Liz, Author at Successful Blog Page

Link Anchor Text: SEO and Relationships

June 11, 2007 by Liz

Reach Out with Respect

When we code a link, anchor text is that part people click to get where the link goes. Well-written anchor text is one more way that people and spiders know why you made the link — the relevance between your post and where you are sending them. Link anchor text is another way to reach out with respect to bloggers who offer information we value.

Here’s an example of anchor text in link as code and as the reader sees.

This code:

<a href=“http://[URL goes here]”>Link Anchor Text</a >

would look like this to readers:

Link Anchor Text

Sometimes you’ll see the name of the blog or a post as anchor text. Sometimes you’ll words such as here or click here instead. The first is relevant and SEO friendly. It builds connections and relationships. The second does not. Who wants to be referred to as “click here”?

Relationships and SEO

Strong, descriptive anchor text is a sign that we know how spiders travel links and that we care about people read and write blogs.

Search engines pay attention to what you write in your anchor text. They notice all of the text around a link — key words and descriptions. Spiders use anchor text to determine relevance and authority as they follow links from post to post. Linking with keyword-rich anchor text forms strong links to posts both within your blog and with blogs you respect.

Think about relationships. Links connect blogs and connect the bloggers who write them. Great anchor text, descriptive of what the link is leading to, offers an opportunity to feature those relationships. Spiders read and match up relevant key words in the linking posts. Search engines highlight your anchor text when they index the reference. The blogger you link to sees your descriptive text as how you named his or her blog or blog post.

It only takes a few seconds — a few words inside a link . . . to make a difference in relevance and SEO, to let readers know where you suggest they go next, and to offer the blogger at the other end a few words of respect. That’s a great way to use links to reach out.

Go for the relationship at the same time that you’re following great SEO practices.

Anchor me.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz’s help with your business, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Personal Identity: Being True to Yourself

June 11, 2007 by Liz

feelings, truth, and potential.

At age 20, I used to get tied up in knots about who I was. I wanted to be authentic, true to myself in every action, every feeling, every breath that I took.

Part of the problem was that I lived in my head. I over-thought the idea.

I understood that it’s rare to feel one emotion purely. Love, joy, happiness, a bit of fear, some nostalgia, a touch of kindness, or maybe a bit of insecurity, anger, forgiveness, compassion; some understanding, some hurt, some sadness, love unrequited, other “stuff” — emotions seem to come mostly in groups that can’t be sorted out.

I wondered if I feel 10% forgiveness and 60% hurt is the forgiveness any less me? Couldn’t I choose to focus on either one and still be true to who I am?

That’s when I would get confused. I had no metric to decide which feeling to go with. If I chose a “positive” feeling or one that is other-centered was I being a “people pleaser”? If I chose a “negative” one, was I being selfish?

I was only 20. I didn’t have much life experience from which to draw. It was probably frustration that made me realize that my focus on the present was keeping me confounded. Finally, I looked to the future.

Once my focus turned to Who do I want to be? Being true to myself suddenly became easy.

When I need a decision on how to act, I put my faith in the person I want to be. What would she do? How would she feel about this? The person I aspire to become became my role model and my counsel.

My truth became firmly footed in the other-centered person I hope to become. My journey found a direction and a purpose, a heading toward the person I could possibly be. I’ll never reach her, because every moment I imagine that potential as slightly more.

It’s the knowing that I’m going in the right direction that counts.

How do you find personal truth? How do you reach for your potential?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Bloggy Question 51: I Gave Him that Idea

June 10, 2007 by Liz

His Success Really Belongs to Me

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life question. . . .

Marty and Steve were best friends since childhood. They started their first business at age 8 — it was a lemonade stand. By the time they graduated from college, they owned two bicycle shops — a thriving business in the city.

Marty is out front, the cheerful guy that everyone loves . . . he handles sales, marketing, and vendor relations. Steve takes care of the back office, the guy who handles repairs, fulfillment, and the paperwork.

Steve, a certified CPA, has a side business as an accountant. His latest outstanding effort for that business was a marketing program. An image of an accountant on a bicycle made unnanounced appearances on blogs. He gave free tax advice to that blog’s readers for an entire day. The campaign was a hit and an immediate traffic bonus for the blogs that were visited by “Steve’s SuperCyberCycling Tax Man.”

With that win, you thought that everything was booming and wonderful for Marty and Steve.

Today you found out that Marty and Steve have ended their business relationship. Marty is running the bicycle shops. Steve is staying with his accounting practice.

Yesterday in a conversation with you, Marty called Steve a jerk and made sure you understood that the “SuperCyberCycling Tax Man” campaign was Marty’s idea, not Steve’s. It was obvious that Marty was unhappy that he given Steve the benefit of his thoughts and that he wished Steve had not had success in his accounting business.

This was a side of Marty you had never seen. Marty said he was going to blog about his part in making Steve a “cycling success.”

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Great Find: Laws You Should Know

June 10, 2007 by Liz

Andrew’s Been Researching

Our friend and SOB, Andrew Flusche has recently published an article that brings to light legal basics about work.

Great Find: Lunch, Break, and Hour Laws You Should Know

Permalink:
http://www.legalandrew.com/2007/06/07/lunch-break-and-hour-laws-you-should-know/

Target Audience: All employees

Content: Besides stating the basics of what the law requires be offered for lunches, breaks, and hours worked. Andrew also links to the specifics for every states. Click the title to check this out.

Lunch, Break, and Hour Laws You Should Know

Whether you are starting a business, running one, or working for one, knowing the law is important. If you also value this resource that Andrew has built do digg it.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

A Virtual Tour of Yourself

June 10, 2007 by Liz

Four Rooms of My Own

A friend sent this quote to me a few days ago.

There is an Indian proverb or axiom that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional, and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.” – Rumer Godden

I’ve been thinking about the rooms that I spend the most time in.

A good airing out is as easy as a walk through my house.

What might you do to take a virtual tour of yourself?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thanks to Week 85 SOBs

June 9, 2007 by Liz

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank every one of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her directly to me. This award comes with a full “Liz said so” guarantee. It is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame. Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss