Jerry: ‘Okay, Houston, we’ve had no problem here.’
Google ranking algorithm: ‘This is Houston. Say again please.’
Jerry: ‘Houston, we’ve had no problem. We’ve optimized several sites with .info domains and they ranked!’

Yes! .info ranks! Maybe web sites with .info domains take a little bit longer to get first page rankings but they are 100% “optimizable and rankable” as long as all the contents are unique and original. As the table shows below, 3 out of 5 keywords have gotten the first page rankings on Google and the other two are #11 and #18 after 30 days when the site was launched.

Here are some other analytics data from the same site I am domesticating above. Daily unique vistors are 60-80 and average adsense earnings are around $2. The first earnings came to me on July 8th. It was not a lot, only $0.78 but enough for me to pay for the domain. And the good news is the conversion is extremely high. 1 out of 11 is around 10% conversion rate, which shows my customized template works pretty well.

On July 19th, I got my highest earnings ($5.08) from the same site. They came from only 3 clicks, which once again proofs the importance of keyword selection. The 2.75% conversion rate is not crazily high but still above average.

I will keep adding new content as well as building links. Let’s see how high those sites can be. But for now, the experiment can be claimed successful and finally I can move on to my next project…hehe

As usually, here are few takeaways from my Snowwhite SEO journey:

1. Content is still KING!
2. Linkbuilding is absolutely QUEEN!
3. SIte Structure Matters a lot!
4. Micro Site Still Make You Money! Scale them up then you can quit your daytime job!

Lately I have been asked to find a new metric (or few) to measure some of my current SEO campaigns, to identify our SEO performance. In the past, the clients were quite satisfied with the keyword rankings and site traffic, however they are becoming more sophisticated. They need to see more metrics to define the success (value) of their SEO campaigns.

As a SEO specialist (SEO expert or whatever you name yourself), it’s important to be able to provide your clients with the results of all your analytic data. Sometimes, it’s even more important to offer few recommendations once a week or maybe two. Regardless of the type of industry you are in or the type of client you are dealing with, their SEO Success Metrics are always 5 things:

1. Measuring Visitor Traffic – Here you need to compare current site traffic to the baseline to see if there is a net gain or loss.
2. Measuring Keyword Ranking – Like what we used to do, measuring keyword rankings usually requires you to compare clients’ keyword rankings to your baseline report to see if there if a net increase or decrease
3. Measuring Increased Coverage
   - Number of total Pages Indexed
   - Number of keywords driving traffic
4. Measuring Increase in other areas
   - Goolge PageRank (some people tend to ignore this, however I personally believe it’s always good to hear sth good. If the PR is going up. Why not mention it?)
   - Number of inboundLinks (this is the place where you demonstrate your linkbuilding efforts and the site’s current link popularity)
   - Crawl frequency (how search engine friendly your site is. ex. do your on-site optimization recommendations work? )
5. Measuring Conversion/ Leads – Again, compare to your baseline report. Client will definitely be happy to know the revenue increases, however keep this in mind, conversion is not always about revenue (as least for SEOs). Sometimes emails, phone calls, sign-up members…etc.

I just love listings and get things organized. What can I say? So I decided to show you my top 8 SEO blogs worth subscribing to.

1. Matt Cutts: Wrote by Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Webspam team, who answers questions online and sometimes for the press.
2. SEO Chat: Here’s a collection of SEO tips covering some frequently-asked questions about Google.
3. Search Engine Land: Search Engine Land is a must read hub for news and information about search engine marketing and optimization.
4. SEOBook: A leading SEO resource focused on helping successful webmasters make money and increase their profits through driving targeted traffic to their sites
5. SEO Moz: SEO Moz is a hub for the search marketing industry, providing an SEO Services Marketplace, a popular SEO Blog, SEO Tools and premium content
6. Search Engine Watch: Search Engine Watch is the authoritative guide to search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO), offering the latest news about search engines.
7. Search Engine Round Table: A well-rounded view on search engines and search engine marketing from five segments of the Web population represented by senior members of the major SEO/SEM forums on the Internet.
8. Online Marketing Blog: TopRank internet marketing blog on the intersection of digital PR, social media and search engine marketing (SEO).

Presented by Jerry W. Chang, Coolest Taiwanese Guy

Back to May 2009, I was still a college student who is about to graduate from school and desperate for a SEO-related job. The article below written by Dan Kenitz gave me a very comprehensive understanding regarding when to start searching, what to prepare myself, how to apply SEO jobs, where to develop my skills and knowledge.

It’s a tough racket out there in today’s economy, especially for a Taiwanese guy like me. Unemployment is at the highest it’s been in years, as layoffs are happening all over the place and even growing companies are a little hesitant to hire new talent. In this kind of environment, it can be a difficult undertaking to find an employer who says, “okay, we’ll spend the money it takes to pay you full-time.”
Read more

It’s always good to have one more certificate on your resume, isn’t it? So lets take Google Analytics IQ test.

I got my qualification yesterday with 85 points within less than 40 minutes. If you think that’s good enough, here are few tips presented by me, Jerry Chang, the coolest taiwanese guy, 最酷的台灣人

Google Analytics IQ Test

1. Make sure you go through all the Google Analytics IQ Online Courses before taking the test. They are all free and will provide you with basic understanding about what’s Google Analytics, how it works, and how it can help your company or clients.

2. Take few hours to browse articles on Google Analytics Blog, which you might find tons of useful information about Google Analytics’ new features and how other people are using it.

3. Create a Google Analytics account. Certainly, there is no better way to fully understand a subject than doing it. Having a Google Analytics account and starting analyzing the report from your own web site will be the best start to be familiar with its interface and its functions.

4. Create a Google Adwords account and play with it a bit. Believe me, if you haven’t executed any paid search campaign and have no idea how to bid a keyword online or operate Adwords tool, some topics, like Adwords Integration, will be a torture for you.

5. Prepare $50 and a couple of hot coffee. Then lets get the party started.