SEO Tips and Tricks from a Web Content Writer

One of the perks of writing for people who are into SEO is that you get to learn how these people implement search engine optimization. I have been writing for people who are into SEO and I was able to glean some SEO tips and tricks that I have applied in my blogs.Here are some of the SEO tips and tricks that I have learned as a web content writer:

1. Originality of article is very important. Never copy or plagiarize contents from other sites because search engines like google and yahoo skip duplicate contents so it will be much easier for them to index websites.


2. Write about things with lesser keyword competition. You have higher chances of dominating the search engines if you write about things that few or no people has written about yet. I have applied this in this site with my How to Remove the Funny UST Scandal AVI Virus post and so far this has been effective. This also applies to my Philippine election blog because I started blogging about the 2007 Philippine elections when few people has made posts about it. You can make use of keyword variance if you prefer a particular topic to write about.

3. Optimize your article and title for SEO. Your title should not only be catchy but should include your main keyword. As for you article, make sure that you have sufficient number of words (preferred number of words is 400) and good number of paragraphs (usually 3 to 5 paragraphs are preferred). The main keyword also needs to be included in the first few sentences of your article. Related keywords should be included in your article.

•     Note: There are people who overstuff their articles with keywords but 3 to 4 related keywords in the article will do for niche sites with a number of keyword related articles. As for the "required" number of articles in a niche site, 20 to 26 keyword related articles are often prescribed.

4. Spam. I mean spam legally and with that, I mean submitting an article with your link to ezinearticles.com and different versions of your article to article submission sites. You can use article spinning tools to make this easier.

While some of these SEO tips and tricks really did wonders to my websites, I still have to do some blog experiment to determine the feasibility of the other SEO tactics.

Paypal Uses Outdated 5 Peso Bill Image

This image is attached by paypal in their email "Launching Local Bank Withdraw" sent to paypal account holders:

 

 

 

What is this 5 peso bill thing used by paypal? I haven't seen this bill for years. I hope paypal people will be able to update their money pics and images with the new Philippine bills. Five peso coins are being used these days you know. I think it will be a lot better to show images of a 5 peso coin instead but again, who will withdraw 5 pesos from their paypal account? Withdrawing less than 7,000 pesos from paypal account will cost 50 Pesos.

Duh, I made this post to glean some humor from paypal. My hubby's withdrawal transaction has been pending for a week now.

Pending Paypal Withdraw Transaction

Update:The fund is finally transferred to the debit card.

Last week, January 24, 2008, hubby made a withdraw transaction from his paypal funds to his EON debit card. Withdrawal transactions from paypal to debit card, as far as our experience is concerned, generally takes only a day or two before the withdraw transaction is marked completed in the recent activity table. We already sent a message to paypal's customer service and hopefully they will be able to put some light on the situation.

I googled for philippine pending paypal withdrawals and realized that we are not the only ones who are having this slow processing of paypal to debit card / credit card withdrawals. A certain Louis has commented at pinoymoneytalk that "A LOT of people are stuck in that pending status".

Maybe this pending paypal withdraw transaction problem is partly caused by the new services offered by paypal. Just recently, withdrawing Paypal funds to Philippine Banks has become available. I also noticed that paypal seems to be having frequent site maintenance lately.

***

Blog Writing Project: 5 Best Tutorials

There were 71 entries to DailyBlogTips.com’s blog writing project: tutorials but I picked my 5 best blog post tutorials based on how I find the tutorials useful and informative. Here are my top 5 favorites:

1. How To Run A Fantabulous Blog Contest
This is a must read tutorial for all bloggers who want to take advantage of blog contests to earn more feed subscribers, more traffic and more link backs. I am planning to hold a blog contest in one of my blogs and this post will surely serve as my blog contest checklist.

2. A tutorial on mastering Digital Photography in minutes!
I have been scouring online for photography tips and tricks. I have actually been spending a lot of time yesterday taking photos of flowers, toys, chairs, etc. in the hope that I can improve the way I take pictures. I have found a new hobby in photography and this tutorial is exactly one of those photography tips and tricks articles that I have been looking for.

3. Gaining Backlinks With SEO Friendly Web Directories
I want to improve my sites’ ranking in the search engines and of course this post’s links to seo friendly web directories will surely help.

4. Protect Your Blog And Counter Copyright Thefts
I was a newbie blogger writing my posts on wordpress.com early last year and I got very pissed off by plagiarists and blog content thieves who would get my contents and paste them in google adsense monetized websites. I hate people who monetize their blogs using other people’s write ups. This tutorial is surely helpful for people who want to do something about plagiarism.

5. How to Write Scannable Content: A 6-Step Approach
This article is very helpful for bloggers like me who want to write web reader-friendly articles in their websites. I hope other bloggers who joined the blogging project will take note of the pointers enumerated in this post. I have read some blog writing project entries which could have been very informative but the blog post structure needed some makeover.

Here are the entries of the other participants:

How to list an eBay auction for maximum profit by Mike Panic.

How to go from $0 to $7000 per month and back to $0 again by Patrick.

Make Money With a Poor Mans BANS (Build a Niche Store) by Guy Patterson.

How To Make Money Online By Exploiting Your Grandma (An Easy 7 Step Program) by Sucker.

Google Adsense Beginners Guide by Iulian

How I made $1,000+ from Dead Blogspot Blogs with SedoParking! by Jacky

A 5-Minute Method to Redirect Your Affiliate Links by Muhammad.

Self-Portrait (with Knits) by Deb.

Tutorial on Keeping the Wrong Man Away by Fairyshirley.

How To Stop Worrying by Dee.

How To Prevent Aging by Chris.

How to Start a Low Carb Diet by Jo.

Zero to Rhythm in 12 Days by Amberlynn.

How To Install WordPress - A Visual WordPress Guide by Jeff.

Google Analytics for n00bs - Using statistics by Viraj.

How to make a Killer Blog by Honeytech.

Backup guide for bloggers by Mehmet.

What is a Blog and How to Read it by Lana.

Tutorial: How to print blog articles the smart way by Jacob.

A complete guide: How to make your post attractive using images by Vijay

5+1 Ways of promoting your Blog/Site/Brand name in your college by Ashfame.

8 Effective Ways to Increase RSS Readership by Tejvan.

Backing Up Wordpress by Dan Cole.

How to Feature Your Best Posts in Your Sidebar by Matt.

Effective Linking With Your Old Post in 10 Steps by Dexter.

How To Launch a Blog Successfully? by Mr. Gee.

How to incorporate Google Custom Search engine with Adsense into your Wordpress blog by Zaheer.

How to Install WordPress (Chinese) by Young

How to Add More Sidebar Text Widgets by Lori.

Double Your FeedBurner RSS Numbers Overnight by Joel.

How To: Showing Only a Post Excerpt in WordPress by Kyle.

Display User Welcome Message by Mike.

Absolute Guide to Losing Readers by Ronald.

Guide to Cure Acne by Jeni.

The Perfect Homemade Pie Crust ~ A Tutorial with Pictures ~ by Jo-Lynne.

How to Take Someone Down that is MUCH Bigger than You by Max.

Fussy’s Handy Ways To Ruin Your Marriage by Mrs. Fussypants.

Shopping at Adambeauty.com - simple tutorial by Paris.

How to Write a Memoir to Remember by Nancy.

How To Write A Letter of Complaint to Your Bank by Pettinger

How to buy Wedding Invitations Online by Rhonda.

Questions on Economics You’ve Always Wanted to Ask by Tejvan

WFMW: Jon Udell’s Library Lookup by Melanie.

Tutorial: How to Write a Business Letter by Chrissy.

How To Eat Healthy At Fast Food Joints by Levi.

Possessive vs. Plural: Getting it Right by Corner Scribe.

Tutorial on Forward Motion Application with Transcription and Video by Rewsnat.

How to do your Due Diligence when purchasing land on eBay by Carol.

Drain and Flush Your Water Heater To Extend Its Life by Chester.

Strategic SEO - building an optimal keyword attack formula for bloggers by Lex.

5 Easy Steps To Oodles Of Search Engine Traffic For Your WordPress Blog by Moshin.

Optimize your Blog Post for Google - Tips that you might not have heard by Shankar.

How to transfer a domain from Yahoo to Godaddy by Valerie.

DOs and DON’Ts - Colour by Vivien

How do you make a scroll box for HTML code? by Melanie.

How to connect your Laptop/PC/Computer to your TV by Aseem.

Ghid de instalare Windows XP (Romanian) by Napster.

Google Docs to HTML — cleanly… by Scott.

How to extract and open .daa files for free by Sumesh.

How To Digital Ink Your Drawings Using Flash by Aywren.

Boost the Volume in QuickTime Player by Ashwin.

How to make the most using RSS reader by Kriz.

How to Remove CD/DVD Scratches Using a Toothpaste by Rhodilee.

How to remove Virus from USB Drives by Madhur.

How to RSS like a Rockstar… (Part 1) by Lucy.

How to Play Downloaded Videos on Your iPod, Xbox 360, or DVD Player by Engtech.

Como criar sua pandoras battery para o psp (Portuguese) by Leandro.

How To Assemble And Build A PC by JohnTP.

How-To: Import Audiobook CDs to iTunes by Britne.

Withdrawing Paypal Funds to Philippine Banks Now Available

At last, withdrawing funds from Philippine based paypal accounts is now much easier. Getting your paypal money is not just limited to getting it through your credit card or debit card. Paypal has finally made withdrawing funds to Philippine bank account, yes not just US bank accounts, available.

Philippine banks / bank accounts that can receive paypal money:

No list provided by Paypal All local banks can receive paypal funds but your bank account should be in Peso Account not dollar account. You may also refer to this table of bank codes from pinoymoneytalk. The bank code is required when you register your bank account. This table currently includes bank codes of Metrobank, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) / BPI Family Savings Bank, Citibank / Citibank Savings, Citibank / Citibank Savings and Chinabank. If yours is a BDO (banco de oro), check this post for details.

Here is the list of Philippine Bank Codes released by Paypal:

BANK NAME	9 digit bank code
ALLIED BANKING CORP	010320013
AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND	010700015
ASIA UNITED BANK	011020011
BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS	010030015
BANGKOK BANK	010670019
BANK OF AMERICA	010120019
BANK OF CHINA	011140014
BANK OF TOKYO	010460012
BANCO DE ORO (& EPCIB)	010530667
BANK OF COMMERCE	010440016
BANK OF THE PHIL ISLANDS	010040018
CHINA BANKING CORP	010100013
CHINA TRUST COMML BANK	010690015
CITIBANK N.A.	010070017
DEVT BANK OF THE PHILS	010590018
DEUTSCHE BANK	010650013
EAST WEST BANK	010620014
EXPORT & INDUSTRY BANK	010860010
FUJI BANK	010640010
HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANK	010060014
INTL COMML BANK OF CHINA	010560019
INTL EXCHANGE BANK	010680012
JP MORGAN CHASE BANK	010720011
KOREA EXCHANGE BANK	010710018
INTL NEDERLAND BANK	010660016
LAND BANK OF THE PHILS	010350025
MAYBANK OF THE PHILS	010220016
METROPOLITAN BANK & TRUST CO	010269996
PHIL BANK OF COMMUNICATION	010110016
PHIL TRUST COMPANY	010090039
PHIL NATIONAL BANK	010080010
PRUDENTIAL BANK	010150018
PHIL VETERANS BANK	010330016
RIZAL COMML BANKING CORP	010280014
SECURITY BANK & TRUST CO	010140015
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK	010050011
UNITED COCONUT PLANTERS BANK	010299995
UNION BANK OF THE PHILS	010419995
UNITED OVERSEAS BANK	010270189

How to Get Your Bank code

If your bank is not listed here, inquire from your bank's customer service or personally visit your bank for inquiry.

Processing remains at 5-7 days after you submit your withdrawal request.

Refer to the chart below:

Day/Time Requested_test	Day/Time Available (Days are one full week after the request is made)
	Mon by 17:00 PHT	Tues by 17:00 PHT	Wed by 17:00 PHT	Thurs by 17:00 PHT	Fri by 17:00 PHT
Wed by 17:00 PHT					x
Thurs by 17:00 PHT	x
Fri by 17:00 PHT		x
Weekends - Sunday by 17:00 PHT		x
Mon by 17:00 PHT			x
Tues by 17:00 PHT				x

Note that the availability of funds can be affected by bank policies and holidays

Fees
7,000.00 PHP or more: Free
for 6,999.99 PHP or less: 50.00 PHP

Related Blog Posts and What bloggers think about this development:

Paypal to Philippine Bank Withdrawal Service

PayPal Bank Transfers Catch UnionBank Off-Guard

How to Remove the Funny UST Scandal AVI Virus

I was really pissed off today because of this Funny UST scandal AVI virus that keeps pestering me everytime I send messages via yahoo messenger. I was really shocked when I saw the cursor automatically buzzing my YM buddies and sending messages that say "tropen dis ganda nakakatawa". Worse, my current status message even displayed this: "sino gusto funny ust scandal pm nio ko".



I tried to delete all funny ust scandal icons in my PC. I even tried to uninstall my yahoo messenger and reinstalled it again but the Funny UST Scandal AVI Virus keeps coming back. Thankfully, I was able to download the Funny UST Scandal Avi.Exe Remover, a Funny UST Scandal Virus Removal Tool I have learned from techpinoy.blogspot.com.

If you want to remove that %$##@@@@!!!! Funny UST scandal virus in your PC, just

1. download the Funny UST Scandal Avi.Exe Remover zip. Use this link: http://www.geocities.com/six519/Remover.zip


2. Double click remover.exe and


3. click on the "patayin ang tangahing virus button".

This will automatically eliminate the Funny UST scandal AVI virus from your PC.
Share this post to your friends whose computers are compromised by the Funny UST scandal virus.

Should I Upgrade My Paypal Account?

I have been receiving paypal payments since paypal has allowed
Philippine based paypal users to receive paypal funds.
Today though, I received this message when
I tried to accept a paypal payment that is sent to me
as payment for the articles I have written for an Asian based Magazine:

For Option 1 (Upgrade to a Premier account and accept payments), it says,
"If you expect to receive more than 5 credit or debit card payments per year, or are building a business, we suggest upgrading to a Premier account."

For Option 2, (Keep your Personal account status and accept this payment), it says "Choose this option if you expect to receive fewer than 5 credit or debit card payments per year. Personal account lets you accept 5 credit or debit card payments annually. You can accept 5 more credit or debit card payments before Oct. 12, 2008."

This is the first time that I need to approve a payment that is sent to me. This is also the first time that I received a payment in SGD (Singaporean Dollars) and not in US Dollars. My concern is that the Philippine primary currency is PESOS and not SGD. I wonder if this prompt appears because of the different currency that I received.

Should I upgrade my account? If I get regular assignments from that Magazine that I write for, then I really need to upgrade my account. I dont know if companies like smorty, paypal and reviewme use debit card or credit card to send paypal funds because I have been receiving payments from them too.

Computer Mice and Keyboards Spread Highly Contagious Virus

Warning, the norovirus, a highly contagious virus which causes food poisoning, epidemic gastroenteritis and stomach flu can spread through computer mice and keyboards.

A norovirus outbreak in an elementary school in Washington DC last February, was reported to have been traced back to a contaminated computer equipment. A computer mouse and keyboard in a first grade classroom were tested positive of the norovirus when samples were taken from different surfaces around the school to find the source of the contamination.

Epidemiologist Shua Chai recommends people of hand washing especially after they use shared objects such as computer keyboards and mice. Computer mice and keyboards should also be disinfected on a regular basis with diluted bleach to eliminate potential viral and bacterial hazards.

How to Remove CD/DVD Scratches Using a Toothpaste

If you are getting problematic with those scratches in your favorite CDs or DVDs, you might want to try out removing the CD/DVD scratches using a toothpaste. Yep, that colgate toothpaste you use when you brush your teeth. I learned about this trick from a post at listikal.com.

Here are the steps on how you can remove CD/DVD scratches using your toothpaste:

1. Get the right toothpaste. Before you start to actually put the toothpaste in your CD, make sure that you are using the right toothpaste. Spare those "toothpastes with crystals" for your teeth because they might worsen the condition of the CD. The white classic toothpaste will be best.

2. Smear the toothpaste throughout your scratched CD or DVD

3. Remove the toothpaste from your disk by rinsing it off in running water

4. Dry your disk using a soft, clean cloth

Important: this process might worsen your CD's condition so make sure that you try out the process first using those CDs you intend to junk.