What is Colon Hydrotherapy?

Colon Hydrotherapy is a procedure of removal of waste from the large intestine. This is achieved by introduction of filtered and temperature regulated water in the colon. The waste in the colon becomes soft and loose and is evacuated by natural peristalsis (muscular contraction). This process is repeated some times during a session. There has to be adequate nutrient and fluid intake as well as exercise. The procedure is also called as "colonic irrigation" or "colonics".

Reasons for opting for Colon Hydrotherapy
improving metabolic efficiency
due to abdominal pain, continuous headaches, migraines, back or shoulder pain, aching joints, gout
medical reasons like pre- and post-surgery, barium x-ray, stool samples, geriatrics
intestinal distress like constipation, diarrhea, bloat, carbohydrate indigestion, diverticulitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, colitis, inability to lose weight, scar tissue and adhesions, skin conditions like psoriasis, shingles and eczema
as a preventive measure or during lifestyle change
for emotional problems which are felt to be physiologically rooted in the intestines
Effects
Colon cleansing : the toxic excrement is broken down and this can no longer inhibit elimination. Toxins that are accumulated over a period of time are gently removed and the colon starts to function normally
Exercising the colon : toxins result in weakening of the colon and disturbance in its function. Colonics improves peristalsis due to which the colon naturally moves the material. The process is similar to taking the colon to the gym
Reshaping the colon : the collection of toxins results in enlargement of the colon. Due to colon hydrotherapy, the bulging pockets and narrow, spastic constrictions are eliminated and the natural state is attained
Hydration : water is absorbed in the body through the colon and this increases the volume and circulation of the blood. The toxins are diluted and flushed out. Due to this the elimination through the kidneys, skin and bowels is increased. The final result is that the circulatory and cardiovascular systems become more efficient
Advantages
reduction in weight and increase in mental capacity and metabolism
expulsion of parasites and decrease in the demineralization of body
increased sensation of well-being and relief from inflammation and edema
compression of the neighboring organs disappears or weakens. Organs like liver, heart and lungs are relaxed and there is a feeling of lightness
gynecological disorders like cystitis and dysmenorrhea are relieved. Also risk of complications after surgery is reduced as the natural immunity becomes stronger
intestinal transit problems like constipation and diarrhea are corrected without using prescription drugs
pressure on the intra-abdominal area, hips and lumbar column is reduced
changes the environment from alkaline to acid
users do not become dependent on colonics
there are no lingering effects and after an hour the user is back on his feet
the device has a disposable component and hence there is no contamination from one user to another as well as the skin is not pierced. Due to all this, HIV infection can not take place
Colonics and Geriatrics
The population of senior citizens is increasing each year. Due to lack of exercise, lack of fiber, poor nutrition and dehydration this group suffers from constipation. Colonics provides good relief from constipation and enables to maintain good health and vitality.

Intestinal cleanse
Within the walls of the colon, waste material of 5 to 40 pounds weight may get accumulated. Appropriate colon hydrotherapy helps in the elimination of these excess and unwanted pounds as well as the dull and irritable feeling caused by them. Thus, this is an efficient method of detox, relaxation and establishing a body-mind-spirit connection.

By Abhay Burande

Before you buy a breast pump read this...

Most of the obstetrician and gynecologist promote the use of breast pump to encourage women to continue breast feeding. A breast pump can be godsend for nursing mom. By extracting milk so you can store it in bottles for later feedings, it lets you leave your baby for more than two or three hours between nursings. This offers obvious advantages to working mom. But even if you don't work, pumping frees you to go out for the evening or long afternoon.

There are two main types of breast pumps, manual and mechanical. The manual pumps are very affordable and comfortable. The advantages manual pumps have on other mechanical or electicity operated ones are portability, no dependency on electricity, easy, convenient, comfortable and its capacity to pump more milk faster than electric pump.

Breast pump is a valuable tool to help women continue breast feed longer, thereby providing their baby with best possible nutrition. A breast pump provide mothers their independence, more so if they are working women. Proper planning will certainly help women to incorporate breast feeding into their daily life without compromising on independence and nutrition to the new born baby.

Get Rid of Excess Fat

Aim for healthy weight - NHLBI recommendations

If you are overweight or obese, carrying this extra weight puts you at risk for developing many diseases, especially heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. Losing this weight helps to prevent and control these diseases. The NHLBI guidelines provide you with a new approach for the measurement of overweight and obesity and a set of steps for safe and effective weight loss.

Weight loss to lower elevated blood pressure in overweight and obese persons with high blood pressure.

Weight loss to lower elevated levels of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides, and to raise low levels of HDL-cholesterol in overweight and obese persons with dyslipidemia.

Weight loss to lower elevated blood glucose levels in overweight and obese persons with type 2 diabetes.

Use the BMI to assess overweight and obesity. Body weight alone can be used to follow weight loss, and to determine the effectiveness of therapy.

The BMI to classify overweight and obesity and to estimate relative risk of disease compared to normal weight.

The waist circumference should be used to assess abdominal fat content.

The initial goal of weight loss therapy should be to reduce body weight by about 10 percent from baseline. With success, and if warranted, further weight loss can be attempted.

Weight loss should be about 1 to 2 pounds per week for a period of 6 months, with the subsequent strategy based on the amount of weight lost.

Low calorie diets (LCD) for weight loss in overweight and obese persons. Reducing fat as part of an LCD is a practical way to reduce calories.

Reducing dietary fat alone without reducing calories is not sufficient for weight loss. However, reducing dietary fat, along with reducing dietary carbohydrates, can help reduce calories.

A diet that is individually planned to help create a deficit of 500 to 1,000 kcal/day should be an intregal part of any program aimed at achieving a weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week.

Physical activity should be part of a comprehensive weight loss therapy and weight control program because it:1. modestly contributes to weight loss in overweight and obese adults,
2. may decrease abdominal fat,
3. increases cardiorespiratory fitness, and
4. may help with maintenance of weight loss.


Physical activity should be an integral part of weight loss therapy and weight maintenance. Initially, moderate levels of physical activity for 30 to 45 minutes, 3 to 5 days a week, should be encouraged. All adults should set a long-term goal to accumulate at least 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, and preferably all, days of the week.

The combination of a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity is recommended since it produces weight loss that may also result in decreases in abdominal fat and increases in cardiorespiratory fitness.

Behavior therapy is a useful adjunct when incorporated into treatment for weight loss and weight maintenance.

Weight loss and weight maintenance therapy should employ the combination of LCD’s, increased physical activity, and behavior therapy. After successful weight loss, the likelihood of weight loss maintenance is enhanced by a program consisting of dietary therapy, physical activity, and behavior therapy which should be continued indefinitely. Drug therapy can also be used. However, drug safety and efficacy beyond 1 year of total treatment have not been established.

A weight maintenance program should be a priority after the initial 6 months of weight loss therapy.

Top 30 Health & Fitness Tips

A garlic a day: Garlic is the mother of all cures. Researchers in Liverpool have found that 5ml of garlic extract lower levels of a disease-causing chemical by up to 48 per cent.

Eat wholegrain foods: Make sure you have whole-grain bread, rice or pasta at least four times a week and you will reduce the chance of having cancer by 40 per cent.

Take care of your skin: Always wear sun-screen lotion during summers. It is advisable to use winter care creams to overcome the harsh and cold winds. The best cure is to smile through and your skin will shine with an extra dash. It's no big secret!
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Eat plenty of fish: Fish is the recommended diet for a longer healthier life. Studies have found that those who regularly ate fish were up to one-third less likely to get heart diesease than those who ate it less than once a month.

Try Tea: Tea is always good. Being a heavy tea-drinker can never have nagative effects. The protective effects of tea increase with the amount drunk, and people who are regular tea drinkers are the least likely to die of a heart attack.

Stop smoking: Do not smoke your health away. Nicotine pathces, gums or inhalers might work for some individuals, or other methods, from hypnosis to acupuncture. More you are to smoke, more likely your are to develop cancer or heart disease.

Walk for Health: There is nothing better than walking. Walking a mile everyday, or taking reasonable exercise three times a week, promises to reduce the risk of heart disease, as well as strengthens bones and keeps them strong.
Buy a blood pressure instrument to monitor your B.P. before and after the walk.

Never sleep over a backache: It is never advisable to sleep over a backache. Research shows that people who take to their beds with backache take the longest time to recover. Those who avoid bed-rest and continue normal activities as much as possible have less pain.

Water spells health: Water flushes out the toxins. A good amount of liquid intake helps the entire system and of course is best for curing skin ailments. The average man needs 2.9 litres, or about 12 cups of water, a day and woman needs about 2.2 litres.

Stop bad breath: You can prevent that unfriendly odour. It is caused by oral bacteria. A toungue scraper may help, but dental care may be needed. Mouth rinses are effective, as are flossing and brushing teeth twice a day.

Slow down on the junk: Research shows that eating too many high-fat-food contributes to high blood-cholestrol levels, which can cause hardening of the arteries, coronory heart disease and stroke.

Cut back on salt: Health Organisation recommend no more than five grams a day. Too much salt can lead to stroke and heart problems.

Drink wine: Research suggests that the equivalent of a couple of glasses of wine a day may be good for health. It can also help you keep a good mental frame.

Spouse can matter: A man in poor health in his 50s is six times more likely to be affected if married to a woman who is also in poor health.

Eat right for better teeth: Your pearly whites can gleam. Eat apples, oranges, celery, carrots and high fiber green.

Make love: There is no better medicine than to have sex. people who have sex at least twice a week get protective boost from their immune systems. Of course it relaxes the mind.
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Crash diets don't work: The so called new-age diets do not add to health prospects. There is no easy way to lose weight so the best way is to do it over a period of time.

Coffee is good: Researchers have found that two to four cups of coffee daily can lower the risk of colon cancer by 25 per cent.

Being overweight is dangerous: Loose the extra kilos. Over weight people cut 20 weeks of their life for every excess kilogram, according to new research.
Keeping a personal weight machine at home really helps. Buy one now!

Supplement with selenium: Research has shown that people who took a daily supplement of selenium had a 37 per cent reduction in cancers.

Lower you cholesterol: Work on reducing your cholestrol. This can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke even when your level is not high. Exercise to reduce weight.

Asprin is a wonder drug: Asprin can actually do wonders. It helps to reduce the risk of conditions such as heart disease and cancers, including of the colon, oesophagus, stomach, rectum, prostrate. cent.

Change your job: If the workplace is what bothers you. Simply quit! Consider becoming a salesperson. Salespeople are least likely to have a work-related illness.

Socialising is good: Meeting friends and relatives is recommended. Weekly socialising improves the memory, concentration and problem solving skills.

Learn to relax: Unwind, take up a hobby and start socialising. This fights stress and depression.

Fruits and vegetables help: Have at least five portions of vegetables and fruit a day, especially tomatoes, red grapes.

Sing to stay healthy: Singing is good for the mind and body. it is relaxing, improves breathing and muscle tone.

Vitamins are vital: A multivit a day keeps the tablet away, but be sure it contains at least 200 meg of folic acid.

Sleep well: There is nothing like a good sleep. Sleep primes the immune system. Most people need between seven and nine hours of sleep a night.

Or just hum...: Humming helps. Daily humming is a good way to increase ventilation in the sinuses.

All about Blood Pressure

What Is High Blood Pressure?

Blood pressure rises and falls during the day. When blood pressure stays elevated over time, it is called high blood pressure or hypertension. Blood pressure is typically recorded as two numbers — the systolic pressure (as the heart beats) over the diastolic pressure (as the heart relaxes between beats). A consistent blood pressure reading of 140/90 mm Hg or higher is considered high blood pressure, another term for hypertension.

What is systolic blood pressure?

Systolic pressure is the force of blood in the arteries as the heart beats. It is shown as the top number in a blood pressure reading. High blood pressure is 140 and higher for systolic pressure. Diastolic pressure does not need to be high for you to have high blood pressure. When that happens, the condition is called “isolated systolic hypertension,” or ISH.

What is diastolic blood pressure?

Diastolic pressure is the force of blood in the arteries as the heart relaxes between beats. It’s shown as the bottom number in a blood pressure reading.
The diastolic blood pressure has been and remains, especially for younger people, an important hypertension number. The higher the diastolic blood pressure the greater the risk for heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. As people become older, the diastolic pressure will begin to decrease and the systolic blood pressure begins to rise and becomes more important. A rise in systolic blood pressure will also increase the chance for heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure. Your physician will use both the systolic and the diastolic blood pressure to determine your blood pressure category and appropriate prevention and treatment activities.

Why Is High Blood Pressure Important?

High blood pressure is dangerous because it makes the heart work too hard. It also makes the walls of the arteries hard. High blood pressure increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, the first- and third-leading causes of death for Americans. High blood pressure can also cause other problems, such as heart failure, kidney disease, and blindness.

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

The causes of high blood pressure vary. Causes may include narrowing of the arteries, a greater than normal volume of blood, or the heart beating faster or more forcefully than it should. Any of these conditions will cause increased pressure against the artery walls. High blood pressure might also be caused by another medical problem. Most of the time, the cause is not known. Although high blood pressure usually cannot be cured, in most cases it can be prevented and controlled.

How do I know if I have high blood pressure?

High blood pressure often has no signs or symptoms. The only way to find out if you have high blood pressure is to be tested for it. Using the familiar blood pressure cuff, your doctor or nurse can easily tell if your blood pressure is high.

How Is Blood Pressure Tested?

Having your blood pressure tested is quick and easy. Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and recorded as two numbers systolic pressure “over” diastolic pressure. For example, the doctor or nurse might say “130 over 80” as a blood pressure reading.
Both numbers in a blood pressure reading are important. As we grow older, systolic blood pressure is especially important.
To test your blood pressure, your doctor will use a familiar device with a long name. It is called a sphygmomanometer (pronounced sfig’-mo-ma-nom-e-ter), and may look something like this.

Effect of High blood Pressure on Your Body
Brain: High blood pressure is the most important risk factor for stroke. Very high pressure can cause a break in a weakened blood vessel, which then bleeds in the brain. This can cause a stroke. If a blood clot blocks one of the narrowed arteries, it can also cause a stroke.

Eyes: High blood pressure can eventually cause blood vessels in the eye to burst or bleed. Vision may become blurred or otherwise impaired and can result in blindness.

Arteries: As people get older, arteries throughout the body “harden,” especially those in the heart, brain, and kidneys. High blood pressure is associated with these “stiffer” arteries. This, in turn, causes the heart and kidneys to work harder.

Kidneys: The kidneys act as filters to rid the body of wastes. Over time, high blood pressure can narrow and thicken the blood vessels of the kidneys. The kidneys filter less fluid, and waste builds up in the blood. The kidneys may fail altogether. When this happens, medical treatment (dialysis) or a kidney transplant may be needed.

Heart Attack: High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attack. The arteries bring oxygen-carrying blood to the heart muscle. If the heart cannot get enough oxygen, chest pain, also known as “angina,” can occur. If the flow of blood is blocked, a heart attack results.

Congestive Heart Failure: High blood pressure is the number one risk factor for congestive heart failure (CHF). CHF is a serious condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to supply the body’s needs.

Tips for having your Blood Pressure Taken
› Don’t drink coffee or smoke cigarettes 30 minutes before having your blood pressure measured.
› Before the test, sit for five minutes with your back supported and your feet flat on the ground. Rest your arm on a table at the level of your heart.
› Wear short sleeves so your arm is exposed.
› Go to the bathroom prior to the reading. A full bladder can change your blood pressure reading.
› Get two readings, taken at least two minutes apart, and average the results.
› Ask the doctor or nurse to tell you the blood pressure reading in numbers.
› What device can I use to take my own blood pressure?
› Tests at home can be done with the familiar blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope, or with an electronic monitor, such as a digital readout monitor. Also, be sure that the person who will use the device reads the instructions before taking blood pressure readings. Your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist can help you check the device and teach you how to use it. You also may ask for their help in choosing the right one for you. Blood pressure devices can be bought at various places, such as discount chain stores and pharmacies.
 

II. Keywords – the Most Important Item in SEO

for every search engine – actually they are what search strings are matched against. So you see that it is very important that you optimize your site for the right keywords. This seems easy at first but when you get into more detail, it might be a bit confusing to correctly determine the keywords. But with a little research and thinking the problem of selecting the right keywords to optimize for can be solved.
1. Choosing the Right Keywords to Optimize For



It seems that the time when you could easily top the results for a one-word search string is centuries ago. Now, when the Web is so densely populated with sites, it is next to impossible to achieve constant top ratings for a one-word search string. Achieving constant top ratings for two-word or three-word search strings is a more realistic goal. If you examine closely the dynamics of search results for popular one-word keywords, you might notice that it is so easy one week to be in the first ten results and the next one– to have fallen out of the first 30 results because the competition for popular one-word keywords is so fierce and other sites have replaced you.

Of course, you can include one-word strings in your keywords list but if they are not backed up by more expressions, do not dream of high ratings. For instance, if you have a site about dogs, “dog” is a mandatory keyword but if you do not optimize for more words, like “dog owners”, “dog breeds”, “dog food”, or even “canine”, success is unlikely, especially for such a popular keyword. The examples given here are by no means the ultimate truth about how to optimize a dog site but they are good enough to show that you need to think broad when choosing the keywords.

Generally, when you start optimization, the first thing you need to consider is the keywords that describe the content of your site best and that are most likely to be used by users to find you. Ideally, you know your users well and can guess correctly what search strings they are likely to use to search for you. One issue to consider is synonyms. Very often users will use a different word for the same thing. For instance, in the example with the dog site, “canine” is a synonym and it is for sure that there will be users who will use it, so it does not hurt to include it now and then on your pages. But do not rush to optimize for every synonym you can think of – search engines themselves have algorithms that include synonyms in the keyword match, especially for languages like English.

Instead, think of more keywords that are likely to be used to describe your site. Thinking thematically is especially good because search engines tend to rate a page higher if it belongs to a site the theme of which fits into the keyword string. In this aspect it is important that your site is concentrated around a particular theme – i.e. dogs. It might be difficult to think of all the relevant keywords on your own but that is why tools are for. For instance, the Website Keyword Suggestions Tool below can help you to see how search engines determine the theme of your web site and what keywords fit into this theme. You can also try Google's Keyword Tool to get more suggestions about which keywords are hot and which are not.

When choosing the keywords to optimize for, you need to consider not only their relevancy to your site and the expected monthly number of searches for these particular keywords. Very often narrow searches are more valuable because the users that come to your site are those that are really interested in your product. If we go on with the dog example, you might discover that the “adopt a dog” keyphrase brings you more visitors because you have a special section on your site where you give advice on what to look for when adopting a dog. This page is not of interest of current dog owners but to potential dog owners only, who might be not so many in number but are your target audience and the overall effect of attracting this niche can be better than attracting everybody who is interested in dogs in general. So, when you look at the numbers of search hits per month, consider the unique hits that fit into the theme of your site.
 

2. Keyword Density

After you have chosen the keywords that describe your site and are supposedly of interest to your users, the next step is to make your site keyword-rich and to have good keyword density for your target keywords. Keyword density is a common measure of how relevant a page is. Generally, the idea is that the higher the keyword density, the more relevant to the search string a page is. The recommended density is 3-7% for the major 2 or 3 keywords and 1-2% for minor keywords. 

Although there are no strict rules, try optimizing for a reasonable number of keywords – 5 or 10 is OK. If you attempt to optimize for a list of 300, you will soon see that it is just not possible to have a good keyword density for more than a few keywords, without making the text sound artificial and stuffed with keywords. And what is worse, there are severe penalties (including ban from the search engine) for keyword stuffing because this is considered an unethical practice that tries to manipulate search results.

3. Keywords in Special Places


Keywords are very important not only as quantity but as quality as well – i.e. if you have more keywords in the page title, the headings, the first paragraphs – this counts more that if you have many keywords at the bottom of the page. The reason is that the URL (and especially the domain name), file names and directory names, the page title, the headings for the separate sections are more important than ordinary text on the page and therefore, all equal, if you have the same keyword density as your competitors but you have keywords in the URL, this will boost your ranking incredibly, especially with Yahoo!.
a. Keywords in URLs and File Names

The domain name and the whole URL of a site tell a lot about it. The presumption is that if your site is about dogs, you will have “dog”, “dogs”, or “puppy” as part of your domain name. For instance, if your site is mainly about adopting dogs, it is much better to name your dog site “dog-adopt.net” than “animal-care.org”, for example, because in the first case you have two major keywords in the URL, while in the second one you have no more than one potential minor keyword.

When hunting for keyword rich domain names, don't get greedy. While from a SEO point of view it is better to have 5 keywords in the URL, just imagine how long and difficult to memorize the URL will be. So you need to strike a balance between the keywords in the URL and site usability, which says that more than 3 words in the URL is a way too much.
Probably you will not be able to come on your own with tons of good suggestions. Additionally, even if you manage to think of a couple of good domain names, they might be already taken.
File names and directory names are also important. Often search engines will give preference to pages that have a keyword in the file name. For instance http://mydomain.com/dog-adopt.html is not as good as http://dog-adopt.net/dog-adopt.html but is certainly better than http://mydomain.com/animal-care.html. The advantage of keywords in file names over keywords in URLs is that they are easier to change, if you decide to move to another niche, for example.

b. Keywords in Page Titles

The page title is another special place because the contents of the <title> tag usually gets displayed in most search engines, (including Google). While it is not mandatory per the HTML specification to write something in the <title> tag (i.e. you can leave it empty and the title bar of the browser will read “Untitled Document” or similar), for SEO purposes you may not want to leave the <title> tag empty; instead, you'd better write the the page title in it.

Unlike URLs, with page titles you can get wordy. If we go on with the dog example, the <title> tag of the home page for the http://dog-adopt.net can include something like this: <title>Adopt a Dog – Save a Life and Bring Joy to Your Home</title>, <title>Everything You Need to Know About Adopting a Dog</title> or even longer.
c. Keywords in Headings

Normally headings separate paragraphs into related subtopics and from a literary point of view, it may be pointless to have a heading after every other paragraph but from SEO point of view it is extremely good to have as many headings on a page as possible, especially if they have the keywords in them.

There are no technical length limits for the contents of the <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, ... <hn> tags but common sense says that too long headings are bad for page readability. So, like with URLs, you need to be wise with the length of headings. Another issue you need to consider is how the heading will be displayed. If it is Heading 1 (<h1>), generally this means larger font size and in this case it is recommendable to have less than 7-8 words in the heading, otherwise it might spread on 2 or 3 lines, which is not good and if you can avoid it – do it.
 

Top 10 Costly Link Building Mistakes

Link building is one of the most important SEO activities but this certainly doesn't mean that you should build links at any price – literally and figuratively. Link building can be very expensive in terms of time and money. There are many costly link building mistakes and here are some of the most common:

1 Check if backlinks have a “nofollow” attribute
Link exchanges are still one of the white hat ways to build backlinks but unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous webmasters, who will cheat you. One of the scams is when you pay somebody for a backlink, it suddenly disappears or has the “nofollow” attribute. That is why you should check from time to time if the link is still there and if it doesn't have the “nofollow” attribute.


2 Getting good quality links but with useless anchor texts
It is great when PR of the site you are getting links from is high but when the anchor text is “Click here!” or something like that, such a link is barely useful. Keywords in the anchor text are vital, so if the backlink doesn't have them, it isn't a valuable one. Analyzing the anchor texts of links takes time but the Backlink Anchor Text Analyzer tool can do the hard job for you.

3 Getting an image link (when a text link with keyword is possible)
Sometimes when web masters hurry to get backlinks, they skip minor details, such as anchor text. Yes, an image link is great and it could even bring you more visitors than a text link (if the image is attractive, of course and users click it) but for SEO purposes nothing beats a keyword in the anchor text.


4 Not using ALT text if image link is the only possibility
Image links might be the worse option than text links but if an image link is the only possibility to get a backlink, don't reject it. However, make sure that the ALT text of the image link has your keywords – this is more than nothing.

5 Getting backlinks from irrelevant websites
Now, this mistake is really a popular one! When hunting for backlinks, you should concentrate on relevant sites only. If you have a dating site, getting links from a finance one is not valuable. It is true that it is not easy to find relevant sites to get links from but unless your site is in a very narrow niche, chances are that there are hundreds or even thousands of relevant sites you can get a backlink from. If you need a list of such sites for your niche, try the Backlink Builder and see what suggestions it can give you.


6 Getting backlinks from sites/pages with tons of links
A backlink is more valuable, if it comes from a page, which is not cluttered with tons of other backlinks. Many pages have 200, or more links and if your link is one of them, this isn't a great achievement. On the other hand, many directories put the “nofollow” attribute on nonpaid links, so actually even if there are 200 links on page and most of them are “nofollow” (but yours isn't), this still counts.

7 Links from pages spiders can't crawl
A link might look perfectly legitimate (i.e. keywords in the anchor text and no “nofollow” attribute) and still it might not be a link. This is especially an issue with link exchanges because you put a link to the other site but the other site doesn't do the same for you. Links Google can't index can be placed on dynamic pages or simply on pages, which are not indexed by Google because robots.txt bans it. That is why it doesn't hurt to check from time if the pages your links are placed on are accessible to spiders. The Search Engine Spider Simulator tool can help you do this in no time at all.


8 Explicitly selling links
There is hardly a web master who hasn't heard that paid links can hurt your rankings but still many web masters don't miss the chance to make a few bucks. If you really want to sell links, you'd better use the specialized link selling services, such as Backlinks.com because they are more discreet. However, have in mind that while some of the paid links networks try to hide the fact that the links are paid, the rest are not that discreet. Also, maybe the worst gaffe you can make is to include phrases in website like “Buy 5 PR links for $10”or any other hint that you are selling links. You can include “Advertise here!” or similar messages and still de facto sell paid links but this is not as explicit as listing your prices for links.

9 Linking to sites with poor reputation
Linking to sites with poor reputation, also known as “bad neighbors” is one of the worst mistakes you can make. When you link to such sites, for Google this means that you endorse them and this results in penalties for you. That is why you must absolutely always check the sites (and their reputation) first before you link to them. Even if you are offered a lot of money to link to a site with poor reputation, you'd better decline the offer because otherwise your rating with search engines will suffer and this will cause you a lot of problems.

10 Linking to good sites gone bad
Even if you check carefully the sites you link to, sometimes it happens that a site, which used to be more or less decent all of a sudden starts publishing porn ads or other objectionable content. That is why it doesn't hurt if you check not only that the outbound links you have are not broken but also where they lead to.

Links are very important and that is why you should pay attention to what links you are getting. It is not a waste of time to monitor what's going on with your links and in addition to the tools listed in the article, you can also try the Backlink Summary tool.

Introduction – What Is SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is often considered the more technical part of Web marketing. This is true because SEO does help in the promotion of sites and at the same time it requires some technical knowledge – at least familiarity with basic HTML. SEO is sometimes also called SEO copyrighting because most of the techniques that are used to promote sites in search engines deal with text. Generally, SEO can be defined as the activity of optimizing Web pages or whole sites in order to make them more search engine-friendly, thus getting higher positions in search results.

One of the basic truths in SEO is that even if you do all the things that are necessary to do, this does not automatically guarantee you top ratings but if you neglect basic rules, this certainly will not go unnoticed. Also, if you set realistic goals – i.e to get into the top 30 results in Google for a particular keyword, rather than be the number one for 10 keywords in 5 search engines, you will feel happier and more satisfied with your results.

Although SEO helps to increase the traffic to one's site, SEO is not advertising. Of course, you can be included in paid search results for given keywords but basically the idea behind the SEO techniques is to get top placement because your site is relevant to a particular search term, not because you pay.

SEO can be a 30-minute job or a permanent activity. Sometimes it is enough to do some generic SEO in order to get high in search engines – for instance, if you are a leader for rare keywords, then you do not have a lot to do in order to get decent placement. But in most cases, if you really want to be at the top, you need to pay special attention to SEO and devote significant amounts of time and effort to it. Even if you plan to do some basic SEO, it is essential that you understand how search engines work and which items are most important in SEO.
1. How Search Engines Work



The first basic truth you need to learn about SEO is that search engines are not humans. While this might be obvious for everybody, the differences between how humans and search engines view web pages aren't. Unlike humans, search engines are text-driven. Although technology advances rapidly, search engines are far from intelligent creatures that can feel the beauty of a cool design or enjoy the sounds and movement in movies. Instead, search engines crawl the Web, looking at particular site items (mainly text) to get an idea what a site is about. This brief explanation is not the most precise because as we will see next, search engines perform several activities in order to deliver search results – crawling, indexing, processing, calculating relevancy, and retrieving.

First, search engines crawl the Web to see what is there. This task is performed by e piece of software, called a crawler or a spider (or Googlebot, as is the case with Google). Spiders follow links from one page to another and index everything they find on their way. Having in mind the number of pages on the Web (over 20 billion), it is impossible for a spider to visit a site daily just to see if a new page has appeared or if an existing page has been modified. Sometimes crawlers will not visit your site for a month or two, so during this time your SEO efforts will not be rewarded. But there is nothing you can do about it, so just keep quiet.

What you can do is to check what a crawler sees from your site. As already mentioned, crawlers are not humans and they do not see images, Flash movies, JavaScript, frames, password-protected pages and directories, so if you have tons of these on your site, you'd better run the Spider Simulator below to see if these goodies are viewable by the spider. If they are not viewable, they will not be spidered, not indexed, not processed, etc. - in a word they will be non-existent for search engines.

After a page is crawled, the next step is to index its content. The indexed page is stored in a giant database, from where it can later be retrieved. Essentially, the process of indexing is identifying the words and expressions that best describe the page and assigning the page to particular keywords. For a human it will not be possible to process such amounts of information but generally search engines deal just fine with this task. Sometimes they might not get the meaning of a page right but if you help them by optimizing it, it will be easier for them to classify your pages correctly and for you – to get higher rankings.

When a search request comes, the search engine processes it – i.e. it compares the search string in the search request with the indexed pages in the database. Since it is likely that more than one pages (practically it is millions of pages) contains the search string, the search engine starts calculating the relevancy of each of the pages in its index to the search string.

There are various algorithms to calculate relevancy. Each of these algorithms has different relative weights for common factors like keyword density, links, or metatags. That is why different search engines give different search results pages for the same search string. What is more, it is a known fact that all major search engines, like Yahoo!, Google, MSN, etc. periodically change their algorithms and if you want to keep at the top, you also need to adapt your pages to the latest changes. This is one reason (the other is your competitors) to devote permanent efforts to SEO, if you'd like to be at the top.

The last step in search engines' activity is retrieving the results. Basically, it is nothing more than simply displaying them in the browser – i.e. the endless pages of search results that are sorted from the most relevant to the least relevant sites.
2. Differences Between the Major Search Engines



Although the basic principle of operation of all search engines is the same, the minor differences between them lead to major changes in results relevancy. For different search engines different factors are important. There were times, when SEO experts joked that the algorithms of Bing are intentionally made just the opposite of those of Google. While this might have a grain of truth, it is a matter a fact that the major search engines like different stuff and if you plan to conquer more than one of them, you need to optimize carefully.

There are many examples of the differences between search engines. For instance, for Yahoo! and Bing, on-page keyword factors are of primary importance, while for Google links are very, very important. Also, for Google sites are like wine – the older, the better, while Yahoo! generally has no expressed preference towards sites and domains with tradition (i.e. older ones). Thus you might need more time till your site gets mature to be admitted to the top in Google, than in Yahoo!.