The Alexa Toolbar

[tentoes]

Hi Harlan,

Since reading the latest newsletter, I've added the Alexa Toolbar and have been comparing traffic stats for my site with those of my competitors.

I have three questions:

1. My site is currently not returned in an organic Google search, yet has a higher rating (smaller number) than that of some other sites that are returned on the first couple of pages of search results. Can you please explain this to me? I understand there are a lot of factors that contribute to website optimisation, but don't understand the stats.

2. One of the things Alexa provides is a list of other sites that link to the website being viewed. Only a small percentage of sites that link to my website are listed. How does this work?

3. I was marvelling about the information Alexa can provide to a friend. He said he had used it a while back and had this to say:

The alexa toolbar would be tracking where you go and what you do online & reporting back to a range of online marketing firms who will then target you Welcome to life in the fishbowl!

I'm hoping that this was perhaps the case only for early versions of Alexa and it's no longer a problem? Can you please clarify?

Thanks so much for your help - Alexa seems to have the ability to teach me a lot about my site traffic that will help make changes for better results.

Om shanti,

Rachel

[Sara]

Hi Rachel,

We are tag teaming you. Harlan and I are working late and here for your questions.

The Alexa toolbar does not track and report your individual usuage to anyone. It is generally tracking the popularity of websites.

That information is very highly wanted by smart marketors. If you are spending your advertising dollars, you want it to be on a site with a lot of traffic.

The alexar toolbar only shows some of the sites linking to you. In the more complete alexa reports you can get all of them.

As far as yoga sites and your SEO ranking, some sites with high rankings don't even exist anymore. For example, my home town, the highest yoga ranking studio has been closed for two years. Go Figure!

Paperclick avertising is much more immediate than organic search. Trust me, this is the way to go.

I get a lot of my clients because of paperclick and we haven't even bothered with organic search.

Just today I received a call and booked a new client who found me online.

Be very careful of people selling you top rankings in Google or Yahoo. It is always almost a scam.

Just want to say You go for it Girl!! Be fearless and know with all of the intention you are putting into creating this studio that the money will pour into your life like a rushing waterfall. Just be patient and keep a totally positive, fierce and strong vision. We are here to help you in any way.

Best of luck and blessings,

Sara and Harlan.

[tentoes]

Thanks so much!

I implemented a pay per click ad with Google right after my site went live 3 months ago and that seems to be doing pretty well. I'm tweaking the ad over time to improve the click through rate. My business and website are also listed on other sites that are returned high in an organic search, so this is probably enough.

Thanks again for all YOUR effort to share your knowledge and encouragement!

Sat Nam,

Rachel

[HipYogaChic]

Hi there,
I'm yet to really revamp my website, as I am relocating to Los Angeles, and knew that I needed to focus my efforts in other areas until I do that.

I'm going to base the creation of my new site on your advice over the past months I've been reading the newsletter and forum, but I'm not totally clear on the "Ranking" system that Alexa Toolbar helps you see. How does one get "ranked" in the first place and is this important? (I noticed that Sara's site isn't 'ranked' on Alexa, so far as I can see, and I assumed it must not be a big deal).

Other than Payperclick advertising, which I plan on doing, what other ways can someone "optimize" their website?

Thank you for all of your help!

[Administrator]

You need to determine what the local searcher is looking for and rewrite your site to fit those key search terms.

We are also going to set up a links page here for everyone to trade links and boost the rankings of all our pages.

Look for it soon.

Peace.

Harlan