The Art of Search Engine Optimization

The Black Art of Search Engine Optimization

Remember? 

 

Yeah, me too.  Ultimately, the Smart Page experiment ended up getting the Site that I did the experiment on banned by the Google Search engine.

 

I have to say, that was one of the best tests that I ever did.  It was thorough, extended and had the benefit of fantastic results - even if it did prove that Smart Pages were not of any long term value.

 

Even before I started the Smart Page experiment, Audrey and I committed to testing each and every product on our own, with our own time and money BEFORE we would recommend it to our newsletter subscribers.

 

Having said that, I think I made a critical mistake by talking about Smart Pages before our own test was complete. Before we completed the test,  folks bought it anyway, and were disappointed with the results. 

 

So, when I started testing the Traffic Equalizer,

I decided that I wouldn't talk about the product by name until I ad some results.

 

...I have some results.

 

----First, let me explain what Traffic Equalizer does.

 

I'm having issues spelling Traffic Equalizer correctly, so I'm going to refer to it as "TE" for the remainder of this newsletter...

 

----The Basics of TE

 

TE generates web pages that are highly optimized for specific keywords.  I should say, TE creates GOBS and GOBS of keyword optimized pages.

 

In fact, in the experiment that I conducted, I was able to create over 1,400 keyword-optimized pages in about 30 minutes. 

 

---How does it create the pages?

 

This is the ingenious little part of TE.  Consider what a Search Engine Results Page looks like in Google...  Let's say that you type in the search term "Sword" in Google.  Google will return hundreds or even hundreds of thousands of results that all have one thing in common:

 

**They all have the keyword "Sword" in the search results - right along with a title and a description that relate to that keyword.**

 

And that's how TE creates its keyword optimized pages. You feed the TE program a text document of keywords and it sends a little TE spider out to an Inktomi powered search engine and starts to re-create the search engine results for that keyword in the form of HTML pages.

 

Then, TE generates a page that contains these search engine results that are VERY keyword optimized.  And it does it automatically.

 

---Does it work?

 

For me, today, it has - in a big way.  I created a site at www.editors-resource.com that is basically an affiliate site that points to my new product at www.likeapromedia.com

 

I researched over 1,400 keywords that relate to multi-media editing, production, authoring, and software and fed it into TE.  It chewed on the keywords for a while and then spit out 1,400 pages - each one optimized for a particular keyword on my list.

 

Now, the default pages that TE generates are ugly, but it's really pretty simple (if you can do a little web page authoring or HTML) to integrate the TE results pages into your existing web site design.

 

So, with the default templates altered to fit my overall sites theme, I uploaded these 1,400 pages to a server, got some links from sites like www.jayde.com and some other free directories with good Google Page rank, and sat back and held my breath...

 

...for 3 weeks.

 

I swear, waiting for anything that's unproven to me is the hardest part.  It wasn't long before I started second guessing myself and TE, and during fits of restlessness, I considered yanking the whole site down.  Fortunately, when you purchase TE, you get access to a private forum where you can ask questions and read about other TE users results and techniques - so I spent some time there, mollifying my concerns.  But mostly, I just left the site alone...

 

Finally, after 3 weeks, Google finally crawled the first 127 pages of www.editors-resource.com.

 

Traffic went bonkers.  I'm talking about going from 12-15 visits a day to over 300 visits a day.  Now, keep in mind that Google has only crawled 127 out of 1,400 pages of this site, and I haven't done ANY other type of search engine optimization on this site.  Some of the pages get only a hit or two, and some of them don't get any... But because I have so many pages spread across a range of relevant keywords - it doesn't take many visitors to any one page to generate good traffic numbers.

 

---How do I turn that traffic into income?

 

I did a little pre-planning for editors-resource.com, so I had integrated some affiliate links into the body of the site - but the real reason for having the site at all was to drive traffic to www.likeapromedia.com

 

Well, not only have I tracked 6 sales from editors-resource.com to likeapromedia.com, I've also had some significant affiliate sales.  In fact, the site has paid for the purchase of TE, the domain, the hosting for a year, and this months car payment in the 6 weeks that the site has been active.

 

---Long Term prospects.

 

TE works today, and its principals are sound, at least in terms of Search Engine Optimization Techniques.  But perhaps the most exciting application of TE outside of using it to direct traffic to your e-commerce store or affiliate web site is using it with Google Ad Sense.

 

Some folks in the TE member forum were concerned that the "Voodoo" TE uses would cause Google to not approve a TE site for Google Ad Sense use. 

 

This turns out not to be the case.  In fact, posted in the TE forum is a letter that a TE member received from the Google Ad Sense Evaluations team.

 

In short, TE generated pages and sites DO NOT violate Google Ad Sense's terms of use, and Google has approved a huge percentage of TE sites that have applied to post Google Ad Sense ads on their pages.

 

So, one might be able to assume that if the site is good enough for Google Ad Sense, it's good enough for Google.   And based on my results, Google is responding well to my TE generated pages.

 

---Things to consider...

 

You're gonna need a little bit of skill in order to pull this off.  Meaning, you must not be afraid to copy and paste the few lines of code that TE generates into your site if you want to customize the look of your pages.  And frankly, you should really customize the TE generated pages as much as possible.

 

 My intention behind www.editors-resource was to create a Multi-Media Information Portal that contained useful links to other sites that have information about Multi-Media production.  But, in the process of creating that site, I wanted the visitors to be exposed to my affiliate partner's products and have an opportunity to read a review of the likeapromedia.com products. TE was MADE for this kind of concept.

 

So, if you use TE, make an honest attempt to make the site USEFUL.  Provide information on the main site pages, and structure the site as a resource for the folks that might visit.

 

---How long will TE's techniques last?

 

That's like asking, "How long is a piece of Rope?"  I can't answer that question, but I can tell you that Google has just finished a massive update, and this new algorithm seems to be here to stay, at least until the next update :) 

 

The point is, editors-resource.com started getting traffic AFTER the Google shake-up was complete, which means to me that Google is responding to the TE optimization formula.

 

TE might become obsolete in 6 months, but the way my traffic is building, that'll be plenty of time for me to reap the benefits of this program.  And as we all know, the next time the Search Engine algorithms change, it'll be about 3 weeks before someone cracks the code...  That's the way it is.

 

---Is the owner of TE a decent human?

 

Jeff  Alderson of Xybercode  is a first class guy.  He's the brains behind Adwords Analyzer (another great Supply and Demand Research Tool), and since I've owned TE, it's been updated 2 times, and I've received those updates for no charge.

 

Jeff is also in the TE member's only forum daily, and he's great about answering forum questions, as well as emailed questions.  His product has so many different uses that one of the TE members actually wrote an e-book about customizing TE templates, which you can use if the included TE instruction videos don't answer all of your set-up questions.

 

---Do I recommend it?

 

Yep - I do, but with this caveat:  You do need to know a little HTML or have a web design program like Net Objects Fusion, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, or some other HTML authoring program to use TE.

 

I'd also recommend that you start experimenting with TE on a new domain BEFORE you add it to an existing web site. 

 

Finally, this is not a magic "Get me visitors and cash" button - it's not a smart page either (Thank God), meaning, it's gonna take some supply and demand research to figure out what keywords you're gonna target with this program.  Just like any other marketing proposition, you need to have a very specific sense of the market you're going to compete in, so having a list of relevant keywords is KEY (excuse the pun) before you start generating pages.

 

Having to expend a little effort is a good thing.  Why?  Well, the truth is, most people aren't willing to work this hard or learn enough about web site building in order to use this product.

 

That's fine with me.  It simply lowers the amount of competition for those of us who are willing to sweat a little for our business.

 

So, with those things in mind, I spent exactly 24 hours building editors-resource.com

 

I spread that work over 3 days and I think it's important to mention that I am NOT a super skilled web site builder.  I use FrontPage, and I know the basics, but between the instructional video and the instructional e-book that I downloaded, I was able to sort TE out.

 

---Final thoughts:

 

I want to generate traffic.  I know that I can convert a visitor to a customer if they come from the right keyword search - but getting the traffic still remains the first step in building an online income.  Once I have the visitor's attention, converting them to a customer is pretty much a numbers game, as long as I've done my supply and demand research.

 

So, the trick is - get the visitor to my site.  I was skeptical of TE at first, mostly because of my experience with Smart Pages, but since I put the TE generated pages in the context of "Creating an Internet Resource Site", using TE and integrating it into our affiliate web site model has been a joy!

 

This kind of tool screams "Passive Income Generator"!  Think about the potential of using Google Adsense or some highly targeted affiliate programs in conjunction with a tool like TE...  Once that site starts getting hits, the dollars may not be far behind...

 

Still, with any kind of Technology Leveling software, please use this thing responsibly.  The potential for abuse is high, and the minute that happens, someone at a major search engine's home office is going to take notice.  There's nothing wrong with living below the radar while making good dollars, and I think that TE has the potential to do just that.

 

 

Till Next Time!

 

Andy Jenkins