If I were starting a business today

I often get asked by our customers, friends and colleagues for advice with a business that they are starting. How would I go about starting the business? Solving some specific problem? Finding the right talent? Devising a growth strategy?

They ask. I often feel like a bit of an impostor when I answer, because the truth is that I don’t have a lot of generic business experience—just experience at one company, in one specific industry, and one point in time. Most of what has worked for our business over the years has been random luck, the third or fourth try to solve the same problem, extremely basic “blocking and tackling,” or some combination thereof.

The rest of what I know about starting and running businesses has come as an advisor, board member, or observer.  It is often from this perspective—as a more distant viewer—that I see the simple things most clearly.  When you are down in the muck of the day-to-day operations, you often miss the forest for the trees.

So, after years of trying to give some useful advice to fledgling businesses, I have developed a few “truths” that I’m pretty sure any new business should ignore at their own peril.  At the least, these are the things I would do if I were going to starting a business tomorrow:

1. Think web first.

2. Have a human capital strategy.

3. Find a channel, and then build a product—not the other way around.

4. Plan now for success—or it will never come.

5. Raising money is not your biggest problem, being able to spend it appropriately is.

6. You’re not thinking big enough!

I will be posting on each of these topics in the near future, but if you have suggestions or questions on these topics, let me hear them.

“Keyword Use Factors”

The following components relate to the use of search query terms in determining the rank of a particular page.

1. Keyword Use in Title Tag – Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page’s HTML header.

2. Keyword Use in Body Text – Using the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page.

3. Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords – Topical relevance of text on the page compared to targeted keywords.

4. Keyword Use in H1 Tag – Creating an H1 tag with the targeted search term/phrase.

5. Keyword Use in Domain Name & Page URL – Including the targeted term/phrase in the registered domain name, i.e. keyword.com plus target terms in the webpage URL, i.e. seomoz.org/keyword-phrase.

“Page Attributes”

The following elements comprise how Google interprets specific data about a webpage independent of keywords.

6. Link Popularity within the Site’s Internal Link Structure – Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page.

7. Quality/Relevance of Links to External Sites/Pages – Do links on the page point to high quality, topically-related pages?

8. Age of Document – Older pages may be perceived as more authoritative while newer pages may be more temporarily relevant.

9. Amount of Indexable Text Content – Refers to the literal quantity of visible HTML text on a page.

10. Quality of the Document Content (as measured algorithmically) – Assuming search engines can use text, visual or other analysis methods to determine the validity and value of content, this metric would provide some level of rating.

“Site/Domain Attributes”

The factors below contribute to Google’s rankings based on the site/domain on which a page resides.

11. Global Link Popularity of Site – The overall link weight/authority as measured by links from any and all sites across the web (both link quality and quantity).

12. Age of Site – Not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines (note that this can change if a domain switches ownership).

13. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site – The subject-specific relationship between the sites/pages linking to the target page and the target keyword.

14. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community – The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.

15. Rate of New Inbound Links to Site – The frequency and timing of external sites linking in to the given domain.

“Inbound Link Attribute”

These pieces affect Google’s weighting of links from external websites pointing to a page and ultimately will assist in the ranking of that page.

16. Anchor Text of Inbound Link.

17. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site.

18. Topical Relationship of Linking Page.

19. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community – The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.

20. Age of Link.

Reverse IP is easiest way to find all the .com, .net, .org, .biz, .us, and .info websites hosted on a given IP address. Enter an IP address or domain name and receive a list of up to 2,000 domains hosted on that IP. Lookups with over 2,000 results can be ordered as a report containing the full list.

What can I do with Reverse IP?

Phishing/Scam sites often come in groups. If you find one do a Reverse IP look up to find the other scam sites hosted on the same server as the one you found.

Shared Hosting accounts are usually hosted under the same IP address. See who is using that web host before signing up or see who else is on your server.

Parking Sites can be identified by the large number domains parked on their IP address. See who else is parked on that server.

For Example to change the default homepage title tag do the following steps:

• Login to your administrator panel.

• Navigate to Menus tab and select “main menu”.

• Click the “Home” checkbox and then click the edit button.

• Then click on “Parameters (System)” to show the System Parameters, and either change the “Page Title” parameter or set “Show Page Title” to “No” on the right to drop down the menu.

If you choose to display the default page title, you can change the page title as you wish. If you disable the page title, I have observed that the default homepage title becomes the title of the main article set to display on the homepage.

1. Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.

2. Image maps: Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.

3. Multimedia: Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.

4. Hypertext links: Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid “click here.”

5. Page organization: Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.

6. Graphs and charts: Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.

7. Scripts, applets, & plug-ins: Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.

8. Frames: Use the “noframes” element and meaningful titles.

9. Tables: Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.

10.Check your work: Validate. Use tools, checklist, and guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG

In this article, I’ll examine the importance of the Alexa Rank as it relates to site monetization while briefly discussing some of the weaknesses involved in using Alexa ranking as a reliable traffic measure for any website.

Lastly, I’ve also included an extensive list of twenty methods and strategies you can use to increase your Alexa Rank dramatically in the short and long run.

What is the Alexa Rank?

Put simply, the Alexa Rank is a ranking system which bases its ranking schema on the level of traffic each website receives from the number of people who visit a website with the Alexa toolbar installed.

See Alexa’s definition of the Alexa Traffic Rank: The traffic rank is based on three months of aggregated historical traffic data from millions of Alexa Toolbar users and is a combined measure of page views and users (reach). As a first step, Alexa computes the reach and number of page views for all sites on the Web on a daily basis.

The main Alexa traffic rank is based on the geometric mean of these two quantities averaged over time (so that the rank of a site reflects both the number of users who visit that site as well as the number of pages on the site viewed by those users)

Why would you want to increase your Alexa rank?

Webmasters, advertisers and ad networks use your blog’s Alexa rank as a gauge to determine the worth of a link on your website. If you depend on link or site selling as a form of monetization you’ll definitely want to increase your Alexa rank, because it’ll increase your bargaining power when it comes to ad pricing.

ReviewMe, Text Link Ads and Sponsored Reviews are just three of the networks which base your ad selling strength on Alexa Ranks.

Problems with the Alexa Rank

Alexa ranking is heavily skewed towards websites which have a large webmaster/tech audience. This is because webmasters or web savvy audiences are much more likely to have the Alexa toolbar installed than websites whose visitors are unaware of Alexa.

As such, many have indicated that Alexa is a vastly inaccurate method of measuring a website’s reach, traffic and potential. I don’t disagree.

Alexa is a silly way to measure web traffic but unfortunately, in an imperfect world Alexa is still heavily used by webmasters and ad networks when measuring the value of advertising on your website.

I understand the defects of Alexa’s ranking system and I’m not going to go into more detail about it here. What’s primarily important to me is that the Alexa Rank has become a central element in site monetization strategies.

I’m not concerned with the utility and value of Alexa but it’s perceived importance in the eyes of potential advertisers.

Dosh Dosh’s Alexa Rank

Since moving to my own domain (from Blogspot) in the middle of January 2007, Dosh Dosh has moved from a rank of around 3 million to the current Alexa rank of 21, 709 within two months.

The growth has been consistent and I think most of it was due to the fact that the content on Dosh Dosh is orientated towards webmasters. Another plausible reason is because overall daily traffic for Dosh Dosh has been growing steadily day by day.

The increase in Alexa Rank was also partially due to the fact that I’m active in several webmaster forums, notably Digital Point which sends me some visitors every day. Getting stumbled and receiving thousands of visitors in a day has also undoubtedly helped to increase Dosh Dosh’s Alexa Rank.

How do I get started with Alexa?

There are two easy ways to start using Alexa. If you are using Internet Explorer, visit this page and download the Alexa Toolbar. If you’re using Firefox, download the SearchStatus extension which displays the Alexa Rank, Google PageRank as well as other useful features.

I highly recommend that you use Firefox and SearchStatus instead of Alexa toolbar, which I find to be more bulky and less useful.

Can one actually game or manipulate the Alexa Ranking?

I believe that there are methods which will allow you to easily bring an Alexa ranking in the millions down to the 100,000 level. However, bringing it past the 10,000 or 1,000 mark is a considerably more difficult process, because of the stiff competition among websites.

Some have adamantly stated that there are no proven ways to game Alexa, while others have claimed that auto-surfs and scripts do work to some degree.

I’m not going to take any sides because I can’t guarantee that auto-surfs or other artificial methods will have similar effects for every blog.

The easiest way to know to know if any of the tips mentioned below really work is to actually try them for yourselves and monitor the results.

Here is a collection of methods you can use to boost your Alexa Rank.

Most of these tips are derived from several fellow webmasters I know who claimed to have derived positive results through their experiments with the Alexa Rankings.

Some of the other tips were derived articles and sources, which I have duly referenced at the end of this post.

Do these tips work? According to some, yes they definitely do work. But do note that most of them require active effort of some sort and hence, they will work as long as long as you are consistently performing specific actions.

To increase your Alexa rank in the long run, I would highly recommended that one focus on developing quality content which attracts and maintains a large audience instead of purely focusing on artificially increasing your Alexa Rank.

Great link-worthy content will leads to an natural increase in site traffic and is an excellent way to passively increase your Alexa rank.

It is important to emphasize that you should devote most of your efforts in growing your site audience alongside integrated implementation of any of the following tips below.

1. Install the Alexa toolbar or Firefox’s SearchStatus extension and set your blog as your homepage. This is the most basic step.

2. Put up an Alexa rank widget on your website. I did this a few days ago and receive a fair amount of clicks every day. According to some, each click counts as a visit even if the toolbar is not used by the visitor.

3. Encourage others to use the Alexa toolbar. This includes friends, fellow webmasters as well as site visitors/blog readers. Be sure to link to Alexa’s full explanation of their toolbar and tracking system so your readers know what installing the toolbar or extension entails.

4. Work in an Office or own a company? Get the Alexa toolbar or SS Firefox extension installed on all computers and set your website as the homepage for all browsers. Perhaps it will be useful to note that this may work only when dynamic or different IPs are used.

5. Get friends to review and rate your Alexa website profile. Not entirely sure of its impact on rankings but it might help in some way.

6. Write or Blog about Alexa. Webmaster and bloggers love to hear about ways to increase their Alexa rank. They’ll link to you and send you targeted traffic (i.e. visitors with the toolbar already installed). This gradually has effects on your Alexa ranking.

7. Flaunt your URL in webmaster forums. Webmasters usually have the toolbar installed. You’ll get webmasters to visit your website and offer useful feedback. It’s also a good way to give back to the community if you have useful articles to share with others.

8. Write content that is related to webmasters. This can fall in the category of domaining and SEO, two fields in which most webmasters will have the Alexa toolbar installed. Promote your content on social networking websites and webmaster forums.

9. Use Alexa redirects on your website URL. Try this: http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?www.yourdomain.com . Replace doshdosh.com with the URL for your website. Leave this redirected URL in blog comments as well as forum signatures. This redirect will count a unique IP address once a day so clicking it multiple times won’t help. There is no official proof that redirects positively benefit your Alexa Rank, so use with caution.

10. Post in Asian social networking websites or forums. Some webmasters have suggested that East Asian web users are big Alexa toolbar fans, judging by the presence of several Asia-based websites in the Alexa Top 500. I suggest trying this only if you have the time or capacity to do so. For the full listing you can log in on alexa’s website and click on “Top Sites by Country”.

11. Create a webmaster tools section on your website. This is a magnet for webmasters who will often revisit your website to gain access to the tools. Aaron Wall’s webpage on SEOTools is a very good example.

12. Get Dugg or Stumbled. This usually brings massive numbers of visitors to your website and the sheer amount will have a positive impact on your Alexa Rank. Naturally, you’ll need to develop link worthy material.

13. Use PayperClick Campaigns. Buying advertisements on search engines such as Google or Exact Seek will help bring in Traffic. Doubly useful when your ad is highly relevant to webmasters.

14. Create an Alexa category on your blog and use it to include any articles or news about Alexa. This acts as an easily accessible resource for webmasters or casual search visitors while helping you rank in the search engines.

15. Optimize your popular posts. Got a popular post that consistently receives traffic from the search engines? Include a widget/graph at the bottom of the post, link to your Alexa post or use Alexa redirection on your internal URLs.

16. Buy banners and links for traffic from webmaster forums and websites. A prominent and well displayed ad will drive lots of webmaster traffic to your website, which can significantly boost your rank.

17. Hire forum posters to pimp your website. Either buy signatures in webmaster forums or promote specific articles or material in your website on a regular basis. You can easily find posters for hire in Digital Point and other webmaster forums.

18. Pay Cybercafe owners to install the Alexa toolbar and set your website as the homepage for all their computers. This might be difficult to arrange and isn’t really a viable solution for most. I’m keeping this one in because some have suggested that it does work.

19. Use MySpace . This is a little shady so I don’t recommended it unless you’re really interested in artificially inflating your Alexa Rank. Use visually attractive pictures or banners and link them to your redirected Alexa URL. This will be most effective if your website has content that is actually relevant to the MySpace Crowd.

20. Try Alexa auto-surfs. Do they work? Maybe for brand new sites. I think they are mostly suitable for new websites with a very poor Alexa rank. Note that there be problems when you try to use auto surfs alongside contextual ads like Adsense. They aren’t also long term solutions to improving your Alexa Rank so I suggest using with caution.

Here is the top tips to help you getting started:

1. Submit to search engine friendly directory. Submit your sites to search engine directory is one of the easiest step to obtain more backlinks to your site. You can also obtain a higher exposure on those directory and bring in more traffic to you. Submission to search engine directory are free most of the time, however, there are some express service that you pay for faster and quicker approval. Furthermore, many search engine directory offer one way backlink which carries higher PR value for you too.

2. Participate in Forum Forum is another great place to obtain more backlinks. You can share your latest post, your funniest post with fellow members in the forum. They might add your site to their site if they like it and you can have additional backlinks to you. Further, you can also ask for link exchange on many forum, most of the fellow members are keen to exchange link with you. Though there are argument that reciprocal link does not carry PR value, however, it is not harm to have more reciprocal link as well as it improve your website exposure anyway. Another advantage of forum is that you can add a signature tag of your website for every post in the forum. That can help to build up the reputation of your site too.

3. Submission to Article directory Article marketing has been around for a long while and it is going to be an effective way to build more backlinks to your site. You can write an article about anything you like, submit them to article directory for approval and the content carrying your website can be circulated to many sites through feed subscription. It is working very well. However, you will need to spend some time to write some quality article for submission to the article directory. If you like to save time, you can outsource the writing task to some freelance writers.

4. Email or Contact Relevant Websites Having backlinks from relevant sites can greatly improve your pagerank because Google like to have links from relevant content. So, you can surf around for some relevant page and email the owner to ask for a one way link, reciprocal link or 3 way link. Most of the time, you will obtain a positive answer from the owner.

5. Generate a Site map Google likes to have sitemap on your sites. So, make sure you place a sitemap to make it easy for Google to index your website. Having a well organize sitemap can improve your pagerank as well.

That’s all I have for the top 5 tips to improve your Google pagerank. To acquire higher pagerank, having known the method or technique is not enough, it is important you put in effort to start doing the top 5 tips immediately to start creating more backlinks for you.

To edit for goolge ranking

1.Link exchange. They are the best to start with. Try to exchange links with PR 4-5 web sites, and if you gather enough of them, it will boast your page rank totally. Get listed in directories as well.

2.Find the appropriate keywords for your website

3.Optimize your webpage around these keywords (both on-page & off-page optimization)

4.Submit your webpages to all major Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask and to some important directories. Go to websites and list of important directories.

5.Get links from website i.e. inbound links and make sure these links contain your keyword.

All the steps mentioned above are important but the most important is point number 5. to get you rolling on search engine ranking.