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Keyword Research in 7 Easy Steps

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Keywords and Keyword Research: Internet’s Foundations

Keywords, and keyword research are indeed the foundations of the internet. Their work never end. Further, keyword metrics is the art, science and common sense of using data to improve the performance of keywords.

These three terms are important, interrelated, and at first confusing. But with practice, you will master them and conduct meaningful keyword research.

Search engine optimization (SEO) begins with thoughtful keyword research for: 1.  websites, 2. pdfs, 3. images, 4. alt tags, 5. infographic file names, and so much more. This means that every element on your website should be optimized with the best keywords.

Please resist the urge to dismiss keyword research because it seems too complex. Just take smaller and slower steps until you have mastered every part of it.

Commit yourself to improving your research skills with every on-page and off-page SEO opportunity. Slowly but surely your skills will improve.

This article explores basic keyword research methods, basic keyword metrics, and the supporting keyword tools (both free and paid) to help you improve your skills.

What Are Keywords?

Keywords are what you type into the search engine box to find information on the internet. Keywords are words or phrases that describe a product, service, brand, or idea. Keywords are used in search queries by users, and also by search engines for indexing. They are vital to any successful SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (paid per click), or content efforts (blog articles, ads, landing pages, and more).

There are three types of keywords: 1. head, 2. body, and 3. long tail. Generally, the longer a keyword (which also matches the buyer’s intent) the higher the conversion rate. Long tail keywords consist of 3+ words and are the most prized. Generally they have a higher conversion rate.

Head keywords are one or two words long. They typically are used by large well-financed companies with the resources (for ads, SEO experts, copywriters, marketing agencies, etc.) to fight for rank in a highly competitive markets such as the “insurance” market.

Thus body  keywords consist of keywords that are 2 to three words long. They also are very competitive, but a skilled keyword researcher can find low competition, good traffic body keywords. These keywords can be used with primarily head or long tail keyword searches to bring well-rounded, long term targeted webpage traffic.

Again long tail keywords are most prized. This is true because they attract the exact type of web visitors interested in your website.

Wedding Example

For example, if a fashion-forward wealthy bride is planning to travel in two weeks to a distant European city for an impromptu wedding. She is looking for couture shoes. Then “buy couture designer bridal shoes” (buyer intent + long tail keyword) will convert higher than “shoes”.

The term “shoes” (head keyword) will undoubtedly include heavy duty construction work shoes. The phrase “bridal shoes” (body keyword) will undoubtedly include used shoes from a thrift store.

Neither of these types of shoes will the wealthy bride buy for her wedding day. But the long tail keyword “buy couture designer bridal shoe” will convert higher even though the shoes will be very expensive. It is exactly what the wealthy bride wants to find  and she has the intent to purchase this specific type of shoes—NOW!

Therefore if you are a small web owner with limited resources, a “long tail” keyword should have a higher conversion rate than a “head” keyword. This an important reason to master keyword research so that you can maximize your resources.

Keywords Research’s Main Goal?

Keywords are not generally targeted for the entire website. Rather they are targeted for a specific webpage. A benefit of this is that although a long tail keyword has lower traffic volume when combined with the other pages, the combined traffic could be substantial.

Therefore you should keep this in mind when conducting keyword research. Although your research might generate many keywords, this massive amount of information will become naturally and optimally organized when . . . the best keywords are placed on the best pages and match the ideal visitor intent (to buy, donate, complete a form, etc.).

This is the main goal of keyword research. You want to place the best keyword on the best page with the correct visitor intent.

What Are Keyword Metrics?

A broad definition of metrics is: “metrics. a standard for measuring or evaluating something, especially one that uses figures or statistics[.]” Therefore, for keyword metrics you want to evaluate if a keyword for a webpage is ranking high on search engine results pages.

Keyword metrics is a technical term that makes  people feel that keyword research is very difficult. Yet, it simply means to analyze relevant data and find the best keywords for a specific webpage. The goal of  keyword metrics is for your webpages to achieve the highest search engine page rank for a specific keyword.

A better term for “keyword metrics” might be “keyword ranking opportunities indicators.” You want to look at the keyword data that indicate that a keyword has low competition and good traffic volume.

Further you want to ensure that the other keyword metrics indicates that a  keyword will allow you to rank first (or at least in the top ten website) on the first page of a Google search engine results page.

Keyword Research and You

You must always be willing to study and understand new keyword metrics. This will allow you to develop skills to fine-tune the keywords on your webpages.

Again, to help ensure high page rank, the webpage must be fully SEO optimized for organic traffic (for both on-page and on-page optimization). This means more study. But you can master it with practice.

Seven Step Keyword Research Plan

If you are a novice researcher, then keep things simple. You want to focus on this  Seven Step Keyword Research Plan:

  1. Determine Your Visitors’ Ideal Intent for Each Webpage
  2. Make a Seed List of Relevant Keyword
  3. Research long tail keywords
  4. Research traffic volume for one month
  5. Research traffic volume for one year
  6. Research True Competition
  7. Expand, then Categorize Your Keyword List

So just focus on these seven steps for your first 5 keyword searches and gradually add more keyword metrics that makes sense for your niche. More details about this is given below.

Seven Step Keyword Research Plan Explained

We assume you already have an ideal niche. If not, please our blog article on how to select a niche.

Of course you can alter or expand the steps below to suit your needs. Again we want to keep thing simple so that you will continue to grow in your understanding of keyword research. But mostly importantly, that you start and complete each keyword research you start. Don’t give up!

1.  Determine Your Visitor’s Ideal Intent for Each Webpage

You must have to such specific keywords that match the ideal visitor’s specific intent for a webpage in order to attract the correct web visitor.. Here is an excellent article that explains the stages the average visitor goes through before making a purchase. Here is an article explains the broad  types of keyword intent. Here is an article  on commercial intent keywords.

2. Make a Seed List of Relevant Keywords

You are passionate about your product and services. You practically know everything there is to know about your industry. You also have read sales brochures, checked the competition, and more. That is fantastic news, now think about the topics (keywords) you for your niche.

Make a list of the terms the potential visitors in your market actually use to make sure there is not a disconnect between the terms you use and the terms they use. You can talk to people. You visited online forums, and Questions and Answers websites.

Your potential visitors are most likely asking questions about  specific terms and might include terms that are new to you. Include them in your lists.  These lists will serve as a guide later in the process to identify quality keywords that will direct traffic to your webpage.

Next use a keyword suggestion tool that will suggest more keywords related to the niche. Perhaps  you will find more keywords that are new to you.

3. Research Long Tail Keywords

In the above steps, you laid a thorough foundation of keywords. Now you have to drill down your list to find the best keywords.

In this step, you have to pay attention to the keywords that could drive the most targeted visitors to website. The involves checking the key words through with various keyword tools that will give you reasonably accurate information on competition and traffic volume. This will be taught in the Pretty Please Passive Income courses.

4. Research Traffic Volume for One Month

Without traffic from visitors it is not possible for your website to be effective. You need traffic to make sales, provide information and to do all the other things you want to do with your website.

5. Research Traffic Volume for One Year

By analyzing traffic volume for one year, you will be able to determine if your product or service is seasonal. If it is, then you will want to offset it with other products or services.

6. Research Your True Competition

Keyword research is largely about numbers. Sometimes, the numbers do not reflect reality. Perhaps your data show that a keyword is ideal but your know that in reality it is a domain name of an authority site. So despite the emphasis on numbers and data, you still have to use your common sense to make a final decision.

7. Expand, Then Categorize Your Keyword List

Write down the related search terms (synonyms, appropriate head, and body keywords, etc.) which are displayed at the bottom of search engine result pages. Those search suggestions are likely high quality keywords.

Have a balanced mix of both head, body, and long-tail keywords. This simply means when creating the list of keywords, avoid making your keywords too short or generic. Do not restrict yourself to two to three words. Have four, five or six words. Better yet make short sensible sentences.

At this point you will begin to realize there is a larger universe of quality keywords than you initially believed when you first began your keyword search. The point is: let the research data suggest. Don’t be limited by you earlier ideas about the keywords you thought were ideal.l you which keys are best. You must be willing to again drill down and dismiss keywords you realize will not work regardless of how much time and money you might invest in them.

So you found the near-perfect pool of keywords. Now carefully categorize the best keywords to the appropriate visitor’s keyword intent of each specific page. Matching the best keyword to the specific page with the correct visitor intent. This is the entire point of all your keyword research. Again, slow down and carefully complete this step.

Important Keyword Metrics

How do you track, monitor and evaluate their performance? This is what keyword metrics is all about and understanding the basics of keyword metrics is important. In order to be successful  online, you need to understand, track, analyze the metrics to improve the keywords performances.

Below are basic metrics to know when embarking on a search engine optimization campaign, for both on-page and off-page. As you know, this is not a complete list of keyword performance metrics. Rather, slowly increase your understanding of how to use data, fine-tuned skills, and common sense to determine the strength of keywords.

  1. Average Monthly Search Volumes, and One Year of Search Volumes

This provides information on how popular, and the seasonality of  a particular keyword is amongst search engine users.

  1. Keyword Rank

This metric shows you how well your webpage ranks for a specific keyword that a potential visitor searches for when looking for your product or services. It also lets you know whether there are opportunities to improve the rank of a keyword.

  1. Visit/Leads per keyword

These metrics tells you the amount of traffic being driven to your website by your keywords. It also shares insight on how many of the visits, converted into leads for your business.

  1. Bounce Rate

This metric shows the rate at which visitors exit your website, without engaging with your content or viewing additional pages.

Keyword Tools

This can be overwhelming especially if you’re new to SEO. However, there are many free 4. and paid  tools that can help with processing raw data. When you find a keyword tool that you find useful, search it to understand its strengths and weaknesses.

Ask such questions as: Where is it collecting the raw data? Are the final numbers seasonably accurate? What are SEO experts saying about the tool? Such questions will help you determine if you should use another keyword tool to offset the weaknesses of a particular tool.

Below are free and paid tools, for a wide range of budgets, for each of the seven steps. No one tool is absolutely complete or perfect. We listed some quality keyword research tools. To prevent information overload, just try a few of them that interest you. Try the others only  if you want to compare keyword tools.

Free tools  can be useful but some do not provide keyword metrics. Some of the paid tools have a trial period, so that you can try them before buying them to determine if these tools are correct for you.

Seven Step Keyword Research Plan and Suggested Keyword Tools

1. Determine Your Potential Visitors’ Ideal Intent for Each Webpage

  • Excel Sheet or its free alternatives
  • Any method that you can do to note the intent for each specific webpage (for example: buy, donate, subscribe)

2. Make a Seed List of Relevant Keywords

  • Brainstorm, existing written materials, videos, training materials, and other such information (free).
  • Your website’s analytic dashboard:  Include  on your seed list keywords your are currently ranking from organic searches (free).
  • Google Keyword Planner Google Keyword Planner [(free, provides keyword metrics). (If needed, search how you can sign up without a credit card if you are not yet for using paid adwords)]. This tool is designed for ads but can be used for SEO). If you are  new to Google Keyword Planner, then keep detailed notes on how to conduct basic keyword research. You might find that your steps will change as you gain more experience.
  • Google Suggest/Google Autocomplete function (free).This tool suggest words as you type in Google’s  search box.
  • Yoast Suggest (free)  This tools is similar to Google Suggest but provides a more expanded list of sugges.
  • Google Correlate (free) This tool shows you related keywords.
  • Ubersuggest (free) Get maion.ny suggestions with this tool.
  • TinySuggest.  This tool is similar to Google Suggest but you might get a few more keyword suggestions.
  • Soolve.com A search suggestion tool that combines the suggestion results from the top internet providers  in one place.
  • SEOBook SEO Tools. This fast tool is similar to Google Keyword Planner.
  • Moz: Keyword Explorer. This is a powerful tool the provides excellent keyword metric information.
  • Wordtracker (trial period, paid). A trusted keyword suggestions with  keyword metrics.
  • SEMRush (paid). A keyword tool that is also highly trusted.

3. Research long tail keywords

  • GoogleKeyword Planner (free, provides keyword metrics)
  • Answer the Public: This visual keyword tool helps bloggers and marketers find the best and focused content of based on the questions the public is asking.
  • Longtail Pro.com. This is an excellent tool for long tail keyword research.
  • Hittail.com. This tool assists bloggers with increasing organic traffic by suggesting long tail keywords based on the website.
  • SEOBook SEO Tools. This fast tool is similar to Google Keyword Planner.
  • Moz: Keyword Explorer. This is a powerful tool the provides excellent keyword metric information.
  • SEMRush (paid). A keyword tool that is also highly trusted.

4. Research traffic volume for one month

  • GoogleKeyword Planner (free, provides keyword metrics)
  • Longtail Pro.com. This is an excellent tool for long tail keyword research.
  • Hittail.com. This tool assists bloggers with increasing organic traffic by suggesting long tail keywords based on the website.
  • KWFinder: This tool does an excellent job on helping you to find low completion long tail keywords.
  • Moz: Keyword Explorer. This is a powerful tool the provides excellent keyword metric information.
  • Wordstream. This is a comprehensive keyword research tool.
  • SEMRush (paid). A keyword tool that is also highly trusted.

5. Research traffic volume for one year

  •  Google Trends (free, provides seasona keyword metrics)
  • Longtail Pro.com. This is an excellent tool for long tail keyword research.
  • Hittail.com. This tool assists bloggers with increasing organic traffic by suggesting long tail keywords based on the website.
  • SEMRush (paid). A keyword tool that is also highly trusted.

6. Research True Competition

  • GoogleKeyword Planner (free) Search the domain name of your competitor
  • Open Site Explorer. This tools provides you with demographics, competition metrics, and traffic.
  • Alexa. This tool provides excellent SEO and traffic information.
  • Quantcast. This tool might be useful to some because it provide audience measurement information.
  • SEOBook SEO Tools: This fast tool is similar to Google Keyword Planner.
  • Moz: Keyword Tool: This is a powerful tool the provides excellent keyword metric information.
  • SEMRush(paid): A keyword tool that is also highly trusted.
  • Your Common Sense: Keywords metrics are mostly numbers. ou have to use your com You have to use your common sense about the real world world to make good decisions and not rely 100% on the numbers.

7. Expand, then Finally Categorize Keyword List

You can use Excel  for your keyword spreadsheet or its  alternatives to organize your keywords. Here is a great article about alternatives to Excel spreadsheet for those who do not have it.

Create the headers for your spreadsheet (you might need more than one spreadsheet based on what your want to do). Headers for your keyword spreadsheet could include:

a. Specific Visitor Page Intent,

b. Keyword,

c. Name of Campaign or Projct,

d. Search Volume,

e. Competition (High, Medium, or Low),

f. Availability of domain extension (.com, .org, others)

g. Bid Amounts (if you are doing PPC),

h. Decisions,

i. Notes,

j. Other Needed Headers

If you do not know how to use a spreadsheet try  to learn. But do not let that stop you. You could compile the information manually and although it would be time consuming, you will have a thorough understanding of keyword research.

The point is this: Don’t give up. Use any method that you can easily do, for now, to get keyword information in a logical order.

Now you have a pool of valuable keywords. As stated about you can apply them to your website, but also to your social media , podcasts, landing pages, display ads ,and so much more.

Conclusion

In conclusion, although we cannot disregard the importance of high page rank on search engine page results, or the vital role keyword tools play. Nevertheless quality content remains king. Providing solutions to your audience is the core of any successful online campaign. And yes, quality content must be keyword optimized.

Keywords and keyword research are the foundation of the internet. Start with the major free tools and master them. Conduct internet research to find more free tools for a particular metric not mentioned in article—and master those also. Then move to the trial tools. Then, if needed master the paid tools. Yes, you can become a master at each step.

So continue to learn more so that you can effectively optimized your website, content, images and so much more. As stated earlier, this information will be explained in our courses. Also, we will provide a  detailed infographic and other graphic designs that will outline the entire keyword research process.

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14 Easy Ways to Build High Quality Backlinks

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Backlinks Are Important

Backlinks are important to any website, especially to a new website. The main goal of backlinks is to get higher page rank for a specific keyword.

For example, two websites are nearly identical: “Website A” and “Website B.” However, “Website A” has one relevant backlink from a high authority website. “Website B” has no backlinks. Then based on Google’s search engine algorithms, “Website A” should rank higher on the search engines results page.

Infographic on 14 different ways to get back links to your website

So exactly what is it backlink (also called an inbound link)? A backlink is a hyperlink from an external website—to your website. Let’s say a hypothetical internet businessman reads one of your blog posts about “Professional Football Season Tickets” and thinks your information is valuable to his readers. He could hyperlink from his website to your website—and thus a backlink is created.

Anchor Text Is Important

The anchor text is the highlighted, hyperlinked text for a given link. Concerning backlinks, search engines use anchor text as an indication of the topic of the page and whether it is relevant to the external page. Therefore when creating backlinks to your website, take time to think about the wording of the anchor text. For detailed guidance on anchor text please read: “A Data Driven Guide To Anchor Text (And Its Impact On SEO).”

Topical Text On Both Web Pages

However, the internet businessman would not just choose any page from his website. Rather he wants the information to be useful to his readers. Therefore, he would carefully select a page on his web page that is relevant and “fits naturally” to your blog post.

From this example you see that two things that are crucial for an excellent backlink:

(1) high quality information on your web page, and

(2) a hyperlink from a relevant page on an external website—to your relevant web page.

It is key that the content/topic/keywords on both sides of the hyperlink are relevant to each other.

Here is a real example of a backlink  which shows that the content/topic/keywords are related on both sides of the hyperlink are important to Google.com:

a. PrettyPleasePassiveIncome.com page topic: “first page of the search engine results page”

b. External Website backlink page: “your search engine results page“

Again, it is important that the content/topic/anchor text/keywords on both sides of the hyperlink are relevant to each other. The above example  is an exact match of anchor text to keywords. But for Google’s current algorithm, “natural” anchor text are more important than exact match of anchor text to keywords (please this linked article for suggested percentages of anchor text terms that should not offend Google). 

A natural anchor text includes SEO-friendly synonyms and could also include SEO-friendly  contextual words, for example: “this article discusses page ranking techniques”. Natural anchor text will be discussed in training classes. 

The best backlinks are from relevant web pages of high authority websites that you do not have to buy, ask, or build yourself. But backlinks are too important for you to wait for them. You should start working to create backlinks now.

Link Building Campaign

To build backlinks to your website requires a focused effort and will take months to see traffic, and ranking results. Since every one has different goals for their websites, it is not possible for us to design a link building campaign to suit everyone.

A highly successful campaign requires a detailed personalized long-term plan which is beyond the scope of this article. But here is a simple template of a link building campaign to just give you experience in building diverse types of backlinks (diversity is important). You do not want to focus on one or two types of backlinks because if Goggle chances its algorithm you could be adversely affected like many other websites.

Simple Backlink Building Campaign

Step 1. Determine who is the ideal customer for your product or service.

Step 2. Determine a measurable and achievable link building goal that will contribute to your website’s long term success.

Step 3. Determine how you will daily monitor and record whether you are working toward your goal.

Step 4. Determine your monetary budget, and how much time you can spend each day to achieve your goals.

Step 5. Determine the actual daily steps that will help you achieve your goal (stated in Step 2).

Step 6. Evaluate your efforts.

Step 7. Keep a daily journal using Evernote or One Note to keep notes on what you are doing to build links and the results.

Signed and date to show your commitment to achieving your  goal.

Most of the ways to increase backlinks presented in this article are free and require only your hard work, or can be easily scaled to meet most budgets. Also, keep a detailed journal so you can assess your hard work and the results.

Below are possible answers for someone who wants to increase the backlinks to a Professional Football Blog.

Simple Backlink Building Campaign
For [Your Website]

Step 1. My ideal customer is a person who is an avid fan of professional football.

Step 2. Add at least 15 backlinks to my website in 30 days.

Step 3. I have selected 4 easy but effective ways to build backlinks:

a. Write two quality blog posts each week, preferably at least 1,500 words for each blog.

b. Comment on 1 high quality, niche-related websites every two or three days.

c. Upload a high quality, keyword relevant slide deck to SlideShare.com each week based on one of my blog posts.

d. Upload a high quality, keyword relevant video based on a blog post to a video sharing website.

Step 4. My budget is $50.00 a month. I will do the necessary research to ensure that I have the necessary skill to do new projects well. I will keep everything I do simple and effective to avoid having a reason to give up or to fail.

Step 5. This is what I need to do to achieve my goal of getting at least 15 backlinks to my website in 30 days.

a. I will comment on two websites in the morning before my work day begins.

b. I will conduct research for my blog articles throughout the week; and write both of my blog articles over the weekend.

c. I will outsource my slide deck on Fiverr.com. I will upload the slide deck to a slide sharing website on Sunday night before 7:00 p.m.

d. I will outsource my video creation on Fiverr.com. I will upload the completed video on Sunday night before 8:00 p.m.

e. I will create high quality unique content. I will not duplicate word-for-word the title, anchor text, url, in any of my content or links etc.

Step 6. I will evaluate whether my daily actions are effective. I will daily view referral links  and visitor  counts to my website to see if they are increasing. I understand that some comments are moderated and every comment will not be accepted, if so I will find another website to offer a comment for a backlink. I understand that building backlinks requires a long term effort.

Step 7. I will keep a daily journal in Evernote, One Note, or other journaling method that is easy for me to maintain.

Signed: [Your Name], today’s date

Surely, some will disagree with this simple link building campaign. But the goal is to get started and not to be perfect. You need some experience to gauge your future efforts. You can fine-tune  your link building strategy as needed.

High Quality Content

High quality content naturally attracts people to backlink to your relevant web page. Please read from Moz.com  How to Rank by Cyrus Shepard. It also attracts Google since it wants to ensure a good experience for their users. Its algorithms mimic the thought process of your hypothetical internet business visitor. Therefore, Google also checks for keyword relevance and a natural fit of the external hyperlink to the specific page on your website.

Let us go back to your hypothetical internet business visitor. He linked to your web page about “Professional Football Season Tickets” from his web page with these  keywords: “Affordable Hotel Tips for Avid Professional Football Fans.” This is a relevant backlink that Google probably will use to improve your page rank. With his thoughtful keyword relevant backlink, he has given you a “vote of confidence as a trustworthy” website–and your web page could rank higher in search results.

Avoid Unnatural Backlinks  

Always remember that Google wants to give its users a good web experience. Therefore, you want to avoid being ignored by Google.

Let us take another look at your blog post about “Professional Football Season Tickets.” Let us say a different and less astute visitor to your website links from his web page about “Organic Tomato Plants Coupons” to your page about “Professional Football Season Tickets.” This is an “unnatural” backlink is one that Google probably will likely ignore.

Avoid Backlink Schemes 

Google also dislikes  large numbers of “unnatural links” from “Link Farms.” These are websites which will sell you a large number of links from their websites (“farms”) to your web pages. Of course the bulk of these links will be non-related to your web pages and low quality. Such links can get your website banned by Google.

Further, Google dislikes Private Blog Networks or other such schemes. The private blog networks scheme is similar to a link farm except that it involves links from a number of websites controlled by you and linked to webpages on your other websites. Regardless of the scheme, you want to avoid unnatural, non-relevant links to your website. Please read,  “10 Big Brands That Were Penalized by Google.

Also, avoid bad neighborhoods (defined below). You want to avoid severe penalties, (Please Read: “An In-Depth Guide to Link Quality, Link Penalties and “Bad Links.”)

14 Easy High Quality Backlinks Strategies

There are many sources of high quality backlinks. The goal of this article is to provide you with some easy, white hat strategies, so that you will get started today. You can try more complex methods after you have mastered the basics.

Here are some diverse strategies to get high quality backlinks to your website. Most are free and only requires your hard work. Others are scalable to most budgets.

1. Blog Commenting: Leave useful comments on high authority, niche related blogs. Important: Include relevant keywords/keyword phrases in your comment and a hyperlink to your website.

To find such blog do a search on “powered by WordPress” + [your keyword] + “leave a comment.” You will find blogs which will allow you to leave a comment. Be very selective. Take time to outline and write your comment.

2. Blog Content: Create high quality posts so others will naturally want to backlink to your website.

3. Directories (High Quality): DMOZ.org is the oldest and most respected directory. It is a multilingual, open-content directory run with volunteer editors who organize website listings into very specific categories

Along with listing with DMOZ.org (if they will accept your website) search for other high quality, high authority directories for your niche. (Search “directory” + [your keyword] to find directories. Again, be very selective.

4. Guest Blogging: Guest blog or a high authority website and you will look like an expert in your niche. Search “[your keyword]” + “guest posting” to find such opportunities. Also you can type your domain in a Similar Search Tool.

5. Infographics: Hire graphic artists (at such websites as Fiverr.com) to design infographics for you; or, design them yourself at GetPikiz.com, Piktochart.com, or Canva.com.

6. Local Directories: This is similar to “Directories” above but for your local city or region. To find such directories, do a search on “[your city or region]” + directory; or  directory + “submit my site” + “[your city or region]”

7. News Service: Help A Reporter Out/HARO.com Set up a separate free email account, and sign up to this website. You will get daily inquiries from reporters. If they use your comments or expertise they might give you a backlink in the news story.

8. Paid Syndication Websites: Use the Outbrain.com paid syndication website to get a few sentences of your content in the footer area on websites such as CNN.com. With Outbrain.com, you should get high quality backlinks as well as targeted web traffic.

9. Podcasts: Create a podcast for iTunes. Put your website hyperlink in podcast notes, descriptions and wherever else it is appropriate so that you can get backlinks. Promote your podcasts on other networks.

10. Press Releases: Issue a press release for a truly newsworthy event. Choose the best free or paid press release distribution service based on your project. Include your web page hyperlink in in the press release as backlinks. Here is a very good article on choosing a free or paid press release distribution service.

11. Slide Sharing Websites: Upload your slide deck  to SlideShare.net a slide sharing website. Once uploaded, your slide decks can then be viewed on the website, printed, or embedded into other websites by its members

12. Question and Answer Forums: Yahoo Answer is the largest such forum with millions of daily visitors. Go to this website and “Sign In”to your regular Yahoo email account (the “Sign In” link is located on the upper right side of the web page) . Find a broad category that is appropriate for your blog post. Then drill down a relevant, specific subcategory. Thoughtfully answer a question using keywords from your blog post. Then list your blog post url as the source citation. Rinse and repeat the process for each new blog post.

13. Videos: Create a video channels at Youtube.com, Vimeo.com, and Wistia.com.  Put your hyperlink in your profiles, in the video descriptions, and in the actual video. Include relevant keywords at every opportunity. Make sure the videos, content and descriptions are different for each channel to avoid being ignored by Google.es.

14. Web 2.0 Websites: These are websites which emphasize user-generated and user-controlled content (meaning any computer user can contribute content to these websites). Some of the Web 2.0 websites have high authority. You can contribute by writing an article, sharing photos, microblogging, etc. and include a backlink to you website. Here is an excellent, backlink article which organizes some of the many Web 2.0 websites by categories. Conduct your own research before using these websites.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, when it comes to building backlinks, the best approaches include:

• Do not pay for backlinks.

• Be proactive and build your own backlinks using white hat techniques. Do not wait for other websites to backlink to your website.

• Be patient and build backlinks manually, and gradually to ensure they are relevant and are of high quality.

• Avoid any fast or automated backlinks (link farms, private blog networks, questionable code embedded website “badges” for completing courses, etc.). You want to avoid Google penalties.

• Remember that all backlinks are not equal and avoid bad neighborhoods (defined below).

• Develop a link building campaign to ensure you are consistently increasing the number of your backlinks for the long term success of your website. Continue to learn more about backlink strategies.

It will take time to build your relevant, high quality backlinks. However, the reward is long term so it is worth the wait. Backlinks will result in higher search engine page ranking. Also they contribute to a steady growth of targeted, organic traffic to your website.

Keep a journal to track what you are doing to build links.  You will see yourself becoming better at it each day.

Now download, complete, and sign your link building campaign form. Or just get started based on the template mentioned earlier in this article.

Glossary

Anchor Text: The anchor text is the highlighted, hyperlinked text for a given link. (Please Read: Wikipedia article on “Anchor Text“). You should avoid using generic links words like “ click here” or “next” for anchor text. You want to make it easy for Google’s search engine to determine that the backlink from the external website to your website is relevant to the content of your web page. Use a specific, relevant keywords in the anchor text.

There are different classifications of anchor text that are used within the search engine optimization community (SEO) which include (but are not limited to) the following:

  1. Exact Match: an anchor that is used with a keyword that mirrors the page that is being linked to. Example: “search engine optimization” is an exact match anchor because it’s linking to a page about “search engine optimization
  2. Branded: brand that is used as the anchor. “Pretty Please Passive Income” is a branded anchor text.
  3. Naked: URL that is used as an anchor. “www.prettypleasepassiveincome.com” is a naked link anchor text.
  4. Natural: anchor text that is a SEO-friendly synonym or contextual text of the page topic that Google algorithms will recognize for determining page rank.
  5. Generic: generic word or phrase that is used as the anchor. “Click here” is a generic anchor text phrase. Other variations may include “go here”, “visit this website”, etc.
  6. Images: whenever an image is linked, Google wi;; use the “ALT” tag as the anchor tag.

Backlinks: This is a hyperlink from an external website to your website. The goal is to have relevant, high quality backlinks.

Bad Neighborhood: This phrase refers to websites which search engines consider as low quality or have violated search engine guidelines. Such websites include “casino,” and the like.

Broken Links/Defective Links: Such links are like roads that lead to nowhere instead of leading back to your website or to relevant information. This can occur when the address of a web page has changed. They lower the quality of your website; and also wastes “Link Juice” (see below).

Duplicative Content: This refers to websites with very similar content. It could result in lower page ranking or possibly Google viewing the websites as part of a “Link Farm” or part of a “Private Blog Network” (see below).

Interlinking on Same IP Address: This could result in lower page ranking. Google  might view this as being a scheme to unnaturally increase page ranking.

Link: This is a hyperlink that links web pages, images, documents, etc.

Link Building Campaign: A focused effort to increase your backlinks by consistently working to add backlinks to your website.

Link Types: There are various types of link that include:

(1) Editorial link: natural results from your high quality content; such links are organic and not paid or or requested.

(2) Image link: images that are hyperlinked to your specific url.

(3) Resource link:  links visitors to beneficial information.

(4) Social bookmarking link: centralized online storing service which allows members to share bookmarked links.

(5) Acquired links (see below):

a. Reciprocal links: mutually exchanged links (which search engines might ignore).

b. Forum signature links: forum communities which allow outbound links in the member signature of comment.

c. Blog comments links: leaving a relevant, keyword rich comment on another blogger’s website (sometimes search engines ignore such comments but you will get targeted traffic when visitors click the link to your web page).

d. Directory links: List of websites by categories, listing can be free or paid.

As stated earlier, you want to avoid reciprocal links (exchanging links) to avoid being penalized by search engines.

Link Farm:Usually a link seller makes promises of many backlinks to your website. But,  it is a link building scheme involving low quality links from external websites with the goal of unnaturally, and quickly increasing page rank. Link farms might be severely penalized by Google including being banned.

Link Juice: Link juice is the ability of internal and external links to increase page rank because Google’s algorithms view websites with many links as being popular and trustworthy.

Page Rank: This is  a Google algorithm which help determine the popularity of a page by the number of relevant, high quality backlinks.

Private Blog Network (PBN): This is a scheme similar to a Link Farm except you control it. The goal of a PBN is to unnaturally increasing page rank. Google likely will penalize PBNs when detected.

Quality Backlink: This is an external link, preferably from an external high authority website, to your site using relevant keywords to your web page.

White Hat SEO. SEO techniques that follow search engines policies and avoid getting  their website penalized or banned.

Please listen to audio for this blog: 14 Easy Ways to Build High Quality Backlinks.

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5 Major Sources of Website Traffic and Why Organic Traffic Is the Best

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WEB TRAFFIC IS IMPORTANT
Website traffic is very important to any website and especially important to a commercial website. For the purposes of this article, a basic definition of traffic is the number of visitors (people) that a website receives during a reporting period. Typically the reporting period is 24 hours.

But just because you have many visitors does not mean that you have a profitable website. A store in a shopping center might have many visitors (potential customers) but if no one buys anything, then the store is not profitable.

A website, like a store, has to convert its visitors into buyers. But conversion is the beyond the scope of this article. Conversion will be taught in the our passive income classes. Rather this article focuses only about the major  traffic sources.

There are five major sources of website traffic: (1) direct, (2) referral, (3) organic, (4) paid, and (5) social media. Below is a discussion of each.

1. DIRECT TRAFFIC/DIRECT NAVIGATION TRAFFIC
Direct traffic is when visitors arrive at your website by manually typing in your URL into a web browser (for example, PrettyPleasePassiveIncome.com), or having the URL  bookmarked or as a favorite. Also direct traffic can come from hyperlinks in your emails, Word or PDF documents.

A trend of growth in direct traffic indicates that your visitors like the information on your website and you are building your own brand. The downside to direct traffic is that it is difficult to increase it quickly without a substantial budget for online and offline advertising.

2. REFERRAL TRAFFIC
Referral traffic is traffic from visitors to your website who clicked on links from other (external) websites, or from trackable emails. An example of a this is a PrettyPleasePassiveIncome.com blog article link from a Music SEO page on another website. The growth in external links to your website might  indicate that it is being viewed as an  authority website.

For referral traffic, you want to focus on links to relevant high-authority, high ranking websites. The easiest way to do this is to contact the webmaster and ask for a link. But some warn not to exchange links because  search engines might not like this; (but others say you can exchange a link but make sure to put it in a relevant high quality article). However, you always want to avoid links to low quality and also non-relevant web pages, again because search engines do not like this.

3. ORGANIC TRAFFIC:
This is unpaid traffic from visitors coming to your site from online search engines (for example, Google, Yahoo, and Bing). Organic traffic usually accounts for the majority of traffic to websites. It is closely related to high quality content and consistently using good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies. Organic traffic is one of the main goals of SEO. So by applying good SEO strategies and providing high quality content puts it within your control to increase your organic traffic.

Long tail keywords are related to organic traffic. Visitors type long tail keywords search queries into their web browsers (for example, “red cashmere V-neck sweater”). They typically do not type  broad keywords (for example, “sweater”) because 99.99% of the board keyword search results will be useless (for example, blue sweaters, turtleneck sweaters, cotton sweaters, etc.).

By using the correct long tail keywords on your website pages you will attract the correct visitors to your website from search engines. Therefore they will be more likely to purchase your product or service. So, the increase in your website’s organic traffic indicates that you are consistently putting effort into doing a good job in making your web pages optimized for search engines and equally important you also are providing valuable information to your visitors.

4. PAID TRAFFIC:
This is traffic source has other names such as Pay Per Click (PPC), and Arbitrage. But basically it is visitors who arrived on your website by clicking on paid ads (for example, Google Adwords). These ads are based on keywords that are bid on (and are not based on “fixed prices”). The more likely the keyword is to convert visitors into buyers, the more expensive the bid for the keyword will be.

The goal of paid traffic is for the total revenue from converted visitors  will be greater than the total cost of the keyword bid. For example, if the total revenue from converted visitors who clicked on the ad purchased $1,000 of the advertised product and the total cost of the paid ad campaign was $800, then the web owner made a profit of $200. A successful paid ad campaign indicates a good job done in keyword selection.

5. SOCIAL MEDIA:
This is traffic from visitors who arrive to your website from hyperlinks on an online community or a social media network (like Facebook.com, Twitter.com, and Instagram.com). Traffic from social media is often counted separately from other traffic sources because experts have concerns on such issues as whether the conversion rate of turning visitors to buyers is lower than for other traffic sources,  whether visitors from social media traffic represent visitors who are likely to return to the website again, or whether they a just visiting the website once because of a popularity of an item, event, or current trend.

But without a doubt social media is an important traffic source. Like organic traffic, social media traffic is easy to increase based on your effort. You have to increase your followers and keep them engaged with quality information, then some will follow the link to your website. Growth in social media traffic indicates your consistent presence on such networks and your ability to tap into popular trends. Take time to experiment with well-known and lesser known social media networks to determine which are correct for you.

These are the five major sources of traffic for websites. You have to understand these traffic sources to properly analyze the statistical information gathered about your website’s traffic and is displayed is such places as your website’s C-panel, your Google Analytics, and other places where traffic sources information is reported.

ORGANIC TRAFFIC IS THE BEST TRAFFIC
Organic traffic  is the best because it makes up 94% of all searches; it is free; and is based on long tail keywords. It is easy to increase your organic traffic by increasing your efforts to provide relevant, high quality, search engine optimized content. Studies have shown that organic traffic has the highest rate of converting visitors into buyers of all the other types of traffic source. This makes it very clear that organic traffic is the best source of traffic. The reward is not immediate, but the results are long term.

For a website where every page is optimized for search engines, then organic traffic will bring traffic to your website in greater numbers over time. So if every page is search engine optimized for a different set of keywords then it will bring progressively diverse and highly relevant traffic to your web over time.

Since organic traffic is based on highly search engine optimized pages, it is important to follow the guidelines of major search engines to ensure your web pages continue to appear in their search engine results page. Here are some Webmaster Guidelines by Google.com that will help you to become an excellent webmaster.

WHAT IS THE CORRECT MIX OF TRAFFIC SOURCES?
Well, there is not a one-size-fits all answer. It is based on your goals, budget and time. Also, you have to keep in mind that you want to reach your ideal customer; and not a mass number of people who might not become your long term customer regardless of how much time or money you spend on traffic.

If you are a non-profit organization with little funding and a small staff, then an emphasis on direct, organic traffic, targeted social media, and some referral traffic is a good mix. If you are the typical blogger, then you are more interested in direct, organic traffic with an eye on consistently working to increase your social media, and referral traffic, and perhaps some paid traffic is a good mix. If you have a large corporation with deep pockets and you want to see profitable results over a very short period of time, then an emphasis on a well-designed social media, and a targeted paid traffic campaign is a good mix.

PRESS RELEASES and WEB TRAFFIC 
As a side note, one good way to increase your website traffic is by issuing a press release through a free or paid press release distribution service and include a hyperlink to your website. Whether a press release should be classified as direct traffic, or referral traffic is a debatable question.  But clearly a press release will increase the visitors to your website, and increase your brand awareness. If you use a paid service you will probably get more backlinks.

Make sure your press release contains newsworthy high quality information to help avoid being penalized by search engines. Do not forget to include relevant long tail keywords and other good SEO strategies in your press release. If you use different services, you probably do not want to release the identical press releases, and  further you might not want to release multiple press releases on the same day–again to avoid possibly being penalized by search engines.

Finally, below are some definitions to help you further understand the sources of website traffic so that you can make good business decisions about your website:

DEFINITIONS / GLOSSARY
1. Backlink: (also called an inbound link) is a hyperlink from a page on an external web page to your web page. Search engines use backlinks to determine the popularity of a website.

2. Cookie: Generally, a web server gives information for a particular website to a web browser in a small text file to recognize and track visitors concerning their preferences.  Cookies are useful in web analytics to determine whether a visitor is an uique visitor and thus should not be counted more than once. Also, cookies can be used for such purposes as suggesting products (for example, Amazon.com); logging into a website (for example, Yahoo.com), etc.

There are two types of cookies: session cookies, and persistent cookies. Session cookies are temporary files that are erased when the user closes the web browser. Persistent cookies are text files that stay on the user’s hard drive until they are deleted, or they until they expire.

3. Tag/Meta Tag: HTML code that include highly relevant keywords for a web page so that search engines access (and sometimes display) highly relevant search results that include that web page.

4. Tracking/Computer Tracking: The ability to monitor or record a computer user’s browsing activities. For website analytics, tracking allows a webmaster to determine which pages are most popular, country of origin of visitors, how much time visitors spend on the website, etc.

5. Visit/Web Visit: A visit is when someone visits a website one, or more times. A unique visit is one that counted only once during a reporting period (usually 24 hours) based on cookies/IP address of the user’s computer. Analytical program filter out visits made from bots, spiders, and crawlers that are automated software to gather information on web pages (for example, information for use of compiling search results for search engines).

6. Web Analytics: This is the collection, study, and analysis of a particular website’s statistics collected about the website’s visitors. Such statistical information includes: total visitors, unique visitors, sources of traffic, country of origin of visitors, time of visits, length of visit, and more.

This information can be used by the website owner to determine if the website is achieving its goal (for example, properly serving its ideal customer, improving the visitor’s experience, maximizing profit, providing information, and more), for other such purposes.

7. Website Traffic: This is the number of visitor (people); and visits (bots, crawlers, spiders) that a website receives during a reporting period (usually 24-hour period).

Please complete the Website Traffic Shuffle Puzzle to help you remember keys points of this article.

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Website Traffic Shuffle Puzzle

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Read the post Five Major Sources of Website Traffic and Why Organic Traffic Is the Best.

Now enjoy this shuffle puzzle to help you remember the five major sources of website traffic.

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Domain Name Registration: The Correct Way

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INTRODUCTION:

Domain name registration is very important. You should register you own domain name, if possible. Before discussing domain name registration let us first explain what a domain name is, and how it works to bring visitors to your web site. This will later help you better understand domain name registration and why it needs to be done correctly.

WHAT IS A DOMAIN NAME?

The simple answer is a domain name is the human-friendly name you type into a web browser when you want to visit a website. For example, to visit this website you could have typed PrettyPleasePassiveIncome.com.

However, a more technical answer is that a domain name is the unique numeric Internet Protocol Address (IP Address) that is assigned to a web site. So an IP address is similar to a street address that uses a unique number to find a specific location.

But unlike a street address, an IP address is expressed only with digits such as 12.34.56.87, and not with words. In fact, you can type in a website’s IP address into a web browser to visit the website. Computer devices such as laptop computers and smartphones generally identify and communicate with each other using numeric digits. So the numeric IP address allows these computer devices to seamlessly communicate with each other within the massive IP network.

In summary, a domain name is a human-friendly version of a numeric IP address. People want their domain names to be easily remembered. If internet users had to remember the IP addresses for all of their favorite websites it would be an impersonal  experience instead of a  pleasant experience. Hence, human-friendly domain names were created to make finding web sites less tedious.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN REGISTERING A DOMAIN NAME, and HOSTING A WEB SITE 

Web hosting companies provide you with space on their computer servers for you to upload your web site’s files so your visitors can see your website. A computer server is simply a place for your web site’s files and not your actual web site. Your web site has to be built with the many products and services available for this purpose and then uploaded to the servers..

If you do not provide your web site’s files to a hosting company, it would be similar to your customers going to your physical office and seeing only an empty room void of merchandise, and furniture. When you visit a website and see an “Under Construction” notice, that could mean that the web site’s files have not been uploaded to the hosting company’s servers.

So, just because you have registered your domain name does not mean you automatically have an online web site, you have to take the additional steps of finding a web hosting company; and then uploading your web site’s files. To make your life easier, some domain registration companies can sell you web hosting usually for an additional cost. But you can choose to use a different company for web hosting. The cost is normally is paid at a monthly or annual rate depending on the web hosting company. Hosting can be affordable or expensive based on your needs.

DIFFERENCES between URL and DOMAIN NAME 

The domain name is what you paid for when you registered your domain name. The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) provides web browsers with information to find the web visitor’s specific requested web page, PDF, video, etc.

As with the IP Address, the URL can be expressed in numeric digits. The URL points the appropriate servers to where the specific requested information can be found on the internet within a web site.

The basic structure of an URL is: Protocol://second-level domain name.top-level domain/path. According to www.webopedia.com, “HTTP is short for HyperText Transfer Protocol. HTTP is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web and this protocol defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands.”

Therefore, to find the blog archive page for this website the URL is https://prettypleasepassiveincome.com/blog-archive/

This URL can be explained as:

If you entered just the second-level domain name it would only take you to the web site’s Home Page.  But as you can see, the URL points to specific page within the web site.

RELATIONSHIP between DOMAIN NAME and an EMAIL ACCOUNT

You know from your personal experiences that an email account depends on a domain name for proper delivery of your email (for example, @Yahoo.com, @Gmail.com, @Hotmail.com). After you have registered your own domain name and have paid for web hosting services, the hosting package typically allows you set up your email account using your web site’s control panel. This will allow you to receive email based on your registered domain name (for example @yourdomain.com). Thus, it allows you to brand your company.

The main issues for email accounts are: (1.) how many email addresses you can have based on a single email account (for example: highsales@yourdomain.com; yourcomments@yourdomain.com, etc.); and, (2.) whether the email system can support your future growth.

DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION PROCESS: THE PLAYERS and SYSTEMS 

Below are important names and terms you must know to understand domain name registration, and how to make good decisions to protect your domain name.

  1. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): an U. S. based non-profit organization with the global duty of overseeing and coordinating domain name registration and the assignment of IP addresses.
  2. Domain Name System (DNS): a massive database that translates human-friendly domain names into their unique numeric IP addresses so that computers can seamlessly communicate with each other.
  3. Name Server: a specialized server that is a component of DNS and handles questions about domain names and translates domain names into numeric IP addresses. Each domain name has at least two nameservers, just in case one fails.
  4. Registry: the authoritative master database of registered domain names.
  5. Registrar: an organization accredited by ICANN to process domain registration.
  6. Registrant: the person or organization that registers a domain name with a registrar or reseller.
  7. Reseller:  a third-party company or affiliate that works with an accredited ICANN registrar to offer domain name registration services. A reseller often offers additional services such as web hosting. A reseller does not have a contractual relationship with ICANN. Further, registrar is the sponsor of the domain name registration.
  8. WHOIS: a publicly available database that provides information about registered domain names and IP addresses. Such information include domain name ownership, date registered, expiration date, and assigned name servers.
  9. If you have a complaint, dispute about a domain name or registrar, visit this Inter-NIC page. This page has a wide range of useful information.

A good understanding of the above information will help you when you are ready to register a domain name. Also, it can help you when selecting a web hosting company.

WHAT IS DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION? 

The domain name registration is a process that allows a registrant to reserve a domain name for a period of time, typically a year. The cost of domain registration can start at around $10.00 based on the prices set by the registrar. The registrant does not own the domain name but is “leasing” the domain name. The registrant can lease the domain name as long as the domain name is timely renewed by the registrant. If the domain name registration expires, someone else can register it.

Information needed to register a domain name include the registrant’s name, mailing address, email address, phone number, administrative and technical information. After a domain name is registered, the information about registrant is made public for .com domains. Although there are other categories of top-level domain names, .com is the one that suggests that your company is of quality.

Available domain names can be registered with an ICANN accredited registrar (or with its resellers). The ICANN registrars will check to make sure the name is available (meaning it has not already been previously registered). The ICANN registrar will create a WHOIS record consisting of the registrant’s information.

Domain registration is not a requirement to have a web site, or an email account. Some companies allow you to have a subdomain based their domain name. The downside to this is that you are not building your own company brand.  Also, you are limited to the rules of that company. So if you can afford it, you should register your own domain name.

CHOOSING a DOMAIN NAME REGISTRAR

It is important that you choose an ethical, financially sound registrar with excellent customer service and that will give you hands-on, direct access to your domain name and related components (the nameservers, WHOIS records, domain name transfer locks, mail exchangers and more.) You want to be sure that you have full control over your domain name.

Also you want to register with an accredited ICANN registrar (or the registrar’s reseller). Here a link to the list of accredited ICANN registrars: The Accredited Registrar Directory. When registering a domain name, select domain locking in your control panel to prevent it from being transferred without your permission.

After you have registered your domain, conduct a WHOIS search at https://whois.icann.org/en. You want to see what is being reported. If you are a novice, limit your first domain name registration to only one year so you can easily move your domain name if needed.

For an additional cost, some registrars offer Privacy Protection to prevent the registrant’s information from becoming publicly available. The main issue with Privacy Protection is that the person or organization shown in the WHOIS record is considered the legal owner of the domain name. That means in a legal conflict the registrar likely would be considered the legal owner of the domain name you registered.

If you choose Privacy Protection, it becomes especially important for you to choose an experienced, ethical, financially sound registrar avoid losing control of your domain name. Consider using EasyDNS.com which has a good reputation concerning domain registration and privacy protection.

Some companies will allow you to register a domain name for multiple years. If you choose this option, check the online registry to make sure the registrar reports the exact number of years for which you paid.

4 STEPS to REGISTER a DOMAIN NAME

Here are important steps to register a domain name:

  1. Conduct research to determine if you want to base your domain name on your company brand, a long tail keyword, or something else. If you base your domain name on a long tail keyword, conduct keyword research on the estimated traffic, etc. to determine the amount of free organic traffic the keyword could bring. This will be discussed in detail in the PrettyPleasePassiveIncome.com training classes.
  2. Once you have some domain names you like, do a Google.com search to see if there are any exact or similar domain names that could cause conflict. Enter various spellings and word orders in your Google.com search. If  you think there might be a conflict, choose another domain name.
  3. Conduct a free basic trademark search with the United States Patent and Trademark Office at https://www.uspto.gov/. You are just checking to see if there is an exact match or similar domain names. Again, if there is then choose another domain name to avoid conflict. Contact an attorney if you think it is necessary.
  4. Once you have a domain name you feel is your best choice based on the above steps, then go to the web site of a domain name registrar with an excellent reputation. Enter your domain name in the search box to see if it is available. If so, follow the registrar’s instructions to register the domain name.

As you conduct your own research, feel free to add to this checklist. Make notes so that it will be easier the next time you register a domain name.

DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION CHECKLIST 

Use the checklist below as a guide. Feel free to add to it if you like:

__Registrar/Reseller Information: Make sure they have a solid history of providing ethical services. Research them for litigation history concerning protecting domain names, claiming ownership of Privacy Protected domain names, etc.

__Independent Reviews: Read reviews about what knowledgeable professionals are saying about a registrar or reseller.

__Register Your Domain Name Yourself: Register you domain name yourself so you know who is listed as the owner, administrative, and technical contacts and whether you have full control of your domain name. Do not let anyone, or any company register your domain name.

__Private Protection: If you choose to use privacy protection, perhaps limit it to one year so you can transfer your domain name if you feel that it is necessary. Again, consider using EasyDNS.com which has a good reputation domain registration and privacy protection.

__Multiple Years Registration: If you pay for more that one year, check to make sure all years are being reported to the registry.

__Lock Transfer of Domain Name: make sure that your domain name cannot be transferred to someone else without your permission.

__No Free Lunches? Be weary of extraordinary free services, or for services that last for long periods free or at low costs. You should always read the fine print, but especially before accepting such services.

__Cheap Web Hosting: Register with the best registrar that you can afford for one year so that you can move to another registrar if needed. It is probably good idea to avoid a price that is too low to be believed. Again, read the fine print.

__Free Web Hosting: If your web site is to help build your business brand, you probably do not want free web hosting because you need you own web site to promote your own domain name and not the name of the company providing free web hosting. Most likely your domain name will be a subdomain name (for example. subdomain.biggecompanie.com)

__Renew Before Expiration Date: Renew about a two months before your expiration date to avoid losing your domain name.

__Use Different Companies for Domain Name Registration, Web Hosting, and Email Accounts: It is never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Companies do get sold, go out of business, etc. If you are just starting use the email account that comes with your hosting package. Otherwise, use the best email account you can afford to avoid outgrowing the email system.

SUMMARY:

Domain names, email accounts, URLs, and web hosting are closely related topics to understand before registering your domain name. As you now know, domain name registration requires thoughtful research. Take the time to educate yourself so that you can make correct choices. It will be time well-spent.

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