It seems that everyone wants to skip the basics and get stuck into the advanced techniques, with the mindset that this will earn them better rankings and more readers. If you just get the basics right and do those small one percenters than you will achieve far more success than diving into the deep end without knowing how to swim.

I admit, a few months back, I was the same as these people who thought that there was a quicker way to achieve anything. I achieved nothing on that site – it was a complete failure. Then I started this blog, and have only concentrated on the basics SEO steps, doing 301 redirects, having the correct permalink structure, building links, putting keywords in the title tag and using header tags to their full potential. And this blog now has very strong rankings in the search engines because of this, not because of some fancy unheard of technique.

What I am trying to get across is, don’t go looking for the easy way through. Do what you know well and keep at it, and you will achieve far more. Focus your efforts on improving what you know.

I have noticed when browsing webmaster forums such as DigitalPoint that many people are unsure of the best way to build high quality one way links to their website or blog. now I can’t say that there is a best way, but I know of a way that is the best way for me – it is enjoyable and I gain high PR and high quality backlinks quickly from authority blogs in my niche. What makes this better? These are usually sitewide DoFollow links.

Take a look at my backlinks in Yahoo SiteExplorer (click on the image to see it in full size):

My Links

Now, I’m not here to brag but that’s a nice amount of backlinks from a 2 month old blog. And look where these links are from – huge, well respected authority blogs.

Go and take a look at some of these blogs and see what they all have in common: You will find that they all have the Top Commentator’s widget installed, with the DoFollow setting enabled.

Many bloggers see this widget and think no more about it, but when I realised the link building ability of this some time ago now I jumped right into testing it out. And guess what? It seems to be working!

Now please, after seeing this, and I repeat, PLEASE, do not go out and spam the heck out of blogs with this widget installed. It is there to pass a bit of link love to loyal readers. I find that in the blogs I like reading I gain a spot anyway because I like to connect with the blog owner. Post valuable comments to the blog that are of a decent length, and you will find that you actually like the blog more as well.

Have fun commenting

- Approximately 26 directory/blog directory submissions (for 2 of my sites)
- Approximately 30-35 DoFollow blog comments including some .edu blogs
- 40-50 posts on DigitalPoint forums
- Done one sitewide link exchange
- Received one one-way sitewide link because I did someone on the forums a favour

I have seen a much greater amount of traffic from the DigitalPoint forums, but that is the only thing I have noticed so far.

In the thread at DigitalPoint, silveraden tells that she spends hours each day promoting her sites. I don’t have that kind of time, I have to study, but am going to duplicate the schedule on a smaller scale.

What I am going to do on a daily basis:
1. Forum posting – Each day I am going to made at least 20 posts on DigitalPoint, NamePros and Sitepoint for backlinks and traffic. This should take 30-45 minutes each day.
2. Blog Commenting – Each day, I will spend 10-15 minutes commenting on about 10-15 DoFollow related blogs related to this blog. This is also done mainly for backlinks but also for a bit of traffic as well.
3. Directory Submission – I plan to submit my blog to 5-10 directories each and every single day with varying anchor text, probably using those directories DigitalPoint members promote in the forum.
4. Social Bookmarking Each Article – I guess I am doing this for a bit of a boost in traffic, a few links and also to establish myself in a network of other bloggers using social media sites such as Twitter (my username on twitter is: simonspurr)

What I am going to do on a weekly basis:
1. Article Submission – I don’t have much time to fit in extra article writing, but will try to make time for it an an attempt for some extra backlinks and good, targetted traffic. I will probably try to submit 2 articles to the main article sites each weekend when I have a bit of time.
2. Advertising in Advertising Forums – Never tried this before, but will give it a go. It should bring in a bit of extra traffic.

As a bonus to my readers, I am also going to be running competitions on a random time basis with prizes such as free banner advertising, free links and free reviews. (I will make a post announcing competitions).

To keep track of my progress, I plan to make a post on here every day or two with my progress which will probably keep me motivated as well.

Wish me luck

When a domain name is indexed it always ranks well for the keywords in the domain, unless it is a single or two word generic term with millions of competitors. Even then, when developing a website on that domain, the benefit is huge. Having the keywords targeted in the domain name WILL make the difference between a top 10 ranking and a ranking on page 5. It will make the difference between having an online business see profits or go broke.

However, the exception to this is in brandable domain names, such as my own here at otooo.com. If you can create your own brand then the top rankings seem less important. They are still a great asset though.

Like most people in SEO would agree, the other major top contributor to rankings is the title. In small, untapped niches with low competition, to gain top 3 rankings it is only required to have the exact targeted keyword in the title. All other SEO techniques will benefit and seal that top position in.

To get the blog started I have searched around for some great available domain names. Included will be comments about Estibot value and Google Results.

Please leave a comment informing me if you register any names.

FortPierceSouth.com Great GEO .com. Was going to reg this myself. 30,500 results for “fort pierce south”, population of 5600 in 2000. It is a location in Florida. Estibot says RegFee, but hey, GEO’s are doing well.
AvailableDN.com Low results but awesome development potential (DN = domain name). My second favourite name of the lot.
MappingSkills.com 56,000 results. Estibot says $800. One of my favourites.
PlayClari.net I’m not sure of value but this is a great domain hack. 163,000 results for “play clarinet”
FireEmployees.com 99,800 results for “fire employees”, EstiBot appraises at $270
EconomicConcerns.com 891,000 results for “economic concerns”, EstiBot appraises at $730 – the economy is a big topic right now.
EconomicProblem.net 347,000 results for “economic problem”. Estibot says RegFee. 758 Overture
Economic-Problem.com 347,000 results for “economic problem”. Estibot says $30. 758 Overture
PoorStates.com 64,400 results for “poor states”. Estibot appraises at $220
ValuableDN.com Low results but a great development name/
ElongatedHill.com Natural feature / GEO
UniformSlope.com 66,200 results for “uniform slope”. Is a natural feature. Estibot says $110
ConvexSlope.com Another geographical feature. 6,220 results for “convex slope”. Estibot says $90
ConcaveSlope.com Geographical feature. 6,840 results for “concave slope”. Estibot says $70
GoodMethods.com 98,300 results for “good methods”. Estibot appraises at $250
FrenchTerritory.com 254,000 results for “french territory”. Estibot says $820
AmericanTerritory.net 165,000 results for “american territory”. Estibot appraises at RegFee
AustralianTerritory.com 43,500 results for “australian territory”. Estibot says $760
Vestured.com 11,600 Google results, dictionary word, EstiBot appraises at $110