Breaking SEO Myths Part One: The SEO Expert

By: Daniel Dessinger - [online]
Posted 01/16/06

Could there be another industry more inflated by ego, misinformation, and repetition than search engine optimization? Perhaps there are a few others out there, but not many. But what else can one expect from an unregulated industry? There's no FCC, FTC, FEC, FMC, FERC, HIPAA, ATF, SEC, FAA or any other acronymed agency standardizing legitimate SEO practices.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask Jeeves each have their own secret algorithms which mathematically select, arrange, and prioritize search results. No two search engines work the same. No two search engines yield exactly the same search results (unless they are actually powered by the same search engine but packaged under different names). No SEO ''expert'' or firm knows all of the search engines' secrets. So how do they write so many articles, blogs, and forums with such authority? And why are the ones pinky swearing that they're honest only telling you enough to maintain enough mystery to keep you relying upon their expertise and yet still wondering what the heck they are doing behind those closed doors?

Am I saying that they're all scam artists? No. Many of them aren't. But even the ones who are legit are still count on an air of mystery and difficulty to keep the client from demanding too many specific answers. Why? Because if these search engine specialists revealed all that they know to a client, they know that an intelligent client would be unimpressed. The truth is that most companies could perform their own SEO and be quite successful. There are exceptions, like the home mortgage industry. Certain industries are so competitive in organic search that most companies will not be able to compete even with professional natural SEO services.

So why should a company hire an SEO professional? In my opinion, such contracting of services only makes sense when a company either has enough money to throw around or they have much more important tasks for their own employees to perform. I compare it to online grocery shopping - it saves you time and effort, but unless you're disabled, filthy rich, or ungodly busy it is not a cost effective option.

Of course, I'm not going to begrudge anyone the opportunity to sub out a service they do not feel comfortable with performing themselves. Every executive has the right to decide which is more valuable to the company in this situation: time or money. I understand that, and I also respect a person who focuses on contributing their strengths rather than faking strengths that eventually cost the company due to incompetence and pride.

You will find those same types of people in the search engine marketing profession. Men and women have forged careers in search engine marketing because they learned how to retell someone else's stories and to write ''new'' articles containing recycled information. Those types are actually better at sales and personal PR than SEO.

So what exactly makes a person an SEO expert? Seriously. Don't accept someone's claims without critically examining them. There's no federal or industry-wide standard. So who makes an expert an expert? What's the difference between an expert and an expert fake? And how can you tell one from the other?

It's a slippery slope. Sadly, it is an industry where many companies profit from client ignorance. Am I going to present clear-cut evidence here of my claims? Not a chance. I don't have to, and I don't want to make any specific enemies. I learned what I know by studying SEO online wherever I could because I was trying to join the industry. What I realized through my extensive online reading and professional relationships is that a good humble businessperson is always more trustworthy and reliable than a self-proclaimed expert. Humility is key. Use your discernment.

If you don't believe me, subscribe to a few SEO newsletters and catch up on your SEO articles. See for yourself if you don't read the same thing over and over, only presented in a different order or from a different angle. Study which groups or individuals support and compliment each other in SEO articles, forums, and blogs. Notice how they build a castle of thoughts out of thin air. In this industry, some will corroborate each other if it means reinforcing the fuzzy logic that has benefited their own business. The lack of fresh information is fairly convincing evidence that search engine optimization and keyword research are not all that complicated. If they were, the experts wouldn't have to recycle to put out new articles and blogs.

For all of you still willing and ready to hire an SEO professional, all I ask is that you make an educated decision based on research. And always check with clients the firm claims to have serviced. Find out if they were really a client, what type of service they received, and if they were satisfied with that service. And, of course, make sure you aren't verifying one firm with one of their bread-and-butter partners. Remember, things are not always what they appear. If you keep these basic considerations in mind, you should do well when choosing the right SEO professional.


Daniel Dessinger is a copywriter in the Dallas / Fort Worth area. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Dallas Baptist University. In addition to compulsive blogging, he writes for various marketing firms, corporations, and small businesses around the country. His company, CultureFeast Copywriting Services, offers writing services including SEO friendly interactive press releases, search optimized website copy, industry-specific articles, creative ads, copy editing, and online public relations consulting. Visit him on the web at www.culturefeast.com.

Visit Site: PR blogs

How to Harness the Power of Web Directories: The Missing Link in Your SEO Strategy

By: Robert Burko - [online]
Posted 01/17/06

So you want exposure on the Internet? Of course you do. You want to drive people to your site, because that's the only way your online business can succeed. And the more eyes you can get to your page, the better off you are. It's common sense.

You've probably already thought of Google, and rightfully so. It's the top search engine, so you want to make sure you're a part of it. You may have also done some search engine optimization, and tweaked your site in certain ways so that Google will index you better. That's a good start, but it's also where many people go wrong.

The search engine marketing community often discusses this faux pas: people become obsessed with ranking on Google, and forget that there's so much more to the Internet, so many more places where you can be found. It's back to common sense again: don't put all your eggs in one basket. Here are some reasons why:

- People use multiple search engines.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, 58% of the people who search on Google also use another search engine. The same is true for 70% of MSN searchers, and 71% of Yahoo searchers. If consumers are looking for information in several places, it only makes sense for you to be in as many of those places as you can.

- Google indexes your listing in other search engines.
Ironically, when you work to broaden your horizons beyond the Google universe, you're also working to improve your chances of showing up on Google. That's because when a major search engine indexes the Internet, it also indexes the content of other directories.

Here's the best part: if you can get listed in a web directory that provides Google-friendly one-way-links (that is, links that connect directly to your URL), you are essentially acquiring a ''vote'' to your site, and therefore improving your site's authority in the eyes of Google.

There are thousands upon thousands of Internet directories where you can list your site. Some will charge for submission, and the price will vary, from as little a few dollars to as much as hundreds. Some will accept your site right away, and others will need to review it, to ensure the integrity of their database.

Common sense applies again here: the goal is to get listed in as many directories as you can, so you get maximum exposure. But web directory submission can be very time consuming, so you have to be selective to maximize your productivity. Here are a few things you'll want to keep in mind:
- If the price seems too high, it's probably not worth it. If you have a little money to invest, it's a good idea to get into some of the paid inclusion directories. Pick and choose from some of the mid-level ones, and try to diversify your presence by picking some foreign directories, as well as some local ones. Some directories also offer special inclusion, where you pay a premium to get listed quicker. It's definitely worth it if you're looking to improve your traffic as quickly as possible.
- Before submitting to any web directory, check to make sure the directory is not banned by Google. Here's a handy site, where you can type in the URL of the web directory and find out if it's banned right away: http://123promotion.co.uk/tools/googlebanned.php
- Be prepared before you start submitting. Write a few descriptions for your website in different lengths (50 words, 100 words, 200 words), so you can just copy and paste when you're submitting. This is guaranteed to save you a lot of time.
- If you don't want to spend a lot of time searching for, picking and choosing directories, start at this page, which provides a great list of the top search-engine friendly directories on the web: http://www.eliteweb.cc/directory/internet/webdirectories
- If you don't have a lot of time to devote to this, don't worry about doing it all in one shot. Bookmark the link above, and take a few minutes every day to do one or two directory submissions, until you make it through the list.

Good luck, and happy submitting.

Robert Burko is president and founder of Eliteweb.cc (www.eliteweb.cc), an internet portal featuring a best-of-the-web search engine and a comprehensive search-engine-friendly web directory ( http://www.eliteweb.cc/directory/).

Visit Site: Web Directory

Search Engine Optimization Glossary

By: Anton Cheranev

Algorithm. A set of rules that a search engine uses to rank the pages contained within its index in response to a particular query. No search engine reveals exactly how its algorithm works, to protect itself both from competitors and from those who wish to spam the search engine.

Back links. These are links to a website from external sources, including other web pages, directories, and advertising.

Banned. When pages are removed from a search engine's index because the search engine has deemed them to be spamming, or violating one of the search engine’s other rules.

Click-through rate. How many people clicked on a link, as a percentage of the total number of people that saw the link.

Cloaking. The act of serving content to search engine spiders that is different to what normal visitors would see. Search engines will ban you if they find you doing this.

Contextual links. Contextual links are displayed on web pages when the content on the page indicates to an ad server that the page is a good match for specific keywords or phrases.

Conversion rate. The percentage of visitors to a website who buy something.

Cost per click (CPC). A system where an advertiser pays an agreed amount for each click someone makes on a link leading to their website.

Cost per mille (CPM). A system where an advertiser pays an agreed amount for the number of times an ad is seen, regardless of how many people actually click through. The ‘mille’ refers to one thousand viewings of the ad.

Crawler. A component of a search engine that gathers listings by automatically ‘crawling’ the web, following links to understand how pages are connected.

De-listing. This is when pages are removed from a search engine’s index, usually because they haven’t been updated for a long time.

Directories. A type of search engine where listings are gathered by humans, rather than by automated web crawlers.

Doorway page. A web page created in the hope of improving another page’s ranking in a search engine’s listings. Doorway pages don’t give much information to the people viewing them.

Graphical inventory. Banners and other ads that appear depending on the keywords a page contains. This includes pop-ups, browser toolbars and rich media.

Index. The collection of information a search engine has that searchers can query.

Landing page. The web page that a visitor reaches after clicking your search engine listing.

Link popularity. A count of how ‘popular’ a page is based on the number of other pages that link to it.

Link. A link is text that you can click on to go to another website, or another page on the same website.

Listings. The information that appears on a search engine's results page in response to a search.

Meta-search engine. A search engine that returns listings from two or more other search engines, instead of using its own index.

Meta tags. Tags placed in a web page’s code that pass information to search engine crawlers, browser software and some other applications.

Meta description tag. This meta tag allows pages to provide descriptions to search engines.

Meta keywords tag. Allows authors to add text to a page to help with the search engine ranking process.

Meta robots tag. Allows page authors to keep some web pages from being indexed by search engines. Similar to a robots.txt file.

Natural listings. The listings that search engines do not sell. Instead, sites appear solely because a search engine believes it is important for them to be included, regardless of payment. Note that paid inclusion listings are still treated as natural listings by many search engines.

Outbound links. Links on one website that lead to other websites.

Paid inclusion. An advertising program where pages are guaranteed to be spidered and included in a search engine's index in exchange for payment.

PPC. Pay-per-click – means the same as cost per click (CPC).

Paid listings. Listings that search engines sell to advertisers, usually through paid placement or paid inclusion programs.

Pay-for-performance. A term popularized by some search engines as a synonym for pay-per-click. It stresses to advertisers that they are only paying for ads that "perform" in terms of delivering traffic, as opposed to CPM-based ads, where ads cost money even if no-one clicks on them.

Paid placement. An advertising program where listings appear in response to particular search terms, with higher rankings typically obtained by paying more than other advertisers.

Rank. The order in which web pages are listed in search engine results.

Reciprocal link. A ‘link exchange’ in which two sites link to each other.

Results page. The page that appears after a user enters their search terms.

Robots.txt. A file used to keep web pages from being indexed by search engines.

Search engine. A service designed to allow users to search the web, or another database of information.

Search engine marketing (SEM). Marketing a website using search engines, whether you’re improving your ranking in natural listings, purchasing paid listings or some combination of the two.

Search engine optimization (SEO). Altering a website so that it ranks higher in the search engines.

Search terms. The words a searcher enters into a search engine's search box.

Shopping search. Shopping search engines allow shoppers to search the web for products and their prices.

Spam. Any search engine marketing method that a search engine decides is detrimental to its efforts to deliver relevant search results.

Spider. See crawler.

Submission. The act of sending a URL to a search engine, for inclusion in its index.

XML feeds. A process in which information about a page is fed to the index without using a crawler, for example using RSS.

The best advice is to follow a good search engine promotion system. Keep track of when you submit your sites and how soon they’re indexed -- checking once a week is sufficient.

Ranking systems can be confusing and there are often complex factors involved, but you do not need to be an expert in the field to achieve top results. Take a chance – after all, you have nothing to lose.

Many thanks to Danny Sullivan, Kevin Lee, Ikonya Nginyo, and all the other volunteers who contributed.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

Anton Cheranev Has Created An Ultimate SEO Spy Software That Will Help You To Investigate Your Competitors' Websites & Reveal All Necessary Information To Dominate Over Them! More Info Here ==> www.TheSeoDetective.com

Sharpen Your Keyword Tool

How many times have you hear the story of the lumberjack not stopping to sharpen his axe because he didn't have the time? Well, no matter who you are or what you do, or whether your tools are physical or electronic, it will always be important to continually sharpen your tools.

So, how do you “sharpen” your keyword tools? Check for updates?

Well, sure, that's important…especially with how fast technology advances! But, what I'm talking about is the methods and keyword tools you use to manage your keyword lists.

Let's take a caucus right now. Once you've actually used the great keyword tools out there to build your list, which programs do you use to whittle that list clean of unwanted words and phrases?

Word? Excel? Notepad?

And how long does it take you per thousand to edit to your satisfaction?

Well, if you are using any one of these tools, here are a few tips to help speed things up a bit:

Make sure you sort your list several times. Sure, you can start by sorting alphabetically or by number of keywords in your phrase, but to get the most effectiveness from your keyword tool, the best method is to go through your list multiple times, each time sorting your list a different way. You will be surprised at how many phrases you missed even after the 3rd time through!

Slow down and be thorough: I know, I know…the last thing you want to do is go slowly. Not when you're staring at a 20,000 word keyword list. But, you will save yourself a bunch of wasted time and money if you make sure your list is clean of all of the unwanted phrases.

Try to find the best keyword tool for your purpose: What are you going to be using your keyword list for? Will you be building network sites? Will you be engaging a massive PPC campaign? Will you be using the different groups to focus on different niches? Well, I think one of the best keyword tool for any of these purposes is Keyword Companion that will be launched on the market on June 26th. This tool effortlessly manages lists well over the tens of thousands, and helps you break up, keep track of, and organize the groups you've created from your list. I haven't seen anything like it out there, and it sure beats using excel for hours and hours!

Once you've made sure to keep your keyword tool sharpened, the next move is to use your keywords and their groups wisely. Be sure to follow the latest SEO guidelines to help your sites bring in the most traffic they can, without angering the higher powers of the search engines.

We've all seen the importance of using the correct keywords escalate over the past couple years, and that foundation for your internet marketing doesn't appear to have any chance of losing its weight any time soon.

So, it's critical to have the correct keyword tool to manage the lists you've spent so much time and effort to create. No matter which tools you use, as long as you spend ample time using them to their best abilities, your keyword management and subsequent keyword groups will bring you the great results you are wanting.

Learn the 5 Keyword methods and strategies that the masters of marketing have been using for years to dominate their marketplace. To receive your 5-part course click: keyword tool


About the author:


Richard East is an International Businessman, with over 14 years of marketing experience. He is now revealing the keyword strategies at http://www.keywordcompanion.com used by the big names in marketing to dominate their niches and crank up one successful promotion after another.



Source: High Quality Article Database - 365articles.com

Search Engine Optimization

Publishing Permission Statement:

This article may be freely published in your newsletter, ezine, magazine, website, or in your e-Book, as long as you keep my byline and resource box intact with a clickable link back to http://www.affiliate-free-ebook.com

Search engine optimization is also known as (SEO). It is the process of increasing the amount of visitors to your website by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher your website ranks in the results of a search, means the greater chance that your website will be visited by a user. Statistics have shown that it is a common practice for internet users to not click through many pages of search results, so where your website ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward your website. SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.

But performing SEO on your website is very difficult and time consuming and for those who have no idea of what they’re doing, it can be torture. Most internet beginners believe that all they have to do is simply submit there websites to all the major search engines and they will get insane amounts of traffic only to find out that they’ll be lucky to have the search engines send them 10 visitors a year. There are many things needed to create the perfect search engine friendly website so let’s talk about a few of them.

1) First and foremost, you need to research and find great quality keywords that are relevant to what you’re selling. You can’t simply add Bill Gates to your keywords tag and think you’ll get traffic especially if what your site content is about has nothing to do with Bill Gates. This is considered spam by many search engines and they will penalize you for this. My suggestion is to research key-phrases that are related to your website. Pick key-phrases that less people are using. Don’t try to compete with the big boys right off the bat.

2) Now that you have your key-phrases you will need to design and create a website around these key-phrases without using them repeatedly. Search engines also consider this spam. Your key-phrases have to sound smooth when your site is read and also be placed in the most important to least important order in your keywords Meta tags.

3) Make sure you have some of your keywords in your website Meta Description as well without repeating them. Keep your description to no more then 150 characters. Try to explain the content on your website in the best and shortest possible way. This is what will show when your site appears on search engine listings.

4) Try to add you main keyword to your website title and URL. Search engines love this. Your site will jump major rankings just because of this trick alone. But don’t abuse this trick because search engines will penalize you big-time.

5) And finally add content to your site. Search engines want content. They don’t care how great your site looks. Whenever someone performs a search, search engines will only display sites with the most relevant content. This is only the tip of the iceberg but it will help in getting your website in the right direction.

About the author: Joe Terceira is the creator of The Ultimate Affiliate Business eBook http://www.affiliate-free-ebook.com It is a free eBook download for eBook marketing. Use this free marketing eBook online and get free internet advertising. Inside this downloadable eBook is the top affiliate program which is also a free affiliate eBook.


Source: High Quality Article Database - 365articles.com

5 Methods For Self-SEO - If You Have The Time

by: Conrad Sear

So you want to Search Engine Optimize (SEO) your website.

Well, despite what you may hear it's easy & fun.

The caveat is time. In such a "fast food" "I want it now" mode, the web gives us just that. So why does SEO take TIME? The answer is the millions of others out there fighting for the top spots has created a niche industry by the search engines. They want to thwart the unethical scammers out there. So, we have to follow their requirements so that millions can see my website. Sure you can pay to be in the very first position. But that costs money. Capitalism at is finest.

The early days are long gone. Laws are in place now. Laws made by Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

So the simple advice is, know the laws. Ignorance will not get your site seen by anyone but you.

Follow the slow steady path & you'll be richer for it.

5 sure methods:

1. Your reading it now. ARTICLES! Write articles about your field of interest. Relate it to your website. Set these articles across the internet. Content is KING.

2. Content. You must add some relevant content to your site. It keeps the search engines & people coming back for more.

3. Links. Links are not a dead art form. Links from other sites will always help you. They help bring people to your site & help search engines see that you are popular. However, find related industry linkage. It is highly sought by Google.

When linking find high ranked sites willing to add your link. Try not to buy if you can help it. If you must, okay. But this is the only Quick Fix I recommend.

4. Another domain. Set up another domain with lots & lots of content & links. Keep the them & info related to your main site. Add your main site links. There, you've created your own network!

5. Patience. You don't get to the top overnight. (unless you pay) Submit (manually) to as many search engines & directories as possible. Do this every 30 days.

So, this works. Caveat: Do you have the time? Expect 30-40 days until your in the top 5-10 pages.

Have patience & good luck.

About The Author

Conrad Sear has been a web developer for 14 years. He now manages a startup SEO company called http://TrafficXTC.com. Their growing list of clients are all making to the top with his guidance. Samples-(http://KataraCattery.com #1, http://AirOnSale.com (new), http://MyHomeTrainer.com #5, http://Ebooks.easyincomeinfo.com #1, http://Christineboccio.com

Sitemaps and SEO - Do sitemaps help your Google PageRank?

By: Philip Nicosia

With the millions and millions of websites in existence today, how do you get yours noticed? The most common way is for it to be high up in the rankings of useful and relevant websites. Google is the most widely used search engine today. When someone keys in a search term on Google, you can only hope that your website comes up in the first ten pages of results. You do not have to sit there and just hope, though. There are a number of things you could do to improve your chances of being noticed.

Google came up with a system to determine how important a website is. Everyday, Google’s automated programs called spiders “crawl” the World Wide Web. The purpose is to index all the existing web pages out there. The information these spiders gather is used as the basis for calculating what Google calls PageRank. This concept was developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Stanford University.

What exactly is PageRank? It is an algorithm which assigns numerical weights to linked pages. The higher the figures, the more important the page is. The PageRank is resultant of how many pages link to your own page. It is of no use to make bogus incoming links to your page though. Google gives more weight to more reputable sites that link to your page. Bogus and paid incoming links can actually be detected. The algorithm takes into account all incoming links – both external and internal.

This is where sitemaps come into the picture. As can be gathered from the name, sitemaps are basically a guide to what can be found in your website. It is a page within your site wherein the user can see the overall structure and informational content. It contains links to all the pages in your website.

Will providing a sitemap increase your Google PageRank? The answer is simple: yes it may. As mentioned earlier, the PageRank system also takes into account internal links. The more pages you have in your website, the higher you PageRank. A word of caution is necessary here. Pages should contain original content and not simply be copies of each other. Otherwise, your PageRank may actually decrease. As the spiders follow links to get to web pages, a sitemap will actually facilitate the “travel” of these spiders within your site. If each of the pages on your web site are interconnected and are easily accessible from one page, then chances are the spiders will find the necessary information faster and easier. Experts suggest that you put only a maximum of 100 links in one page. If you have more than that number of links, you should create different sets of sitemaps. In order for the idea of the sitemap to really work, you need to provide a link to the sitemap on every page on your website.

The keys to increasing your PageRank are fairly simple. Include original content in as many pages as you can. Link your pages together. Create a sitemap to make navigation easier. Provide links to the sitemap for each page. This way, both user and spiders can find all the information that you have to offer.

XML-Sitemaps.com provides an online sitemap generator that creates XML, HTML and text sitemaps and also helps find broken links on your website.

Article Source : ArticleInn.com

How To Optimize Your Blog For Search Engines

By: Biana Babinsky

Many clients ask me how to drive more traffic to their blogs. By now you have probably heard that blogs are an excellent resource to get leads as well as clients for your business. The best way to do that is by creating search engine friendly blog posts that get indexed in search engines. When people search for information on topics you discuss in your blog it appears on the search engine result pages. Potential customers then are able to read what you have to say and get on your mailing list.

So now it all boils down to techniques that help you effectively optimize your blog for search engines. Here are tips and ideas to do just that:

- Create A Keyword Rich Header For Your Blog. The header repeats on all pages on the blog. By making sure that your header contains targeted keywords, you are able to get more of your blog pages indexed in search engines.

- Treat Each Blog Post As A Separate, Optimizable Page. Use the process of search engine optimization on each blog post. This means that you need to create an optimized title for each post, find targeted keywords for each post and weave the keywords into your post’s text.

- Make Sure That Each Blog Post’s File Name Are Descriptive. Different blogging software behaves differently, but some will call your blog posts 2.html, 3.html, 4.html, etc. As you can see, that is not very descriptive and not particularly helpful to either people or search engines. When you create a post called "How Coaching Helps Business Owners", calling it "how-coaching-helps-business-owners.html" is a much better title than "5.html"

Make sure that your blogging software creates descriptive file names for your blog posts; it is better both for human readers and search engine spiders.

- Get Links Pointing To Your Blog. Quality links to your blog means more blog visitors and higher search engine rankings. Current search engine algorithms value links to your blog, which means that having links pointing to your blog will improve your blog’s search engine rankings.

- Get Your Blog Listed in Blog Directories. Blog directories are a great source of getting unidirectional links to your blog. Since blog directory links many times are unidirectional (they link to you, but you don’t link back to them), they are great for boosting your search engine rankings. Having many unidirectional links pointing to your web site will improve your search engine rankings.

A blog is an excellent marketing tool, but your blog will not attract more leads and clients for your business if you don’t use search engine optimization techniques to optimize your blog and attract targeted search engine traffic to it.

Biana Babinsky shows you how to drive thousands of targeted visitors to your blog in her Step by Step Search Engine Optimization Special Report. Learn more about the report at avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zseo

Article Source : ArticleInn.com

Simple Ways To Get More Traffic From The Major Free Search Engines

By: Robert Spadinger

Working the major free search engines (SE’s) is a great way to boost your web site traffic - especially for small online businesses operating in a narrow niche. Getting traffic can be fairly expensive, but with the help of the search engines, you can generate free and highly targeted traffic for many years to come.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to know anything about complex search engine optimization. The principle to boost web site traffic with the major SE’s is simple: You create valuable content pages that match the theme of your site.

Each of these pages is optimized for a specific keyword in order to rank high on the search engine results pages.

Is there a drawback? Well, generating traffic from the search engines takes some time and work. But once the necessary legwork is done? You know it already -- free, targeted traffic for many years to come, without the need to invest any more time.

The big advantages of SE traffic

* Visitors from the SE's are actively searching for what you are offering, which means that they are motivated and open to buy.

* They are new prospective customers -- a great way to build your list.

* They found your site by searching for specific keywords, which means they are highly targeted, open-to-buy visitors.

* You don’t have to pay anything for the visitors arriving at your site.

* Once you've done the legwork, the SE’s will give you a steady stream of targeted traffic for many years. Even if you stop working on your pages, the traffic to your web site will continue.

Help the search engines to find your pages

Why do people use search engines? They are looking for products or services with certain features and benefits and they are typing specific keywords into the search box of the engines in order to find what they want.

No one is looking for you or your site. What the web surfer wants is an answer to his question or a solution for his problem and he doesn’t care if it’s you or someone else who provides the solution.

So, what does this mean for you? In order to boost web site traffic, you have to get many of your web site pages on the first page of the search engine results pages (SERP’s).

But how do you get there?

* Create a list of specific keywords and keyword phrases with high demand and low supply.

* Make sure that each of these keywords matches the theme of your web site.

* Be careful not to dilute your theme -- keep it as narrow as possible. The key to success for small businesses is to target a narrow niche market.

* Create content pages for each of these keywords. Each page has to focus on a single specific keyword and it has to be optimized in order to get a high ranking in the SE’s.

* Build many of these pages -- create a Theme Based Content Site (TBCS) that consists of at least 60 - 80 keyword-focused content pages.

That way, your site becomes an indispensable resource for your niche and your pages will start moving up in the SERP’s -- a sure way to boost web site traffic. Ok, it takes a bit of time and work to build all those pages, but on the other hand the huge pay-off is well worth the effort.

How do you find highly profitable keywords?

* Pretend you are your customer -- What would you call your product? How would you describe it? What are the features and benefits of your product?... Think outside the box.

* Check out the competition: Verify the sites of your competitors and make a note of the keywords they are using.

* Do a "mouse right click - view source" on the pages and search for the keyword META tag in the HTML document. Copy and paste all the keywords into your keyword list.

* Use the Overture Search Tool ( http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/) to find tons of great keywords and to evaluate their demand.

* Use Google to verify the supply for your keywords. Type your specific keyword in the search box and check how many search results are returned (indicated on the upper right corner). Focus only on keywords with relatively low supply, because it's very difficult to get a good search engine ranking for high-supply keywords.

The best keywords are those with high-demand and low-supply -- these are the ones that really boost web site traffic.

* If your site theme is very competitive, it's a good idea to concentrate on less-obvious keywords. Those ones have relatively low demand, but usually also very low supply. That's a clever way to win the search engine positioning race. Create many of these pages and you can generate quiet a bit of traffic -- even in a very competitive market.

Optimizing your pages for the Search Engines

Each of your pages should be optimized for a single specific keyword. Use your keyword several times throughout the body text of your web page and also in certain strategic places - the HTML META tags and other tags.

Never dilute the content of your pages -- don't introduce more than one subject on a single page.

Important tags to get a high ranking

* The TITLE tag: This is one of the most important tags. Make sure to use your keyword at least once in this tag. The SE's display the provided information as the title on the search engine results page. It shouldn't be longer than 60 - 80 characters - some SE’s might cut longer strings.

* The META-Keywords tag: Contrary to what many people believe, the importance of this tag is fairly low nowadays. Provide only your most important keywords and maybe one or two synonyms.

* The META-Description tag: The SE's display this information as the description in the search engine results page.

Your description acts as an ad for the searcher, so it's a good idea to mention the most exciting benefit of your product. Use your specific keyword at least once and keep the description under 200 characters.

* The H tags: These are the Headline tags -- H1 is the most important, H2 is second... The H tags are fairly important for the ranking of your pages -- try to use your specific keyword at least in the H1 tag.

* The BODY tag: Use your keyword throughout the body text -- especially in the opening- and final paragraph. Also, try to use synonyms together with your specific keyword.

Follow these simple rules and the SE ranking of your pages will definitely improve and this will automatically boost web site traffic.

Submitting to the Search Engines

Did you ever get an ad like "Submit to 5000 search Engines for only $49" ? Don’t bother! First, there are no 5000 SE’s and actually there are only a handful of Search Engines that really count.

Here are the most important Search Engines:

* Google

* Yahoo! Search

* MSN Search

You cannot submit to the following SE's -- they have to find your site. The best way to get listed with these SE's is to build high quality inbound links.

* Ask Jeeves / Teoma

* Fast* Alta Vista

* Inktomi

What about AOL, Netscape Search and Lycos? You will be listed in all of them automatically, if you are in the engines above. These SE's get search results from one or more of the above SE's.

No doubt, working the major free search engines is a fantastic way for small online businesses to boost web site traffic. They deliver free, targeted traffic for many years to come.

The key to achieve high rankings is to optimize your pages for keywords with high demand and low supply. Create many of these pages and focus on only one keyword per page.

Robert Spadinger's '4-Pillar Solution To Outrageous Online Success' shows you step-by-step how to succeed online while keeping things simple and focusing only on the basics! Go and grab a Free copy at www.BetterNetBiz.com

Article Source : ArticleInn.com

So you want to build up your reciprocal and incoming links?

By: computerincome

I recently updated my website to include a proper article directory and a more sufisticated links directory. As part of this I needed to check through the articles previously placed on my site and go through all the links in my old link exchange directory.

So first I started looking at each article with a view to contacting the author and requesting that they resubmit the article and any others to my new article directory.

The first problem I encountered was that quite a few of the articles had broken links. The people had taken the time to write and submit an article yet the link to their website in their resource box no longer worked. Here they were with a good one way link to their website and it didn't work. Then if I did manage to get get to a working website, more often than not there would be no way of contacting the author.

The same with the links submitted to my old links directory. Firstly on going through the various categories it was clear that many people had simply not bothered to submit their link to the the proper category. Others had used purposely misleading descriptions to get their link accepted to a particular category.

In order to contact the owner of the website link I next tried to visit their site, again many links simply did not work. If the link did work quite a few sites were of very poor quality, lacking in any real content or just being sites set up for the purpose of showing high paying adsense adverts, banner ads etc.

Another common problem was that the main homepage of the site would not contain a direct link to the links page or the link would be hidden down at the bottom of the page in tiny writing. If people are looking to swap links with you, they will want to know people can easily access your links page and so their link. And of course again, often there were no contact details, no email link to contact the site owner to request a link exchange. No way of contacting you = no link exchange.

I now have a much better link exchange script on my site. Each link submitted is individually reviewed to check firstly that there is a link back and also importantly that the site has some proper content and is not just a sales page, or adsense 'harvesting' site. I also ensure that the links page is easily accessible from the main page. Still I get people submitting links and not linking back or submitting sites that do not work. This is just a complete waste of time, their time and my time.

If you are looking to increase your website traffic and search engine rankings through reciprocal linking ensure you follow these simple points:

1. Your website should have quality content and be a site people want to visit and look around.
2. Make sure your links page is easy to get to - don't hide the link down at the bottom in size 8 font or not link to your links page at all.
3. Place your contact details somewhere on your site so other webmaster owners can contact you about exchanging links.
4. Organise links into relevant categories.
5. Only accept links from other high quality sites

I would recommend installing a good automated linking script that allows you to easily organise links and regularly check links back. Visit http://www.hotscripts.com for recommendations and reviews.

(c)2006 Rachel Gawith runs her own successful homebased business related website at http://www.computerincome.net/. Visit to read ebook reviews, software reviews, tips on website promotion and learn about a new revolutionary business cencept. And of course submit your link to the link exchange

Article Source : ArticleInn.com

Three of the most common reasons why SEO campaigns fail

By: David Callan

Most SEO campaigns fall flat on their faces and totally fail to achieve the objectives they were set out to accomplish.

Sadly the list of failures is not just limited to individuals who attempt to carry out their own SEO campaigns. It includes companies and so-called experts who are paid to carry out an SEO campaign for a client and end up totally failing to achieve what they set out to do.

Here are the three most common reasons for failure. By studying and understanding them a webmaster can start their next SEO campaign with better odds because they already understand some of the things that commonly tend to go wrong.

a) Assuming That All Businesses And Industries Are The Same
There is a common belief that if somebody succeeds in the SEO of a certain business in a certain specific industry, they will automatically succeed in any industry and any business.

This has to be the most common reason for failure. Especially where the webmaster hires some affordable SEO expert that has had success in some other niche industry.

The truth is that one business is often very different from another and quite often the effort required to get a certain web site at the top of search engine rankings is very different from the effort required to get another different site to the same level. Different categories have different levels of competition. There are certain categories where the competition is so stiff and the number of competing web sites so numerous that it is virtually impossible to carry out any successful SEO campaign without adjusting the focus and niche target market of that particular enterprise.

The temptation is just too big to hand over your web site to some “SEO expert” and expect them to work some SEO magic with no input from you. You should resist that temptation because the chances of such an arrangement working are really so slim that the odds are heavily stacked against you succeeding.

b) A Failure To Decide What Particular Niche To Focus On
Many webmasters tend to forget that they are competing in the world market and that the only way they can ever hope to be successful is by carefully selecting some narrow niche that the others have ignored but which they are very well suited to covering.

There is no way that you can be all things to all people, and especially not in a fiercely competitive world market. This correct focus on a narrow niche is what will quite often make or break an SEO effort. If you opt to hire some expert, they will usually be anxious to get your business and will hardly spend any time studying your industry prior to your committing yourself to their services. And by the time you commit there is no turning back, whatever the difficulties that they encounter.

You do not expect some SEO expert to learn all the knowledge you have accumulated over many years’ involvement in a certain industry in just a few days. And that is precisely where the problem starts. There is no way that a successful SEO campaign can be executed without adequate information.

A webmaster who carries out their own SEO campaign is also doomed to failure if they have not decided on what niche to focus their efforts on.

c) A Failure To Closely And Constantly Monitor Keyword Popularity
There is no way of avoiding the appropriate keyword phrases for your site in any successful SEO campaign. The big mistake many webmasters or blog owners make is to do their keyword research once and then forget all about it. Keyword phrases are changing in popularity all the time with some reducing in polarity while others increase in leaps and bounds. There is no way you can possibly stay informed without constantly and regularly monitoring keyword popularity.

Even more important you will not be able to come across the new keyword phrase opportunities that emerge all the time.

If you decide to hire some SEO expert, they will start from a position of weakness if they are not aware of what has transpired over the last few months and even years concerning popular keyword phrases. How will they be able to accurately judge on the best direction to take in their campaign?

Conclusion
You will have realized that SEO campaigns are very intimate affairs that require lots of information and research over a long period of time to be highly successful. And even if you are bringing some expert onboard to carry out your SEO campaign for you, it is absolutely important that they have enough information to start with. Both from their previous experiences that you should know about and analyze and ask questions about before you reveal anything about the subject matter of your web site. You too should be gathering as much information as possible, all the time.

Article by David Callan. David is the leading search engine consultant with AKA Marketing.com's Internet Marketing Ireland team. AKA Marketing.com provide full SEO services as well as telephone based consulting for those preferring the DIY approach.

Article Source : ArticleInn.com

12 Free SEO Tools you Must Use

By: christos

Effective SEO strategies require a lot of effort and time. Although in the search engines market exist very advanced tools that cost a lot, there are many free SEO tools which can help the novice and advanced SEO marketer to save valuable time.Here is a list of free and proven for their effectiveness SEO online instruments:
1) http://www.alexaranking.com . It displays multiple domains instead of one. Therefore, you can have instant traffic results from Alexa Rankings instead of typing and search each time separately.
2) http://www.xml-sitemaps.com . Sitemaps are extremely important for websites because they help search engines crawl and index them. This is a free xml sitemap generator.
3) http://www.123promotion.co.uk/directorymanager . You can track your submissions to various web directories and you can also visit regularly to see new directories added to the list. You just tick the appropriate submission boxes when you submitted your website. It's very easy to use it.
4) http://www.123promotion.co.uk/ppc/index.php. This is a very powerful tool. It displays, based on the Overture and Wordtracker keyword search tools, similar data, including search figures from the previous month. It also adds statistics for average searches per hour, day, week, projected figures for the next 12 months and then also a figure to see how searches may look in 3 years from now.
5) http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-density . This keyword density tool is useful for helping webmasters/SEO's achieve their optimum keyword density for a set of key terms/keywords. This tool will analyze your chosen URL and return a table of keyword density values for one, two, or three word key terms.
6) http://www.mcdar.net/KeywordTool/keyWait.asp . This is another Excellent Resource. When you enter the appropriate URL and keyword, it will display Pagerank and Back links pages for the Top 10 websites.
7)http://www.123promotion.co.uk/tools/robotstxtgenerator.php You can create a free robots.txt file with this resource. So, you will be able to direct the search engines to follow the pages structure of your website and also direct the search engines not to follow and crawl specific web pages of your website you don't want to be crawled.All you have to do is filling the fields and when the robots.txt file is created you upload it to your root of your web server.
8) http://www.nichebot.com . This website displays keyword data using Wordtracker and Google search results. You just enter the keyword and press the button.
9) http://www.webconfs.com/domain-stats.php . You Enter the domain and get: domain age, number of pages indexed, and number of backlinks. The statistics include Alexa Taffic Rank, Age of the domains, Yahoo WebRank, Dmoz listings, count of backlinks and number of pages indexed in Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, Msn etc. It will help you figure out why some of your competitors are ranking better than you.
10) http://comparesearchengines.dogpile.com . Shows top results from 3 search engines. This tool helps you get all kind of statistics of your competitor's domains.
11) http://www.marketleap.com/verify/default.htm . This verification tool checks to see if your site is in the top three pages of a search engine result for a specific keyword. You enter your URL/Keyword and it displays top 30 for 11 Search Engines.
12) http://www.related-pages.com/adWordsKeywords.aspx. This tool generates a list of possible keyword combinations based on lists of keywords that you provide.You enter a list of terms, one per line or separated by commas. This is very effective for Google Adwords and Overture.

Christos Varsamis is Internet & Affiliate Marketing Specialist. Get your Free Reports “Internet Marketing Myths Exposed” & “How to Generate Revenue from Your Sites” www.fastprofitbiz.com/Reports/Report.html

Article Source : ArticleInn.com

SEO, Article Writing, and the search for the Google Grail

By: Christianna Mansfield

You want more potential customers to your website. You want more back links to your website. You want better position in the natural search engine results. You want your products or services to become better know and your brand name to be recognized. All of these things are possible with a little work and the right knowledge. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques fill countless books being sold on the Internet and there are hundreds of companies and individuals who make a living selling their expertise in this area.

The SEO experts will tell you about on-page optimization, meta tags, keyword density and internal link structure. They will also tell you about off-page optimization, back links, relevant links, reciprocal links, high PR links. All of this information is important and should be addressed in your overall SEO endeavors. You want to cover all the bases in your goal to reach the front page of search results in the big 3 search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) for your most important keywords.

But of all the techniques used for SEO, the most important today, are the back links or incoming links you have to your website. Your SEO endeavors will succeed or fail depending on how many other sites on the internet link back to your site. So how do you get other sites to link to your site? Write articles!

Now let's talk about writing articles to increase the incoming links to your site. While this method is still not widely known or used by the vast majority of website owners, it is one of the best ways to increase the incoming links to your site. First, it's free! If you can write even a little, you can produce an article that will increase your links and make your products, services or website more visible on the web. You don't want to write a sales letter. You want to write an article that is somehow related to what you sell or the service you offer. You should write an article that shares your knowledge in a particular area and provides valuable information to your reader.

If you can't write a lick or would rather spend your time doing other things, there are many places on the Internet where you can hire a writer to do the job for you. One of the better sites out there is elance.com, but there are many other sites you can chose from. You'll be surprised at how inexpensively you can have an article written for you. The going rate seems to be $10 to $20 an article. Of course you'll have to chose your writer carefully. Get some examples of the work they have done for others and pay close attention to the ratings they have from past customers. Make sure they understand you are looking for a ghost writer and that the articles must be original work. Also make sure it is understood that you will have exclusive rights to the article and they may not use this article for another client. After you have selected a writer to write your article, you must convey the subject and the kind of article you want him or her to write. Be as specific as possible to get the best results. The writer should also be willing to make changes if the first draft isn't exactly what you wanted. This is pretty standard but worth mentioning before the writing begins. Payment is usually made when the job is finished and you are satisfied with the results.

Ok, now you have an article or 10, what do you do with them? You submit your articles to Article Directories. There are hundreds of Article Directories on the Internet. They provide a service to writers and publishers. For article writers they will list your articles for free and provide a bio box at the bottom of the article where you can promote your product, service or website with links back to your site. These articles are then syndicated to publishers of blogs, ezines, newsletters and websites who are looking for content. Each time a publisher picks up your article they must agree to publish it with the bio box and the links back to your site. Over time, one well written article can bring you hundreds of back links to your site. This is a viral method of site promotion. Your article will spread like a virus over the Internet, giving you name and brand recognition and those most important incoming links.


Christianna Mansfield has been an Internet entrepreneur and business woman for over 10 years. For more information on Articles and Article Directories visit ArticleObsession.com

Article Source : ArticleInn.com

Effective Keyword Use for SEO

By: David Meindl

In SEO, keywords are of supreme importance. Keywords are words or phrases that search engines use in order to match web pages with search queries. It's important to optimize your website with strategic keywords in order to maximize targeted traffic. You will use keywords in both your on-page and off-page optimization.

First of all, choose a domain name that includes your best keywords. For example, if your best keyword phrase is "satellite affiliate", you'd want to choose a domain name that includes this phrase. You might therefore choose a domain such as "SatelliteAffiliateTips.com".

Use your keywords in the title tag and description tag. The description tag should make sense and entice users to visit your site when they view the description on a search engine.

Your keywords should also be used in your H1 tag. Scatter keywords throughout the content of your page to a keyword density of between 3%-7%. Avoid overuse of a keyword. Most SEO experts believe that using a keyword too frequently can trigger a search engine's "keyword stuffing" filter. It is believed that the search engines use such a filter in an effort to prevent search engine spam from appearing in the top results. It is also helpful to add common misspellings of a word as well as both the singular and plural forms of the word or phrase.

You'll want to use your keywords within the anchor text of the links. Assuming our best keyword phrase is "satellite affiliate", you'd want to link to your home page using that keyword phrase. A good link to your home page might therefore look something like "satellite affiliate tips". Apply this linking method to all of the pages within your site. Furthermore, request that other sites link to you using a similar anchor text containing your best keywords.

Keywords are one of the primary components in search engine optimization. They are the means by which search engines identify relevant pages for given searches. Using keywords effectively is one of the keys to achieving maximum traffic from the search engines.

David Meindl offers search marketing tips for the Dish Network satellite affiliate.

Article Source : ArticleInn.com

Basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

by: Biana Babinsky

Have you heard stories about legendary online entrepreneurs who hit it big after getting a #1 rank in several popular search engines? You probably wondered what it would take for you to achieve that elusive #1 spot in the search engine result pages (SERPs). Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a vital role in ensuring that your business gets the best possible search engine ranking, which can lead to increased sales for your online company.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search engine optimization is the process of modifying web page content and meta-information to improve the search engine ranking of the page. Meta-information includes certain HTML tags (title, heading, emphasized text, keyword and description meta-tags), as well as the internal (links between pages on the same site) and external (links between pages on different sites) link structure of a web site.

Impact of High Search Engine Rank on Sales

Internet market research estimates that between 70% and 90% of online shoppers use search engines to find a specific product or service. Let's examine factors that influence sales to see how effective search engine optimization can boost your revenues.

Three metrics are required to forecast online sales: the average ticket, the conversion rate, and the amount of web site traffic:

* The average ticket is the amount of money spent by a customer on a typical transaction. Computer and electronics stores have high average tickets (hundreds or thousands of dollars), while bookstores have low average tickets (tens of dollars).

* Web Site traffic is measured by the number of site visitors, typically expressed as the number of page views per month.

* Conversion rate is the number of sales divided by the number of page views per month, expressed as a percentage.

Let's look at an example. The Ultimate Taupe Widget (UTW) store has an average ticket of $25, a conversion rate of 2%, and gets 5,000 page views per month. The estimated monthly sales are $2,500 ($25 average ticket * 0.02 conversion rate expressed as a decimal * 5,000 page views per month). Achieving a high search engine rank will increase the number of page views, and therefore increase sales. In this example, if traffic doubles to 10,000 page views a month, UTW's monthly sales should (approximately) double as well (to $5,000).

Keep in mind that a high search engine rank will produce a measurable increase in traffic only if there is significant marketplace interest in taupe widgets and your web site appears in the first thirty search engine results.

However, search engine optimization is not going to produce measurable results if there is very little demand for taupe widgets. The #1 spot in search engine result pages is not particularly impressive if only two people search for "taupe widgets" each month. Role of Keywords in Search Engine Optimization

Keywords are words or phrases users provide to search engines to locate information. Search engines examine page content to determine whether a specific page is relevant for a particular search word or phrase. Thus, effective keyword selection is one of the cornerstones of search engine optimization.

Each keyword is characterized by supply (number of search engine result pages) and demand (number of searches). The easiest way to improve search engine rank is to select keywords that have favorable supply-demand characteristics; that is, ones with a relatively high demand and a relatively low supply. It is much more difficult to improve the search engine position of a page on a high supply, competitive keyword.

Good keywords must be relevant to your product line, as well as your line of business. A #1 rank for "navy widgets" is worthless if you sell taupe widgets exclusively. A potential customer will find your page, quickly discover that you don't sell any navy widgets, and promptly go elsewhere. In effect, the conversion rate for irrelevant search engine hits is very close to zero.

Using Keywords Effectively

Choosing a set of target keywords is the first step in search engine optimization. The second step is using them in the body, title, headings, and meta-tags of a page.

Include the target keywords in the text of the page. Don't overdo it, though --- the keywords should fit smoothly into the surrounding text. Search engines use several techniques to detect excessive keyword density, or too many keywords stuffed into very little supporting text, and will reduce the rank accordingly. A page has too many keywords if they interfere with the general flow of the text on a page and appear to be glaringly out of place

The title tag should contain information that describes the page. Unless you operate a multi-national conglomerate that is already a household name, your company's name is not a descriptive title. Most search engines use the title tag as the first line of your listing in the search engine result pages. Strive to make your title tag say "click me" to a prospective customer. "Superior taupe widgets - 50% off every day" is a good page title, while "Ultimate Taupe Widgets, Inc." is not.

Incorporate keywords into the headings on the page, as well as into emphasized sections (bold or large text). Even though search engines are de-emphasizing descriptive meta-tags, include keywords in them nevertheless. The description meta-tag should have an accurate description of your page, and the keywords meta-tag should contain a set of keywords (separated by commas) that list key concepts mentioned on the page.

Understanding the basics of search engine optimization is an important first step in creating an optimized, well-positioned web site.

About The Author

Biana Babinsky shows you how to drive thousands of targeted visitors to your web site in her Step by Step Search Engine Optimization Special Report. Learn more about the report at http://avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zseo.

Web Development – What Is SEO?

by: Nati Roberts

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the act of altering or optimizing your website and it’s content in order that search engines deem it to be relevant and useful to certain topics. You are able to select the most appropriate topics through the use of certain keywords in your website.

When surfers conduct searches on search engines they are presented with a list of results for that search term. These results are called Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and generally speaking, the websites that appear at the top of the SERPs will receive plenty of traffic to their websites from searchers.

In order to determine your position on the SERPs, search engines use their own algorithms. While nobody knows for absolute certain what these algorithms are it is widely accepted that your website needs to be easy to navigate, popular and relevant.

Easy navigation means that your site should have text links to each of its pages. If you use a flash menu system then you should include a sitemap in order that search engines and visitors can quickly and easily find their way around the whole of your website.

In order to make your website appear popular you need to get links to your site. While search engines would rather these links were generated because visitors to your site genuinely found your content useful, it is commonplace to undertake a reciprocal link campaign or generate inbound links. Reciprocal links mean a website links to you in exchange for a link to their own site.

Relevance is judged by your content. By including the keywords you place in the metatags of your site throughout the body of your content and in certain places within your site you are indicating to the search engines that your website contains relevant information.

By combining these factors you can effectively convince search engines that you deserve to be near the top of their SERPs. However, this can take time and a lot of effort if you don’t fully understand what you are doing.

About The Author

Nati Roberts is the owner of Make Money In Minutes. Learn proven strategies that will help you generating an income online. http://www.makemoneyinminutes.info.