Today, I was researching on the ideal level of folder hierarchy for a website from the SEO aspect. I would like to have a best structure for future expansion of my next project  which is setting up a Blog for my fish export business. I have 2 options; either setup the blog in Sub-Domain or Sub-Folder structure just as below:

Sub-Domain Structure: http://Blog.AquariumFishExporter.com/

Sub-Folder Structure: http://AquariumFishExporter.com/blog/

In February, I attended Edmund Ng’s SEO Training. He mentioned that search engine put less weight on indexing pages above 2nd levels. For example, the URL (http://pohee.com/Level-1/Level-2/Level-3), pages in "Level-3" level receives less focus by search engine crawler.

Search engine crawlers expect the important content to be found within the first two or three subfolders. by GetInPosition.

My Choice

I will go ahead with the Sub-Folder implementation. The current domain (www.AquariumFishExporter.com) is having a page rank 2. I would like to boost it by adding more page under the main domain. If I go with the Sub-Domain option, the search engine will treat it as a new domain. It takes times to re-build the domain.

Conclusion, the new blog address will be http://AquariumFishExporter.com/Blog/<Post Name>.

I was expanding my brother’s fish business websites - AquariumFishExporter.com. One of the SEO way of bringing up the position in search engines is building up the Reciprocal link database.

What is Reciprocal Link?

A reciprocal link is a mutual link between two objects, commonly between two websites in order to ensure mutual traffic. Example: PohEe.com have websites. If Shally’s website links to PohEe’s website, and PohEe’s website links to Shally’s website, these websites are reciprocally linked.

Back to the business, I saw a lot of nice Fish Information sites and I would like to link up with them. The easiest way is sending them a Reciprocal Link Request Email. I am lazy to write it from scratch, so I google it a bit with keyword "Reciprocal Link Request Email". I am glad to find a website on sharing all the email template for Reciprocal Link Request Email.

Here is some of the templates by David Callan:

I saw your site!
Link exchange!
Reciprocal link exchange!
I just visited your [Recipient’s URL] website - well done!
Your links page
Please consider [Your URL] for a link exchange!
Want to increase your pagerank?
Increase your link popularity!
I have linked to your [Recipient’s URL] site!
Your resources pages
Hi [Recipient’s name] - I run [Your URL]…
Link trade proposal for your consideration / review!
Can you send me a description of your site for my links page?

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Nowadays, I was researching on internet marketing. I read tons of blogs and articles. They keep talking about TRAFFIC (not traffic jam :))- it is Web Traffic. One of the most common way to achieve a high volume of traffic is create your own affiliate program. One of the key component of the program is Affiliate Banner. Then, try to place your banner everyway such as forum, blogs and websites. Your banner must be attractive and meaningful. Here is some tips to create a Effective Affiliate Banner

• Small file size
  • Ideal size is between 10K and 15K.
  • Why? because People have no time to wait. A large .gif or .jpg file takes a few seconds to download, wherein the visitor may have either left the page or just scrolled down the page without seeing the banner.
  • Conclusion: Big File Size = No See = No Click
• A clear call to Action on your banner.
  • Most common message for the call are ‘click here’ or ‘sign up now’, where you guide the user to click on the banner.
  • The main reason this has to be included is that people are so used to off-line advertising where people just see banners, without having to do anything. Frankly speaking, I am one of those They are usually not aware that they have to click on the banner to find out more! So make it a point to have a call to action on your banner ad to improve the effectiveness of the banner.
  • Conclusion: People are stupid. Give them an instruction to CLICK.
• Small Animation
  • People are always more attracted by moving elements in a banner.
  • As the whole idea of banner advertising is to grab the attention of the reader, using small animation in the banner is sure to achieve this.
  • However, make it small because if the file for the animation is large, then its downloading time will be long.
  • Conclusion: (Small Animation with small file size) = Attraction and Efficient
• Color
  • Use bright colors like blue, green and yellow. This is proven as it have a higher CTR than black and white banners. The color red should be used sparingly.
  • Conclusion: Bright Color = Comfortable + higher CTR
• FREE
  • Do you like the word "FREE". I guess everybody like it. Thus, It is quite advisable using the word “free” in the banner as you are bound to get more clicks this way.
  • Of course, you should decide on this free offer, according to the object of the banner ad. Show the reader that clicking on the banner will prove to be beneficial to him or her.
  • Conclusion: People is CHEAP. Like to look for FREE things. FREE = CATCH.
• Ask a Question
  • People will pay more attention when looking at question compare to normal fact text.
  • You could place questions like ‘do you want more traffic’ or ‘need help with taxes’ in the banner, wherein the answer is found on your website.
  • People don’t have the patience to read long banners; so keep them short. When people click on a banner, they want to go directly to the web page to find the information they want. They don’t have the patience to end up on the home page to go hunting for the required information.
  • Once they enter your homepage, then it is the time to kill them!
  • Conclusion: Question = more attention.