It's been a great year for the ABSALE Directory – we're rising day by day in the search engines. We're bringing you more and more top quality websites! We're still are little wacky!

Anyway, enough ramblin, here's to a great 2008 and hopefully an even better 2009!

More to come…

So, how often should one update their content, and which pages should be updated? 

The Homepage is without doubt the most important page in terms of SEO. It's the door to your website, and Google & co. place emphasis on this. That's why whenever you search for popular keywords, it's rare to see a sub-folder listed on the first couple of results pages. There is not a definitive answer on how often to update content, but at least once a week should be fly enough for the search engine spiders.

The regularity of fresh content can impact not only your SERPS, but your return visitors also. People love something fresh and new (ask Governments ). Remember, the point of SEO is to increase your traffic, word-of-mouth / buzz can do this also. 

If you are not particularly keen writer (like myself, evidenced with this blog) you can use a few tools to bring life to your website. RSS feeds are the #1 source for fresh content. All you have to do is add a little piece of code, and viola! regularly updated content! Other options include adding a news section to your front page or having users write for you.

Let's open with GoDaddy. The biggest positive with GoDaddy is trust. On 2 counts – 1) you can trust GoDaddy to look after your domain 2) If you want to sell your domain, buyers like GoDaddy, buyers trust GoDaddy. Price-wise GoDaddy is relatively cheap – that is – if you can find a GoDaddy coupon. $7.15 for a .com, don't get suckered in to buying for $10.15! Other good aspects with GoDaddy are their help desk and support team. It's a big company and they are well structured to offer sound support.

Moniker is reputed as the most secure domain registrar. Personally, I found it an annoyance and hassle having to phone the company in order to verify my account. A simple email would have been sufficient. I like Moniker for registering .net, prices range from $5-6, that's cheaper than most places. Potential buyers like Moniker also. 

DirectI & resellers – decent prices, ugly interface and hit-and-miss customer support.

The shining light out of all domain registrars is Name.com. $5.99 and cheaper .com registrations! Plus, their interface is actually enjoyable to use!

Not only do Top Sites get prime position on the homepage, they receive a permanent link in the top sites section, which archives all the excellent websites that have been top sites in the past.

 So, for your chance to become a featured Top Site in January, submit now. Best of all, if you are not listed as a top site next month, we'll probably add you to a relevant category. Talk about win – win!

Meta tags were once very important instruments in telling search engines about your web page. Nowadays many sites do not include either the description meta tag or the keyword meta (article coming soon) because the top search engine — Google — seems to place very little importance on them. Reasons for this may be that webmasters started to abuse the meta tag system, using techniques such as keyword stuffing to bump their site to the number 1 spot. This was of course unhelpful to web users, as most of the time they would arrive at inaccurate pages. Search engines changed their algorithms to focus more on link text, incoming links and quality of incoming links.

Yahoo and MSN (Live) still give weight to meta tags, less so the description and more the keywords. If you’re running a new website, Google will probably not offer you organic traffic to begin, they seem to place great emphasis on domain age and enjoy placing new sites in the sandbox. For that reason, it’s best to include meta tags and pick up traffic from the other search engines, even if the quality of traffic is not great. Whether, in Google’s eyes, meta tags serve a negative purpose is not entirely known. One thing’s for sure, the tags move your main content away from the top of the page and reduce keyword density.

Here’s where the description meta tag plays a big roll. A person searches for a term you rank well for. If you’ve included a description, you have the chance of attracting this person to your page with a absorbing piece of writing. If you didn’t include the description meta tag, the searcher may well find something like this:

“Your great title

random gibberish… keyword ….blah blah blah … keyword copyright your company”

Not very appealing and not very professional, is it?

In summary, if you run a new website, use both meta tags, but be accurate and concise. If you run an aged website, use the description to maximize click through rate, and use keywords if you want to attract more Yahoo and MSN visitors.

Another way to get incoming links is to write press releases or articles including keyword links to your website, then offer them for free to website owners. prweb.com is a popular website for press releases. They do however charge a fee. If you’re on a budget, start contributing to a community forum, show off your website at every opportunity but don’t go overboard straight away and make your first post “HEY LOOK AT MY NEW WEBSITE, IT’S BRILLIANT!!!”. Eventually people will open up and you can offer them free articles which include your links.

The third option is to buy text links, which personally I’m not a big fan of. The main reason behind my dislike for bought text links, is the unpredictability of search engines (especially Google) and their ability to spot any webmasters trying to tamper with the search engine rankings. One minute your on the first page and the next your nowhere to be seen! To make it harder for search engines to discern the bought link, go for a deep link, which is your chosen keyword placed inside relevant content. Lastly, if you do decide to buy text links, make sure you you thoroughly research the website you are investing your money and your brands image into.