The most important aspect of having niche articles published is that they tend to send visitors to your site that are looking for your product or service, not just random one time visitors that don’t offer much potential as customers.

This list includes some examples of specialized link directories and article directories:

Art-Craft-Collectible Article Directories:

www.nautical-art.org

www.collectibles-articles.com

articles.sellingcraftsonline.com

Our goals include the eventual expansion of the site to include guest posts and reports from area fishermen, guides and charter boat operators.

The site is located at: http://www.virginia-saltwater-fishing.com/.

Footnote:

No payment in the form of either money or product from a company or organization is associated with this post!

Update:

An interesting development has occurred in the story of the controversial FTC guidelines for sponsored blogging/social media. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has called upon the FTC to rescind the blogger rules, and has questioned the constitutionality of them.

See:

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/10/16/key-perspectives-on-the-ftc-blogger-guidelines

The site owner explained the importance of the upward movement on Google, Bing and other search engines saying, “This has a huge impact on our business. The search term ‘fresh seafood’ is extremely competitive and companies that need to reach seafood consumers could really benefit from this. Our website offers very affordable advertising space and the recent upward movement in search engine rankings make our site even more of a value now.”

The site blueprint places an emphasis on consumer issues and industry trends. The site has a variety of tools that provide consumers with seafood sustainability progress, certification news and other industry achievements.

Part of a family of inter-related websites, the site includes seafood recipes, news, events, photo galleries, articles and a worldwide directory of seafood businesses and organizations. Its sister site, www.commercial-fishing.org provides information for worldwide commercial fishing industries and related services.

Other sites in the family offer information on related subjects such as nautical art, saltwater fishing and several regions where seafood harvests are important components of the economy, culture and lifestyle.

Once the business owner has a clear set of goals for attracting customers via the internet, a good idea is to create a list of features that are needed for the website. A blueprint of the site may include only a single page or a menu which includes several pages. Essential to any arts and crafts website is the home page, which may feature a few photos and a brief description of products and services. Larger sites will have a full menu on the home page, listing all the important sections that clients may need to access.

Many crafters and artists will need a photo gallery which accurately depicts the products they offer. For some artists, this section may include descriptions, pricing and in some pricing even and a buy now link.

Many artists will include sections on their experience, influences, sales policies, upcoming events and other important information. These sections can eliminate mix-ups and provide customers with a clear understanding of the products and services available from the artist.

Some arts and crafts venders include a blog on their website. Blogs, news pages and events sections are extremely popular among audiences and can be a vital tool for building a portfolio of repeat customers. Most blogging tools combine artist’s entries, photos and guests comments to create an interactive experience that attracts a loyal following of readers throughout the season.

Once the website is launched, a specialist can show you cost effective ways to improve your search engine ranks, target specific search terms and bring more readers to your site. The end result of these steps should put more paying customers aboard your boat.

For help with setting up an art or crafts website, improving your search engine rankings or online advertising, visit Daybreak Web Designs.

Back to Creating an Arts and Crafts Website – Part I

The list:

http://www.technorati.com/

http://www.mybloglog.com/

http://www.blogcatalog.com/

http://www.blogged.com/

http://www.networkedblogs.com/

http://www.google.com/webmasters

Webmaster console is a reputable source for backlink checking.

2. Yahoo SiteExplorer

http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com

You can see up to 1000 backlinks for every domain but results include nofollow links as well. You can also export backlinks to TSV file.

3. Google link command

Using the link command with your website name can return backlinks for a site. Users report that the number of links to websites using the link command in Google is usually less than the number of links seen in Google webmaster console.

link:www.yourwebsite.com or link: yourwebsite

4. Google Allinanchor command

Using the allinanchor command with your website name can return a lot of backlinks for your site. This method may return links which were not reported by the google link command or yahoo siteexplorer.

allinanchor:www.yourwebsite.com or allinanchor: yourwebsite

One disadvantage of the allinanchor command is that if a website name is a generic phrase, results may contain text that are not links.

5. Backlink Tools

http://tools.seobook.com/backlink-analyzer, http://www.seoelite.com

These tools usually compile a report of backlinks along with other useful information like Google Pagerank, Alexa rating, etc.

6. Alternative search engines

These search engines give information about backlinks:

MSN – uses link operator like G or Y – link:http://www.yourwebsite.com
Exalead – uses link operator like G or Y – link:http://www.yourwebsite.com

7. Google alerts

http://www.google.com/alerts

Google Alerts can be configured to check domains periodically and send a notification email when a link is located on the web. This will detect most new links but the tool also locates pages where only a domain is mentioned but no real link is present. Google Alerts are not considered to be extremely accurate and some errors have been reported.

8. BacklinkTracking.com

http://www.backlinktracking.com

This tool reports daily how many new backlinks have been indexed by Google for a given domain. The tool can verify links, detect no-follow status and calculate pagerank of pages.

9. Backlink Watch

http://www.backlinkwatch.com/

This tool has an excellent reputation among the SEO community. It returns up to 1000 backlinks, checking for PageRanks, nofollow and other attributes.

A key aspect of most arts and craft sites will be their ability to be found via web searches. For many niche crafters, having their website ranked well for relevant search terms is vital to their success. For artist and crafters that need internet traffic, the choice of a web designer will rely heavily on their search engine optimization experience.

Before selecting their design company, the business owner should learn the basics of keyword research, create a list of important search terms that relate to their business and choose a specialist that can create a successful site. Not all web design companies specialize in search engine optimization, so it is important to review past examples of success when choosing a web design company. Do they have existing clients that rank high in search engine results? Are they up to date on the latest technology?

A reputable designer can explain all the factors that influence a website’s search engine rankings, suggest which key phrases might be important and offer services to help your site perform well on Google, Bing and other search engines. After all, the most exquisite and artful website in the world cannot serve your business unless they can find you online.

Creating an Arts and Crafts Website – Part II

The edition size is limited to 1400 standard and 160 artist proofs reproduced in fade resistant inks on acid-free paper. The image is approximately 7 by 9.75 inches and overall paper size is 12 by 14 inches. Prints are signed and numbered by the artist, and enclosed in an acid-free protective folder. Original pencil and color remarques will be available on either edition. Prints will be available in early October of 2009. Please call 410-632-2825 to place an order or visit the website to see other artwork available for sale.

The artist’s paintings have won several state stamp competitions. He won the Maryland Migratory Gamebird Stamp Design Competition in1999, the Florida duck stamp in 1996 and in the same year, the Maryland trout stamp. Wally owns and operates Makuchal’s Signs in Girdletree, MD and paints in his spare time.

A photo gallery of the latest duck stamp print as well as earlier prints is available at www.makuchalsigns.com.