Six Reasons Why Your Alexa Rating Is Still Important
Tinu Abayomi-Paul
1. Additional Exposure For Your Site.
At the end of 2003, Alexa.coms results were being closely linked into the listings of its parent company, Amazon.com. This currently means that when someone reviews your site, it is linked to their amazon profile, which can be accessed when people browsing for books look to see what reviewers like them suggest. In the future, it could mean that amazon.com will integrate your web site in other ways, such as showing a list of websites related to popular topics such as marketing.
2. Alexas relationship with Google.com
See if you can name one major partnership that Google.com or Amazon.com has had where the other party came out worse off in the end.
Yahoo I dont think so. Though their relationship has soured for reasons that arent common knowledge, and Google.com does not supply Yahoo with search results any longer, it certainly didnt make Yahoo.com less popular a destination online. If anything, more webmaster like you and me, who could not afford the $200 fee for a commercial review to be listed, rush to Yahoo to see if our Google listings really were coming up number one there, too. Cant think of any other one, can you
Lets discuss how this is relevant to you.
This little known advantage to having a good Alexa rating is fairly new. I was doing some research on Google, at the end of last year, to see what was the fastest, cheapest way to get my brand new site good ranking and fast inclusion in Googles database. Using Alexa.com, I was able to discover one of the biggest secrets online that showed me how to get a visit from the Googlebot spider and included in their index in under a week. The Googlebot spider now visits the home page of my site every day, re=spidering my site when I make significant changes.
While I was at Alexa, I noticed that very quietly, without a lot of hoopla or publicity, Alexa Internet began to include a Google search right in their toolbar at the end of last year. Upon further investigation, I realized that Alexa and Google were getting quite chummy. This relationship directly led to the idea I had which uncovered a way to get Alexa and Google to help me get free, unlimited traffic for any keyword related to my sites topic.
The idea was so simple, so cheap, and so profitable that I started to write a book about it, which I finished this past January. Everything was great, I was getting great traffic. Then I woke up one morning and checked my email, and most of my online colleagues were ticked off about something called the Florida update, which caused many small commercial websites to have their listings drop in ranking or disappear altogether.
Of course, I went to check on my site.
Not only did my ranking not drop, I had additional listings and improved exposure. One of the several factors that appeared to be the reason for my improved rankings, not just in spite of, but because of the Florida update, was my Alexa ranking. Further testing on other commercial sites of fellow small business owners confirmed this.
This experience taught me to pay a lot more attention to my Alexa rating, as well as to have a new appreciation for the ratings of all my sites.
Your Alexa rating is still relevant to you because it appears to be a factor in your page rank at Google. Generally, anything that is important to Google is important to me, because I wanted to learn how to make the site an excellent source of traffic for me. And it worked.
Working to have a rise in my Alexa rating helped me in my quest for free quality traffic as well- every increase in my Alexa rating has coincided with a rise in both the number of keywords I rank for and the likelihood that my site will appear on the first page of search results, first at Google, then with other search engines.
Youd never know that I havent ever submitted them my link.
3.Your competitors awareness is increasing.
Those of us who have been online since the early 90s, before the graphical interface we now call the World Wide Web, are well aware of the Alexa toolbar, and there are many schools of thought as to its effectiveness as an indicator of your sites traffic.
Whether you believe its effective or useful, the fact remains that you can use the Alexa toolbar and the resources at Alexa.com to give your site a competitive advantage. Your competition knows this if they have any marketing savvy at all.
While not as compelling as the fact that Google is now tied to Alexa, its no small issue that other webmasters are beginning to show interest in Alexa.com again. Now that Alexa is being positioned to have a closer integration with Amazon, has improved their toolbar to include a free pop-up blocker and Google search results, as well as given webmasters incentive to install the Alexa toolbar, many site owners either offer the toolbar or display their Alexa ranking proudly on their sites.
So, no matter what your personal feelings about the Alexa toolbar are, it may be a good idea to gain the advantages it offers, before your rivals do.
4. Client awareness is rising
Even if youre not a commercial website, and dont really compete with other sites for anything other than traffic, you still have to deal with the fact that your visitors are becoming more aware of the Alexa toolbar again. Alexa allows you to customize a version of their toolbar and allow you to offer it as a free download from your site. Not only can you profit from their amazon.com purchases, but when regular visitors return to your site with the toolbar installed, it can help maintain your ranking.
The way things are going, the situation of having clients checking your Alexa reviews and ratings before they buy from you to one day be routine. Do you want to be ahead of that possible trend, or wait, and push it when everyone else finally catches on
5. Alexas Perceived Importance
The whole reason for this article is that in answer to the last article I wrote about Alexa, I got a lot of feedback questioning whether Alexa Internet and its toolbar were still important to webmasters. So far, at minimum, for the last two reasons I stated, the Perception of Alexa being an important webmaster tool is increasing.
So even if you dont think it is important, if your visitors feel it is, then it may be time for you to at least pay attention to the recent changes.
6. Alexas Actual Importance
As Alexas perceived importance is growing, its actual importance seems to be moving at the same rate. Heres why.
It would be one thing if all the hoopla about Alexa took place and everyone installed or re-installed the toolbar, and everyone found out that both the site and the toolbar were useless. Remember when auto-surf exchanges first became popular Everyone jumped on the bandwagon for about a month, then several articles came out about six weeks later, stating that they were ineffectual because real humans werent viewing the sites anymore.
Look around the Net for about an hour and see if you can find any new negative press about Alexa from webmasters since November. All Ive seen are the same questions there were before- is my Alexa rating important, and why Are Alexas traffic stats accurate
And I still have the same answers. Your Alexa rating is important to you if you have a commercial website because it is important to Google and to your competition. And whether your site is commercial or not, it is becoming important to your visitors, which is why your site exists- to cater to them, you should make your sites relationship with Alexa.com a priority.
As to Alexas statistical accuracy, I cant say for sure. Its a much debated topic. But its pretty much indisputable that getting into the top 100,000 sites is a significant achievement, though perhaps not as difficult as some think. And having a top 50,000 site is not something that can really be cheated or faked. So perhaps it is not perfectly exact as a comparison of your site to another unrelated site.
But it is the closest thing to a universal, impartial 3rd party measure of traffic we have. And more importantly, it can give your clients yet another reason to trust you enough to buy from your site. Testimonials in the form of reviews on their site, as well as fast access to your contact information from outside your site can mean the difference between a browser and a buyer.
If you havent had the chance to download the Alexa toolbar, you can get it from http://www.freetrafficdirectory.com/alexatoolbar - or you can get the Alexa Snapshot from www.alexa.com if you have Netscape or if youre not on a PC. Its a free resource, and all you have to lose- or gain- is more free traffic.
About The Author
Tinu is a free traffic FANATIC. She has been offered treatment for this condition but says it just saves her too much money! For more free traffic secrets, subscribe to the Free Traffic Secrets Ezine by sending any blank email to ftdsecrets-subscribe@topica.com - bonuses for subscribers include free access to a resource that gets you free advertising for life in 9 minutes a day. Or, get Tinus free Google optimization guide at http://www.freetrafficdirectory.com
Important Chinese Festivals
Wong Yee Lee
Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year January/February
It is usually in the winter of a year. The exact date would follow the one in Lunar Calendar. Entering the New Year month, every family would clean and tidy both the inside and the outside of their houses. New Year food would also be prepared. Lin Gao, the Chinese cake symbolizing the rise of family every year, would be a must. New Year couplets would be displayed around house. All families would be busy until the New Years Eve and a big New Year eves dinner would be served for the gathering to welcome the beginning of a New Year. Children and unmarried adults would love the occasion because red packets would be given to them from all married couples and older generations. As a tradition, on the first few days of the first lunar month, people would spend their time visiting relatives and friends.
Spring Lantern Festival/ Yuen Siu Festival January/February
It is also known as the Chinese Valentines Day and it marks the end of the Chinese New Year. Young couples would celebrate on this day. Lanterns of different designs would be hung in different places.
Ching Ming Festival March/April
It is a day when people pay their visits to the graves of your ancestors. Joss sticks, incense and paper offerings would be burnt for the dead people. Roasted while piglets, steamed chicken, fruit and wine would be offered to the dead too. Some people tend to bring chrysanthemum instead of those mentioned above, so remember not to give chrysanthemum to Chinese people. It is said the it is also a day when the dead wander about above ground and so sometimes people carry willow branches or hang them outside their doors on this day to scare away the ghosts.
Birthday of Tin Hau April/May
It is not a very big festival but a very important one for the people living on fishing islands. It is a festival to show respect to the Goddess of the Sea, Tin Hau for good catches in the sea and a safe year ahead.
Cheung Chau Bun Festival April/May
It is a festival which belongs to the Cheung Chau Island. In the past, people climbed bun towers built with bamboos which were covered with blessed buns outside. The higher people climbed on it meant the more luck they would receive in the year. Since the accident happened in 1978, this competition was no longer allowed. People on the island would keep vegetarian for three days during the festival.
Dragon Boat Festival June
It is a festival to show respect to a patriotic scholar - Chu Yuan, who drowned himself to protest against his emperor. Rice dumpling, which is popular during the festival, is made of glutinous rice, salted meat with a salty egg yolk and wrapped with bamboo leaves. It is believed that these dumplings would scare away any fish which would harm the body of Chu Yuan after him jumping into the sea. However, some believe that dragon boat festival started before the death of Chu Yuan. The dragon boat has the head and a tail of a dragon. Since the dragon is the god of the water world, After the dragon boats sail in the water, the water will be blessed. It is also a tradition for people to wash their hair and body with the blessed water on the day so as to be blessed for the coming year.
Hungry Ghost Festival August/September
It is the time when the gate of Hell opens and all ghosts will come to the earth. People would offer roasted pork, steamed chicken, and fruits to the ghosts. They would also burn paper offerings to the dead in the streets. It is also said that people should not walk or respond to anybody calling them when walking in the street at night.
Mid-autumn Festival September/October
Mooncake is the gift you give to your friends and relatives at the festival. Apart from that, salted sausages and star fruit are other popular gifts. It is the happiest for the children because they would enjoy walking in the streets with their lanterns. Wax-boiling has become very popular but the government in Hong Kong has made it forbidden after many accidents from burning wax. Of course people would make use of the chance to look at the full moon on the day on their balconies or just at home. Traditional mooncakes are made with sweet lotus seed paste with one or more egg yolks. Modern mooncakes come in various styles. Tastes like green tea, red beans, hams and nuts, or even mooncake ice-cream are all available. Just name it and you may find it.
Chung Yeung Festival September/October
There has been a legend from the East Han Dynasty. A man was told to leave home and go to a hill top of the date to avoid a disaster which would kill all lives there. So he left home with his family and drank chrysanthemum wine as he had been told. When he came back after the day, he found that all livestock were killed. Since then, after almost 2000 years, it is believed that it is a day when people should leave home and show their respect to their ancestors on the day.
About The Author
This article was produced by Asia Dragon. Visit us at www.asiadragon.co.uk where you will find authentic oriental fashion & accessories, stylish home furnishings & furniture, beautiful ornaments, Chinese calligraphy plus much, much more!
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How Important it is to Have a Professional Logo Design for Your Business
Ray Smith
There are a lot of things that contribute towards the success of a business. Having a good quality product doesnt necessarily assure the success of a business. To build a long term impression on your customers, it is vital that you have a proper marketing strategy and something unique about your company. Here comes in the importance for having a custom logo design.
I think it is absolutely important for all corporate bodies to realize the importance of having a custom designed logo. A professional logo design goes a long way to establish the identity and exude the attitude of the company. Now, when we say professional logo design", we must understand that it is not a childs play, its a specialist job and better if it is assigned to a professional logo designer. The corporate bodies need to appoint the specialist in the field to get it done. I definitely do understand that its lot of fun to design your own logo; You play with colors, try out your drawing skills and spend some idle time to think what should be the design, at the end you land up with a very common concept of having the initials of your company in some twisted fashion or putting in a sleazy slogan to say your product is the best or some other things like that. However, that is not how your logo should be, it is not just a small graphics to appear in your business cards and letterheads. A logo, if done properly can leave a long and deep impression on your customers mind. They go a long way in depicting the image of your business. You can well understand, how powerful a logo can be if you think about the golden M of McDonalds