Site Architectures - Keyboarding vs Typing

I've yet to see an intelligent discussion of how best, from an SEO perspective, to architect a site or array of sites.

There are lots of essays and software on how to layout a page (length, keyword density---- use of keywords in titles (h1s) and body text and metatitles etc.

But where is the essay on site architectures?
- Should every page link to every other page?
- Should every page link to a sitemap which links to every page?
- Should groups of pages link to each other in some sort of subject-based cluster?
- Are external links more valuable than internal links.
In my mind's eye, I see a set of diagrams similiar to the early diagrams of LAN architectures (token ring vs ethernet vs star etc)

Heres a test. I've two pages on www.todays-learners.com (Learning in Todays World) related to typing and keyboarding courses. One only has internal links...its called ~/keyboardingcourse . The other page only has external links. Its called http://www.todays-learners.com/TypingTutor. In one month, I'll check to see which one has superior page rank on google.

Shopping.com steals my traffic

Shopping.com steals my traffic!!!!

A number of members of my educational service - www.time4learning.com - have recently commented that they wanted to find my site but were instead taken to Shopping.com - an Ebay site.

Apparently, these are the types of users that start everyday by typing their destination into a search engine and then clicking on some of the searches that come up (obviously, they should bookmark time4learning.com's member login page or at least type the url directly into the address bar but thats a story for another day).

It seems that shopping.com uses my name - time4learning - in the title bar of their google ads for themselves!!! I'm very flattered.

Actually, shopping.com probably has some clever algorithm that finds searches where they can post their advertisement for a nickel or less and which sticks the searched keyphrase into the title. All the same, I don't like shopping.com taking my traffic this way. I'm going to contact them to see if I can get off the list. I wonder if its possible.

Any experience out there?

Do lists like this help build page rank & traffic? http://www.ikeepbookmarks.com/browse.asp?folder=1396712

BLOG SPAM - What to do?

It seems that most of the comments that I get here are spam from people trying to promote websites. Any ideas from anybody before I just turn off comments?

It's essentially a blog of my efforts to promote www.time4learning.com

Adsense Revenue

Last spring (2005), I managed to pull in 60% of the money that I was spending on adwords via ads from adsense. Over a three month period, I found that I could get a 15% click on the ads and that I had an average revenue per click of $.20 although I was buying traffic at $.06. It was great.

Then I took down all the ads from my site with education learning and games online to see if my conversion rate would improve. My conversion rate did improve.

Sadly, the numbers overall did not. What I lost in ad revenue was not made up for by improved conversions. And I have not been able to rebuild the system to get those same great numbers. Like the great Dr. Jekyll, the magic formula was never really understood and whatever caused it cannot seem to be refound.

Anybody have any reason to think it had to do with any changes in google's adsense campaign from last May?

Search Engines - Pt 3 - Keyphrases

Keyphrases are a weird science

More specific (ie multiword) combinations are generally lower volume and more targetted than single words. For instance, take the word READING. It turns out that most people who type in the word reading are looking for the something astrological. Also, many are interested in a town called Reading. Then there are those who are interested in education or literacy. To avoid the confusion from using a broad term, focus on more specific terms such as:

learning to read
remedial reading programs
2nd grade reading skills
learning elementary reading skills
pre reading skills such as phonemic awareness

Sometimes two word combinations are less popular than one word combinations.
Heres a quiz - What two word combination is more popular than the single word search: "school". Yes, it is...." school girls"

Each search engine treats the details of keyphrases differently.

For instance,
- which engine treats 2nd grade and second grade the same?
- which engine treats them differently?
- which engine treats learning game and learning games differently?
- which engine treats them the same?

To get a a feel for a behind-the-scenes look at my keyphrases, check out my private guide to keyphrases and links to them - http://www.time4learning.com/include_archive.shtml

Search Engines & How to Place in them - Intro - Pt 1

I'm frequently asked to explain search engines and how to place in them.

1. Natural Search vs Paid Search - Type in any term (try reading) into the google search engine, you'll notice that there are two columns of info.

On the left is whats called "natural search". This is google's effort to provide you with the most relevent and important matches. On the right side, in a column titled "sponsored search", are advertisements which have been matched with your search. These are PPC (pay per click) advertisements. When you click on them, the advertiser pays google some amount of money.

2. There are many many many search engines. Focus on Google for starters, its at least 55% of the search market. When you start looking at the different search engines, one tricky to understand issue is that some search engines use other search engines. And this keeps changing. For instance, AOL relies on Google for search. AskJeeves (now ASK) primarily uses the results from Google. Yahoo relied on the google sponsored search results until they bought Overture and now they use their own sponsored search results. The three biggest search engines in order are:
- Google - 60% of the searches
- Yahooo - 15% of the searches
- MSN - 15% of the searches and climbing fast
- Ask, tom's search engine, dick's search & directory firm, harry's A-Z business directory & search etc etc
BTW - search engines are different than directories but we'll get to that another day.

3. Find out what people are searching for. The volume matters - http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ will tell you for the previous month what the number of searches were for a given key phrase in the US on the yahoo search engine. Another useful free tool is http://www.goodkeywords.com/ which you can install and use on your computer. Its not at all obvious or intuitive what the volume searches are. Plus, why.

Continue to part 2

Demos - Remote Learning

I have found another great tool - I can now do remote demos using:
https://www.beamyourscreen.com/US/Welcome.aspx

This will allow us to show www.time4learning.com's great K-6 Homeschool Curriculua to users without hoping that they look at the right educational fun games for kids.

I wonder if it works with flash?

Browser Compatibility

I thought that testing required getting access to all the different browsers and a mac....While doing this is always a good test, I just discovered this gem:
http://www.browsercam.com/ - a site for testing for all the different browsers.

Our educational teaching games and implementations of Compass Learning Odyssey will now be tested there.

search engines - Pt 2 - Natural Search -

4. Pick some relevant keyphrases and be realistic, you can get some good ones, but the keyphrases with huge volume are not accessible generally to new sites. The best strategy is to spend some time finding some mid-volume phrases that match well with what you do and which have not become too competitive. Details to follow.

5. google counts links in a sophisticated manner. Obviously, links from big sites count more than from little ones. External more than internal. From strangers more than same address. Text links in body count more than ads.
6 Track your links.
7. Build your links

SEO - Alt Tags - Animated Gifs

Can I put anchor text that will count for SEO relevence in google when using an animated gif tile ad?

http://www.time4learning.com/ads/t4l-120x90.gif

How would i use that animated gif with:
- alt text - kids math games learn to read programs educational teaching games
- a link to - http://www.time4learning.com

Would I do better to use link to the gifs or to copy over the gifs?

kids math games learn to read programs educational teaching games

SEO - What links matter?

Do links in sites like bookmarks count?
http://www.iKeepBookmarks.com/OnlineKidsLearning

Will those links help the people? Can a bookmark page get a high enough rating so it helps lift other pages?

Does an entire blog have the same ranking or can individual articles have different ratings in google?

Server Side Includes - SSI - Include Archives

For simple management of a website, you can use build with templates or SSI - server side includes. One of the problems is keeping track of the ssi's that you create. Since they are invisible, it can be very difficult for a new designer or for an absend-minded one (and aren't we all?) to take advantage of the SSI's that exist.

Introducing the incredibly-simple : Include Archives !!!

For asset mgt, this is a nifty solution. Other assets are easy to track since pictures and headlines etc are visible and you can point at them to get their reference. But having an archive of server side includes - SSI is great. To quote one of my chief designers.... :-D

Time4Learning Site Map

Time4Learning - Learn Reading & Math Online - Home
Homeschool - Online Help
Homeschool Curricula
Online Learning & Games Overview
Learn to Read & Develop Reading Skills Online
Learning to Read
Phonics Curriculum
Learn Math, Math Skills, & Build a Math Foundation Online
Succeed in Early Child Education with a Solid Foundation
Kids Learning Software
About Us
Presenting: Time4Learning....
Home - All Parents Want Their Children to Succeed. But wanting is not enough. What can you do to really help?
Parents see steady and ongoing improvements in math and reading skills.>> Take the Tour
Children like doing their lessons with Time4Learning.
Put your child on the path to improved skills, grades, and confidence.
A Letter From the Founder of Time4Learning
Get the Time4Learning Newsletter
Try Time4Learning, Risk Free,.
Contacting & Using Time4Learning....
Contact Us
Member Login
Frequently Asked Questions
Reading Skills Pyramid
Reading Skills Pyramid - Overview of Skills per NCLB
Reading Skills - Phonemic Awareness
Reading Skills - Phonics
Reading Skills - Comprehension
Reading Skills - Vocabulary
Reading Skills - Fluency
Math Skills
Math Facts - Where do they fit in building a math foundation?
Learn Math, Math Skills, & Build a Math Foundation Online
PreSchool Math
Kindergarten Math
Elementary Math
First Grade Math
Second Grade Math
Third Grade Math
Fourth Grade Math
Fifth Grade Math
Fraction Lessons
Games
Math Games
Educational Games
Elementary Games
Preschool Games
Kindergarten games
First Grade Games
Second Grade Games
Third Grade Games
Helpful Information
Learning and Learning Games - The right balance
Structured Learning
Educational Advisory Panel
CompassLearning Odyssey(tm) for home school & home enrichment
CompassLearning(tm) - The Heart of the System
Learning Games Demos
The Playground - First Learn, Then Play
Reports for Parents
Academic Success - Solid Fundamentals
Old Schoolhouse Magazine Review of Time4Learning
Academic Success - Solid Fundamentals
Link to Us
Work With Us
Time4Learning - Company Store
Order a printed wall copy of the Reading Skills Pyramid.
Members – Would you like a FREE Month of Time4Learning?

Useful online resources for marketing - continued

http://www.selfpromotion.com - this site run by Robert Woodhead, blends commercial and self-indulgent elements. It appears to be asking for contributions (tips for tips) and asking a sales site for his tools & services.

Setting up a blog

So, I've set up two blogs. One as a way of keeping track (and hoepfully soliciting answers) to some of my questions. This one.

The other as a way of building links & attracting customers to my site. http://learning-fun.blogspot.com/

How do I manage, optimize, and use these blogs?

- How do I get bloggers with online marketing expertise (there are alot), to read and answer these questions?

-How do I build my marketing blog to do what its supposed to?
- Should it be on blogspot? On blogspot and on my website thru RSS? Only on my website?
- How do I find out if anyone is reading it (blogger does not seem to come with any tracking software)?
- How do I ask other bloggers to read and reference it?

Coherent answers (not just solicitations although I'm potentially interested) very welcome.....