Working at Home on the Internet » SEO

It’s That Time of Year Again

Joe Hauckes — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:44:46 +0000

It’sÂ Time for a Good Spring Cleaning

Every Spring people get a sense of renewal and want to start as fresh as a Bright New Spring Day. I am just like everyone else when it comes to wanting to clean things up and try to brighten up my Blog a bit.

But this time, I want to do more. Not only do I want to change the look of the Blog, but finally set things right. It has always bothered me that I had that stupid “WP” after the Domain. Almost as if it were an afterthought.

Ever since I bought the Domain “workingathomeinternet.com” I have been contemplating putting the Blog as the Main Site. I just didn’t want to cause too much confusion. Not only with readers finding the Blog and incoming links being broken, but with Search Engines finding my Blog as well. And what about Advertisers through TLA and the like? These have been the Main Reasons I have never really gone any further than thinking about fixing it.

It will be a lot of work to do all the changes that I have in mind, but I need to know if itÂ could/would be worth it inÂ the end. (Did I mention that there is a Webpage on the .com addy that would be moved to .com/web?) This isn’t as much about redesigning as much as knowing if it is the right thing to do.Â

I know I can put redirects on the Blog and Website, but what does that do to SEO? Will it be more or less difficult for people searching for Work at Home information to find me? Is it worth all the effort?

If you would be so kind, I have a Yes or No Poll to get your opinion about moving the Blog. (Of course, there is a non-committal for those who don’t have an opinion.) You can either vote below in this post or in the sidebar, but you can only vote once.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Thanks for your help. The poll will be open until next Saturday (4/14). And if you don’t like polls, you can always voice your opinion in comments. You know I always answer comments.

[tags]spring cleaning,blogging,changing domain names,polls,opinions[/tags]

The Value of Old Posts

Joe Hauckes — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 12:00:56 +0000

Way back in January, when I first installed the Verizon DSL using the Actiontec GT704WG Wirless Router I wrote about the problems I was having with the installation.

I also wrote of the solution I came up with after all the trials and tribulations I had dealing with the incompetent help line. That was actually 11 (eleven) months ago.

As things work out, someone sent me an E-mail to the Old Address that was still linked in the post on the New Blog asking if I could help them. It seems they were going through the same problem. They couldn’t come up with the Drivers for the equipment and couldn’t get any satisfaction from Verizon (same problem I was having way back when).

I uploaded the files for the fix to http://workingathomeinternet.com/actiontech they can be copied (downloaded) to a hard-drive. Restarting the computer should allow the system to find the proper Drivers.

Sorry, Verizon and Actiontec, but if it’s proprietary, then you should make if easier for your customers to access the Drivers.

The Moral:

The value for me is, someone found an Old Post related to their problem through a Google Search.

The value for them is they found the information they were looking for on an Old Post of mine through a Google Search.

The Old Posts Involved:

My Dilemma

It’s Finally Over

4 Reasons Posting Frequency Matters

Joe Hauckes — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 18:22:48 +0000

How often you post really does matter. I have said in the past that as long as your readers know when you post, then it shouldn’t really matter how often that is. This is not entirely true.

Although consistancy does matter and quality of the content even moreso, frequency should also be considered for a few reasons.

~~ Even though your regular readers may get used to when you post, someone who finds you through other means like Search Engines and referrals from other sites may like what they see. If they come back one or two or even three days in a row and there is nothing New, they most likely will go somewhere else for updated information. I know, I have taken more than one link out of my daily read list for that reason.

~~ SEO is very much affected by how often you post. The Search Engine crawlers like New Things. When they crawl your site and see current posts they tend to notice. They also tend to notice when they happen to crawl a site and they already have that information. There is nothing new to report, so your site could begin to slip down in the rankings.

~~ Advertisers like Pageviews. The more often their ad is seen, the better chance of it being converted. This should more than likely lead to more revenue for you. If people aren’t looking at your page for whatever reason, the advertiser could very well Opt-Out.

~~ Even if your objective is making an indirect income by exposure of your writing, art or any other talent you possess, the more people that see your page the better. When you post frequently, there is a better change more people will be exposed to your unique talents. See SEO above.

I only came up with 4 reasons posting frequency matters, I am sure there are plenty of others that I didn’t think of.

Can you add to the list? Are there reasons for posting less frequently?

Some Questions for an SEO Expert

Joe Hauckes — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 16:33:44 +0000

As you probably have noticed, the URL of this Blog is workingathomeinternet.com/WP. I have worked very hard to make this a success with readers, new and old friends alike.

Since I bought the Domain Name http://workingathomeinternet.com (view the prospective Website) I have considered transferring the Website to the index of the site. I already started moving the Website from the freespaces.com platform.

My questions to ANY SEO Expert are:

~~ How will that affect the SEO for the Blog?

~~ Do the Search Engine Crawlers just look at the Domain and not bother with individual pages?

~~ If I leave the Blog as is (a Page) will it be adversely affected?

~~ Should I make the Blog a Sub-domain?

~~ Change from /WP to /BLOG?

Any help to resolve these question would be greatly appreciated. Please either leave any thoughts in comments, or if you prefer send me an E-mail.

Thanks…

Joe

Linking Your Old Site to Your New Home

Joe Hauckes — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:40:13 +0000

If you have any type of site, whether it is a regular WebPage or a Blog and decide to move your pages for whatever reason, make sure you put come kind of referral on the Old Site.

I bring this up because in using the StatCounter and SiteMeter (outclicks) Statistics Services I noticed a good percentage (between 10-15%) of my pageviews on the New Site are coming from the Referral I put on the Old Blogger Blog.Â Since I am still getting quite a few hits, especially on the older posts, on the Old Blog I could be missing out on quite a few New Readers.

When I put the referral on the Old Blog (in the Biggest Bold I could find) on the last entry, I thought it would be a good idea to put it in the Template so it would show on every previous post, no matter how old.Â As it turns out, I (for once) was right.

At present I am getting around 10 times the traffic from Search Engines on the other site, so I would be missing any chance of those potential readers finding my new site without the referrals in place.Â I also made sure to put a Return To The New Blog referral since I haven’t changed all the links to the older posts (over 325) yet.

Another thing that I almost forgot to change was on my E-mail.Â Most all of us put links to our sites on our Business and sometimes personal E-Mail, so make sure you change the URl’s there or you could be referring potential customers to the wrong (or at least outdated) address.

Do you have any other suggestions for someone who is moving?Â Have you seen the same or different results in your move?