Applied .htaccess for SEO
I have found .htaccess to be a great SEO tool. There are many how-to-guides about .htaccess and how to set them up. I am not going to outline how to set them up. If you want more information about how to set them up ask your server administrator, web professional, or don’t hesitate to contact me.
.htaccess File and commentary
There are several standard components but most of these I am using to try and prevent access. I also use the robots.txt standard to block Search Engine’s from indexing my portfolio.
Blogging at its best - Reading blogs instead of writing them…
I apologize for the long gap between posts. Due to the holidays and a writers block I have not posted. I have been reading a lot of great SEO articles and I wanted to take the time to share a couple of them with you.
I came across Andy Hagaans’s Ultimate guide to link baiting - a great post about crafting an article to for linking and social media popularity.
The debate on the “No Follow” continues. - It isn’t much of a debate as much as controversy
. 05 Jan 08 | Blogging, Fellow Blogger, News, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media | Read on | Comment (1)
Blogging How To’s: The extended “What Everybody Ought To Know About Blog Commenting”
Ramkarthik at Blogging Tune posted a good article entitled “What Everybody Ought To Know About Blog Commenting“, and is the first in a series about Blog Commenting.
This article points out good techniques of boosting traffic by commenting on other blogs. I agree this is a great way for exposure and popularity. As a contributor to a few blogs I can say first hand that commenting is one of the best ways to boost traffic. You can help control the links, information, and public image of your blog/company/you.
With the fallout of the “Google Smack Down” in the fall most blogs use nofollow attributes on all external links from their blog. There are some rouge blogs, and movement along with them, that fight the system and aren’t using the attributes. Linking from blog comments will have little effect besides boosting traffic. Ultimately getting more traffic is whats important. As Ramkarthik pointed out some of the visitors will subscribe to your blog feed and become some of your chief commenter’s and most loyal visitors.
I have a few rules of my own when it comes to commenting.
- Be Polite and Tasteful
- Always share your opinion in a polite way
- Don’t use fowl language
- Use good grammar (this can be hard for even me, as you can tell)
- Spell Check
- Only put in links when relevant to the topic
- Keep the length short no more than two paragraphs (write your on rebuttal and link back to the original post otherwise)
- Always make a comment that you thought the article was good, interesting, loved it, found it hard to understand your point, an interesting take, or some other nice phrase. The point of this is to make the author and reader know your stance on the article.
- Only comment if you can contribute to the topic
- Be Polite and Tasteful
- A bonus: The author should always be considered the winner of any debate unless they are blatantly wrong. It can be taken as an insult to the author any other way. I learned this the hard way.
I can not state it enough that you must be polite. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing, in fact I disagree with many people (persons wearing black hats and doing SEO for one), that can lead to a positive engagement. All comments should be positive in nature and written with the best intentions. If you aren’t able to be positive then just don’t comment.
I look forward to reading what Ramkarthik has to say in future articles about blog commenting.
Happy Blogging,
Chris Estes
. 30 Dec 07 | Blogging, Fellow Blogger, Google, SEM, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, links | Read on | Comments (5)
Charity by SEO
I read a blog post over at SEO Factor Giving SEO links to Charity. SEO Factor is a freelance SEO, that has found it in his heart to give the best gift he can give a charity a link. Links are one of the most important factors in Search Engine Optimization. A company often spends thousands of dollars a month on SEO and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) but charities and non-profits don’t always get to spend money on organizing efforts or campaign building on the internet. So at the request of SEO Factor’s Josh Garner I have chosen non-profit.
The non profit I have chosen is Wake up WalMart Americas campaign to change WalMart. We all know the terrible stories of walmart driving down wages and hurting the small business while its leaders make billions in profits. WalMart has started a business that has the potential to hurt freelance and corporate SEO’s. So for my charity I choose them to hopefully help them strike back against Walmart with Free online Marketing.
. 27 Dec 07 | Business, Charity, Employment, Fellow Blogger, Freelance, News, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, links | Read on | Comments (4)
Welcome to SEO by Chris Estes
Welcome my new home of freelance Search Engine Optimization work. This is a brand new site launched from an idea to do freelance SEO Work. My current focus is working with small business and small organizations bound by tight budgets. Many SEO’s don’t work with smaller organizations for reasons such as lowered rates or design complications. Many organizations don’t choose the large SEO companies due to price and budget restraints. That is the glory of finding a freelance contractor.
I have chosen to freelance part-time outside of my full-time job. I work full-time on a team of world-class IT and Search Engine Optimization specialists for a niche small business that has risen over the past few years to a medium size business in no small part due to SEO.
Being apart of such an organization gives me valuable experience in helping grow a small or startup business. The truth be known I enjoy working with small business due to atmosphere, the lack of “red-tape”, and the ability of understanding seems to be much higher. Plus a small business has room to grow. I have worked for government, large-business, and major corporations. My passion is small business and sharing information in hopes to raise awareness for growth is important.
Subscribe to my feed or shoot me message as I hope the information to follow will be beneficial.
Regards,
Chris Estes
. 25 Dec 07 | Business, Contractor, Employment, Freelance, New-Design, News, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Welcome | Read on | Comments (0)