Anyone else want to join the bidding?

Last Friday I had a surprise email from a SEO company in Leeds who asked if I wanted to sell my domain www.ihaveawebsite-nowwhat.co.uk which is in the top 3 of Google UK for the keyword 'SEO'.

As it happens I have had a few offers in the last 12 months, 2 of them very signicant, 1 of them totally naive and the rest a complete waste of time.

No sooner than we entered into discussions, an old offer returned, so now I have a bidding war starting (hopefully) as I would like to make this the year I retire from working and spend all my time running for charity around the UK and indeed the rest of the world too.

So if you are interested in making an offer, contact me.

Number 1 in Google in 14 minutes !

Yes it's true! I was setting up a new blog for one of my clients last night at 9:00pm after which I emailed my client Castle Comfort Stairlifts and went to bed. Next morning I checked my iphone for messages and emails, when one popped up entitled 'Bloody Brilliant'.

I have had very fast results with Google before i.e. getting a page one listing in 2 hours, but I have never had THE top spot in 14 minutes before.

Ok let's honest, it is not a hugley competetive keyword but it does have 3,000 results returned. But what is very surprising is the speed at which Google picked this up and indexed it.

Ink Cartridges: What you need to know: download this in pdf format (46KB) One of my seo clients at www.inksave.co.uk recently explained to me the difference between ink cartridges, ink tanks and printer head inks. Like myself, the vast majority of us are now very familiar with our own personal computer. However, alongside most computers sits a printer. With the permission of my client, I hope to explain some of the fundamentals (and explode a few myths) about the different types of printer - and in particular the type of ink cartridge they use. Domestic and small office environments usually operate at least one inkjet printer. This market is dominated by a handful of key players – namely HP, Epson, Lexmark, Canon, Brother and Dell. Other manufacturers like Olivetti and Philips also sell inkjet printers, but on a smaller scale. Ink cartridges (also known as inkjet cartridges) come in many different shapes and sizes and vary enormously. It is essential to have exactly the correct cartridges for your own printer model - many look pretty much identical but have different micro-electronics which is often the danger when trying to save money by using a compatible ink cartridge.  Some printers only take one or two ink cartridges, whereas some take up to ten individual ones. Choosing which printer you should invest in based on ink consumables can be very tricky, although there are many good websites that allow you to navigate easily to your printer model so you can only order correctly matched cartridges. Make sure you click on the right printer model though! Different types of ink cartridges; INK TANKS As the name suggests these are simply plastic tanks filled with ink. There is often a sponge inside to stop the ink slopping around as the carriage moves left to right at great speed. The print head (the bit that marks the paper) is an integral part of the printer. The ink drops into the print head, which regulates flow, mixes and sprays it on to the paper in the very tiniest droplets imaginable. Older printers may take one black ink cartridge alongside one tri-colour (or 5-colour) cartridge. More recent models have the black ink cartridge (sometimes more than one) alongside a number of individual colour cartridges - the obvious advantage being when one colour runs out, you don't have to throw away a cartridge containing residual ink of the other two or 4 colours. This system is preferred by Epson and Brother. Also many Canon, a few HP and some more recent Lexmark inkjet printers use the ink tank method of delivery. The main advantage of a printer using ink tanks is that they can be fairly cheap to run. Very reliable compatible ink cartridges are widely available for most Epson, Canon and Brother models for a fraction of the cost of manufacturers original branded (OEM) goods. Provided the generic ones are built to at least ISO9001 quality assurance standards you can expect good print quality, and page-life at least as long. Horror stories of them ruining printers are largely unfounded. If a printer is used regularly it will usually give reliable performance whether running original branded or compatible cartridges. If left switched off for weeks at a time it is sometimes necessary to run the "print head cleaning cycle" built in for that very reason. Manufacturers are very keen to sell you their own branded (and very profitable) products, and will jump at any chance to scare people away from using lower cost alternatives. Cheap ink cartridges are not necessarily cheap and nasty! PRINTHEAD INK CARTRIDGES Unlike ink tanks, when you change a print head cartridge you are installing a completely new print-head every time you replenish the ink supply. As you can imagine, there are complex micro-electronics involved in the accurate delivery of heated ink to paper, and as a result printhead cartridges are generally more expensive to buy than simple ink tanks. The argument for printhead cartridges is that the highest level of print quality is maintained, irrespective of the age of the printer. There is certainly logic in that argument, but it's fair to say modern ink-tank printers (as described in the paragraph above) do maintain a high level of print quality for a long time at a lower cost. Manufacturers insist that printhead cartridges are designed for single use only (typically delivering between 150 and 450 pages) and should then be replaced by a new one. In fact many once-used cartridges are either simply refilled or professionally recycled. Remanufactured cartridges (as the professionally recycled ones are known) are thoroughly cleaned, emptied, refilled in a vacuum chamber with system-matched inks, and then print tested to ensure fine quality. Many contain more ink than new ones from the factory - up to three times as much, so they cost less and produce more pages. Reliability is good as long as you buy from an established reputable cartridge dealer with a track record of good customer service. In the event of any problem arising you need to know it can be sorted out without fuss or expense.

SEO top domain for sale

After several years working in SEO (the first few years for my own websites) and many years since helping other website owners, the time has come for me to move on again. This time I want to travel in my motorhome and keep raising money for charity.

So I have decided to sell my domain and website to the highest bider. Please note the previous 4 applicants need not re-apply.

The domain in question is of course Ihaveawebsite which is currently at position 3 in Google UK. All interested parties should contact me initally by email.

Challenging Keywords 2009

Hearing Aids
Stairlifts
Welding & related keyword (lots)

2009 has indeed been a very tough year for everyone, but especially for those with internet businesses. I would really love to help everyone get a better visibility in the search engines but because I am now semi retired and enjoying charity running for Cancer Research UK, it is rare for me to take on a client these days. I think in the whole year I have only accepted 7 clients

I was approached by 4 companies who would not take 'no' for an answer. All three even attempted to bribed me to accept their work commissions by pledging sponsorship for my charity fund raising. It would be a very large sponsorship, and there were no strings attached, so how could I refuse?

The websites concerned were;
www.crystalhearinguk.co.uk (sponsored me £1000)
www.affordablehearingaids.co.uk
Both for the term 'Hearing Aids'. Ididn't take them both at the same time because I don't think it's possible to have 2 masters. But I did get them both into the top 5 on page 1 of Google.

Then there was;
www.castlecomfortstairlifts.com for the term 'Stairlifts' which I managed to get on to Google page 1 but it took almost a year to do so, where it has held. (sponsored me £2000 total, paid for me to enter half marathon, provided a hotel room, and offered me use of holiday accomodation in Lanzarote with free flights). This company is very altruistic and actively seeks ways to help people in their community including fitting a stairlift for FREE !

Also;
www.r-techwelding.co.uk for lots of Google page 1 welding related keywords like 'tig welder' etc  (sponsored me £1000)


Also thanks to www.firefoods.co.uk who I helped to build, maintain and SEO their website for free for bribing me with loads of free chilli products :0)



Maybe you want to bribe me?
www.justgiving.com/stephenauker



What did I do with the many hundreds of enquiries I declined in 2008/09?

I simply turned them away. I never refer clients to another SEO because there are so many, but so few who actually know what they are doing, with great customer ethics. The bottom line is, I have not yet found one I can trust i.e. ethically or professionally.

Some of the pit falls in SEO are;
a. Some companies are too big to really care about a single website, often with huge penalties for giving notice - hense putting revenue before client.
b. SEO's paying for Google sponsored listings for the term 'SEO'. Why? If they are any good at SEO they should be in the search engine results themselves.
c. One man bands. Nothing wrong with 'one man bands', I have been one of them for 35 years. But SEO is attracting individuals who see SEO as an easy way to make good money, but they have little or no experience or conscience when they extract money from you.

I realise my blogs are going to cause even more contraversy. But it is really nice when someone actual takes the time to write something good about you, no matter how short http://bit.ly/7DAau2

Have a great 2010
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

Green Elephant Toenail Soup

Can I optimise my website for 'GREEN ELEPHANT TOENAIL SOUP"?
Of course - but why would you want to? To prove it can be done of course!

You know, I get asked some really silly questions, and I am just being silly too.
But if you will permit me, I will explain why I made this page, and why I wanted GREEN ELEPHANT TOENAIL SOUP to rank at the top of Google.

As an SEO (search engine optimisation) specialist I am often criticized by my online SEO colleagues. People who I have never met write articles about me or my website simply because I am ranked so highly in Google for the term SEO or Search Engine Optimisation, and they don't have a clue how I do it!  They call my techniques unorthodox, unusual, weird and even downright liberty taking.

The fact is, they spend hours in forums and blogs talking about other SEO companies and not working much, whereas I get dozens of SEO enquiries every day, and only accept 1 a week (on a good week). Ask any of my clients how difficult is was to get my attention....

The reason I decline so many offers of work are many i.e. lifestyle, holidays, personal preference, semi-retired and of course.... I have to believe my SEO will really can make a difference.
So when I am asked to SEO a holiday website, sex toys, lingerie, mobile phones etc, etc. I am simply not interested because no matter what I do, I don't see it will make 'significant' improvements to justify my fees.

So why am I writing this page GREEN ELEPHANT TOENAIL SOUP? 

The answer is - for a bet!
I turned down a client today (5th July) and told her that her website was too competitive and she had a better chance of winning the lottery. I also told her that I would personally feel very bad if the SEO did not make a significant improvement to her Google listings.

You know what she said? She offered to triple my fees and give me her services free, if I took her as a client. She then said she had already got a #1 listing in Google for her first name (very unusual name).
That's when I replied to her that within a short period of time I could get GREEN ELEPHANT TOENAIL SOUP at #1 in Google. But it wouldn't do me any good.

So, if you have a a unique selling point, then maybe we can work together and make a difference.

See you at the top.
Anyone for soup?

UPDATE:  

July 2008
The term GREEN ELEPHANT TOENAIL SOUP was optimised on this website on 5th July. It showed up as number 1 in Google on 9th July.
It also shows number 1 for other variations i.e. green elephants etc.

Reciprocal Linking Dangers

Link Trading Dangers:

In the 'good old days' Google and most other search engines used links to determine a websites reputation. For example 1 link = 1 vote of confidence.

A site's ranking in Google search results was and still is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to it. Link-based analysis is an extremely useful way of measuring a site's value, and has greatly improved the quality of web search. Both the quantity and, more importantly, the quality of links count towards this rating.
However, some SEOs and webmasters engage in the practice of swapping, sharing, buying and selling links, often disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. Buying links in order to improve a site’s ranking is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results.

Google works hard (very hard) to ensure that it fully discounts links intended to manipulate search engine results, such as link exchanges and purchased links.

Google requests, If you see a site that is buying or selling links, let them know. They will use your information to improve their algorithmic detection.

Some site owners attempt to "buy PageRank™" in the form of paid links to their sites. There are even websites whose sole business is to sell links. Buying links to improve your websites PageRank also violates Googles quality guidelines, and you seriously risk being BANNED from the Google Index.

What does this mean?
It means Google and other search engines dislike websites which attempt to manipulate natural listing by employing unfair techniques. If you are caught participating, you WILL be banned from Google. Dare you take this risk?

So what is the answer? 
It's not rocket science. Simply make sure your website is presented correctly, sometimes called 'Search Engine Optimisation' or 'SEO'.  This involves creating clearly written good quality content which represents your main keyword phrases.

Link to this website: 
If you found this article interesting, then why not link to this website so others can read it too?

I prefer you to link with the abbreviation 'SEO' and this is a clear demonstration of how links should really work :)