Well all day today I was dragging (it may be because last night I was hanging out at the pool with some friends until 10:30) and taking naps, and OF COURSE night time rolls around and I am not tired what so ever! 

SO………….I thought this would be a great time to talk about the launch of a new site that I think is pretty dang cool (not just cause its mine) but the idea behind it could be a great resource for all internet marketers, and SEO’s out there!

I mentioned it in a blog done the other day on tag clouds but here it is once again in its new design pretty much all ready to go (except for a few minor adjustments: http://www.truthaboutseo.com

I wanted to create a great “tagging” and ” social bookmarking” site that would be like the great ones http://del.icio.us , http://www.reddit.com and http://www.digg.com with one MAJOR twist - Just focus on SEO sites, and search engine marketing sites.  I want one source to refer back to for SEO related items.  I hate having to go back and forth between all of the social networks out there to find all my sources and sites I have tagged, so I am bringing them all together on http://www.truthaboutseo.com …

Now, like I said, I still have a few ”kwirks” to work out (and we have to clean up the site from non-seo sites that have already been submitted, but the structure of the site is working and its based on del.icio.us type open-source software.  We just hacked away at it to make it look so good!  Major props to my friend, partner and web designer - Mr. Brandon Buttars. 

I am still working out the design of the Truth About SEO blog and Truth About SEO forum, but they will have the look and feel of the Truth About SEO site.  I would LOVE to hear any feedback about this idea, and how I can truly make it one of the BEST SEO RESOURCE SITES on the web!

For now, feel free to submit your SEO related tags and sites while there is not much “admin-ing” going on (if you know what I mean)  And NO, this is not an invitation to SPAM…it really is in your best interest not to spam the new site!

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Its an important reminder for us all now and again to talk about how Google works in regards to ranking your entire website. As you can see from the title of this post Google does not rank “entire websites”, but they do rank all the pages of a website individually.

Why is this important for me to know?

When you are starting to create your website (in the first few steps of design) you should keep in mind that every page you create has the potential to get ranked. Because of that, if done properly, you have more pages that have a chance of getting rankings. Let me explain:

Lets say you create a great super-informative site with 300 pages loaded full of unique content teaching people how to protect themselves online. Well, if you make the mistake of using the same title tag, meta-description and meta-keywords on each and everypage of the site, Google is (more then likely) going to be seeing all pages other than the homepage as a “supplemental result”. That means its hard for Google to give wieght to a certain keyword or phrase on all the other 299 pages since you are using the same information in these areas. In other words, if all pages are using the same meta info, Google can’t help you rank good for a specific keyword or phrase since all pages are going after the same words. However, if you are able to use different words on every single page it makes it easier for them to rank you for more keywords and phrases.

This can lead to more traffic, and the ability to be ranked for more then just one or two words. Also, you can get more then just your homepage ranked for certain keywords and phrases.

There are certain pages that really do not need to be optimized such as the “about us” or “contact us” pages. Those pages are mostly created for people that have found your site to know who they are dealing with and how to get a hold of you in case they need to!

In conclusion, make sure you are making your content unique on all pages as well as the title tag, and all meta tags. Obvisouly there are way more steps to onsite optimization, but even following these simple rules can help you get more pages ranked, have the ability to go after more keywords, and in turn get more traffic!

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With the strong force of “social networks” and “communities” taking over the web its important to learn some of the lingo, as well as implement the technology into your website to please the web 2.0 generation.

Tag clouds make searching for whats popular and “hot” so much easier then traditional search engine listings.  For Example:

A tag cloud, known as a weighted list in the field of visual design is a visual depiction of content tags used on a site. Often, more frequently used tags are depicted in a larger font. or in some other way over-emphasized, while the displayed order is mostly alphabetical.  Finding a tag by alphabet and by popularity is possible, making what you are looking for much easier. Selecting a single tag within a tag cloud will generally lead to a collection of items that are associated with that tag.

The first (well known) tag cloud first showed up on the very popular site photo sharing site called Flickr.  Other sites more recently that have popularised by tag clouds include Technorati and even media sites such as PRWeb.

Any search engine marketer that really wants to take advantage of this “tag cloud” technology can do so with little skill or effort.  A great site where you can make your own tag cloud can be found at http://swicki.eurekster.com/

Another great example of how tag clouds work can be found at a site I have been developing and putting together for the last little while:  Truth About SEO … Just another great example of how people that use these communities can benefit from the most popular tags and find more relevant information.

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http://logopond.com/ 

Just wanted to share something with everybody (that was shared to me) by my good buddy Brandon Buttars. 

I have done posts in the past that talk alot about branding, and what needs to be done to accomplish self branding.  Alot of the problem as I see it is that people want to brand themselves, they are just not creative enought to think about ideas themselves.  This is why I wanted to share this site.  It is a great resource to help you get starting ideas for logo’s and what needs to be done to start the logo branding process.  Infact, the website has a subtitle that reads: “A place to find ideas.”

Think about the logos that you are most familiar with … ie: Coke, Pepsi, Wal-Mart … when I say these names you can instantly think about the logo that is associated with them.  You need to achieve this with your website and branding.  When thinking of you, your logo must come to mind.  Have fun looking around and remember how important good logo branding is.

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Just wanted to share a quick note with everybody to check out thier sites page rank, as it looks like Google went through another PR update over the weekend.  Its been a while (since the last) and I knew it had to be coming soon.  One thing that is still strange, is it still seems that Google is not giving much PR love to the “pre bid daddy” sites.  Sites and pages built after big daddy seem to be getting better PR.  This may just be the case with a few sites I am seeing, but I would love to hear about where your PR is at and if your site was created pre or post big daddy.

Also something I would check out is to see the number of IBL (In Bound Links) on Google now.  Has your number increased or decreased?  Again, try to remember if your site is pre or post big daddy and it could shed some light if the number has decreased.  Not sure why some of the things happen the way they do, but lets just keep an eye on things for a while and see what happens!

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OK, for a buck 99 you can’t be complaining about the price, but a great blog directory submission service I found can be found here:  FeedShot You will get submission into the following blog directories.  Well worth paying the money because with so much blog spam out there your chances of getting accepted to any of these through a free submission is highly un-likely!

blo.gs
Blogdex
Blogdigger
BlogPulse
BlogStreet
Bloogz
FyberSearch
IceRocket
NewsMob
Postami
PressRadar.com
Rocket RSS Reader
Technorati
WeBlogAlot
Google Blog Search

Remember, this is just a starting point and you should always be looking for new blog directories to be getting into.  Niche ones are always the best to find, in order to build up your credibility.  Getting your blog noticed is the first step though and this is a good cheap route in getting started….BUT AGAIN…remember, this is just for starters!!!  Happy Blog Submitting!

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Just wanted to share a cool new tool I found today from SEOmoz KUDOS to the guys at SEOmoz for creating this very useful and helpful SEO tool…. Heres the breakdown (of this tool) as I see it:

• Importance of a website and its visibility with the search engines. 
• Does this site carry a good page rank, and potential for future page rank. 
• Link popularity.  Who is linking to you?  Helps you find the Inbound Link Quality. 

This tool will tell any search engine optimizer/marketer more information about the competition and how their site stacks up.  This is a really good in depth analysis tool that will help any level SEO or search engine marketer better understand the market they are going up against.

Here is the link to the tool: SEOmoz Page Rank Tool

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I have never endorsed any SEO Book (or search engine optimization miracle book) … EVER.  That all chages today (as you see from the banner at the top right of the blog).  I have never written an SEO Book either because I do not have the time to keep it up to date.  (Don’t be fooled it really does change almost on a daily basis!)

Well, I wanted to share with everyone who reads my blog the single best source for learning, and understanding the Search Engine’s better:

SEO BOOK BY AARON WALL

I would recommend getting this book TODAY.  You will learn more, and gain more against the competition from reading this book, and implementing the strategies, then by doing anything else!

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Just wanted to share something that I think Google hit a homerun with!  Google Checkout … It is a very simple shopping cart that I don’t even want to compare to paypal.  Its goal is to simplify shopping and from what I see so far its doing just that.  BESIDES ME, I have been reading what people are saying about how simple the checkout process is with Google Checkout.  Most shopping cart programs have atleast a 4 step process.  With Google Checkout its a one step process, and you can use it to buy anything, and use it anywhere you shop online!

It is very easy to integrate into any website as well.  If you sell ebooks and use programs such as clickbank, you will love now being able to use Google Checkout to simplify the process, and also have the trusted name of Google next to your “buy nows”

I have only been using it for a little while now and have not found any bugs personally, but I am sure some will arise and will be fixed when needed, but for now I think this is a home run by Google!

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A quick post (for website design) is a site Brandon Buttars showed me and I would like to share.  Good for those more familiar with CSS and who like creating sites with CSS.  A quick and easy way to get a website created with little skill.  To check it out click on the link: http://www.cssremix.com/

This would be a great site to view if you are struggling trying to figure out how to start your design.

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