My SEO / SLS Journal - By Newbie Jamie

[spartanseo]

Hey Guys

I wanted to start this thread because Im always so busy jumping around from one strategy to the next that I wanted to ground myself, and offer up what im doing in the hope that a bit of social accountability may help keep me get focused! It may also help in that I dont have to bother every one with lots of questions!

If any one stumbles across this post and want to comment that would be great lol! Any advice as to what I am doing would be so very much appreciated as I have not really documented what I do before even to myself!

I hate selling and that includes Affiliate stuff ( just never been comfortable with it! ) so I opt to help out small business's with their SEO. Nothing serious, I would love it to be, but I always find the clients that can only afford to pay me £100 a month instead of a £1000 ( any advice there would be great ha! ).. so this is just a full time hobby I run along side my normal job.

I want to document how I promote a small business website from the start, and hopefully map my journey until the site reaches number 1. Most users of this forum are advanced but for those Newbies, I hope you may see me as another fellow Newbie of sorts having ago, and if it helps with your business we are all a winner!

I want to document what link building I do, incorporating SLS, in the hope people can guide me away from mistakes, or add their own opinions and advice to help me further :
Intro :

The site is about wedding photography, and it recieves around 3000 visitors a month according to the always inaccurate Mr G!

Approximately 11,300,000 competeing pages in Google.co.uk. I am being paid a small £100 a month to SEO this site, with the promise that any leads from the site that result in a booking, will earn me a further £100 per booking. The site is also owned by my brother so Im happy to help as much as I can.

I will start by saying the only thing that I have done to date is :

1) On site SEO, all the normal stuff. Internal pages linking to each other and home page, footer links, alt tags in images, Keyword specific Titles, Descriptions, meta data ( I know, I still do this though! ) and the the addition of a blog that is updated with text and photos every month at the minimum.

2) Added the site to an automated Link Builder called LinxBoss around end of January 2011. Some people dont like this, and I have to say it has certainly been a waiting game. But if you ever look to try it, be prepared to wait at least 2-3 months. That is a long wait especially when it costs nearly £100 a month - BUT - it adds links all the time, only a few a day and ive definately seen some great results. Some may say I would have seen the same results doing it myself and that is true. I hope to be able to improve on that over coming months and if I can find the tools and my own system to replace it effectively then I will.

One other good thing about LinxBoss which has just been improved upon is their ability to boost your existing do follow links by throwing more links at each link for you individually as part of the subscription. They state they then can increase the power of your link by as much as 100x. They call it L4L and it is in the throws of being made even better as we speak. The downside is that they do not publish the URL's of the pages they create for you.

3) Around the same time I also used another service called LinkAloha. I think I had set that up to push around 6 keyword related links to the site daily. I used that alongside LinxBoss right up until the middle of March. I stopped it then because Ive never been sold on profile links when you dont then add posts the forum you have got the profile on. And what with the recent Google Update I thought it would be safe than sorry if I removed Profile Links from the strategy for the time being. I may be very wrong here lol!

When I first started working on the site it ranked 96 in Google for its main keyword.

Simply leaving it in LinxBoss it has recently jumped through the pages over the period of the last 2 week and now sits as number 13!

Some would say that I might aswell leave it in LinxBoss and do nothing else which would be a fair point. But my experience to date has been LinxBoss depending on the market, has a tendency to show great results, but then you plateau and do not move any further. So what I will add below and in further posts, is what I will do to try and push its rankings onto page quicker than just leaving it with LinxBoss.

I also want the site to be found in Video and Images as General Wedding Searches revolve around spending time looking at these mediums, getting a feel for whether a certain photographer reflects what they want. ( Ark me pretneding I know anything about Photography! )

So aside from LinkBuilding I also like to do some basic directory stuff which Ill reveal in the next thread. Nothing exciting or new to most, and you may tell me it is a complete waiste of time, but here goes!

On wards to Post number 2!

Kind regards Jamie



Tools Mentioned In This Thread :

LinxBoss
LinkAloha

[spartanseo]

I suppose this stage is initial Account Creation/s.  Nothing extreme, just the primary accounts I will be using.

1 ) The first thing I do is create a simple spreadsheet.

I have a template I use now that has grown over the years.

In short I like to record the username and password, along with the URL and also the RSS Feed URL if there is one.

2 ) Firstly before I create anything online, I like to open up my copy of Lastpass, and create a Profile for the business that Im looking to promote.

I fill in as much info as I can about that business. This will help when you come to fill in new profiles on sites ect, as you wont have to keep refilling the sites with new information every time you come to a new one.

3) I then create a folder on my hard drive naming it after the Business plus SEO. In the folder I create sub folders such as Images, Videos, Documents, Log Ins ect.

4) Next I take the photos from the business, and hop over to Animoto where I like to create at least a generalistic video for the company, followed by at least 2 videos including the Keyword. What I do here though, is wait until the video has been completed. I rarely change the video, for the second video, I just may change the wording around a bit but include the new keyword. I then copy the video and save it to my hard drive, remembering to name the video file after the name of the keyword you are looking to promote with that video.

5) Next Up I like to take a few photographs and hop into a Logo design programe or graphics editor. What I like to do is associate images with the actual keyword Im chasing. I always reckon if you are looking for a keyword and an Image pops up, and on that image written in text is the keyword you have just used to search for, then sub consiously you are more inclined to click it ( I may be away with the fairys here ha! ) So I would set about making a few images and save them to my new folder.

6) Whilst talking about images I also like to spend just 10 minutes creating an image or two in a reduced size that I can use for the avatars or profile pics of the sites I will be joining. That always means that Im not leaving profiles empty after I move on.

7) Next up I would do some basic sign ups that I use all the time.

Gmail Account, Gmail, Yahoo, Google Buzz, Facebook fan page, Twitter, Google Webmaster Account, Google Anayltics, Google Profiles, Tweetfeed.

Once my Gmail name has been secured I then go and sign up to as a minimum, YouTube, Tube Mogul, Viddler, Meta Cafe, Daily Motion. I also sign upto Flickr, Photobucket and sometimes Image Shack. Next up is Ezine Articles, Go Articles, Article Base and Article Dashboard.

Remembering to ensure I complete all profiles fully with all information, photos and links where allowed.

I then upload the videos and Photographs to the different sites remembering that when Im finished, I record all of the URLS and RSS Feed URLS into my spread sheet.

At this stage I would normally use a tool called Social Monkee and bookmark my You Tube Account, My Flickr Account and Possibly my Home Page.
>>  I suppose I can start using SLS here to!  << I also look to add any do follow links into the L4L system at LinxBoss

I havnt submitted RSS feeds at this stage as Its just a little routine I have!

This is this stage finished. As I move forward I will start to Link more, but this is just the foundation starting. ( I am fully aware that most would not go to this extent, but I like to get this done first. )

Kind regards Jamie



P.S ( Ive already reached this stage with the site, so in future threads I will actually be treating this as a journal. )

Tools Used :

Social Monkee
LinxBoss
Animoto
LastPass

[Admin]

This is a brilliant idea and concept and I shall give this aplug in the various newsletters we have going out in the next few days and weeks as I think loads of people should jump on board this and collectively really learn something as well.

"Top idea guv"

Steve

[spartanseo]

In this stage I like to set up some basic Classified and Business Directory Review Listings.

Notice ive not set up any real link building yet, as what is more important to me is for the site to start to be  noticed visually. What I have also found in using the select sites I will mention below is that they get crawled very quickly and often, and they also add alot of quick ranking power for your content.

What I have also found is if a keyword rich Classified add appears page 1,2 or 3, then you know you have a good chance in ranking your money site for the same keyword in time.

Another bonus with these sites are that images get indexed and included in the SERPS quickly. For me this is great  because using the method I spoke about earlier, I want my keyword represented images to be found during a search and ive found Classified sites add alot of weight behind this, far before your images would be found on your new website for example.

Also Reviews are huge and really add to the credibility of the Business Website. I have also found that they become very sticky in the SE's and depending on what keyword you are chasing, are also very good at reaching high positions.

Of course this list is just the list I find works the best upfront AND using the L4L section at Linx Boss, these sites are excepted, which means they get extra link thrown at them from Linx Boss.

Again Im new here, but I suppose I could also run the Classified site URL's through SLS.

Some people stay away from Classifieds but that leaves more space for me lol! Plus I simply set a date in my Google Calendar, to re visit the account and renew them. This keeps them always sticking in the Search Engines.

So from personal Experience, at least here in the UK, I use :

GumTree
OLX

I know, I know after all that speaking that is only two. BUT of all the ones I have tried, Gumtree and OLX are the ones who are able with a little bit of LinxBoss love, to rank my images quickly and for the long term. Of course over time I would add as many as I could. Some others that are almost as good are Uk FREE ADS, Inetgiant and Viva Street. Just in my opinion. Notice I do not use Craigs List or Backpage ect. I have found they just dont bring the same results here in the UK, but that is more likely a regional thing.

In this Classifieds I would add as many images as possible aswell as Videos

** Remember here, when uploading your Photos to Classified Sites, to rename the image file name to reflect the keyword you are using for that particular ad. You do not need to make another image, just rename the image as you see fit prior to upload. **

Another Trick here is taking the finished Classified URL ( which does not have an RSS Feed ) and creating it with any of the feed creators. I also do the same for my profile on the classified site if there is one. Again I just copy and paste all my URL's and RSS Feed URL's to my spread sheet.

2 ) The next phase here is to set up a number of Business Directories Accounts.

These are great, provide a variety of links and exposure for the site and business, help to support a brand, allow social links, allow videos and photos with keywords ect. They are like mini websites and again help make the whole foundation look natural.

Again these sites are the ones I start with and are based on personal Experience and wait for it, their compatibility with LinxBoss L4L system which helps pump extra link juice towards them. Again I could and will from now on use SLS for this aswell!

The sites I start with are :

Merchant Circle
Linkd In
Brownbook
HotFrog
QYPE
MySherrif

I use around 20 others , aswell as searching for local directories relating to the business and neiche. The Sky is the limit with these but I always have my fav's that I start with and promote initially for some quick results.

I have never done mass submission of Classifieds before but if anyone has any advice I would love to hear it.

With Merchant Circle you can leave reviews with out having to sign in as another user, so that is great to add all of your clients Reviews. I also like to blog from Merchant Circle and add lots of photos as I have found that they rank well.

Again where possible I retrieve all of the URL's and RSS' Feed URLS and add them to my Spead Sheet.

Where possible I add URL's that are accepted into LinxBoss, Social Monkee them and ...SLS them ( I think ha! )

Again Ive not really started linking properly yet, more cementing the business website's identity into the search engines. Also depending on the compeition, these sites may also rank quite quickly and even start driving new customers towards the business.

On wards to the next phase!  

Kind regards Jamie



Tools Used :

LinxBoss
Social Monkee
SLS...!

[spartanseo]

In this Stage, Im still not starting any serious Link Building. Instead I like to just confirm a few details and make a few updates, and set up Google Places

1 ) I also like to ensure that I have confirmed the settings so that You Tube, Facebook, Twitter and Google Buzz are all speaking to each other. This way when ever I update content to my youtube channel it is updated over the other sites.

2 ) I also like to set up a Tweetfeed account and add my Youtube, my Flickr, merchant circle reviews, also the blog. This is ready for later.

3 ) Although I would have already had a good understanding of the basic keywords that I would want to use, I just like to confirm these. Then I like to take four of them plus the main keyword.

I then go back to my graphics or Logo creator and make more images. I could have done this a few stages back but its just my little routine!

Again all images are made to visually represent my keyword but only in the most basic of forms - nothing fancy. They are all then saved as the keyword titles.

Ill do the same and create a few Animoto videos for the different Keywords.

I then add these further graphics to my photo sharing sites and Ill also upload the videos to Youtube, and the rest of the video sites I may have signed up to. Some times Ill use TubeMogul for this or some times do it manually.

** Remember when adding a description to your videos, and if your doing local SEO, to add the full business address at the bottom of the video description. **

4 ) Ill also sign into Google Places and update the listing.

Im no Google Places expert by any means but I rather get in there and do some thing than leave it waiting for the perfect strategy.

For me I like to max out the photos and add as many videos as it will let me. That is why I like to have my new videos ready.

I also like to use the category section to add my keywords and details of other sites that are linkng back to my site, and that have a social or review feeling to them.

So ill mix it up and try and add details of my merchant circle review for example, followed by my Brownbook Business Listing ect.

Again nothing fancy - im just getting it done.

5) Lastly if I havnt already done this, I ensure there are 4 new pages on my website, each one dedicated to one of the four secondary keywords that I chose earlier. I like to include a YouTube Video, at least 1 image with keyword alt tag, and description ect. I do not include these pages in the menu to be found by searchers on the site but if they get found in the Search engines, thats all good.

So to RECAP :

Im roughly readish ha! To start promoting my site.

Ive set up my basic accounts, ensured good on site SEO, created a small stir with Classifieds and Select Directories, my images are now starting to appear along with some of my ads. My videos ( depending on the competiton ) may have already started to rank. I suppose at this point I could run SLS on all my new YouTube Video URL's ? and maybe social Monkee them aswell.

Of course Im not really experienced in Social Bookmarking and the like so I am probably missing some things here! Any advice would be great.

In the next thread I want to talk about how I feel I should start to build links to the website.

For me this has always been my weekness. Im okay for the initial stuff, but the continual mid to long term link building has always got be a bit scuppered!

So see you in the next thread.

Kind regards

Jamie



Tools or Services Used :

Social Monkee
SLS
YouTube
Tubemogul
Photobucket, image shack and Flikr
Tweetfeed
Google Places

[spartanseo]

LINK BUILDING TIME! and RSS

** I have to say that Scritty has been very kind enough to speak me through some of his methods and I have to say what that man doesnt know! Ive used some of what Scritty suggests here in my strategy **

Okay here things become a little less specific as I talk about my intentions for this site.

I know there are hundreds of different ways but this is what I thought I would do.

Im looking to create a basic teir 1 set of sites / Web 2.0 sites around my Main site.

I will create all these sites manually, ensuring that all profiles are completed with full details and images where possible. On each site I will add my first article. Nothing specific but because I intent for these sites to be more long term rather than the typical mini site set up, im not looking to promote or link from them straight away.

I will look to use something like SCRIBE FIRE or similar to help me post to these different sites. For the first set of articles I will add them to all of the 12 sites in my little Mini Web. I want to ensure I have at least one image with keyword alt tag in each article on every site. Where ever possible I will also ad a video.

I will then take the URLS of these 12 sites, SLS them, Linx Boss them, Social Monkee them. I will also take their RSS feeds and add it to my spread sheet.

In the future I want to grow this little mini web instead of expand with further webs, so I will continue to add to these webs with keyword specific content.

Future content will have links back to the home page, with some also to internal pages aswell as off site authority websites.

I will choose say 3-4 sites each time at random to add my content to.

I wanted to keep that quite simple!

So for my Teir 2 This is where I need some advice and need to keep reading through this forum ha! I need to find some good backlinking methods that I can stick to, that work, that add value and alot of links to my Teir 1 sites. All content on Teir 1 I want to update with quite unique content, but anything linking to my Teir 1 sites I am happy for less unique, and more heavily spun content to be used.

Ill be back soon after I have had a read! Any tips for this stage would be so appreciated!

Kind regards

Jamie

[spartanseo]

This is a brilliant idea and concept and I shall give this aplug in the various newsletters we have going out in the next few days and weeks as I think loads of people should jump on board this and collectively really learn something as well.

"Top idea guv"

Steve

Hey Steve - I may have got a bit carried away!

Im just trying to finalise a basic strategy to start promoting my Teir 2 stuff so hoping people may have some advice. Ill also take a good look around your videos before I move on.

Hope your well - SLS Groupy, Jamie!

[vicman]

Boy Jamie, I hope these guys are paying you well. You're doing a ton of work. Do you need all this to get them to rank?

Re this: "I have never done mass submission of Classifieds before but if anyone has any advice I would love to hear it."

I recently got a fellow in Warrior Forum to do a big free classified 'dump' for me, but I don't think I would do it again. Not convinced it added anything of value.

[spartanseo]

Hey Matey

Do you know what...I probably am doing to much work and I likely need to hear people tell me that lol!

I suppose I have alwasy struggled with not understanding building large networks or linnk mountains and steve puts it, but more how to do it efficiently with out paying large monthly membership costs and in a way that stays organsied. I think there is the key - organisation.

I also probably can already see that my way of initiall setting things up may not follow the theme of Simple Leveraging as im not really piggy backing off anything, nor am I getting maximum ROI.

Up until now ( and probably because I havnt got the Link Mountain Set sorted! ) I have relied onthe initial set up for business's. This way at least gets a few images and videos in the search engines so the client can see you are doing something. BUT is that necessarily effective, or could I achieve more for them by getting their site to page  1 instead of waisting so much time building this initial foundation.

Most definately the later then followed by spreading the word about them so to speak.

If I could just find a way to build and organise a large link mountain that is controllable and doesnt mean big monthly payments ( such as SENUKE! ) then I would be nearly there!

Oh and as for paying me well....thats another thing that I havnt pushed for yet.

Maybe this will come when I fine tune how to ramp this stuff up with Simple Leveraging as up until now I have get tvery little for alot of work and slow results.

....AND IF YOUR THINKING IT...Yes I do go on lol!

Hope your well

Kind regards

Jamie

[withoutyouonly]

Hey Matey

Do you know what...I probably am doing to much work and I likely need to hear people tell me that lol!

I suppose I have alwasy struggled with not understanding building large networks or linnk mountains and steve puts it, but more how to do it efficiently with out paying large monthly membership costs and in a way that stays organsied. I think there is the key - organisation.

I also probably can already see that my way of initiall setting things up may not follow the theme of Simple Leveraging as im not really piggy backing off anything, nor am I getting maximum ROI.

Up until now ( and probably because I havnt got the Link Mountain Set sorted! ) I have relied onthe initial set up for business's. This way at least gets a few images and videos in the search engines so the client can see you are doing something. BUT is that necessarily effective, or could I achieve more for them by getting their site to page  1 instead of waisting so much time building this initial foundation.

Most definately the later then followed by spreading the word about them so to speak.

If I could just find a way to build and organise a large link mountain that is controllable and doesnt mean big monthly payments ( such as SENUKE! ) then I would be nearly there!

Oh and as for paying me well....thats another thing that I havnt pushed for yet.

Maybe this will come when I fine tune how to ramp this stuff up with Simple Leveraging as up until now I have get tvery little for alot of work and slow results.

....AND IF YOUR THINKING IT...Yes I do go on lol!

Hope your well

Kind regards

Jamie

As I mentioned previously elsewhere, the ability to be able to tap into my own private Link Mountain has paid big dividends for me. I have learned so much and how to really put something in place that has substance...

Touch wood (he says speaking softly) thanks to SLS all my sites recently have not suffered one bit at the hands of Google.

[daithi2166]

Hi Jamie,

Great Thread and very informative, well done.

Others have mentioned that you are doing a lot of work here for what you are getting paid. There is nothing wrong with this in my eyes as it is good to get a handle on the whole process. However, what you have to look at is how much is your time worth and are you underselling yourself in doing these tasks. With this in mind, I would say look at outsourcing some of these tasks, as once you expand to take on other local businesses this will become too big to manage.

I use a site on a regular basis and I know Steve has mentioned this in the past - Fiverr.com It is amazing what you can get done here. I would suggest that you take a look and find the people who are performing the jobs that would make a benefit to your system. Remember this will be done for $5 and I'm sure that you are worth more than $5 to complete one of the tasks you have mentioned above. As with everything, you need to vet the people who are performing the tasks.

Here's an example I just received yesterday. For $5 I got 4 original vectored business logos - I certainly know that I could not have done these for $5 and the quality was excellent.

So, I would say, maybe take a look at outsourcing some of the tasks in your system.

Hope that this has helped.

Keep up the great work

Cheers

Dave

[spartanseo]

Hey Dave

Thank you so much for your reply - and wow has it made me think!

You are absolutely right - trully! I am 100% with out a doubt underselling my self and whats more I have never thought about putting a true value on what I do! Crazy as that may sound, but because my wife and I both have full time jobs, I have not had to rely on the income from my seo endeavours so I have worked way way above and beyond at time. Well actually in every thing that I have done for people and their websites.

I could give so many examples aswell that now I think about it I realise I have been working for almost nothing an hour when you look at things from that perspective!

Its funny Dave I started this thread with the intention of just doing the same old but I even shocked myself when I look over what I do for people and for so little.

Put a value on your time ( christ!!! ) I actually understand what you mean now!!!

Now I think about things I need to consider the above at all times, and start treating this like a business more than a little hobby!

Thanks for your reply mate, your words have actually meant more to me and my intentions from now on that you may know!

Thanks again mate and speak soon

Kind regards

Jamie

[daithi2166]

Hi Jamie,

Sorry for the late reply, we have a virus that has been sweeping through the family and we just all can't seem to get rid of it. Hopefully, we are over the worst.

I hope that the post struck a chord, as I was the same as you and just didn't put a price on all of my efforts. It's not until you listen and take in the wise words of people like Steve that you take a step back and look at things in a different way. Then the realisation of the direction you should be heading and how to do it hits you.

Here's to your success!

Cheers

Dave

[sarge4]

Wow Jamie, I'm impressed - you deserve to do well!  You always give such encouraging posts, thanks for the tips you have already given me - they are appreciated.

I will keep an eye on your journal.

Here's to your success!

All the best
Sarge

[spartanseo]

Hey Sarge - thanks so much for your reply. I do like to natter and this forum is the perfect place for that!

In fact this is the first forum I have ' ever ' spent more than a few days in, or left more than a few posts on!

SLS has maybe reignited my passion for SEO and IM, and I want to help others where ever I can, as well as be helped ha!

I do love this place, and every little video that Steve releases, he gets me thinking even more.

Ive struggled all to often because of my past tendencies to hop from idea to idea, but ive promised myself since joining here that I would concentrate on just a few thing, and ill try my best to record my results here to - if for no other reason than writing them down here removes the need for me to talk about them to my wife lol! 

I mentioned in another thread about the idea of members here at SLS meeting up this year for some form of mastermind, or mini SLS conference. Steve seemed like he was up for it.

Where abouts are you from Sarge, would you be able to make it to meet in the UK?

Hope your well
Kind regards

Jamie - Self Confessed SLS Groupy!