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When discussing search engine optimization (SEO), external links and PageRank are likely frequently brought up. Not as frequently discussed, but of equal importance for effective SEO, are your sites internal links.

While it's true that linkbacks from external sites to your own are highly valued in the algorithms of search engines, so too are those links from your own site. Search engines such as Google are frequently indexing and crawling web content to improve the relevancy and usefulness of organic search results. During this process, each link to your site is seen as a "vote" for the page to which the link directs. Therefore, if a page on your site has a Google PageRank of 3, when a another site's page with a PageRank higher than your own links back to that page, its PageRank will be boosted by such a link.

However, just as Google counts these inbound external links as votes for your site's pages, your own site's links or "votes" for itself are equally as important. As we discussed in a recent SEO blog post, much of your site's PageRank status can be inherited and dispersed throughout your site's hierarchical ladder. Therefore, if your homepage has a Google PageRank of 7, and important, but less frequently visited pages on your site such as the "About Us" page have a lesser PageRank, you can boost the PageRank of these pages' by linking to and from them from your homepage.

With eCrowds, inserting internal links couldn't be easier. When editing or creating a page, simply highlight the text from which you'd like to link (remember-- link anchor text and it's relevancy to your site and linked content is critical), and click the "insert link" button. After doing so, you are presented with a pop-up screen that will allow you to immediately select which content to link to by giving you filters for module types (page, file, etc.) and object name.

Once you select an object, i.e "5 Benefits of B2B Success Communities" page in the example above, the "Link Location" will be pre-populated for you with a search-engine-friendly URL created from the page title.

Just click insert link, and it's that easy! Adding internal links wherever you desire takes a matter of seconds using eCrowds. Furthermore, you can use eCrowds menus and queries to automatically ensure your site maintains a strong level of internal links. Sign-up for your free eCrowds account today and see for yourself.

What are some of the words that we associate with our favorite brands or products? Depending on the brand, perhaps a few of these words include transparent, honest, reliable, and trustworthy. When it comes to website management, there are many ways companies can increase their transparency. Improving the quality and quantity of web content is certainly one of these ways. However, when it comes to tapping into prospect perspectives as an honest, reliable, and trustworthy vendor, what can you do with your website to support this goal? Opening the doors to unfiltered two-way communication is extremely important in establishing credibility as a vendor.

There are countless business benefits to opening the floodgates to two-way communication between your business and its constituents. When your customers and prospects submit ideas via an idea exchange or forum, chances are their input will be an open and honest dialogue, knowing that you as vendors are listening. This will give both your business and its stakeholders valuable insight into what's working and what may not be working as well. This gives your organization actionable ideas and feedback on which to base changes or improvements.

Additionally, when using a system like eCrowds to manage your site and its community, each forum post, idea, and discussion has its own URL, adding to your site content and enhancing search engine optimization (SEO). Ideas, discussions, comments, and forum posts are all searchable and will add to your site resources for future visitors. Furthermore, if you're getting similar feedback or questions about areas for confusion, this can make you aware of content and resource needs that you previously didn't know exist.

Lastly, don't be afraid of negative feedback. Negative attention gives your company a chance to shine in terms of how the attention is dealt with. For example, let's say you use eCrowds to automatically tweet content. As a result of a particular tweet, perhaps you generate some hesitation from stakeholders and company constituents. Use this as an opportunity to show clients and prospects how proactive and reliable your company is, by immediately addressing the issue in the public sphere. Furthermore, follow up with additional tweets and content to keep these stakeholders informed on how the area for concern is being addressed. We all read countless negative reviews, but those that stick out in the minds of most, are the ones that were transitioned into something positive.