There is a lot of talk these days about search engines devaluing purchased text links. To be sure, buying text links to manipulate one’s Google PageRank or rankings in the SERPs is a widely abused practice that warrants attention from the search engines. The argument is that such attention is needed to ensure relevant search results dictated by natural, rather than artificial, linking.

On the other hand, link buying is a perfectly legitimate form of advertising that predates search engines. I hear that search engines are especially targeting sitewide links. Sitewide links are viewed as “unnatural” by the search engines and hence raise a “red flag”. In fact, from an advertising standpoint, sitewides ensure the highest possible visibility for an advertiser’s site. To the extent that search engines tolerate link buying for the sole purpose of driving traffic to one’s site, it is odd that they should be targeting sitewides.

Matt Cutts had suggested using rel=”nofollow” attribute for sponsored links. While this seems like a good workaround I wonder how many webmasters are aware that they should be adopting this practice, and, more importantly, how many of them are willing to sell text links that do not pass PR to their sponsors or help them in the search rankings. The rel=”nofollow” solution will mean that site owners would have to charge less for text links, and now that advertisers are scared silly about buying text links, they would have to work harder to find sponsors. Site owners would now be in the business of strictly selling direct traffic rather than indirect traffic through SEO benefits. To attract sponsors, an unscrupulous webmaster might artificially inflate his Alexa rankings using one of the various scripts being sold on eBay. Who wouldn’t want to advertise on a site that prominently displays an Alexa ranking of 5,000? Others will continue to game the system by coming up with new linking schemes that will take the search engines five or six years to figure out.

Then there’s the itching suspicion of search engines trying to divert advertising dollars away from the text link market toward their own pay-per-click programs. Webmasters who spend $40,000 a year on Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing may not be too pleased to learn that they can no longer make a few bucks selling links from their sites on which they’ve spent a fortune to promote. To the extent that search giants like like Google and Yahoo are in the business of making money, they would be wise not take overzealous steps to stifle the entrepreneurial spirits of the “little guys”.

So, should search engines be cracking down on purchased links? Honestly, I can’t answer this question with a “yes” or “no”. Suffice it to say that link buying (and selling) is a complex issue that should be dealt with carefully by the search engines, given the complexity of the issue.

By Adam McFarland

Have you ever tried to read your local newspaper online? How about the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal? It just isn’t the same. Do you know why? Because articles meant for print don’t translate well to the web, and the rules that apply to writing content for the internet are different than those for print. What constitutes quality content offline does not necessarily constitute quality content online.

How the web is different:
Text is hard to read

Typical computer monitors have a resolution of 96 dpi (dots per inch). Compare that with a printout from a laser printer that has a resolution of 600 dpi, or a magazine page that can be upwards of 2400 dpi, and it’s not hard to figure out why the text on a computer places a strain on the eyes. According to the book Hot Text, Web Writing That Works, by Jonathan and Lisa Price, “because text is more difficult to read on-screen, people often read slower, comprehend less, recall less, and do less in response.”
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Since there is no industry standard for pricing a website, a site is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. This isn’t helpful if you’re considering selling your site and don’t know where to begin. In my opinion, a website should be priced as one would a brick-and-mortar business.

One might price a site by taking its annual profit and multiplying by some factor, say 2.5, to arrive at a “fair” value. Unlike brick-and-mortar businesses, the internet business is volatile and everchanging, so a profit one year may not translate to one in the next.

Other considerations for valuing a site include the site’s niche, market reach, traffic, search engine rankings, age of domain name, number of inbound links, number of paying sponsors, Google PageRank, Alexa rankings, number of competing sites, and so on.

dnScoop has an interesting site valuation tool that attempts to value a site based on various factors. However, one should be forwarned that the results, while useful and interesting, should be regarded for its entertainment value rather than taken seriously for valuing a site.

Perhaps a better way to get an idea of how much your site is worth is to hang out in forums like the Digitalpoint and Sitepoint marketplaces and see how much sites comparable to yours are selling for. Ebay is another place to search for past sales of websites.

Remember when the web consisted of nothing more than a few static web sites coded exclusively with HTML? Life was simple back then. Back in 1996, a website could be created in a few minutes by inserting the content into a basic HTML template, and adding some graphics for style. Now, the internet is populated with web sites that are more complex. Modern web sites use anywhere from two to sometimes twenty different programming languages, specifications and scripts. Some of the code runs on the front end, some runs on the back end, and some runs somewhere in between.

We have the wireless revolution to thank for making web programming so arduous. Most wireless devices, such as cell phones, palm tops, laptops, and even computer screens in automobiles, now come equipped with access to the internet and email. These gadgets have web browsers and platforms that are very different from what is installed on a traditional desktop PC. Wireless browsers are often not compatible with many elements of the HTML programming language. Web programming had to evolve to suit the needs of those that surf the net on wireless computers.

As a result, a deluge of new languages and systems for designing websites were introduced. These new innovations include XML, XHTML, XSL, CSS, JavaScript, VBScript, DOM, and many others. Of these, XML was probably the most important, because it enabled web designers to define data without forcing web browsers to display it a certain way. XML files were simple text files that could be interpreted by any web browser, unlike HTML. So, you ask, what is AJAX and how is it connected to this discussion?
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When you walk into a sporting goods store, does the salesperson immediately assume that you play hockey? Of course not. In fact, he’d probably never make a sale if he greeted every customer with “Hi! We’ve got some great ice skates in just your size. Would you like to see a pair?”

On the other hand, the one-size-fits-all sales pitch — “Hello, may I help you?” — doesn’t exactly entice shoppers to break out the old wallet either.

Instead, the really good salespeople are trained to discover details about the customer before trying to pitch a particular item. A question like, “Hi, how are you? What sport do you play?” is a great opening line. It gets the customer to focus on a general topic, and then persuades him or her to narrow down the choices. And a focused customer is a buyer, not a browser.

What does this have to do with your online sales? Plenty. Especially if you’d like to increase your conversion by 50 percent or more.
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