Participating in Financial Samurai’s Alexa Ranking Challenged, called The Yakezie Alexa Challenge, has me considering how to increase my Alexa Ranking (in addition to points made in Sam’s post). Alexa Rankings, for the post part, are resulted from your website’s page views and visits to your site (as it’s Home Page suggests).
I want to look at how each of these subjects:
Google Search Engine Optimization Tools, my website’s design, and other values could potentially increase my Alexa Ranking.
Google Search Engine Optimization
- Using Google Keywords: There are many good websites that discuss how to use Google Keywords, so I won’t be discussing how to use them.
But, I believe utilizing the Google AdWords: Keyword’s tool to target my written content can help increase organic search results. Thus, increasing visits to my sites and page views.
Example, if you search the keyword “lemon” (with 5 million searches) versus “lemons” (with 386,000 searches), you can see I would have a better chance with people finding my site with the niche term “lemons” because it is more direct.
- Buy advertisements on search engines: You may need to spend a bit, but it can increase the traffic to your website.
My Website’s Design for Search Engine Optimization
- Write good content: You might develop your search engine optimization by using strong keywords, but content is what drives builds loyal readers to come back for more; creating the continuous flow of traffic to your site.
- Post more frequently: Of course, an increase in page/site views is potentially imminent when writing posting more frequently, but to what degree? Per Alexa, frequently posting more content doesn’t always mean an increase to Alexa Ranking.
My posting schedule is Tuesday, Thursday, and Sundays. I am thinking that fostering community, interaction, and conversation, on the website, with comment/nested comments might take a stronger stance to posting more frequently. To me, it is more important to build relationships with people. As this is what has helped my personal finance journey blossom.
So, it might be beneficial to rankings if you can do both simutaneously.
- Excerpt vs. Content: Does your website home page include an excerpt of the post leading to ‘read more’ or do you post a full page? I think Financial Samurai’s post excerpts has an edge on me in this area compared to me showing full post.
One, there are more posts available for viewing on his home page vs. the 3 post I show on my home page. Two, if you’re content is good, then a person will hit ‘read more’ listed on the excerpt (counts as a ‘visit to your site’ and a ‘page view’).
Where as, my site shows the full post. Many people pressed for a quick read can easily come to my site, read all, and move on (only gaining a ‘visit to your site’). My ‘page view’ would only be increased if the reader choses to leave a comment or hits an internal hyperlink. So, I might want to consider changing my home page format (don’t be suprised if my site morphs again). 😉
Other Values
- Write about Alexa Ranking: Bloggers like to understand how to increase thier ranking; to reach more people. By writing a blog post it drives traffic to your site.
So that is just what I did. Of course, the post is meant to help you, too. 🙂 I’d like to have a community discussion to see what your thoughts are for increasing your Alexa Ranking.
- Write Guest Posts: You might have heard me twitter this comment. Its meant to work just like the factor above. This also could include participating in forums, writing eZine articles, Associated Content Articles, eHow articles, Stumbling, Digg(ing), using Hootsuite, Tip’d, etc… Get yourself out there to be seen. Drive the masses back. 🙂
- Use Alexa Search Analytics: When you search a website on Alexa site you will note the “Top Keywords for Search Traffic”. These are the keywords driving most of the traffic to your site note: my former food post for ‘Gordon Biersch Garlic Fries’ still drives the most traffic to my site). Do these Top Keywords align with the competition you wish to interact with? Or should you write more content with you site’s Top Keywords?
Conclusion
There are still many more possible ways to increase your Alexa Ranking, but these particular factors are what came to mind after joining Financial Samurai’s challenge. Ones I plan on focusing on.
Do I think installing the Alexa Toolbar will help? To a point. According to Wiki on Alexa Internet:
On April 16, 2008, many users reported dramatic shifts in their Alexa rankings. Alexa confirmed this later in the day with an announcement that they had released the new Alexa ranking system, claiming that they now take into account more data sources “beyond Alexa Toolbar users”.[19]
Meaning there are more factors to consider. You can follow up on the Wiki page.
At the end of this challenge, I will be sure to update you on that factors I think helped to increase my rankings.
What do you think works to increase the Alexa Ranking? If you haven’t signed up for The Yakezie Alexa Challenge, head on over there. What do you have to lose?
For more information about Alexa information, check out:
- Search Analytics with Alexa
- Search Engine Optimization
- Dosh Dosh: 20 Quick Ways to Increase your Alexa Rank
You can see my Alexa Traffic Rank Widget in the Sidebar. From the beginning of the challenge, in the last week of January, I have gone from a 433,000 to a 398,710 (Traffic Rank widget works a day behind). For me, that is not too shabby.
Awesome suggestions! Sweating the Big Stuff also has a page where the Alexa rankings of everyone who’s participating are updated weekly.
Thanks! Unfortunately for me, Daniel’s website is blocked at work due to the title. LOL. So, I hope he recieved me email and put me on the traking page. 🙂
I will need to remember to check when I get home.
I look forward to seeing how some of these considerations work for me. 🙂
Good ideas,
My work blocks google docs so I can see the charts, but my phone gets them. Here are your stats for Daniel’s post
week 1: 425,121
week 2: 419,763
week 3: 398,710
Hope this helps 🙂
Great job this week Wojo, you’ll be in the 100,000 by July for sure.
Thanks. Can’t wait to check out everyone else’s movement. 😉
C, good post, providing the Yakezie group members to think of new ways of improving.
Your lemons and lemon example was very eye-opening.
Have to say again though, that I did absolutely none of the SEO stuff when ranking breached 100,000. I never thought about writing a title for SEO purposes for example, or alter the way I think and write. I just wrote, and wrote with a thesis with the idea of creating some thoughts from the community, and learning from them.
I think I’d lose interest if I had to write for SEO purposes. For example, “Someone Always Farts In A Crowd” is an article I really enjoyed writing. But who’s going to type that in search to find about moral hazard? Donno. I did include – The Moral Hazard of America in the heading.. but I chose to keep the simplicity of the title in the post, just b/c I wanted to.
Hence, I really wouldn’t worry AT ALL about SEO. Just focus on writing whatever you want that is hopefully interesting, build relationships like you are doing, and promote others! That is the spirit of the Yakezie Alexa Challenge…. to not sweat about the details, but to be free to write whatever we want without persecution, and help each other out.
Let’s say you suddenly become the next Suze Orman, Christine. How cool would that be? I will swell in pride, and hopefully you will provide a shoutout to all your fellow Yakezie groupies! That’s the idea, that we can just help each other. We aren’t throwing up “exclusive” walls to shut others out. Instead, we invite others in and will ourselves to success!
Best, Sam
Glad you liked.
I think for people who are not as well versed, unlike yourself, it might help. As I pointed out ‘in addition to points made in Sam’s post’.
You’re right about SEO purposes. I would lose interest on just keywords too. But to help initiate a build, it could be of purpose. As long as, you have meaningful content to back it up.
I think your other leg up on the Alexa Traffic was your networking -hanging with the big boy’s like @flexo – gets the word around quicker. We could all try this, but some just have a better personal knack for mingling like that.
And another… you’re a man. Yes, I said it as a point. Your subject matter caters to men, too. Me, I have to work a little harder at it being a woman to meet the man angle; to bring the men to my site. And women may disagree… but I feel its true. I could, of course, write more feminine related posts to cater to just women… and at times I do, but it hasn’t always been my whole focus. Perhaps I am lower my focus trying to cater to both sexes? *food for thought*
I am definitely up for promoting other people. There are so many intellectually stimulating people out there that deserve recognition.
And that is another thing… Self-Branding. What would it take to become the next Suze Orman? Of course, I would definitely give a shout out to you all. 🙂
Yep, definitely good additional thought you’ve provided. If one can do both naturally, that’s probably the best.
Flexo is a big boy, and I’m thankful he has been nice enough to reach out to me. However, I have a funny story to tell about us, but probably shouldn’t as it wasn’t always the case.
The challenge really is for us small timers actually! That’s why there is no more goal post 50,000. Maybe I can institute a 20,000 hurdle, but the big boys may not bother. The spirit of the challenge is for all of us who are not there yet and just want to improve.
Are there more men than women? I thought the world was 52% women, 48% men? Wouldn’t being a women be to your advantage? You stand out as a women, where I am just another dude.
This week’s main post on SMB’s has more so to do with women. Might not be very flowery, but the target audience is 70% women for the post. It would most definitely help catering to both sexes. A fun example a friend mentions so often is that she wishes she were bi-sexual, then she’d have double the partners to choose from! lol.
Continue your podcasts. Your voice is a strength.
Sam
Thank you for the last comment. BTW, I agree with your woman friend. 😉 Then again, it probably also brings more drama.
Hm, I may have to check out this challenge. How much do you suppose improving Alexa ranking equates to improving reader experience and increasing readership? Those are two things I’m definitely interested in.
Gotta say that I’m not a fan of the “Read more” links for every single post though.) I often read via a slow connection and it just wastes my time. Maybe on older articles though, as a way to get a bigger variety of articles on the home page for first-time or infrequent visitors to browse through…
Jackie, no wonder why you never stop by and visit and comment! 🙁 🙂 I like my read more, b/c it allows me and readers to easily scan the conent, esp if one hasn’t visited for a while.
It also helps me write with a strong start otherwise few people will click read more.
C, you can adjust the number of posts in your home page btw… I think it can go up to like 15 or something, but I forget. 8 is fine for me.
If I go with longer # of posts on my home page, then I need to fill the sidebar. People like to keep a busy eye (that is why they have scrolling tickers or moving backgrounds on the News channels). When I solve the latter problem than I will extend the number.
But for now, I offer a Recent Post widget on the left sidebar to see the last 10 posts written.
I am sure they could move hand in hand with each other. If you write more than you bring the possibility of more readers subscribing. You might also hold a giveaway and request people to sign up to an RSS feed as one of the ways to win. 😉
There has always been a debate about ‘Read More’ links vs Full Post. While I am not a big fan of Read More, I don’t shun it. I like the length of MBA Briefs excerpts on his home page.
Another idea of having an excerpt besides making one a better writer, is providing TWO similar stories for a reader to enjoy. The excerpt can be one story i.e. when I wrote about the kid farting, and then the full story is where I lead into the relationship about the kid farting with the moral hazard of America.
Regarding MBA Briefs, do you like the length of his excerpts b/c it is longer? I’m always open to criticism and ways to improve my site.
thnx!
I guess as a fellow FinSam Alexa entrant I’m really just making more of an effort to explore other bloggers sites – it’s a good excuse really, as I tend to live in my blogging cave when at the Mac, and when I’m not I’m busy! I’m not really doing anything technical to try to move up the rankings. Hmm.
I’ve wondered about excerpts vs full post a lot. Two of the biggest PF blogs, Get Rich Slowly and The Simple Dollar, are both full post. I think regular readers definitely prefer them. But there are advantages to excerpts beyond SEO – for instance readers can skip about and see everything you’ve written in recent weeks. Tricky.
Good luck!
That is one thing about the internet -everyone succeeds differently. 😉
I think one thing GRS and The Simple Dollar have is reader loyalty and frequent posts. That is one thing to try. But if I am going to frequent my posts, I may need to hire someone. I don’t think I could come up with all that fabulous material on my own. Plus, it is nice to have another view.
Let me know what works from you. It can be addicting to dally with a website in the blogging cave – without actually really accomplishing anything. 😉
Great tips. I’m also included in the challenge. I’m thinking of showing only excerpts of my posts as well. Do you happen to know how to do this? I’m thinking it’s a WordPress plugin, yeah? Good luck!
I guess there is a home page plugin for that purpose. But if you don’t mind a little php scripting, it is fairly easy to change the homepage to excerpts and filter the length of the excerpts.
You can find out more here. It’s about changing the_content() into the_excerpt() on your home page and then adding the filter to the functions.php located in the editor of WordPress.
LH – There’s no need for a plug-in. In the edition portion of your post, there is a button with two rectangles and a line in the middle. Put the cursor where you want the post to cut off where the “Read More” appears, and click the button. Viola!
Or you could do that I should mention the scripting or plugin allow you to have a constant excerpt with the same length on every post w/out needing to set every post as FS mentioned.
Hitting <--more!-->, u would need to do for every post.
Hmmm.. what if it cuts it off wrong? Donno, it’s kinda like having a plugin write my post… would feel odd. I would have to scold the plug-in for writing something boring and stupid! lol
Ooorrrr…. You could type your ‘X’ amount of words in Word to ensure the content would fit. 🙂
Works great for someone with a need for site uniformity.
Great tips… I’ll definitely try to implement some of them right away.
Hi WellHeeledBlog. Thanks for stopping by!
These are the ones I feel may make a difference for me. And I love watching the change in numbers. Unfortunately it fell back a little today, so I may need to consider writing more frequently or try my writing schedule for Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Hmmm…. 😉
Great post Christine! I too am pretty excited about the Alexa challenge on FS.
I have done well so far but feel I could do more to improve upon my downward trend. 🙂 Good luck to everyone!
Thank you, Brad. I am going to throw up your 125 this weekend.
The big game of numbers… sometimes I think it could be a curse that there is not one right formula for success on the internet. There is a variety of methods that work for everyone differently. 😉
Great post Christine! Definitely some other things to think about.
For me, getting from Alexa 4,000,000 to 400,000 happened pretty fast, less than 6 months for sure. From there it began to slow down drastically. For what its worth, my unscientific perspective would indicate that adding the Alexa toolbar and badge absolutely made a difference.
Not long before the first of the year I was sharing with my daughter my goal to get to page 1 of Wisebread by the end of 2010. As we all know they use Alexa as the key metric. Now it is February and I am already there!
How, and why I don’t really understand but I can tell you, to date I have done no guest posting on other sites, I still haven’t figured out how to be keyword savvy and I’m still learning what SEO is. I thought it was a rock band from the 60’s!
Like Samurai says, write what you want, share with others and have fun.
Thank you! I am glad to hear the about your perspective on the toolbar and badge. And congrats on making it to page 1 of Wisebread. I think I have 65 spots to go. Now if they did it by Google Page Rank, I’d be on the 1st page. 😉
And people like genuine. If you read the article by Alexa (located bottom of post) about Search Engine Optimization, you’ll see that one site ranked higher due to loyalty and being genuine.
Hey Christine,
Mind if I ask how old your blog is? Mine is extremely young so I haven’t paid attention to Alexa ranking (or even Google yet), but it’d be superb to get some of that Google traffic.
I’d love to begin with some guest posts, even 1 this month and hopefully much more in the future, to get some of that valuable ‘link juice’.
Are you taking on the Alexa challenge then? I’d love to see how you improve you ranking.
My blog is about 2 years old. But I have been blogging for close to 3. And it wasn’t till recently that I decided to experiment with taking it to the next level (but it is a lot of work, upfront).
I am taking on the Alexa Challenge. I look forward to seeing how some of my tactics will play out.
Did you want to guest post here? You are more than welcome to! Love your content? Email RSS, yet? 😉
Great article, Christine. I could certainly use your advice to post more frequently, I’ve had a combination of time constraints and writer’s block lately. But that’s probably the number one thing we can do, write more.
I like Sam’s approach to using an excerpt for all the articles and using a teaser sentence to get people to read the rest of the article, and it seems to be working for me. I also need to reorganize my site a little better to improve my home page’s “stickiness”.
I use an SEO optimization plug in to help simplify the SEO stuff, and I try to write on topics that seem to get the most traffic (although I still tend to write on things I think are interesting that are more fun to me).
Thanks for the links, I’ll be checking them all out. Great article!
Thank you, David. And I understand what you are experiencing. Recently, I have decided to block time for this blog (because I was computing too much compared to spending time with my family). The funny thing is, more growth has happened since I blocked time. I am assuming its because I am utilizing my time to really focus on the top priorities. 😉
Well, I think your site is great. Love the layout. And I’ve heard many a great bloggers note that content is key. You should have fun with your site. So a good mix of SEO and fun sounds like a great recipe.
As for the writer’s block, take a week or two, away from the comp (or drastically reduce your time). You’ll see, it definitely recharges the brain. Oh ya, time off means enjoy life. Don’t focus on the blog. Then ideas will come flowing. Works for me. 😉
Nice list, and anyone who’s new to blogging can find a ton of value in there.
I’m just going to put a little plug here for the guest posting bit since it has worked wonders for me. I started blogging Dec 14th and today Feb 12th the Alexa ranking on my site is 304,997 with a one month average of 145,153.
I am a competitive little bugger so I like to think of this as a business and if you have a great product (your writing) without any marketing (comments, guest posting, shameless self promotion, etc…) it would be like creating a wonderful piece of art without anyone seeing it.
I also think SEO could be an important part of the site and in the past have decided to write a post and date it as if it was a month previous so readers don’t have to see it, yet the search engine traffic will eventually pick it up.
As for writers block such as what David is having, I find it’s easiest if you focus on series’ rather than trying to come up with a unique topic each time. There are about 5 on my left column at the moment with another 10 in the works… I have the problem of having too much to post!
Thanks. 🙂
Guest posting does work. Lately I have been featured in a couple of blogs and it has driven people to view my site. It’s nice. And that is a nice progress in ranking.
I haven’t thought of writing a back dated post, but it makes a ton of sense. Hmm….
Great advice, Ryan. BTW, I am enjoying watching you build your niche travel site.
Wow, I’m impressed! I think the times I’ve stopped by in the past, your posts weren’t as technical as this one! I didn’t realize you had a tech background (or dabbled in it anyway).
I’m a techie too, but I come from the dark side (Microsoft), so I don’t know much about php, mysql or wordpress… but I’m learning.
Thanks for providing the information, I’ve just been trying to develop a consistent voice and improve my writing skills, or at least I was until the FS’s Alexa challenge.
Anyway, thanks for a great post, you’ve made the sit back and think!
Drat! that last line in my comment above should have been:
Anyway, thanks for a great post, you’ve made me sit back and think!
:(, that’s what I get for commenting during a movie (just in case you’re curious, it’s “Hotel for Dogs”) 🙂
LOL. You make me laugh. Did you enjoy Hotel with Dogs? We just got back from Valentine’s Day. It was cute.
Money Reasons, I learned it all on my own from blogging. And all from trail and error. One of my strong suits is doing things wrong a zillion times to find out what is right. I might not have it just yet, but I know I am getting close. 😉
I didn’t mention, but in sync with writing content to keywords, you might also apply the keywords to your tags and permalink, too. I can’t promise these tips will work, they are only thoughts. Have fun racking your brain!
Thanks, the kids loved “Hotel for Dogs”, me… not so much :p
Hmmm, I’ll have to start using keywords in my tags! It makes sense that using that technique should work…
For Valentine’s day, and the Chinese New Year (year of the Tiger), we went to a great local chinese restaurant.
Hope your Valtentine’s Day was great too!!!
Alexa is a bench mark mark system for me and although I do mention it on posts I do now and again I don’t pay it that much attention, that said my site went from 8,500,000 to 52,000 in 3 months and my 1 month average is just under 40,000.
In that time I have published well over 200 posts which I’m sure helps.
Great post rt’ing now
I noticed the that increasing my posts has jumped my numbers significantly. Now, if I can just keep it up! 😉
Glad to have found your site thru Moon.
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Christine,
This post has helped to understand traffic ranking and in particular with Alexa. I have found since I use adwords, the ranking have gone up faster and faster. My alexa rankings have improved, too.
Thanks
Mike
Hi Christine, Late in reading it but enjoyed this post. The one question I keep coming back to is what do you mean by all this?:
“You might have heard me twitter this comment. Its meant to work just like the factor above. This also could include participating in forums, writing eZine articles, Associated Content Articles, eHow articles, Stumbling, Digg(ing), using Hootsuite, Tip’d, etc… ”
All those are new foreign words to me. Any chance you would write a post on what they mean or where to find the information? As a person who shys away from cellphones and doesn’t get why people would want to have one with them all the time the technology world moves faster than my eyes. It’s like watching the wheels of a train go by…eventually makes me dizzy.
Ha! Sorry for the confusion. There are many a great post out on the web, but never to be seen because they need to be heard. Hence using social networking to your favor. Things like using Twitter to pass around your article or even FaceBook. Writing articles on eZine, eHow, etc… which links back to your site. You need to build real estate capital to build traffic to your blog.
Partial posts annoy me. I think they’re kind of selfish. My time is more important than your traffic!
Luckily Samurai’s RSS is full posts :D.
Hopefully he won’t change that now I’ve pointed that out 🙂
The great debate between full and partial RSS feeds. I think full wins, but for the site owner – partials bring traffic to your site – which is what you want. But perhaps full sites, interesting content with a couple of insite backlinks could do the trick to drive you to the blog. 🙂 Lets hope he doesnt change it.
I have few new blogs too and there alexa is low.It’s a great pleasure to find this site. You have a lot of tactics which I considerably awesome. 😀
Great to hear! Hope it helps!
My website rank is 74,000, what i need to do to make its rank 40,000. Please reply.
Hi Rajib, I was hoping someone w/ more experience would comment. I too, have gotten this site up to 68,000 (this is w/out guest posting). So, I would think there would be someone better fit to answer.
My inkling is to find staff writing positions or freelance writing for some high ranking websites. If you’re in social media, try TechCrunch and Social Media Examiner. Same goes with guest posting. Find high ranking, high traffic blogs to offer excellent content.
My other jist – backling to high quality sites. Try submitting articles to ezinearticles.com directing high pr links to your site.
I wish you the best in reaching a higher status.
You might also try Google Adwords to put your site out on the web.
Why even worry about Alexa ranking. It is all about the traffic. Whether you selling ad space or domain name, potential customer would be interested more in how much traffic the website gets, and not so much how well it ranks in Alexa. And may be I am mistaking, but all webmater needs to worry about is getting more traffic and Alexa ranking will take care of itself.
I agree with the traffic – Alexa connection. Just make sure its high PR ranking sites that are sending inbound links to you.
Networking with the right people. 😉
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I found this great service to improve Alexa rank, check it out at http://www.alexage.com
It worked great for me and my Alexa rank is now in the top 100K.
some time ago i don’t know about ALEXA RANK but i found it in http://www.alexage.com.
then it’s work greatest and then it’s like dream my Alexa rank is now in the top 100K.
I had found the way to improve Alexa rank for your site, you should check out http://www.alexage.com.
They brought my site to Alexa’s top 50K in less than 90 days
Nice article on improving alexa ranking. I also found that the fastest way to improve Alexa rank is to use http://www.alexage.com. Their service was great and now my blog is in Alexa’s top 50K.
Well, nice article, thank you. But when someone needs quick and easy results, they should do what me and my team did
A few people recommended http://www.alexage.com to improve Alexa ranking.
They worked great for us and our site’s Alexa rank is now in Alexa’s top 100K.
Based on my research I think alexa rank is based solely on your domain search result on google.com.
Check your website on google search and take a note how many items come up under your domain. Go to alexa and check what is your rank.
Redo the step in 48 hours and see if your search result stay the same I bet your rank will stay the same.
The only way to increase your traffic?
1. Buy ads on Facebook, Google, Yahoo Bing
2. Spread the words around to everyone you know about your website
3. Type your domain often on the google/yahoo/bing search engine
4. Update your website with something that very useful to people
5. Be nice to everyone on the internet (*lol)
Good luck!
Good Tricks… and you can use SEO software also..
go to http://www.ipott.com and search as SEO and Pick any one and download…
Thanks for the good article, have already installed the alexa toolbar but the increase in alexa rank is very slow 🙁
many way for Alexa traffic
1. Download alexa toolbar on browser.
2. Use Alexa Rank Widget on website.
3. Links Sharing and building on SEO blog, forum, and social sites.
4.website content update
http://www.somyatrans.com/
if your visitors have Alexa toolbar installed on their browser they will help you a lot
that why most website make free advertising for that toolbar