Typo Squatting At Amozon.com

THE OWNER OF AMOZON.COM

If there’s a way to exploit the system, hackers, crackers and other black hats will find it.

Domain Hijacking – A Brief Explanation

Most domain owners are familiar with domain hijacking. Hijacking involves taking over a domain name and using it for unsavory, even illegal online practices. How can someone just take over a domain, you ask?

One of two ways. They can just use it. In an email, for example, a bad guy can use your domain name to provide the appearance of respectability. However, the link contained in the email takes the reader to someplace other than your site, usually someplace in the dark corners of the w3.

The other way black hats can rustle your domain is to contact the registrar – often the web host – and ask to update the owner’s personal information – a new address, telephone number and so on. And believe it or not, there are domain name registrars who actually make these changes! Now, your domain is registered to someone else! Just like that.

With a hijacked domain, bad guys can use your good reputation or well-known name to drive traffic to their site. And, you probably wouldn’t expect a thing until sales dried up completely.

Typo Squatting

Typo squatters take advantage of search engine users’ carelessness when typing in keywords. So, some evil doer might register Amozon.com, something close to the popular and legitimate Amazon.com. You know that typo squatter’s domain is going to get more than a few hits each day.

And when unfortunate search engine users type in Amozon.com, they’re connected to the bad guy. From there, the innocent user can be redirected anywhere. Often, they’re redirected to porn sites or get-rich-quick sites. In addition, important information, like the users’ email addresses, are now available for sale to spammers.

Typo squatters create a variety of misspellings, then register all of their variations in bulk to save money:

- the dot typo, e.g. amazo.n.com

- character replacements, e.g. smazon.con

- character omissions, e.g. amzon.com

- character permutations, e.g. amzaon or amaozn, for example

- character insertions, e.g. amazoln.com

These deliberately misspelled domains can then be parked on a server. There’s no need for an actual web site. All typo squatters need is a place to park two or three hundred domains.

The Google Adsense For Domains Program: Here’s Where The Real Money Is

This is where typo squatters can make some big money. The Google Adsense for Domains program enables users to split Adsense for Domains revenues derived from advertising served up on parked domains. No website required.

So, all the owner of Amozon.com has to do is take on a ton of Ads by Goooogle (you’ve seen them) and s/he splits revenues generated by legit ads placed on other domains. And this isn’t chump change. We’re talking big bucks and Google has been slow to respond to the problem. That means that thousands of legitimate Adsense participants are actually splitting fees with typo squatters.

Google’s slow response to typo squatting can be attributed to the fact that it doesn’t hurt Google’s bottom line. The company apparently doesn’t care about who gets the Adsense revenues as long as the program continues to expand. And it is.

Enter Microsoft’s HoneyMonkey

The fact is that Microsoft has taken the lead in tracking down typo squatters with the introduction of HoneyMonkey, a Microsoft exploitation detection system that spiders the web on a regular basis searching for exploitation points in the company’s numerous software programs.

Using the HoneyMonkey system, investigators have been able to track down numerous typo squatters. However, enforcement of existing laws is nil. Making it even harder to punish these black hats is the fact that they change web hosts often, migrating their misspelled domains from server to server.

The Hosting Solution

Web hosts are in the best position to detect typo squatters and boot them out of business. Squatters register lots of domains at once, all are variations of spellings of popular sites. (Even Google has been victimized by typo squatters.)

Squatters don’t have web sites. They just park their domains and load them up with Google Adsense links, sit back and collect that PPC revenue.

The prudent hosting service monitors for typo squatting and reports suspicious activities, or simply boots the squatter off the server. That’s why it’s important to go with a host who’s up to speed on typo squatters and takes steps to eliminate this growing problem.

Ask any potential web host how it deals with typo squatters. If you don’t get a satisfactory answer, or if all you get is stony silence from the other end of the line, keep looking for the host who knows the most about this ‘spelling’ problem.

Need some help finding a reliable web host? Call or click me and let’s chat. Your first mistake can be your worst mistake. Later, Webwordslinger.com.

Content Syndication: Get Linked In

Get Linked In

Do a little Google research and you’ll quickly discover that there are a million e-books, seminars and webinars about building links to your site. If your site isn’t plugged into the grid – a stand-alone – you’re all but ignored by search engines because your site has no context. Search engine spiders can’t determine your site’s taxonomy – the categorization of the site into a class or group based on the site’s topicality.

Search engines look for links to and from your site. If you have a lot of reciprocal links (link exchanges), you score some points but you’re not knocking ‘em dead. Spiders know a link exchange when they encounter one so a reciprocal link has less value than a non-reciprocal link – an in-bound link without an outbound link connecting back.

The Value of the Non-Reciprocal Site Link
Spiders crawl a site and assess what they find based on top-secret formulae called algorithms. These algorithms are complex weightings of various site components. So, for example, content that changes often (green content) is a plus built into the search engine algorithm. Thus, a site that provides fresh, informational content scores higher than one that’s as stale as last week’s doughnuts. Spam – useless gibberish created just to attract search engines – loses you points in the SEO Sweepstakes, too.

Now, there are plenty of search engine optimization (SEO) pros willing to take your money to show you how to improve or optimize your site so that it moves up in the search engine rankings. Less face it, if your site is entombed on page 68 of Google’s SERPs you won’t generate much organic (search engine driven) traffic.

One thing that spiders look for in assessing the quality or usefulness of a site is the number of non-reciprocal links connected to that site. Why? Because it’s an indicator of quality and utility. That’s why other site owners are recommending that their site visitors click off and go to your site. Quite a feather in your cap, eh? Collect enough non-reciprocal links and search engines may come to “see” you as an authority site. This coveted designation moves you right to the top of search engine results pages.

Bottom line: spiders use links as a measurement in site assessment. The more quality non-reciprocal, inbound links there are, the higher the site ranks (page rank or PR).

Content Creates Links
Good, fresh content is a highly-prized commodity on the world wide web because search engine spiders like to see up-to-date, relevant information for their users. Spiders take snapshots of each website they visit. It’s called the cache view on SERPs. When a spider crawls a site, it compares the cache with the current content. If nothing has changed, your content will ultimately be considered stale and, as a result, you’ll fall in the SERPs.

Every site needs new content and one way they get it is through article syndication.

Web Article Syndication
If you’re an expert on the subject of your web site, you can develop non-reciprocal in-bound links through article syndication. It’s perhaps the least expensive, most effective means of improving your site’s search engine ranking.

There are sites like goarticles.com and ezine.com that syndicate content within a wide variety of categories. This content (articles) is posted by the author and is free for the taking by any web site for display.

The way you benefit? Part of the deal is that any site that uses your article must provide a link back to your site. At the end of an article on antique watches you’ll see an author’s box that says something like:

Author John Smith is an authority on antique watches and offers free
appraisals at johnsmithantiques.com

That’s a non-reciprocal link which is given more value than a simple link exchange.

The Benefits of Web Content Syndication
The most obvious benefit, from the SEO perspective, is that every site that picks up John Smith’s antique watch article must provide a non-reciprocal, in-bound link to Mr. Smith’s website. So, if Smith’s article is picked up and used by a couple of dozen web sites, he’ll end up with a number of inbound links from a single article.

Now, if Smith then writes an article on antique sideboards, posts it on goarticles.com or some other content syndicator and gets picked up by more sites, the number of non-reciprocal inbound links continues to grow.

Onceagain, these inbound links are considered more valuable by search engine spiders than plain link exchanges. The fact that a site has linked to you without a reciprocal link is an indicator that your site is worth visiting, at least according to the referring site owner. In addition, you’re becoming a recognized authority on the topic pf your site. A two-fer!

Some Precautions
Perhaps the most important precaution is to limit the number of sites that post one of your articles. One thing spiders don’t like is duplicate content so if your article currently appears on 20 different sites, you’ll get credit for the in-bound links but the value of those links will be diminished because of that duplicate content. It’s all over the web!

Make sure you track the sites that are picking up your articles. Just Google your name or the title of the article to see what pops up. Visit each site to make sure that the promised link back to your site is there. Also make sure that your content isn’t being used for illegal or unscrupulous purposes. You write a piece on options investing and all of a sudden it’s being used as a “testimonial” by some sleazy scam artists selling options contracts to little old ladies. You have the right to request the removal of your article and most sites will comply. If they don’t, notify the syndicator who may deny additional content to the offending site.

What If I Can’t Write?
This is one links-building strategy that works. There’s enough cyber world evidence to prove that. However, if you can’t string words together to create a useful, informational article, find someone who can.

Your spouse, neighbor, even your kid might have a hidden writer just waiting for the chance to blossom. Or, you can find SEO copywriters on sites like guru.com and elance.com. Some of these professional writers (be careful who you choose) know how to craft an article that’ll get picked up by lots of sites that are topically related to your site. Keep track of how many sites run the piece at one time so you don’t overexpose it. You can find that information on the syndicator’s site.

Finally, to amortize your costs in money and/or time, re-use articles. After you’ve removed a piece from the syndication list, wait 12 months and repost it. You’ll pick up a bunch of new sites willing to publish the piece and you’ll have a bunch of new, non-reciprocal, inbound links that’ll make your site shine in the eyes of search engine spiders.

Whoever Said, “There’s No Such Thing As Bad Press” Was An Idiot!: Reputation Management

 

YOU'RE AN IDIOT!!!

Whoever said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” was certainly not talking about the world wide web. Today, more than ever, disgruntled consumers can trash your product and/or your site using blogs, forums and on-site reviews! That’s right, take a look at Amazon’s product pages. You buy something, don’t like it, you can write a review that will appear on that product page. Now that’s useful information.

 

Of course, you can also write a rave of some product but either way, Amazon leads in customer reviews – a good thing when the reviews are good, the death knell when they’re bad.

What many site owners don’t realize is that bad press can hurt you with lower search engine rankings so it’s not something you want to ignore.

What happens if a dissatisfied customer is talking trash about your site all over the w3? Or worse, what can you do about a competitor who posts slams and slander on blogs about your horrible customer service and overblown prices. Well, it isn’t easy (a good reason to always keep the customer satisfied) but there are things you can do to make a bad situation better.

Ask Nice
Let’s say someone’s posted a slam of your site on another site’s blog. One thing you can do is contact the site owner, explain your side of things and ask that the blog entry be removed. The site owner may take pity and do you favor. On the other hand, if that site owner is your #1 competitor, chances are he’ll rub his hands with glee at your misfortune. But it’s worth a shot.

Tell It Like It Is
Make positive posts about your site to counteract bad press. There are plenty of sites today that let you tell the world about who you are, what you do and why you’re the best choice. Checkout aboutus.org and post the positive. There are other sites that give you a chance to show your best side.

Social Book Marking
Not only is this a great way to spread the word to counteract bad press, it’s a great way to increase site traffic for zero dollars. Sites like del.icio.us enable you to create an account after which you can post pretty much anything you want – a great way to counteract bad press from other sources. Social book marking is a significant aspect of the new Web 2.0 drive to build a more interconnected online community and every webmaster should take advantage of social book marking sites, like craigslist, to tell the world just how great his or her site is.

Build Your Own Blog
Blogs help sites rank better in the SERPs. It’s fresh content and it’s easy to add a blog to your site. First, see if your web host offers blogging software as part of the toolbox some hosts provide to their clients. The better ones do. If not, visit squidoo.com. Here, you can create your own site blog. Make entries, acquire free content from sites like goarticles.com, upload product pixs and make a name for yourself – a good name!

Your online reputation can be crushed by a few negative comments posted on blogs and forums. The w3 is partially driven by the gossip factor so counteract the bad gossip with positive, helpful entries on your site blog. It’ll make a difference.

Become an expert
Yahoo and Google both have features that allow people to post questions which “experts” then answer. Experts are volunteers willing to share their knowledge and experience with the world.

Do you have a specialty? One related to your web site? If so, sign on as an expert in that area and establish your creds.

Write, right?
If you can write a few articles about aspects of your business, industry, services or products, you can syndicate those articles, each of which will have an arrow pointing right back to your site. This is a great way to build links. Even more, if you write enough of these articles, you come to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

So, how do you go about syndicating? There are websites that provide free, downloadable content to websites with the stipulation that the link back to your site must appear along with the article. Get a few dozen articles out there and you’ll soon discover that you have a lot more inbound links than you had previously.

Add your site to directories
Google has a directory (based primarily on the Open Directory Project at dmoz.org). Yahoo maintains a site directory. Even Microsoft maintains a small business directory. Once you’ve launched your site and it’s been indexed, you’re eligible to seek inclusion in one or more of these directories. It’s a good move to boost web site credibility.

Track your reputation
This is so cool. Google offers a free Alerts service that notifies you every time your site’s name comes up – anywhere on the world wide web. Blogs, forums, press releases – Google covers the entire digital landscape and reports back to you each time your site is mentioned. The free service covers the top 50, most relevant results. If you want to go deeper, you can subscribe to Google’s Alert services which will deliver the top 200 most relevant mentions of your site (or you or your competition). It’s the easiest way to keep track of your on-line reputation – and what the competition is saying about you.

The Power of SEO
Search engines like Yahoo and Google rule the web – at least the commercial aspects of the web. If you have a commercial, on-line business, the better optimized your site is for search engines the better you’re going to rank on the search engine results pages.

There are about a million books that’ll tell you how to improve your site’s SEO and lots of free articles to show you how to improve your page rank (PR). If you have the time and the inclination, read as much as you can about current SEO practices and tactics to discover ways of improving your site’s page rank.

If SEO isn’t your cup of tea (too many numbers) hire an SEO professional to optimize your site for search engine spiders. This involves a number of factors and may also cost a few bucks. Additionally, it may take up to six months to actually see any significant results. But, if all else has failed, hiring an SEO expert may be the only way to go to regain your search engine status.

Fast Track to Good Press?
Sorry, there is no fast track to undo negative press in search engine results pages, whether it’s deserved or not. It’s a process but a worthwhile one, especially if you’ve spent a great deal of time and money to build up your e-biz.

However, the faster you get to work on article syndication or getting your site listed in a directory, the quicker your reputation will improve.

Things move quickly across the web and a bad reputation – whether true or not – is not going to help your site or your business. No, you can’t eliminate the problem of bad press but you can go proactive and generate some good press to counteract the negative.

The key is to move quickly and decisively to protect your hard-earned reputation.

Five Negative Search Engine Ranking Factors: BAM!

 

ARE YOUR CLIENT SITES GETTING THROUGH TO SEARCH ENGINES?

Webmaster and hosting blogs are jam-packed with hunches, guesses and opinions on Google’s ranking factors. The most powerful search engine in the world has been dissected, desiccated and analyzed by hundreds of experts and still controversy reigns.

 

Some of the more contentious issues include: server accessibility (get a good web host), quality of site content, domain extensions of sites linking in and outbound links to lower ranking sites. The experts can’t seem to agree on what counts in these areas.

SEOmoz is a great site for information from the ecommerce digi-sphere. Here, you’ll find some of the best information written by some of the most knowledgeable SEO professionals. Sure, there’s bound to be bias and debate, controversy and even the occasional name calling, but it’s all good.

In compiling its lists of positive, controversial and “known” negative ranking factors within the Google search algorithm, SEOmoz.org queried 31 well-known experts on their opinions and one thing is certain: no one individual has it all figured out. The ranking factors employed by the Googlistas change as Google’s math geeks and coders build ever-more sophisticated algos designed to provide more raw data and more pertinent data from spiders.

The Top Five Negative Ranking Factors
So what do the cyber-pros identify as the most negative ranking factors within Google’s current algorithm? They’re listed below but note, take these Google negatives with a grain of salt.

It could all change tonight while you sleep.

Negative Ranking Factor #1: Googlebots can’t access your server.
If the site is down for more than 48 hours, which is often the case with low-rent web hosts located half-way around the world, a site’s Google ranking drops like a stone.

If your host server is down a lot, search engines don’t want to recommend the site to visitors who will see a 404 error message that the site is unavailable and can’t be accessed.

The solution? Find a host that delivers not only a 99.9% uptime but also has local tech support, backup emergency generators and multiple layers of server side security. You’ll spend about $7.00 a month for quality shared hosting. Double that amount for quality dedicated service if cross-server attacks are a concern. Don’t let a few bucks a month keep your site from higher rankings. It’s just not cost effective.

Note: Server availability as a ranking factor is one of the most contended topics among SEO professionals who spend much of their time trying to out-think Googlebots, so even the experts can’t agree on this one.

Negative Ranking Factor #2: Duplicate or Similar Content.
Most experts do agree on this one.

Repetitious content is a stone-cold killer. Now, that doesn’t mean that you can’t pick up a useful piece of syndicated content of interest to your readers. The warning, here, has to do with site text. A programmer can always upload a syndicated article. However, body text should change from page to page, providing a more useful visitor experience.

Of course, duplicate content can be tagged with a designation, but too many of these “do not enter” signs is also a negative ranking factor. Bots want to be able to crawl pages and when you keep them off of critical content pages, it’ll have a negative impact on your SERPs ranking on Google.

Negative Ranking Factor #3: Links to low-quality sites.
SEO survey contributor, Lucas Ng, sums it up nicely: “Linking out to a low quality neighborhood flags you as a resident of the same neighborhood.”

It’s not just about links and plenty of them. It’s more about the quality of the links on a site. So, link up to sites in nice neighborhoods. On the web, Googlebots know you by the company you keep.

Negative Ranking Factor #4: Links Schemes and Links Selling.
Google’s algorithm employs probability modeling in determining bought-and-paid-for links, which doesn’t always equate to an accurate view of a site’s actual linking activity. Even so, Googlebots make assumptions programmed into the algorithm.

A site with a broad menu of links to diverse sites won’t fare well come spidering time. These links farms are easy for bots to spot. The key to avoiding being mis-indexed by Googlebots is to avoid too many links, try to link to higher-quality-more-visited sites and never buy or sell links. It could mean another web site fatality.

Negative Ranking Factor #5: Duplicate Title/Meta Tags.
Search engine algorithms employ numerous filters to identify everything from questionable links to duplicate content that appears on numerous site pages. The same thing is true of a site’s HTML code. Too many duplicate title tags and duplicate meta data can hurt you.

Survey participant, Aaron Wall, stated, “If a site does not have much content and has excessive duplication, it not only suppresses rankings, but it may also get many pages thrown in the supplemental results.”

Bots read code and if the same title tags show up on page after page, if title tags don’t match page text, or if meta data is cut and pasted into every site page, these crawlers take offense according to some experts.

However, there’s another whole school of thought, here. Many SEO pros and site designers believe just the opposite is true – that title tags on each page create numerous entry points to a site, and because each page is indexed separately, the site maintains a larger presence on SERPs.

The key appears to be in the duplication of inserting repetitive title and meta tags. If the content doesn’t change on a particular page, that page doesn’t call for yet another title tag. However, when topics and functions do change from page to page within a site, title tags do help spiders identify the page’s purpose and do provide greater site access to potential visitors.

What NOT To Do With This Information
The wheels are spinning, aren’t they?

You and a million other site owners are weighing negative ranking factors and the impact these factors have on their SERPs position on Google.

Forget it. Let it go. The time you spend trying to reverse engineer your site to appeal to the perceptions of a collection of 31 SEO professionals would be better spent on search engine marketing – promoting to humans.

Oh, sure, you can migrate your site to a host with a much improved uptime and, in this case, you should regardless of what Googlebots like and dislike. You should migrate, not because bots will like you better, but because your customers will like you better when you’re there when they need you.

Same with cheesy links. Disconnect from garbage sites, links farms and any site that ranks lower than your site in page rank (PR). That’ll take five minutes of your time and it’s something you should do, again, forget the bots, do it for your site visitors seeking to further their web searches through links on your site. Help out site visitors because it’s just good business.

But, if you’ve got duplicate content on site, perhaps as RSS feeds, content syndication or hosted content, it seems counter-productive to remove this useful information from the site. Bots recognize these ephemeral links and their time-saving value to visitors by providing good content all in one place, even if it does appear on a few other sites.

There are a couple of lessons to be learned here. Lesson #1: Even really smart people who study the activities of Googlebots under controlled conditions can not agree, ultimately, what negative ranking factors are programmed into that passing Googlebot.

Lesson #2: (And the most important lesson du jour) Don’t try to outwit a Googlebot. Don’t rebuild your site to mitigate negative ranking factors. Take the obvious steps by going with a reliable host, cutting links to unattractive sites and so on, but don’t spend time reverse engineering your site based on the opinions of SEO pros.

Spend your time promoting your site to humans. Do it ethically. And over time, your site will receive an improved rank on Google’s SERPs – guaranteed.

Guaranteed? You betcha. “Length of time a site has been up” is one of the positive ranking factors. The longer you remain hooked into the web, the higher your Google ranking.

It’s just a matter of time.

 

Need some juice for your site? Squeeze me at my website and let’s get some traffic on your website. It’s always a Webwordslinger gig.

Google Checkout: Is It Worth It?

 

Accept Credit Cards With Google Checkout - Easy!

Google Checkout is a checkout processing service that not only handles basic order processing chores, it also delivers some marketing benefits that no other checkout package can.

 

What’s Google Checkout and why should I care?

You should care because processing orders takes a big chomp out of your bottom line and anything you can do to cut those costs is a good step to take.

First, the Checkout module “bolts” right on to your existing website and fully integrates with CMS and other content and data management programs you have in place. Second, it provides customers with the very convenient “One-Click Checkout” – buyers enter shipping and credit card information once and buying is just a single click away. This generates more sales and repeat traffic simply because it’s so easy.

Finally, Google Checkout automates payment processing by providing numerous credit card options (the more payment gateways, the more sales). It processes orders interfacing seamlessly with your inventory management software and, finally, the best part – the software automatically drops payments into the company bank account. Automatic. Easy. Very cool.

The Google Cache? Really?

Look, Google has an excellent reputation among consumers of search engine services. It is, after all, the largest SE and, it appears to be taking over the world. So, if you can associate your site with Google, a bit of that gleam is reflected your way.

This is especially true if you use sponsored Google Adwords – those sponsored links that appear on every Google SERP and ubiquitously on web pages everywhere. If you use Adwords for marketing, you can display the Google Checkout badge, a little green shopping cart, on all Adwords you place. It’s a nice touch and a convenience that buyers will come to recognize in the months ahead.

Improve You Conversion Rate

Google’s Checkout is designed for online purchases, simplifying the process at every stage. So, you won’t lose as many buyers at the checkout trying to figure what to do next. Google’s Checkout GUI is simple, uncluttered and reassuring, enhancing the trust factor.
Free Adwords?

Not quite, but close. For every $1 you spend on Google’s Adwords program – an effective program, BTW – you receive $10 of processed sales for free. So, spend $100 a month on Adwords, building your business, and you’ll be able to process $1000 in sales for exactly $0.

If you exceed your Adword rebate, or you opt not to use Adwords, the processing costs are still reasonable at 2% plus $0.20 per transaction. Not bad.

Fraud Protection

And plenty of it. The system takes a proactive approach to fraud, filtering out bogus transactions before you’re burned. Google even offers a limited Payment Guarantee if you ever get a chargeback on a legit purchase.

Options and More Options

You can get started with Google Checkout in three ways. There’s easiest, easier and “I’d better call in someone who knows what they’re doing.” Let’s examine each.

Buy Now Buttons

This is the easiest way to hook up your site to Google Checkout. You simply paste snippets of Google-generated HTML code into your site’s HTML browser. That’s it. You’re hooked up and when customers click on that ‘Buy Now’ button, they’re directed through the checkout like any well-respected customer.

E-commerce Partners

Still pretty easy. All site owners have to do is enter their Merchant ID number and Merchant Key on the E-commerce Partners’ web page. This more fully integrates your existing order processing system with the new checkout.

Google Checkout API

If you aren’t sure how all the various pieces of your web site are interconnected, don’t try to install this option without a little help from your site designer or the neighbor’s kid who’s a whiz-bang at this stuff.

There are two levels of integration and, if it isn’t done properly, you may be processing orders by way of Greenland.

Easy As Pie

The hook-up you employ will depend on the extent of your product line and the need to integrate sales data with inventory, drop shipping and other order fulfillment matters. If you do you own shipping, go with option 1 or 2.

Regardless of which level of Google Checkout you select for your site, it’s all automated to keep things simple. You select the bank account where you want deposits made. You verify your account (takes a couple of days) but after that, money is deposited electronically. Nothing could be easier

Want to learn more? Want to see which hook-up is best for you? That’s easy, too. Just follow the link. You’ll be able to register and get started in just a few minutes. So, if you haven’t selected a checkout mod (there are several), or your planning to ramp up your Adwords spending, check out Google’s Checkout for benefits that no other check-out package can deliver.