issue #20, May 2005. RSS, Amazon XML product feeds and Outsourcing

Hi again and welcome to all new subscribers.

In this issue I´m going to talk about two big concerns I have regarding RSS tools for automatic content updates on web pages and show you an advanced option for updating your web pages automatically with search engine friendly content.

I´ll also show you a way to save more of your valuable time and where you can find thousands of people begging to work for you at affordable prices.

These are the topics:

1) How to lower the penalty risk for using RSS tools

2) How to automatically update your web pages with search engine friendly and money making content !

3) An introduction to outsourcing.

Enjoy !

1) How to lower the penalty risk for using RSS tools

My first concern is this:

All over the world webmasters are jumping at these tools to make their webpages fresher in order to look more appealing to the search engines. By adding RSS news to most of their web pages they are basically tricking the search engines into thinking that their pages are updated more frequently and therefore more important.

Now we all know that especially Google doesn´t want to be tricked, so the logical consequence would be that the Google guys will try to find a way to spot those websites that are extensively updated with RSS tools and apply some kind of penalty to them.

And that, my friend, is just too easy. Most of the tools (even CARP) include by default a "powered by" link at the bottom of the newsfeed, so the only thing Google must do is to check for these phrases.

In order to avoid being spotted and probably punished one day, you need to get rid of these "powered by" links.

For users of the CARP RSS parser - an open source software - here´s how to do it:

Add the following configuration to the code ( above the line "CarpCacheShow...."):

CarpConf('poweredby','');

That´s all. Simple enough ?

2) How to automatically update your web pages with search engine friendly and money making content !

My second concern is this:

When you are using RSS news feeds to update your web pages then you also place lots of outgoing links on them, which will not only drain away your PR but also some of your visitors.

Sure, you can make the links dynamic if you know how, so the PR issue isn´t so dramatic. But let me ask you a question:

Do these links to the news make you any money ?

Of course NOT !

The articles you link to are designed to generate visitors for the webmaster who provides the newsfeed and sometimes these articles are also designed to pre-sell readers on certain products.

So who gets the money ?

You guess right - it´s the article author - NOT You !

Fortunately, I found a solution for that. Just look at the example page below that I´ve built on a new website for the purpose of showing you how amazingly well this works.

http://www.home-garden-resources.com/carpupdateexample.php

BTW - it´s an advanced function of CARP that is quite tricky to set up. While it´s explained in the user manual, there are still a few confusing details which may take you some time to figure out, so if you want I can create a step-by-step tutorial with videos and screenshots to guide you through the whole process, which shouldn´t take more than 30 minutes. But before I invest time in creating the tutorial I want to know if there´s anybody interested, so please reply to me and tell me that you are.

Video Tutorial Now Available - Click Here

Now - I don´t say you shouldn´t display newsfeeds on your pages. In my opinion, you should just make sure you make it look natural, i.e. there are certain pages like your website´s home page, certain article pages and other important pages where news topics integrate very well, so these particular pages deserve a newsfeed.

But on other pages like product specific pages, there´s no need to display a newsfeed on the bottom just for the purpose of updating the page´s content. In these cases you could include product links from Amazon.com like shown in the example above.

The coolest thing about it is that you can include the customer reviews from Amazon.com for the products displayed on your pages. So in addition to the content you get instant testimonials for the products which can increase your sales convertions.

Note: the above feature works with the free version of CARP but without the product images. If you want all the features, you should consider buying CARP Evolution. It´s only 20 bucks for a single user license, which allows you to use it on all the websites you own. In my opinion a real bargain.

CaRP KOI / Evolution

3) Outsourcing - an easy way to save your valuable time.

One of the 3 biggest problems of all online business owners is lack of time.

If you are doing business online for a certain while yet, you probably had those situations where you whished to have more time to get more things accomplished.

I mean, why are software solution that automate or simplify certain business tasks so successful ? Simply because they save time.

Depending on the size of your business, you might employ full-time workers like seo´s, marketing managers and affiliate program managers, but there are often these little one-time tasks like creating a logo, writing articles, writing web copy or building a piece of software tool that you either don´t know how or don´t have the time to do.

Outsourcing makes all these things very easy and Elance.com is one of these services that makes outsourcing very easy.

Elance connects you with over 40,000 people from all over the world with all kinds of skills, able to do the work you want.

Simply post your project (say what you want to have done) and let the service providers compete for your business. After a few days you select the provider who you think will work at the best quality and lowest price for you.

If you are not familiar with Elance yet, I recommend you take some time today, go to their website, click on "Elance Online" and browse through the different categories to see what types of services are being outsourced and to get a feel for the site.

Elance.com

Here are a few examples:

Web Content: search engine optimized articles based on certain keywords are frequently ordered and cost between 5 and 13 $ per article, which depends on article length and the topic.

e-books: I´ve seen service providers offering to create complete 50+page e-books for only 500 $.

SEO: many website owners are outsourcing the task of finding either reciprocal link partners or one-way links. Unreciprocated permanent links usually cost about 10$ per link.

Basic tips for browsing the projects at Elance.com:

On Elance.com´s homepage click on the link "Elance Online" and then on the following page scroll down to find and follow the link "browse projects".

You´ll be taken to a page with all current projects. Now you can select a category from the left menu to narrow down your search (f.ex. writing & translation).

You might have already noticed that there are two types of projects, "select" and "basic". The projects marked "select" have sealed bids, so you can´t see the prices.

On top of the list you have several option to sort the list. In the third drop-down selector, choose option "basic projects only" to see only the projects which are more public.

Click on any project name for a detailed description and to see bids and comments from service providers. Each service provider has a link to reviews and a portfolio where you can see some sample works.

In the coming newsletters I´ll give you some tips for using Elance and share my experiences with them.

Until then, go through Elance.com´s help center to learn the basics and open a free buyers account.


That´s it for today.

Whishing you a great week-end !

Truely Yours,


Guido W. Stiehle
TheJungleMarketer

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Sincerely Yours,

Guido W. Stiehle
TheJungleMarketer

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