Free Domain Name

Come one come all for your free domain name from GoDaddy!

Shoot on over to SEO Diva for the link - you can also get a 15% off coupon code for GoDaddy purchases.

It's a limited time offer; I don't know when it ends - so don't delay.

P.S. Yes, you do have to sign up for their email communications, but that's not for all eternity, if you catch my drift.

P.P.S: I am SO SO SORRY! The link to the offer was messed up, but it is working now.

Keyword Research Made Extra Easy for WordPress

Semenvironment just came out with the very handy Keyword Research Wordpress Plugin.

I've borrowed a couple of screenshots from their site to show you how it changes your admin when you write a post.

As you can see below, it gives you links to 3 popular and free keyword tools right there...with one click you can open up a new window or tab to your favorite tool and check on the keywords you should use in your post content (don't forget to optimize your title too).

Links are also located in the sidebar of your admin's post page, saving you the effort of having to scroll back up to the top of the screen while in the middle of writing your blog post.

All you have to do is download the plugin, ftp it to your blog, and activate it. Easy peasy!

No more excuses when you're writing an article and aren't sure what keyword phrase is actually searched for, and which one is something you just made up (a fatal error).

From SEO Diva - White Hat SEO Advice and Tips

Cheap Domain Names Harder to Find Thanks to Yahoo

Yahoo Domain Name Renewal Sky High!

Yahoo increased the renewal cost of domains to $34.95 effective July 1, 2008. This is a huge increase from the $8.95 to initially register a domain.

Considering the cheap price of domains elsewhere, you have to wonder why Yahoo would make such a move. This is one way fill the coffers quickly at the risk of losing a certain percentage of customers. There are many Mom and Pop businesses who are set up for automatic renewal, may not realize that is a sky high price, or don’t know how to transfer their domain to another registrar. Besides, for those who only have one domain name, it may not seem worth the effort to make the change.

Following up on a rumor that Register.com has raised their prices, I went to their web site and learned they are charging $35 for a new domain name. Back in the day I was a prisoner of Network Solutions when they charged $35 and made it extremely difficult to transfer away to a less expensive registrar. Their price is still no bargain at $34.95 for a one year registration.

I buy (and renew) my domains at GoDaddy for $9.99, using a Dealtaker coupon code which brings them down to $6.95. Since I have over 100 domains registered I need to keep the price as low as possible. GoDaddy also offers privacy, which means my name, address, phone number and email are not displayed in the WhoIs database for the entire world to see.

When looking for domain names, you may want to check out Bustaname and NameBoy. They both offer great tools for finding domain names, and offer good prices on registration through various domain registrars.

from SEO Diva - SEO Advice and Tips

My Top 25 Sites for WordPress Themes

When you're looking for free WordPress themes you quickly discover there are thousands, if not millions, of them online!

Some are better than others - a lot are rehashes of common themes, but then there are some beautiful and unusual themes that are freely available.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you find a theme you really like, make sure you read the comments about it and look at the star rating if available. Some themes, although fantastic looking, don't work well or have bugs you need to be aware of. Also, make sure it will work with WordPress version 2.5+.

25 Sites with Free WordPress Themes is my personal list of the sites I peruse when looking for a WP theme. Almost all of them have several up to 100 themes onsite.

If you know of other web sites that offer fresh or unusual themes, please include the link in a comment on the Diva blog. 

From SEO Diva

When Your Site Doesn’t Rank No Matter What

You’ve done everything right, your site is still not showing up in Google searches after several months, and you can’t figure out why.

It could be your IP location - specifically the country in which the server that hosts your web site is located.

The problem is some USA companies have servers in other countries, specifically Canada. In fact, GoDaddy just opened up a Canadian facility.

For that matter, with the global nature of the Internet, you may not even be aware of what country your host company itself is actually located in.

To find out your IP location, go to Domain Tools and type in your URL. Down toward the middle of the page you’ll see this section:

Server Data

Server Type: Apache/2.0.61 (Unix) PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.0.61 OpenSSL/0.9.7e mod_fastcgi/2.4.2 DAV/2 SVN/1.4.2

IP Address: 123.45.9.78

IP Location United States - California - South Lake Tahoe - New Dream Network Llc

Response Code: 200

Blacklist Status: Clear

Domain Status: Registered And Active Website

This tells me my server is located in the USA, California specifically. But if it was located in Canada my site would not show up in USA Google searches.

I did a little checking for an Active Rain reader whose dynamic real estate site just wasn’t ranking, and discovered his site was hosted in Canada. His site may have ranked well in in that country, but that sure wasn’t helping him with the local searches he needed!

Addendum: Let me clarify that you want your site hosted in the country you are targeting. So if your site is about real estate in the United States, that is where you want your server to be located. However, if you're selling condos in Japan, then your site should be hosted in Japan. When a search engine returns results one of the factors it checks to know what country's results to serve up is where the server is located

Syndicatd from SEO Diva - White Hat SEO Advice and Tips

CommentLuv - Free Link Love

CommentLuv has proved such a boon to my blog already! I just added it yesterday (Luv Luv Me Do), yet not only have I seen an immediate increase in readership and comments, I've been clicking on the links to my readers blogs and getting great ideas from them (and leaving comments too).

If you have the CommentLuv plugin enabled on your WordPress blog, leave a comment on my blog or fill out my contact form, and I'll add you to the list I'm compiling and will publish very soon.

Free links, free advertising - don't you luv it?

From SEO Diva - White Hat SEO Advice and Tips

Common Courtesy Counts Online Too

Often web users forget all about common courtesy once they get online. They seem to forget that they are interacting with other people with feelings just like their own, not soulless computers.

It's important to make the effort to ensure you are coming across as polite online. Facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and gestures convey what we're saying more than our words do in face to face communication. None of this can be seen in online communication, making it easy for others to take our digital words wrong, so we have to find other ways to express our intentions online.

I've noticed that we Americans seem to be among the most brusque and impolite Internet communicators. The nicest emails I receive are from the British. Perhaps we should remember the "ugly American" label we wear overseas and combat that globally via the Internet.

Here are a few reminders on Internet courtesy:

Email:

• Respond to emails promptly
• Use a greeting at the beginning
• Make sure the tone is friendly, not brusque
• Make use of emoticons if appropriate
• Use spell check - it shows you care
• Sign off in a friendly manner

Making Blog Comments

• Leave a comment that is thoughtful and shows you read the po
• If you disagree with the poster, express it politely; don't stoop to name calling or other nastiness
• Don't take advantage of the blogger by using their comment section for free advertising

Responding to Blog Comments

• Respond to every commenter- Blog Comment Tip: Respond to Comments or Risk Losing Subscribers 
• If the commenter criticizes you, be gracious about it - your readers are watching you

Forums

• If you use an avatar, you'll be judged by it. Do you really want to be the humping dog?
• You can get into a spirited discussion without being rude; in fact, you'll sound smarter if you're calm and courteous

Spending a little extra time and effort to treat others well online will garner good will, more business, and you'll live happily ever after. ;)

From SEO Diva - White Hat SEO Advice and Tips

Free PowerPoint to Flash Program - Today Only

Giveaway of the Day is offering iSpring Pro, a program that converts PowerPoint Presentations to Flash. This program normally sells for $199 and is fully functional. You can only download and set it up free today, July 9, 2008.

If you’re reading this after the offer has ended, you may want to register with Giveaway of the Day and wait for it to be offered again. I’ve downloaded some nice programs and games from the site. Be sure to read the user ratings and reviews, because some programs are not as good as others - you can be the judge.

Obviously this is not SEO related but it’s such a great offer I wanted to pass it on to my readers. If you use the program please leave a comment - I’d love to hear your evaluation of iSpring Pro and how you’ll use it.

Syndicated from SEO Diva - White Hat SEO Advice and Tips

Get a Comment Link AND a Link to Your Blog

One of my favorite WordPress plugins is Comment Luv, and I have finally been able to add it to my SEO Diva blog after a theme upgrade.

Comment Luv is a nice way to thank a visitor for leaving a comment on your blog by automatically listing the most recent blog post for their blog, with a link to the article.

Head on over to SEO Diva and try it it out - leave a comment and see your most recent blog post appear below it.

This won't won't work for blogs on AR itself, but should work fine on the AR outside blogs as well as any other type of blog. It's a way to get a free link to your blog, plus a little ad for your blog post.

Magic Marketing Words: Free Secret Green Cure - Lose Fat and Get Rich

I had to try it - use the new magic marketing words Kathy blogged about in Beyond Niche Marketing.

Although I'm doing it for fun and may have slightly overdone the whole thing in my title, the fact is you can work trendy popular keywords into your marketing message if you get creative.

It's a fun exercise and will get you thinking outside the box. It can also bring more attention and traffic to your site.

Okay, I promised it and I will deliver - my FREE secret green cure to lose fat and get rich: stop eating so much, start getting some exercise by walking instead of driving, and put the money you save on food and gas into a savings account.

From SEO Diva blog - White Hat SEO tips and advice