The Importance of Outbound links to SEO

Recently we have heard more and more about the importance of the outbound links one has on their website. Everyone knows that inbound links from other sites increase your Google Page rank and ultimately your ranking in the Serps, however little attention is placed on the links you have to your site to others. Although outbound links won’t make or break a site in general it can weigh in often heavily in the rankings picture.

Why are Outbound links important?

1. Tells google what niche your website is in
   
2. Linking to authority sites on your topic have been shown in various SEO experiments to increase a sites rankings for keywords related to that topic
   
3. If you link to sites banned by Google, they will question the integrity of your own site
   
4. More user friendy. Of course your visitors prefer links to on topic authority sites rather then links that have nothing to do with your site. Ones ultimate goal should be to please the vistors.

In conclusion, a webmaster should try to avoid selling too many off topic links, and link to sites that will benefit your visitors. Google and other search engines are getting smarter and smarter, using more and more data to determine rankings. Because of this sometimes the best SEO is to ignore SEO for the most part, and focus on content and the visitors experiences. Ultimately thats what Google is refining their algorith to seek out.

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Alexa Web Rankings Overrated

After reading about Youtube.com’s recent overtaking of Google.com, their parent company, in Alexa’s Page view stats, I thought I’d discuss a bit about how overrated Alexa really is.

Youtube (Maroon) - Google (Blue)

Alexa is a good measure for ones own website, when comparing current traffic to the traffic of the past, but when comparing to other sites, especially outside your niche, it’s practically worthless. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Alexa only tracks visits and page views from visitors who have the Alexa Toolbar installed. The toolbar was only recently made available for Firefox.
   
2. Certain niches will have more people who have the toolbar installed. Niches such as SEO and webmaster related sites will show up in Alexa as much higher then niches which include people sharing files. People involved in SEO and webmaster discussion most likely have the toolbar installed, while people involved in file sharing, and those afraid of spyware will not install Alexa. Case in point. I run 2 websites. BestMoneyPlace.com ranked 7900th in Alexa actually receives a little less traffic then my File sharing Forum which is ranked 26,800th in Alexa.
   
3. People cheat all the time. It’s fairly easy to cheat the system, which obviously is not fair. I will not discuss this any further because I am totally against such cheating.

We recommend that those who do look at Alexa do so in a general sense, not basing your ad purchases on Alexa ranks alone. Alexa is a good tool, but it has many downfalls. Improvements are said to be on their way, by the Amazon owned company, however Alexa will never be a full proof tool.

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Free vs Paid directory submission

Submitting your website to directories is a great way to increase your Google page rank and high page rank will result in better placement for your website, more visitors and more sales. Knowing that, you would probably want to add your site to as many directories as possible but there is one last thing to take into consideration before you start: Which is better paid or free directories?
Although the word “free” can be very tempting you should know that submitting your website to a free directory can be a really frustrating experience. Such directories are often very poorly maintained and it could take months to get your site listed. Many of these so called free directories are also full of spam and MFA (made for advertising) websites.
In contrast, a paid directory will review your site in days and you can be sure that it won’t end up surrounded by worthless spam sites. Keep in mind that the webmasters of these directories have paid thousands of dollars to promote them and get high page rank which will eventually result in higher rank for your website too. Even a single link in a site like Totalposters for example can boost your PR significantly in a very short time.
In conclusion, submitting your site to free directories won’t hurt you but if you are looking for fast results and you want things to be done professionally and in a timely manner then I suggest you spare a few dollars and join some of the better paid directories. Read more...

Tips and Tricks on how to build and market a forum

Many people believe that Ecommerce sites are the only ones who can generate real profits but they are wrong. Actually a content based site like a forum or blog can bring you much higher income than you could ever imagine. Take forums for example they are huge online communities that are visited by hundreds, and even thousands of internet users which generates huge traffic. Traffic by itself won’t bring you any money but advertisers will. What better place is there to advertise fishing polls online than in a fishermen forum, or web hosting in webmaster forums? The more traffic you get the higher the price for advertising will be. The possibilities are unlimited. Compared to Ecommerce websites, forums cost less and are easier to maintain. Here are a few simple steps that will guide you through the process.
Find a nicheYou can create a forum practically on every subject. Just think of something that you find interesting or something that you know a lot about. If you are a maniac about gadgets, start a forum about technology or if you are keen on football, start a forum about your favorite team or a football league. Anything you can think of is good enough for a forum topic.
Domain and HostingChoosing hosting and a domain are important parts of the forum creation. Keep in mind that your forum might generate a lot of traffic and you will probably need a hosting company that could offer you a lot of bandwidth and web space. Good domains are not vital but in my opinion very important. Try to keep it short, two or a maximum of three words, and make sure that you have at least one essential keyword in it. For example if your forum is about hunting try to include that word or a synonym in the domain.
Chose a PlatformMembers wont care much about the platform you are using so just pick one that you find easy to work with. Currently the two most popular forum platforms on the market are phpBB and vBulletin. If you cant afford to spend much on the software I suggest you use phpBB because its open source.
Keep it simpleDon’t create too many folders as it will make your forum look empty. Keep it simple. Start with only four or five categories. If all the posts are concentrated in one place the forum will look busier. When you get enough members and the forum is blooming you could split the categories into smaller ones.
Start topics and post content dailyBe sure to contribute on a daily basis. Don’t just create the forum and leave it be. Try to think of interesting topics and polls that could attract members’ attention. Find interesting articles from directories like goarticles.com and post them in your forum. Basically do everything you can think of to start a discussion between members.
Invite your FriendsIntroduce the forum to your friends and relatives. Ask them to contribute if they are interested in the same subject. You could also make a business card and hand it out to people you meet. Don’t be too pushy, people are busy and usually they don’t have enough time to hang around in forums. Even if only one of your friends starts to post, be happy about it because he will probably be your first active member.
Create Multiple IDsYour friends won’t be enough to make the forum look active. You must create some fake ids and create discussions with them. When a visitor comes he won’t be interested in posting in a forum where the only active user is the admin, however if he sees that a discussion is going, and twenty or thirty people are involved in it, he just might get interested and give his opinion on the topic too.
Offer prizesThis is not mandatory but a great way to attract more people is to give them some kind of a freebie like a t-shirt or a keychain for example. You could even start a monthly contest with a prize for the member with most referrals or posts. You don’t need to spend thousands on such contests, even 30$ or 50$ will be enough to get people interested in participating.
Get ListedLast but not least, get listed. Word of mouth won’t be enough to make your forum popular but high rankings in search engines will. Add your site in major search engines and directories like Google and dmoz. The whole process may take some time but it will be worth it in the end. You could also try to exchange links with people that own similar sites like yours. If your site is new you might have to pay for such links but it will be money well spent since they will bring you a lot of quality traffic.
Building your own online community could be a very hard and time consuming process.The important thing is not to give up, and to stay focused. If you work hard enough and with a little bit of luck, in some time you could have a very active forum with a few hundred members that will grow daily. Read more...

101 Best Forums For People Looking to Make Money Online

List Created by the Team at the Money Making Forum
We have compiled this list of 101 forums related to Making Money & Saving money online through various means. The list in ordered by category and the more popular forums of each category are closer to the top. The criteria for making this list involved several statistics which include Alexa rank, active forum members, recent forum activity, and relevance to the money making community. The number next to each is not any kind of rank.
Webmaster Related (Creating, and earning from a website)
- 1. DigitalPoint.com - Webmaster community where one can learn to make money running a website. Many great Tips and tricks
- 2. SitePoint.com - A webmaster haven. Many great internet gurus are here.
- 3. WebMasterWorld.com - Another Webmaster forum which talks a lot about Adsense. Big name players are here including Google employees themselves.
- 4. SearchEngineWatch.com - Really good section about Google. Discusses all types of SEO related topics
- 5. Ozzu.com - Pretty Much discusses everything related to running and hosting a Website
- 6. V7n.com - Focused on Site design, with a nice marketplace and SEO folder.
- 7. HtmlForums.com - Everything you need to know about Html, programming, graphics, e-commerce and more.
- 8. Devshed.com - Probably the most comprehensive Programming and development forum online. Folders for all programming languages.
- 9. SeoChat.com - Focused almost completely on SEO. Some really smart people with a lot of great insight post here.
- 10. WebTalkForums.com - Focused almost completely on website promotion and development.
- 11. WebDeveloper.com - Generally about programming and scripting websites with sections on domain names, and other money related topics.
- 12. TheAdminZone.com - Focused on forum administrators, and how to make money with an internet forum.
- 13. CreateBlog.com - Focused completely on website coding and designing
- 14. Cre8aSiteForums.com - Everything from Website development to monetization discussed here.
- 15. Daniweb.com - Website creation and marketing discussed here.
- 16. TalkFreelance.com - Very Large webmaster marketplace, and huge Freelancer community.
- 17. BloggerForum.com - Focused on the Blogging community and how to monetize a blog.
- 18. WebHostingTalk.com - Geared towards hosting resellers but has some relevant sections on making money selling hosting and running a website. Very active.
- 19. HostingForum.ca - Canadian version of Webhostingtalk. Focus’s mainly on website scripting.
- 20. HostingDiscussion.com - Focused almost completely on website hosting and selling hosting for a profit.
- 21. Forum4Designers.com - Really good forum for coding, html, and graphics.
- 22. Webmaster-Talk.com - Pretty much dedicated to anything webmaster related, but focused on the coding and design aspects.
- 23. IwebTool.com - General Webmaster talk and marketplace’
- 24. WebExpertz.net - Geared mostly towards Java script programming, with a nice section about making money online.
- 25. HighRanking.com - Spans all webmaster topics, with a really good Internet marketing section
- 26. WebMasterForumsOnline.com - Not as active as some of the others, but has a nice marketplace section for buying and selling web services and sites.
- 27. WebMastersHelp.com - Pretty much a quieter form of Sitepoint. Moderators seem active but not as many active members.
- 28. SeoGuy.com - Rather quiet, but there are some SEO experts posting here.
- 29. FrontPageWebmaster.com - A Webmaster learning community. Many different programming language topics, as well as a site critique seciton.
- 30. UkWebMasterWorld.com - Moderately crowded. Based in the Uk, and has a great business section.
- 31. SearchEngineForums.com - Some really good folders about Google optimization and Google Adsense.
- 32. WebDesignForums.net - Everything related to creating a website.
- 33. WebForumz.com - Large selection of webmaster related topics.
- 34. IHelpYou.com - Almost completely about SEO. They have a really good Help and Advice section.
- 35. SeRoundtable.com - Just made the cutoff in terms of traffic, but the good Google related section gave it a bump.
- 36. NetPond.com - The largest forum for adult webmasters.
- 38. AdultWebMasterinfo.com - The second largest adult webmaster related site.
Miscellaneous (General, all types of money making and saving topics):
- 39. Talkgold.com - This is our own forum. Pretty much covers every Money making opportunity there is online from Hyips, to Forex, to Running a website to blogging.
- 40. GeekVillage.com - Really good section for making money online, as well as other related topics.
- 41. RevenueSource.com - Discusses different ways to make money online. A variety of topics.
- 42. WebLife.org - Not as busy as it once was., but a lot of good topics and moderators.
- 43. DnLodge.com - Focused on a variety of topics including domain names and site design.
- 44. FreeWebSpace.net - Nice section on internet advertising, as well as design and Free web hosting.
- 45. MarketingChat.org - Barely made the list because of low traffic, but there is a lot of great information about several money making topics here.
- 46. TheFreeAdForum - Place for webmasters to advertise their sites and opportunities to make money.
- 47. FreeAdvertisingForum.com - Great place for webmasters to post ads to their site for free.
- 48. SiteOwnersForums.com - A variety of topics including a “Making Money on the Web” section
- 49. AkaMarketing.com - Covers a large assortment of webmaster money making topics.
- 50. RolClub.com - Focused on Iraqi Dinar investing via the internet, with sections for hyips and autosurfs as well.
- 51. EWealth.com - Focused on a variety of topics. Anything related to making money online is discussed here.
- 52. MoneyTalkPro.com - Focused on risky online programs like HYIPs and Autosurfs, but discusses a variety of other money related topics.
- 53. MoneyMakerGroup.com - Another forum dedicated more towards High yields investing and risky programs. Also has various other money making topics.
- 54. DreamTeamMoney.com - Focus’s on Hyips and Get to to surf programs, and has a unique points system.
- 55. HotSurfs.com - Focus’s on Hyips, but also discusses a variety of other money making topics.
- 56. Code4Gold.com - Focus’s on E-currencies, Hyips, and webmaster related issues. Admins are not too fond of Talkgold, but this list isn’t biased It deserves to be here.
Domain Name Related:
- 57. DnForum.com - The Grand Daddy of all Domain name related forums. They do have various paid membership upgrades. Learn to Invest in Domain names.
- 58. NamePros.com - The second most popular Domain name oriented forum. Greta place for appraisals. No paid memberships like DNForum.
- 59. DomainState.com - Not as busy, but they have a great News section to see what past domains sold for.
- 60. DiscussNames.com - Focused on Domain name Appraisals and buying and selling of of Domains for profit.
- 61. DomainForums.com - A quieter version of DNForum.com.
- 62. AcornDomains.co.uk - A UK based domain name appraisal, and marketplace discussion.
- 63. DDBoard.com - Various webmaster topics discussed here with a bulk being domain name oriented.
- 64. IdnForums.com - Domain name discussion with folders based in 11 different languages.
- 65. DnsScoop/com - Large Domain name marketplace section as well as other webmaster related topics.
Affiliate/Internet Marketing Related:
- 66. ABestWeb - Dedicated to everything related to Affiliate marketing. Largest Affiliate forum online
- 67. WarriorForum.com - One of My Favorite forums related to Internet Marketing in General.
- 68. AssociatePrograms.com - Really good forum for affiliate marketing and earning online.
- 69. WickedFire.com - All about internet marketing and generating traffic to your website.
- 70. Affiliates4u.com - Discusses ways to earn through affiliates and other means of website ad publishing.
- 71. 5StarAffiliatePrograms.com - Very Organized affiliate related discussions.
- 72. AffiliatePrograms.com - General Affiliate marketing discussion.
- 73. ClickBankSuccessForum.com - Really great community for people who sell ebooks via clickbank.
- 74. Im4Newbies - A WarriorForum for people just getting started in internet marketing. Good information found here.
Work At Home related:
- 75. Wahm.com - Forum for work at home moms. Targeted for online working. Very good information and advice
- 76. WhydoWork.com - Discusses a variety of money making topics, but focused on people looking to make money at home with their computer.
- 77. HomeWorking.com - Focused on people looking to earn from home primarily via the web.
- 78. InternetBasedMoms.com - For work at home moms looking to earn money online. Not too many topics, but it is targeted.
Business Related forums:
- 79. UkBusinessForums.co.uk - UK based business forum. Has a nice section on E-commerce.
- 80. BusinessForum.net - Rather new forum, but it does have some good traffic and a lot of great information for people looking to start a business online and off.
- 81. Small-Business-Forum.com - A general business related discussion forum with a large section for internet business’s
Online Get Paid to Programs and HYIP Related:
- 82. TheHyipforum.com - Dedicated to the discussion of risky High yield investments as well as other online ways to earn.
- 83. HyipDiscussion.com - This is another forum for High yield investments mainly.
- 84. GetPaidForum.com - The largest forum dedicated to all programs such as Paid to read, paid to click, paid to promote programs.
- 85. GPTForum.com - Sort of quiet, but it’s the second largest forum dedicated to “Get paid to” programs
- 86. TheGreenNation.com - Focused mainly on Internet investments, MLMs and risky internet programs.
- 87. GoldenTalk.com - A High Yield investment forum. Discusses very risky Investment programs run online.
- 88. HyipsTalk.com - Focused on Hyips. Also has a Cash giveaway folder like Talkgold.com.
- 89. Goldage.net - Focused mainly on Hyips but also discusses other topics.
- 90. MoneyFanClub - Rather New forum focusing on Hyips, cyclers and money doubles.
Money Saving / Free stuff related:
- 91. MoneySavingExpert.com - This is a forum that discusses ways to save money. Have a really good deals and Freebie section. Based in the UK, and extremely popular.
- 92. SlickDeals.net - The Largest online Deals and Freebie forum there is.
- 93. DealCatcher.com - One of the largest online deal finding, and free stuff forums.
- 94. RedFlagDeals.com - Extremely organized online deal and freebie forum
- 95. FatWallet.com - Hot deals, Free stuff, and finance discussion
- 96. FreeStuffPage.com - Dedicated to online free stuff and website deals.
- 97. SavingAdvice.com - All about saving money and finding free stuff online.
- 98. Spoofee.com - Great for finding the best online deals and free giveaways.
- 99. BobsFreeStuffForum.co.uk - UK based free stuff and bargain discussion.
- 100. FreestuffHotDeals.com - Freebies, Deals, and giveaways.
- 101. MommySavers.com - Focused on Stay home Moms and Dads who want to save money, find bargains and get freebies. Read more...