Anchor Top

can a carabiner with the strength of 1700 pounds be used as a rock-climbing anchor? i just found some old (not to old) carabiners that say (1700 pounds) or 8kn i think i was just wondering if there were acceptable carabiners for a typical top-rope anchor for rock-climbing i figured instead of buying a real expensive one, why not use the ones that i already have ??? Actually, no. 8KN (the # of pounds is irrelevant), is about 1/3 of the strength of most locking carabiners. They should be plenty strong, but I still wouldn't use them.

Irideus Timothys Orange Caddis Nymph Trout Fly Fishing Flies Steelhead Wet Fly Gymboree Spring Summer Girls TopsSkortsShortsCapris EUC 5 6 7 HELENS HUNGARIAN HERITAGE RECIPES Desserts by Clara M Czegeny Vintage Cross White Crystal Silver Pendant Necklace Vintage Style Scissors Clippers Bronze Pendant Necklace Gambling Protection Series by Steve Forte Card Cheating Learn how the cheats do Jedidiah Anchors Aweigh T Shirt Black The Catchers of Heaven a trilogy By Michael Wolf UFOs Extraterrestrials Mount Clip On Flat Screen TV Compatible To xBox 360 Kinect Sensor PS3 Move Eye Irideus 1 Dozen Deal WTD SCURVY Wooly Bugger Trout Fly Fishing Flies Steelhead Anchor Hocking EAPC Sugar bowl Creamer Divided Dish OYSTER PEARL Clear Depression Glass Candle Holder Authentic Middle Columbia River Stone Artifact BMW Carpet Floor Mats 325 328 330 335 Sedan Wagon 2006 2011 Black Irideus 3 Variant Wooly Bugger 10 9 Flies Trout Fly Fishing Flies Steelhead Fly The Devil Wears Prada Lauren Weisberger Very Good Book BMW Front Rubber Floor Mats E46 325xi 330xi Sedan Wagon AWD 1999 2005 Black ALL About Eve DVD Box set 10 disc BMW Front Rubber Floor Mats E46 323 325 328 330 Sedan Wagon 1999 2005 Beige Vintage Estate 18K Gold Aquamarine Pendant Necklace Vintage Navy Dress Blue Officer Jacket LCDR Vintage Clear Glass Hand Blown Chicken Covered Dish Hen on Nest FRANK SINATRA 8x10 HAND COLOR TINTED PHOTOGRAPH HOLLYWOOD LEGEND ACTOR SINGER BMW Carpet Floor Mats 525i 528i 530i 535i 545i 550i 2004 2010 Gray BMW Carpet Floor Mats E46 325xi 330xi Sedan Wagon AWD 2000 2005 Beige BMW Front Rubber Floor Mats 525i 528i 530i 535i 545i 550i M5 2004 2010 Beige Antonia Fraser Lot of 2 Marie Antoinette Splash of Red Jemima Shore mystery Anchor Hocking Depression Miss America Crystal Cups And Saucers 1930s Anchor Hocking Old Cafe Flower Bowl Vase w lid 3 ANCHOR HOCKING CRYSTAL DRINKING GLASS 355ML 83282 FLAIR BEVERAGEWARE READ HDTV TV Top Holder Clip Mount Dock For xBox 360 Kinect Sports PS3 Move EYE Games Chevrolet Silverado 3500 4WD Ext Cab 2007 CHEVROLET Silverado 3500HD 4WD Ext Cab 1575 DRW NEW RALPH LAUREN Royal Blue MISSES 4 6 SMALL Cotton Anchor Logo Sweat Pants Womens RRS Pro Velocity Fusion Jacket Black From Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas L Friedman Acceptable Book Irideus Custom Golden Stone Nymph Steelhead Fly Fishing Flies Trout Stonefly Fly Blondie Blondie Live CD 2004 17 Tracks Brand New] Debbie Harry Powered by phpBay Pro

Anchors Away!

How many types of "anchors" can you name? I can think of News Anchors who bring us the headlines on TV each day, those wall-anchor thingies that you hammer into a wall before hanging a heavy shelf, and of course my summer favorite - boat anchors. But the most valuable type of anchors for most small businesses is of course the anchor text that is used in the links on its web site.

What Is Anchor Text?

First, let's be clear about what anchor text really is. Anchor text is the clickable part of a text link on a web page - it's the text that is usually blue and underlined. As it turns out, the text you use in your link is hugely important to the search engines, especially to Google. The logic behind this is that if certain text is important enough to be used in a link, then that text MUST be something important, right? Well, apparently that's what the search engine spiders think.

Choose Carefully

So it makes sense that you should choose the anchor text for your links very carefully, making sure to use your keywords and phrases as anchor text as much as you can. You may need to adjust your content a bit in order for the keywords to make sense as anchor text, but the benefits are typically worth it. Also, don't waste the power of anchor text on generic terms like "click here" or "more." Instead, be specific and descriptive with your anchor text, and weave in keywords and other meaningful text to take full advantage of the importance that the search engines place on anchor text.

For example, on the Five Sparrows web site we have a page that describes our web support & maintenance plans. (And yes, the link you just read is an example of anchor text, too!) Since this is a natural extension of new web site development, the first paragraph on that page has a link that takes users to our web site development services page. We used the anchor text "web site development" (which is also blue and underlined) because it not only describes the page where users will go if they click the link, it is also one of the keyword phrases that Five Sparrows targets on the page.

Hey Google, Listen Up

When you select text on your web page and turn it into a link, you are telling the search engines that the text is important. You're giving Google a clue that the anchor text you selected is relevant to the content on your site, and that your site should be listed in the search results when users search for that text. You're communicating with the search engines in a language they can understand!

So while boat anchors might be my personal summer-time favorite (well, the boat part anyway!), there's not an anchor I can think of that has more impact on your small business marketing than the anchor text used in a web link. The search engines are paying close attention to the anchor text you choose for your links, so make sure that you are paying attention too.

About the Author

Lauren Hobson is the Editor of Biz Talk Newsletter and the Five Sparrows Marketing Blog from
Five Sparrows, LLC.
Read the most recent Five Sparrows articles on
small business websites and marketing
or subscribe at
www.fivesparrows.com/biztalk.
Copyright 2008 Five Sparrows, LLC. All Rights Reserved.