Getting Indexed Properly in Google

No matter what type of information your website presents, it is important to get your website properly indexed by Google. While there are many other search engines on the web, Google holds the lead for searches at 71.86% as of October 2008 (Source: Hitwise).

To get properly indexed, you have to take into consideration two main methods used by Google to index the internet; crawling and indexing.

The Googlebot is a robot used by Google to crawl the internet and find new and updated pages to index. There are two crawler versions used by Google; the Freshbot and the Deepbot. The Freshbot only looks for fresh content, while the Deepbot uses links within your site to index more pages and content.

When the Freshbot or Deepbot finds a new page or updated content on a page, it will then pass that information to the indexer which sorts through the content for indexing by Google. The Google indexer then analyzes the pages, sifts through the content and uses relevant keywords within the page content to index the page in Google's massive database.

So how do you get your pages ready for proper indexing by Google? Create good relevant content with links to related information and other pages on your website. Keep unrelated content (used to support your main content) to a minimum and use keywords to clearly distinguish the pertinent content on the page.

Good:
Good relevant content
Fresh content that is kept up to date
Links to other pages on your website using Anchor Text
External links to relevant content

Bad:
Irrelevant or out of date content
Link Spamming or spamdexing

Marketing Tips

Using Twitter to Expand Your Social Network

If you have been looking for a way to quickly fill your social network with like-minded individuals, look no further than twitter. With small 140 character updates, you can grow your social network like never before possible.

Here are some neat applications and websites to help you get started using twitter to its full potential.

Using tools such as www.twellow.com you can search for people with similar interests and start following them. While you are there, be sure to setup your twellow account and add links to your other social networks.

If you don't want to use your cell phone to send and receive tweets, you can use a desktop application such as twhirl or tweetdeck.

You can use an application like www.friendorfollow.com to make sure that you are following those that are following you and see who is not following you back.

Using www.tweetlater.com you can automate your twitter account to auto-follow new followers and send a follow-up DM (direct message) to thank them for following you. If you are careful (DON'T use follow-ups for self-promotion or even worse to try to sell anything) you can use follow-ups to invite others to connect to you on other social networks.

As a twitter beginner, you may have many questions. Here are a few articles to help you get started in the right direction.

In the article 10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners Darren Rowse offers a simple and informative answer to the question, "What do I do with twitter?"

In 35 Twitter Tips form 35 Twitter Users, you can find a collection of advice to get you started.

In Twitter Tips for new users, Paul Walsh lays out some candid advice for getting started.

Productivity Tips

Using #hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to start receiving information about topics you select and keep your tweets organized by broadcasting tweets to those that are interested in specific information. Hashtags are simply words that have a # in front of them. For example #RTV.

In order to use hashtags, you have to get the service to follow you first. All you have to do is follow @hashtags and the service will automatically follow you back. Once you are being followed by hashtags, you can start to use the service to reach a larger audience and follow specific topics.