7 Reasons You Should Still Be Using Sphinn

Many people have noticed during the last 12 months that Sphinn has gradually become less of a force within the search industry. I have to admit, I’ve been one of the users who used Sphinn heavily in the early days – but during the last 6-12 months have found myself visiting the site far less frequently.

Having been involved in a Sphinn meeting at SMX Advanced last week and following Matt McGee’s announcement of Sphinn 2.2, I thought it would be a good idea to list some ideas about why you should still be using Sphinn.

1) Traffic – yes, traffic may have tailed off recently, but there’s very few website’s out there which will send as much targeted and high-quality traffic as Sphinn.

In 2009, Sphinn was the fourth biggest traffic source to SEOptimise with an impressive 14,322 visits. An average bounce rate of 81.86% is also excellent for a social media website referral (especially considering they are looking to just read a single news item), suggesting the quality is high. This should be a good enough reason alone to use Sphinn!

2) Links – at worst, for a homepage story you get a followed link from Sphinn.com. But if you can generate that much targeted traffic, it’s likely to be picked up by other bloggers too and mentioned in some weekly roundup posts.

3) Keep up-to-date on latest news – for many people visits to Sphinn and subscribing to blogs via RSS has been replaced by the sharing of links on Twitter. However, tweets are easy to miss – if you keep an eye on the Sphinn homepage it’s easier to pick out the main stories of a day or week.

4) Train your SEM team – similar to the above, but everyone wants their team to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and news within the industry. The downside is that this can be very costly and time-consuming. Sphinn stories are generally aimed at all levels of understanding, so monitoring homepage content can be a great way of making sure your team picks up a few tips and tricks.

5) Get involved in some great discussions – homepage stories can generate some great comments and debates. This is something which smaller SEO blogs may not have the influence to generate themselves with such an audience, so it’s a great way to get some feedback and discussion started.

6) Build relationships within the industry – Twitter’s very good for this too, but if you can interact with industry contacts and promote each others content, then this can be a great way of building some very useful contacts.

7) Build a reputation as a top Sphinner – you don’t necessarily have to write great content to become recognised as a top Sphinner. But by picking out stories which frequently make the homepage, you can start to build a reputation which may be useful both within the industry and to potential clients.

But what does Sphinn need to improve?
Matt has asked for feedback on the Sphinn blog, but here are some quick thoughts which I think would help to get Sphinn back on track:

• Continue to mix editor choice stories onto the homepage – sometimes it can take 3 days for a story to be promoted to the homepage of Sphinn. For news and time-based stories this is too slow, this may have been and gone by the time you get to read about it otherwise. Some stories submitted towards or over the weekend need a little push too, as getting votes Friday to Sunday can be too difficult sometimes.
• Bring back the top users list – this is currently behind the paid members area, but having this freely available makes the site more competitive and gives a greater motivation to submit. This should help to improve the number and quality of submissions.
• Better integration with Twitter - Twitter is clearly one of the main reasons why the popularity of Sphinn has suffered. If there was a way in which Sphinn could be integrated to reward Twitter users in a similar way to Tweetmeme – then it gives more of a reason for users to use both Sphinn and Twitter – as opposed to one or the other.
• Sphinn iPhone app – I’m not sure if this is just me, but I would find an iPhone app to be an easier way to read Sphinn on the move, rather than having to use the browser instead. Or perhaps I just need an iPad! :D

source: seoptimise

Visualize More Links and Traffic — Ranking the Best SEO Infographics

Creating and publishing infographics has become the new fad for attracting linkbait and traffic. In the last year, we’ve watched the craze for infographics skyrocket as can be seen by this screenshot from Google trends below for the keywords ‘infographic’ and ‘infographics.’

Not only have social media marketers taken up the infographic craze, but SEOs as well. Infographics, done well, can build a large portfolio of quality links. I’ve since noticed many SEO companies who are developing infographics for their clients and pushing them in the social media sphere.

When I discovered that so many SEO infographics already exist, I decided to rate them. David McCandless, at informationisbeautiful.net, revealed four criteria when evaluating information design:

1. Interestingness - Is the content relevant and original, such that the viewer sees value in it?
2. Integrity - Can I trust the content?
3. Form - Is it pleasing to the eye?
4. Function - Is this information useful and useable?

Take a look at his infographic about infographics:

Below, you’ll see some of the best infographics I could find about online marketing. I’ve rated them by giving pluses (+) for each category discussed above.

SEO Infographics

Elliance has, by far, the most search marketing infographics. The infographics cover everything from PDF Optimization to Keyword Clustering. I found most of the infographics contained quality graphics and interesting ideas, but they slightly lacked in functionality — meaning, most of the concepts presented are low-level, basic concepts that most SEOs should already know.

SEO Factors

• Interestingness: +
• Integrity: +
• Form: +
• Function: +

Long Tail SEO

• Interestingness: +
• Integrity: +
• Form: +
• Function: ++

Link Juice

• Interestingness: +
• Integrity:
• Form: +++
• Function: +

Google PageRank Explained

I found this infographic very beneficial in visualizing the Internet in terms of PageRank. PageRank is valued exponentially. While it’s easy to increase PageRank by 1 at the bottom of the mountain (e.g., from 2 to 3), it becomes much harder to increase by 1 (e.g., from 6 to 7) as you move up the mountain.

• Interestingness: ++
• Integrity: +
• Form: +
• Function: +++

Wired Magazine published an interactive infographic about the life of a blog post. With a flash-based, interactive spin, Wired has covered all the avenues of blogging as it moves around the Web, being picked up by search engines, data miners, and social bookmarks. If you haven’t seen it I suggest you check it out.

The Life Cycle of a Blog Post

• Interestingness: ++
• Integrity: ++
• Form: +++
• Function: +

Similar to Wired’s infographic above, The Social Media Effect by Infographicworld.com, shows the travels of content as it makes it’s way through the social media world. My favorite part of this particular infographic is how all the arrows, eventually, point to a Google search engine result for that story. It’s a nice way of showing that great content will bring in lots of quality links.

The Social Media Effect

• Interestingness: ++
• Integrity: +
• Form: ++
• Function: +

Rank Fishkin, from SEOMoz.org, created some pretty creative infographics. Although they are not the most visually appealing, they share some really creative insights about SEO. Great job, Rand.

Professions at the Intersection of Technology, Marketing & Statistics

This is true that SEOs need to wear many hats.

• Interestingness: +++
• Integrity: ++
• Form: +
• Function: ++

How SEOs Spend Their Time

• Interestingness: ++
• Integrity: +++! Those of you working directly with clients know how true this infographic is
• Form: +
• Function: +

Scatterplot of SEO Tactics

This is one of my favorite infographics as it is really helpful for SEOs to know how to spend their time.

• Interestingness: +++
• Integrity: ++
• Form: +
• Function: ++

The Size of the Mobile Market

We’ve seen the mobile market skyrocket in the last few years. Astonishingly, there are only 1.4 billion internet users compared with 4 billion mobile phone users. Any business would do well to understand how to tap into the mobile market. With the influx of smart phones, we’re making sure our clients show up on mobile searches.

• Interestingness: ++
• Integrity: +
• Form: ++
• Function: +

Individuals and Their Online Identities

Flowtown created an interesting infographic about how people utilize the Internet to manage their personal identities. Interesting quote: “Search engines and social media sites now play a central role in building one’s identity online.”

• Interestingness: +++
• Integrity: ++
• Form: ++
• Function: +

Google Facts and Figures

Although Pingdom’s infographic about Google doesn’t entirely pertain to SEO, I thought it was a great visualization of numbers. It is interesting to note how Google’s innovative search technology has made it the leader among search engines.

• Interestingness: +
• Integrity: ++
• Form: ++
• Function: ++

DIYSEO has, by far, some of the most visually creative SEO infographics out there. Most of the infographics show how SEO is a must-have in Internet marketing. While I’m only showing three here, DIYSEO has lots more. Go over to the site to check them out.

The Case of Disappearing Ink

Interesting visual graph displaying search methods by demographic:

• Interestingness: ++
• Integrity: ++
• Form: +++
• Function: +

Value of SEO v. PPC

This quote emphasizes the importance of SEO: “When buying, PPC links produce 25% less conversion than SEO.”

• Interestingness: ++
• Integrity: ++
• Form: +++
• Function: +

SEO ROI is King

It’s nice to know that SEO holds the largest ROI.

• Interestingness: ++
• Integrity: ++
• Form: +++
• Function: +

SEO FAQs – A Guide

Datadial.net created the most comprehensive SEO infographic. While it doesn’t offer much original material, it covers everything from keyword research to SEO tactics. It’s a nice way to sum up the basics of SEO in one graphic.

• Interestingness: +
• Integrity: +
• Form: +
• Function: ++

Well, there you have it — a semi-complete list of the best SEO infographics out there.

source: seo.com

Twitter Testing New “You Both Follow” Feature

witter is apparently testing a new feature that helps you figure out how you know — or if you want to follow — a given account.

If you catch a glimpse of this feature in the wild, you’ll see a slim strip of avatars on a user’s profile right above the grid of people that user follows. The headline above this reads, “You both follow.”

You can also choose to click the link below this avatar-strip snapshot to see all the people you and the other Twitter user both follow. We’re thinking this will make Twitter a lot more interesting for stalker-types, as well.

Overall, this new feature is a quick reference tool that shows deeper connections in the social media grid, and it’s a simple addition that makes Twitter seem less like a one-way communication tool and more like a robust, legitimate social network.

Also, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that this feature is ever so similar to Facebook’s featuring mutual friends when you visit the profile of one of your current Facebook friends. But we won’t be so petty as to accuse Twitter of stealing the feature; we might, however, say that the mutual friends snapshot is sufficientweregild for Twitter features that Facebook has appropriated over the years.

Will this feature, if and when it’s rolled out to all users, make it easier for you to keep track of who’s who — and who you might actually know in some meaningful context — on Twitter?

source: mashable

49 ways to get traffic to your website

Everyone wants to know and find out ways to increase traffic to their websites. Unfortunately this is not a simple push a button and you will receive more visitors to your website tip. It involves allot of hard work and patience. Hey…isn’t that what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about?

It means nothing by receiving a 1000 un-targeted visitors and hits to your website a day. What if those 1000 visitors were target driven by any service your company has to offer? Internet marketing is not just about driving traffic to your website. It is about turning those visitors into sales leads.

49 tips on how to increase traffic to your website

1. Write and submit articles to the article directories.
2. Leave comments on other people’s blogs with a back link to your site.
3. Answer people’s questions on www.answers.yahoo.com.
4. Post in forums and have a link to your site in your signature.
5. Write a press release and submit it to www.PRWeb.com.
6. Advertise your website in the appropriate category on www.CraigsList.com.
7. Give an unbiased testimonial on a product/service that you have used in exchange for a back link to your site.
8. Start a blog and submit it to free blog directories.
9. Manually submit your website to the major search engines.
10. Optimize each page of your website for a particular keyword or search phrase.
11. Add a link in your email signature to your website. It’s a free and easy way to get a little more traffic.
12. Make a custom 404 error pages for your website redirecting people to your home page.
13. Use PPC search engine advertising.
14. Add a “bookmark this site” link to your WebPages.
15. Have a tell-a-friend form on your site.
16. Send articles to ezines publishers that include a link to your website.
17. Hold a crazy content and make it go viral.
18. Give away a freebie to keep people coming back to your site.
19. Add an RSS feed to your blog.
20. Submit your site to any related niche directories on the net.
21. Participate in a banner or link exchange program.
22. Create a software program and give it away for free.
23. Purchase the misspellings or variations of your domain name, or those of your competitors.
24. Buy a domain name related to your niche that is already receiving traffic and forward it to your site.
25. Pass out business cards with your domain on them everywhere you go.
26. Start and affiliate program and let your affiliates send you visitors.
27. Start a page on social networking sites such as www.MySpace.com.
28. Submit a viral video to www.YouTube.com
29. Conduct and publish surveys to your website.
30. Find joint venture partners that will send you traffic.
31. Start your own newsletter or ezines.
32. Use a auto responder or email campaign to keep people coming back to your site.
33. Purchase ads on other sites.
34. Send a free copy of your product to other site owners in exchange for a product review.
35. Sell or place classified ads on www.eBay.com or www.bidorbuy.co.za with a link to your site.
36. Post free classified ads on any of the sites that allow them with a link to your site.
37. Exchange reciprocal links with other related websites.
38. Network with other people at seminars or other live events.
39. Purchase advertising in popular newsletters or ezines.
40. Advertise on other product’s “thank you” pages.
41. Create a free eBook and list in on the “free eBook” sites.
42. Buy and use a memorable domain name.
43. Do something controversial.
44. Create an Amazon profile and submit reviews for books and other products that you have read.
45. Start a lens on www.Squidoo.com.
46. Use a traffic exchange.
47. Get referrals from similar but non-competing sites.
48. Create and sell a product with resell or giveaway rights.
49. Email your list. If you don’t have one, get one.

source: http://blog.wsioms.co.za/

10 Important Facts of Blog Promotion

Almost every blogger aims to grow their blog and reach a larger audience. Unfortunately, most new bloggers don’t know much about promoting a blog when they are just getting started. The good news is you will learn pretty quickly if you are consistently involved and working at promoting your blog. Here are ten things that I have learned to be true from my experience.

1. Building Significant Search Engine Traffic Will Take Time

New blogs generally take several months, at least, before they gain enough trust from search engines to produce any type of significant flow of traffic. If you are planning to focus on search engines as your primary source of traffic, you would be well advised to also focus on some other sources of traffic, especially in the early months.

Building a blog that is search engine-friendly is critical if you want to maximize search traffic, so take care of that from the start and focus on creating great content that others will talk about and link to.

2. Not All Traffic Is Equal

No two sources of traffic are quite the same. I get a good percentage of the traffic at my blog through social media, and I can attest to the fact that social media traffic is generally less responsive and less likely to stick around than visitors from most other sources. Focusing on stats without looking at the true results can cause a bit of an illusion. Sure, visitors are great, but are they leaving after being on the blog for 30 seconds and never returning?

Search engine traffic is highly sought after because these visitors are actively looking for what you have to offer. But other types of traffic have strong points too. Visitors who are referred from another blog will generally be more responsive since they have been recommended by someone they trust. Every source of traffic has pros and cons, so try to take these things into consideration when you are promoting your blog and analyzing the results.

3. Consistent Posting Is Key

Most bloggers need to keep publishing new posts in order to keep traffic at a certain level. Some bloggers are able to generate large amounts of search engine traffic to older posts to the point that traffic will be fairly sustained without new posts, but this is pretty rare. New posts keep subscribers coming back, they keep social media votes coming, and they keep adding new pages to search engine indexes.

Posting consistently doesn’t mean that you have to post every day, it simply means that you need to publish content on a regular basis, whatever that may be. Almost every blog that successfully draws traffic is publishing new posts with some consistency.

4. Consistent Traffic Is Almost Impossible

Although posting needs to be consistent to keep traffic levels up, that doesn’t mean that it will keep traffic levels consistent. Every blog has ups and downs and two days are rarely the same. This is a natural occurrence and it should be embraced or else it can become very frustrating. Make sure that you enjoy the times when traffic is high, and keep on plugging away to get through the slower times. Blogging would almost be boring is traffic levels didn’t fluctuate like they do.

5. Repeat Visitors Should Be the Goal

Yes, it’s great to see an impressive number of unique visitors arriving at your blog, but how many of them will be back? Repeat visitors are the lifeblood of blogs. Subscribers, of course, are most likely to keep coming back, so focusing on subscribers is typically a good thing.

Repeat visitors will not only help to improve your overall traffic flow and stats, more importantly they will be your most responsive visitors in terms of comments, social media votes, sales, and just about anything else. As they keep coming back and reading your blog, you will be earning more of their trust and your network will grow.

6. Links Help In Several Ways

Building inbound links is a priority for most bloggers, and for good reason. They drive click-through traffic from other blogs, they increase your exposure around the blogosphere, and they help to boost your search engine rankings. Link building is often prioritized because of search engine rankings, but the other factors should not be overlooked. If you blog in a competitive niche, recognition and exposure will be critical in convincing visitors that they should pay attention to you. Getting a few links from respected blogs can help with search engine traffic, but the added credibility that you get can be just as important, especially for newer bloggers.

7. Balance Is Important

Diversity in traffic will help you to avoid losing a huge percentage of your visitors if something unforeseen happens. Search engine rankings are not permanent, especially with Google being so ready and willing to penalize blogs who they feel have violated their guidelines. If you rely too heavily on search engine traffic you could find yourself losing a big portion of your traffic at any given time.

Also, social media traffic is extremely inconsistent, so just because you have been getting decent traffic doesn’t mean it will continue. The best approach is to spread things out and focus on growing traffic from several sources rather than just one. That way you will always be safe and you won’t depend on a particular source for your livelihood.

8. Smaller Sources of Traffic Shouldn’t Necessarily Be Ignored

Not all sources of traffic will send thousands of visitors, but that doesn’t mean that they are not valuable. For example, participating in forums is likely to drive some traffic to your blog, but not tons. However, those visitors can be very valuable because they have met you or learned from you through the forum and they’ll be more likely to subscribe and become a loyal reader.

Likewise, leaving comments on other blogs will bring some traffic, but it is rare that any one comment will bring a lot of visitors. Still, this traffic is valuable because many times they have clicked through due to something that you said catching their attention.

Don’t simply assume that traffic is measured only in terms of numbers. Smaller sources of traffic have been instrumental in building many successful blogs.

9. Networking Is Critical

All successful bloggers are surrounded by a strong network of other successful bloggers. This is something that I didn’t really think much about before I started blogging, but I quickly came to realize the importance of networking.

A strong network will provide you with friends and colleagues that can be a help when you need some advice, they can provide links to your blog, they can give you social media votes, they can be an inspiration and encouragement to you, and they can even wind up being your partners in future projects. Being a strong networker is all about being willing to help others and being proactive in meeting others.

10. Blog Traffic Can Be Bought for Relatively Little Money

If you are interested in getting some extra promotion or growing your blog quickly, there are a number of affordable advertising options that will drive real traffic to your blog. Pay Per Click ads can be very effective and inexpensive (depending on what words and phrases you bid on). StumbleUpon advertising is another option. You can purchase their traffic for just $0.05 per visitor. Even banner advertisements on other blogs can be relatively cheap. Running an ad for a month or more will give you exposure to a new audience and if you were to calculate a cost-per-click it is usually pretty low.

source: dailyblogtips