Submit A Sitemap To Bing Webmaster New Interface

Bing Webmaster tools is a free and easy tool to optimize a blog or site for Bing search engine. It helps a link to get quick indexing on Bing search engine. You can drive more visitors to your site using Bing data on search queries, crawling and search traffic by using Bign Webmaster tool.

Bign Webmaster tool, give you opportunity to upload sitemap, controlling Bing crawler, block URLs, keywords research and so on. Few months ago, i made a post named "how to submit sitemap to bing webmaster tools", but recently i notice that, Bing change their internal interface. So, today i am going to share, how to submit a sitemap to Bing new webmaster interface.

You also can check "How to submit sitemap to yahoo"

Follow the following instructions to submit a sitemap to Bing webmaster tools.

1. Go Bing Webmaster Toolbox and click "Webmaster Tools Sign In". And then "Sign In" with your hotmail/live account. If you didn't have one, just "Sign Up".

2. Now, click on "Add Site", after that a new pop up windows will appear. Add your url and submit to bing.

3. Then, you have to verify your ownership. You can do this by two ways.

• Option 1: Place an XML file on your web server
• Option 2: Copy and paste a tag in your default webpage

Follow "Option 2" for blog. Copy the tag and paste in your template according their command. You can check an example on that page, just follow that.

4. Now, go "Crawl" to submit sitemap. In left middle side of the Crawl page, you will find "Sitemap" option. Click on it. After that, "Add Sitemap" option will appear. Click on "Add Sitemap" and submit your sitemap.

Hints & Tips earning from paid-to-click sites

If you are reading this then you already have taken a few steps in protecting yourself from possible scams. So I am sure I am "Preaching to the Choir" when I say you should be careful and research these sites before you decided to join and invest. I am going to try and and give you some pointers on how to stay safe and how to spot a possible scam.

1. Google Search - Most of you probably know this, but just in case...USE GOOGLE. It is excellent at capturing these sites and info about a possible scam. I would suggest your search term should have the site's name with the term SCAM.

Example: Dingobux Scam

When you do these kind of searches it will show you every site, forum, and blog that will tell you whether or not a site is a scam. Remember, most current members will talk about these sites especially on forums. Also if you click a link and the site is no longer up, try the "cache". Sometimes google will have the info and the site in the google cache.

2. Look over the site - What I mean by that is, test the links on the site. Are they working? If you click on a link that says "contact us" is it functional? Does the "contact us" page load? Usually if a site has more than one dead link, it can mean a sign of trouble. Either the owner has abandon the site and is just leaving it up to see if it will come back to life. Or the site is just made to look more than what is seems. Some owners will close a site down and have a new web address and new site up within days. So make sure the site is operational.

A big clue to see if a site is the real deal, look for a FORUM link. If a site has a forum, it is a good sign that the owner is the real deal. If you sign up and the forum is taken down, then that is also a sign that the owner is about to bail or payments are not being made.

Being able to communicate with the site and it's staff should be available to you. Some sites will have a Forum, a Live Chat, a phone number, email addresses, and a mailing address. If you don't see any of these things, it can mean the owner is hiding and is only in it to make money. Which means he will make what he can and run when it start failing.

And for the love of god...READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE!! So many of us are guilty of not reading the TOS. I know, it can be boring as hell! But that is the point fo the TOS. Watch out for the wordage. And take a screen shot of the TOS on the day you signes up. You never know when it might be needed later down the road.

3. Signing up - If you find something suspicious about the site through your search, and you decide to join and become a member, there are some precautions you should take.

For one, NEVER GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFO. They ask for your name? Then give a fake name. They ask for your paypal or alertpay address? Then give them a fake address. When it comes to the time for a payout, go back and enter your real Paypal or alertpay info. Only when you are ready to receive a payout and you have tested this site and you feel comfortable and safe giving this info out, then go back and change it.

The only real thing you should give them is a email address so you can confirm your account with them. And make sure it is not your main email address.

I would suggest you sign up on Gmail and use that email address when signing up on these PTC sites. Why? Well, to be safe. Cause some of these sites might be a scam, and they gather info and use it against you, or they sell it and spam the hell out of you. And you don't want that.

Another precaution you must make. Is your password. Make sure it is different, with special characters (@#%*%), and never use the same password on any other PTC site. Because a hacker can guess what your log in is and go to your other PTC account and wipe out your account.

For argument sake, lets say you are a member at Hits4Pay, and you are coming close to a payout there. And you have the same exact password from Hits4Pay on another PTC site. On this other PTC site you told other members that you are a member at Hits4pay and how great it was. So this other PTC site turned out it was a scam and the owner closed down. If this owner is sneaky, and noticed what other sites you are a member of or if he was gathering passwords and log in info, he could go to your other PTC sites and log in and change your payout method to his paypal or alertpay account and drain your account. And you wouldn't even know it. Unless you check your account details at Hits4Pay often, which most don't.

So please, be careful, use a different and difficult password.

Also, you will notice some PTC sites do not allow special characters in your password. Personally, I don't like PTC sites that don't let you choose special characters in your password. I mean if they are trying to make their member's safe, they should select that option. Most sites have that option and the administrator turns it off, or does not select it as a option to be available to it's users. Or, it could be that the site's script does not have it available.

For whatever the case may be, if you decide to join, be sure to create a password that upper and lowercase and with numbers. I can not stress this enough. There are a quite a few hackers out there that hack into users accounts through the user password.

There are some PTC sites that offer extra layer of security, like Neobux. Where you can have two passwords. If they do, use it!

4. The Ads! - OK, you now have joined this site. And they are going to pay you to view ads, or to complete offers. When you click on these ads,check them out! Find out who it is that is paying you to view these ads. Let me try to explain this to you as best as I can.

Ads that run on PTC sites are suppose to be from outside advertisers. Meaning they are paying the PTC site/owner to show their ads to you! However, most of the time that is not the case. When you see a site showing their own ads or self-sponsored ads that is a big clue that they are showing these ads to you for free. Which means no one is paying the site to show you the ads. So now you must ask yourself, how are they going to pay you when it comes time for you to cash out? If no one is paying the owner, then where is the funds going to come from?

Many sites will show their own affiliate links in their ads. Take for instance, Clickbank. Many PTC site owners are affiliates/a member of Clickbank. Which means if they sell their product to you they make a commission off of that sell. But here is the downfall of that idea, they only make profits if there is a sell. They do not make any profit off of showing you the ad or if you click on it. Only if you buy it! Which means they are "counting their chickens before they hatch" and depending on people to buy from Clickbank.

This kind of advertising can be risky and can lead a PTC site to it's doom. In order to run a successful PTC site, you must have a dependable source of incoming funds to pay your members to view these ads.

Some sites will offer premium packages, which can help alleviate cash shortages. Most members will not upgrade unless they feel safe, and I would not recommend anyone to give their money to a untested site. Wait, and make sure you have received at least one payout before you invest large amounts of money into these site. Especially if they don't offer instant payouts. 30-60 business days is a long time to wait for a payout in the PTC world. A lot can happen between that time.

Going back to the ads, a way to know if the owner is showing self advertised ads, is to check the ad out. Most of the time if you remove the frame or right click on the ad and open it in another window you will see the entire web link of the ad. If it is a clickbank ad, check the hoplink. For those who don't know what I am talking about...on a clickbank link you will see a link with a hoplink. Here is a example:

http://Username.VENDOR.hop.clickbank.net

Most hoplinks will look like that. If you see the same Username in all the clickbank ads, you can count on it being from the owner of the ptc site. Which means he is running a clickbank PTC site. And there are no real outsideadvertisers on their site.

Some sites will show success stories or their other PTC sites in their ads. Another clue to self advertising.

5. Blog - After you have joined a site and you think it is safe, I would suggest you open up a blog or site. It doesn't have to be fancy or anything.  This is a good way to spread info, and crucial info to others on whether or not this site is safe. If you think about it, you are testing this site out. What you learn from this PTC site can help others. And if the site is legit, it is a great way to earn referrals. People can sign up under you through your banners.

Make sure your blog is not a "Spam Blog" or some blog sites will delete it. Make sure you have content with useful information in your blog. Do not open up a blog with a bunch of banners and expect the blog to stay up. Add content!

6. Referrals/Packages - Some sites will offer to give you referrals for a fee. Meaning they will give you unreferred members and you can earn off of their clicks. Some of these ref packs come in a set of 15, 25, 100, 500 members. Nine times out of Ten, they are bots. Sorry to say, but that is the ugly truth. Bots are fake members who click, and the clicks tend to die all at once. Most PTC sites will have bots, and most PTC owners will deny it.

Some sites, like Neobux will rent out refs. Meaning for a period of time you can earn off of a certain member, but you must pay a monthly fee. Whether they are bot or not is still to be seen. Some members say they are. Either way, it is much better to rent refs then to buy them. At least if you rent them, you will be able to switch them out (recycle them) in exchange for new ones. Which makes Neobux a more attractive way to buy refs then it's competitors.

7. Investing - As I said earlier, do not invest until you have received your first payout. Unless you don't mind losing your money. And never invest more than what you can afford to lose. Some people will go crazy and invest thousands of dollars into PTC sites. At the time, they could afford it, but later down the road, thy wished they didn't and desperately need the money back. Don't end up like these people.

PTC sites can change within a blink of an eye. A site that was once paying can quickly become a site that is not paying. Look for these signs by reading the forum and do frequent google searches to find the signs of a failing PTC site. You start seeing these signs? Get your money out of that site and get away from that site as fast as you can!

8. Time to Cashout - The whole reason why we are there. Right? When it comes time to cash out or if you reached your minimum limit, Cash out. Don't wait, do it as soon as possible. Like I said things can change and fast. Some sites have instant payments, or some pay on a certain day of the month. Like Fusion Cash pays on the 20th of every month. Or some, pay 30 business days. The worst kind, in my opinion. If a site does not pay you within the terms you agreed upon when you first signed up, then STOP INVESTING. Do not give another nickle to that site.

However you should try to keep your account active. Most sites will allow you to stay active as long as you log in within 30 days and view one ad. Make sure you do that, or the owner will have a reason to delete your account and not pay you. Which they love to do. Cause to them that is one less account that they have to pay. Each site is different, be sure to find out if your account can go inactive and how to keep it active.

9. If you are not being paid - start gathering info. Be sure to save your receipts and credit card transactions. Take screenshots, of the site, the forum, your account, everything and anything to do with that site. Get screenshots of the staff on forums. Most of the time the owner will be a staff member. And usually the one that takes most offense when someone says the word "scam". Be sure to submit a ticket and demand answers. If you get a blanket reply, and it looks like they are not concerned about it, start taking action. Start contacting law agencies and other web sites. Here are some places where you can file a complaint.

Some PTC sites will pay a member if they threaten to report them. That is if a owner is concerned about their reputation.

I would advise against personal threats or bodily harm. Because that can lead you into a heap of trouble.

10. Update your blog/site- And finally, if the site is not paying, let others know. Don't let others fall victim of this site. Post screen shots of the proof that you have of them not paying. So when a new member comes along, and follows tip number one "Google Search" they will find your warning and stay clear of that site. Or so we hope...

With all of that said, I hope my tips help you and may you find a honest and legit ptc site. If I have forgotten something or if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment in the comment section. on this site I will try and keep this updated. Stay safe everyone...and happy earnings.

Source: ptc-investigation.com

In addition to PayPal Alternative Payment

Earn money online requires a means or method of payment online too. There are many online payment facilities available on the internet, but not the least of which requires its members have credit card. This sometimes create anxiety for some people, because many crimes in cyberspace that might ensnare the credit card users. Nevertheless there is also a means of online payment that does not require its members have credit card. The following pages can you try to register

AlertPay "My Way To Pay"

Bing Optimization

Ever since Microsoft launched its Bing search engine, it has drawn a lot of interest (and speculation) from the SEO community. On one hand, this is quite logical because Bing is intended to be one more heavy-weight player and it is expected to cut some share from Google. On the other hand, this is hardly the first time a new heavy-weight player comes to the ring, so maybe the expectations that Bing will put an end to Google's monopoly are groundless. Still, Bing is quite different (in a positive way) from the other search engines and this is its major strength.

Is Bing Really That Different?

The first impression you get when you go to Bing.com is that it is different – the background makes it cute but sure, there have been many other cases of search engines with tons of graphical frills to disguise their irrelevant search algorithms. However, when you type a search term, the results you get are a pleasant surprise because they are relevant.

It is this relevance of search results that worries SEO experts. The results you get when you search with Bing are relevant, yet they are very different from Google's. Actually, no matter if you search with Google or with Bing (or if you go to Bingle, you can compare the result sets side by side), you get relevant results and the two sets are very different from one another.

One of the most important things SEO experts are curious to know about Bing is its algorithm. Obviously, Bing's algorithm is different from Google's because when the search term is the same but the set of results is different, a difference in the algorithm is the obvious answer. Actually, the question is exactly what is different between the two algorithms and if the difference is so drastic that it makes it mandatory to reoptimize a site for Bing.

What Do I Need to Do In Order to Optimize My Site for Bing?

Wait. This is the first thing you need to do. Right now it is too early to say what steps (if any) are required in order to optimize your site for Bing.

Additionally, no matter how promising Bing looks, it is still early to predict if it will become a real competitor to Google or if it will become one more failed attempt to dethrone Google. Let's see how users react – will they start Binging more or will they stick to Google. When it becomes clear that Bing will be able to make it, then it will make sense to optimize for it as well. So for now the best you can do is wait.

Which Factors Make a Site Rank Well With Bing

As you probably guess, the exact algorithm of Bing is not publicly available and because of that there is a lot of speculation about what weighs more for Bing (in comparison to Google) and what weighs less. Many SEO experts test different search queries, analyze the results, and based on that try to figure out what of the known SEO tactics works with Bing. For instance, these tests are quite interesting.

Some SEO experts even think that Bing is actually Live Search in new clothes (i.e. user interface), while others say that there are noticeable differences between Live Search and Bing. But there is no doubt that for now Bing is a significant improvement over Live Search in terms of relevance of search results.

Bing is hardly the first time when there is no agreement in the SEO community about the intricacies of the algorithm but if we can summarize, here are some factors, which are (or at least are strongly believed to be) of importance when Bing optimization is concerned:

• Backlinks are of less importance. If you compare the first 10 results in Bing and Google, it is noticeable that all equal, the winners in Bing have less backlinks than the winners in Google. It is unclear if nofollow matters with Bing.

• Inbound anchor text matters more. The quantity of quality inbound links might be of less importance for Bing but the anchor text certainly matters more. Actually, since anchor text is one of the measurements of the quality of inbound links, it isn't much different. Get quality anchor text and you will do well in both Bing and Google.

• Link spamming won't do much for you on Bing. Since the quantity of backinks (even if they are of supreme quality) seems to be of less importance to Bing, link spamming will be even less effective than with Google.

• Onpage factors matter more than with Google. This is one of the most controversial points. Many SEO experts disagree but many also think that onpage factors matter more with Bing than with Google. Still, it has nothing to do with the 90s, when onpage factors were definitive.

• Bing pays more attention to the authority of the site. If this is true, this is bad news for bloggers and small sites because it means that search results are distorted in favor of older sites and/or sites of authoritative organizations. Age of domain is also very important with Bing – even more than with Google.

• PR matters less. When you perform a search for a competitive keyword and you see a couple of PR2 or even PR1 sites among the top 10 results, this might make you wonder. On Google this is hardly possible but on Bing it looks quite normal.

• Fresh content matters less. Bing looks a bit conservative – or maybe it just can't index sites that quickly – but it seems that fresh content is not so vital as with Google. This is related to the age of domain specifics and as a result you will see ancient pages rank high (but these ancient pages are relevant to the search query).

• Bing is more Flash-friendly. Optimizing a Flash site for Google is a bit of a SEO nightmare. It is too early to say but it looks like Bing is more Flash-friendly, which is good news to all sites where Flash is (still) heavily employed.

For now it is too early to say which factors are of primary importance with Bing. But the fact that their search results are relevant means that their algorithm is really precise. Well, maybe the relevant results in Bing are due to the fact that web masters were taken by surprise and they haven't had the time to optimize for Bing. As a result, the content is authentic, there are no SEO gimmicks and artificial pumping. We'll see if this will stay so in the future, when web masters learn how to optimize for Bing as well! (Webconf.com)

Optimizing for MSN

SEO experts often forget that there are three major search engines. While there is no doubt that Google is the number one with the most searches and Yahoo! manages to get about a quarter of the market, MSN has not retired yet. It holds about 10-15 percent of the searches (according to some sources even less – about 5%) but it has a loyal audience that can't be reached through the other two major search engines, so if you plan a professional SEO campaign, you can't afford to skip MSN. In a sense getting high rankings in MSN is similar to getting high rankings for less popular keywords – because competition is not that tough you might be able to get enough visitors from MSN only in comparison to the case when you have optimized for a more popular search engine.

Although optimizing for MSN is different from optimizing for Google and Yahoo!, there are still common rules that will help you to rank high in any search engine. As a rule, if you rank well in
Google, chances are that you will rank well in Yahoo! (if you are interested in the tips and tricks for optimizing for Yahoo!, you want to have a look at the Optimizing for Yahoo! Article) and MSN as well. The opposite is not true, however. If you rank well in MSN, there is no guarantee that you'll do the same in Google. So, when you optimize for MSN, keep an eye on your Google ranking as well. It's no good to top MSN and be nowhere in Google (the opposite is more acceptable, if you need to make the choice).

But why is this so? The answer is simple - the MSN algorithm is different and that is why, even if the same pages were indexed, the search results will vary.

The MSN Algorithm

As already mentioned, it is the different MSN algorithm that leads to such drastic results in ranking. Otherwise, MSN, like all search engines, first spiders the pages on the Web, then indexes them in its database and after that applies the algorithm to generate the pages with the search results. So, the first step in optimizing for MSN is the same as for the other search engines – to have a spiderable site. (Have a look at Search Engine Spider Simulator to see how spiders see your site). If your site is not spiderable, then you don't have even a hypothetical chance to top the search results.

There is quite a lot of speculation about the MSN algorithm. Looking at the search results MSN delivers, it is obvious that its search algorithm is not as sophisticated as Google's, or even
Yahoo!'s and many SEO experts agree that the MSN search algorithm is years behind its competitors. So, what can you do in this case? Optimize as you did for Google a couple of years ago? You are not far from the truth, though actually is is not that simple.

One of the most important differences is that MSN still relies heavily on metatags, as explained below. None of the other major search engines uses metatags that heavily anymore. It is obvious that metatags give SEO experts a great opportunity for manipulating search results. Maybe metatags are the main reason for the inaccurate search results that MSN often produces.

The second most important difference between MSN and the other major search engines is their approach to keywords. Well, for MSN keywords are very, very important, too, but unlike Google, for MSN onpage factors are dominating, while offpage factors (like backlinks for example), are still of minor importance. Well, it is a safe bet that the importance of backlinks will be changed in the future but for now they are not a primary factor for high rankings.

Keywords, Keywords, Keywords

It is hardly surprising that keywords are the most important item for MSN. What is surprising is that MSN relies too much on them. It is very easy to fool MSN – just artificially inflate your keyword density, put a couple of keywords in file names (and even better – in domain names) and around the top of the page and you are almost done for MSN. But if you do the above-mentioned black hat practices, your joy of topping MSN will not last long because, unless you provide separate pages that are optimized for Google, your stuffed pages might pretty well get you banned from Google. If you decide to have separate pages for Google and MSN, first, it it hardly worth the trouble, and second, the risk of duplicate content penalty can't be ignored.

So, what is the catch? The catch is that if you try to polish your site for MSN and stuff it with keywords, this might get you into trouble with Google, which certainly is worse than not ranking well in MSN. But if you optimize wisely, it is more likely than not that you will rank decently in Google and perform well in Yahoo! and MSN as well.

Metatags

Having meaningful metatags never hurts but with MSN this is even more important because its algorithm still uses them as a primary factor in calculating search results. Having well-written (not stuffed) metatags will help you with MSN and some other minor search engines, while at the same time well-written metatags will not get you banned from Google.

The Description metatag is very important:

<META NAME=”Description” CONTENT=”Place your description here” />

MSNBot reads its content and based on that (in addition to keywords found on page) judges how to classify your site. So if you leave this tag empty (i.e. CONTENT=””), you have missed a vital chance to be noticed by MSN. There is no evidence that MSN uses the other metatags in its algorithm that is why leaving the Description metatag empty is even more unforgivable. (Webconf.com)

Optimizing for Yahoo!

Back in the dawn of the Internet, Yahoo! was the most popular search engine. When Google arrived, its indisputably precise search results made it the preferred search engine. However, Google is not the only search engine and it is estimated that about 20-25% or searches are conducted on Yahoo! Another major player on the market is MSN, which means that SEO professionals cannot afford to optimize only for Google but need to take into account the specifics of the other two engines (Yahoo! and MSN) as well.

Optimizing for three search engines at the same time is not an easy task. There were times, when the SEO community was inclined to think that the algorithm of Yahoo! was on deliberately just the opposite to the Google algorithm because pages that ranked high in Google did not do so well in Yahoo! and vice versa. The attempt to optimize a site to appeal to both search engines usually lead to being kicked out of the top of both of them.

Although there is no doubt that the algorithms of the two search engines are different, since both are constantly changing, none of them is made publicly available by its authors and the details about how each of the algorithms function are obtained by speculation based on probe-trial tests for particular keywords, it is not possible to say for certain what exactly is different. What is more, having in mind the frequency with which algorithms are changed, it is not possible to react to every slight change, even if algorithms' details were known officially. But knowing some basic differences between the two does help to get better ranking. A nice visual representation of the differences in positioning between Yahoo! and Google gives the Yahoo vs Google tool.

The Yahoo! Algorithm - Differences With Google

Like all search engines, Yahoo! too spiders the pages on the Web, indexes them in its database and later performs various mathematical operations to produce the pages with the search results. Yahoo! Slurp (the Yahoo! spiderbot) is the the second most active spider crawler on the Web. Yahoo! Slurp is not different from the other bots and if your page misses important elements of the SEO mix that make it not spiderable, then it hardly makes a difference which algorithm will be used because you will never get to a top position. (You may want to try the Search Engine Spider Simulator and check what of your pages is spiderable).

Yahoo! Slurp might be even more active than Googlebot because occasionally there are more pages in the Yahoo! index than in Google. Another alleged difference between Yahoo! and Google is the sandbox (putting the sites “on hold” for some time till they appear in search results). Google's sandbox is deeper, so if you have made recent changes to your site, you might have to wait a month or two (shorter for Yahoo! and longer for Google) till these changes are reflected in the search results.

With new major changes in the Google algorithm under way (the so-called “BigDaddy” Infrastructure expected to be fully launched in March-April 2006) it's hard to tell if the same SEO tactics will be hot on Google in two months' time. One of the supposed changes is the decrease in weight of links. If this happens, a major difference between Yahoo! and Google will be eliminated because as of today Google places more importance on factors such as backlinks, while Yahoo! sticks more to onpage factors, like keyword density in the title, the URL, and the headings.

Of all the differences between Yahoo! and Google, the way keywords in the title and in the URL are treated is the most important. If you have the keyword in these two places, then you can expect a top 10 place in Yahoo!. But beware – a title and an URL cannot be unlimited and technically you can place no more than 3 or 4 keywords there. Also, it matters if the keyword in the title and in the URL is in a basic form or if it is a derivative – e.g. when searching for “cat”, URLs with “catwalk” will also be displayed in Yahoo! but most likely in the second 100 results, while URLs with “cat” only are quite near to the top.

Since Yahoo! is first a directory for submissions and then a search engine (with Google it's just the opposite), a site, which has the keyword in the category it is listed under, stands a better chance to be in the beginning of the search results. With Google this is not that important. For Yahoo! keywords in filenames also score well, while for Google this is not a factor of exceptional importance.

But the major difference is keyword density. The higher the density, the higher the positioning with Yahoo! But beware – some of the keyword-rich sites on Yahoo! can with no difficulty fall into the keyword-stuffed category for Google, so if you attempt to score well on Yahoo! (with keyword density above 7-8%), you risk to be banned by Google!

Yahoo! WebRank

Following Google's example, Yahoo! introduced a Web toolbar that collects anonymous statistics about which sites users browse, thus way getting an aggregated value (from 0 to 10) of how popular a given site is. The higher the value, the more popular a site is and the more valuable the backlinks from it are.

Although WebRank and positioning in the search results are not directly correlated, there is a dependency between them – sites with high WebRank tend to position higher than comparable sites with lower WebRank and the WebRanks of the top 20-30 results for a given keyword are most often above 5.00 on average.

The practical value of WebRank as a measure of success is often discussed in SEO communities and the general opinion is that this is not the most relevant metrics. However, one of the benefits of WebRank is that it alerts Yahoo! Slurp that a new page has appeared, thus inviting it to spider it, if it is not already in the Yahoo! Search index.

When Yahoo! toolbar was launched in 2004, it had an icon that showed the WebRank of the page that is currently open in the browser. Later this feature has been removed but still there are tools on the Web that allow to check the WebRank of a particular page. For instance, this tool allows to check the WebRanks of a whole bunch of pages at a time. (Webconf.com)

10 Ways to Get Traffic for Free

Getting traffic is one of the most important tasks for any web master. What is more, you can't get traffic once and then just reap the benefits. Getting traffic is an ongoing task and you must be constantly doing it, if you want to get traffic and keep it. Here are some of the ways to get traffic for free:

1. Optimize your site for search engines.

Search engines have always been a major way to get traffic for free. That is why you need to do your homework and optimize your site so that it ranks well for the keywords you target. SEO is still the most powerful way to get traffic for free and you really need to invest some time and efforts in the optimization of your site. SEO is not that difficult and if you want to get familiar with it in a nutshell, check our SEO Tutorial. If you are too busy for that, you can start with the 15 Minute SEO article.

2. Frequently update the contents of your site. .

If you expected some shocking secrets revealed, you might be a bit disappointed. One of the first steps in getting traffic for free is trivial but vital – get great content and frequently update it. In terms of SEO, content is king. If your content is good and frequently updated you will not only build a loyal audience of recurring visitors, who will often come to see what is new, but search engines will also love your site.

3. Take advantage of social bookmarking sites.

Social bookmarking sites (especially the most popular among them) are another powerful way to get traffic for free. If you want to learn how to do it, check the How to get Traffic from Social Bookmarking sites article, where we have explained what to do if you want to get free traffic from sites such as Digg, Delicious, etc.

4. Use your Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Social networks are also a way to get traffic for free. If you are popular on networks, such as Twitter or Facebook, the traffic you get from there can easily surpass the traffic from Google and the other search engines. It is true that building a large network of targeted followers on Twitter and supporters on Facebook takes a lot of time and effort but generally the result is worth.

5. Get links with other sites in your niche.

Another way to get traffic for free is from other sites in your niche. Getting links with other sites in your niche is also good for SEO, especially if you manage to get links without the famous nofollow attribute. But even if the links are nofollow (i.e. they are useless for SEO), they still help to get traffic to your site. If you manage to put your link in a visible place on a site with high volumes of traffic, you can get thousands of hits from this link alone. If you need list of sites within your niche where you could get backlinks from, check the Backlink Builder tool. However, be careful if you exchange links because linking to bad neighbors can do you a lot of harm.

6. Use any chance to promote your site for free.

Free promotion is always welcome, so don't neglect it. There are many ways to promote your site for free and some of the most popular ones include free classified ads, submissions to directories, inclusion in various listings, etc. It is true that not all free ways to promote your site work well but if you select the right places to promote your site for free, this can also result in tons of traffic.

7. Create a free product or service.

Content drives most traffic when you offer something useful. There are many types of useful content you can create and they largely depend on the niche of your site. You can have articles with tons of advice, or short tips but one of the most powerful ways to get traffic is to create a free product or service. When this product or service gets popular and people start visiting your site, chances are that they will visit the other sections of the site as well.

8. Use viral content.

Free products and services are great for getting free traffic to your site and one of the best varieties in this aspect is viral content. Viral content is called so because it distributes like a virus – i.e. when users like your content, they send it to their friends, post it on various sites, and promote it for free in many different ways. Viral content distributes on its own and your only task is to create it and submit it to a couple of popular sites. After that users pick it and distribute it for you. Viral content can be a hot video or a presentation but it can also be a good old article or an image.

9. Use offline promotion.

Offline promotion is frequently forgotten but it is also a way to get traffic for free. Yes, computers are everywhere and many people spend more time online than offline but still life hasn't moved completely on the Web. Offline promotion is also very powerful and if you know how to use it, this can also bring you many visitors. Some of the traditional offline ways to promote your site include printing its URL on your company's business cards and souvenirs or sticking it on your company vehicles. You can also start selling T-shirts and other merchandise with your logo and this way make your brand more popular.

10. Include your URL in your signature.

URLs in forum signatures are also a way to get traffic for free. There are forums, which get millions of visitors a day and if you are a popular user on such a forum, you can use this to get traffic to your site. When you post on forums and people like your posts, they tend to click the link to your site on your signature to learn more about you. In rare cases you might be able to post a deep link (i.e. a link to an internal page of the site) rather than a link to your homepage and this is also a way to focus attention to a particular page. Unfortunately, deep links are rarely allowed.

Getting traffic for free is a vast topic and it is not possible to list all the ways to do it. However, if you know the most important ways – i.e. the ways we discussed in this article and you apply them properly, it is guaranteed that you will be able to get lots of traffic for free. (Webconf.com)