Why you shouldn’t click here
Jan.28.2009 
When determining which keywords your site should be shown for and how high you should be ranked, one of the variables the search engines analyse are the keywords used in the anchor text.
By using the anchor text in links coming to you from other sites AND the links connecting your site’s pages (which means you have some control over this) the search engines are able to build up a picture of your site’s subject and your ‘authority’ in that field.
Anchor text and SEO
When you link from one page to another in your own website or you link to someone else’s website using non-descriptive terms such as ‘click here’ or ‘find out more’ as the anchor text you are not providing the search engine’s spiders with information about what that page is about. As a result you miss out on taking advantage of one of the most important SEO ranking factors (see what I did there?).
To see this in action follow this link which shows how Adobe tops the rankings for the search term “click here” without a single mention of it anywhere on the page (the same goes for all the sites on the first page). This is 100% down to thousands of websites using something along the lines of “To download Adobe Acrobat Reader click here”.
Anchor text and usability
Getting in to good habits naming your anchor text also improves your site’s general usability. Research conducted in to how people read online content shows people don’t, they scan. Visitors look for visual cues as to the page’s topic and what they need to do next. Linked text stands out and draws the eyes, but non-descriptive links tell the user nothing and they will continue scanning elsewhere.
Getting the best of both worlds
At INSTA Host when we link to another page we use descriptive keywords for both the reader’s benefit and for our SEO. For example…
“INSTA Host, the award winning uk Host, is pleased to announce the launch of Windows Hosting.”
Anchor text tips
When you are linking to a page make sure they are…
- Descriptive
- Short
- Written for the user and not the search engines
- Part of the sentence and not tacked on at the end
Chang Chin Yuen, Ken Chang, HQ labs, BrandSingapore or Brand Universal
Name:Mr Ken Chang
Email hqpayments@gmail.com
Address:111 North Bridge Road
City: Singapore
Phone+44.6565599658
Mobile6581915007
We installed and hosted a script upon his behalf. Unlike many companies we do not charge a ridiculous price for our scripts, we charge a minimal amount and recoup our development costs through our hosting. Unfortunately, many individuals without any integrity see this as an opportunity to steal our products.
It would appear that Chang Chin Yuen ( hqpayments@gmail.com ) had no intention of fulfilling the agreement and has failed to pay. The manner in which the subscription was cancelled, has left us to speculate that he has perhaps, attempted to clone this script. As such we have the following notices to any host which has dealings with Chang Chin Yuen: ( we have already informed Godaddy of the circumstance, as his registrars)
Each script, we install, retains a callback which is automated, if this callback is not completed it will introduce malware onto any server hosting it. This was made clear at the time of purchasing. If this is activated, it will also contact our systems with the servers IP address, allowing us to take the appropriate action. This is the only way that we can protect ourselves from individuals whom act with out integrity, professionalism or courtesy.
It is our advice that any company considering transacting with Chang Chin Yuen, Ken Chang, HQ labs, BrandSingapore or Brand Universal should consider the information on the page before doing so. Further information will be placed on our blog http://www.instahost.co.uk/blogs.
Chang Chin Yuen acts on behalf of HQ labs, and has a somewhat haphazard page at http://brandsingapore.biz/ with contact details of john@brandsingapore.com which claims to part of a company called brand universal – which is in fact the same registration.
In addition to this, each email address used in transaction with these organisations have now been subject to a vast amount of SPAM from Asian Electrical companies. More details on http://www.Spamarresters.com
How to structure your Google AdWords account
If you have ever set up an AdWords account and been overwhelmed by the stats or found it difficult to understand what they are telling you, it may be down to the way you have set up your account rather than what it is saying.
A well thought out Google AdWords account benefits from improved quality score (QS), lower bid prices, higher ad positions and more effective reporting/ analysis.
A Google AdWords account has four levels:
1. Account
2. Campaign
3. Ad Group
4. Keyword
How you structure each level at the set up stage will impact on both your account performance and the ease at which you can analyse results. It will also remove the often tedious and lengthy process of having to restructure the account further down the line.
How to structure the account
Campaign: A product or service
Ad Group: Search themes surrounding the campaign
Keyword: The keywords associated with the ad group theme
For example, if we apply this to Heart Internet…
Campaign: Domain names
Ad Group: Cheap domain name
Keyword: ‘Cheap domain’; ‘cheap domain names’; ‘cheap domain UK’
We would then run an advert tailored to the ad group/ keyword. For example, if someone searched for “Cheap domain names”, our advert would be as follows…
Cheap Domain Names
Domain names only £2.59/year
.com only £4.99. Register now
INSTAHost /cheap-domain
Why structure the account that way?
1. Increased relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group (QS benefit)
2. Increased relevance of the keyword and the matched ad to the search query (QS benefit)
3. Adverts tailored to the keyword see a major increase in click through rate
4. Easier to adjust bids and distribute budgets to the keywords that are the strong performers
5. It is easy to run reports at each level without unrelated products or keywords skewing the numbers
6. Conversion tracking cost per acquisition statistics are clean at each level (e.g. if we had grouped ‘cheap domain’ keywords with ‘bulk domain names’ at the ad group level the conversion figure doesn’t tell us which generated the most sales)
7. It informs your SEO efforts through the impressions metric (i.e. which keywords are the most popular?)
Auto-responder HTML emails – Brand new!
With INSTA Host you can now spruce up your auto-responders using HTML graphical emails. Setting up your HTML autoresponders is quick and easy:
- Log in to your email/ webmail account
- Click on ‘Autoresponders’
- Set the ‘content type’ as ‘HTML’
All that is left to do is enter your HTML in to the ‘message’ field!
Why use HTML instead of plain text?
Professional image:
Put yourself in the place of your customers/ leads and how you perceive a company or service that sent an attractive email compared to one that sent a plain text email.
Consistent branding:
The best and strongest brands carry their messaging through every communication tool, ensuring all copy, colours, and logos are the same wherever you look. There is nothing stopping you doing exactly the same.
Add more content and links:
With HTML emails you can turn your autoresponders in to much more than just a “We will get back you” notice. With menus, images, side bars, boxes etc you can continue selling your services without intruding on the central message.
Designing and coding HTML emails
If you have no or little experience with creating and sending HTML emails, or you want a few tips on taking them to the next level, you can find a couple of really good articles that will help you with HTML email coding & HTML email lay out & design at sitepoint.com
