we can help each other tremendously... read on...

I am researching SEO (search engine optimization) strategies. I am realizing that many of us are missing out on an easy on... having relevant (and anchored) links to each other. Having links from other types of sites is good too, but it is really important to have links from other sites that have a similar content - in essence it shows Google/Bing/Yahoo that the other sites are "voting" for you, and are "qualified" to do so.

I set up one of my 5 tabs as a "Friends" tab. Anyone who wants me to put their link on my page, I will be happy to return the favor. Just post below or email me with your site address, and the city/town you want as your major keyword (this is for the anchoring part)... for example my own link would look like this:


ARTiFACES face painting in York, PA

In this way my location would be an anchored keyword, "face painting" would be an anchored keyword, and so would my company name. And of course, it would be a clickable link going to the actual website, or it would be meaningless!

Anyone who knows more than I about this, please chime in, too!

Anyone in?
Warm regards,
Barbie

Sounds good to me... I may not be able to do it until next week though... I'm going to be heading out for a week long, clown training thing UBER EARLY Tuesday morning and I'm going crazy getting ready right now.

Okay, have another idea... I'll bet a lot of us want to do this! So instead of each of us individually asking the others of us to exchange links (a lot of wasted labor), should we all just list our website address and desired "wordage" and then automatically add everyone else? (When you list your info., I recommend following my example and using "face painting" or "face painter", your location, and web address... 6-7 words, max, or the search engines do not like it).

So, here is the deal: if you post *your* link info, then you MUST put everyone else who posted above you on your page too - at the SAME time (if you save it for later, it could slip your mind). And if we can make a pact to monitor this thread for the next few days, and add everyone that posts *subsequently* onto our websites, then we will all benefit tremendously over the next months.

So in short: if you post your link info, you can expect to be added by everyone else who posted theirs (over the next week). And it is expected that you are already adding everyone who posted above you, and those who follow over the next week.

If anyone has a better idea... let me know! Warm regards,
Barbie

Okay I will start:

ARTiFACES face painting in York, PA
www.artifaces.com


("ARTiFACES" is capitalized, with a lower-case "i" in the middle)


Thanks all!
Barb

THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION... do whatever YOU want to do. I'm just sayin'... (in case you don't know me, I like to play devil's advocate on occasion...)

I know that this idea is touted as being "good" for your own website but honestly it really doesn't do all that much for your actual business locally. For that you need to be marketing to your local client base - get out there and make contact, mail postcards, network, pound the pavement...

Yes, your website is a great tool, and coming up at the top of search engines is great... but... at least in MY experience, it is word of mouth, personal connections, repeat clients, etc that generate the vast majority of my INCOME EARNING jobs.

I won't exchange links. It really does nothing to improve my business... maybe you get a few more hits from finding a link on someone elses site. Maybe search engines see your address and increase your ranking... maybe.

I come up generally as #1 through 6 on any web searches that are specifically looking my area and I have never bothered about exchanging links.

I ONLY link to specific businesses I personally use, organizations I belong to, and specific friends/painters that I know personally as I like to know WHO I am linked to (this means their standards, professionalism, reputation, honesty, skills, etc.)

I do not subscribe to any service like Gigmasters and the like. I am on "free" directories like the Snaz Entertainers directory, membership directories (FACE, Clowns Canada, etc.), FABA directory, etc. I have some industry directory listings. I sometimes make a "trade" for a listing but rarely.

I'm not in the business of operating a face painting directory which is what this mass exchanging of links really ends up being - you all then have to update, maintain and set up a page for all the links. At least you should be if you are going to do this - make sure all the links work, remove those that don't. And then be prepared for requests out of the blue from people you don't even know who want to trade links.

And the search engines are not stupid... they actually do filter things and masses of links to others doesn't always do you a lot of good in the long run. But...

...AS STATED THIS IS JUST MY OPINION - DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.

Okay, I may be getting ahead of myself... in my continuing research I read this:

Cross-linking occurs when site A links to site B, site B links to site C and site C links back to site A. This is the simplest example but more complex schemes are possible. Cross-linking looks like disguised reciprocal link trading and is penalized.

Uh oh. I better keep reading, eh?

HI Shannon, we posted at the same time!

You make some good points... especially in the last part, where you say that the search engines might be able to see when you do this.

From what I read, though, if the search engine does not see many (I just read, for example, over 100) links on your page, then it *will* help in terms of your ranking at Google. Right now, I am on page 3 of a Google search... but my cache at Google is an old one, and my ranking will likely drastically improve upon the next Google crawl to my site. I *want* to be on page one for search for York, PA face painters. So, careful linking should help. I have read numerous times on here that some folks are on page 2, page 3, (even page 10) - so I want to help myself and others. But I have to rethink my idea above, since Google will be able to "see" what we are doing if we all have links that reciprocate with each other....

We really need an SEO expert... anyone?!?!

BarbieSmith wrote:

We really need an SEO expert... anyone?!?!

SEO is so complicated that if you are serious, save up the next few gigs worth of $$ and spend it on a reputable SEO guru.

It would be worth it.

~Heff

Again, this is only my opinion... wouldn't spending more time building your actual physical business and marketing it in your area be more worthwhile??

Sure if you are an internet based business - like a retailer - SEO would be really important, but we are small operations that offer personal services in a restricted area, generally, so spending a huge amount of time and possibily money on trying to increase SEO seems counter-productive to me.

Heff suggests saving your next couple paycheques to pay for the services of an expert. If you really want to pursue the idea that is spot on advice.

I would go the marketing route myself. Work on local exposure and name recogition in your town/area. That's probably more likely to get you bookings next month.

Shannon, on that note, what are some of the best ways to work on exposure & name recognition? I'm running a local jam, doing mail outs targeted at daycares, I have a magnet on my car & I talk face painting at every op. I'm on all the free marketing sites(craigslist, party pop, party planner, kijii, gig salad & the face paint directories that I know of). Most my clients are through Internet searches or word of mouth.

I'm not sure that exchanging links is the best way to do it, but I am very interested in moving up the list in a search as well. The painter that gets the most business in my area quite frankly simply gets it from the fact that she is the first one to come up. She is shy and doesn't prefer the "pound the pavement" method and to be honest, she doesn't have to. She has multiple painters working for her and stays very busy and does it all from web marketing through her website. I am dying to move up in the rankings to see what it could do for me. Please keep this thread updated if you figure out a better way to do it. I have been playing with my HTML code to do this, but it always messes up my website, so I am still trying to figure that part out to see if it helps.

I do my local marketing in a number of ways: direct mail marketing - I send postcards out to past, current and potential clients; my car wrap; including myself in handouts and gift bags at local wedding shows/scrapbooking workshops, etc.; I make sure I am on any local lists for referrals (local park keeps a list of family entertainers, the local theatre, local library... places people call looking for entertainers)...

You can advertise in the local community calendar or recreation guides (most communities publish quarterly recreation and arts guides with classes etc.) and places where parents planning parties might be looking for activities.

I cover all of what I do in lots of detail in my e-book The Business Of Face Painting...

I do get inquiries via my website too... but they generally have got my information off of my car wrap or looked me up specificially rather than did a search... but I do come up first on the searches for my area.

Is your book avaliable on the Kindle?

Not for purchase there, but if you buy it you can read it as long as the Kindle readers read PDF... I know I can read it on my mom's Sony Reader. It is a PDF file.

http://www.shannonfennell.com/bookcontent.html

http://www.facepaintingproducts.com/The_Business_of_Face_Painting.html

My personal website comes up on page 6 or 7 of a google search for clowns in my area, BUT on the first page are a few of the other listings I have online (like mypartyplanner.com and such)... my facebook group is in there somewhere, as are my kijiji ads (although I don't pay to link them directly to my website, my site is in the text portion of the ad).

I think if you were going to spend a few hundred dollars on SEO, it might be even better to spend it on a well designed ad in a local parenting publication or newspaper. The average person needs to see your name 7 times before thinking of contacting you.... be OUT THERE!!!

7 Times?! That's it... I'm doing subliminal flash ads while Oprah is running