SoloSEO

How to Configure Sitemap Autodiscovery in Robots.txt

Posted by Michael D Jensen on April 12th, 2007

At Search Engine Strategies New York it was announced that you can now have your sitemap automatically discovered by configuring it in your Robots.txt file. It is simple and easy to do, you’ll just need to know the URL or web address of your sitemap.

First, open your Robots.txt file on your server for editing. Then you will need to add the following line to the end of the file (it can be anywhere, but the end is probably a good place).

Sitemap: http://www.mydomain.com/sitemap.xml

Save the Robots.txt file with the new line for the sitemap URL. There you go! Your whole file may look something like this:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /somefolder/
Disallow: /somethingelse/
Sitemap: http://www.soloseo.com/sitemap.php

Search engines already come to your Robots.txt file when they visit your domain, so on their next crawl they will automatically find your sitemap file.

If you have a new site/domain you will probably still want to submit the sitemap URL to the search engines. To submit you can either submit the URL through their interfaces or use a ping.

Submit Sitemap to Google or Ping Google with your Sitemap
Submit Sitemap to Yahoo or Ping Yahoo with your Sitemap
Submit Sitemap to MSN Live.com
Info for Ask.com Sitemaps or Ping Ask.com by hitting this address: http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=http://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

10 comments Visited 19345 times April 12th, 2007 Michael D Jensen

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1-800-GOOG-411 Another Reason for Local Search SEO

Posted by Michael D Jensen on April 11th, 2007

I am surprised I didn’t hear about this from any typical news source, but Google has launched a 411 information service powered by their local search engine.

When you call 1-800-GOOG-411 it first asks for your city and state, which you give verbally. Then it asks for a keyword or category, I said “pizza” for my first query. Instead of the top 10 it gives you the top 8. At any time you can say “start over” or say the number of the listing for more information or to be connected.

When you’re in the details section you can say “text message” and instantly you’ll get the address and phone number of the place you were interested in.

So what does this mean for you? It means that local search SEO is more important than ever! Now instead of just computer users having access to local search, people driving around town everywhere will depend on Google for finding you, not the yellow pages they keep in the car.

I’ve been using Google SMS for a long time to find addresses and phone numbers of businesses locally. You just send a text message to 46645 (GOOGL) and type in “pizza near columbia mo” and you’ll get about 3 listings back with addresses and phone numbers (mine arrive in 2 separate text messages).

If you haven’t started on local search SEO for your site, it’s time!

2 comments Visited 4294 times April 11th, 2007 Michael D Jensen

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Duh… Use What You Got.

Posted by Aaron R Stewart on April 10th, 2007

I was on a flight the other day, and happen to see this guy with a really cool PDA phone. I wasn’t sure of the make, and being the gadget hound that I am, I had to know, so I asked. He replied that it was the new Blackberry 8800. It was incredibly cool, and he was obviously pleased to own it. I asked him if he loved it, and what all it did, any new features, etc. His reply… “Oh to me it is just a phone.” I am sure I got a confused/dumbfounded look on my face, and then I followed up with another question of “you don’t use it for anything else?” His reply was essentially he only used it as a phone, he “didn’t need all the other stuff.” I swear my head started to spin, and I felt faint. He won the dipstick of the day award. Here is a really great tool, I mean the PDA phone has functionality out the wazoo, we are talking email, calendar, instant messaging, a to do list, Internet browser, maps, GPS, multi-media player, all this amazing stuff, and this guy only uses it as a phone? He may be the dipstick of the year award winner (especially if I exclude the politicians). First off, there are many cheaper ways to go if you just want a phone, and secondly, I think the status of an item plays a little too big a role in this guy’s purchase decisions. I sure wish I was his car salesman, I mean realtor.

Obviously I was frustrated by this guy’s admission of absolute inefficiency, I mean what a waste of a perfectly good piece of equipment. All the potential to do great things on the go, and it just exists as a lowly phone, not much better than those massive Motorola brick phone of the 80s. It still freaks me out to think about it.

However, the whole experience got me thinking about the similar situation with websites. There are many business people out there who don’t have websites yet, which is just a real shame, they are missing out on ever-increasing online opportunities. Then there are others who have websites, but are only using the site as essentially an online brochure. They are not taking advantage of all the options open to them, or attempting to propel the site and firm’s message up the SERPs, and ultimately in front of potential clients. That too is a waste, a major waste. If you have a website, then you have taken an important step, at least you have something to work with, but just as the Blackberry 8800 was just this guy’s phone, there is much more to a site than just being a brochure. By using SEO tools the power of a site can be released, either by site owners, or through SEO professionals. A site, which is optimized, can take advantage of all the online opportunities available, and becomes an efficient business tool. As a business owner, not having a site is a poor business decision, however, not optimizing a site makes the decision to create the site in the first place questionable. A site not properly optimized is nothing more than a dream not pursued, and opportunity lost.

As for the Blackberry 8800, I was very tempted. But I have decided to hold out. I will go with what I have (miserable Treo700p anyway) until the glorious month of June, where I shall be thereby christened “iPhone Aaron, Mobile Boy.”

Add comment Visited 3142 times April 10th, 2007 Aaron R Stewart

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Why I Blog (5 Reasons)…

Posted by Aaron R Stewart on April 10th, 2007

I have never liked tag games very much as a kid. It was mostly due to the fact that I was too fat and slow as a youngster to really catch anyone, so I frequently spent most of my early years as “it.” For the most part it was the mean, fast kids who would tag me, then taunt me as I awkwardly lumbered around trying to tag them back, it was never my friends who tagged me. So to have my dear friend and business partner Michael tag me in the “5 reasons why I blog” meme was quite a shock. Not to mention being tagged by your business partner seems to be like going to the prom with your sister, but if it was the only way to get in the game, oh well. I have never been brought into one of the previous link games before, so I guess it took less than optimal measures to get me in this time..

Anyway, enough whining, here we go. I blog…

1. To Learn. I am forced to go out and learn something in order to blog about it. Now SEO is such a widely blogged topic, you really have to get out there and dig (not DIGG) to find something new, or in order to put a spin on an existing piece of knowledge to make it your own, you need to read and think about it. If you can’t do either, then you will need to find something else to do.

2. To Communicate. I felt somewhat out of place in the SEO world when we got started. My background is business, that is where I am most comfortable, that is where the terminology makes sense. However SEO has become such an important part of doing business online, blogging about it from a primarily business perspective makes sense to me. Plus, my fellow business-minded associates seem to be lagging behind in their decision to implement SEO strategies into their firm’s marketing strategies, so I feel the need to communicate/motivate them to get on the ball.

3. To Rant. There is some stuff out there in online land that is just garbage, and it causes one to shake a head of frustration daily. From black hat SEO techniques, to link purchasing scams, to Digg, and a myriad of other items of stupidity. There is much to speak out against, there is always a fresh blog top. And frankly these topics are easy posts to work on, the words just seem to flow when you are angered.

4. To Question. I love to read the opinions of others, and the comments which inform me I am way off base. I want to learn, so if I have missed making my point, then I want to learn where I went wrong, and see if I need to change my viewpoint. There is no shame in being wrong, as long as you are willing to admit your mistake, and then go forward with the correct knowledge from that point on. Much of what we learn is from doing it wrong the first time around, so I take no shame in screwing up. In fact, I have become quite good at it.

5. To Convince. Obviously we want SoloSEO to be successful, and we think there is no better place for someone to manage their SEO project than online with us. So we tell people about ourselves, the trends in SEO, and where they can get the latest and greatest tools to SEO for themselves. Or we attempt to convince the SEO pros to manage all their accounts with us, not only to more efficiently provide their clients with the SEO services required, but to do it with more control and less trouble than they were able to do previously while using the numerous other SEO tools scattered across the four corners of the web.

So there you have it, 5 reasons why I personally blog. Now to tag others…

Jeremy Schoemaker – Shoemoney
Jordan McCollum – Marketing Pilgrim
Muhammad Saleem- Pronet Advertising
Brian Clark – Copyblogger
Dave Naylor – DavidNaylor

I find all of the tagged above excellent sources of information, and read these blogs often.

1 comment Visited 6911 times April 10th, 2007 Aaron R Stewart

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Deliver on your Page and Ad Titles

Posted by Michael D Jensen on April 9th, 2007

A radio ad I heard this morning starts out “Another how-to half minute from the Home Depot…”. Now, before you read on, what are you expecting to get out of the next 25 seconds or so left of this radio spot? A “how-to half minute” makes me ready to learn something about landscaping or home repair or even picking out appliances. Teach me something!!

Well….the ad continues with 2 guys, the first talking about how he loves his old tools. The second guy mentions an instant discount on tools going on now at the store. The conversation switches instantly back to the first guy who then says he hates his old tools.

So what did you learn?

Zilch. Me too.

Teach me something if you say you are going to. If you say you’re going to teach me something, then just give me a blurp about your sale, I’m going to turn off (I might even blog about how much I dislike your ad).

On the web there are many places where we only get one small sentence or “intro” to get a click, mainly page titles and text PPC ads. Your visitor expects you to deliver on the page or ad title, and if you don’t…your reader will quickly use that back button. If you have something lackluster to deliver, you may want to think twice about overpromising on the page or ad title.

Underpromise, over deliver is the old adage of sales. This holds partly true, except for when marketing you need to dazzle them, lure them in, pique their interest. You will lose customers if you then under deliver on the landing page, but if you deliver and then some you might just have yourself a sale (or a reader, or a friend, or a …. ).

A recent article featured on CopyBlogger.com also discusses the importance of not going overboard with your title to the point that what you promise to deliver isn’t even believable.

Why Your Best Headline Could Be Too Powerful

Essentially, your headline itself can be so unbelievable you don’t even get a click in the first place. Headlines not only need to deliver the content they promise, but they need to be believable so you at least get the first click.

Add comment Visited 5315 times April 9th, 2007 Michael D Jensen

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5 Reasons Why I Blog

Posted by Michael D Jensen on April 9th, 2007

I was recently tagged by Jaan Kanellis in a blog meme that has been circling around the blogosphere. The “theme” of the blog meme is “Why I Blog”, and as it goes traditionally, name 5 things and tag 5 other bloggers.

As with the last blog meme I have created a Blog Meme Tracker. You can edit it yourself this time, for putting in the final URL for your post and then adding those you tagged.

So, 5 reasons why I blog:

1) I Blog to Learn – I love how blogging makes me constantly aware of life around me, and keeps me always looking for a new angle or something new to research. I find myself always learning something new as I write my posts, and hopefully I’m sharing something new with my readership at the same time.

2) I do it for you, of course – Teaching is a passion of mine. I teach a religion class 5 days a week at 6 AM with no monetary compensation. I love helping others to learn and grow beyond where they are at now. Its of course hard to see the effects directly, but when we have a growing readership, with great comments, and tons of newsletter subscribers, it shows that its at least worthwhile.

3) Meeting new people – I’m stealing this one from Andy. It’s amazing when you “blog” that it’s really an industry-wide conversation. I will find things someone else says that I want to emphasize or elaborate on, and that connects me with them. MyBlogLog has been an awesome way to really get to know readers, seeing their faces even from the sidebar. I just wish LinkedIn would do a sidebar like this and blow us all away with true social networking goodies.

4) Rankings and Links – Obviously having a blog is fantastic for SEO. We rank well for lots of terms just because of our blogging, and sometimes our content will pull in a good number of links, which is always a bonus.

5) Marketing SoloSEO – Unlike other SEO bloggers who mostly do SEO as a service business, we have SEO software that we promote and market. Our blog isn’t huge on pushing you to our product (2-week free trial!!!!) but we hope that it helps people become more acquainted with SEO, helps them understand how to use the tools of SEO, and to get from point A to point B in the business of SEO. Then we hope that naturally they’ll sign up for SoloSEO.

Now to tag a few people:

Bill Slawski of SEO By the Sea
Greg Boser of Web Guerrilla
Dazzlin Donna Fontenot of SEO Scoop
Nathaniel Broughton of ENVISEO
Aaron Stewart of SoloSEO

6 comments Visited 5980 times April 9th, 2007 Michael D Jensen

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Blog Meme Tracker – Why Do You Blog?

Posted by Michael D Jensen on April 9th, 2007

With another game of blog tag coming around the SEO blogosphere, we have again created a page to track the blog meme. The first time we did this we created the blog tag tree for the “5 Things You Didn’t Know About Me” question. This time the question is “Why Do You Blog?”, and you can find the blog meme tracker here:

Blog Meme Tracker: Why Do You Blog?

There have been a few blog taggers that have mentioned me as being the initiator of all this, but to clarify I am just a facilitator in helping everyone know who has been tagged, as well as having quick access to posts on why bloggers blog.

The blog meme tracker is pretty slick this time, it is editable by YOU! Last time it got a bit time consuming, as you could imagine. This time I hope you’ll help keeping it up to date for your own entry, or for the entries of your favorite bloggers.

Some blogger favorites of my own to highlight that are found in the blog meme tracker are:

Andy Beal
Rand Fishkin
Barry Schwartz
Lee Odden
Michael Gray
Matt Cutts
Danny Sullivan
Vanessa Fox
Lisa Barone
Jim Boykin

The blog meme tracker tracks all of these, who they tagged, and who tagged them. It’s a lot of fun, be sure to check it out.

You can also find my reasons for blogging, as I was just tagged (see my tag tree)!

1 comment Visited 6084 times April 9th, 2007 Michael D Jensen

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Top 5 Useful and Free SEO e-Books

Posted by Michael D Jensen on April 3rd, 2007

Originally I wanted this post to be titled, “Top 10 Useful and Free SEO e-Books”, but I was surprised to find very few worthwhile free SEO e-Books, even when I enlisted the help of several SEO experts/friends! I had to dig more into “Internet Marketing” but SEO is such an umbrella term now that I think these fit well into its scope.

Here are the 5 free and useful SEO e-Books:

1) Beginner’s Guide to SEO from SEOmoz

This is really the definitive guide for SEO outside of the paid e-Book by Aaron Wall. Not only does it go through every topic of SEO it also has a thorough list of resources down at the bottom for further reading. You can download it in other formats like Word and OpenOffice.

2) Viral Copy: Trading Words for Traffic by Brian Clark

Brian Clark is an exceptional writer and teacher, and this book offers valuable ideas and strategies for implementing viral content strategies. His website is full of invaluable information for anyone doing any type of content writing.

3) How to Use the Modern Press Release by David Meerman Scott

Press Releases are not only important in marketing but also in SEO. A well-written and distributed press release can go a long ways for creating traffic, links, and buzz. This e-Book discusses the “new rules” of Press Releases that can help you take advantage of this excellent SEO strategy.

4) Keyword Research from Pole Position Marketing

A thorough e-Book on keyword research, taking you from gathering to sorting to organizing keywords.

5) Keyword Research Guide from WordTracker

Even though some of it is centered on WordTracker, this e-Book is excellent for understanding the importance and use of keywords in SEO. Brian Eisenberg of FutureNow, Inc. even contributed to the e-Book.

Other SEO/Internet Marketing topics I expected to find free authoritative e-Books on, but did not:

- Link Building
- Social Media Marketing/Optimization (only this, but way too basic)
- Email Marketing
- PPC

Leave a comment if you know of a free and useful SEO related e-Book that I missed! (Please don’t bother with affiliate link-laden e-Books, I did not include those for a reason…not useful)

3 comments Visited 13836 times April 3rd, 2007 Michael D Jensen

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SEO for the Rest of Us – The SoloSEO.com Newsletter

Posted by Michael D Jensen on April 2nd, 2007

This morning we sent out our first SoloSEO newsletter. Our newsletter’s main title is “SEO for the Rest of Us”, and anyone interested in learning and doing SEO, from beginner to professional, can benefit from the content we deliver.

The newsletter format is composed of a fresh new article (“Freshly Squeezed”), an SEO question and answer discussion with our readership (“Stump the SEO”), an article from the blog archives (“From the Vault”), details or discussion on new SEO tools (“Your SEO Tool Belt”), and a list of links to great SEO related articles published by others in the industry (“Super SEO Articles”). We also have a 5-minute SEO tip in the sidebar of the newsletter.

If you’d like to subscribe to our newsletter, which we foresee going out about once a month, use the following form to sign up instantly. No spam, no reselling, just a great SEO newsletter.

If you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see in the newsletter, leave a comment or email us at newsletter[at]soloseo.com.

1 comment Visited 4493 times April 2nd, 2007 Michael D Jensen

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Don’t April Fools Yourself

Posted by Michael D Jensen on April 2nd, 2007

I always have to try something to get my wife on April Fools, so this year was no different. Turning the clocks forward 6 hours didn’t work because I missed a clock and her cell phone. I went so far as to feed the kids hot dogs for breakfast, convincing them they slept in and we were having lunch.

The prank that worked, but also backfired at the same time, was one I found online at Family Fun (by the way, it’s a great magazine for the kids, and quite inexpensive at $1 an issue). For the prank, you put a rubber band around the sprayer at your kitchen sink and point it towards where you stand when you turn on the faucet. My sprayer liked scotch tape better than a rubber band. Well, one minute after I taped and positioned the sprayer, I myself went to use the kitchen faucet, completely forgetting what I had just done. I was drenched, all over my right side. An hour or so later my wife woke up and eventually worked her way into the kitchen. It was hysterical! I laughed for a good 5 minutes. She laughed too, luckily.

Lesson learned? Be thorough on your pranks (all clocks and phones) and remember which pranks you pull so you don’t April Fools yourself.

Any good harmless April Fools joke that were successful for you? Any that backfired?

Add comment Visited 3394 times April 2nd, 2007 Michael D Jensen

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