Cameron Gibbs

One of the first things I learned about building a web site was the difference between static sites and dynamic sites. Though I’m not a programmer, I’ll try to do my best to explain the difference between the two and why static pages are crucial to SEO…

Static pages are pages that you create that don’t include any code that will make the content of the page change. For example, your standard old HTML web page is a static page. A dynamic page, on the other hand, is database driven. Dynamic pages are pages that are built by pieces pulled from different tables in a database that come together to form a page; they are built on-the-fly and they don’t really exist as pages within the web sites directory. They use more advanced code such ASP or PHP. Webcrawlers like the googlebot, can’t/don’t crawl pages that don’t exist.

One of the other benefits to a static web site is the url. The url for a static page uses the file name of the web page which you determine. This will allow you to put keywords for the page in the url. Dynamic pages, conversely, contain long query strings that don’t really describe the page. As an example, here is a page that uses a static, seo-friendly url, and here is a page that uses a dynamic url.

To prove that the url is a factor in determining the web pages’ relevancy, do a search for extension cable in google and notice that google bolds the keywords in the url of each of the sites listed.

If you have a dynamic site and none of your pages are getting indexed, switch to static pages or you’ll be fighting an uphill battle just to get your pages indexed, let alone ranking well in the search engines.

There are a number of things to keep in mind when building inbound links to your site. The most important is the anchor text. On a side note, I have something to confess… for years, I never knew what the “a” stood for when I was creating a link by typing a href=blah, blah, blah. Once I learned about anchor text for SEO, it suddenly occurred to me that that’s what that lonely a stands for. Anyway, back to SEO…

So, if you sell widgets, and you want to optimize your site so that it comes up first in Google when someone is searching for a widget, you use widget as the anchor text for those inbound links.

Another significant aspect that the googlebot and other webcrawlers record and consider is the location of the link on the page. The best placement is in the primary content of the page or in the upper sections or left side. Text-Link-Ads.com is a site that brokers link renting and they have a calculator that tells you which locations on the page are considered the most valuable, a good indication of where you want your links to be.

It is also important to point a significant number of inbound links to your homepage for a couple of reasons. First, your homepage likely links to other pages on your site so it will pass linkjuice on to them. Also, though I’m not sure I totally believe this one, Google may discount a site that has serious linkage to a few subpages but little linkage to the homepage.

Remember to try to get links from quality sites. Google makes it very easy to know which sites are quality sites… they have a good PageRank. You can see a sites PageRank by downloading and installing the Google toolbar.

So, when building links, remember anchor text, the location of the inbound link on the page, and links from quality pages are all key to SEO.

Every SEO will agree that the most important factor in SEO is backlinks, both quality and quantity — it’s no secret.

There are a number of ways to get other sites to link to you… here’s a few: reciprocal links (you link to someone and they link to you), renting links through a broker or directly from another site, buying permanent links, sponsoring or advertising on sites (pretty much the same as renting), etc. You can also comment on others blogs and link back to your site or write in online article directories, such as ezine articles, and include a link to your site. But the cheapest and the best way to build links is by the sweat of your brow — developing a quality, valuable site that other sites will link to.

You can see how many sites are linking to you by typing the following in the google search bar link:yourdomainname.com. In yahoo, type linkdomain:yourdomainname.com. You’ll notice that Google and Yahoo will also list pages on your site that link to the homepage… this is normal.

So, when optimizing your site for search engines, the number one thing you can do is build links, lots and lots of links! There are a number of other things to consider when you’re building links… but I’ll leave that for tomorrow. It’s past my bedtime right now.

I was once made fun of because I joked that I had drank two slimfasts and lost 3 lbs. Well, there’s actually a drink out ther that claims to have negative calories (you burn more than you consume by drinking it - between 60 and 100).

By my calculations, if you burn 100 calories drinking a 12-ounce can of Enviga, you only have to down 35 cans to lose a pound. Who’s laughing now? Ha, ha, ha.

Inspired by my dad, I’m subscribing to a “joke of the day” blog. I did a search and, from the little research I did, I’m gonna try www.jokeoftheday.com. The jokes I read so far were clean and funny so I think I’ll like it. If anyone knows of a better site, give out a shout… thanks.

Next week, I will share 5 tips (one tip each day) on search engine optimization. This is something I plan to do over the next several weeks. I plan to share tips on the most common, effective forms of internet marketing, specifcally, pay-per-click advertising, comparison shopping engines, affiliate marketing, email, merchandising, and maybe a little on promotions, blogs, and banners (CPM).

The tips will certainly not be comprehensive and will be a mix of beginner’s, intermediate, and advanced.

On a totally unrelated note, I posted this entry as I watched the ending of the Dallas - Seattle WILD card playoff game. Poor Tony Romo… he will never hear the end of it… you could certainly feel his pain as he walked off the field with his head hanging low. Interestingly, the commentators never recognized what #27 of the Seahawks did… if it weren’t for his shoestring tackle from behind, Romo would have had six points or a first down, at the least.

Yesterday I got an email from a friend to support Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee for president in 2008 (he recently announced he’s going to run for the presidency). The email included this link to a video biography of Mr. Romney.

Since the presidential election is so far away and there are many issues yet to be debated among the candidates, I’m in no hurry to make up my mind as to who to I’ll be voting for in ‘08. However, since Mitt and I share the same religious beliefs, he can’t be all that bad, despite the fact that he’s a politician. Though I think his chances of winning the nomination, let alone the election, are quite slim, it’s fun to entertain the idea of a Mormon president.

A while back, Google Adwords added a setting to campaigns called “delivery method”. The setting includes two options: 1) Standard: shows ads evenly over time and 2) Accelerated: shows ads as quickly as possible. Surprisingly, Google sets the standard option as the default. Common sense would be to make the accelerated option the default. Read on…

If every $10 in ad spend results in $20 gain, why would anyone want to spread out a limited budget over the day? That also leads to another question… why would anyone want to limit their budget? I can’t think of a scenario in which setting a limited budget and spreading it out over the day makes sense. Anyone that can think of one, I’d love to hear it.

Those that have a very high budget that they never come close to reaching probably don’t have to worry about the delivery method, though I’d switch it just to be safe. If you aren’t hitting your budget than your ads will show all day, regardless of which option is selected.

Yesterday I mentioned remarks I remembered that were made by my dad’s boss about my dad at his funeral. After writing the post, I thought I’d listen to his comments again (it was the first time I heard the recording since the funeral). Upon listening to it again, I realized that there were other very meaningful and insightful things said that I didn’t remember.

With permission, I’ve made the talk available for download (click here). I think what he said would be of benefit to any and every businessman or woman.

At my dad’s funeral back in September, my dad’s boss, Paul Spencer, spoke for a few minutes. One of the things he said that has really stuck with me was that ‘Ned’ (my dad) “had his priorities right… God, family, work and fun.” He talked about how great of an employee he was, how much he cared about others, and how much everyone admired him. As proud as I was of my dad, Paul’s words made me even prouder. I was so impressed that my dad was living in such a way that even his boss was able to tell what was most important to him. I’ve since wondered if the same thing could be said about me.

The events of the last couple of weeks of my life have brought me to a realization of what really matters. Over the last couple of years I think I really lost focus as my heart and mind were really caught up in work… which is fine while you’re at work but not when your at home.

Over the last couple of months, I gave a shot at owning and running my own business and I’ve learned that its not really what I want right now. It’s not that I was working more than 40 hours a week, but that it was hard to not think about the business and letting it have my attention 24/7. I’ve decided that no matter what business venture/job I pursue right now, that when I come home from work, I don’t bring it with me.

Of course, I plan on spending time outside of work to benefit my employer/career but to an extent that it doesn’t become a distraction at home.