One of the ranking factors Google has let us know about is having content visible at the top of your page. In other words, when your page loads, they want to see that you have your content above the fold. Sites that don’t do this risk lower rankings. Read more here.

Another good example is something called the bounce rate. This refers to the amount of time that someone spends on your site. If someone lands on your webpage and leaves after a couple of seconds, without going to another page on your site, that’s not a good thing, and it’s something the search engines notice.

When this happens, it’s a signal that the visitor either did not find what they were looking for, or they were not interested in what the webpage offered.

If you check your web stats, you can see how long visitors are staying on your site. If you notice that the majority of visitors leave within 30 seconds, it would be a good idea to take a look at your pages to see if you can figure out what’s going on.

When someone lands on your webpage, is it clear what that page is about? A good way to find out is to enlist the help of a few friends and family. Ask them to visit your webpage, scan the page for about 5 seconds, and then tell you what the webpage is about.

If they are confused, or can’t really say what the site is about, that tells you that your visitors are feeling the same way.

Some obvious things to look at are your headlines, header graphics, font color and page background, and opt in form.

Since most people scan webpages before they decide what to do next, try to make sure that their attention is drawn to a clear call to action.

Something else that is easy to do is to include a lot of options on your webpage. You may think that by giving them a lot of options that you are more likely to get them to do what you want to do. You may have subscription box, a couple of affiliate banners, ads, and a few affiliate links.

While this seems like a good idea, it can actually backfire on you. It makes it harder for your visitor to find what they’re looking for. Because they can’t quickly see what they’re looking for, they hit the back button almost immediately.

Another reason that your visitors may not stick around is that your page may take a long time to load. This can happen is you have a lot of graphics, and some scripts because this as well. Another reason for a slow loading page can be affiliate banners and graphics that are hosted on a remote site. Not everyone has high speed Internet access, so it’s always a good idea to make sure your webpages load quickly.

These tips are nothing new. These are the things that have always mattered, and Google has let us know that it still matters. So while you’re waiting for answers about what to do about the latest Google updates, you can take a look at your webpages to make sure that they are as effective as they can be.

One of the ranking factors Google has let us know about is having content visible at the top of your page. In other words, when your page loads, they want to see that you have your content above the fold. Sites that don’t do this risk lower rankings. Read more here…

Another good example is something called the bounce rate. This refers to the amount of time that someone spends on your site. If someone lands on your webpage and leaves after a couple of seconds, without going to another page on your site, that’s not a good thing, and it’s something the search engines notice.

When this happens, it’s a signal that the visitor either did not find what they were looking for, or they were not interested in what the webpage offered.

If you check your web stats, you can see how long visitors are staying on your site. If you notice that the majority of visitors leave within 30 seconds, it would be a good idea to take a look at your pages to see if you can figure out what’s going on.

When someone lands on your webpage, is it clear what that page is about? A good way to find out is to enlist the help of a few friends and family. Ask them to visit your webpage, scan the page for about 5 seconds, and then tell you what the webpage is about.

If they are confused, or can’t really say what the site is about, that tells you that your visitors are feeling the same way.

Some obvious things to look at are your headlines, header graphics, font color and page background, and opt in form.

Since most people scan webpages before they decide what to do next, try to make sure that their attention is drawn to a clear call to action.

Something else that is easy to do is to include a lot of options on your webpage. You may think that by giving them a lot of options that you are more likely to get them to do what you want to do. You may have subscription box, a couple of affiliate banners, ads, and a few affiliate links.

While this seems like a good idea, it can actually backfire on you. It makes it harder for your visitor to find what they’re looking for. Because they can’t quickly see what they’re looking for, they hit the back button almost immediately.

Another reason that your visitors may not stick around is that your page may take a long time to load. This can happen is you have a lot of graphics, and some scripts because this as well. Another reason for a slow loading page can be affiliate banners and graphics that are hosted on a remote site. Not everyone has high speed Internet access, so it’s always a good idea to make sure your webpages load quickly, even on a slower connection.

These tips are nothing new. These are the things that have always mattered, and Google has let us know that it still matters. So while you’re waiting for answers about what to do about the latest Google updates, you can take a look at your webpages to make sure that they are as effective as they can be.

But where it gets difficult is what to do next. I mean, it’s cool to get your login information from your hosting company. Once you login to your cPanel, which is where you can manage your web sites, there are a ton of icons and options.

And that’s where it ends for a lot of new marketers. It’s hard to know where to start. You should probably set up an email account, and get your web pages uploaded. A blog would be nice as well.

What you need to know is how to use cPanel.

But why are there all of those icons under the mail tab and what do they do? And databases…do you need one, and if you do, how do you set it up? How do you add a domain to your hosting account?

That’s how it was for me when I got my first hosting account. I was proud that I had finally registered a domain and had hosting. But I was lost. I finally figured it all out, but I wasted a lot of time in the process.

Here’s the deal…

I’ve come across a set of 25 videos that will walk you through the key features of cPanel that you need to know to take full advantage of your hosting account. Once you’ve gone through the videos, you’ll know where to go and what to do to get the benefits that your hosting account offers.

You’re about to discover:

•  Exactly how easy it is for  people to  “sniff” the contents of your website
•  How to have your SPF record set up right?
•  Do your databases and blogs back themselves up automatically — without you lifting a finger?
•   Discover how to easily set up new domains, wordpress and databases on cpanel?
•   How to set up your file permissions properly?
•   The easiest, fastest way to create a fully functional MySQL database?

You’ll learn all of this and more in cPanel Secrets Revealed. Act before May 14 and get this video tutorial for only $7.

I wish I had this available when I was starting out. This will give you the edge you need to get the most out of your hosting account. Get it before the price goes back up. Get all the details here…

You can read the post at Google Webmaster Central  here.

Here’s another informative article posted on the Search Engine Land blog.

For some, this has caused a lot of concern. Some web sites that depended on search traffic have reported that it has dried up, resulting in a lot less visitors and sales.

What we don’t know is how many sites have benefitted from this change. After all, if bad sites are gone, that leaves room for the good ones to rise in the rankings.

What bothers me about all of this isn’t that Google has made changes. That has been going on for years. The concern comes from all of the “doom and gloom” posts at several forums.

If you only focus on the negative, you would come to the conclusion that creating an online business no longer works. You would be convinced that no one is making any money, and that the search engines hate marketers.

What really bothers me is that a lot of new people are going to be discouraged and decide that Internet marketing isn’t for them. And that’s a really bad thing. Why?

Because the Internet still offers one of the best opportunities for creating a business that won’t cost thousands or even hundreds of dollars. For a few dollars, you can get a hosting account and domain name, and using free software and Youtube video tutorials, you can create and publish a web site.

You don’t have to take out a loan, put your future at risk, or max out your credit cards. It’s the ultimate low cost way to try your hand at a business of your own.

What Now?

Keep learning and doing the fundamentals. Create web pages, post to your blog, build a list, and use forums and web 2.0 sites to drive traffic to your sites.

Keep up with the latest information about SEO and what the changes mean for web site ranking. Find SEO blogs and forums, and make sure to focus on the most up to date posts. This will help you to avoid some of the shady SEO strategies that Google frowns on.

And the biggest point is that Google is still showing web sites when you do a search. Some sites have disappeared from the first page, and other sites have taken their place. Search engines don’t hate web sites. They just don’t like it when sites game the system, and this is their latest attempt to get better quality search results for their visitors.

Keep informed, don’t be afraid, and keep working on your business.

No, the end of Internet marketing is not here, so relax, at least a little bit.

Seriously, it has been a bit of a wake up call with the recent hit the blog networks recently took. It’s likely that more changes are on the way, and that creates a situation where it’s hard to know what to do to next.

What we do know is that this isn’t something new. Google has been making changes on a regular basis for years. Just last year the Panda update was creating a similar wave of fear and uncertainty. We all had to adapt to the changes, and if what we were doing resulted in our rankings dropping, we had to do things differently.

Yet new sites continued to be ranked, and Internet marketing was still effective. A year has gone by and now backlinks from some blog networks have gone away. Another change, and a lot of fear.

What’s interesting here is that there are so many conflicting views on what to do next. How are we supposed to know what’s true and what’s not?

My strategy is to step back and wait for things to settle down. And concentrate on the things that have always mattered, like having content that visitors find useful, getting more subscribers, and working on ways to get traffic that do not rely on the search engines.

There’s a really good and informative post here that you should check out. It goes into letting go of Google and not relying on them any more. This blog has a lot of good info on search and marketing, so spend some time going through the posts.

Search engine traffic is great because it’s free. But it can also go away without warning. And if you rely for most of your traffic from them, you’re setting yourself up for potential disaster.

It’s easy to forget that there are a lot of ways to get traffic, and now is a good time to start learning about and using other traffic generation strategies.

Discover 16 Ways To Get Traffic To Your Site From Marketing Legend Marlon Sanders. Get All The Details Here…

One of the problems that I’ve run into is that it’s so easy to get caught up in learning new ways to get traffic that I forget the most important part of all – my web site.

What I did when I was first starting out was sign up for a few marketing newsletters and visiting marketing forums. I wanted to learn about online marketing, so I started buying ebooks and courses.

There was a lot of good information in there, and I decided to jump in. I registered my first domain name and signed up for a hosting accout. Then I set out on the task of creating a web site.

My first results were less than good, which is a nice way of saying that I couldn’t make a decent looking site. I bought a book on HTML, and invested in some software, and that helped. I figured out how to do a basic layout of a web page and put content on the pages.

What I couldn’t figure out was how to get the graphics that would make my site look really professional. So I invested in some graphics software. I played around with it for a while, but I never could get the results I wanted.

I kept putting off creating a nice web site, and continued to buy information on traffic generation. Stuff like courses on article marketing, getting backlinks, using web 2.0 sites like Squidoo and Hubpages, bookmarking my pages, SEO strategies, PPC, and list building.

I learned a lot, but what I realized was that to make use of any of these traffic strategies, I needed to have a great looking site. And that was where I was stuck.

What made everything work out was getting a web site template. I didn’t want to pay a lot of money for a template, so I started looking for free templates. It took a lot of searching, because a lot of the free templates weren’t much better than what I could already do.

I finally found a template that was perfect for my site, and I got my site online. Now I could start using the information I had to get traffic to a real, professional web site.

If you’re in the same situation, and need some help getting a web site created that you can be proud of, I have good news. And don’t worry, this won’t cost you a dime.

The same company that created the Profits Theme WordPress Theme ( the same theme that I am using on this site ) is giving away a set of 10 minisite templates in 9 niches.

Once you download these templates, all you have to do is add your content, edit the header and footer – NO Photoshop or any grapics software required! – and upload the site to your hosting account.

These 10 Free minisites will make it a lot easier for you to get your web site online, and for you to start getting visitors and building your business. Click on the banner below to claim your 10 free minisite templates.

Since blog networks were a commonly recommended method of getting backlinks, a lot of marketers were using them to get more backlinks to their sites. And they worked quite well. Get more backlinks and your site would probably move your site up in the rankings.

The main point here is that things are changing when it comes to backlinks, and there are a lot of experienced webmasters out there who do a very good job of explaining what’s going on and what impact it can have.

The best way to keep up to date on what’s going on, do a search for “blog networks deindexed”. You’ll find a ton of good information that will keep you busy for a while.

And don’t forget forums. I usually go to the Warrior Forum, but there are other forums out there where you can get fresh information.

The reason it is so important for you to keep up to date is because you don’t want to waste your time using a backlinking strategy that no longer works.

If you’re using backlink services right now, or if you’re considering using backlink services, make sure you keep up to date on what is happening. Other link building strategies may be targeted next, and you don’t want to keep paying for a service that is no longer effective.

Another thing to be aware of is that if you have any courses or software for getting backlinks. They may contain advice or use strategies that are no longer relevant.

A case in point is Backlink Battleplan. It was a great course on getting free backlinks, but is has been pulled from the market by the creator, because he didn’t want to sell a course that wasn’t up to date.

Google isn’t telling us what’s coming up next. What we know is that they are always updating the way they rank sites, and how they count backlinks.

The best advice I’ve heard is to concentrate on creating good quality web sites with useful information. Work on building a list and creating and selling products.

Don’t give up on backlinks, because they are still important. Just make sure that you don’t rely only on free search engine traffic. That way, if the free traffic slows down, you still have visitors, buyers, and a business that keeps working for you.

Here’s a perfect example that illustrates this point, and it also happens to be my story.

We all know by now that one of the key ingredients to a successful business is an email list.

“The Money Is In The List” … sounds good to me.

What happens? Well, you need to learn how to go about building a list, so you buy the ebook that just came out. It all made sense, but there were some things that you didn’t understand. While you’re trying to figure it out, another must-have course comes out, this time with videos. It’s not too much money, and it can’t hurt to learn some more stuff.

You decide that it would be a good idea to get an autoresponder account, you know, one of the ones that the Guru recommended. So you go ahead and sign up for a paid account. It’s a good investment, because you’re going to need it…

You find the code you need to put an opt-in form on your page, but you’re not sure how to do it, or where to put it. You remember something you read about landing pages, so you wait until you get more information. Lucky for you, you come across an offer for opt-in page templates, complete with awesome graphics. Do some editing, add your autoresponder code, and you’re ready to go. So you buy them.

And don’t forget that to get people to subscribe, you need to offer a bribe, a free gift of some sort. Problem is, you’re not quite sure what to offer, and you don’t know how to create free reports or videos in the first place. So you go hunting for some PLR you can give away, or you come across a free report that you can rebrand and give away.

Of course you have a hosting account and a domain name as well. You end up with a monthly payment for your autoresponder account and your web hosting account.

At the end of six months, you have everything you need to get started, only…

You haven’t gotten started at all. You’ve spent a lot of money, you’ve invested in a lot of training, you’ve learned a lot. But you still don’t have a system in place to build that list. You haven’t done anything. Why?

It could be because you don’t know exactly where to start, and then what to do next. Or maybe you’re afraid to get started, and you decide that you need to wait until you learn some more before you get started.

What you need is a system. Something that takes you from the first step to the next to the next, until you have a system in place to build and profit from a list.

That’s why I keep recommending the Promo Dashboard. You learn exactly how to set up a list and then how to get subscribers and how to promote products to them so you get paid.

You start by picking a profitable market, and then you’ll learn how to get the word out that you have an awesome list that they may be interested in.

Need a freebie, but don’t know how to do it? Not a problem. Learn how to create free reports, how to create cool videos, how to create a podcast and make it sound great, and how to set up a free email cours. Step by step, that’s Marlon’s style.

Setting up your opt-in pages, with examples of what’s working right now. Setting up and using your autoresponder account. Getting your domain name and hosting, and uploading your pages. Getting your subscribers to open your emails and click on your links.

A list is one of the most important assets your business can have. Once you have a list, it doesn’t matter as much if Google makes changes that affect your search engine rankings. They can’t take that away from you.

The Promo Dashboard gives you a system, with nothing left out. Everything you need to build a list, promote to that list, and make sales.

The Promo Dashboard comes with a money back gaurantee, so you can’t lose. And it’s from Marlon Sanders, so you can rest assured that it’s as good as gold.

Stop buying the bits and pieces you need to create a profitable list. Don’t wait until you learn more stuff. It’s all there for you in one place, with the Promo Dashboard. Get immediate access here…

So why is it that some people get started, and in a few months are doing enough business that they can do it full time, and others are still trying to get something going after years of trying? What do the successful people do that the unsuccessful people don’t?

Maybe it comes down to their willingness to learn what they had to learn to succeed. The ability to focus on what they wanted, and then the drive to get the knowledge that they needed.

I’m a big fan of Brian Tracy, and he said something that was obvious when I heard it, but was something I wasn’t doing. He basically said that if you wanted to get good at what you’re doing, read an hour a day in your field.

I wasn’t doing that. I was checking emails, watching webinars and videos, and trying to figure out how to grow my business. What I neglected was all of the information that I had on my hard drive. I would buy something, go through it once, and then forget about it. Then I would buy the next product, do the same thing, and never get ahead.

There is a ton of resources available on my hard drive and online. What I was doing was trying to figure out how to grow my business with the knowledge I already had, instead of realizing that to make steady progress, I had to increase what I knew.

Now I read and study one hour a day, every day. Here’s how I’m making this work for me. I want to build a list and learn to write awesome email messages. I have an autoresponder account, opt-in software, and several courses on list building. I study one of these resources an hour a day, and then I apply what I learned. The next day I do the same thing.

What happens is that instead of thinking about building a list, and hoping that I can come up with the skills to write good messages, I am learning and doing something every day to move me closer to that goal.

Next up is creating videos, and then creating my own products.

I want to be one of the success stories online. I know that you and everyone else does too. Maybe the key is as simple as reading about an area of online business that you need to learn. Maybe the secret to success isn’t so secret after all.

When I entered the product name, I visited most of the first ten search results. What I found were a lot of review sites that told of all the benefits of the product and what it could do, along with a link to a sales page where I could buy it.

What I was really looking for was a review. I wanted feedback about whether or not this was a useful product, and I wanted input from users of the product. What I found were a lot of so called “review” sites. After visiting a few of these sites, it was apparent that these were affiliate sites promoting the product.

First, let me state that there’s nothing wrong with sales pages, and there’s nothing wrong with affiliates publishing review sites. What bothered me in this case was that all of these sites were so similar, and the message on each site was basically the same as the all the others. Once I looked at a couple of these sites, I had all the information I was going to get, and it wasn’t what I was looking for.

If I had found a site that had user feedback, one that answered any questions that I may have had, I would have been able to get the info I wanted, and I wouldn’t have visited any other sites.

Because most of these sites were so similar, and said essentially the same thing, I felt like I was looking at an ad instead of an information source. I didn’t get the sense that the sites were there to help me. Instead, if felt like they were pushing for a sale.

That’s where our advantage lies. When people are looking for information on a product, they could just go to the official site and order. What they want is more info, and they want to make sure that they are making a good buying decision. They want to connect with someone that is willing to help them.

You can be that someone. They could buy the product from a lot of other sites. But if you go out of your way to help them, and to answer their questions in the form of what’s on your page, they will pay attention. They will be more likely to trust you and what you say, and then order from your link.

Some ideas for what you can include on your review site are real customer experiences, a free report that relates to the product, a discount or a bonus offer, comparisons to other competing products, or an offer to sign up for your list on the topic.

The bottom line is to make your visitor feel like you’re talking to him or her, and that you want to help them make the right decision.

 If you can find a way to do review sites this way, instead of creating a cookie cutter style review site that looks like every other review site, then you’ll stand a better chance of getting the traffic and the commissions.