Dear ${token1},

My kids have returned to school this week and so I am now getting back to business as usual. September is a good time to take a look at your website and see if it needs a tune-up or pick-me up.

We offer affordable webmaster and copywriter services, so don't wait for the fall rush, book your production time with us now.

Best Regards,

Nancy McCord

Google's Webmaster Central | Link Exchange Programs | Client AdWords Ratings

Google's Webmaster Central, A Great Tool Box

What a great site! If you have not checked out the information and tools that Google now provides for webmasters, now's the time. Google's Webmaster Central is an information rich location for answers to just about any question that you might have about Google and how to perform well in their search index.

Google provides great diagnostics for your site that are in turn created once you create a Google sitemap. A Google sitemap is an XML file that webmasters can create to tell Google about their pages, their importance, and their frequency of updates. We find the Google sitemap interface helpful for diagnosing problems and making sure that Google, the most important search engine, works through our site the way it should.

In addition to detailed information on sitemaps, Google reveals technical, content, and design guidelines that are helpful for good search placement. Every educated site owner should take about five minutes and peruse this section just to make sure that their own webmaster is doing everything possible for top positioning on Google.

I've had some clients say, why should I care about or want to make a Google sitemap? With Google representing nearly 47% of all Internet search usage, how could you not take advantage of any edge that Google has provided to communicate to their search index spider? Having a Google sitemap does not change your page rank in their listings, but it may very well let you know of a server issue, page problem, or link error that you simply did not know about before. It is definitely insurance worth looking in to.

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Link Exchange Programs, Do They Help or Hurt Your Search Position?

We used to do link programs for clients professionally, but not any more. Over a year ago Google changed the way that it rated sites based on link strategies. It used to be, that a site with more incoming links was able to achieve a higher search engine result placement (SERP).

Launched across the Web were all kinds of link networks; you link to me and I'll link to you. Several very sophisticated programs were used by savvy webmasters to cull through the chaff and hone in on specific sites that would benefit their SERP using link strategies.

Now, the "world according to Google" is different. Yes, we do still advocate in some cases having a resources page for websites and there list links that would be of interest to site viewers, but we no longer advocate aggressively harvesting sites or creating huge directories with pages upon pages of links.

Google is now looking for sites to have link volume grow over time. They may actually even ding you in the SERPs if you suddenly have a ton of links occur in a short period of time. Not only does Google now evaluate the number of links incoming and outgoing, but penalizes you if you get too many links too fast. Where the links come from now really matter. Google even evaluates what the link text says; the part that is underlined on the page which is called the anchor link text. This is why webmasters now even send you the verbiage that they want you to use with their link when they send a link request.

Our recommendation is save your money and don't invest in a full blown paid link program, you may actually hurt your site with this type of strategy. Instead, build links over time on your site, be very picky who you link to and who links to you. Consider offering white papers and articles as link bait so that other sites will want to link to your content. Do have a link page, but don't go crazy filling it up with links that are really meaningless to your viewers. Select the links you add based on merit, content, site design, and their position in the SERPs. Don't sign up with link farms or automated link programs.

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Client Google AdWords Ratings

More and more customers are moving into Google AdWords as their choice for pay for performance vehicle. Google AdWords operates in a supply and demand economic model. More advertisers in the mix simply mean that the prices per click goes up, as there are more competitors for each click. To get the clicks on Google now, you simply have to be willing to pay more.

Google AdWords has gotten so complicated that it is becoming a tool for professional account managers and not the typical do-it-yourselfer. Google has introduced some very nice new features such as day parting (allows you to set the times when your ads will appear and change your bid for those times), position preference (select what position your ad will show on the page), and several new keyword creation tools.

You can definitely make money, capture leads, and make sales when you use Google AdWords. We invite you to read the comments that our clients have sent to us about their Google AdWords experience with us, at McCord Web Services, while acting as their account manager. We are proud of the five-star rating that we have received and continually work hard to keep it.

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