Link Building Tips

Link building is an important part of any Internet Promotion campaign where you are attempting to improve your overall "PageRank" within the top search engines. 

Ever since Google discovered that  using inbound links was a usable metric for gauging website importance ans started using it within ranking algorithm, and other search engines have adopted it.   Inbound links count remains a contributing factor to search engine ranking success.

Link building is a time-intensive, and relatively boring activity, however it is still the most important core activity of anyone engaging in Search Engine Promotion to ensure improved rankings.

However, not all links or link-building activities are equal in value.

Here are some worthwhile guidelines for your link building campaign:

1. Secure "unidirectional" (One-way) Incoming only (non-reciprocal) links
2. Links with relevant "Keywords" in the Anchor Text are more valuable
3. Links from industry-relevant pages are of a high value.
4. Links from industry specific article pages are of a high value
5. Links from high authority websites are generally of greater value (industry specific only)
6. Link to your site should not be via a "redirect" script
7. JavaScript links are of little value and may not be detected.
8. links from "framed" pages are to be avoided
9. "flash" embedded links are worthless.
10. Beware of paid or time-bound links
11. Don't use email spamming techniques to solicit links.
12. Absolutely no links from Link Farms (can damage your ranking) 
13. links from FFA (Free-For-All) link networks are of no value  (can damage your ranking)  
14. links from pornographic, casino, Viagra and other sites containing offensive content are damaging
15. Keep a full data sheet of links created at the end of each month
16. Check against this list to establish the existence of links after a month
17. check source of link code to ensure there are no "no follow" links
18. No more than 75 outgoing links from any single resource
19. Check that all the links will be Google cached and from indexed pages.

Irish Government to pass law to prevent citizens from accessing Facebook, twitter among other websites

Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, Sean Sherlock, is pushing through a new law to prevent access by those living in Ireland to websites that the judiciary and government decide contain illegal content, without a vote in the Oireachtas.

Your civil rights and free access to the Internet are under threat. Minister Sherlock  and the Government should be prevented from deciding what website you can or cannot visit.


In a prior article I wrote about SOPA,  the Stop Online Piracy Act, piece of US legislation, recently proposed in the US. It caused an Internet-wide outcry due to its far-reaching implications; way beyond simply closing access to outlaw file sharing websites, it would have (may still) enabled law enforcement to block access to entire internet domains due to infringing material posted on a single blog or webpage.

A similar proposal is about to become law in Ireland. And while over seven million US citizens contacted their representatives to say No to SOPA in the US, Irish citizens will not get that chance because the new law in Ireland is not being voted on in the Oireachtas. Instead, the law is being enacted by ministerial order.

That will this new law mean for people living in Ireland?

This new law will give music and movie companies the legal leverage to force Irish ISPs like UPC, Eircom and mobile operators to block access to web sites "suspected" of having copyrighted material on them. It also means judges can order ISPs to block access to sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter where an individual user from anywhere in the world has shared infringing material.

TAKE ACTION TODAY...

1. Contact the ministers office and express your disatisfaction
2. Write a letter to the minister
3. Write a letter to your local TD
4. sign the online petition at http://stopsopaireland.com

-----------------------------------------letter-Minister-Sample-----------------------------------

Dear Minister Sherlock:

As a citizen of this country I request that you respectfully abandon your proposed enactment of “S.I. No. of 2011 European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2011.” 

This legislation subverts the democratic process, favouring the special interests of corporations over the rights of individual citizens, will destroy the largest growth sector in the Irish economy, and will subject the citizens of Ireland to unwarranted, un-wished for and unintended censorship.

Sincerely,

---------------------------------------end-letter-sample---------------------------------

-----------------------------------------letter-TD-Sample-----------------------------------

Dear TD:

I have recently learned of the intent of Minister Sherlock to enact “S.I. No. of 2011 European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2011.” 

This legislation subverts the democratic process, favouring the special interests of corporations over the rights of individual citizens, will destroy the largest growth sector in the Irish economy, and will subject the citizens of Ireland to unwarranted, unwished for and unintended censorship. 

I respectfully request that you make formal representation to the Minister expressing in stron terms an  objection to this inappropriate legislation

Sincerely,

---------------------------------------end-letter-sample---------------------------------

"Ready-to-Go" Conference Booking Website

Running a Conference or Event and need a booking website designed?

Example:- www.ispaconference.info

Active Online have a "Ready-to-Go" conference booking and support website product that is easily customisable to meet your needs in less than a day.

Having built a reusable website for a number of clients, Active Online have a nice white-label template website product that you can buy outright as a re-usable conference booking and event management website or lease from them for the duration of your event.

You can also hire Active Online to redesign the coloring and design to align it with your existing branding if needed.

Example:- www.psychologicalsociety.ie/conference

Highlights include:-

• Ready to go gateway options:- Realex Payments (UK & Ireland) and PayPal (world)
• Multi-user booking (Register any number of delegates and make a single payment at the end)
• Early Bird rate handling
• Paper submission handling
• Automatic shut-off
• Easy Document upload
• Google Mapping embedded
• Sponsor logo addition
• customization slide show
• fast set-up customization and turn around service included (2-days)*
• Lease option available *

* dependent upon the level of customization required.

Costs

Lease for three months (minor customization) .............................€1,200.00

Purchase re-use licence outright ...................................................€2,750.00

>>more details on Active Online's Ready to go Conference & Event Booking website

SOPA and PIPA - Black Out

Black Out - solidarity in opposition to authoritarian despotic US 'anti-piracy' legislation.

All across the web today, websites have gone dark in solidarity with protests in the US against the impending SOPA and PIPA legislation.

Having recently learned of the idiotic situation in Belarus where the government (dictator) of that country has outlawed access to ANY foreign website and since January of this year does not allow any citizen business or entrepreneur to register/use any domain but .bk domain names, I thought to my self , are we not lucky to be living in a more enlightened country and part of a greater free and enlightened Internet community.

But wait..... the founding community of the Internet, the land of the free, the US is about to pass legislation to effectively demolish the Internet as we know it and to enact the exact even more draconian policies to Belarus and other "similarly enlightened" states like China.

In case you have been wondering what all the fuss is about...  It's about freedom of access to information, freedom of speech and opposition of  big business copyright lobbying masquerading as anti-piracy legislation. It all sound nice and logical on paper, however scratch under the surface and you can see where this is going.

Similar laws and agreements are being drafted all over the world. The story is always the same: the business interests of Big Media etc are being written into law, using excuses such as fraud, counterfeiting, child pornography, and more to hide their business strategy to remove free access to media of any sort and restore their control of same to the determent of individual artists.  Today right now media is cheap, distribution is nearly free, and individual artists are thriving. It's not a landscape that Big media organisation want.

Unfortunately the controls proposed in the new legislation in the US will be applied eventually to all areas of the internet, and will impact the world, basically allowing governments/dictators to decide and set-policy who should have access to what website and for how much.

Trying to combat Piracy on the Internet is one thing.... but at what price?

For more information, visit Google's page on the subject More about SOPA and PIPA

Shopping Cart Web Design

Building a shopping Website

Having your own online shop or e-commerce enabled website allows you to improve the efficiency of your retail business and create an online sales channel by enabling site visitors to buy products and/or services using their credit or debit cards on a 24×7x365 basis.
(recent project: www.vis24.de)

Shopping Cart Web Design

By implementing an integrated solution, shopping cart systems connected to your website can also significantly decrease administration and fulfilment support costs as well as building in accounting efficiencies within your back office.

(recent project: www.thebluedoor.ie)

Active Online can help you:

• to generate new online sales and expand the reach and market of your business
• to set-up an easy to use shopping cart system that allows your visitors to purchase products and/or services online with the minimum of effort.
• to provide secure e-commerce checkout (a secure checkout area) using encryption and SSL certification such that your visitors will feel confident to purchase from your website.
• We can advise and recommend the most reliable and cost effective Payment Gateway providers and work with them on your behalf to ensure a seamless PCI Compliant e-commerce integration.
• to build an online administration area that allows your staff to quickly and easily update product information, prices, delivery options and access your ordering transaction information without the requirement for technical computing skills
• to promote your online business effectively by ensuring good search engine ranking performance in the top search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN)
• to assist you to build an online database of visitors to whom you can issue regular newsletters and special offers to stimulate sales.

Why choose Active Online?

• We have over 10 years experience in Internet business development.
• We have built over 40 successful online shops and e-commerce enabled websites
• We understand and focus on the needs of start-ups and established retail businesses
• We provide you with all licensing, design files and source code of your shopping website.
• We optimise your website for good ranking performance in search engines for key-phrases relating to your industry/products/services.
• We don't limit the number of products (SKU's) or product categories a customers can put into their online shopping website.
• We have experience of many different markets, product types, styles, currencies and delivery mechanisms.
• We can engineer for user selectable multilingual, multi currency online shops
• We can provide a seamless shopping experience for the user with an efficient checkout process that reduces barriers to making that sale.
• We can custom design any look-and-feel, any custom functional requirement.
• We can connect your online shop with any existing back-office systems you have in place (e.g. accounting packages, stock control systems, order management systems or other online third party service provider you currently use)
• We ensure that you can maintain your online shop and website yourself.

Give us a call today to discuss your online shopping requirement T: 01 8666 116
or visit our website for more information at http://www.activeonline.ie

Mobile Application design (Mobile Apps)

MYOT.IE - a mini-web application designed for mobile context

It's been an interesting few weeks for Active Online running up to Christmas and in first week of 2012, preparing for the launch of the MYOT.IE application. Our first 'high-profile' venture into "mobile only" as the context for a web application, brought to bear all our resources to meet a very tight timeline to deploy a code efficient, fast and unique solution.

When people refer to mobile apps they generally mean downloadable apps for either the iPhone or Android mobile phones. However mobile apps can also refer to web based mobile apps which are designed to run an a standard web server but which are designed with the mobile user the priority.

These mobile apps are accessed over the internet by mobile phones with browsers and therefore are not tied to one technology. That is, in theory any mobile phone with a browser can access the application, i.e. Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, RIM Blackberry, etc. This provides a number of key advantages: Greater potential end-user reach, greatly reduces the cost of code maintenance and deployment of new features, no licence fees or manufacturer imposed restrictions, accessible via standard PC and more importantly a considerably more cost effective solution for mobile app development and deployment.

With ever increasing adoption of smart-phones the mobile context is becoming more important for consideration when re-designing your website.

From a simple strategy such as providing a simplified version of your website to assist mobile visitors to access your contact information to deploying e-business solutions, thinking "mobile" should be a priority for any marketing manager.

In the case of the mini-web app MYOT.IE it made perfect sense to go mobile from the outset in order to give the application the best chance of take-up and access by busy people. MYOT is a small web application that allows fans of the popular RTE programme "Operation Transformation" to track their own progress (Weight & Waist measurement) against the "Leader" that they are following. Recipe, Food Shopping lists, exercise program for the day and videos are also available for review.

(The first episode aired on Wednesday, RTE1 @ 8:00pm ... and will run weekly until the end of February. For more information on Operation Transformation got to the RTE website at www.rte.ie/ot5 )

To read more on mobile web design or mobile web apps visit us at www.activeonline.ie