Seo Blog

Still Alive!

2007-11-08T15:55:00.000-05:00

It's been a few weeks since I have been available to post. I have been hunkered down working on new strategies and features for DM Web Directory.

Hopefully with in the next few months I will have everything together and be able to implement everything. As always I am trying to improve this resource for you and the end user.

Thanks,
Daniel :)

Google 411 Service

2007-10-19T19:32:00.000-05:00

Google does it again and releases a FREE 411 service. All you have to do is dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and you can get any business telephone number for free.

Don't believe me?

Check it our for yourself...

Google Webmaster Tools

2007-10-18T17:44:00.000-05:00

If you have checked your Google Webmaster Tools today then you have noticed another great upgrade to their system.

Click on "Statistics" then "Top search queries" and you will see a new format. Your top keywords are listed from most hits to the least hits. Each keyword is given a percentage depending on how many times it was clicked in relation to your entire Google keyword list.

This is an awesome tool to help you determine what keywords bring you the most traffic from Google. The image has been altered because I can't give away all my secrets :)

Wednesday Fun Day Post

2007-10-03T00:13:00.000-05:00

This is not something that I normally do but I thought I would mix it up a bit and see what happens. Click on the picture and check out the poll if you don't mind something a little edgy.

You can use the image above as long as no changes are made.

If you get your panties in a bunch easily you may not like some of the answers to the questions. Image created by: www.cartoons-caricatures.com

Live Support

2007-09-23T19:38:00.000-05:00

In a effort to better service the visitors and customers of DM Web Directory when have now integrated Live Support.

If you look in the "SUBMIT" resource box on the upper right hand corner of most web pages you will see the image below.

All you have to do is click on the button and you will be able to speak with my editor Janel or myself, Daniel. If no one is available the button will say OFFLINE and if one of us are available it will say ONLINE.

This is just one more improvement as we strive to better serve you.

Thanks,
Daniel

Yahoo Revised Backlinks Update

2007-09-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

Check your Yahoo backlinks.

As of a couple days ago Yahoo started discounting many backlinks to all websites when you use the "site:www.yourwebsite.com" function.

Personally I could not be happier. To me all the site results from Yahoo were garbage. You could try to check the backlinks of a competing website in Yahoo and see maybe 100k results.

Now out of the 100k results 90k of the incoming links would be from the same damn website. All these webmasters were doing is getting site wide links from websites. This is a tactic to try and trick the search engines into believing they really had more backlinks than they actually do.

It looks like Yahoo is following in Google's foot steps in cleaning up their algorithm. Some webmasters have seen devastating effects of this in the search engine position results and others have risen to the top.

Every website that I have personally worked on for the last 4 months has risen to the top 10 if not 5 for it's main keyword phrase. I can attribute this to only building high QUALITY backlinks not quantity. The honest truth is that 95% of my backlinks come from trusted strong directories.

More traffic to YOUR website

2007-09-19T19:35:00.000-05:00

As some of you have noticed there have been some big improvements taking place on our directory. First off we have implemented the "video review" process and it is being accepted very well.

Second we have add a unique code to the directory that enables us to create unique meta tags and descriptions for every single page. Creating the unique title and description tags will take some time but it being worked on every single day.

Third we have added another unique code that allows us to post an entire article in every single category of the directory. This will help tremendously by allowing our pages to rank higher in search engines and in turn drive more traffic to your website.

Unique articles will be added daily and eventually every category and subcategory will have an article in it.

We are also seeing some very good search engine placement for very competitive search terms. Without giving to much away we will talk about the obvious term "Web Directory".

The competition is fierce and we have been working extra hard and are now ranking in the 6th position on Google!

Google and Yahoo links are increasing monthly along with indexed pages. Our directory is getting crawled more often and deeper which is a great sign that the SE's like us:)

Yahoo Down

2007-09-18T00:22:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's just me but I can't connect to Yahoo. I tried to connect using Firefox and Internet Explorer and neither of them will. I also tried to connect by searching for Yahoo in Google and clicking on the first result for Yahoo which was www.yahoo.com

I made a video of me trying to connect to Yahoo. I have never had this happen which is why I decided to record it.

Side note - the recording software does slow my computer response but I have cable Internet so in reality it is fast.

Next Breed of Web Directories are Here! |Video Review Directory

2007-09-12T14:49:00.000-05:00

Most webmasters are familiar with the term web directory or link directory. The most popular web directory of all being DMOZ. Many will argue to say that DMOZ is full of corrupt editors and is a dead dinosaurs. I can't say that I disagree with anyone who feels this way. With the death of everyone great legend is the birth of a new prospect.

Many directory owners have recently felt the wrath of Google as this giant smacked their directories into the black hole of search results. This penalty as some have called it has yet to be confirmed by Google. There are mixed feeling on why this may or may not have happened. I have drawn my own conclusions on what might have happened.

Purchasing thousands of obvious sitewide links with the purpose of raising your PageRank is going to throw up flags. Also selling sitewide links on your own website or selling text links for the purpose of passing PageRank in general throws up a flag.

The next generation of web directories is upon us right now.

As technology advances and the Internet evolves if you don't keep up or mutate you get left in the dust! Being a general web directory just won't cut it anymore. You have to think outside the box and offer visitors real content. You also need to offer a real service to your customers. Yes a traditional website review is fine and dandy if you actually do a review.

From what I have seen I would estimate that less than 7% of directories owners actually "review" their submission. Hell it's easy to just push the "accept" button but this is what gives you duplicate content and crap content. Just one more thing that Google can use to bitch slap you down in the search results.

What do you think is the number one viral marketing tool on the Internet right now? Let me clue you in as to what it may be. Google recently bought a website that offers this service for a staggering 1.65 billion dollars. Yes that's right I can see the wheels spinning now. YouTube offers a video upload service and this has taken the Internet by storm. Every where you look you see some sort of viral video. So why not apply videos to directories and offer your customers a real service?

That is exactly what I have done. This service is still in Beta mode as I test and try different methods to see what offers visitors and customers the best content. As it stands right now there are two options as a customer for having a "Video Webiste Review" completed on your website.

The first is a "Regular Video Review" where you will receive a brief overview of your website recorded on video and posted on my blog. The second option is an "Express Video Reveiw" which is where you will receive a very detailed website review that is recorded on video. You will also receive a blog post along with your video for Express Video Reviews. All excepted submissions will all receive a free traditional directory submission.

There are still kinks and changes that can be made to improve this system but video is the future of directories and the Internet in general. The phrases "Video Review Directory" and "Web Directory Video Review" will be as common as "Web Directory" in the very near future.

Step up or get stepped on!

Check out the latest "Video Review Directory" videos.

September 11th | 09 - 11 - 01

2007-09-11T14:37:00.000-05:00

Yes this post is off topic for my blog but today is an exception.

I would like to take a minute to remember all those who were lost or affected as a result of the 9 - 11 tragedy. I extend my personal thanks and appreciation to those who put their life on the line during the events that unfolded on September 11th.

Terrorists have tried to beat our moral down but they have failed miserably. Their actions have only caused us to embrase our country even more and pull together in times of tragedy.

Free speech, equality and Nathan's Hot dogs is what America is about. Stand proud with your heads up and embrase your neighbor with open arms. God forbid if another tragedy should occur this may be the person to put his/her life on the line to save yours.

I am truly honored and feel blessed to be a part of this great nation the United States of America.

Blogger FTP Hosting | On Your Own Server

2007-09-10T21:39:00.001-05:00

I hear a ton of horror stories about people that have their blog deleted by Blogger.com. Whether your blog deserves to be deleted or not it sucks when it happens.

There is a very easy fix for this and all you have to do is publish the blog to your own server. All you need is a domain name and a hosting account and you can do this.

I have created a Step by Step video tutorial that will teach you how to upload your entire blog to your own server keeping it out of harms way.

If you have any questions feel free to post them here. Please do not try to contact me through my contact form. For some reason people love to use that thing to ask me random questions:)

The video is about 10 minutes long and is pretty detailed.

Grab This Video

Video Review Directory

2007-09-07T00:49:00.001-05:00

DM Web Directory is a general category Video Review Directory. All websites in all niches are allowed to submit for review.

Express reviews that are accepted will be recorded on video by our editors. You will also receive a listing in our web directory.

The video review of your website will be uploaded to YouTube and tagged with keywords that relate to your website for even more targeted traffic.

Express Video Reviews will be very thorough, 3:00 - 7:00 minutes long.

Minimum time spent on each review including the creation of the video is 30 minutes. We offer a real service and actually do a systematic review of your submission.

Express submissions from this point on will be paying for a video review and if accepted will also receive a traditional directory listing.

Backlink Update

2007-09-05T23:20:00.000-05:00

For those of you who use Google Webmaster Tools you will notice that there was a recent update to backlinks a couple days ago.

Dm Web Directory added an extra 16,000 backlinks and about 60% or so looked to be from unique websites. The multiple links from the same websites look like they are coming from forum and blog posts with many pages.

It seems like Google is updating backlinks more often in the Webmasters Tools back office now. My only complaint is that I wish they would update the actual "link" command more often so I can judge other websites strength. Of course we can always use the "link" command in Yahoo! but I would like to compare the results with Google also.

For those of you who still don't use the Google Webmaster Tools I suggest you jump on it. You will find out a ton of useful information about your website once you verify it.

Google Serps

2007-09-04T12:16:00.000-05:00

Wow, there are been some major ups and downs in the serps lately. I have seen some big brand websites lose a lot of search engine position. I have also seen a lot of well know websites have many pages deindexed.

If you ask me it looks like there are some big changes going on at Google. I know SE positions are always jumping and changing around but this is something different. With the delay of the PageRank update and the aggressive nature of the serp changes this makes me believe we are on the horizon of some big changes.

It looks like reciprocal links are losing just about all their value. Any paid link that is not a review seems to be loosing it's value. Granted detecting paid links is going to be a huge challenge for Google they are getting smarter. It seems that the only safe option is a paid for review website or directory (per Matt Cutts from Google).

Websites that offer unique quality content seem to finally be pulling ahead of spam and scrapper websites. This is great news for all the webmasters that actually create unique content but for those who don't well, I think you have had better days.

My advice from personal experience and live search engine rankings is to

1. Create Unique Content as Often as Possible

2. Create Link Bait to Attract as Many Natural Backlinks as You Can.

3. Submit to Only High Quality Website Review Directories. Make Sure the Directory Actually Rejects Submissions and is Not a Spam Fest.

4. Images and video is Becoming a Big Part of SEO in my opinion. If You Can Add Images or Video to Your Website Do It. Make Sure You Use The Appropriate Alt Tags to Label Your Videos and Images.

No one can tell your for certain exactly what is going on including myself. The best advice I or anyone can offer you should be based off results from their personal websites which is what I have used.

Directories Still A Powerful Advertising Tool?

2007-09-02T13:35:00.000-05:00

Lately there has been a lot of discussion about the future of directories. Questions have been brought up about whether or not directories are still a good method of advertising.

It looks like we are finally getting some solid information on whether or not directories should will play a roll in you websites advertising strategy. Besides the fact that Google has said to submit to Dmoz and other strong directories, Matt Cutts has one again stepped up and made a statement.

Yes - directories are still relevant and play a major role in advertising as long as the directory is of high quality. There are several factors that are going to determine the quality of a web directory and Matt gives a hint what a few of those might be.

If you are interested in finding out what Matt has to say check out this post.

Paid Directory

2007-09-02T13:33:00.001-05:00

We recently changed to a free directory and took a shot at a different business model. After a very short test period I have realized that opening a directory of this quality up to free submissions was a mistake.

The quality of the submission that pour in everyday are below par at it's best. Myself and my editor were spending a minimum of 4 hours a piece per day sifting through and rewriting the submissions. In total we approve only 27 new submissions out of the many submissions we received due to the quality of the websites submitted.

This has proven to be very time consuming and does not allow us the time to add new features and make improvements to the directory. As of this post we are reverting back to a premium paid directory.

On another note you will notice that all top categories now have UNIQUE titles and descriptions. We will be working our way down through all the sub categories giving them unique titles and categories also.

You will also see in the near future unique articles being posted in each category. All the improvements that are taking place and will take place are in effort to better serve your review by increasing traffic.

We have one last improvement that is in the works that will surely make DM Web Directory stand out from the crowd. This new feature is in the process of being structured and will be released at a later date.

Keep your eyes peeled and thank you for your support.

Daniel

Don't Do's of Search Engine Optimization

2007-09-01T14:43:00.000-05:00

A short list of seo tips that will surely get your website off to a BAD start!

1. Duplicate Content - Coping aka: stealing someone else's content it is a quick way to throw your website into the Google warning radar.

2. Keyword Stuffing - Using to many keywords on your page and using keywords that have no reverence to your website.

3. Hidden Text - Hiding text and keywords to try and rank better. Such as hiding text behind images, text same color as background and text in tables outside the viewing area.

4. Title Stacking - Adding extra title meta tags to your page will piss Google off a little bit.

5. Doorway Pages - Creating gateway pages optimized for a specific keyword that redirect the user to an entirely different page.

6. Cloaking - Building your website so search engine spiders see on thing and visitors see another. This will get you a BIG red X from Google.

7. Link to Bad Neighborhoods - Having a link on your website with or without the "nofollow" attribute will have a negative effect on your website.

There are many other black hat methods that will get you banned or penalized by Google but this is the basics to avoid.

Wikipedia Scandal

2007-08-23T20:21:00.000-05:00

Wikipedia is great resource where we the average Joe can edit entries and in a sense write history.

Well have you ever wondered who exactly is rewriting history? Who is changing Wikipedia entires and why are they doing it. Maybe these entries are rewritten or altered to hide and cover up a conspiracy?

This is exactly what Virgil Griffith was wondering and he took it upon himself to find out. I think you will be shocked by some of the edits that are taking place and exactly who is making these edits.

This is something I usually would not post about here but it really peaked my interest. Check out The Independent article about Virgil Griffith

Daily Listing Mod

2007-08-21T18:44:00.001-05:00

We now have the daily listing mod installed and functioning correctly. For those of you who don't know what this actually is let me give brief explanation of what is does.

If you visit the directory home page you will notice a website thumb nail with a description. This is the daily listing advertisement placement location.

The daily listing advertisement gets your website review on the home page of the directory for a specific day of the month. When you purchase a daily listing advertisement your are buying that specific day all month. For example if you purchase Monday your ad will be placed on the home page every single Monday for that month.

I am reading back through this post now and I am starting to confuse myself! So to better explain how this actually works check out this page for full details.

Our traffic stats have been increased every month that we have been open and this current month is no exception. I expect a significant increase in traffic since we are now a free premium directory.

Free Directory

2007-08-20T16:51:00.000-05:00

DM Web Directory is proud to announce that it officially a FREE premium web directory and one of very few. This decision was reached after much careful thought and deliberation about the long term survival of directories.

I want this web directory to truly be a useful resource to all webmasters and web surfers in general. The purpose of a web directory in my eyes to help index websites and above all provide useful content for visitors.

Transforming into a free directory will allow us to fill the directory with high quality websites at a faster pace. We may at some point in the future return to a paid review service but for the time being this is a free web directory.

We are going to raise the quality bar even higher and submitters websites will have to pass a strict quality assurance check. We will not allow the directory to suffer by including weak websites just because we have turned free.

There are several new rules that will be strictly enforced and all submitters must follow these guidelines to a tee. Any website found to breech one of the rules will immediately have their submission deleted and possibly banned from the directory. Please visit the submit review page and read over the guidelines before submitting your website.

As always I am open to any suggestions or comments that may further help build and strengthen DM Web Directory.

Free Directory

PageRank = Quality?

2007-08-17T18:50:00.000-05:00

As you may have seen in my two previous post I aimed a spoof directly at the PageRank crowd. The amount of traffic I had visit those two post was insane, more than triple my daily uniques to my entire website.

It just goes to show how much emphasis webmasters put on PageRank. I can't lie and say I don't look forward to seeing if my PageRank will increase as each update approaches. It's just one tool that let's you know that your website promotion and hard work are realizing results.

But...

I would also like to mention that PageRank is not the holly grail for webmasters. I really think to many people get caught up worrying about their websites current or future PageRank. I do think that PageRank may be more important of a factor to some websites than others because of their niche. That being said it still does not determine the quality of your website.

Search engine rankings and traffic should be the number one priority on your list. If you had the choice of a PR6 website with 50 uniques a day or a PR0 website with 1000 uniques a day which would you choose?

I know that I am choosing the website with good traffic hands down. I can make a website with a PageRank of 0 and traffic much more profitable than one that is PR6 with no traffic.

Isn't money the reason why most of you create websites?

I think a lot of webmasters including myself should focus on driving more traffic and raising our serps. My personal goal for the next 4 months it to target the phrase "Business Directory" and move from the second page to the 1st for "web directory".

Spoof Experiment, Did You Notice?

2007-08-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

Some of you may have noticed an odd post that was made yesterday. It appeared that Google had put out a press release regarding the current delay of the PageRank update.

Now some of you are smart as a whip and noticed right off the bat that this was a spoof as you should have. There were mistakes that were intentionally left in the photo to "create a buzz" and to see who was paying attention and who was not.

I monitered all the forums and blogs as the post were made regarding the spoof release. Belive it or not there where actually quite a few post made that had everyone thinking this was a real Google release despite the obvious errors.

As the errors were picked up by members I would correct them and add NEW errors. There are still a few errors that have not been found! Now this is where you the webmaster with the eagle eye can put your skills to the test and try to find them.

There are 4 errors left.

Each error is worth one free permanent FEATURED review on www.danielmillions.com directory (95.00 Dollar Value)

Who ever makes the first post in regards to a specific error will get the featured review.

**There are still gramitical and spelling errors these do not count towards the 4 errors that are still unrevealed.

So let's see what you can find!

Google Pagerank Update | News

2007-08-15T19:32:00.001-05:00

Finally we get an official release from Google concering the Pagerank update. Also some good information about the new algorithm changes that are going on.

"It has come to our attention that there is a widespread outbreak of concerned webmasters talking about the future of the Google PageRank system. The delay
as many have called it of the PageRank update is nothing of the sort. There are certain circumstances that have caused the present update to take longer to propagate than past updates.

New search engine algorithm changes are taking place which have affected the PageRank update. We recommend that all webmasters and website visitors in general continue on with business as usual. The PageRank update will occur when the new algorithm changes are fully functional and pass quality assurance checks.

On a side note the new algorithm changes consist of new filters to block automated spam websites. We are also focusing on websites that blatantly sell text links with the sole intention of boosting a specific websites PageRank. There are several factors that will be used to help us determine if a website is selling text links to boost the linked websites PageRank. Websites that are flagged for selling text links will receive an immediate drop in PageRank viewable by the Google PageRank tool bar, search engine rankings will suffer and the website will be removed from our index. Most live websites that are currently going to be effected by this have already realized at least two of the penalties above. Services that offer a fee to review a website based on it's content will not be penalized for doing so as it helps the indexing process.

We recommend that you follow the Google webmaster guidelines to prevent your website from being penalized."

How Good Are You?

Pagerank Update

2007-08-05T02:42:00.001-05:00

It's about that time again when all webmasters can't stop checking their favorite data center tool. Yes I am talking to you, your palms are sweaty with antisapation of your shinny new green Pagerank bar. Dreams of huge PR to compensate for you tiny errr, adsense check?

All jokes aside the Pagerank update should be fairly close. I will admit that I do check about once a day to see if my little green bar has slid up yet. It's a feeling of acheivement when you see your Pagerank rise. It's shows others that you are serious about your website and that you have been working hard to promote it.

Although it's great to see that bar rise it's shouldn't be the focus of your website. At least for me it's not. I will trade Pagerank for search engine position and traffic any day of the year.

Downside To Ranking High In The SERPS

2007-08-01T20:52:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not I have actually found a downside to ranking high in the SERPS, SPAM.

The normal spam doesn't get to me that much it's the spam from webmasters that think I am dumb enough to fall for their "scams"

Below is an email with replies I sent an email I received from some guy wanting to start a new website.

"Hello Daniel,

My Name is EDITED

I am launching an Internet Business website in about 6 months.

Currently I am creating a Panel of Experts on the Internet Business and Marketing
subjects. I would like to inquire about obtaining FRESH uncirculated quality Internet business content from you every week for the site.

The home page will contain a summary of your article and a link for visitors to \"ReadMore\".

WhatS in it for you?

Once the visitor is inside he /she will continue to read the rest of the article. And at the end of it, your bio summary will appear along with your link. You will benefit from exposure to my visitors on a daily basis.

Would you consider joint opportunity like this where we both benefit from the traffic?

Please send me your remarks.

Thanks."

My reply

"Hello EDITED,

What would make me want to send you unique content for your website instead of putting on my website? I don't really get it, you would get the unique content and traffic from it and I may get a couple visitors through my bio.

So again why not just add the content to my own website and receive all the traffic?

Also do you have any examples of your past projects or websites I can check out?

Best Regards,
Daniel"

His Reply

"Hello Again Daniel,

Pardon me and thanks for your input. The list of Panel of Expert
continues to grow for me. I wrote to you wondering if you would like to
benefit from my traffic.

But it seems that probably emailed the wrong "expert".

It is with great joy that I wish the best.

Cordially
EDITED"

My Reply

"If you were legit you could at least give me an example of your websites. My questions was not unreasonable I am still waiting to hear why it would be better for me to give you unique content for your website instead of putting it on mine.

I think I found the reason you don't want to show me one of your websites.

I'd like to see you prove me wrong though...

Thanks,
Daniel"

His Reply

"Hello once again Mr. Millions,

My proposal was just for content and the ability to work together.
Although your questions was not unreasonable, I feel I have no
obligation to bare my soul to you. If you did not want to participate
in JV, you have expressed it and it was respected. End of story.

But...

What I do not comprehend is the fact that another email from you, found
it's way to my inbox. It's like you are so offended of the offer that
you want to pick a fight.

I am a professional. Please, I ask that this be our last encounter.
As I have no time to squabble in childish babbles. I have to answer other more important successful emails I sent out
before yours.

And again,
I hope that you can proper in your business.
Respectfully
Bert Perez
"

My Reply

"I am just asking a very simple question.

1. Why would I create unique content for your website and not my own?

We both know that adding unique content to my own website would drive me more traffic
than adding it to yours and getting clicks through a bio. I am trying to see what the
upside to this deal is for me, that's all.

I am not looking for a fight but you run around the question and do not answer it. I
would not be replying and asking if I was not interested.

Thanks,
Daniel"

No Repy Back...

Basically this guy wants me to create unique content for his website for free and I get a backlink out of it? That sounds like a great deal for me, let me write you a new article every single week and in return I get one backlink in my bio.

But in the end it looks like you MR. EDITED created unique content for me, right here on my blog.

Thanks!