim any responsibility for the content of such copy.

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