How Not to Treat Your Customers

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I have been looking for an auction site to promote products on behalf of a third party.

They place ads on YapYapOK and it has been working well for them.  The idea was to increase web presence where possible without taking too much time.  The issue with the products is that they are of the adult nature so Ebay is a no go area.

I suggested that I register them on a newer auction site which seems to be doing OK.  The terms and conditions were hard to find and in order to come across them I first had to join.  T&C still very vague so I advised that rather than pay the sellers joining fee they joined free as a buyer and then obtained advice from the forums.

The site works by upfront sellers payments and then unrestricted free listing.  Its not cheap but if you were to achieve high volume sales then it may be worth it.

The seller went on the forums only to see that many who had posted had urls as signatures.  Not one to miss a marketing opportunity he immediately set his signature with his url. 

TThe new thread read that could anyone let him know if he could sell Sex Toys without breaching T&Cs.  The admins answer was pretty quick to suggest all was fine but he had already breached T&C with his signature pointing to an ecommerce site.  He could however point to another site with a link to said ecommerce site.

URl was instantly changed to point to his advert on YapYapOK with link to ecommerce site.  He instantly replied to say that he had not meant to breach the T&C had changed his signature and thanked the responder for letting him know.

So he revisited the forum this morning to see if anything else had been advised only to find he has now been banned.  In fact the message read "You have been banned for promoting external website" ish.

So is he going to use join as as a paying seller?  The only thing which wasn't vague in the T&C was their right to cancel or ban you from using the website with no refund.  Even Ebay didn't do this.  They sent a very polite email to say that they could see it was his first time listing, that he was in breach of their T&Cs with a link to where it was on the site and a refund of listing charges.

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Business Listings Free

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There are a wealth of free listing sites available online.  However it seems that this rarely extends to businesses. 

The sad truth is that many businesses in particular retailers depend on getting their products to the market without paying commissions, listing fees or annual subscriptions.  Having owned a retail outlet on the high street as well as online I am all too aware of the difficulties that small independents are faced with.

Spending on the high street is down.  Whilst ecommerce seems the natural choice to gain a larger audience this is not as easy as it may at first seem.   Having an online shop is the natural step to increase sales, but what happens once your shop is live?

Well unless your an SEO expert or have a real niche product then its unlikely that the search engines will display your site in a good location.  Even with SEO knowledge the time required to implement a good strategy means that the time you have running your own business becomes compromised.  Without SEO resources you can at least depend on good old adwords to kickstart your site to the top of the search engines in the hope of getting noticed.

The problem with that is that its costly and its not as easy as you think.  Be prepared to spend time understanding keyword analysis techniques and what will return the most targeted results in order to achieve a good sales conversion rate.

Ebay is a great tool to achieve sales quickly although you may find a mass of competitors also selling your products at such reduced prices that by the time you factor in listing fees, commisions and other charges, then your profits are down to the wire.  If your prepared for that, then its a great way to get rid of dead stock which needs converting to progress with new orders.  Sadly this is always a short term fix as Ebay does not allow website links to enable you to promote your own site. 

The good news is that some Free Classifieds sites do allow you to post your items, totally free with url links and the benefit of high visitors.  Granted they may not be used to explore potential gift ideas in the same way as Ebay but anyone searching for items can at least know that a highly ranked Classifieds site will likely return their products through the Google search box.

This gives you the opportunity to get items listed and promote your website links totally for Free.

So instead of spending hours or cash on getting products to your customers.  Why not create ads on ad sites?  Its very quick, very easy and may be just the kickstart your business needs.

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Advertise Property For Sale Free

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Advertise Property For Sale Free on YapYapOK Free Ads.

Marketing your own home needn't cost much or indeed anything. Many homeowners who wish to sell their properties tend to go through the usual channels with Estate Agents often being the first port of call.

Yet many wishing to buy property search online before they even consider calling any agent. The secret to selling anything is first understanding your buyers habits. Whilst Estate Agents nearly always have an online presence, many do not keep their sites as up to date as they could be.

Additionally the independents rarely feature high in search results as they do not have the resources available to promote their sites as well as sites who specialise in web marketing.

Hence the arrival of property marketing sites which colate property from various channels in order to bring them directly to the customer. Agents generally pay for these services although often private ads remain a free service.

When you consider the thousands of pounds you can save when marketing your own property it has to be worth the relatively small amount of time resources invested.

Make sure that when you are placing your free ad, you give an accurate and detailed description. Key points should include location, number of bedrooms as well as any extras such as parking, garden etc.

Pictures say a thousand words so try to post as many as you can with the best one fronting the advert.

Once you have a detailed description that you are happy with, then use it across multiple sales sites. The more website visibility that you have, the more likely that your ad will get seen by potential buyers.

So why not give it ago.

YapYapOK Free Ads receives thousands of UK visitors every week - who knows they may be looking for a property just like yours!

Why List On Free Classifieds?

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Todays economy means that we are all trying to budget with our personal and business costs.  Online selling is easier and quicker than you may think.  I have seen many examples of owners trying to sell their properties online with their own websites but whilst this is a great idea, driving traffic to them is often a full time job.  

Free Ads tend to have large visitor numbers and often feature high in search results, hence they are more likely to receive the targetted traffic that you require to get your online marketing noticed.  YapYapOK has the facility to post multiple images as well as a full page description to optimise selling.

Approximately 90% of home buyers research property online before they ever set foot in an Estate Agents so selling yourself is now a viable option.  Estate Agents often place ads across a wide variety of digital media which illustrates just how effective it is.  In addition to the usual selling tools available with free sites, YapYapOK has the ability to post an embed video link to best showcase your home.

Businesses are often severely penalised with premium rate listings making it difficult or prohibitive to market when budgets don't allow.  In order for businesses to compete, grow or just continue to exist then it is necessary to facilitate them in any way possible.  For that reason all ads placed on YapYapOK are Free.

With thousands of visitors often searching for specific items and businesses listed on our free advertising pages every day, it is fairly easy to generate sales on a regular basis.

So if your selling any product or service, take the time out to list it here.  Registration is fast, listing is easy and takes just a few minutes and your ad will be live for 90 days.  Should you be a business wishing to republish then simple login, goto MyYapYapOK, expired ads and click on republish.  Easy, your classifieds is now live for another 90 days.

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Why Google?

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Working on high competition keywords is hugely time consuming.  There are some experts who recommend that you should not bother with high competition since duration of site plays too big a part and Google will always priorities them.  The problem with neglecting high competition is that sooner or later it needs addressing and you can find yourself 2 years down the line placing for lesser value words that yield too few visits.  To some extent we did that with Free Classifieds and ignored Free Ads.  It has taken a massive amount of concentrated effort to place for it.

I have worked with many different sites now.  New and established, competitive and not.   I have managed to get all non competitive keywords to page 1 within just a few weeks, one came in under a week and another very general keyword in under 2 weeks.

By general I mean there are hundreds of thousands of sites specialising in the same thing.  So how did we do it so quickly?

Lets say I was working with an antiques dealer.  Its pretty specialised.  To deal in antiques you need to know what your buying so that you can profit.  Antiques dealers spend a great deal of time running their business but don't really understand SEO, much less give away valuable resources to support it.  Hence placing in this industry at the top of Google is really very easy, even though many have an international sales base and therefore massive competition.

I have worked with several specialised sites now.  One was a local service so creating a location specific keyword enabled her to place at number 1 position with very little work.

For example if you needed a plumber in Cardiff.  Unlikely you would search Google for Plumber since your results would not be relevant and you would spend too long looking through the pages.  If on the other hand you typed "Plumber Cardiff" then youir results will be more specific.

Therefore if you are a plumber in Cardiff with a website, then getting to number one means that you have very little competition and should manage it with ease.

Clearly I am also working with high competition general sites whereby the areas of specialism are in marketing.  Hence placing against some of the other established sites is incredibly difficult.  Not least because of the large budgets they have in comparison to our very non existent one.

So why do we concentrate on Google?  Well it is the largest search engine with the most specific results.  SEO is therefore logical.  I am  fairly certain that by following a broader range of SEO techniques as well as some blackhat methods would result in better results in placing however I also think that would be detrimental to Google SERP.

Many run off the back of Google so playing to the Google tune will ultimately see results in the smaller search engines too.  Our stats are certainly suggesting this.  While 90% of our traffic is generated from Google, we are now seeing results from Bing, Ask Jeeves, AOL and Yahoo.

We will continue to implement specific whitehat SEO unless Google  becomes less important. Frankly, I can't see that happening.

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The Trouble With Fiverr Feedback

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I have used Fiverr alot in the past for SEO services.  The new Google Panda means that much of it is surplus since replicating and link spamming via directories etc hold less value.  To search for a gig its important to check out and see if the provider is using Google friendly techniques.  Then its necessary to check out the feedback.

Since feedback is usually done after gig deliver then the effectiveness of the gig is unknown.  There is no option to change it later to give the provider either a bigger thumbs up or even a thumbs down.

Those who don't understand SEO are often frustrated that their site hasn't climbed to the top of the search engines instantly - they give negative feedback which scews the results.  The only way of seeing how anyone has rated the gig is to see how many repeat orders it has.  Again anyone understanding SEO knows that repeating a gig can be detrimental particularly if it involves anchor text links on the same pages that they already have links on.  The exception to this is if they have multiple sites to promote, however this is often impossible to determine.

So I was delighted to come across Facebook page whereby someone has created a fan page for Killer Gigs.  This creates transparent discussions at any time after the gig to share how it has performed.  Clearly it can be open to abuse from sellers themselves who will promote their own gigs but if there is enough of a follow then their buyers will be able to add their experiences.

I really hope this takes off, it will save hours of sorting the wheat from the chaff - there is a lot of chaff.  We put up with it since the charges are small.  Small charges do add up though and it is easy to see how you can spends 100's of dollars on crappy gigs which give no results at all and may even get you "sandboxed". 

So inevitably I have returned to the Fiverr experience.  Not for YapYapOK Classifieds, we rank pretty well now so just continuing what we are doing will hopefully be enough to maintain position with major keywords and grow some of the minor ones. Ads being one!

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Blogging Explicit Ads

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Its time to blog the ads.  The death of my computer has meant that I have been neglecting some of the latest classifieds appearing on YapYapOK.  This, when we have had so many raunchy  adverts appearing.  Its good to see that all of the advertisers have followed the guidelines of placing them under the appropriate adult categories.

Mr Jack is an adult entertainer - don't look if your offended by nudity - its explicit.  Miss Shawnee is another adult entertainer available for parties.

And if that's not your thing - how about this advert for Sex Toys.  This one has started a shop and the other toy they have listed is more than a little baffling.

Thankfully the YapYapOK Free Classifieds has a censored facility so that it is not necessary to view the images should that be of issue.

We have a wide range of personals as well as adult chat currently live on YapYapOK.  Whilst we had anticipated adult products and services and built in a censored facility, we really had no idea that it was going to be so popular with the advertisers or with the curious and probably curious browsers.

As someone who spends a large amount of time in front of my computer I do often get distracted when looking for new media for SEO.  I love Scribd because after I have read the latest articles I often look at the authors for some short story viewing material.  By and large I am a Michael Connolly fan, I also live Lee Childs and Harlen Coben so much of what is on Scribd tends to be too short to really appreciate.

You can also find yourself reading a story which starts well and turns out to be pure erotica.  All very well but imagine my horror when after reading one short story I saw that when I loaded Facebook there was a link on my page telling all who new me what I had been reading.  Now I avoid them like the plague - even the seemingly innoculous.

Nowadays I prefer to be distracted by Pioneer Woman and her recipe blog.  Its well written with some great recipes and even helps me multi task my dinner preparations.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - Only human!

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Post Server Update

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The migration of the server has had us all holding our breath in anticipation.  I think that finally we can slowly let it go.  We had expected a small drop in SERP and thats what we got.  Down one place for Free Classifieds (currently no 2), down 2 places at number 9 for Free Ads.

Today I shall SEO via an internal link strategy as well as with external links.

I read in the local rag last night about a columnist who has unexpected traffic to his blog, to the tune of 10,400 visits.   This is not huge considering that he has been going for a couple of years.  Also users search for blogs now rather than wait for them to come to the fore.  Blogs are just waiting to be discovered from web masters who will utilise them for their own ends.  Start to get into unique topic specifics and they can feature well in search results.

So should he have taken this as flattery - hmm probably not.  As a columnist he has probably written some good material with a wide range of subjects.  However he has still only achieved small visitor numbers - to do considerably better he needs to look at his blog commenting.  If he does not allow it then he should, perhaps as moderated so that his blog doesn't get spammed.

His good range of material as well as well written posts with specific topics should yield well in Google.  Could be he is not utilising the tags.  Just taking a moment to fill these in appropriately would mean that he would be complying with the specific meta data that Google clearly loves.

So I am off to check out said blog, hopefully I will be leaving a lasting impression on it.

Wish me luck!

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Disruption Of SEO

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A series of events has led to a huge disruption in SEO techniques utilsed by YapYapOK Free Ads

1. Computer hard drive breakdown.   - A clear issue resulting in an out of action computer necessary to facilitae and inplement link building strategy
2. Lack of manpower - stretching oneself too thinly whilst doing last minute school assessments (son due to enter secondary school education next september), as well as external web development for second site.
3.  Aforementioned sons birthday weekend.  - Yes weekend to enable sleepover with friends plus time with all family members 100 miles down the road.

Consequently the to-do list has rapidly grown to an unfathomable length whereby priorities are yet to be determined.  In a moment of blindness I have decided to post a blog and then take a step back to see if the fog clears and the route becomes a little more focused when, at such time I will commence all efforts with renewed energy.

Of course having lost a huge amount of work has not been advantageous.  Personal photos of family over the last 6 years are forever lost.  Laziness meant that whilst I did not back up data, I did email myself links, seo strategies as well as important documents.  I stored many others on private web 2.0 sites  Yes it was lazy, since I had not filed it away in a methodical manner on my harddrive.  Instead I had built a folder filing system within my inbox  - since my email is permanently open.

Thankfully this bizarre approach to document management has saved me a mountain of work.

I am ready to continue the advertising link campaign for the next hour before calling it a day and recharging my rather spent batteries.

YapYapOK Free Ads - frankly a little exhausted actually!

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Catastrophic Failure

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  I am currently more than a little stressed that my operating system on my MAC has suffered a catastrophic failure.  To be fair its not as stressfull as the idea of server migration, which was actually OK in the end.  Having said that it is pretty damn close.

  Since the OS system has collapsed, it will not read disks and is totally unresponsive to any command.  I Googled how to reboot the old operating system but all the key commands were MAC specific and I have a normal keyboard. 

  Several websites later I was able to translate the keys such as eject and apple command and promptly went through the process of getting the computer to read the set up disc in the drive.

  All appeared to be working correctly untill the disc intitiation which came back as error.  Repeat 3 times = error.  Did I mention I have a sticky disc drive?  My MAC will not eject discs easily.  Specifically it will not eject the mac set up discs that came with the computer.  All others have been fine.  Since eject is through the screen or eject command then you are relying on the operating system to kick it out when you ask it to.

  This has been difficult even when I had an operating system and relies on the utilsation of a guitar plectrum (the only thing small and thin enough) to keep the clip back and a pair of tweezers to grab it once the disc emerges its 1 milimeter edge.  You need patience and a good grip since grabbing it first time is unlikely.  However I have had much practise at this and can usually do it within 3 ejects.

  Anyway - my MAC is more than a little sick and I am preying that with the right care it can be bought to life.  It may suffer a little "brain damage", as in all my data may be lost.

  So the lesson here is back up your data.  I know this so very well from previous experiences and had recently bought myself a new drive for that very purpose.  Sadly my house keeping is chronic and I just had not got round to it.

  So friends, please prey with me for one last chance not only to repair my MAC but to save us from lost data.  Its on its way to the specialist now!

  YapYapOK Free Ads - We're only human!    

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New Server

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We would like to express our apologies for any disruption to the YapYapOK Free Ads website.  This is due to a change of our server provider..

The process has been seamless, however for  anyone who may have been posting or registering their may be a requirement to do it again.   Alternatively just get in touch and we will do it for you.

The other issue regarding server change over is the potential for SERP dropping.   I am unsure if this is something dreamed up by the host providers but even one independent server engineer suggested the same thing.  The host is still located in the UK so I hope that any change will be minimal.   

I would also like to express our thanks to Nick Tekhoi who was responsible for the migration of the server.  Nothing was any trouble and he personally dealt with the host company keeping communication open all the time.  I got Nicks details from People Per Hour.  Due to time constraints we were faced with needing someone to carry out the work urgently.  Hence price was less of an issue than it may have been.  I stipulated that accuracy and speed were paramount and that price was not what would win the job.

Within minutes there were several applicants, however Nick stood out with his portfolio, skill sets and feedback. I also really wanted someone from the UK since I have had issues trying to communicate with someone who's English is their second language or if they are on a different time zone.  It took very little considering when I accepted his quote.  From placing the advert to completing was less than 24 hours.

I strongly recommend People Per Hour for outsourcing.  Unless you are confident that you can communicate a complex requirement then you need to be wary of some of the cheaper labour.  Due to hiring skill sets directly it is still highly likely that you will save money using UK workers.

On that note, I am off to SERP!

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EDU Blog Sites

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Clearly we are having amazing success with topic specific edu blog postings.  In Google UK we are now number 1 - yes pole position for Free Classifieds.  Our other main keyword Free Ads is coming up at number 7 on page 1 from this morning.   Our others are still moving about quite alot so we cannot take them too seriously, however the bouncing does in itself indicate that Google has noticed the extra work and is figuring where to place us.

Currently "Classifieds", as a search is seeing us on Page 4 which is a 6 page jump.  I don't expect us to stay there but it is an indication that we can take a big jump now since the ground work is in place. Our last keyword - Ads, is not quite as successful with only a 4 page jump. 

The issue with trying to find edu blogs with the correct advertising topic matter has lead me to look for edu sites which will enable me to have my own topic rich blog site.  Far easier said then done.  I managed to find one - thanks to an article I read online only to find that posting links was not allowed.  I tried html as well as ordinary hypertext links copied across, since there was no facility to create one.

So my mission, which I have chosen to accept is to see if I can create one on another edu website. 

Wish me luck!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - getting academic!

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The Results Of Panda Friendly SEO techniques - So Far

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A good friend of mine recently told me that he had once received a post coitus of compliment of - "You are a miracle!"

Whilst delighted with this comment it fazed him as he wasn't quite sure which bit had earned him such high praise, particularly since it had been a particularly long and varied session.  In his words " Its like changing your marketing 20 different ways and then faced with success your not sure what worked!"

Well not quite, the latter would be a bit of a disaster whilst the former was a one night stand and he will be a beautiful memory to the satisfied recipient - no of course he didn't go back, he had too much to live up to!

Our SEO campaign has been a combination of many techniques running concurrently.  Since we SERPED fairly well in quite a short space of time I was loathe to anaylse the techniques I was implementing, prefering to drive myself crazy by doing everything recommend on blogs and articles.  60 hour weeks were the norm.

Since Google introduced Panda, we had slipped for Free Classifieds from the number 1 position to number 5 ( in Google.co.uk).  I had been neglecting SEO so I was fairly convinced that I just needed to redo the same SEO as before. 

How wrong, nothing I did worked.  Not until I read an article for a quality linking strategy for Google Panda friendly SEO.   I cannot believe how much the site SERP has improved.  We have suffered penalties because of spinning article which still exist - apparently Google Panda can see them, boy it got clever.

The results of quality linking has now seen Free Classifieds at number 2, OK not quite at number 1 but I am working on 4 keywords so my effort is diluted.  Having been there, it is really not making a difference to my hit rate.  Free Ads is now on page 1 number 10.  OK a few positions to climb to get to pole position but its been a tough one to work with.  Its massively competitive and despite being lower on the page we are getting far more hits on the YapYapOK Classifieds site from searchers using this keyword then we are with the first.

In addition, whilst we are not actively seeking Google.com SERP, inevitably we are getting it. However I had not expected to feature on page 2 & 3 having just a few weeks ago not being on the first 100 pages for either keyword.

Our new keyword search terms are Ads & Classifieds.  We are lagging a long way back but hopefully by using the quality link strategy I have previously blogged & implemented, we should start to dominate Google with all the competition.

So whilst I cursed the Panda - I now adore it - gone are the long days frantically working the world wide web.  Gone are my Fiverr  days, they don't have enough quality campaigns for a mature site.  Yes I have to do it all myself but there is a lot less of it!

YapYapOK Free Ads - A competitive edge!

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Off Topic - Doggies

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I could not resist blogging about ads following this one for cute Italian Bolognese Puppies.  Anyone who follows my blogs will know what a sucker I am for animals and these are as adorable as they get.  Despite not having a dog at present I am a novice whelper. 

My mother is a coordinator for German Shepard Dog rescue which she commits a huge amount of time on a volantary basis.  She has rescued sheps which often have such a reputation for aggression.  The problem is that they are so misunderstood.  In truth they are too intelligent to take on unless someone is willing to learn about the breed and train them with love rather than a rod of iron.

Dogs respond better to a firm but kind handler who understands dog behaviour.  My mother has huge respect for dogs and her Shep, Pippa is a member of the family who is rarely left alone, is the centre of her world and who is challenged with agility classes and ongoing training at  home.  Its not so much about the work, its a requirement for an animal that needs the stimulation to feed their intelligent nature.  It stops them becoming bored and  they enjoy it.

Additionally diet plays a critical part in their health and their mood.  Pippa has a natural diet which is freshly prepared daily.  Consequently she does not have the problematic health issues so often associated with GSD's in particular with respect to their digestion.  Flea control is also managed with diet since Sheps have a tendency for skin problems associated with either chemical treatments or/and resulting flea infestation.

In many respects, my mums complete commitment to her dog  has deterred me from having a dog until such time as I know I have the time.  I will however,  as soon as I can persuade my husband, have a couple of cats, rescue of course.  I lost my 19 year old boy last year having had him from a kitten and his presence is still missed by all of us.

YapYapOK Free Ads - A very different Classifieds

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Advertising in the 20th Century

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Since we are now following a Google Panda friendly SEO strategy we are  spending time troweling the internet for advertising topics.  The problem with the internet being so large is the number of contradictory articles.

The first one was doom and gloom discussing how advertising is dead and how a powerful group of ad execs were simply terrified of failing.  Whilst its true that certain media is less effective, other media has grown.

Another article discussed the merits of progressive advertising in a booming industry.

Success in any industry depends on consumer behaviour.  Clearly the reason for a demise in the more traditional marketing techniques such as printed media and TV is on the decrease because consumers have changed how they spend their time.  Newspapers no longer have the readership they used to.  Many of us now access the news via the internet which is kept up to date on a more regular basis.  Similarly entertainment has changed in more than one respect.  The internet provides a wealth of entertaining with gaming, socila networking and TV and film streaming.  Digital techniques now employed by Sky & Virgin means that it is no longer a requirement to sit through the commercial break when and if we watch TV.  Many of us record and playback our chosen channels fast forwarding through the ad break.

Advertisers have simply transferred much of their methods to where their targeted market is.  Consequently anyone still advertising on old media is getting it at bargain prices to compensate for the loss of  a captive audience.  Providing the advertising agents are progressive and are up to date with consumer behaviour then they can exist and grow.

Obviously corporate budgets are not the same in the current economy however the internet market can be specifically targeted to the consumer making it a more viable solution.   There is a wealth of data available for businesses wishing to take advantage of internet marketing.  We can, with some degree of accuracy check the popularity of the website as well as the demographic.  Alexa is often used as a marker for website publishing prices.

There are exceptions to this.  Facebook for example does provide affordable advertising space but they have a poor click through rate.  However of those who do click through the conversion rate is very high.

Every industry needs to view and adapt according to their market.  The high street was one of the first to suffer with the advent of ecommerce.  Independent retailers in particular had to adapt and change to make up for a lack of sales.  Savvy customers frequently window shop prior to an online purchase where heavy discounts can exist in a market with fewer overheads.

Even traditional industries such as the food industry demands evolution.  Restaurateurs have to be prepared to work with ingredients that they probably never heard of when they attended catering college.

Technology sectors lead rather than go with a changing market.

The writing was on the wall for failing ad agencies, many of whom did not read the signs.  To be controversial I think that they have had it easy in terms of relying on historic performance and being too lazy to implement the changes required in a ruthless industry which will leave them behind!

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Free Ads, Free Classifieds, Free Internet advertising.   Property Ads, List Cars, Jobs and more ...

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Web Structure II

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Web Structure is an important part of SEO, ie the way in which a website is built.  Sites built within frames are difficult to see even when all the meta and content is correct.  Rather than try to SEO a site which will clearly never do well in organic searches it may be better to redo the website into readable language.  This is a cheaper alternative to PPC & SEO is certainly more time consuming and expensive than Web building.  There are many free templates available where self build is possible for even the least techy amonsgt us.

The advantage of free templates is that they are generally well built and the web owner has the control of meta data as well as implementing third party tools such as Google Anaysis or Statcounter rather than re-employing the web builder to implement the changes.  They can be limiting and some free templates have limited template availability.

I recently built an ecommerce site with Freewebstore and it is a doddle.  There is an option to place code in for Google Analytics but I used Statcounter which it allowed.  Its logical where to place all the meta data both on product pages as well as main pages.  Products can be integrated onto Google Shopping and many ecommerce options are in place.  Domain assignment is easy, although there is no need providing you are happy to keep a freewebstore adress.  There are instructional videos should any part of the process be problematic.  The disadvantage is that you can only utilise the site tools so you are relying on them to be proactive regarding modern web add ons.  You can also only have a maximum of 15 products to qualify for a free site as well as have ads appearing for which you do not benefit.  After this there are various package options available.

We built a 50 product site costing £6.99 /month which is  cheap retail space as well as very cheap website and hosting.  A paid template means that you can benefit from advertising space which may actually pay for your site.

It is better to invest either time or money into a Google friendly site than optimise a website which is unlike to get seen by search engines.

Content on home pages should be keyword rich but without being spammy.  This should also be mirrored within the content of the other pages - not copied.  I have recently been asked to assess 2 websites for 2 clients.  One had no content at all, ie was just made up of images and the other had a home page that was just an image.  The harder it is to find text , the more down graded the site will be.  The former doesn't stand a chance and the latter needs the home page updating to contain text.

Images should contain meta tags but cannot be spammed with keywords. 

In summary:

• Website should be readable - not built in frames
  
• Text rich home page with keyword rich content

• Meta data should mirror keywords on home page and contain other search terms within the context of the website
• Individual pages should have relevant meta data differing from other pages
• Images should be labelled with tags
• Internal keyword linking - particularly use your main keywords to link the sub pages to the home page
  

Once all this is in place - run it through Google Webmaster Tools to see how well it performs.  If you have created an honest appraisel with relevent meta and keyword rich topic then it should be OK.  Use Google keyword tool to see what are the popular searches, make them location specific,  choose ones that are well searched but may be less competitive.  Don't be too scared at competition if the traffic is worth it for you and its your absolute target market.  Just follow the SEO rules.  Many competitor sites will not have implemented the fundamentals in meta and web build.  If you have, then as long as your prepared to put the time in to a quality external linking strategy then you will see your efforts rewarded!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - SERPing on Page 1 Google UK for Free Classifieds and now for Free ADs

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Website Structure & SEO

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

The most fundamental SEO advantage is domain name.  So many web engineers are ignorant to this fact and ill advise clients.  For example if YapYapOK.co.uk was called YapYapOKFreeClassifieds.co.uk instead it would behave as a metatag telling search engines what the website.  This statement is controversial but I have worked on so many sites containing the keyword within the url and SERP is autonaitically good soon after launch providing meta and content matches.

Fortunately YapYapOK has a good long tail url, ie sub pages contain contain classifieds as a search term!  The major advantage of the url is that it adopts the advert title adverts as the long tail in the url rewrite program.  The advertiser can put keywords within the tags section of the editor which is a red flag to google to check the url against the meta keywords.  The advertiser who puts keyword rich content within the description has an excellent opportunity to get the advert viewed by potential customers who are searching for the item within the search box.

The issue that some advertisers have regarding utilising Free Ads pages is that they are concerned that it may in some way cheapen their business.  Its a little like brands who don't like their retailers placing products on Ebay.  However the quantity of visitors that visit these pages should not be dismissed.  More visitors normally equals more sales in turn creating more orders for the brand companies.

Unlike Ebay Free Classifieds advertising is no risk since their are no listing charges.  Many web owners wish to sell primarily via their own websites however they will be losing out to the competition who value the available web tools to promote from external sites.  YapYapOK Free Ads also have a Twitter feed wherby the advert title, price and a link back to the advert are posted automatically on the popular microblog.  This enhances the SEO as well as creating further visitor numbers.  We get a huge quantity of Twitter referrels utilising this method

So clearly there is no harm listing products on many different sites if they are free!

YapYapOK will very soon be changing its server as we have grown and need to have more available space.  Consequently our site will be down for a day within the next week.  We are sorry to anyone wishing to place ads on this day but we hope that disruption will be minimal.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds!

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Quantity Vs Quality Part II

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

I had to follow up on yesterdays blog since I received this SEO newsletter which I read after I had posted.  It supports not only what I posted but also what I had suggested may be the case regarding relevent linking strategy.

So, according to the article, one good link on a topic relevant site is worth more than multiple links.  So rather than troll through sites for commenting it is importnat to try to get as many quality sites with the correct topic matter.  This is not as time consuming as you may think.

Simple put into the Google search the following:-

"Keyword"+edu "leave a comment" -"comments closed" -"you must be logged in to comment"

I am requesting edu sites for the quality that they represent, you can substitute this for gov or wp-admin.  I am also asking Google for it to give me the comments page where comments are open without registration, one of the commands is negative. 

Replace keyword with your choice of keywords.  Eg this morning I chose advertising:-

"advertising"+edu "leave a comment" -"comments closed" -"you must be logged in to comment" 

I can replace the word advertising with ads, classifieds, free classifieds - well you get the picture, this will bring up alternative sites so that I can comment on them.

The article also reinforces what I mentioned regarding the quality of the comment that you leave.  Whilst I am unsure if this effects your Google- worthiness it is more likely that in the event of a moderated blog your comments will be published.  Since you very often do not know if its automatically live,  then it really is worth at least skim reading to ensure that you post a comment referring to the article with some consideration for the writer. Only 1 or 2 links a day will be worth more so in fact SEO is less time consuming than before.  Great news!

YapYapOK Free Ads

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Quality VS Quantity

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

Since we have reclaimed status on Google it is important now to jump that last place to number one and to continue to work on our other keywords, ie Ads & Classifieds.  The problem is diluting the effort, however I am certain that daily blog posts and blog posts will have some impact in light of recent progress.

Blog posting is time consuming if its done properly.  I am spending a couple of hours each day adding profile links to edu blogs for 2 sites at present and the blog postings can be incredibly interesting.

What downgrades their reading is the spammy links that so many web marketeers choose to use.  IMHO it is a courtersy to the owner of the blog as well as its readers to actually read the blog post that you are commenting on and to provide a considered response.

So many comment "Great Article", or really obscure comments such as "This does not operate properly in my browser" and "I love the colour of the design" and "you write with great flair on I am pleased to find your blog".  Often these posts are on pages where the "article" is a music video or just an intro page.

We can all be a little guilty of this at times and inparticular if we have found an edu blog with auto commenting (not a fast job) it is not easy to pull yourself away and go in search of the next one, additionally creating a spammy link for the hell of it on a page with no text is already not so appealing to readers so where is the harm.  When the post is interesting, thoroughly researched with some obvious interested readers then it would be nice to read their opinions to create a relevant discussion. 

Spamming is not only degrading to the material on the site but if the search engines see too much activity then the web marketeer may see their links given less importance - ie less is more.

This is subjective, I have read too many articles suggesting that it is detrimental and others that insist that at worst they will not be considered so are more than likely a waste of time.  Personally I hope that this is more likely since sabotage with unethical webmasters makes it all too easy to achieve in a competitive industry.

I don't believe that Google penalises for too many links, but I have certainly seen an increase in SERP with a quality linking strategy rather than an all out across the web spam approach.

Another issue with quality linking is resource.  SEO companies that provide a manual linking campaign do charge accordingly, You can do it yourself but quality links are impossible with software so you can forget your cheap Fiverr Gigs.  That said quality manual links are possible on Fiverr.  My favourite is from Stormchaser who provides 50 edu links using a minimum of 5 keywords. 

Even then, paying for the service does not give considered commenting which will not affect the link quality as far as the marketed site goes.  It does however cheapen the site which is being posted on and I wonder if this continual spamming effect will see a decrease site commenting availability or if edu links will be given lower status.  Google already denies that they are worth more than others but so many disagree that I for one feel that if I am going to provide manual posts I may as well do it on a site that may have a higher value.

YapYapOK Free Ads - Still SERPING

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The Costs Of Fooling Google!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds  Page 1 Google #2

SERP is up!  We briefly made the top spot last night having relinguised at between 4 and 5 for a few months.  So the ongoing SEO has been a tremendous success.

I have helped quite a few sites travel up the ranking but none have proved as difficult as YapYapOK.  This is clearly due to the competition that we are up against. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the most successful sites are ones that implement all the usual suspects in link strategy.

In the last month we have been busy with directory submissions, edu links and blogging with keyword rich anchor text.  It is frustratingly slow but rewarding.  Free Ads still languishes behind at number 13 but is on the up.

The amount of hits that a site as a result of SERP is subjective.  A friend of mine manages his own site in Spain which is on the top of Google for many of his products.  He also manages a competitors website for SEO.  This one is now as a result coming in at number 2 and he insists that Google traffic does not vary that much.  Clearly there are reasons for this.

Google works hard to bring the most relevant sits to the fore in search results so once you are at the top of Google its clear that you are dependant on the searcher to click on your site rather tahn others on the page.

This is where fine tuning the meta data is important.  For Google relevance its necessary to match all aspects of the data with the page content to be rewarded in the top.  For the searcher they will see duplication of keywords in the title, and the description.  To gain interest from the searcher you need a great sales pitch using only 150 characters.  Balancing keyword identity with the sales pitch in one short paragraph takes a little application.  By thinking about how you choose a site to click on, then you can put yourself in your customers shoes.

Whilst we are all taught not to use words like cheap in describing our ecommerce sites, it is a very common term put before the object in a users search.  We have all searched for cheap flights, cheap tickets, cheap computers etc.  The best way to get some kind of recognition without downgrading our products is to utilise this in the meta keywords whilst using relative words such as bargain, or unbeatable prices in the description or/and title.  Try to match this in the home page content as well as you can.  Obviously this is only true should your parices be very competively priced.

I hate searching for cheap anything only to end up on a website which clearly does not represent great value.

Yesterday I was looking for Billabong sale T shirts for my sons birthday.  Many of the sites returned had sales and Billabong but only a couple had the 2 together despite putting "Billabong sale 50% off", or similar, in the meta title.   This meant that Google accuratley gave me the results, with keyword matches on their product pages,  however instead of taking 30 minutes to be an online purchase I had to sort through and navigate my way around several sites which took most of the morning.  Result - my confidence in those sites is low and I probably won't return.  Had their meta accurately depicted the sales or been more vague, such as sale and then Billabong in the meta I would have been more forgiving.  This was a clear case of misdirection.

Its the same as looking for links with no recipricol required only to go through the process of registration to find that unless they see your link on their home page it won't go live,

So yes you can still fool Google but it may be at the cost of the a returning customer.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - no delusions, no misdirection,  just totally Free Ads!

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Camel For Adoption

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

Currently I am up to my eyes in article writing hence this blog post is particularly short andwould have been non existant excep I could not resist bringing this advert to you.

A Camel has come up for adoption and is advertised on the YapYapOK Free Ads site. Now you may or may not have considered adopting a camel as a pet.  I seriously doubt it!  I wonder how he will cope being without other camels.

My sister in law has adopted Dartmoor ponies on her rather extensive acreage.  I would love to see this as an addition on her land, but I wonder how they would get on?

YapYapOK Free Advertising - looking for the unusual to blog on!

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Ads & SEO

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

The one you have been waiting for .....Generous Foot Slave.  You can deny it all you want but there is obviously something in it since this one gets a disproportionate percentage of the page hits.  Adult personals as a catagory receives approximately 3 times the number of page visits then the next most visited category.  So we are clearly a liberated bunch.

The stats are also showing that are main keywords are working, Free Classifieds & Free Ads and now have high impact.  A keyword search term which is being utilised and that is growing organically is Free Adult Personals.

More and more people rely on internet dating as a method of meeting potential mates.  Unlike dating sites, YapYapOK Free Ads enables users to place an advert with no registration fee or ad placement fee.  You can be as inconspicuous or as brazen as you wish, feel free to embed a video link!

Other ads worthy of mention are this Second Hand Furniture Shop in London.  They provide used furniture at bargain prices with a cheap delivery option in London & the M25.  Retourware have also placed a variety of adverts with liquidated or surplus stock, this one for Melitta Coffee Machines from only €45,25/unit.

We are clearly in Google favour again, now placing at number 3 page one for Free Classifieds, number 13 on page 2 for Free Ads and featuring once again on Google.com, although we don't necessary wish to have international traffic until just yet.

So how have we done this? Well I am sorry to report that it has been hard work involving manual linking.  Mainly edu manual with a variety of keywords rather than a couple well concentrated.  In the past 2 weeks we have done approximately 50 which may not sound like many but when you consider how difficult it is to find the ones that allow automatic approved posting, then its clearly a laborious task.  I admit to giving up looking for auto approve posting with a PR higher of 3 or more since my time was not well spent.  This alone will not create a great SERP result.  The usual suspects apply, only with a few Google Panda conditions ; Articles - no duplication or poorly spun content since Google Panda is now penalising.  Social Marketing Sites, again vary each description as Google Panda is better at matching and penalising duplication as well as directory submission - again manual.

So what does this mean for the web marketeer?  For the larger corporations who have dedicated SEO staff, they will simply change tact to ensure the SEO is completed in an organic manner.  For smaller ecommerce retailers who probably outsource most of the SEO, they will have heftier charges or they will have to dedicate some time out themselves.  This is undoubtable harder for smaller businesses to commit resources, so once again it seems that Google will favour the big boys.

Clearly it is not intended for that purpose.  As a search engine, users prefer Google as it gives more accurate search results than other search engines.  By appling appropriate content to the data within the site it can ensure that the users get what they are looking for.  For example poorly spun content can often use keyword anchors that have become so spun, they no longer hold relevance.  The same can be said of out sourcing meta & descriptions to non English speaking countries.

I guess one way around it would be to create a vast number of descriptions for the directories and then outsource this material for manual submission.  Its still hugely time consuming but manual spinning would give the web master control of relevance.

Hope that helps!

YapYapOK Free Ads
 

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D&G Underwear & Card Services

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

Ads worthy of a mention are one for Credit Card Services.  Why - well its one dear to my heart.  Having once owned a retail outlet and utilised the services of the market leader, I was astonished at the costs of the processing of cards at the till.  Apart from the obvious transaction charges we were subject to an array of extras all eating into our profit margins.

These charges make it all very difficult to keep prices down but operating with out a card machine is impossible when most of us rarely carry adequate cash to shop with.  Additionally the costs of banking cheques and cash are prohibitive. 

Another ad from Retourware24 for D&G underwear has appeared on the site.  I love all things D&G - not just the name.  I retailed D&G watches and Jewellery and they were always the most dynamic designs of all the designer brands that we carried.  

Blogging about Free Ads published creates more anchor text links to the YapYapOK website for the individual adverts.  This has an impact on search enginin visibility and position for the appropriate ads.  These links appear on Posturous and Blogger as well as being a live advert on the email account.  

Place your Free Ad on YapYapOK Free Classifieds  for maximum visibility!

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Google Panda

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

I have been reading quite a lot about the new Google Panda - the latest algorythm employed by Google to ensure relevant accurate and quality content is displayed for the user.

My favourite blog at the moment is Online Money Club by David Henry.  I am now working at utilising these methods to promote the YapYapOK Free Ads site.  They include relevent links above the fold.  No duplicate content or badly spun articles and less use of online directories unless submission is manual (duplicate content).

His blogs are well written, not too techy but thorough.  He is a believer in edu and gov links preferring to utilise high pr relevent pages.  This negates the need for massive effort since the links carry so much more weight.

Keyword stuffing again crops up as only potentially detrimental since its less likely to be syndicated.  Apart from that it seems that it is unlikely to be of harm and therefore not fall down in Google rankings.

So - a short blog, but I do now have to find edu  links containing relevant advertising topic with a PR of 5 or more.

YapYapOK Free Ads  - yes I know its below the fold but I just can't help myself!

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Finding EDU sites for SEO commenting

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

According to popular articles, edu and .gov links are some of the most important ones you can get as they are considered more important than blog profiles due to their authority.  Other articles strenuosly deny that some links are more important than others.  Clearly any site with high visitor numbers will have the potential of more traffic although most webmasters spam blogs for the linking rather than the content.

Commenting on links should be in relation to the blog content.  This is clearly more time consuming since it requires the poster to read and give a thoughtful response.

If edu links do indeed carry more weight, then it may be worth the extra work.

Finding edu links for commenting is easy.  Just remember that if the comments are automatic posting then clearly they will be spammed meaning that the quantity of comments will be spammed and no one will ever read them.  The power therefore relies solely on the anchor link.

With that in mind rather than troll through edu links for automatic posting simply put this into Google and you will get a list of edu links with open commenting.

site:edu inurl:blog "leave a comment" -"comments closed" -"you must be logged in to comment"

This is a command to Google to take you to the comments page where the hyphens represent the negative - ie not comments close and not logged in to comment.

Repeat this with .gov pages substituting the edu part of the command.

If edu links carry more weight, than this is a worthy exercise.  If they don't, then they will still count so its certainly not wasted.

I am experimenting with Free Ads in this exercise.  I get as much traffic from searches of Free Classifieds as I do of Free Ads, despite that the first is on page 1 and the latter on page 2 of Google search results.  The reason for this is the proportion of searches on each keyword.  Free Ads gets at least twice as many.  Its worth rechecking keyword tools as the results change.

I have neglected Ads as a keyword despite the relatively low competition and the high search numbers.  This was certainly due to inexperience when I first considered the main keyword of the site.  I was remiss in not revisiting keyword searches more often and of not being more imaginative in what I put in the keyword search tool.

Having readdressed this I have several new keywords to market - edu links, here I come!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds -  striving for page 1 on all Ads

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Is There A Short Cut To SEO?

YapYapOK Free Classifieds UK

When we launched YapYapOK Free Ads it was with the intention of having an experienced web marketeer as a shareholder with contacts who would be able to push the site forward with maximum PR.  

We were on a limited budget so sadly we were unable to retain his services although we wish him well.  As a consequence we had to learn the DIY method of SEO and boy what progress we have made.

We are on page 1 of Google for our main very competitive keyword and various other bastardisations of it and Page 2 for our second.  The metadata on every category and sub category has been fine tuned along with url rewrite on all Ads which help to ensure our Ads feature high in SERP.

So was there ever a short cut - hmmm yes and no.  For the most part SEO is long and laborious.  It is absolutely necessary to have directory submissions, edu links, blog posts, ensuring that anchors match the site meta data.

Sites must reflect the data within the content.

I have praised Fiverr for being able to shortcut many of the SEO techniques to a maintainable level, but how much of it actually works?   Well sorry to say - very little.  Without doubt manually directory submission works the best as does edu links.   However, anyone who claims to do large linking of EDU manually very often utilises software.  Whilst time consuming it is actually better to do these yourself.  I now comment on EDU blogs myself.  Just a few comments each day creates a natural linking structure without upsetting Google.

Since inception we took YapYapOK all the way to Google pole position for Free Classifieds.  We believed that once we had arrived that it would require maintenance on a smaller scale.  However we are in a competitive industry against many older sites many of whom advertise on TV so whilst this may be true of other sites it is absolutely not the case for us.  With a Free Ads it means that for now and the foreseeable future it is relentless.

Consistently blogging has been one of the significant SEO techniques which has helped to increase SERP.  This is time consuming but is a must.  Although the word out is against keyword stuffing with too many anchor text links.  YapYapOK Free Classifieds Ads has never suffered to the detriment of Google.  Possibly not all are taken into account.  I don't know.  What I do know is that blogging with anchor linked text has seen an increase in SERP with a maintainable position.  

I also wonder if blogging via email to Posturous  which links to Blogger, Facebook & Twitter is a more powerful way of blogging.  The content is only actually duplicated on Posturous and Blogger as Facebook & Twitter link to the Posturous blog.  THis duplication of content has never created a problem in our SEO.

If indeed excess duplication of content as well as blackhat was an issue then we could easily jump to number one by utilising these services on our competitors.  With that in mind I doubt that you could sandbox a competitor with a few questionable  Fiverr gigs.  At least I hope not.  To me its the same as hijacking and hacking websites.  

So what advantage do we have over the big boys SEO ers?  Well I am blogging and linking over the weekend, I seriously doubt that they work Saturdays!!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds UK, getting ahead of the Free Ads competition - legitimately!

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To Feature - Or Not....

YapYapOK Free Classifieds UK

Data analysis can be very dull but also incredibly addictive.  I spend a good proportion of my day visiting the stats to see what the keyword analysis and most popular pages.  Very often Ads posted on YapYapOK are returning results on page 1 Google often on pole position.  I can clearly see why many Free Ads utilise featured adverts with a paid inclusion since Ads on the home page return a significantly higher number of visits.  Unlike other Free Classifieds we do not have paid inclusion since all Ads appear on the home page as the newest on the site.

This gives each one the visibility it deserves.  The problem, IMHO, of features ads is that whilst they are noticed more quickly, very often someone searching for that item will continue looking in order to make a fair comparison and to get a better deal.  Featured classifieds are less likely to compete price wise since they have the advertising costs to swallow.  Having said all that I would be prepared to revisit this if that is what the consumer demanded.

Certainly YapYapOK Free Ads will continue to operate as it has been for the time being.  Since all ads appear on Twitter than they generally receive a higher number of visits due to the inbound linking structure appearing within the Tweet.  This also shows on the stats since we get about 20% of our traffic from Twitter as a consequence of the Twitter search and RSS.

Alexa too also shows very promising results with respect to the increase on time on site, average page visits per user as well as a huge decrease in bounce rate.  This illustrates that visitors do actually browse the site for bargains rather than just look for one specific item.  I have checked this data against other popular Classifieds UK sites and the pattern is the same.  This suggests that the public is tuning into classified advertising sites by navigating through the pages.

The advantage that YapYapOK has over many of the other sites is the prominent images.   This allows users to see at a glance if this is indeed the item they are looking for as well as drawing them in to tempting items.

We think that this is the equivalent of a featured advert but without the premium.

YapYapOK - A premium Free Classifieds UK - without the charges!

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The Risks Of Selling Online

YapYapOK Free Classifieds UK

Every online advertising site is subject to unscrupulous fraudsters.  We have all seen examples of consumers being taking example of on Ebay as well as many classifieds sites.   If a site has an advert for a bargain product that seems to good to be true - then chances are it is.

Whilst it is impossible to vet every advert that appears we use all due diligence to ensure that the YapYApOK Free Classifieds UK website remains as free as possible from these scam artists.  To be fair, these are fairly scarce.  However we did recently notice some pedigree dogs apparently in London for a ridiculously low price.  By checking the advertiser on our database we found that far from being in London - they were in fact from Nigeria.  As a consequence we removed the ad from the site within an hour of it appearing.

Another method we use is checking our statistical analysis of visits.  If we see browsing from some of the countries known to commit such scams then we instantly check the page loads to see if there are any adverts placed which may appear suspicious.

We also ensure that the registered user is inactive on the site.

We take fraud seriously and take steps to ensure our visitors are as safe as can be expected from online con artists.  To safe guard against fraud, please take the necessary steps to protect yourself.  Bizarrely according to online research pets is a common one.  Clearly anyone looking to buy a pet would need to see the animal in advance, so don't pay upfront.  Alternatively if you are looking at a pedigree dog or cat - then why not check out some of the rescue centers that exist for many breeds.  Due to the high level of repossession of homes, many pedigrees can no longer be kept since rental properties accommodating pets are harder to find.  Personally I quite like mixed breeds since they generally do not suffer from the same health issues that occur in pure breds.

If you are suspicious of any adverts on the YapYapOK Classifieds UK site, then drop us an email. 

YapYapOK Free Ads - Working hard to keep internet advertising safer! 

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THe Trials Of Being A Working Mum

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

I love being a mum & spending time with my son, but .....

Lets face it, any working parent knows the demands of working whilst trying to keep the kids entertained and keeping up with basic home duties, particularly in the school holidays.

Juggling with other working mothers does enable you to continue working but invariably means that you have a house full when its your turn.  This in turn increases the demands of trying to fulfill home duties as well as ensuring adequate food supplies are in place.

So whilst I love the holidays and the bonding time with my son.  It is  with a small sigh of relief that I can reconnect with work and keep focussed on the tasks at hand instead of tormenting myself ensuring an imaginative and active school holidays that does not rely too heavily on my purse or the Xbox.

On Sunday we decided to go blackberry picking - just the family.  What I had not anticipated was the work that this involved on my first focussed work day in weeks.

We will be eating blackberry compote for at least a year accompanied by some delicious blackberry cordial.  Last night we had blackberry and apple crumble. 

The house is a mess, our clothes are permanently stained, but ....it can all wait.

Today I am back SEO-ing to the max for the YapYapOK Free Ads website!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - looking forward to publishing my recipes on the forum........later!

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Yapping Adverts

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

I doubt that I have ever seen a more beautiful hand made bespoke Gazebo than the one advertised over the weekend.  The advertiser has a couple of other adverts for outdoor dining which are unusual and fully treated to provide a lifetime of use.

Another advert for a Static Caravan in North Yorkshire also caught my eye.  Its 3 bedroomed with river front views, sheds and parking.  Priced at £20995.00 it represents value for family holidays in the countryside.

Retourware24 have been busy placing more adverts - this time for a stock lot of Dell Value Pro Smartphones.

Blogging the Free Ads utilising the item as the keyword creates another link to the advert.  Twitter creates visibility plus a link which increases the chances of featuring high in  Google search results.  This is apparent in our statistical analysis which illustrates that whilst advertisers place ads on sites featuring well for common search terms such as Free Classifieds, Ads etc.  However many customers do not browse a Free Ads site looking to shop.  They simply place what they are looking for into the Google search box.

Since YapYapOK Free Ads is a well optimised site with a url matching the title of the individual advert, then Google can clearly see the correlation in the url, the title and any tags that the user places.  Put in a detailed description and the ads are easily spotted by the precise audience looking for the items listed.

Yesterdays SEO is still bouncing all over the place which is a sign that Google has seen the "links"  It will now take about 7 days to determine the success.

YapYapOK Free Ads - The proactive advertising Classifieds!

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Avoiding the Sandbox

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I am acutely aware of "The Google Sandbox"  due to experimenting with link wheels in the past.  Fortunately I created the wheel using all the usual suspects, ie Hub Page, Squidoo, Scribd plus various article sites and web pages created on free templates.

I created it manually over a couple of weeks but despite this our site was thrown into oblivion.  By mapping my wheel I quickly disconnected the interlinking pages so that only relevant links pointing to the Free Classifieds remained.  The website returned to page 1 Google within a couple of hours.

Consequently I am very guarded against using any SEO company that utilises black or grey hat SEO methods on Fiverr.  I had researched one technique which appears to work but I have been unable to ascertain if its blackhat.  

Finally I bit the bullet and utilised a Fiverr gig to see what would happen with one of my least important keywords.  So far I have been thrown out of reach of Google for this keyword which previously existed on page 10.  Interestingly my other keywords are totally unaffected and we remain on page 1 and 2 for the ones we depend upon.

Does this mean I am sandboxed?  Any good SEO usually results in a temporary drop in SERP - usually not this drastic.  So now I await to see if this drastic drop will see either an incredible recovery or if it has cost me.  I conclude that whatever the result I have more confidence implementing techniques for less important search phrases knowing that my site has not been affected.

Clearly I would not knowingly implement black hat techniques since I still do not know if this is one.  If it is white hat then I have nothing to fear and this could be the reason why the site has not disapeared altogether.

This is all academic since it could be that the last time Free Classifieds was "Sandboxed" could have been temporary whilst Google checked out the links.  It makes me a little nervous that we can upset the search engines this way.  It makes better sense that if Google can see the evidence of black hat marketing, then it should disregard the links altogether so that only time or money is wasted.  Otherwise does this not make our websites vulnerable to our competitors or unscrupulous SEO companies?

I await the results of SERP and will publish them accordingly along with the method used.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - Bringing Free Ads to life!!

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Retourware24

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

Retourware24 advertises with amazing regularity on YapYapOK Free Ads.  They are an intermediate sales site for bankrupt and excess stock as well as stocking many branded refurbished items such as laptops, phones and other hi-tech items.  Additionally there are clothes, accessories, toys baby products and other miscellaneous items.

Often people buy the stock and sell on Ebay to profit.  Its easy to evaluate the market by looking up the success of the sales on Ebay prior to investing. Its also easy to evaluate which items on Ebay are the most popular to further minimise the risk of investment.

"Retourware24 is a b2b trade platform for bankrupt stocks, residual stocks, liquidated stocks, ends of lines, overstocks and stocklots, wholesale clearance offers, distressed stocks, mixed pallets, raw customer returns, closeout stocks, discontinued stocks."

YapYapOK Free Ads now has an amazing 1982 sites linking in - according to Alexa.  Out of the top Free Ads sites on Google I was only able to find 2 sites with a higher number.  These are Gumtree.com and Friday-Ad.co.uk

We are flying with the big boys.  So what does this linking mean and how does it help our advertisers?  

It gives us importance in the eyes of the search engines.  The more important the site, the higher the SERP.  Sites such as Twitter are clearly important but so are edu sites which are considered to be some of the best.  Additionally it brings traffic.  Each link is another window to the site creating potentially more visitors.  Hence SERP & links create further visibility enabling the site to be more accessible to users.  

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - bringing all Free Ads to the fore!

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London Ads

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

An advert for Ladyboy Massage/Escort has been one of the most popular ads on the site in the last couple of days.  Its getting massive hits - probably because she is gorgeous and still there on the front page.  Coincidentally I watched a documentary on Ladyboys last night.  In Thailand its fairly well accepted although no one can legally change gender.  Many transexuals coming from the US & Europe can have the sex change operation & then legally change sex on their passports etc.  

Most of the transexuals/Ladyboys in Thailand work in the sex trade in Bangkok.  As one UK man said "The most beautiful woman in Thailand aren't"

As far as beauty was concerned - he was right.  The "girls" were some of the most feminine & beautiful that I have seen.  The only obvious thing to give them away was their deeper voices.  One mans opinion was that in many ways they are more feminine because they have to work at it every day.

A FreeAd for accommodation in London for a double bedroom appeared yesterday.  The rent is only £410 pcm (including bills) with FREE WIFI/Broadband & is well situated, in a leafy residential road with great transport links to the City, SE London and Canary Wharf.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - socially marketing your Free Ads!

Posted via email from Yap Yap OK. Daily Blog of the UKs superior FREE classified site

London Ads

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

An advert for Ladyboy Massage/Escort has been one of the most popular ads on the site in the last couple of days.  Its getting massive hits - probably because she is gorgeous and still there on the front page.  Coincidentally I watched a documentary on Ladyboys last night.  In Thailand its fairly well accepted although no one can legally change gender.  Many transexuals coming from the US & Europe can have the sex change operation & then legally change sex on their passports etc.  

Most of the transexuals/Ladyboys in Thailand work in the sex trade in Bangkok.  As one UK man said "The most beautiful woman in Thailand aren't"

As far as beauty was concerned - he was right.  The "girls" were some of the most feminine & beautiful that I have seen.  The only obvious thing to give them away was their deeper voices.  One mans opinion was that in many ways they are more feminine because they have to work at it every day.

A FreeAd for accommodation in London for a double bedroom appeared yesterday.  The rent is only £410 pcm (including bills) with FREE WIFI/Broadband & is well situated, in a leafy residential road with great transport links to the City, SE London and Canary Wharf.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - socially marketing your Free Ads!

Posted via email from Yap Yap OK. Daily Blog of the UKs superior FREE classified site

Agents Wanted In Child Safety

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This advert for an agent in the child safety industry inspired this blog.

Agents are urgently required to promote this product across the UK.  If this is as good as it looks - and you need to click on the second image to understand what the product does, then it should be available in all relevant retailers.

The device works by enabling children to press a button when they feel threatened or unsafe.  This links to preprogrammed phone numbers to alert carers where the child is.

Clearly we like to think that we always know where our children are.  However, on the beach, supermarkets and in parks it is easy to lose sight of our kids for just a few short minutes.  I have lost sight of my young son when we were in Sainsburies.  My husband ran to the door to make sure he didn't leave whilst I searched the aisles.  When he was about 3 he decide to play a trick and hide from me.  Frantically I searched for him inside, then out on the road calling him.  It was only when I ran back inside calling his name and shouting chocolate that he willingly came out of his hiding place.

Needless to say that he never pulled that trick again.

I know that I am not the only parent who has lost sight of a child.   Whilst he was safely inside on the second occasion, the first could have easily been more sinister if anyone so inclined had been in the vicinity.

My son is now 11 and is not allowed much of the freedom afforded to many of his peers.  Instead I ensure that he enjoys all activities with friends in a safe environment either with us or with other parents.   The park is just a few yards from where we live, but the thought that someone may approach him with bad intentions terrifies me.  I am not suggesting that I would ever have used this device instead of properly guarding my child, rather as an additional method of protection.

So why not check out this advertisement on YapYapOK Free Ads.  Agents, buyers in child care should get in touch.  Parents out there would want them to!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - bringing your Free Ads to market!

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