Rock Your Rank With a Dynamite Text Link - Yahoo Directory Explodes Rankings

Last week a client called me excitedly exclaiming that their
Google PageRank had jumped a notch and their targeted keyword
term now ranked #23 (up from #45) for their competitive search
phrase. I asked the client if he'd been notified by Yahoo that
his site was now included in the index after we had submitted
it three weeks ago. "Yes," he said, "but why are you changing
the subject?"

"I'm not changing the subject. Inclusion in Yahoo Directory is
the most likely reason for the jump in both your search
position and your PageRank. Remember when you doubted the
value of inclusion in the Yahoo Directory and I pushed for
submission anyway? Transformers toys you know why I insisted."

That seemingly expensive Yahoo Directory listing has one
little known benefit to your website. It is the most important
and valuable text link you could ever purchase. That one link
from one source will do your ranking more good than any other
single link (except possibly the Open Directory).

Many webmasters look at potential traffic referred from the
Yahoo Directory as the determining factor for submissions,
when that is not the best reason for inclusion - It's the link
value that matters above all else in this case.

I've had several SEO clients see a leap in ranking for
targeted Batcave terms a week or so after that Yahoo Directory
link goes live for them. Many clients have argued with me
about the value of that Yahoo Directory text link. But at
$299, the yearly fee is cheaper than many of those commercial
text link ads sites and Star Trek movie far more for your ranking in
search engines OTHER than Yahoo.

Why? It's purely the value of that link. Search engines know
that only sites of a certain quality level will submit and get
accepted into Yahoo Directory. They know that serious
businesses will pay that yearly fee, while marginal or hobby
sites will not pay that $299 every year. Surely there is some
level of value assigned in search algorithms to inclusion in
the Yahoo Directory.

It's a little known technique for gains in ranking which is
based purely on empirical observation over time. But the
result of inclusion in the Yahoo Directory is the same for
every client, every time - their PageRank ratchets up and
targeted search terms suddenly take a big jump just a week or
two after inclusion. The same is true of inclusion in the free
Open Directory Project at http://DMOZ.org .

I've seen client sites jump from positions on page three at
MSN search to top 5 positions on page one of the MSN SERP's
following inclusion in the Yahoo Directory. Now we are
submitting this same client to the Open Directory for the 5th
time in as many months hoping for elusive editors to add the
site, leading to another jump in search position and PageRank
if and when they get around to adding the site to the DMOZ
database.

You do know that Google uses that Open Directory listing in
their own directory, don't you? It's worth submitting and
resubmitting until they finally include your site. It really
is worth the trouble to keep trying, no matter how long they
ignore your submissions.

One caveat always applies to Directory submissions! They must
be done with great care applied to keyword phrases used in the
site description. That single line of text you submit in the
"Site Description" text box on the submission page will
strongly affect your keyword phrase ranking in OTHER search
engines for a very long time.

Take care in crafting a keyword rich and effective description
for your site. I always request that clients either have me
submit for them or use text I've written for them in that
description. If you do it badly, it will be re-written by an
editor who cares more for categorization than keyword
rankings. Be Careful!

Before you run off Cricket doll for reciprocal links from slick
webmasters or purchasing text links of dubious value from text
link outfits, submit to Yahoo Directory and pay the $299 (or
$24.92 monthly) for the most undervalued text link available.
Then swallow your pride and re-submit to the Open Directory
until they finally include your site.

Rock your rank with dynamite text links! Yahoo Directory and the
Open Directory Project.

Copyright August 23, 2005

Mike Banks Valentine operates Publish101.comPublish101.com Free Web Content Distribution for Tragg and the Sky Gods Marketers and Provides content aggregation, press release optimization and custom web content for Search Engine Positioning href="seoptimism.com/SEO_Contact.htm">seoptimism.com/SEO_Contact.htm RSS: RealitySEO.com/atom.xmlRealitySEO.com/atom.xml

Windows 7 For Netbooks

Microsoft has Major Matt Mason announced the various editions that will launch their new operating system, Daredevil 7 .

Those in the netbook community have been particularly interested by this announcement, as it will give G I Joe good indication of what Microsoft expects to offer netbook users in place of Windows XP.

Microsoft is expecting 80% of Windows 7 users to be running the Home Premium and Professional versions.

Six different versionswill be released, although one of these will only be available in emerging markets;

Starter Edition

A lightweight version for netbook computers, that will be capable of running only three applications at the same time. It will lack the many of the advanced features, such as Media Center and touchscreen support.

Home Basic

For emerging markets only. Intended to access the internet and run basic productivity applications.

Home Premium

The main version that Microsoft will put at the forefront of the Windows 7 launch. It will include Media Center, touchscreen support, full Aero glass graphics, improved media format support and atomic disintegrator and the option to easily share files across a home network with a new Libraries feature.

Professional

A business version for home workers and small businesses not operating on a volume licence. It will include features such as advanced network backup and Encrypting File System. However, Bit Star Trek movie encryption is once again reserved for the Enterprise and Ultimate editions.

Enterprise

For volume licence customers. It will include all the Professional features, plus Bit Locker protection - including the new option to encrypt USB flash drives and external hard disks. Also includes Direct Access, which allows remote workers to securely access a company network without a VPN.

Ultimate

The most comprehensive version of Windows 7 that will include every single feature available in Windows 7.

So which version will be aimed at netbooks?

Well, according to an interview that PC Pro had with Microsoft's Windows product manager, Laurence Purnell, he suggested that the Starter Edition of Windows 7 will be much cheaper than the other versions.

Purnell went on to say that he expects the vast majority of netbooks to ship with the Started Edition, but that manufacturers will have the option to install Home Premium on their netbooks.

While this may sound like good news, it is worth noting that the Starter Edition of Windows 7 will only allow 3 programs to run at the same time.

This may not sound like a big deal, as running lots of programs at the same time on a single-core Intel Atom processor would not be ideal anyway.

However, if dual-core processor netbooks appear in 2009, this would clearly be a limitation on what the system may be capable of.

It is good to see that Microsoft is acknowledging the netbook by creating a version of Windows 7 for it, but are they doing it just so they can finally retire Windows XP?

More detail at href="pimpmynetbook.com/2009/02/05/six-versions-of-windows-7-which-one-for-netbooks/">Windows 7 for netbooks

Pimp My Netbook; href="pimpmynetbook.com">Netbook News

John Hancock Long Term Care Insurance

When it comes to LTC 1948 Bowman baseball cards providers, the John Hancock Life Insurance Company has long been considered to be a solid company. They were one of the first companies to begin selling this ever-more-important insurance product and are well known for liddle kiddles claims-paying capability, too.

Very recently as of the time of this writing, John Hancock qualified to become listed in the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA), which is the independent standards-setting and compliance solutions romance comics for the life insurance, annuity, and long-term care insurance marketplace. John Hancock has to undergo review every three years to re-qualify for membership listing. Companies achieve membership based on Action Jackson having ethical standards (such as being truthful in their marketing and advertising) as well as delivering product and service quality.

However, John Hancock did recently need to raise its premiums on over 275,000 of its LTC policy holders.

When the long-term care insurance market opened up in the early 1990s, John Hancock sold many policies based on the idea that the policy holders would only keep Captain Maxx for a limited time and then drop them--such as if they had bought a term life insurance product to insure them against the unexpected for a temporary period of time. Some financial professionals recommend that anyone who has a net worth of at least $2 million does not need to maintain a long-term care insurance policy, the premiums on which are high compared to other insurance products (except for health insurance, which many will tell you is not "real" insurance anyway but is actually subsidized medicine) because of the fact that people under 40 cannot qualify for these products (that is, they are by their nature relatively high-risk insurance policies). So, many John Hancock LTC policies were sold with the idea that as their holders continued to work and gather assets, if nothing unexpected or unforeseen happened they would one day be worth at least $2 million and no longer need their policies--meaning, John Hancock would never have to pay any claims on them.

Instead, the vast majority of these clients have chosen to continue with their policies because they don't desire to have to pay out a great deal of money from their own personal fortunes just because they would have the capability of doing so in the even that they needed long-term care. Furthermore, these policy holders decided that they weren't satisfied with paying in all of those premium dollars and then getting nothing in return in the long run. (The analogy with term life insurance isn't strong here because term life is far, far less expensive than LTC.)

On average, these affected policy holders now have to pay an additional $262 per year--or $21 per month--to maintain their LTC policies.

While John Hancock was certainly not trying to deceive anyone, this recent development demonstrates that long-term care insurance is much more valuable to people than those without it and many financial professionals believe it is. A provider like John Hancock is a great place to turn to when you are considering buying LTC.

The author lives with her husband in Maryland, with their two dogs and cat. She put together the website href="affordable-life-insurance-guru.com">affordable-life-insurance-guru.com in order to help the everyday person navigate the often confusing world of life insurance.

Save Money With Low-Cost Luxuries

The big secret of many professionals - including the ones you pay big bucks to make your life healthier, happier 1910 1911 Turkey Red baseball cards easier - is that they once did their work for dirt cheap. Some even did it for free.

My roommate and I got turned Action Man to this secret source of low-cost luxury living on the bus one day when she struck up a conversation with a friendly apprentice hairdresser from the swankiest salon in town. Their conversation started with a discussion about boys, but eventually her new friend mentioned that he'd love to have her and her friends come by the salon and get their hair done for free. Turns out, an apprentice hairdresser has to style a LOT of hair before they give him his own pair of golden scissors (or whatever you get when you graduate into "stylist" category.) In exchange for a free weekly professional styling, we gave our new friend a great portfolio of hairstyles to show his Marvel Team-Up so he could graduate on to doing haircuts and coloring.
Your local hair salon isn't the only place you can find free pullip cheap pros-in-training. If you're willing to be someone's practice-client, you can get anything from massages to dental work at rock-bottom prices. And while running into apprentice hairdressers on the local metro bus probably isn't common, colleges are. In fact, if you live in-city, you've probably got one within a fifteen minute drive. And colleges are full of future professionals who need to practice on someone.
Some examples of the kind of services you might find for free or cheap include:

- Dental exams and Crissy doll medical checkups: medical and dental students learn to do basic checkups in practice sessions supervised by a practicing doctor or dentist to make sure everything is done correctly. Sometimes these aren't the most pleasant ways to get this kind of service (think a little rough cleaning of your gums or a blood pressure cuff that feels a little tight), but with a pro watching, you're sure to get comprehensive care and lots of focused attention.

- Cakes and Pastries: Need a birthday or wedding cake? Look no further than the local culinary school. These students want to create desserts that will wow future clients, so expect them to ask for photos of the finished project.

- Pampering Services: Massage schools, cosmetology departments and hair salons all train using real people. Another place to look for these kinds of services is to seek out salons or makeup artists who post photos of their work on the walls or windows of their place of business. Most of these photos are of people who got their hairstyle or makeup job for free, in exchange for being featured as a "hairstyle model."

- Creative services: Need a new logo for your business or portraits of your child? Advertising in the local college art department can help you find up-and-coming professionals in need of a portfolio. These students are often on the cutting edge of design - they are in school after all - and will be so eager and enthusiastic to have their first real assignment that they won't balk at the low price you're quoting them. Even better, once they've hit it big, you can take pride in letting people know you helped them get their start. Or you can keep it a secret and just tell people you had that now-famous photog take your wedding photos. They'll think it cost you a fortune!

Colleen St.Claire is editor of href="sweetgigs.com">Sweetgigs.com, home to the most unique and creative moneymaking ideas online. With gig profiles, in-depth articles and resources to help you develop your perfect business, href="sweetgigs.com">Sweetgigs aims to help you find your perfect gig and break free of the 9-to-5 grind.