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marți, 26 octombrie 2010

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

Find the Question to your Yahoo Answers!

Posted: 25 Oct 2010 02:10 PM PDT

This post was originally in YOUmoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc.

Have you considered using Yahoo Answers to try and drive some traffic to your website / blog? Yahoo Answers has become a very popular network for knowledge thirsty question askers and knowledge soaked answer-meisters, and they are all potential visitors for your site. This article aims to provide a detailed look at some tips / tricks for becoming the glowing Yahoo Answers guru you've always wanted to be!

I was inspired back in January by Nathan Libbeys excellent blog post about generating traffic using Yahoo Answers. After reading Nathan's post I registered with Yahoo Answers and started answering questions, mainly in the environment category, and I quickly became semi-obsessed with "Yahanswering" (Sounds Swedish!).

Now the key to using Yahoo Answers is to actually provide some meaningful answers. Yahoo awards points for answering questions and you get a bunch of points if someone picks your answer as the best;

Answer a question = 2 points
Log in to Yahoo! Answers Once daily = 1 point
Vote for an answer = 1 point
Get voted as "Best Answer" = 10 points

You get 100 points just for registering but the holy grail of Yahanswering is to reach 250 points, at that point you can actually include live links in your answers!

OK, we can assume you have registered, answered with some great answers and reached 250 points, let's explore a few ways to improve your chances of getting those prized "Best Answers" and boost your site traffic at the same time.

A great way to improve your climb up the Yahoo Answers leader board is to take a look at your site and find a great answer. Have you written an article or a blog post which was super informative, educational and unique? Chances are that if your article provides a great answer to a common problem then there will be some unanswered questions to match it!

Yahoo Answers has an "Advanced Search" feature which allows a question slaying web ninja to find suitable questions which will be a perfect match for his/her awesome answer;

Yahoo Answers Advanced Search Function

For example, my site has a great article about setting up a tumbling composter and there might be throngs of people on Yahoo Answers desperate to learn more about my tumbling composter!

This is where we can make the Advanced Search feature really work for us, for this example I have chose the keyword "compost" along with any one of the following "tumbler,tumbling,rotating,composting,bin";

Yahoo Answers Advanced Search Feature

You will also notice that I have selected to search only for a Keyword match in "Questions" and the Question Status of "Open Questions".

The all important final stage is to save this advanced search so that you can easily run it every time you log in to Yahoo Answers;

Save Your Advanced Search

And there you have it, a repeatable and highly focused search that will link you to people desperate to find the answers you already possess!

In my above example the results yielded a find straight away;

We've Struck Yahoo Answering Gold!

I can clearly see that "Donna" needs to read my awesome article about setting up a tumbler composter and I can now click on here question and provide that answer.

I wrote my reply to Donna and can now sit back with fingers crossed and hope that I get that elusive 10 points for a "Best Answer"

My Yahoo Answer Posted

Using techniques such as the saved Advanced Searches have built my Yahoo Answers portfolio into a veritable link farm. I have enjoyed the challenge of answering peoples questions and it's very rewarding to get that 10 point Best Answer from a happy question asker.

I have tracked my traffic direct from Yahoo Answers this year and it isn't huge but it's well worth the effort;

Tracking my Answerlytics

As you can see from my stats I've recently taken a break from Yahanswering, mainly to focus on writing articles like this one, but I plan to get my answering hat back on soon and keep climbing my way up that Yahoo Answers leaderboard.

So there you have it, you now have the tools and the knowledge to venture forth and become a Yahoo Answer grand master, let me know your experiences using the Advanced Search features and whether you have seen any spikes in traffic from some crafty Yahanswering!

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36 Billion Gallons of Biofuels and Cleaner Trucks, Vans and Buses

Energy and Climate Agenda
Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Week in Energy and Climate

Yesterday, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal for the first national standards for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency for medium and heavy-duty trucks, vans, and buses. This step is a win for the environment, energy independence and our economy.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar approved the largest solar energy project ever to be built on U.S. public lands. When constructed, the Blythe Solar Power Project will produce up to 1,000 megawatts of solar power, or enough to power 300,000 – 750,000 homes.

On Thursday, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack outlined the steps that the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is taking to reach a national goal of producing 36 billion gallons of biofuel a year in the United States by 2022, with 21 billion gallons coming from advanced biofuel production.

Learn more about other Obama Administration events in commemoration of National Energy Month, a national effort to underscore how energy is central to our national prosperity, security, and environmental well-being, here.

Highlights

DOT, EPA Propose Nation's First-Ever Emissions, Fuel-Efficiency Standards for Trucks and Buses
October 25, 2010
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announce a proposal for the first national standards for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency for medium and heavy-duty trucks, vans, and buses.

Boosting Advanced Biofuel Production and Creating Jobs
October 22, 2010
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack explains that the Administration's vision for rural America combines new technologies and new markets with better use of our natural resources -- more home grown biofuels and renewable energy.

A Discussion on Clean Energy in Missoula
October 22, 2010
White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley travels to Missoula, Montana, to discuss America's energy future at the 20th Annual Conference for the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Leading by Example: VA Funds Solar Energy Projects at Hospitals, Clinics, Cemeteries
October 22, 2010
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awards $78 million in contracts to build solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at VA facilities nationwide.

Iowa Conservation Partnerships
October 21, 2010
Jess Maher, Associate Director for Legislative Affairs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, travels to Iowa to learn about partnership-based efforts to support natural resource conservation.

Building Stronger, Sustainable Communities Through Strategic Coordination
October 21, 2010
The Obama Administration announces a combined $742 million in grants and assistance to support the creation of more livable and sustainable communities across the country.

Empowering Defense Through Energy Security
October 18, 2010
The Department of Defense (DoD) hosts an Energy Security Forum as part of National Energy Awareness Month to discuss how the Department of Defense can turn energy use from a strategic and operational challenge to a key strength for the warfighter.

Blog Action Day: Protecting America’s Waters Today
October 15, 2010
As part Change.org's Blog Action Day, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson reflects on the importance of protecting America's clean water supply.

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Michael Gray - Graywolf's SEO Blog

Creating and Using an SEO Editorial Calendar

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 07:30 AM PDT

I’ve mentioned the benefits of having an editorial calendar several times on this blog, and Lisa has done an excellent job of explaining why you need an editorial calendar from a content production point of view; however, what I haven’t talked about is how to use an editorial calendar from an SEO perspective.

From an SEO perspective, an editorial calendar can has several points worth noting:

You need to produce, publish, and link build to new content at least 30-45 days before you can expect it to rank (unless its a QDF term)
You need to have a recycling strategy in place for old content
You need to maximize the value of previous social media campaigns and think about how you are going use current and upcoming ones.

While these strategies are important for every website, they are especially important for websites with seasonal content, like Halloween, the World Series, or new car models, as you only get a once-a-year opportunity to get it right.

Let’s say you have website that talks about cooking. You want to start cycling links to your existing Halloween content 30-45 days before the peak searching time. I prefer to put those links on the homepage for maximum effect (see making your homepage more dynamic). You can determine when the peak searching time is by using tools like Google Trends and Google insights

Search Volume for Halloween Cupcakes

Search Volume for Halloween cupcakes

Be sure to use Google insights for keyword research and post ideas (see Four Ways Bloggers can Use Google Insights)

Keyword Ideas From Google Insights

If you can, try to do some natural linkbuilding or scraper link building in conjunction with moving the links to the home page. If you are creating new content, you’ll need to decide if it’s evergreen or social. If it’s evergreen, you’ll need to push it out sooner if you want it to rank; if its social, you’ll need to wait till the event is about 7-10 days out from peak search time, or the time when it’s front of mind. For example, “Extreme Valentine’s Day Gifts” will work fine if you publish it on February 5th. If you publish it on December 15th, it will probably fail miserably.

If you have any link bait from the previous year, my suggestion is not to 301 redirect the URL to a more commercial page. Instead, leave the content in place, and link to commercial pages, or revise the content, making it more commercially oriented. Don’t be afraid to repeat some of your past successes year after year, just give them a new wrinkle. For example, Cosmopolitan Magazine has been putting out “how to have better sex” and “look great naked” articles every few months since it hit the newsstands in the 1970′s. Just remember to give it a fresh approach and new content.

If you have content that changes/updates every year, you have two choices: you can go with a living URL approach or you can take an archive approach. The archive approach goes something like this: every year, Ford puts out a new mustang, so the URL for the current year should be something like this:

example.com/ford/mustang/

When the 2011 comes out, create a new URL and move the existing content to it. The URL should be something like this:

example.com/ford/mustang/2010/

Then put the 2011 model information on:

example.com/ford/mustang/

Your old page hopefully has links and traffic. If you redirect it, you are sacrificing it for no good reason. By shifting the content but keeping the URLs permanent, you maximize what you already have.

So what are the takeaways from this post:

Put links to existing content on the home page or other frequently crawled pages 30-45 days before peak search volume days
Use Google trends or Google insights to determine peak search volume days
Rewrite or interlink existing social media pages to maximize their value
Schedule new social media on time that coincide with maximum search volume
Use a living URL or archive strategy so you don’t sacrifice any existing link equity

photo credit: Jorge-11

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis WordPress Theme review.

Creating and Using an SEO Editorial Calendar

Content Ideas – Creating an Ongoing Series One of the problems that website owners and bloggers encounter...
How Google Calendar Can Screw Up Appointments When Changing Timezones While I don’t make my use of Google products like...
Is Web 2.0 Creating An Ad Trend Towards Promoting Content? If you pay attention to the ads that monetize most...
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Daily Snapshot: Ask Axe

Your Daily Snapshot for
Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Ask Axe: Today at 1 p.m. EDT

David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to the President, is answering your questions in a live video chat on WhiteHouse.gov today at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Axelrod has been with the President in the White House since Day One and knows his perspective on major policy issues across the board. Ask Axe your questions about the economy, health care, energy -- or whatever else is on your mind.

Submit your question and watch live.

Photo of the Day

Carved pumpkins depicting President Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, and the White House sit on a stone wall next door to where the President was attending a dinner reception in Providence, Rhode Island, Oct. 25, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time

9:45 AM: The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

10:15 AM: The President receives the Economic Daily Briefing

10:45 AM: The President meets with senior advisors

12:45 PM: The Vice President attends an event for Representative Tim Bishop

1:00 PM: Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

1:00 PM: Tuesday Talk with David Axelrod

4:30 PM: The President meets with Secretary of Defense Gates

5:45 PM: The Vice President attends an event for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

Indicates Events that will be livestreamed on WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Seth's Blog : How media changes politics

[You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.]

How media changes politics

If you want to get elected in the US, you need media.

When TV was king, the secret to media was money. If you have money, you can reach the masses. The best way to get money is to make powerful interests happy, so they'll give you money you can use to reach the masses and get re-elected.

Now, though...When attention is scarce and there are many choices, media costs something other than money. It costs interesting. If you are angry or remarkable or an outlier, you're interesting, and your idea can spread. People who are dull and merely aligned with powerful interests have a harder time earning attention, because money isn't sufficient.

Thus, as media moves from TV-driven to attention-driven, we're going to see more outliers, more renegades and more angry people driving agendas and getting elected. I figure this will continue until other voices earn enough permission from the electorate to coordinate getting out the vote, communicating through private channels like email and creating tribes of people to spread the word. (And they need to learn not to waste this permission hassling their supporters for money).

Mass media is dying, and it appears that mass politicians are endangered as well.