EzSEO Newsletter # 250

In this issue:

1. Blog comment options

2. A Great Business Plan

3. Amazon Feed Updates

Hi Again

With Google’s changes to the way they handle the nofollow tag, a lot of webmasters are sweating what to do with the blog comments section of their site.  Should they keep nofollow on blog comments, should they "do follow" the comments, and what other options are there.  I’ll discuss those today, as well as mention some stuff you need to do if you are using Amazon product feeds on your site (following my very popular tutorial which showed you how you can easily do that).  Also today I want to tell you about one of the best business plans I have seen.

Let’s get on…

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1. Blog comment options
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The way the nofollow tag used to work really helped out webmasters, but Google moved the goal posts. I wont go over all the details again.  If you missed my newsletter special on this topic I advise you to go and read it as it does affect every webmaster who either uses the nofollow tag consciously, or uses WordPress as a site building platform.  You can read that article here:

PageRank Sculpting with nofollow

OK; so now that we are on the same page, we can discuss the implications of this with regards to the comments section on your blog.

By default, WordPress adds a nofollow link to all comment author URLs.

What are the implications of this?

Well, its simple.  The "link love" generated by the Page Rank (PR) of the page that those comments are found on will be split between the links on the page (including the nofollow links). 

For the dofollow links, that "link love" will be passed to the URL in the link.  For the nofollow links (ie the comments) Google will just take that link love away, never to be seen again (at least by your site).

Let’s take a simple example. 

Suppose you have a page with a PR 5.  That page has 2 links pointing to other pages on your site, and 18 comments which have nofollow links to the authors site.

This page has 20 links in total, meaning each link will "handle" 1/20th of the Page Rank of the page (0.25).  Both of your internal pages will receive 0.25 of the "link love", and the 18 nofollow links will simply consume 18 x 0.25 = 4.5 of the "link love".  That’s 4.5 units of link love up in smoke.

Why is this bad?

Well, that 4.5 link love just disappears.  Surely it would be better to direct it to other pages on your site?

This situation is similar to the way it was before Google adopted the nofollow tag.  Any external links on your page would simply consume the available link love meaning it was not available for you to pass on to other pages on your site.

So, are you any worse off if you simply do follow those comment URLs?  After all, you’ll still have the same amount of PR to play with compared to keeping the nofollow links.

Well, actually you would be worse off if you do followed the comment tags. 

Why? 

Well on top of the PR that drains away, you are also vouching for the sites in the comments section.  You see, whenever you link to another site, Google sees it as a positive vote for that site.

Let’s take a real world example here.

On my ezSEO News blog, I have approved a total of 445 comments.  That means that if I used a do follow link for the author comments, I would be telling Google that I personally vouch for these 445 sites. 

Can you see why that is a bad idea?

If one or two of those sites turn to the dark side, my ezSEO News site could be penalised for "recommending" them to Google.

I am in favour of rewarding those who contribute to my site, but I am not going to be checking 445 sites every week to make sure those sites are still top quality.

The simplest solution would be if Google came out and said that they would not hold us responsible for links in the comments section of our site (maybe they have already said this, but I haven’t heard it).  Of course, in doing so they would have to negate any benefit of these links to the comment author, since the whole idea of PR in the first place was based on sites voting for each other through links.  Take away the vote, you take away the value of the link. 

If Google did do this, we could just dofollow the links and not have to worry.  You’ll lose the PR anyway, right?

Well, there is a third option.

You can remove the URL altogether from the comments section.  I am sure there are plugins that can do this, but I have not looked for them.  I chose instead to edit the WordPress code, and that is what I want to show you here.

WARNING: Be aware that any changes you make to the WordPress code will be over-written when you next update WordPress, so you should always keep a list of WP modifications in a text file somewhere so you can quickly update any newer versions of WordPress.

The code that displays the comments section (and the hyperlink) is found in the WordPress file:

comment-template.php

You can find this in the wp-includes folder.

If you open that file in a text editor, search for the following:

function get_comment_author_link

You’ll find this code:

if ( empty( $url ) || 'http://' == $url )
  $return = $author;
  else
   $return = "<a href='$url' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>$author</a>";

This code basically checks to see if the author filled in a URL when leaving a comment.  If not, the function returns just the authors name.  If a URL is found, the function returns a nofollow hyperlink to the authors site.

Whatever is returned is then used in the next line of code in the $return variable:

return apply_filters('get_comment_author_link', $return); 

To remove the hyperlink altogether you can simply replace the first bit of code with:

$return = $author;

Your code will then look like:

$url    = get_comment_author_url();
$author = get_comment_author(); 

$return = $author; 

return apply_filters('get_comment_author_link', $return); 

The first line with the $url could also be deleted.

This modification will remove the site links that WordPress automatically attaches to the authors name when they leave a comment.

This is the method I have adopted on my ezSEO News site.  You’ll notice that none of the author names have a hyperlink.

Now, is this the best option?

Well, there is something you need to be aware of.  Google likes sites to link out to other sites.  It’s seen as natural.  In modifying my code as above, my site will have lost anything up to 445 outbound links. 

Will Google notice?  Sure they will.  Will Google take action against my site for this?  Time will tell, and if my traffic stats look like something has happened to negatively affect my site, I will tell you.

I am fairly confident that the site will be OK as it has always been nofollow anyway, so the links I have removed were nofollows. 

The desired outcome of this would be that my site actually ranks better, as Page Rank is conserved more on the site.  If that happens my site traffic should actually increase.  Its still too early to tell, but I will keep you updated in this newsletter.

If traffic does drop, then the change has had a negative impact on my rankings, so I’ll reinstate the nofollow link on comments.

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2. A Great Business Plan

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Last week I gave you a link to an interview I did with Adam Short.  If you missed it, you may like to go back and download it. 

http://ezseonews.com/internet-marketing-tips/ezseo-newsletter-249/

In last week’s newsletter I told you that I was suppose to meet up with Adam for a virtual tour of his mentoring program, but had run out of time. 

Earlier this week I got hold of Adam and he showed me around his Niche Profits Classroom (NPC) site.

Before I go over exactly what he showed me, let me tell you one thing, and this is 100% true.

I was excited by what I saw, so much so that the day after Adam showed me around, I went to join. 

When I got to the order page (credit card in hand), my smile became a frown.  The membership is currently closed.

I emailed Adam asking him (begging is probably a better word) to let me join.  I haven’t received a reply…..

So, as of this moment, I am not a member of NPC.  However, I will be in a few days….

Adam and his partner are currently working behind the scenes to update their site.  They are about to release version 2 of their Classroom.  That’s probably why I have not yet received a reply to my begging email

On the 28th July they are opening the doors again, and we will be able to join for just $1 to see if we like what’s on offer.

So what exactly is on offer and why was I so excited when I saw behind the scenes.

When we logged in, I was a little overwhelmed to be honest.  The main page was not very intuitive, and I had no idea where to start.  This is one of the things that has been improved in version two of their classroom.  There is now a link to "get started". 

Across the top of the site is a menu bar.  This gives you access to all of the features of the Classroom.

Here are the things that you get when you join:

* Main training is divided into 13 modules.  Each of the modules are divided into a number videos, resources (downloadable PDFs etc) and action steps, so you are kept focused on the tasks at hand as you learn.

* Niche Profit Press – this is a customised WordPress theme that they have created that includes a lot of SEO customisations and other features that increase conversions.  This theme can be used to create your sites as you follow the course.

* Each month you will received 2 ready made businesses, including a high quality eBook, audio upsell, professionally written sales letter, mini-course to plugin to your autoresponder, SEO ready articles, keyword lists, 21 day traffic blueprint (showing how to build traffic in 21 days), complete website and graphics. 
These blueprints are fantastic and not your typical PLR stuff.  Adam tells me that a lot of students take these blueprints and use them for real sites, but I feel the benefit of these is not so much in their use as real sites, as their use for learning.  Dissect the blueprints and learn how they were put together (in fact the Classroom teaches you all of this).  These blueprints are real examples of the final product – ie what you are in the Classroom to learn how to do for yourself.

You’ll get a video on why the niche was chosen as well as a PDF Market Profile of the niche.  The Market Profile I got to see was a 13 page document showing a comprehensive overview of the market.  The NPC guys do things in a similar way to myself, looking at various indicators of market potential.  They take it one step further and use their own mathematical formula (don’t worry, if you can add, you can follow their formula) for determining a niche’s viability.

* Teleseminars and Interviews – this is one of my favourite features of the NPC.  They hold a webinar EVERY TWO WEEKS for their members.  If you cannot make it, don’t worry as these are recorded and uploaded for members to download.  These webinars include live presentations, Q&A sessions and "hot seats", and every session is recorded in case you cannot make it.

* Video Training Centre – this feature left me in a state of shock.  They have hundreds (if I remember correctly, something like 750 with more coming in version 2.0) of videos tutorials on a wide range of Marketing topics, e.g. linkbuilding, social media, squidoo, article marketing etc, with several videos per topic.  The list seems endless.

* Niche Profit "Leaders" – these are a group of experts in a range of fields that are there to help YOU!

* Software – NPC have their own range of software that members can use, including a Keyword Tool (using their Money Words Matrix to identify the phrases you should work on), Market Scorecard to tell you if a niche is worth pursuing, Market Profiler, Market Checklist & Sales Letter Wizard.  All of their tools are designed to help with various steps in the processes you will learn, and these tools are not available anywhere else.

* Web hosting – as part of your membership you are allowed to host 15 sites with NPC.  Each domain includes 100MB webspace, 1000MB monthly bandwidth, 20 email accounts, 20 FTP accounts, 5 mSQL databases, cPanel, Webmail etc.  This is all included in your membership.

* Active forum – manned by the Leaders, Adam and his NPC partner Alen Sultanic.  I haven’t yet had a look around the forum, but I will do as soon as the site opens for new members.  You can always tell when something is good by looking at the posts on the forum, so as soon as the doors re-open, I’ll be joining, and I’ll send you an update during the week with anything I find (good or bad).

* Quality support – if you have problems, its good to know that their is an efficient support system to help.  NPC have the forum as the first place to go, but there is also a knowledgebase and failing that you can log a support ticket and you’ll get the help you need with minimum fuss.

That’s basically it.  As I said, Adam showed me around version 1 of their Classroom, but v2 is due out in a few days, and with the re-opening, you can join for just $1 to have a look around.

Version 2 will have new videos, new content and new software I believe.

As soon as the doors re-open, I’ll be joining.  I’ll then give you an update probably around the 29th/30th July (after I have had time to explore and meet a few of the other members) so you can decide if this is something you are interested in.  If you have specific questions, go to the blog version of this newsletter and post a comment at the end of this newsletter.  I’ll do my best to answer all questions.

In the mean time, I recommend you go over to:

Niche Profit Classroom

When you get there, watch the video (you’ll see one of Adam’s Niche Marketing 2.0 websites that generates between $500 – $1500 per month, totally on autopilot), and then sign up for their excellent Niche Marketing 2.0 videos.  They will give you an overview of Niche Marketing 2.0.

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3. Amazon Feed Updates

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If you followed my tutorial on putting Amazon feeds on your website:

Using Amazon Datafeeds on Websites

.. you need to make a few changes as Amazon announced that beginning in August they will start requiring all API request to be digitally signed.

Basically if you are using a script to access Amazon feeds (like in my tutorial) you need to get an update of the script from the author. 

If like me you are using Carp, then you should already have received an email from Antone Roundy (the author of Carp) who has now finished the updates so that your Carp feeds will be compliant.

If you have not received an email from Antone, then basically this is what you need to do:

Go back to the download page for the Carp Amazon example:

http://carp.docs.geckotribe.com/examples/amazon.php

1) Download the new XSL files from the page linked to above and unzip them.

2) Upload Amazon2RSS-2.0-2009-06-01.xsl to your server.

3) Update the configuration section at the top of Amazon2RSS-2.0.php.

4) Upload Amazon2RSS-2.0.php and sha256.inc.php to your CaRP folder (same folder as carp.php).

Any code that was using the old Amazon2RSS-2.0.php should keep working without any changes.

If you are using the Carp/WP plugin, you have a few more steps.

1) Download the new version from:

http://www.geckotribe.com/rss/carp/CaRP-WP/

2) Upload all 4 files in the "carp-wp" folder to your blog’s wp-content/plugins/carp-wp folder.

3) Go to your blog’s CaRP/WP plugin configuration page.

4) Enter your Amazon Secret Key and click "Update" (if you don’t know your Amazon Secret Key, follow the instructions in the README file to get it).

I just wanted to say a big thanks to Antone, who once again provided a quick update to a serious problem.  In all of my years using Carp, Antone has always been one step ahead. 

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/

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

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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.

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