This year IT Show starts on Thursday, 11 March and last day on Sunday, 14 March at the Suntec Singapore. The opening hours of the IT Show 2010 is from 12 noon to 9pm daily.

Because I wrote about these computers, digital cameras and electronics events in a couple of my blogs over the past years, I have collected some very hot keywords. And traffic for IT Show related search is already going up. Visitors to my blog post on IT Show has nearly doubled.

What Keywords to Use for IT Show 2001

Well, the obvious one is “it show”. However, people who knows about the IT Show and intend to visit the show are more likely to use “it show 2010″.

But “it show” is such a generic terms and search engines will tend to show you search results for international websites instead of those talking about the IT Show 2010 in Singapore at Suntec City. So people are adding Singapore to the search terms and using “it show 2010 singapore” instead.

Here’s a list of top search phrases which brought traffic to my blog over the past 2 days.

• it show 2010
• it show 2010 singapore
• singapore it show
• singapore it show 2010
• pc fair singapore 2010
• singapore pc show 2010
• singapore pc fair 2010
• comex singapore 2010
• pc fair 2010
• pc show 2010 singapore
• it fair 2010 singapore
• computer fair 2010
• it show singapore 2010
• pc fair singapore
• computer fair 2010 singapore
• it fair singapore 2010
• it fair 2010
• singapore it fair 2010
• pc fair 2010 singapore
• singapore computer fair 2010
• pc fair

Still Not Too Late to SEO for IT Show 2010

It is not too late to write a good blog post on IT Show and get it ranked in Google and Yahoo. Avoid very hot keywords such as “it show“. Choose a longer search phrase to target. Alternatively, add brand names such as VAIO and Acer if you intend to write about laptops or Canon Powershot and Nikon Coolpix if you write about digital cameras.

If you are using AdWords to advertise on Google search or content pages, you may want to use the exact match for the above keywords. You may end up paying less and get better result in terms of converting visitors into customers.

Here’s why:

• Google implemented Personalized Search for everyone.
• Facebook directs more online users than Google as reported in San Francisco Chronicle on Feb 15, 2010.

And if you have been following this blog, you would have read about my post on Smart SEO is Not just about #1 Ranking on 29 November 2008. Ultimately, you are optimizing the conversion of your web pages.

Time to see beyond SEO for Google

Even when Facebook was in its infancy back in 2007, I urged businesses to make themselves visible on social networks in the article “Time to see beyond SEO for Google” published on ZDNet Asia.

Conversion Rules

A website’s KPI should not be measured by the number of visitors alone. More traffic doesn’t always means more money, otherwise Facebook should be making more money than Google by now.

There is a great dollar difference between general traffic and targeted traffic.

Marketers must know how to define the most wanted response on each web page and measure that number. Use Smart SEO to help you to get your most wanted response and improve your bottom line.

Keywords Used to Search for Natas Fair

Beside the hot keywords, you may also want to look at the Longtail keywords. As expected, internet users in Singapore are getting move savvy and we see that local search is getting more granular. Here’s a sample of the Natas related search terms:

• natas offers
• natas package
• natas 2009 offers
• natas fair offers
• natas travel deals
• natas travel package
• natas fair best deal
• best deals at natas
• natas fair opening hours
• cheap holiday package travel natas

It doesn’t take a genius marketer to see that these are words used by people who are ready to buy a travel package, book hotel accommodation, purchase travel insurance and spend lots of money at a click…

Travel Agents Did Not Advertise on Google for Natas Fair

If you were AdSense publisher, you would be quite disappointed by the dearth of Google advertisers in Singapore for such an important travel event. You probably wonder why travel agents were not advertising on Google for Natas but spent hundred of thousands of dollars on trade fairs, print advertising and TV ads.

Natas Fair 2010

I had the feeling that Google resellers in Singapore were not working hard enough to look for travel agents to advertise on the search engine. Or they didn’t have the experience to promote for a one-time event that lasted for only 3 days. Hopefully, with better tools provided by Google e.g. Google Insights, they will do a better job and we will get more Natas Fair 2010 related ads in Google soon.

Does that means we will get drastically Google search results soon?

I guess so. In fact, Google introduced Personalized Search for Everyone since 2 days ago. So you should be seeing quite different results from your customers and competitors!

What is Google Caffeine?

Google Caffeine is a new algorithm to index and rank a web page. So it will affect your page ranking on Google result.

Here’s what Google trying to achieve with Caffeine Update… “a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions.”

Google Caffeine + Personalized Search = Bad News

Together with the Personalized Search for Everyone, your web page will be ranked very differently on your customer’s computer. And if you have been doing things which Google doesn’t like then expect your web page to disappear from Google results.

If your earning depends on Google Search then bad news…

Cutts said, “I’m not sure I would say ranking is dead but it’s not as important as it used to be. The fact is the smart SEOs are not just necessarily looking at the rankings. They are looking at conversion, they are looking at their server log. It’s great if you’re ranking for a phrase but unless that leads to sales that doesn’t help you very much.”

“The challenge is not to pay so much attention to ranking, pay attention to traffic, pay attention to conversions and keep building good content and don’t worry about ‘can I show people that I rank number one for my trophy phrase.’”

Ranking is Dead

Ranking is dead… because of personalization and intent-based search. Spiders are getting smarter. Now, you may want to have video and Flash on your web page.

Smart SEO is more just traffic; it’s about your customers and conversion!

Flowers and florists are very competitive terms for both organic and paid listing. So I want to use a longer keyphrase that is related to both flower and florist.

Why not Flower, Flower Shop, Florist or Online Florist?

Longer keyphrases are easier to SEO and rank in the first 2 pages of the search engine result listing. Main reason being there are lesser competitions. Most site owners will target the very competitive one-word terms and two-word phrases such as flowers, florist, flower shop, online florist and so on.

Also people who entered longer keyphrases tend to be in the advanced stage of the buying cycle so the chance of her/him making a purchase is higher.

In the case study: Online Flower Delivery in Singapore, I wrote that according to OneUpWeb.com keyword study in 2005, 3-word and 4-word terms were more profitable. Owners of new site will have faster result when targeting such longer keyphrases.

Update [16 Nov 2008]: The blog post title “Online Flower Delivery in Singapore” is now ranked #6 in the 1st page of Google search result for the search terms online flower delivery in singapore and #9 for online flower delivery singapore.

When I look for VPS hosting, WHM/CPanel is a must because I am used to it and too lazy to learn to use a new hosting control panel.

No Cheap VPS Hosting in Singapore

If you are like me, who have been looking around for cheap VPS hosting in Singapore, you will find that you have to pay S$90 (about US$60) a month for a VPS plan with WHM/CPanel.

As compared with the VPS plan based in the US, the same configuration would probably cost you less than US$30 a month.

Why Look For Cheap VPS Hosting?

But why do you want it cheap.

I wanted VPS hosting because of the root access and ability to customize my own web server applications. Also for the reliability and managed support. I ended up using Essential VPS Plan offered by ServInt after trying testing several other Web hosting services over the past 2 months.

You probably wanted VPS for reliability and stability too. And reliability and stability don’t come cheap.
Higher priced VPS plans are usually more reliable because of less over-selling and better hardware e.g. Dual Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processors, RAID-10/SATA II, Off-site Backup and so on.

However, if you are willing to use a US-based datacenter, you can still look for a bargain at WebHostingTalk’s VPS Hosting Offer Forum.

Why Not Try Data Centers at the West Coast, USA

Make sure you select to host at the data center located in the west coast or Los Angeles, USA. Servint LA is a good choice for you and your visitors. Your websites will get faster response when access from Singapore and other Asia Pacific region compared to data centers located in other part of the USA.

My presentation went well. There was no question asked about SEO Copywriting – either I am so good that the audience understood everything or they were too confused to ask!

I knew it was OK because several people told me that the presentation was lively and entertaining!

I was pleasantly surprised when David Temple, Regional Head of Search with Ogilvy, came up to me, exchanged namecard and asked if I would do in-house SEO training. David was a visiting professor/lecturer in Beijing and Gurangzhou.

You can find out more about David at his blog – SEO SEM Training & Certification.

Keynote Speeches

Day 1

The first day keynote was presented by Gillian Muessig, President of SEOmoz.org, spoke about The “Business” of Search and how SEO agencies can flourish despite the difficult economic condition. Her presentation was candid and filled with real-life examples.

What others thought of Gillian Muessig’s Keynote:

• SMX Singapore Keynote – Gillian Muessig

Day 2

Harrison Gevirtz of Gevirtz Media presented the second day keynote speech on Monetising Social Media. Harrison is just 16 year old and currently studying at Santa Barbara High. Do not be fooled by his young age! His keynote was truly “mind-opening”. I now can understand better the how, what, where, when, why young people use Facebook and MySpace.

to be continued…

It is stated clearly in Google’s Hidden text and links – Webmaster Help Center that the use of hidden text “can cause your site to be perceived as untrustworthy”.

Does it mean that a PR7 site can hide text using CSS and not get penalized?

I discovered the hidden text several months ago when trying to figure out how Google generate sitelinks for some of these high PR sites.

When I searched for free keyword tool, Wordtracker was Number 1 and appeared to be “authoritative” site with a list of sitelinks.

Initially, I didn’t want to blow up the matter and waited for the PageRank update to see if Google will take action and downgrade Worktracker.com but nothing changed. Worktracker continues to be a “trusted” site.

Now that we know Google “tolerated” certain hidden text technique using CSS, you may want to try it on a MFA or throw-away site. Here’s how Wordtracker did the trick.

Hide Text with CSS Position:Absolute & Left:-999em

The hidden words to be hidden were enclosed within <em> and </em> tags.

Click Here to View Full-size Image

The <em> attribute was modified with absolute position and the words were placed way out of the viewable area.

Click Here to View Full-size Image

Warning: Use the above Hidden Text CSS technique at your own risk! You may be penalized by Google eventually.

Site owners are concerned if their web servers are fast enough for their customers. To those who run e-commerce sites with shopping cart, how quickly a web page loads up is very important to your visitors.

So How Do You Know If Your e-Commerce Site Is Fast Enough?

You can do this simple benchmark test.

1. Clear or delete all your browser cache.
If you do not know how to clear your browser cache, view these video tutorials:

2. Load up your e-commerce website.
(Time it with a stopwatch if you have to.)

3. Load up Amazon.com.

If you feel your website loads up as fast as Amazon.com then you are ok.

You can also compare the loading time of your site vs your competitors’.

If your web server is slow to response, then you may want to see if your mail server(and anti-virus software) is taking up valuable CPU/RAM resources and consider migrating your email to Google Apps to improve the performance of your web server without upgrading any existing hardware.