Free Internet Marketing Help

Setting up Your BING Webmaster Tools Account is a must do.

Many people have ask how to Check Backlinks, Submit Sitemaps, or find out about BING Paid Advertising.

I had said I could check BING Backlinks and now others want to know how. I just had not had time to walk a few of you through each step (I know many of you can do a quick glance of this post and be on your way). I had time today to do a detailed How To so… Here is the way to get started to find all of this and more!

You must have a Windows ID,
If you do not have one yet, they are free and only take a minute to get. All you need is a valid email. If you already have a Hotmail, Messanger, or Xbox Live account, then that is your ID. Otherwise you can sign up at SignUp Live.

Once you have your ID you will go to BING.COM and click the SIGN IN text in the top right. Once you have placed your ID and Password in you may get a Security Warning. I just click through and have had no problems.

Now logged in you will see the Text EXTRA in the top Right, Click for a Drop Down Menu.

1st Is PREFERANCES – Here you can set your Content Filter for sexually explicit text, images, and videos from your search results. Choose from Strict, Moderate, or Off. This will help with Safe Searching for those of us that don’t want to have that type of material clogging our search results.

You will also choose the Language, number of Search Results per page, and if you want Search Suggestions. Once you have your setting be sure to click SAVE SETTINGS at the bottom of the page.

Go back up to the top and click EXTRA again. The next feature is CashBack. I have not messed with this but, you can set this up to get a cashback account for purchases you make.

THIS IS A MUST DO – You will see why in a bit!
Back Up to the EXTRA text and click BLOGS. This page allows you to sign up for the Community and be able to post questions or answers in the BING Forum. It will likely give you the username of the 1st word/words of the email address you registered your ID with. You can change this and pick any username you want. Once you have picked a Username and Clicked JOIN you will be able to fill out your profile.

If you click the Text HOME PAGE it will just take you to see all the BING Blog Post and latest Forum post.

Click the text EDIT YOUR PROFILE and fill in as much as you like. You WILL want to place a Link To Your Blog in the appropriate box and Then Place All of your RSS FEED links in the Bottom box. Only place 1 FEED Link per Line!!
Remember that this Information is PUBLIC! Do not post anything you do not want seen by others!

You can also Click the tab SIGN IN INFORMATION to change your Password.
The SITE OPTIONS tab allows you to choose your settings for using the Forum,
including a Signature Line. Be sure to click SAVE at the very bottom of the page.

Now as we go back up to our EXTRA text we will click on ADVERTISING. This will be like Googles Pay Per Click. You can open an account for a $5.00 fee.

We have signed up and had Excellent Customer Service. They have even helped us tweek our ads for better results. In fact we spoke with them on the phone while they looked for any problems as to why one of our ads was not doing well.

They also have the AdExcellence Classroom here you will find video’s to help you get set up and started with your advertising.

I could walk you through the Advertising set up but, that would cost ya. They have plenty of great info on their site.

Now if you have went to the advertising sign up page then you will need to back out as you have left the Main BING site so, just click back a page…

Now the part you have all been waiting for!!!

Here we go back to the EXTRAtext and click WEBMASTER TOOLS!!
Oh yeah! This is where you will get to place your sites so, you can finally CHECK YOUR SITE BACKLiNKS on Bing!!!

This is why I had you sign up for the Community. If you do not sign up for the community you will not get this page that allows your sites to be entered!

Now, you will see in the paragraphs on this page where you can SUBMIT YOUR SITE and SITE MAP to BING.

If you have had your site for very long you are most likely already being listed in the BING search results. So submitting may not be necessary.

Let us get to the fun! You know that Backlinks are Sexy! Let us set this up so you can see them!

In the right hand column you will see the box SEE MY MANAGED SITE LIST – click it!

Click to ADD A SITE!
You will place the URL and possibly your Site Map in the boxes.

The 2nd category will say “If you would like Bing to contact you if we encounter specific issues with your site, enter your email below.”

I would do this! I think that if BING ever has a reason to uninclude your sites in the SERP’s they would at least have a way to contact you so, you can fix the problem before all of your traffic is gone and you are left clueless!

Once you have clicked the SAVE to have a site listed in your account. You will need to Verify that you are the Webmaster for any sites you put here.
You will be given a unique code to place in your site. You can use the XML File Authentication or Meta Tag Authentication.

NOTE – That even if you have verified your sites under a different Live ID Account, you will need to do it with this unique code for this account.
We have Live ID accounts for both Brad and I, we each have a different Authentication Code!

These steps will need to be done for EVERY site that you own or are the WebMaster for!

Sounds like a pain in the butt? You will only do it one time and then you are set so, just take the time and do it.

Once your sites are verified you will now be able to click the box that says SEE MY MANAGED SITE LIST and get info for each of your sites.

Now when the box opens into a new page you can click the link to any of your sites and start looking at any information pertaining to Summary, Profile, Crawl Issues, Backlinks, Outbound Links, Keywords, Sitemaps for each of your sites.

You can also see on the Left hand side text links to Robots.txt Validation tool, HTTP Verifier, and their Keyword Research Tool.

I will take a wild guess by saying that if you have made it this far then you have a good start. I could go into more on the last 3 tools but, my post would be even longer.

If you would like more information about BING and How Will Microsofts Bing Search Affect You? we have a thread at our Internet Marketers Guild forum that is on going. It has post about How to Submit a Site to BING without signing up, link to the Google vs BING split page Results (comparing your results for both side by side), info on BING Tweets, Brad’s Advertising on BING info, and How to get a BING and PING beta invite. We will be adding more as we find it.

Ok, my job here is done for the moment.
Have fun and enjoy your new Bing Webmasters Tools!

Sheryl Loch