The best thing you can do to grow your search engine referrals this year is focus on producing great content says PJ Fusco, lead strategist with Netconcepts in this article for Click Z. After all “content is king” and it’s all about crowning that king by speaking to your audience in a language that appeals to them. And Pat advises that when writing articles for the web, short stories are better than novels.
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The WordPress plugin “Replace by Referrer”, written by Charlie Evans, Sr. Developer at Netconcepts, was designed for a client who had advanced tracking capabilities in place but no way to utilize them. When prospect phone calls came in they wanted to know which search engine referred them. Additionally, they wanted to offer a different phone number displayed for each search engine. The Replace by Referrer plugin was developed to automatically replace defined text on pages and posts within content depending on search engine referrer.
If Google refers a visitor to your site, a custom phone number (specific to Google traffic) or a custom link (to a specific Google referred landing page) will be displayed to that visitor. The same technology can be applied to MSN (rebranded as Live Search), Yahoo, and all other search engines as well without having multiple pages for each search engine.
It is completely free and has been released as “open source” under the GPL license. So enjoy!
Features include:
- Allows you to replace specific text strings in pages and posts with search engine specific referrer content.
- Session identification specific to search engine. Replace by Referrer remembers which search engine the visitor came from throughout your entire site.
- And best of all, it’s FREE!
Download the plugin!
Installation instructions
- Upload replace_by_referrer.php to your wp-content/plugins directory.
- Activate the plugin.
- Go to Plugin Editor
- Click the “Replace by Referrer” file in the right hand column
- Scroll down to “// comment about this replacement” (See example below)
// comment about this replacement
'{test1}' => array(
'google' => 'google1',
'msn' => 'msn1',
'yahoo' => 'yahoo1',
'default' => 'default1',
)
Replace google1, msn1, yahoo1, or default1 with any text string.
For Example:
// comment about this replacement
'{test1}' => array(
'google' => '1-888-207-1109',
'msn' => '<a href="http://www.netconcepts.com">netconcepts</a>',
'yahoo' => '<img src="http://www.example_image_URL.com" />',
'default' => 'This default text would appear in place of {test1} if the referrer is not Google, MSN, or Yahoo',
)
- When you have everything configured, insert {test1} within a post or page where ever you want the specified text seen above to appear.
Note: In the example seen above, if Google were the referrer, {test1} would appear as “1-888-207-1109″, if MSN were the referrer, {test1} would appear as netconcepts, etc.
To-do
- Configure all the referrers and replacements via the WordPress options menu in the Admin, as opposed to hardcoded in the plugin.
- Modify the code so that you can serve the text string based on referring keyword, as opposed to referring by search engine.
Feedback?
Got a bug to report? Or an enhancement to recommend? Or perhaps even some code to submit for inclusion in the next release? Great! Share your feedback by commenting to this post.
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Q: Does netconcepts provide software to track conversions?
A: Yes, GravityTrack software (http://www.gravitytrack.com).
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I’ve just released “SEO Title Tag”, a plugin for WordPress. As the name implies, it allows you to optimize your WordPress site’s title tags in ways not supported by the default WordPress installation. For example:
- If you define a custom field (called “title_tag”) when writing or editing a post (or static page), that custom field will then be displayed as the title tag.
- The post title and blog name are reversed for better keyword prominence within the title tag.
- You can shorten or eliminate the blog name altogether from your title tags.
- You can define a custom title tag for your home page through the Options page.
- It will use the category’s description as the title on category pages (when defined).
- If you’re using the UltimateTagWarrior plugin, it will put the tag name in the titles on tag pages.
- It will also cook you dinner and all sorts of other amazing, useful stuff (not really).
Get the plugin now: SEO Title Tag WordPress Plugin
I’d love your feedback, as this is my first WordPress plugin.
Enjoy!
Filed under: Blogs SEO Tools
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I’m usually of the mind that home pages should be rich with textual content so the search engines have something to sink their teeth into. In most cases it’s your home page that gets the most weight of all the pages of your site, so you don’t want to squander that opportunity. However, there are (rare) exceptions to this — times when another approach is in order — where you strip away all but the most essential components (sometimes all the way down to just a search box).
This is referred to in some circles as “home page Googlization.” Usability guru Jared Spool recently blogged about home page Googlization. I pretty much agree with his take on this subject. However, we felt that the homepage of our client TrustCite was an exception that warranted Googlizing. The design is very minimalistic. Have a look at it. For this site, simplicity and responsiveness was of primary importance, because the site is meant to become a frequently used resource for New Zealanders. Its singular purpose is to help Kiwis find reputable tradespeople and service providers by relying on feedback from the user’s social network. The primary method of locating these suppliers is through the search box, although there are strong trigger words on the page tucked away under the “Browse categories [+]” link.
Other examples of sites where I think home page Googlization would be in order:
- Wikipedia (rarely are any of the trivia featured on the home page of interest to me, and never has this filler content been what I went to Wikipedia for)
- most bank homepages (all I care about as a customer is the online banking login form… take me to my money!)
Filed under: Blogs SEO Usability
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In the past I have put together a list of my favorite WordPress plugins that will help extend your blog’s functionality, search engine optimize it and so forth. In addition, there are a number of tools that are not plugins that you could add to the blog or incorporate into your blog. Here is my list of favorites (in no particular order):
- Feedburner - track readership of your RSS feeds
- Flickr - a tool for moblogging; it provides a gateway to post your cameraphone photos directly onto your blog just by emailing them as attachments
- Swicki - add web search and a “what’s hot” buzzcloud to your blog
- Favicon Generator - easily create a custom favicon for your blog
- NetNewsWire - awesome RSS newsreader for the Mac
- coComment - track your conversations on others’ blogs
- TalkDigger - monitor discussions that reference your URLs
- Google Analytics - free, hosted web stats service (from Google’s Urchin acquisition)
- del.icio.us - add favorite sites to this social bookmarks site using the bookmarklet provided, then display your favorite links on your blog’s sidebar with a del.icio.us plugin
- FeedBlitz - so your blog readers can subscribe to an email newsletter version of your blog
- Ecto or Qumana - draft blog posts while offline
- Technorati - “claim” your blog and create a profile to improve your visibility in this blog search engine
- Pheedo and BlogAds and AdSense - make money with your blog from advertisers
What did I miss? Post a comment and let me know!
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Understanding your competitors — their strategy, their tactics, their level of success, etc. — is crucial to the success of your SEO initiatives. I’m not just talking about your traditional competitors, I’m referring to the other sites occupying spots in the SERPs (search engine results pages) for keywords that you are targeting.
Many free competitive analysis tools are out there, but you have to know where to look for them. One of my favorite SEO blogs (Stuntdubl) offers a veritable Home Depot of such tools, at Mr. Ploppy’s Monday Tool List.
It’s a bit like walking into a DIY store and being faced with an overwhelming array of options. What is the right tool for the job?
Here’s a sampling of some of the SEO tools that I use for competitive analysis and what I specifically use them for:
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Since my list of WordPress plugins was so well-received, I’ve got another list to share. This time it’s my favorite Firefox extensions…
- Tab Mix Plus - saves your tabs and windows and will restore them if you quit out of your browser or it crashes, allows you to undo the closing of a tab, and lots more
- Performancing for Firefox - a blog editor for your WordPress, Movable Type, or Blogger blog that features integration with del.icio.us and Technorati, spellchecking, etc.
- All-in-One Gestures - execute commands by making certain movements with your mouse without having to use the keyboard, menus or toolbars — like going back a page, closing a tab, etc.
- User Agent Switcher - masquerade as Googlebot, Yahoo Slurp, or msnbot etc. to see if a site is doing bot detection
- Web Developer - tool for doing CSS coding, building web forms, etc.
- Google Toolbar for Firefox - Get query suggestions as you type into the search box, view PageRank scores, etc. Check out my screencast on installing, configuring and using the Google Toolbar.
- SEO-Links - hover over a link and it displays link popularity and rankings for the anchor text from Google, Yahoo and MSN Search. I’ve got a screencast on using SEO-Links too.
- Copy Plain Text - copy-and-paste from a web page into Microsoft Word so that the formatting isn’t carried over
- ChatZilla - IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client
- Sage - RSS feed reader
- ViewSourceWith - view the page’s HTML source using an external editor (WordPad, BBEdit, etc.)
- ShowIP - displays the IP address of the web server in the bottom right corner
- StumbleUpon - get recommendations of related pages to check out from friends and like–minded individuals
- Search engines for the Search Bar - add your own favorite search engines to the search box in the top right, such as: MSN Search, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Technorati, Creative Commons, etc.
Here’s a tip that isn’t quite an extension, but over time it’s a huge time-saver. And it works in IE too.
- When you want to type in a URL into the address bar, you can leave off the the www. in front and the .com at the end, because, by hitting Ctrl Enter, the browser will automatically add the www. and the .com to the address for you!
This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list of useful Firefox extensions. Check out the new FirefoxFacts ebook for a bigger list of recommended extensions and tips for Firefox. And if there’s an extension you feel should be added to the above list of favorites, please leave me a comment!
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I’ve posted onto BusinessBlogConsulting.com a list of my favorite WordPress plugins and what they do and why I like them. If you’re blogging under the WordPress platform, you might want to trick out your blog with some of these great plugins.
The list includes: PodPress, Popularity Contest, Google Sitemaps Generator, Akismet, Adhesive, Ultimate Tag Warrior, EmailShroud, Transpose Email, WP-EMail, WP-Print, Subscribe2, In-Series, Permalink Redirect, Gravatars, Subscribe to Comments. WP-Notable, A Different Monthly Archive, Related Posts, Related Posts for your 404.
That’s not quite 20, so I’ll add one more to that list — a suggestion from commenter Neville Hobson (thanks, Neville!) — FeedBurner Feed Replacement, which makes it easy to “migrate” your pre-existing RSS subscribers over to Feedburner once you sign up for the service (which is excellent, btw).
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What follows below are some of my favorite WordPress plugins and why. Many of them I have in common with Cavemonkey’s excellent Top Ten WordPress Plugins list. Here’s my list, in no particular order:
- PodPress - makes it super-simple to post podcasts; includes an inline media player
- Popularity Contest - offer a leaderboard of your Most Popular posts based on views and ratings
- Google Sitemaps Generator - creates a Google Sitemaps XML file. What’s killer about this is that it uses Popularity Contest’s ratings for the priority scoring that Google uses to determine how frequently to spider your pages
- Akismet - you’d be a fool to run a blog with comments turned on and not use this plugin to stop the flood of comment spam. ’nuff said!
- Adhesive - gives you the ability to flag certain posts as “Sticky” so they float to the top of the category page regardless of whether it’s the most recent
- Ultimate Tag Warrior - creates tag pages and a tag cloud. Great for SEO as I’ve said before.
- EmailShroud - an email address obfuscator to thwart those evil email harvesters. Scans for email addresses in posts, but won’t work on email addresses hard-coded into your theme.
- Transpose Email - another email address obfuscator. Doesn’t automatically scan for email addresses, but can be used from within your theme files.
- WP-EMail - “Email this post to a friend” functionality
- WP-Print - Printer-friendly version of posts
- Subscribe2 - let your readers subscribe to your blog updates via email
- In-Series - link posts together into a series, regardless of dates posted or categories selected
- Permalink Redirect - fixes the canonicalization problem where the same page loads whether the slash is there or not. Important for SEO.
- Gravatars - puts the commenter’s “Gravatar” image next to their comment
- Subscribe to Comments - a commenter can check a box on the comment form so that they get notified of further comments to that post
- WP-Notable - places a row of buttons alongside your posts so the reader can easily add your post to their favorite social bookmarks service (del.icio.us, digg, etc.)
- A Different Monthly Archive - a pretty way to display links to archives by month
- Related Posts - link to related posts automatically based on the content of the post
- Related Posts for your 404 - your File Not Found error page can now suggest related posts to the misguided user. Cool!
What are your favorites? Did I miss any important ones?
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