1. Editor's Musings
2. Article: The 3 Key Principles of Search Engine Strategy By Dan_Thies
3. Internet Sites Reviewed
4. Recommended
5. Freebies and Other Good Deals
6. Joke of the Week

1. Editor's Musings

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian subscribers. Yes, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving, and yes, it is held a few weeks earlier than in the US! Why earlier? I don't know. Maybe so we have more time to get rid of the turkey leftovers before we start on the Christmas bird. Speaking of the US, Happy Columbus Day to our friends to the south.

Today's article on Search Engine positioning is written by Roundup subscriber, Dan Thies. Dan's a search engine expert who has written what must be the best ebook on the subject.

Let me clarify that last statement. Dan's book, Fast Start, is probably the best available if you operate a small or home business, or if you have limited resources to dedicate to search engine optimization.

The strength of Dan's ebook lies in the way he Organizes this complex subject. Webmasters can follow Dan's step by step guide to getting a web site positioned well in the search engines.

If you're already a SEO expert, or if you have unlimited resources to hire experts, this book probably won't help you much. But for someone like me… it's invaluable.

I have already begun implementing some of Dan's recommendations and I expect to see results.

I printed Dan's ebook using FinePrint, a print driver that allows you to condense multiple pages into one page of hard copy. Your only limitation is your eyesight and the size of print you can comfortably read.
www.fineprint.com

2.Article: The 3 Key Principles of Search Engine Strategy by Dan Thies

The Three Cardinal Principles of Search Engine Positioning

It's not hard to find good information on search engines... the hard part is telling the good information apart from the bad. Some of it is old, some of it is wrong, and a lot of it is just self-serving propaganda for someone's product or service.

My first commercial site, Website Promotion Central, boasts top rankings for very competitive keywords like "website promotion." It's become the 2nd most popular website promotion resource, according to DirectHit. Achieving that enviable position didn't require any kind of black magic - I've beaten the "big dogs" of search engine positioning at their own game, by relying on three simple principles.

Principle 1: Keyword Selection

You may not feel like going head to head with top SEO experts, just to test your mettle... and if you do, you want to make sure that the keywords you select as the battleground are worth fighting for. Good keyword selection revolves around three key variables: popularity, targeting, and competition.

Ideal keywords have "enough" traffic to meet your needs, but not so much competition that you'll face a long battle to reach the top. In planning a website, I look for keywords that can deliver at least 100-200 visitors per day, without so much competition that it's not worth my time.

Principle 2: Relevant Content

Search engines like websites that have a lot of relevant content, with individual pages that are optimized for a small set of keywords. There's really no getting around this fact, so the smart business owner will instead take advantage of it.

I know lot of experts would have you invest your time in creating "doorway pages" for the sole consumption of the search engines. While this strategy might work sometimes, these pages don't really give the visitor any reason to explore the rest of your site... and it's unnecessary.

If you want to build up your site's traffic, and turn those visitors into customers, you have to give them something useful. Instead of spending hours making useless doorway pages, spend the time writing (or locating) meaningful content that will make your site into an attractive destination for your visitors.

Here's a little secret: good content improves your DirectHit scores, because visitors spend more time on your site. This in turn improves your ranking on the MSN and Hotbot engines.

Principle 3: Link Popularity

I use the general term "link popularity" here, but it's a pretty complex subject. Link popularity, or the number of other pages that link to your site, is at best a deceptive measurement. Links from more popular sites will count more than links from someone's personal page.

All of the major search engines consider the incoming links to your site when determining your ranking for a given search term. In addition to simply counting links, they also look at the context: whether the page that links to you has your keywords on it, and what keywords are used in the text of the link.

A good link popularity strategy doesn't stop there incoming links are only meaningful if the search engines can find them. This means that you must fully understand how search engines find and index pages, so that you can position your links, and support your links partners, so that your links get indexed.

By applying these three principles to your search engine strategy, you'll build a solid foundation for your SEO efforts. You need not waste your time on invisible text, hidden links, or any other wasteful and dangerous tactics you may have heard about. These three principles, and a little bit of knowledge, are all you need to make your site rise to the top.

I wish you success...

=======================================================
Dan Thies has been helping his clients (and friends) promote their websites since 1996. His latest book, "Search Engine Optimization Fast Start," offers a simple, step by step plan to increase your website's search engine traffic. Search Engine Optimization Fast Start is available now at this link.

Internet Sites -- reviewed by June Campbell

*** TerraFly
Fly Virtually over any location in the US.

*** Funny Road Signs
Amusing road signs found across US and Canada. A fun site to visit when you need a break from the daily grind.

*** Mysterious Places
Ancient civilizations. Modern mysteries.

*** The Truth about Thanksgiving
A disturbing site describing the beginning of the Thanksgiving tradition.

4. Freebies and Good Deals

A. SAVE BIG BUCKS!
Discover how to stay safe from online scams - AND receive dozens of discounts from reputable online companies. Join the iCop Consumer Membership Program and find out who - and what - to avoid online! This may be the MOST important organization you'll ever join! It can save YOU big bucks! Subscribe NOW!

b. Get the latest tips & tricks on Web Design & Development, Internet Marketing and Promotion. Experienced professionals share their expertise on creating a successful web presence. Plus tips on search engine rankings and much more! All of this valuable information is inside The Webcast D-zines Insighter.
Subscribe Today!!! subscribe@webcastdzines.com or visit us on-line at www.webcastdzines.com

c. WHERE WRITERS, PUBLISHERS & ONLINE ENTREPRENEURS CONNECT
Looking for the best ezines to subscribe to? Searching for great articles? Need some awesome content for your web site? Marketing-Seek.com has got it for you! We'll also update you monthly on the latest submissions into the article database - plus, we'll give you two versions to choose from! Just highlight or save the print copy and paste it into any ezine, magazine, or web page. Nothing could be easier! What'cha waiting for? Signup today.
M A R K E T I N G ~ S E E K.C O M
http://www.marketing-seek.com/newsletter/index.shtml

d. Sentience-- the ezine for coaches, counselors and people interested in self growth. Published weekly. Subscribe

e. Sick of watching a small TV?
Imagine watching TV projected onto a large screen or wall. It's so simple a child can do it.
Click here now.

4. Recommended Product: Nelson Email Organizer

This utility interfaces with Outlook to give you the features you've been wishing for. Since Eudora is my preferred email client, I don't use Nelson Organizer personally. However, I have friends and colleagues who swear by it.

Satisfied user Marilyn Strong wrote, " I have been using Nelson Organizer since I was one of the Beta Testers in 1999. I LOVE it. My mailbox goes back to 1996 - I'm a compulsive saver of emails. I have more than 30,000 messages - and Nelson Organizer handles them much better than Outlook can.

The search feature is almost instantaneous, especially compared to the awkward Outlook search -- it's fantastic when I'm looking for a name or an item. My emails are automatically sorted by month. I can keep track of projects by correspondents AND the best part -- all my OUT messages can be shown in the same window as my IN messages, and again, listed by date or subject or name It makes it easy for me to remember whether I'm waiting to reply or waiting for a reply. I'll never sort emails by folders again!"

Click here for your free download: Nelson Email Organizer

6. Joke: The Photocopier FAQ

You know how every office has an unofficial photocopy expert that everyone goes to when the machine is out of ink, jammed or just not working right?

Allegedly, one such unofficial expert began handing out the following FAQ sheet:

The copier is out of order!
Yes, we have called the service man.
Yes, he will be in today.
No, we cannot fix it.
No, we do not know how long it will take.
No, we do not know what caused it.
No, we do not know who broke it.
Yes, we are keeping it.
No, we do not know what you are going to do now.

Thank You

To subscribe to this newsletter, visit this link.

"How to Booklets"-- topics include business proposal writing, business plan writing, brochure writing,an independant contractor's agreement, a sample joint venture agreement and more. Click www.nightcats.com