With the demand for SEO services higher than it has ever been, SEO.com has launched a new Members Site to accommodate those who want the benefits of search engine optimization without having to spend thousands of dollars.

The Members Site, http://members.seo.com, focuses on 3 crucial areas of do-it-yourself SEO: education, tools, and support. With these areas under control, your SEO efforts will become much easier.

In the education section of the website, members will find instructional videos that cover subjects ranging from title tags to progressive enhancement. They will also have access to video Q&As, SEO documents and weekly webinars. During the webinars, different subjects are taught live, and members will have the chance to ask questions and receive instant answers during the presentation. Various subjects will be taught by different SEO.com employees who specialize in that particular field. The best part is that all webinars are archived, so you can easily access any past discussions. This section alone gives you the boost you need to start your SEO campaign right.

The tools collected here will help you run a competitive analysis, do keyword research and use our own proprietary Suck Rank tool. Tools are a necessary component for research in any SEO or PPC campaign. If we don’t have a tool that you are looking for, it will probably be added very soon. Developing new tools for our members is at the top of our priority list.

SEO.com is committed to providing members with the support they need, when they need it. We want to make sure that your search engine optimization campaigns won’t fall apart if things get difficult. If questions arise regarding any aspect of SEO, members can access our large database of frequently asked questions, submit a support ticket, or even get live help from a Search Engine Specialist.

We want our members to succeed in their SEO efforts and we are here to help! We are offering memberships at an introductory price of only $47/month. This price will not last forever. I’m not going to say it’s only available for the next 5 minutes, or until midnight, or even for the next 20 people. But the price WILL increase and if you subscribe now, you will lock in the $47 price for the life of your membership!

Suggestions are always welcome. We want to continually improve all areas of the site and hope to see our members succeed.

There is also the opportunity to become an affiliate of our new Members Site. For more information on becoming an affiliate visit http://members.seo.com/affiliates.

SEO.com’s New Members Site Has Launched is a post by SEO expert Travis Winger. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

What is Rel=”NoFollow”

The Rel=”NoFollow” link attribute made its debut back in January 2005. It was brought to the internet scene by Google to help combat comment spam for blogs and guestbooks.  The name implies that search spiders should not follow the link. What it really means is, “don’t pass on any rank to the following link” or “don’t give any score to this link.” The general idea was to limit the exposure comment spam was giving to unrelated and spammy websites. It is NOT used to keep search engines away from certain website pages.

It has since mushroomed to other areas of internet marketing and linking. Google now recommends adding it to paid/advertising links. Others suggest using it on a site’s internal links to help manage page rank. Still, many think it is hurting the internet and should be eliminated.

There has been significant confusion over the nofollow attribute for the last few years. What is it? Should we use it? Should I add it to all of the links on my site? Will it hurt my site rank?

Allow me to shed some light on the subject.

When to use or not to use the nofollow attribute:

1. DO NOT use when you have a link to a legitimate and useful website. The internet thrives on links between different sites and pages. Think of a link as a recommendation. With a link from your site to another, you are telling your readers/users the following site is useful. When you add a nofollow attribute to a link, you are effectively removing your endorsement for that webpage.

2. DO USE nofollow for paid links. This is definitely an area of debate. When choosing sides, my money lies with Google. They clearly state, “In order to prevent paid links from influencing search results and negatively impacting users, we urge webmasters to use nofollow on such links.”

3. DO USE nofollow on untrusted content, or if you don’t want to vouch for content your site is linked to. A great example of this is what nofollow was originally created for, untrusted user comments on blogs and pages. This can discourage spammers from using comment fields in your system. You may decide to remove the nofollow attribute from trusted contributors, and users who are adding value and usefulness to your content. It is common for webmasters to use follow blog comments to encourage more interaction and higher quality comments on their site.

4. DO USE nofollow on links that search engines won’t be able to use otherwise, registration or sign in pages.

There will continue to be discussion regarding when and how to use the nofollow attribute. My advice is to follow the recommendations from the search engines. After all, they are using nofollows to help rank content.

Caution! rel="nofollow" Discussion is a post by SEO expert Travis Winger. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

We currently live in a time where Search Engines rule the internet, and content is king. As companies and individuals alike try their hand at personally building their web presence, there are many factors that can make the task unbearable and overwhelming. Even for those of us who are in the web development and the marketing industry, starting a website from scratch is a somewhat daunting task.

This is where Open Source Content Management Systems (CMSs) offer some of the most cost effective, changeable and downright user friendly website development environments available.

Many CMS platforms are built in such ways that even the novice web developers can have a very functional website completely operational in a relatively short amount of time. This, however, does not eliminate the learning curve associated with these new platforms. There are a number of really good reasons to use an Open Source CMS, let me list a few:

• Cost effective – This is probably the first worry that comes to mind when trying to plan out a new website. Open Source platforms keep cost relatively low. If you use available add-ons and instructions, it’s very likely you will spend a whole lot of nothing on development.
• Installs quickly – I’ve mentioned previously how quickly even those with limited to no experience could have their website be up and running.
• Scalable and Flexible – There are more add-ons, tweeks and variations that have been created than you could ever think about installing. If there is some functionality that isn’t currently part of the general install, most likely someone has already created it and you could easily integrate it.
• Huge user groups – Need help? Answers? There are countless followers for each major Open Source platform who are ready to give sound advice related to setting up an operational site.
• Years of extensive development – Since many of the CMSs have been around for a number of years, they are relatively stable when it comes to functionality. Most of the bugs in a system are found during infant or initial stages of development. Having been around for a number of years, we should be past the worst of it.

Three of the most widely used Open Source Content Management Systems are WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. All three can be downloaded for free and installed relatively quickly on most hosting plans. In fact, many hosting providers even have applications that install the program for you without having to worry about downloading and uploading, and so on. All three are widely used, so there is a ton of support and troubleshooting information online. There are also plenty of design themes already developed for each, which makes it easy to get a pretty good site up and running very quickly.

When it comes to planning, implementing and managing your new web presence there is definitely an easy, quick and effective way to get yourself online. Consider an Open Source CMS.

Open Source Content Management Systems is a post by SEO expert Travis Winger. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.