While doing some freelance projects for my New Year website development special, I couldn’t help but notice a trend that comes up in almost every site; keyword domains. Clients are either interested in finding a great keyword domain or already have one ready to go.

Leading SEOs and even Google’s Matt Cutts have confirmed that keywords in domain names offer benefits to search rankings. The benefits have been observed by many and even thought to be too much by some.

My personal philosophy and reasoning for using keyword domain names extends beyond this primary benefit. In this article, I will share some ideas on keyword domains and why I think everyone should consider using them.

Keyword Targeting

The #1 reason that keywords in domain names are beneficial for SEO is not because of some secret Google algorithm, it’s simply that other web properties will link to your website using the keywords in your domain or business name.

• Business Name – It’s 2012 and the domain name should now be an essential part of naming any business. I’m sure you’ve heard that picking a domain name can be frustrating. Many business owners are not familiar with keyword tools or the domain industry for that matter. This leaves an opportunity for those in-the-know to gain a significant competitive advantage using keywords in their domain.

• Generic Domains – These are the “Holy Grail” of keyword domain names, representing the exact match term(s) and nothing else. Generic domains are typically highly valued and sought after virtual real estate. However, it is still possible to acquire them on the aftermarket or speculate on new and emerging industries. Generic domains can provide tremendous boost to SEO efforts.

• Long-tail Domains – Opportunity awaits those willing to venture into the territory of longer domains. Three word domains are fast becoming commonplace and are being used to rank for exact match phrases, products and services. Developing one or more long-tail keyword phrase domains can set you up to receive consistent targeted leads from organic search traffic for those terms.

You can use the popular Google AdWords keyword tool to discover high search volume / low competition keyword phrases that may be available to register as .com domains.

Branding

It’s true that brandable domain names can work just as well as purely keyword domain names; a previous post covered all those details. As mentioned in the editorial, keywords can also play a part in the branding process.

• Keyword + Brand- Using a keyword connected to a unique brand identifier is a great strategy for those on a budget or in a somewhat crowded niche. These domains can be easier to find and may help you along the brainstorming process of naming your business.

For example, a Raleigh Catering company could find SEO benefit using a domain like RaleighCateringPros.com. The Pros suffix is relevant to the business, but will not be searched for by new customers. However, over time, the site will gain backlinks which include the phrase “Raleigh Catering.”

• Short Links – Many businesses and publications are beginning to use their own custom domain names as link shorteners. This can potentially provide additional SEO benefits through social network sharing as articles propagate through the web.

Keywords provide instant recognition which is great for usability, advertising and marketing. They also bring preconceived expectations, so be sure to deliver with relevant content.

Remember that domain names are essentially your cornerstone for SEO. You’ll still need to work hard to optimize you website, it’s content and engage in a constantly changing social web.

Do you use keywords in your domain names? Are you struggling to find a viable domain? Please leave a comment below to share your experience using domain names for SEO.

Using Domain Names as the Cornerstone of SEO DotSauce Magazine

1. Set the Right Twitter Name

Just the name, no frills.

One of the most powerful tips for ranking high for your personal or brand name is to carefully craft your Twitter profile name. Not the username, but the name associated with the profile that gets displayed as the page title.

Use the keyword, name or phrase you want to rank for. No other words, characters or icons.

Image via Flickr.

Over time your profile will gain backlinks from yourself and your own website and likely dozens more from Twitter profile directories and applications. An active profile almost always has a shot at ranking on page 1.

2. Fresh Content and Embedding Twitter Updates

One of the latest updates to Google’s search algorithm is rewarding fresh content. Google recently reported they’ve implemented this update which applies to queries posed in a way in which the newest content would be the most beneficial for the searcher.

The latest news and most-recent resources in your industry may be receiving a big traffic boost.

In other news from Google, it has been confirmed that indexing of dynamic content such as AJAX/JavaScript is now live. This includes elements like Twitter status updates widgets and advanced commenting platforms like Disqus and Facebook Comments.

Social media updates are often a source of fresh content, so these two Google updates go hand-in-hand.

3. Sharing for More Than Backlinks

Sharing your content is probably one of the most common, yet most under-utilized SEO techniques. Many website owners believe that there is not any direct SEO benefit to sharing links on Facebook or Twitter because the links are shortened, redirected, and tagged no-follow. What they’ve failed to realize is that SEO is no longer all about backlinks.

Search engines now monitor social media activity and may reward unique and valuable shares. It’s also been confirmed that no-follow links do provide some value.

Be sure to have the latest sharing button embed codes and make use of them to spread your content.

4. Engagement on Google+

The +1 button may not seem like much now, but overtime its value will prove great in terms of SEO. As more people adopt Google+ as their social network of choice, the addition of +1′s and share data will make your search results very attractive.

A page with a lot of recommendations may gain a significant boost within your network as well as friends of friends.

StudioPress has been shared on Google+.

This should encourage you to add new people of interest to your circles to grow your Google+ network. You should also advertise the Google+1 button prominently.

I’d be thrilled if you gave DotSauce Magazine the honor of a recommendation on Google+! The button is at the top right near the newsletter subscription.

5. Learning More About SEO

Likely the most valuable contribution social media provides to SEO is the latest news. Your lists, circles, groups or wall can be an excellent resource for broadening your knowledge on SEO.

Follow industry leading publications and known SEO experts to stay up-to-date on the latest in a constantly evolving industry.

I share SEO and social media marketing updates which inspire and inform me on Twitter @DotSauce and the DotSauce Facebook page. Follow and connect to keep informed.

Thank you for reviewing my tips on leveraging social media for SEO benefit. Please leave a comment below if you would like to contribute one of your own. Best of luck and happy networking.

5 Tips on Using Social for SEO DotSauce Magazine

I’m pleased to be sharing a bunch more new bookmarklets I’ve come across recently in a great post by Tom Critchlow on SEOMoz. These SEO-centric bookmarklets provide immediate access to pertinent data from Google and leading SEO tools.

The bookmarklets below may appear like regular hyperlinks, but you will need to drag and drop these links to your browser toolbar or save them as bookmarks for them to function properly. Consider creating a folder to drag the bookmarklets to if you plan on using many of them.

Domain Name and SEO Bookmarklets

These bookmarklets, when clicked from the browser toolbar, will provide quick access to valuable information and analytics about the website currently being viewed.

Bookmarklet: OSE Report (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Open Site Explorer by SEOMoz offers a comprehensive SEO report

Bookmarklet: OSE Top Pages (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Analyzes a domain name for the most authoritative pages

Bookmarklet: OSE Anchor Text (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Displays a report on the anchor text used to link to a domain

Bookmarklet: Google Site Search (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Performs a query to retrieve all indexed pages for a domain

Bookmarklet: Google Cache (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Access the most recent Google cache version of a URL

Bookmarklet: Google Insights (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Performs a search for the term popularity of a domain name without the TLD

Bookmarklet: Google Ad Planner (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Runs a comprehensive report on a domain including traffic estimates and related sites

Bookmarklet: SEM Rush (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Comprehensive PPC  marketing report

Bookmarklet: MajesticSEO (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Displays a report on backlinks to a domain over time

Bookmarklet: Topsy (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Shows the latest engagement activity on Twitter for a particular domain

More Bookmarklets

Get 12 more domain and SEO bookmarklets from my previous article for quick access to data on DomainTools, Estibot, Archive.org, Compete, Delicious and others.

Share the Time Savings

I hope you’ve enjoyed these time-saving bookmarklets for domain name and SEO research. Please consider sharing this post with your fellow web professionals if you found them particularly useful.

What are your favorite bookmarklets? Leave a comment below and let us know which ones you use the most or share a useful bookmarklet not mentioned here.

10 More Time-Saving Domain and SEO Bookmarklets DotSauce Magazine

In an effort to make the monthly link roundups easier to consume I’ve left out updates on marketing, social media, small business and entrepreneurship.

If you’re interested in getting all the updates please connect with DotSauce on one of these networks.

Stay In The Know: Connect With DotSauce

Twitter – (See top of sidebar to follow –>) Join 15,000 others who follow @DotSauce tweets on domains, SEO, marketing and web development.

Facebook – (See top of sidebar to like –>) Like DotSauce on Facebook where you’ll receive almost all the resources shared on Twitter, though more focused on domaining. Plus receive special announcements and exclusive offers for fans.

LinkedIn – If you are a web professional or work in a related industry, I would be glad to have you connect with me on LinkedIn. Twitter updates are broadcast to the LinkedIn stream.

Google+ – Add me to your circles. I’ll be sharing special updates and resources with Google Plus connections soon.

Web Development

It seems the theme for July is speed. Included are several great resources and some big news from Google on the webpage performance front.

Domaining

The domain industry continues to get exposure in the mainstream media. July was a busy month with several major industry moves and great editorials.

SEO

The web at large is catching on that social media and SEO go together. Google+ has been the tipping point, time to get on board.

Thank you for checking out these recommended news articles and resources. I hope you’ve found some beneficial information that can help your business or website.

As always, you’re welcome to share these links with your followers individually or by using one of the share buttons below. Any mentions are greatly appreciated.

Web Development, Domaining and SEO Link Roundup for July DotSauce Magazine

Google’s official Page Speed announcement reports speed improvements of 25% — 60% on some websites. The service works by routing your DNS requests to Google’s server where they rewrite your website and serve it to visitors faster with optimized CSS, image, text and script compression, caching and other tricks.

[Header image via Flickr]

Is Google’s Page Speed Service really necessary? I’m not convinced it’s for the masses yet because most of these techniques are available freely. However, I’m sure there is a large market for individuals or businesses who are willing to leave website optimization up to Google. It can provide some peace of mind in knowing that all the many best practices for optimization are taken care of for you.

Try It Out

You can see how the Page Speed Service would improve your website performance now at WebPageTest.org.

For now, the service is free for a select number of webmasters who sign up here. Google plans to charge a fee for usage in the near future.

Related Article: Instant Pages: Google Plans to Preload #1 Search Result

My Page Speed Service Results

I ran the DotSauce Magazine homepage through the comparison test. You can view my results here. Google was only able to speed up the site by about 0.1 seconds, a 1% improvement. Not surprising really as I have taken steps to increase website performance manually.

Page Speed Service Comparison

Don’t get me wrong, I did see some benefit to the service. The start-rendering time as reported by the comparison did show a marked improvement. Some images began loading 14.9% faster as you can see in the results, particularly on the visual comparison.

I attribute the already fast load time to optimization techniques and resources recently featured in my article, 12 Tips and New Standards for Optimizing Your Website. I highly recommend you implement most, if not all, of these tips if you haven’t already.

How did Google Page Speed work for your website load time? Would you pay a subscription fee for this service? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

This should prove to be a valuable service that will help boost business by reducing website bounce rate and increasing search rankings.

Google Launches Pay For Page Speed Service DotSauce Magazine

[Header image via Flickr]

Multiple Domains Multiplies Risk

I have a semi-dedicated server that I use to host all of my web properties, domain development projects and many client websites. Before today, my public directory had something like 100 folders representing multiple domains for various websites, mainly WordPress installations.

I found out the hard-way that exploits within a particularly vulnerable script on one directory can lead to complete access of the public_html directory. In my case, a neglected old WordPress installation came back to bite me in the butt. I also discovered a vulnerability within an old PHP-LinkDirectory installation.

It’s something I should of known was possible, but never thought an exploit would be so bad as to lead to this.

The hackers placed code within .htaccess files, redirecting Google bots to spam sites. Normal visitors, including myself were none the wiser as search rankings were taken over. It’s an all-too-common, devious form of hacking that you should be wary of.

Luckily, several observant readers reported that something was awry with my search listings (they are still screwed up) and I was able to contact Google to remove the suspected hacking warning.

Avoiding This Disaster

Nobody should have to go through the experience of losing all their hard-earned search rankings. There are several actions you can and should take to prepare for and avoid a potential hack when using multiple domains on the same host.

1. Move inactive projects to a new folder, hidden below the public_html level
2. Be vigilant and timely about updating all web software
3. Regularly check notices from Google Webmaster Tools
4. Monitor website content changes through a third-party service such as CodeGuard

I’m not too worried as DotSauce Magazine should bounce back in the coming days and weeks.

I would greatly appreciate your support in sharing our content and +1′ing articles to help speed the process along. You can earn rewards like free domain registration through our loyalty program if you do. Try out one of our share buttons to sign-up for free.

Security Vulnerability When Using Multiple Domains On The Same Host DotSauce Magazine

Domain Holdings has debuted a new domain development platform called DomainPower, a follow up to Rapid Domain Builder, it’s 2010 predecessor . The new development platform will focus on content development for SEO performance and engagement, and will feature multiple revenue opportunities.

DomainPower offers dozens of niche website frameworks suited to specific industries (Shopping, Insurance, Travel, etc.). Sites are enhanced with plug-ins such as social media integration. Enhancement services such as website content, link building and directory submission are also featured.

DomainPower Powered Sites

Here are a few examples of sites running on the DomainPower platform.

Innovative Analytics and Reporting

While I have not had the opportunity yet to dive into the DomainPower platform (signups are approved manually), I know that their analytics will play an important role.

According to the feature list DomainPower includes A/B testing, alerts for under-performing domains, and keyword tracking across search engines–all firsts for the industry as far as I am aware.

What do you think of DomainPower? Will you ditch WordPress powered sites or standard parking pages to give it a try? Will the revenue share be enough to compete with other emerging parking options? Please leave a comment with your thoughts.

Domain Holdings Raises $2.9M to Energize DomainPower Development Platform DotSauce Magazine

I have categorized and selected choice updates from the month of June in today’s link roundup.

To receive updates like those featured here, as well as more interesting resources and breaking industry news, please follow @DotSauce on Twitter.

Most of these links are also shared on the DotSauce Facebook page.

Branding & Domain Names

Each month it seems the domain name industry is featured in the mainstream media more and more. With ICANN’s approval of the new generic TLD space this month, I am confident this trend will continue. I found these headlines and resources particularly interesting.

Online Business

I’ve been pleased to read many informative and inspiring articles from respected entrepreneurs and industry leaders this month.

Web Development & SEO

Nearly a dozen great articles on SEO have been featured this month. The industry is evolving rapidly; optimizing for site performance, social engagement and producing quality content are becoming increasingly important to become an authority site.

Marketing & Social Media

These articles can help get you on the right path towards social media success. Get updated on the latest trends and social marketing techniques.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these resources and are able to use what you’ve learned to improve your online business. Join 15,000 others who follow @DotSauce on Twitter to stay in-the-know.

You’re welcome to retweet any of these links to your own following or share the entire link roundup. Have a great holiday weekend!

Domaining, Online Business and Web Development Link Roundup for June DotSauce Magazine

These conferences are extremely valuable to industry professionals. This is an opportunity to attend a popular search and social meetup in 2011 for free. Experience first-hand training, keynote speeches and networking; boost your SEO and social media knowledge and rub shoulders with industry leaders.

Conference Crashin’ Time

SEOmoz is giving away 2 tickets to each of the following conferences in a random drawing.

• MozCon - Seattle, WA – July 25th – 27th, 2011
• SES - San Francisco, CA – August 15th – 19th, 2011
• Social Media Summit - San Francisco, CA – August 15th – 16th, 2011
• Wappow Search and Social Hawaii! – September 26th – 29th, 2011
• SearchExchange - Charlotte, NC – October 3rd – 5th, 2011
• Conversion Conference East – NYC, NY – October 19th – 20th, 2011
• Distilled PRO Seminar - London, UK – October 24th – 25th, 2011

Enter to Win

For your chance to win, simply signup for a free SEOmoz PRO trial by June 29th at midnight.

That’s not much time to enter the giveaway. So, check out SEOmoz PRO tools now with no obligation to purchase and a sweet chance at a free conference pass.

Friendly Reminder

DotSauce is hosting a slightly more modest giveaway that ends on Jun 30th. You can enter to win a free design package from Logo.com after checking out the latest web development special.

Conference Crasher Giveaway from SEOmoz DotSauce Magazine

Along with Voice Search for desktop, Google has introduced a brand new concept in search; preloading the webpage of the first search result.

As a user performs a search Google will use web rendering technology to load the webpage of the #1 search result behind the scenes. When the user navigates to the top search result the website has already been loaded and the site renders instantly.

Coming to Chrome Browser Soon

Google’s Amit Singhal states pages load 3 to 5 times faster for the average user. VentureBeat reports the feature is now available on the developer version of Google chrome and will début in the public beta later this week.

It’s obvious Google is committed to a faster search experience, most notably by rewarding websites that are optimized with better search rankings. When Instant Pages goes live the competition for the #1 search position will become much more intense, but the reward will be all the more sweet.

Extremely Beneficial for Website Owners

This is incredible news for website owners, especially those ranking well for many search terms. If you’re not, it’s time to read up on some of the new rules of SEO.

With instant load times, visitors’ time on-site and lead conversions will increase, bounce-rate will be reduced and more unique visitors will be recorded via analytics. Clicking on the top result will become preferential for the average user. Hopefully Google will expand Instant Pages feature to further top results so that more websites can benefit from instant loading times.

You can get some results now, the previous article here on DotSauce features several resources and tips for website optimization that can increase website speed.

Below is a video demonstration and introduction to Instant Pages.

Instant Pages: Google Plans to Preload #1 Search Result DotSauce Magazine

I’ve kept watch and tried out many new web development techniques. I’ve also held an active interest in engaging with readers directly on site and through social networks as much as possible.

In this article, I share the optimization techniques and resources that have been most beneficial to me as a web developer and blogger.

Site Header Tips

1. Optimize your title. By default, WordPress and other CMS’s append your website name to the end of title tags on posts and pages. Using your choice of SEO optimization plugin, such as All In One SEO or WordPress SEO, you can configure post titles to contain just the title of your post.

This technique has proven to be beneficial for ranking well for key terms within post titles. It works because you will eventually receive backlinks with better anchor text and more relevancy on social network shares.

2. Set a default image URL for Facebook & LinkedIn sharing. In the past, images accompanying my articles when displayed on social sharing services like Digg, Facebook, bitly, and others always seemed to be the wrong one or missing entirely! The problem annoyed me to the point that I had to seek out a solution.

I was ecstatic to finally work out a simple way to define the proper post image every time. Plug this code into your site header to define the image URL.

<link rel="image_src" type="image/jpeg" href="post-thumbnail.jpg" />

3. Set an author link attribute. (New) Google, Bing and Yahoo recently announced a joint initiative hosted at Schema.org. This HTML tagging platform will work as a framework for defining the structure of a website and individual bits of data. This initiative to create a more open web filled with rich data is just getting started.

Google is getting started right away with a new way to connect authors with their content across multiple websites. Simply define rel=”author” when linking the author’s name in post display as shown here.

<a rel="author" href="http://markfulton.com">Mark Fulton</a>

Site Speed Tips

4. Track page speed with updated Google Analytics code. (New) Last month Google introduced a revolutionary new feature as part of the upgraded Google Analytics, tracking website load times.

With a little adjustment to your tracking code you can begin receiving reports on site speed analytics. Get this rolling and watch as the next few tips greatly reduce page load times.

_gaq.push(['_trackPageLoadTime']);

5. Minify JavaScript and CSS files. WordPress Minify is a must-have plugin for any site using JavaScript files and detailed CSS.

Automagically have all these files compressed and combined. This will reduce the number of HTTP requests, significantly speeding up page speed performance.

6. Compress images and serve them across multiple sub-domains. Another highly recommend solution for improving website speed is the WP Smush.it plugin which compresses images as you upload them.

I still recommend saving all images for the web using PhotoShop before uploading. Then let Smush.it work a little extra magic to reduce the file size further without noticeably compromising quality.

Additionally, hosting some images on different sub-domains allows them to be loaded simultaneously instead of one at a time.

7. Place non-critical JavaScript calls in the footer. By placing your JavaScript calls just before your closing tag you make sure all critical content and design layout is rendered before JavaScript enhanced elements. This is as important for user experience as page loading time.

Ironically, the new Google +1 button code suggests placing the script tag in your header. Put it in the footer instead!

Increase Conversions

8. Split test your business and lead generation copy. We’re hearing more and more about split-testing or A/B tests in recent years as easier tools are made available. The smallest of changes in copy, color or positioning of call to action elements can sometimes yield big returns.

Here are some economical choices for getting started with split testing your website content.

• Google Website Optimizer
• A/B Theme Testing Plugin for WordPress
• Visual Website Optimizer

9. Reduce bounce rate by engaging readers. There are a lot of great methods for engaging website visitors, encouraging them to stick around longer and click-through to further pages on your site.

I’ve written some common sense suggestions for reducing bounce rate in the past. Simple things like improving your navigation or adding images to content can help.

I have been pleased with increased engagement here at DotSauce Magazine using the following applications.

• Wibiya Toolbar (red toolbar at bottom of window) – An incredibly useful toolbar with lots of applications.
• Punchtab Rewards (“Rewards” icon at bottom left of window) – Encourage return visits and sharing content with Punchtab’s innovative new social rewards layer.
• HelloBar – Run a promotion in the header of your site to get immediate attention. Simple app with lots of thought put into it.

I have 5 beta invites to HelloBar for those interested. Please leave a comment and let me know you’d like one.

Extend Your Reach

10. Go mobile. I use the WPTouch plugin which automatically generates a mobile optimized version of DotSauce Magazine. Have you looked at your Google Analytics browser reports to see if many visitors are using mobile devices? It’s likely more than you think.

Greatly improve their user experience and conserve server resources by implementing a mobile optimized display.

11. Get social. Love them or hate them, social networks are driving traffic and allowing your following to engage and endorse your content. Discover the best widgets and sharing buttons for your website and include them in prime positions such as at the top of your sidebar or directly after post content.

I recommend you highlight the big 4; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and email.

• Facebook Social Plugins
• Twitter Website Resources
• LinkedIn Share button
• Google +1 Button (New)
• Sharedaddy (Part of JetPack for WordPress)

12. Become a curator of the latest news and resources. This suggestion goes hand-in-hand with getting social. The most influential people on social networks are found generously sharing editorials, news and resources. It’s a great way to build a following and get recommended.

Every day I share a selection of domaining, online business and web development resources on Twitter, the DotSauce Facebook page, LinkedIn, social bookmarking and social news websites. I’ve been doing this for years and have found the practice to be very rewarding.

I’m now using Keepstream to publish a monthly roundup of the best links here on DotSauce. You can also find over 90 industry leading publications at the new DotSauce News site.

Next Up: Optimizing Publisher Experience

I hope you’ve enjoyed these tips and techniques for optimizing websites for both search engines and readers. I’m considering a related post that will feature methods of optimizing your experience as a publisher on the backend of a website. This year, I’ve discovered some very interesting tools and resources that make professional blogging that much easier. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading my tips. Please leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions about this article, I would love to hear your thoughts.

12 Tips and New Standards for Optimizing Your Website DotSauce Magazine

I take great pleasure in curating and sharing the most valuable articles, editorials and resources related to domaining, online business, marketing, web development and SEO. I hope you’ve had a chance to use and pass these resources on to your following.

It’s been some time since the last Twitter link roundup. I had considered discontinuing that post series, but the content shared in May is definitely worth a second look even if you did happen to catch the updates on the DotSauce Facebook page or the @DotSauce Twitter feed.

Domaining

Domain name industry news, articles and resources from DotSauce and around the web.

Small Business & Startups

Big collection of inspiration, editorials and resources for small business and entrepreneurs.

Marketing

Powerful techniques and tips for the constantly evolving world of online marketing.

Web Development & SEO

The latest in website development, design, management and optimization.

Like what you see? To stay up-to-date with our online business resources, follow @DotSauce or Like DotSauce on Facebook to receive ALL the updates. Thanks for connecting!

Domaining and Online Business Link Roundup from May 2011 DotSauce Magazine

However, SEO publications are far and wide sharing a much different story. They cite Google’s latest search ranking algorithm changes (dubbed the ”Panda” update) as the final blow to exact match domain value for SEO.

The debate came about slowly as search results pages evolved to something completely different than what was seen a few years ago (shown below) and has climaxed in recent weeks.

Aaron Wall of SEO Book Chimes In

One of the leading authorities on SEO, Aaron Wall of SEO Book, has just published a detailed editorial on how Google killed category killer domains.

He has personally stopped buying domains for SEO purposes and points to numerous factors for the decline in category killer domain value.

Here are the major points he writes about:

1. Search engines influence domain valuation
2. Authoritative brands have received a healthy boost
3. Social search provides additional boost to brands
4. Larger and more numerous ads and product listings
5. Localization features may be harmful to GEO longtails
6. Small sites don’t matter
7. Anticipated new gTLDs

These all seem to be fairly reasonable observations in my opinion.

The World’s Not Actually Ending

Please note that Aaron does not believe all domains are doomed. We are talking about exact match domains; that is, keywords or keyword phrases that represent a search string a user would type into Google.

I own dozens of these and still feel that they have great value and potential for other reasons than SEO benefit. So, you don’t need to take this as the literal end of the world. There will still be a thriving liquid market for domains.

Aaron made the following important point when responding to one comment.

“There is plenty of buying budget for domains in the say $50 to $5,000 range, but the main point of this post was that the high-six and low-seven figure domain names are at this point often becoming malinvestments.”

What’s Your Outlook?

Do you think Aaron is right or wrong about these domains?

I’ve posed the following poll question fairly straight-forward in the hopes of getting a balanced result. Please select the answer you feel most accurately predicts the near future of category killer domains.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Thank you for responding to the poll question! Please check back soon for the results and feel free to share your thoughts on the precarious future of exact match domains in the comment area.

Aaron Wall Declares Category Killer Domains Dead: Is He Right? (POLL) DotSauce Magazine

This is a guest post by James Agate, founder and SEO Director at UK based SEO consultancy Skyrocket SEO.

So the supposed end of the world has come and passed and I don’t know about you, but nothing seems to have changed. However, there is another apocalypse on the horizon and this one is infinitely more likely!

Regular readers of DotSauce Magazine will have seen the news that Google is talking about tuning down the SEO value of exact match domains in the SERPs.

This post is going to be a sort of “end of world” survival guide if you will – how you and your domain portfolio can survive the carnage. I’m not saying keyword domains are dead just yet, but Google recognises that, as things stand, this is a flaw in their algorithm.  So, there’s certainly something big on the horizon that you are going to want to be ready for.

Consolidate and Conquer

I suspect many of us are guilty of owning one too many domains, the urge to pick up a couple more ‘great names’ is just too hard to resist. I suspect also, that you, like me have big plans for every domain you buy, but I’m as guilty as the next guy for not always following through on those plans —  usually for lack of time.

Now is your chance to consider consolidating your domain portfolio and look to build out a handful of the really great domains you own into really great websites. Cast an objective eye over your digital real estate and assess which sites have the greatest potential, even if your domains already have a website on — you need to make a decision which ones you are bringing with you when the apocalypse comes.

You’ll see the importance of consolidation later on in this post — it really would be time consuming and expensive to carry out all of my recommendations to a large-scale portfolio. It would be possible, but you would need to seriously scale your investment.

Identify your cash cows and rising stars and retire the dogs in your portfolio.

[Image via Flickr]

Think Brand

Whether Google will admit it or not, the search engine increasingly favours brands based on their judgement that brands usually provide a better user experience and they tend to offer up higher quality pages. Therefor, it makes sense if you are going to make a change from depending on the strength of your keyword domain to relying on the strength of the website itself, you are going to need to either create a brand (preferable) or at least mimic some of the brand signals that Google references.

Brand signals such as:

• A physical address listed on your website and cited elsewhere (Google Places, Yelp, Yell etc)
• Useful/interesting/engaging content
• Customer reviews
• Press/blog mentions
• A unique site design or at least a customised template
• Corporate profile pages on sites like LinkedIn and Crunchbase

These are all things a brand would have, so you need them if you want to be seen as a credible website rather than a mere keyword domain.

Get Social

Social signals are now a ranking factor, so getting your social on is a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of tactic. Because you are A) enhancing your ranking and B) reducing your dependence on search traffic by creating another user/customer acquisition channel.

You don’t need me to tell you that social media is huge. There are 1.8 million status updates on Facebook every 20 minutes and 1 in 13 people on this planet are on Facebook. Astounding!

Social media marketing is a fantastic way to spread the word about your website and add even more proof (in the eyes of Google) that your website is a trusted and legitimate entity.

As the web becomes more social, there are millions of pages that are asking to be shared, liked and tweeted. This means you need to get ahead of the curve and look for ways to make your website stand out.

Services like Punchtab (see the Rewards feature here on DotSauce) help you to encourage interaction and engagement with your site and its content. It taps directly into that trend for social gaming, rewards and basic human need to compete.

Punchtab is free at the time of writing and it’s pretty new, but is an awesome tool, so I’ve no idea how long it is going to stay free for.

Strategic Linkbuilding

We all know links are essentially votes of confidence and not all links are created equal. Like it or not, links still form the backbone to Google’s algorithm and for the foreseeable future they are going to be a major ranking factor.

An exact match keyword domain used to ensure you could rank quickly and relatively easy for a keyword term without the need to do very much link building — now you are going to need relevant, authoritative and good quality links.

Google says you need to earn links and they’re right, there’s no substitute for a bulging yet natural link profile but these things don’t happen by chance. You need to help other websites recognise that you’ve earned the right to a link.

Linkbuilding tactics:

• Blogger outreach
• Researching and knowing your market – reach out and connect with potential partners
• Giveaways – to generate attention for your website
• Guest posting
• Embeddable badges
• Press releases
• Linkbait
• Ego-linkbait – as a way of getting attention from the players in your market
• Sponsorships – not always within budget but there are many smaller conferences and events now that you may be able to sponsor for a small amount of cash

Produce In-depth Quality Content

Tuning down the value of exact match domains and the recent Panda update means you need to work twice as hard if you are going to prove your website is good quality and worthy of the search traffic it receives.

Information retrieval experts were involved in the algorithm changes that made up the Panda update. The word in the trenches (and I have to say I’ve seen this first hand), is that Google is getting pretty close to being able to algorithmically detect the quality of content and assess whether a web page has been crafted by an expert or spun by a machine or some $2 an hour writer. Google’s subject modelling technology means that in addition to things like spelling, grammar and formatting checks, it can also recognise if a piece is factually accurate and if it covers the key points. Google may even be attempting to check out the author and see if other trusted sources around the web cite this person as an expert.

Developing subject expertise is no easy task, hence the reason to consolidate your portfolio and concentrate on a few areas. Alternatively, if you are still looking for scale, you could of course hire market experts to write for your website — but this may eat into your profits considerably.

How will Google tell the difference between a keyword domain that’s gaming the search results and one that’s a genuinely worthwhile and rank worthy website? Well, by assessing the quality factors we’ve just discussed. It’s the reason that when the time comes and Google finds a fix for this flaw, Tennis.com will do well and websites like 1200-calorie-meal-plan.com are going to feel the pain.

Most keyword domains can be turned into a brand and if you put the work in now — you’ll be laughing when the update comes that sees hundreds, thousands or even millions of keyword domains get obliterated in the SERPs.

I’d be happy to answer any questions in the comments section below.

[Header image via Flickr]

How To Survive The Exact Match Apocalypse DotSauce Magazine

There are dozens of popular outlets and opportunities for small businesses to take advantage of in online marketing today. SEO, SEM, social and B2B networks, Google Places, newsletters, fan pages, blogging and many more elements make up a new way of doing business online.

Web Equity Infographic

I am thrilled to share this great infographic by Google maps and local search expert Mike Blumenthal. It summarizes the most beneficial practices in search and social marketing and places domains strongly at the core.

I came across an article featuring Mike’s infographic on the Small Business Trends blog while browsing the new DotSauce News: Business feeds.

Importance of Domain Name

Mike places the domain right alongside the business name itself. This is great confirmation for the importance of a domain name from a respected local search professional. Mike’s description for the core elements of web equity is as follows.

“A business name, a phone number and a domain that NEVER change are at the core of a SMBs online identity. Name, phone and domain; these elements are the glue that allows for both branding, and for the value of that branding to come back to the business. Pick them well and make every effort to retain them forever.”

Mike also mentions in the introduction that all the elements and online marketing tools should work to reinforce and build upon the core of your business; your name and your domain.

Do you think domain names get enough credit as a part of online marketing? What elements from Mike’s chart are you focusing on the most? Please share your thoughts in the comment area below.

If you enjoyed Mike’s Web Equity infographic and agree that domains are important part of online marketing, please share this post with your fellow small business owners.

Domain Names at The Core of Online Marketing (Infographic) DotSauce Magazine

According to Aaron Wall of SEOBook, brand names have been given a boost to ensure doorway pages remain indexed. It has also recently come to light that Social Media directly effects search rankings.

The benefits of using generic domains like RealEstate.com or keyword rich domains such as DomainNameNews.com have been well-known for many years. It’s currently seen as easy by many industry professionals to get a top ranking for desired keywords if your domain name is an exact match of the keyword phrase.

In his latest video update, Google’s head of web spam Matt Cutts hints at the possibility of yet another algorithm change. Google may be reconsidering the weight it provides to keywords in domain names.

…we have looked at the rankings and the weights that we give to keyword domains, and some people have complained that we are giving a little too much weight for keywords in domains. So we have been thinking about at adjusting that mix a bit and sort of turning the knob down within the algorithm, so that given 2 different domains it wouldn’t necessarily help you as much to have a domain name with a bunch of keywords in it. – Matt Cutts

Impact on Domain Name Value

Depending on how severely Google “dials back” the value of keyword domain names, we may see a negative effect on keyword domain values. However, quality domain names are increasingly in-demand and good keywords have inherent value beyond an SEO boost.

As quality domains become scarce and appealing new domain extensions are made available, there will always be opportunity for premium quality, short keyword domains. Domain investor Elliot Silver recently chimed in on this discussion with a great point, exact match domains can be brands too.

I suspect that those targeting long-tail keywords with three-word domains and hyphenated domains may find the SEO advantages diminished. Domains with similar content using a brandable domain will have a fair shot at ranking for targeted keywords.

How To Avoid Losing Search Ranking for Keyword Domains

The major advice we keep hearing from Google during updates is to ensure quality content. This image shows a prime example of the kind of flawed search results this algorithm will be targeting.

The domain name “ExpiredDomains.com” simply has a login form and no content, and no keywords in the title. Amazingly, this site ranks well for the term “expired domains.”

If you have developed mini-sites or are using a domain parking service for keyword domains, there may be some trouble on the horizon. I highly recommend beginning development on your best domains using a content management system such as WordPress. Quality content should be the top priority for a competitive website. Blogging is becoming increasingly important to remain visible online.

Relevant and unique content offers the best experience for your visitors and that is ultimately what Google will continually attempt to deliver.

Google May Adjust Keyword Domain Rankings: How To Avoid Getting Dropped DotSauce Magazine

[Image: Nic McPhee, Wrapping one's head around the data, via Flickr Creative Commons]

I set out with a goal to create a page that hits-home on three of important aspects of domain development:

1. Unique Content and SEO
2. Automation
3. Maximum Revenue Potential

My Dream Parking Page

The following mock-up shows my vision for a perfect domain parking page. A solution like this is what it would take to get me back in the game.

I created this concept page using a nifty application called MockingBird and will continue to edit my Dream Parking Page as new ideas and monetization opportunities present themselves.

Click image for full page mock-up.

Psst! PromoEssentials.com and other quality domains are currently available
for $19 each, exclusively for DotSauce Domain Club premium members.

Unique Content and Search Optimization

It may not look like it, but this page can contain a large amount of unique content. The trick is that not all of it is displayed to users at once. Using well-formated list-styling with a little XHTML and CSS magic, the tabs can contain extensive resources, apps and information for visitors on-demand.

Parking pages and mini-sites face an SEO dilemma in that we would like to be more like a single landing page to convert as much traffic as possible into revenue through PPC or acquiring leads. The problem of delivering unique and fresh content to stay relevant on search engines then becomes an issue. For this reason, my dream parking page would be mostly one-page of content aside from an added Q&A application to take advantage of user-generated content.

Customization of navigation and other website element text is key to be able to include the domain keywords where appropriate. As you can see in the mock-up, there are keywords in all the major elements of the page including the title, slogan, tabs and search bar.

Automation

The main tabbed section can contain interactive applications such as the Amazon product feed shown. These popular products would update automatically based on a master keyword and can then be refined by the visitor.

Affiliate promotions and more content can be featured within the other tabs. I’ve shown an example of connecting to a daily deals network such as Groupon or LivingSocial affiliate programs.

All of the site elements would ideally be editable through a WordPress theme options panel or plugin. One could then use WordPress multi-site to create and manage pages for all of your domains.

Maximum Revenue

It doesn’t look like it, but almost every clickable element on my Dream Parking Page leads to a revenue generating source. Whether it’s referrals to Amazon products, Google AdSense or an affiliate offer, all exits lead to profits.

I have additionally included a prominent notice at the top-right of the page stating the website or domain may be for sale.

The are three advertising positions placed strategically for exposure and page flow. Most mini-sites typically use just two alloted AdSense units. The third position can be used for affiliate banners, direct advertising or an alternative ad network.

Additional site elements such as video and social buttons compliment and balance the advertising so that it isn’t overwhelming.

What would your dream parking page be like?

I would love to receive feedback on my mock-up. Maybe you have first-hand experience with domain parking optimization or can give advice from a user perspective. Any suggestions at all are welcome.

Let’s crowd-source the perfect domain parking page for 2011 and beyond. Please leave your suggestions and ideas in the comments area below.

My Dream Domain Parking Page DotSauce Magazine

Webmonkey and the official Google blog report that a new release of the Chrome web browser is currently being rolled out. Updates include faster 3d graphics and access to the new app store, which happens to have lots of great apps for web professionals. But what I’m really excited about is the new Chrome Instant feature.

In addition to having Google search results appear instantly while searching in the URL bar, users will be able to begin typing a domain name to have the most relevant website load automatically.

[Header Image: Robert Scoble, Othar introduces Google Instant, Sep 8, 2010 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution]

Direct Navigation Gets a Speed Boost

The future of direct navigation to your favorite websites is just one or two keystrokes. Users currently need to enable this new feature in Chrome’s Basic settings. (Highlighted below)

Once enabled, you’ll find the fast paced browsing and searching to be very useful. Navigate to your favorite websites instantly, without the aid of your Enter button. This feature is powered by browsing history and Google’s prediction technology.

Some may interpret this change as a shift away from domain name direct navigation, when in actuality it is a very welcome shortcut that utilizes the domain name system. Memorable brands could see a significant increase in website traffic as loyal customers now barely have to think to access websites.

Chrome Instant makes visiting a domain easier than a Google search again. And, of course, it’s easier than finding a Facebook page.

Your Domain As Your Brand

Web developers, entrepreneurs and small businesses owners should work towards using quality domain names. Domains which are concise and catchy, easy to remember, pronounce and spell will benefit from lots of valuable type-in traffic.

A recent study shared by eConsultancy found that just 3% of traffic to eCommerce websites comes from social media, while a staggering 46% comes from brand familiarity. The domain name is a valuable resource for any business and should be a centerpiece of branding efforts.

I believe Chrome Instant will be a popular new browser function and may become a default feature on Google Chrome and other browsers. How do you think Chrome Instant will play out? Do you enjoy the faster browsing experience?

Chrome Instant: Load Websites Automatically While Typing Domain Names DotSauce Magazine

In this roundup, I’ve collected and sorted all the top links to articles and resources shared on Twitter thus far in 2011. I’m sure it’s possible for even my most dedicated followers to miss some updates, so I have hand picked the top links and organized them by category for your convenience.

You’re welcome to share these resources with your own following. Mentioning @DotSauce would be very much appreciated . Enjoy!

Domaining

Domain name resources, articles and news.

Web Development

Web development articles and free resources.

Business & Entrepreneurship

Articles and editorials encouraging online business success.

Please follow @DotSauce on Twitter where I frequently share links like these that are related to the domain name industry, website development, online business, social networking, internet marketing and more.

You can also Like DotSauce on Facebook to receive instant updates on the latest articles at DotSauce Magazine. Of course, if you’re feeling very motivated, you can leave a comment with your thoughts and share this roundup post with your friends and followers.

Twitter Link Roundup 2011 Edition: On Domaining, Web Development & Entrepreneurship DotSauce Magazine

I’m not writing this to get you to convert to Google Chrome, but I am going to tempt you with a collection of amazingly useful new applications and extensions that can be found in the new Chrome Web App Store. Enjoy!

[Image: Ian Manrue, Wrenches, February 28, 2009 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.]

Web Development

Window Resizer – Quickly change the size of your actual browser window to see how your website looks at common screen resolutions.

Web Developer Tools – This is identical to the web developer toolbar that is so popular for Firefox users. Featuring an assortment of useful web dev tools.

Development & Code Search – Provides quick access to documentation for popular programming languages.

IE Tab – As the name implies, launch a tab running Internet Explorer inside chrome to see how your website looks for those poor souls.

Sight – Automatically highlights code syntax when source of websites is viewed in the browser.

Pastebin – Quickly store or retrieve text or code from a secure or public location on Pastebin.com

MeasureIt! – Determine the pixel width and height on any element of a page.

Speed Tracer – This official Google plugin really puts your website performance to the test and provides valuable information for improving load times.

csscan – Quickly view the CSS properties of any element on a page.

Blogging

Create Link – Allows you to copy the current page URL and title as a fully formatted HTML hyperlink or customize your own link structure.

SEO SERP – Check the search ranking performance of multiple websites against particular keyword term or phrase.

SEO Site Tools – A comprehensive suite of tools for researching and analyzing SEO and social performance of any website.

Pixlr Grabber – Useful for taking a full or partial screen capture of any website and instantly enables crop and editing.

Word Count – Watch what you’re writing. This app counts the words and characters within a selection.

RSS Subscription – Amazingly, Chrome does not automatically recognize RSS feeds. This application remedies the problem and helps you quickly subscribe to the feed of any blog.

Social Media Marketing

Session Manager – Enables you to save individual sets of tabs to open anytime you want. Use this to quickly open a set of important websites or for repetitive tasks that require multiple windows.

Personalized Web – This powerful application allows you to mold the web to work for you. Modify the code of any site to your liking.

iMacros – Automate repetitive tasks with ease with this advanced application. Record and playback actions to make your PC do the grunt work.

Stay Focused – Limit the amount of time you spend on time-wasting sites or manage your marketing efforts by making sure you cover all the bases before you run out of time.

Proxlet Tweet Filter – An amazing new web application layer for Twitter.com that enables useful features such as filtering your twitter stream, hashtags, and blocking annoying Twitter applications.

Thank you for browsing this list of tools for website development, blogging and social marketing. What are your favorite items from the Chrome Web App store? Let us know which tools you can’t live without.

If you found these Chrome applications useful and know someone else who might, please consider sharing this post.

Chrome Web App Store’s Useful New Tools for Web Developers, Bloggers and Marketers DotSauce Magazine

In this article I will share some techniques and tips for properly formating and sharing your domain name. Your domain name can be a valuable marketing tool. Continue reading to see how.

[Image: Daniel Morris, Busy, October 21, 2006 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike]

Advertisements

Marketers should make efforts to use good textual design and capitalization for readability when including their domain name in advertising materials.

An attractive font, typically sans-serif, should be used along with good character spacing and large size for readability.

The beginning of a URL (http://www.) should not be included in ad copy because it distracts from the domain name. It is better to have the keywords read first. The domain extension should prove enough for consumers to recognize a URL.

• Large, attractive font
• Remove http://www.
• Capitalize each word in the domain
• Make it a focal point, if not the center of attention

It is also important to practice the same techniques when marketing your website with Google AdWords and other text and link based advertising. There have been case studies (PDF) proving that generic domain names with relevant keywords receive more clicks.

Logo Design

If you are using your domain name as your brand then it should be represented well in your logo design. This is particularly important if you do not use a .com domain name, which is the most widely recognized and is often assumed.

I believe that businesses which display the full domain name within their logo design, such as Amazon.com and Diapers.com, have a great advantage in direct navigation traffic. That is those visitors who type the domain name directly into their browsers regularly.

Direct navigation traffic can come in from many sources such as business cards, banners, flyers, letterhead, and word of mouth. It is often undervalued because it is hard to track, but represents a lot of opportunity for new leads and repeat visits.

Twitter Profile

Every person on Twitter has the opportunity to display their full domain name alongside their biography. With the new site design, the characters of the URL are not restricted, but it may still be advisable to remove the www. portion of your URL so that your domain name can be read immediately.

This will also make sure that your domain can be seen clearly on all Twitter clients including mobile, which still restrict the character count of your website address.

A clearly visible domain name with relevant keywords will bring in more clicks on Twitter. This is particularly effective when following like-minded people. Your URL is included within the new follower email notice sent by Twitter.

Facebook Profile

On Facebook we can feature multiple website URLs within our profile info page, but I wouldn’t recommend going overboard. Too many choices can be a turn off. Only include your most important web properties. Your first link is likely the one that will receive the most clicks.

Did you know? You can also add a clickable link to the about box directly below your profile or fan page photo. Simply include http:// before your domain and it will automatically become a hyperlink. Unfortunately, the link text is still black and does not feature the typical underline. So, what I do is additionally write “Please visit my blog…” or “Click ->” for further instruction.

Web Copy

When sharing your link around the web, be it comments on blogs, forum posts, articles or blog rolls, you should first think about how you want your domain represented. One of the foundations of SEO is having targeted keywords within link anchor text. So, in some cases it may be best to leave out your domain extension in preference of your keyword phrase.

You should never use full URLs when writing web copy, unless that is the only way to place a link on a certain platform. Use HTML to create a link to your website using keywords, as in these examples:

• <a href=”http://www.dotsauce.com/”>DotSauce Domain News</a>
• <a href=”http://forum.dotsauce.com/”>Domain Name Questions</a>

Be sure to use a variety of anchor text keywords and phrases over time.

Sub-Domains

Your domain has infinite possibilities in both folders and sub-domains. You can control what is left of the dot.

One of the most important things to remember regarding sub-domains is that you should decide whether you will include the www or go without. Once you have chosen, stick with it and encourage others to use the same method for linking to you. You can then define your URL display preference at Google Webmaster Tools. Doing so avoids any chance of content being indexed multiple times.

Sub-domains should be as concise as possible, preferably using just one word. Adding unique areas of content and resources on sub-domains can strengthen your brand and reach on search engines.

URL Shortener

URL shortners are somewhat of a trend right now as many popular publications look to capitalize on the masses of traffic being driven by social status updates.

Instead of promoting the domain of the shortening service when links are shared you can instantly have your brand recognized and credited.

To create your own URL shortener you can use a WordPress plugin or subscribe to a service (Bit.ly Pro) to manage your URL shortener and stats.

Email Address

Would you rather promote GMail or your own business name? Not only is it professional to have your own domain as an email address, it’s also easy and virtually free if you have an active web hosting account.

I recommend setting up an email on your domain that forwards to your GMail address. You can then configure GMail to use your default reply-to address. This way your real GMail address will be hidden and secure. Your branded email address will appear seamlessly to those you email.

To do this in GMail, go to Settings (top right) > Accounts & Import > and click the “Send mail from another address” button.

Email Signature

This is some of the best free marketing your domain name will ever get and you may not be taking advantage of it. For email signatures, make sure to include the http:// portion of your URL so that all email clients will convert it to a hyperlink.

Below your salutation and name, type out your full URL and feel free to use proper capitalization of words for readability. You can additionally add a line or two of text describing your website or business.

In Summary

To sum up these techniques, when marketing your domain names you should strive to

• Be professional
• Be readable
• Be clickable
• Be proactive

Work on these points and your domain name will help to deliver more traffic to your website.

How do you market your domain name?

If you have any website marketing tips of your own to contribute, please leave a comment below. We would love to hear how you gain visitors or how you use your domain as your brand.

Thank you so much for reading. Please consider sharing this article if you found it useful.

How To Market Your Domain Name To Get More Visitors DotSauce Magazine

In one response, Google writes that the number of times an article is shared on Twitter is used as a signal in both organic search rankings and Google News.

Both Bing and Google mention that they calculate some form of social authority for use in live search and limited situations within ordinary web search.

Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz has just published his reaction to the news, describing exactly how social media may impact search engine rankings and SEO strategy.

The SEO metrics of tomorrow may well include social data such as:

• Timing – Is this an automated Tweet or something of more value?
• Diversity – How many people shared this link and are they important?
• Engagement – How many clicks, likes and retweets?
• Social Authority – How many followers and friends?
• Relevance – Sharing randomness or sticking to a topic?

Rand excitedly predicts this may bring about the end of web spam as we know it. How so? Few people will follow or friend a profile that is not authentic or is being used for advertising purposes.

Social media has become an integral part of marketing and is now extending it’s reach into the powerhouses of the web.

For the best chances of success in gaining maximum exposure across Google and Bing, it will become increasingly important to be active on Twitter and Facebook.

Publishers and marketers should make it a goal to grow a large following, add social media buttons to your website and adopt other proven social media strategies.

Have you noticed social media providing a boost to your SEO efforts? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

Google and Bing Confirm Social Media Impacts Search Rankings DotSauce Magazine

The contest will pit around 20 web developers against each other with the goal of earning the most income without spending any money on advertising or using your existing networks. There is a $2000 prize pool for those who are able to prove the most income earned within 4 months.

My plan is to develop a blog community about fitted hats on my domain Fitted.co. I can’t link to the site due to contest rules, so you’ll have to type it in to have a look. What you see now is just a few hours progress.

In this article, I will describe the main focal points for the project.

SEO

I chose this domain because of it’s potential as a popular and profitable niche. I plan to put my SEO skills into action as soon as possible to attain top search results positioning for key terms. The competition seems to be minimal, so I am hopeful that I will be able to succeed in tapping into search traffic within the 4 month time frame.

Affiliate Commissions

I plan to write short articles about specific fitted hat designs and feature discounts of popular products from retailers which I have become affiliated with through Commission Junction. Some of the retailers have high network earnings. Fitted hats are additionally popular on eBay.

Direct Advertising

There are a few similar blogs and they all seem to have no shortage of retailers interested in advertising to fitted hat enthusiasts. This could potentially be the main source of income if I am able to drive enough traffic to the site.

Social Media

I will establish a presence on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks with the goal of converting those interested in fitted hats to subscribing to my email newsletter or directly clicking-through on my affiliate products. I also plan to host contests and provide incentives for those interested to follow or “like” Fitted.co.

Your Suggestions, Please!

I would appreciate any suggestions from my readers on how else I could promote and earn profits for Fitted.co in this short time frame. Remember, I am not allowed to spend any money on the project. Please leave a comment below with your suggestions.

It should be interesting to hear others’ ideas on how to profit from a brand new website. I would be thrilled with the possibility of selling a related digital product that did not require an upfront investment, though I’m not sure it’s possible.

Thank you in advance for your ideas!

How Would You Earn The Most Money Possible In 4 Months? DotSauce Magazine

In this article I will take a look at two promising Blekko features that Google simply can’t and won’t compete with. First, take a look at this video introduction to the new search engine.

Open SEO Data

Being a web developer who tries to keep up with the latest SEO news, I was very interested to see that Blekko has made their SEO data public.

Each search result at Blekko has a dedicated page detailing information on incoming links, domain and host authority, geographic data and more.

Have you ever wondered just why in the world a certain page is ranking highly for a given query? Click the “SEO” link on any Blekko result and take a glimpse at interesting data that would normally have to be pieced together from various SEO tools.

Human Edited: Slashtags

Blekko’s premier feature is a query modifier called slashtags. These are custom made filters added to the end of your search that provide an extra level of refined results.

A directory of slashtags have been created to represent topics. A wide range of slashtags have already been added and users are invited to create their own. Here are some examples:

• /technology - Results filtered to popular tech destinations
• /health - Only known health authority sites are shown
• /movies – Browse just the top movie information sites
• /liberal - No articles from Fox news here

Another set of useful slashtags are also available. Here are some examples:

• /blog – Filters results to only show blog posts.
• /seo – Shows ranking data for any URL or keywords
• /weather – Provides a weather report for your city
• /date – Organizes results by the most recent data

Some slashtags will automatically be appended to certain queries when Blekko editors deem appropriate. It has been reported that results from mass content producer Demand Media are being filtered out in this manner.

This is something that Google could never do as it avoids favoritism and editing of results for legal reasons.

Will Blekko take a piece of the search pie?

I think they should change their silly name as soon as possible, but the technology looks very good. I’m sure we will be hearing a lot more about Blekko as they strive to take a piece of the search market. The good thing is, they don’t have to even come close to Google’s reach to be successful.

Are Blekko slashtags something you would use regularly? How about their public SEO data? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts or pass this article on to someone who may find Blekko interesting.

New Search Engine Makes Ranking Data Public and Slashes Demand Media DotSauce Magazine

The article reveals 25 super common SEO mistakes, but surprisingly the list does not include the basic mistakes you may be thinking of. You know, those mishaps with title tags, images and anchor text that I have personally covered in my article on WordPress SEO Mistakes.

Required Reading

Many SEO mistakes have been revealed in this new article. Here are just a few examples:

• Optimizing Google tools for SEO research
• Making sure to brainstorm keywords
• Avoiding free blogging platforms
• Forgetting your customer’s vocabulary
• Avoiding too much internal linking
• Not using a variety of anchor texts

I highly recommend you read through Search Engine Land’s full list of 25 Super Common SEO Mistakes for some of the best SEO advice you’ll find all year.

Bonus SEO News

I’d also like to share a bonus, breaking piece of SEO news that the Search Engine Land guys may not even know about yet.

NoFollow links may actually provide some value!

That’s right, Google may be lying to us when they say the “NoFollow” link attribute works to stop from passing any value.

An independent 6-month experiment has been completed by Brian Gilley of SocialSEO.com where they set out to discover if NoFollow links pass any PageRank, search ranking benefits or page value.

The results were very surprising. Over 90 NoFollow links were setup to point to two brand new domains by writing real comments on relevant blogs. In the end, the new domains were in fact ranking well for some of the targeted terms.

All those blog comments may not be a waste of time after-all. So go ahead and leave one below to let us know what you think about the latest SEO news and trends.

The Best SEO Advice I’ve Read All Year DotSauce Magazine

Today, SEOMoz is suggesting that browsing  video descriptions and comments for related data can be beneficial for SEO research.

While reading the text from YouTube video descriptions and comments, copy related terms and enter them into the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to discover their actual term popularity.

We can then use popular related keywords and phrases to write content that people are looking for.

Check out the interesting guide on SEOMoz.

YouTube as a Keyword Research Tool DotSauce Magazine

In one very interesting update (shown below), Danny quoted Baris Gultekin, a representative of Google who detailed that 55% of all search queries contain three words or more.

Of these billions of searches, 70% of search queries have no exact match, meaning they are not represented on any website at all.

New search queries are continually being created. Baris Gultekin goes on to say that 20% of searches have not been seen in the past 90 days. So, these queries may not be receiving a high volume of searches, but even a handful per day can provide good value to any website owner by growing overall traffic.

Rise of the Three-word Domains

I have been thinking about what the domain industry might look like a few years from now. There are a few things I believe will change drastically. Firstly, the introduction of new gTLDs will accommodate the exponential growth of the internet. Small businesses will adopt new TLDs for one and two-word brand names.

The other major change will be an abundance of three-word names as viable .Com domain options. There are millions more combinations of words and phrases that can be created. Three-word domains provide the opportunity to create a more detailed description of a business or target a specific niche audience.

Domain investors have been acquiring the best phrases and keyword terms for many years. Thousands of businesses are using three-word domains as brands and more will continue to follow suit.

With the introduction of Google Instant, people are using more keywords.

There is a lot of opportunity to find and acquire three-word domains to develop relevant content. This will provide an extremely competitive edge for ranking highly on Google for your domain keywords. Offer the world what they’re looking for and you will be repaid with significant advertising revenue and leads.

Quick Poll

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Google: 55% of Search Queries Are 3+ Words, 70% Have No Exact Match DotSauce Magazine

Nearly 10,000 test pilots participated in the study, 9,667 users to be exact. Every single mouse click and action taken within the browser was monitored over the course of 5 days. Mozilla has published a dynamic graphical representation of the heatmap study here.

Several trends are very clear to see after viewing the usage data. Two elements leap out that get more action than the scrollbar!

Your Worst Enemy

93.1% of participants used the back button, clicking it 66.7 times on average over the course of 5 days.

The technical term for this action is referred to as a website’s bounce rate, which occurs when a visitor decides not to click anything on the site and leaves entirely. Time spent on site is also something you should monitor and hope to increase over time.

Today, it is critical to engage a visitor and capture their attention. We do this by making effective use of graphic and design cues, headings and short, consumable pieces of information.

There are several other things you can do to get started dealing with your worst enemy, the back button. I’ve previously written some tips for reducing bounce rate and increasing website usability that you should check out.

Your Best Friend

95.6% of participants used the location bar, clicking it 430.1 times on average over the course of 5 days.

That is a huge amount of activity! A website should be optimized for both direct navigation and search navigation to increase website traffic.

Direct navigation does not often get the credit it deserves. It is not easily monitored, but when studied it has proven to contribute a much higher percentage of traffic than one would expect. Additionally, visitors who directly type domain names are extremely targeted.

I believe analytics software will soon place a larger emphasis on direct navigation. More attention should be given to branding and domain names while developing a website. They should be memorable, easy to pronounce and easy to type.

The location bar now doubles as a search bar in all major browsers, so visitors will come indirectly from search navigation. Your site should be as optimized as possible (without going overboard) to make the search experience better for these visitors.

One of the simplest and most effective forms of SEO is to make sure important keywords and phrases are included within titles, headings and content. For more tips read my article on common WordPress SEO mistakes.

I hope you get along nicely with your new acquaintances.

If you enjoyed this article, don’t click back! Like this on Facebook and have a look around.

Firefox Heatmap Study Reveals A Web Developer’s Best Friend and Worst Enemy DotSauce Magazine

In this article the bookmarklets may appear like regular hyperlinks, but you will need to drag and drop these links to your browser toolbar or save them as bookmarks for them to function.

Consider creating a folder to drag them to if you plan on using many.

Domain Name Bookmarklets

These bookmarklets, when clicked, will provide you quick access to important information about the current website you are browsing.

Bookmarklet: DomainTools (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Redirects to WHOIS lookup for the registrant of the domain you are currently browsing. This includes such information as name, address, email and phone.

Bookmarklet: Alexa Info (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Redirects to Alexa traffic rankings and data on current website. Provides a glimpse into the popularity of a website.

Bookmarklet: Compete Info (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Redirects to Compete report; another popular traffic rankings provider.

Bookmarklet: Archive.org History (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Directs you to the complete archived history of any domain dating as far back as 1996.

Bookmarklet: Estibot Appraisal (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Loads an automated appraisal report on current domain. Estibot reports consider the keywords within a domain name and analyze many factors to produce a valuation along with other interesting data.

Bookmarklet: Delicious Saves (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Searches Delicious bookmarks history for any saves from the current website.

Bookmarklet: BackTweets (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Scans the current website for any mentions on Twitter. Automatically detects shortened URLs as well.

SEO Bookmarklets

These bookmarklets will help you quickly analyze and research key factors effecting search engine ranking performance.

Bookmarklet: Show NoFollow (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Highlights all links on a page designated as NoFollow.

Bookmarklet: SEOSiteCheckup (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Directs to a very comprehensive SEO and page performance report by SEOSiteCheckup.

Bookmarklet: SEOMoz Linkscape (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Directs to SEOMoz linkscape report for information on links to current domain and mozRank.

Bookmarklet: TouchGraph (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Launches the TouchGraph visual Google browser to explore related sites and see how they connect. Requires JAVA.

Bookmarklet: Pingdom Test (Drag & Drop link to your toolbar)
Description: Performs a live website loading time test. Watch as Pingdom loads each element of the page and find out how it performs.

I hope you enjoy and make good use of these domain name and SEO bookmarklets! While you’re at it, be sure to drag DotSauce Magazine into your browser bookmarks as well!

Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions for another tool or service that could use a bookmarklet and I will consider adding it to the list.

12 Useful Browser Bookmarklets For Domain Name and SEO Research DotSauce Magazine

These metrics help determine the search ranking strength of any page and can be used to get an idea of the value and authority of a website.

Several other new features are proving to be very useful to have in such a convenient location in your browser.

When visiting a site you can click the Analyze Page button to open an overlayed report featuring a plethora of information and data related to link structure, page load time, meta data and other on page elements organized neatly.

Also included is an option to export this data as a spreadsheet file.

Highlights of the new SEOMoz Toolbar include:

• Comprehensive page analysis overlay
• Ability to disable JavaScript
• Show NoFollows button highlights all links tagged NoFollow
• Smart links to full suite of SEOMoz tools and other important SEO data

Each of the links found within the Tools drop down menu are uniquely coded like browser bookmarklets to direct you to results pages without having to do any typing.

• Domain Authority and Page Authority metrics displayed on Google, Bing, Yahoo search results

That’s right, when you do a search on Google, Yahoo or Bing after having installed the SEOMoz Toolbar, you will see unique page and domain authority rankings for all of the individual search results.

All the features mentioned here are included with the free SEOMoz Toolbar. I recommend you try it out now, it only takes a few seconds to install and is sure to save you lots of time.

SEOMoz Pro members enjoy the added benefit of viewing the number of links coming in from root domains as well as much more valuable data found within the full suite of SEOMoz’s Linkscape professional SEO tools.

SEOMoz Toolbar Features Page & Domain Authority Metrics Plus Page Analysis DotSauce Magazine