SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is defined in the Wikipedia as a “set of methods aimed at improving the ranking of a website in search engine listings”. To the average webmaster, it’s how you get higher up in the search engine results pages and get more traffic. There are many myths and also many great pieces of advice I see floating around so I am presenting a list to you, the reader, of what to do and what not to do in the SEO world.
Having the correct knowledge you can get the best results. I see quite often sites employing “tricks” like hidden text and keyword spamming, and hopefully after reading this article you will at the very least know what to avoid like the plague. Afterall, while some of these tricks work even momentarily, in the long run (usually within a month) you get heavily penalized or banned.
SEO DO’S
1. Original content – Search engines reward websites with original content, which will also naturally draw incoming links and visitors as well. Original content can be anything from product reviews to a blog to your own articles.
2. Add more content regularly – How often a website is updated can have a big impact on your search engine ranking. Most search engines prefer fresh content, so you become a more preferred source by constantly having new and fresh content.
3. Research your keywords – You need to research which keywords you want to target before you even start making your website. These are the keywords that you will be targeting in backlinks when possible and your main page will revolve around these keywords.
4. Create a sitemap – Sitemaps are a definitely plus. It helps search engines walk your website with ease, since you’re hand-feeding it the list of webpages. It can also greatly help visitors find what they are looking for on your website. Be sure to link to your sitemap from your main page.
5. Use HTML – While this may sound obvious, there are sites out there created entirely in flash or javascript. While some search engines can read part of javascript, by not using regular html link between pages on your site may not even get seen by search engines, and your page text may never be seen, so your target keywords are never seen by the search engines.
6. W3C compliant – Making your web pages comply to the World Wide Web Consortium’s standards is always a good idea. It is impossible to know exactly how the search engine spiders read a web page, so it is impossible to know how it will handle non-standard code. You can bet, though, that it has been tested to handle html code that follows the standard.
7. Webpage title tag – Be sure to put your target keywords in your title tag.
8. Build backlinks at a normal pace – Don’t use one of those link farm programs where every member automatically shows links to all the other members. Search engines will see you one day literally showing thousands of backlinks instantly and this could get you penalized or banned. Link exchanges are fine if they’re the type where you agree to or initiate each exchange, because if you were out looking for link exchange partners you would be doing the same thing. The key is not have thousands of backlinks show up instantly.
SEO DON’TS
1. Avoid cloaking – Cloaking is when you give your visitors one page, and search engines another page. Search engines want to see and index what your visitors see. Getting caught cloaking can have dire consequences on your site ranking.
2. Avoid hidden text – This is making text, but background or near-background color. Normally it has tons of text that is meant for only search engines to see (they read raw html), and is loaded with keywords. Search engines are very very good at catching this old trick and it will quickly get you a huge penalty or possibly a ban.
3. Avoid keyword stuffing/spamming – Avoid overloading your webpage with keywords that are only intended at tricking the search engines. The best way to avoid doing this is just write your text, with keywords in mind, towards your audience.
4. Avoid using flash or javascript for your navigation methods. Search engines usually can’t read these, or read them well enough to be dependable. Always use standard html links to be sure your site is easily walkable by search engine spiders.
5. Don’t submit your webpage url too often, if at all – You can submit your url directly to search engines, though search engines prefer to find your website via a backlink or incoming link. Resubmitting weekly or monthly can heavily damage your ranking with the search engines.
6. Avoid the “quickly get submitted to thousands of search engines” deals – While many of these do what they say, keep in mind that 98-99% of all search engines are powered by Google, Yahoo, or MSN. Just keep these 3 in mind and you’re covered.
7. Don’t forget backlinks – Link popularity plays very large into how your site is ranking by search engines, and is always a key element of SEO. Miss the backlinks part, and your SEO will suffer quite a bit.
8. Avoid excessive graphics and flash presentations – This is not to alter how the search engine looks at your site (directly), but at how your visitors view your site. There are many ways to make an effective website without overloading your visitors, and if a website takes more than 5 seconds to load, you will likely lose your visitor before they even get to visit your website.
As you can see, the list of things to do and things to avoid can have a large impact on your website. Heck, doing too many of the wrong things can get you outright banned and can be the demise of your website. The big things to keep in mind to keep you on the right track is to play it fair and don’t try to cheat the search engines. Cheating the search engines has a good chance at working in the short run, but usually in very short order you are worse off than when you started.
http://www.articleclone.com/aid7475/16-Essential-Do%E2%80%99s-and-Don%E2%80%99ts-for-Proper-SEO.html
Monday, September 10, 2007
10 Ways To Get Incoming Links To Your Website
Obtaining incoming links to your website fulfills two main objectives. Firstly it increases the traffic you could potentially receive to your site because the more links you have the more traffic you should receive, and secondly, by obtaining links from pages with a good page rank you can increase your own page rank which, although not the deciding factor, will help boost your ranking in the search engines.
Listed below are ten ways in which you can obtain these sought-after links.
1. Exchange Links With Other Websites
This process, known as reciprocal linking, is common place on the internet, and is something most webmasters do. However, while it's something you should do, it's important to note that search engines place more importance on one-way links than two-way or reciprocal links.
2. Submit Your Website To Directories
This is a good way of getting one-way links to your site (if a reciprocal link is not required). There are numerous directories you can submit to, offering both free and paid submissions. When deciding on whether paid submissions are worth it, you should look at the page where your link is expected to appear and see if it has a reasonable page rank, and the number of other links that appear on that page, with the fewer the better.
3. Build A Network Of Websites And Interlink Them
When building multiple websites it makes sense to interlink them, preferably from a home page link for maximum benefit. This can be very beneficial if each of your websites is on a different server, but be careful if they are hosted on the same server, as the search engines will think you're deliberately manipulating their results, and will most likely prevent you from achieving higher rankings.
4. Write Articles
This is a very powerful method of obtaining a lot of incoming one-way links to your site. By submitting your articles, which include the all important resource box with the link to your site, to multiple article directories you can pick up backlinks from not only these article directories but from other websites who pick up your articles and include them on their website or blog.
5. Write Press Releases
Writing a compelling news-worthy press release about your site or related topic, can also result in multiple websites and news sources picking it up and linking to your site. This is a very effective way of obtaining numerous one-way links very quickly, but doesn't offer the long-term benefits that articles do.
6. Create A Blog
Blogs are very easy to create with multiple websites offering free services, so there is no excuse for not creating a blog related to and linking to your main website. You could post anything - your thoughts, articles, or affiliate program reviews, for example, but make sure you include a link to your site in the links section, and at the end of each post if appropriate.
7. Leave Comments On Blogs And Guestbooks
You've got to be careful with this method that you don't abuse it and start spamming other people's blogs or guestbooks. Leave legitimate comments, and make it look like you actually have something to contribute. For example, just saying “Great Blog!” and then leaving your link is rightly considered to be spam, and will also damage your reputation in the long run.
8. Post On Forums That Allow Sig Files
Sig files are the line(s) that appear at the bottom of each message and act as a discreet way of advertising your site. You won't get a great deal of benefit in terms of page rank, as most forums do not have a high page rank for their threads, but you will build up a good number of links, and as forums generally tend to get spidered by the search engines regularly, they will follow the links to your site and subsequently spider your site on a regular basis.
9. Write Testimonials
By writing and submitting testimonials to websites that you have previously purchased products or services from, you can get high-quality links to your site, often from the home pages of the sites in question.
Obtaining incoming links to your website fulfills two main objectives. Firstly it increases the traffic you could potentially receive to your site because the more links you have the more traffic you should receive, and secondly, by obtaining links from pages with a good page rank you can increase your own page rank which, although not the deciding factor, will help boost your ranking in the search engines.
Listed below are ten ways in which you can obtain these sought-after links.
1. Exchange Links With Other Websites
This process, known as reciprocal linking, is common place on the internet, and is something most webmasters do. However, while it's something you should do, it's important to note that search engines place more importance on one-way links than two-way or reciprocal links.
2. Submit Your Website To Directories
This is a good way of getting one-way links to your site (if a reciprocal link is not required). There are numerous directories you can submit to, offering both free and paid submissions. When deciding on whether paid submissions are worth it, you should look at the page where your link is expected to appear and see if it has a reasonable page rank, and the number of other links that appear on that page, with the fewer the better.
3. Build A Network Of Websites And Interlink Them
When building multiple websites it makes sense to interlink them, preferably from a home page link for maximum benefit. This can be very beneficial if each of your websites is on a different server, but be careful if they are hosted on the same server, as the search engines will think you're deliberately manipulating their results, and will most likely prevent you from achieving higher rankings.
4. Write Articles
This is a very powerful method of obtaining a lot of incoming one-way links to your site. By submitting your articles, which include the all important resource box with the link to your site, to multiple article directories you can pick up backlinks from not only these article directories but from other websites who pick up your articles and include them on their website or blog.
5. Write Press Releases
Writing a compelling news-worthy press release about your site or related topic, can also result in multiple websites and news sources picking it up and linking to your site. This is a very effective way of obtaining numerous one-way links very quickly, but doesn't offer the long-term benefits that articles do.
6. Create A Blog
Blogs are very easy to create with multiple websites offering free services, so there is no excuse for not creating a blog related to and linking to your main website. You could post anything - your thoughts, articles, or affiliate program reviews, for example, but make sure you include a link to your site in the links section, and at the end of each post if appropriate.
7. Leave Comments On Blogs And Guestbooks
You've got to be careful with this method that you don't abuse it and start spamming other people's blogs or guestbooks. Leave legitimate comments, and make it look like you actually have something to contribute. For example, just saying “Great Blog!” and then leaving your link is rightly considered to be spam, and will also damage your reputation in the long run.
8. Post On Forums That Allow Sig Files
Sig files are the line(s) that appear at the bottom of each message and act as a discreet way of advertising your site. You won't get a great deal of benefit in terms of page rank, as most forums do not have a high page rank for their threads, but you will build up a good number of links, and as forums generally tend to get spidered by the search engines regularly, they will follow the links to your site and subsequently spider your site on a regular basis.
9. Write Testimonials
By writing and submitting testimonials to websites that you have previously purchased products or services from, you can get high-quality links to your site, often from the home pages of the sites in question.
10. Buy Links
The final way to obtain incoming links is by simply buying them. This can have a dramatic effect on your page rank and subsequently your search engine rankings if you can get links from PR6+ sites, however the only problem with this is that most links for sale are often for a set period of time, usually a month, and so you have to keep buying them to maintain your higher page rank and rankings.
The final way to obtain incoming links is by simply buying them. This can have a dramatic effect on your page rank and subsequently your search engine rankings if you can get links from PR6+ sites, however the only problem with this is that most links for sale are often for a set period of time, usually a month, and so you have to keep buying them to maintain your higher page rank and rankings.
http://www.articleclone.com/aid8292/10-Ways-To-Get-Incoming-Links-To-Your-Website.html
Listed below are ten ways in which you can obtain these sought-after links.
1. Exchange Links With Other Websites
This process, known as reciprocal linking, is common place on the internet, and is something most webmasters do. However, while it's something you should do, it's important to note that search engines place more importance on one-way links than two-way or reciprocal links.
2. Submit Your Website To Directories
This is a good way of getting one-way links to your site (if a reciprocal link is not required). There are numerous directories you can submit to, offering both free and paid submissions. When deciding on whether paid submissions are worth it, you should look at the page where your link is expected to appear and see if it has a reasonable page rank, and the number of other links that appear on that page, with the fewer the better.
3. Build A Network Of Websites And Interlink Them
When building multiple websites it makes sense to interlink them, preferably from a home page link for maximum benefit. This can be very beneficial if each of your websites is on a different server, but be careful if they are hosted on the same server, as the search engines will think you're deliberately manipulating their results, and will most likely prevent you from achieving higher rankings.
4. Write Articles
This is a very powerful method of obtaining a lot of incoming one-way links to your site. By submitting your articles, which include the all important resource box with the link to your site, to multiple article directories you can pick up backlinks from not only these article directories but from other websites who pick up your articles and include them on their website or blog.
5. Write Press Releases
Writing a compelling news-worthy press release about your site or related topic, can also result in multiple websites and news sources picking it up and linking to your site. This is a very effective way of obtaining numerous one-way links very quickly, but doesn't offer the long-term benefits that articles do.
6. Create A Blog
Blogs are very easy to create with multiple websites offering free services, so there is no excuse for not creating a blog related to and linking to your main website. You could post anything - your thoughts, articles, or affiliate program reviews, for example, but make sure you include a link to your site in the links section, and at the end of each post if appropriate.
7. Leave Comments On Blogs And Guestbooks
You've got to be careful with this method that you don't abuse it and start spamming other people's blogs or guestbooks. Leave legitimate comments, and make it look like you actually have something to contribute. For example, just saying “Great Blog!” and then leaving your link is rightly considered to be spam, and will also damage your reputation in the long run.
8. Post On Forums That Allow Sig Files
Sig files are the line(s) that appear at the bottom of each message and act as a discreet way of advertising your site. You won't get a great deal of benefit in terms of page rank, as most forums do not have a high page rank for their threads, but you will build up a good number of links, and as forums generally tend to get spidered by the search engines regularly, they will follow the links to your site and subsequently spider your site on a regular basis.
9. Write Testimonials
By writing and submitting testimonials to websites that you have previously purchased products or services from, you can get high-quality links to your site, often from the home pages of the sites in question.
Obtaining incoming links to your website fulfills two main objectives. Firstly it increases the traffic you could potentially receive to your site because the more links you have the more traffic you should receive, and secondly, by obtaining links from pages with a good page rank you can increase your own page rank which, although not the deciding factor, will help boost your ranking in the search engines.
Listed below are ten ways in which you can obtain these sought-after links.
1. Exchange Links With Other Websites
This process, known as reciprocal linking, is common place on the internet, and is something most webmasters do. However, while it's something you should do, it's important to note that search engines place more importance on one-way links than two-way or reciprocal links.
2. Submit Your Website To Directories
This is a good way of getting one-way links to your site (if a reciprocal link is not required). There are numerous directories you can submit to, offering both free and paid submissions. When deciding on whether paid submissions are worth it, you should look at the page where your link is expected to appear and see if it has a reasonable page rank, and the number of other links that appear on that page, with the fewer the better.
3. Build A Network Of Websites And Interlink Them
When building multiple websites it makes sense to interlink them, preferably from a home page link for maximum benefit. This can be very beneficial if each of your websites is on a different server, but be careful if they are hosted on the same server, as the search engines will think you're deliberately manipulating their results, and will most likely prevent you from achieving higher rankings.
4. Write Articles
This is a very powerful method of obtaining a lot of incoming one-way links to your site. By submitting your articles, which include the all important resource box with the link to your site, to multiple article directories you can pick up backlinks from not only these article directories but from other websites who pick up your articles and include them on their website or blog.
5. Write Press Releases
Writing a compelling news-worthy press release about your site or related topic, can also result in multiple websites and news sources picking it up and linking to your site. This is a very effective way of obtaining numerous one-way links very quickly, but doesn't offer the long-term benefits that articles do.
6. Create A Blog
Blogs are very easy to create with multiple websites offering free services, so there is no excuse for not creating a blog related to and linking to your main website. You could post anything - your thoughts, articles, or affiliate program reviews, for example, but make sure you include a link to your site in the links section, and at the end of each post if appropriate.
7. Leave Comments On Blogs And Guestbooks
You've got to be careful with this method that you don't abuse it and start spamming other people's blogs or guestbooks. Leave legitimate comments, and make it look like you actually have something to contribute. For example, just saying “Great Blog!” and then leaving your link is rightly considered to be spam, and will also damage your reputation in the long run.
8. Post On Forums That Allow Sig Files
Sig files are the line(s) that appear at the bottom of each message and act as a discreet way of advertising your site. You won't get a great deal of benefit in terms of page rank, as most forums do not have a high page rank for their threads, but you will build up a good number of links, and as forums generally tend to get spidered by the search engines regularly, they will follow the links to your site and subsequently spider your site on a regular basis.
9. Write Testimonials
By writing and submitting testimonials to websites that you have previously purchased products or services from, you can get high-quality links to your site, often from the home pages of the sites in question.
10. Buy Links
The final way to obtain incoming links is by simply buying them. This can have a dramatic effect on your page rank and subsequently your search engine rankings if you can get links from PR6+ sites, however the only problem with this is that most links for sale are often for a set period of time, usually a month, and so you have to keep buying them to maintain your higher page rank and rankings.
The final way to obtain incoming links is by simply buying them. This can have a dramatic effect on your page rank and subsequently your search engine rankings if you can get links from PR6+ sites, however the only problem with this is that most links for sale are often for a set period of time, usually a month, and so you have to keep buying them to maintain your higher page rank and rankings.
http://www.articleclone.com/aid8292/10-Ways-To-Get-Incoming-Links-To-Your-Website.html
10 SEO Tricks to Attract More Traffic to Your Blog
As fancy as the term "blog" sounds, it's actually just a website that uses a content management system. While most blog software is more search engine friendly out of the box than many web sites, the opportunities for blog optimization are readily available.
Here are 10 tricks that will increase your visibility in search engines and eventually drive more traffic to your blog.
1) Use keywords in your blog post titles - This is a given for SEO. Most blogging software uses the post title as the url so take advantage of it.
Example: “10 SEO Tricks to Attract More Traffic to your Blog - Search Engine Journal"
Search Engine Journal is included on every blog post title tag automatically.
2) Optimize your blog categories - When you create categories for your blog, be sure to use keywords in the titles. When you post, be sure to default to a general category that is relevant no matter what the post is about. Choose multiple categories on each post when appropriate. This will create a “SEO-friendly" url for each post you make.
3) Syndicate your blog - Make it easy for people to subscribe to your blog. Sign-up with a free service like Feedburner and then create a “syndication" area on your site.
4) Offer RSS to email. Anywhere from 10% to 40% of your blog traffic can come from individuals that perfer to read blog posts via email. RSS readers and aggregators can be confusing. Adding email services to your blog isn't. There are several free services available for this including: FeedBlitz, Squeet, and Zookoda.
5) Ping blog search engines - This can be configured with blog software such as Movable Type or WordPress to work automatically. If you're using Blogger.com, then you can do this manually with Pingomatic.com or Pingoat.com.
6) Make comments on other blogs. Your name will be linked to the blog url that you enter. Don't make comments that offer no value to the blog post. Don't use keywords in the field for your name, use your name or blog name.
7) Submit your blog directories. Also submit the blog to regular directories such as (DMOZ, JoeAnt, GoGuides, Google Blog Search, etc) that have categories for blogs.
8) Targeted advertising – Now this doesn't really drive traffic to your site but will make you money. It's possible by using Google AdSense to display highly targeted ads on your blog. Once you've setup an account and placed the ads on your site, just sit back and watch the cash come in. Cha-ching.
9) Snatch up hot keywords - Now before you place ads on your blog, be sure your keyword density is good for the right terms. A great tool to improve your traffic for high-paying keywords is to use a product called Keyword Elite (http://www.seojuice.com).
10) Use track backs - If there is a blog that you refer to or quote and it is highly relevant to your subject, leave a track back. It increases your link popularity and may even score a few interested readers from the linked site. A TrackBack is a mechanism used in a blog to show, around an entry, a list of other blogs that refer to it.
Summary
The important thing to remember is that no matter how many optimization tactics you employ with a blog, there is no substitute for quality content. Blog optimization is only as effective as the quality and usefulness of the content you're optimizing. So do not limit yourself to tips and lists. Use your imagination and you will come up with thousands of ways to drive traffic to your blog!
http://www.articleclone.com/aid1696/10-SEO-Tricks-to-Attract-More-Traffic-to-Your-Blog.html
Here are 10 tricks that will increase your visibility in search engines and eventually drive more traffic to your blog.
1) Use keywords in your blog post titles - This is a given for SEO. Most blogging software uses the post title as the url so take advantage of it.
Example: “10 SEO Tricks to Attract More Traffic to your Blog - Search Engine Journal"
Search Engine Journal is included on every blog post title tag automatically.
2) Optimize your blog categories - When you create categories for your blog, be sure to use keywords in the titles. When you post, be sure to default to a general category that is relevant no matter what the post is about. Choose multiple categories on each post when appropriate. This will create a “SEO-friendly" url for each post you make.
3) Syndicate your blog - Make it easy for people to subscribe to your blog. Sign-up with a free service like Feedburner and then create a “syndication" area on your site.
4) Offer RSS to email. Anywhere from 10% to 40% of your blog traffic can come from individuals that perfer to read blog posts via email. RSS readers and aggregators can be confusing. Adding email services to your blog isn't. There are several free services available for this including: FeedBlitz, Squeet, and Zookoda.
5) Ping blog search engines - This can be configured with blog software such as Movable Type or WordPress to work automatically. If you're using Blogger.com, then you can do this manually with Pingomatic.com or Pingoat.com.
6) Make comments on other blogs. Your name will be linked to the blog url that you enter. Don't make comments that offer no value to the blog post. Don't use keywords in the field for your name, use your name or blog name.
7) Submit your blog directories. Also submit the blog to regular directories such as (DMOZ, JoeAnt, GoGuides, Google Blog Search, etc) that have categories for blogs.
8) Targeted advertising – Now this doesn't really drive traffic to your site but will make you money. It's possible by using Google AdSense to display highly targeted ads on your blog. Once you've setup an account and placed the ads on your site, just sit back and watch the cash come in. Cha-ching.
9) Snatch up hot keywords - Now before you place ads on your blog, be sure your keyword density is good for the right terms. A great tool to improve your traffic for high-paying keywords is to use a product called Keyword Elite (http://www.seojuice.com).
10) Use track backs - If there is a blog that you refer to or quote and it is highly relevant to your subject, leave a track back. It increases your link popularity and may even score a few interested readers from the linked site. A TrackBack is a mechanism used in a blog to show, around an entry, a list of other blogs that refer to it.
Summary
The important thing to remember is that no matter how many optimization tactics you employ with a blog, there is no substitute for quality content. Blog optimization is only as effective as the quality and usefulness of the content you're optimizing. So do not limit yourself to tips and lists. Use your imagination and you will come up with thousands of ways to drive traffic to your blog!
http://www.articleclone.com/aid1696/10-SEO-Tricks-to-Attract-More-Traffic-to-Your-Blog.html
10 Quick Rules For Better Search Engine Ranking
If you are setting up a website, follow these simple rules to improve search engine rankings of your site. You can also follow these techniques if your website is not ranked high in search engines for certain keywords. Concentrate on the home page of your site and once you learn the techniques, you will be able to apply them to the other pages of your site that will have multiple high ranking pages.
1. Find keywords (or key phrases) relevant to your website. Go to the overture keyword selector tool (type key phrase overture inventory in Google) and check the popularity of the keywords you want to use. Avoid highly popular keywords. Highly popular keywords are very competitive and the least popular keywords are search engine traffic starved.
Select a dozen keywords and key phrases from the middle of the list. This is a very important exercise and you should spend at least a couple of hours, if not more, researching different keywords. While you are researching your keywords, check your competitors by doing a search in a couple of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc., using those keywords. Keep a record of your competitors' urls and other information because you don't want to waste your time doing the same search again in the near future.
2. Use the keywords you selected into the meta tags of your home page. Meta tags are located in the head section of a web page. Go to one of your competitor's website and select View and then Source from your web browser's menu to view the html source of the web page. You will see the meta elements.
The two important meta tags are keywords and description meta tags. Don't leave them blank. You can list your keywords, separated by comma, in the keywords meta tag. Construct a catchy description using your keywords for the description meta tag.
3. Use the keywords in your title tag. The text you use in the title tag appears in the title bar of the web browser. The title tag should be less than 64 characters long. Again, the key is to use a meaningful title using the keywords. Don't just make a laundry list of your keywords for the title tag.
The title tag and your meta description may end up in many search engine listings. So, spend sometime to make these two elements interesting, meaningful, and relevant to your site.
4. Use the keywords in top heading (h1) tags of your page. Use one keyword (or a key phrase) for each h1 tag. Use these h1 tags for the headings of your contents.
5. In the home page content, use bold, using the strong html element, to highlight some of your keywords.
6. Italicize some of the keywords in your page.
7. Use the keywords in alt tags of images. You should always use the alt tag for all images.
8. Encourage others to use the keywords for text anchors when they link back to your site. Better yet, publish your own short link text with keyword anchors, bold and italicized key phrases and give it away for link exchanges.
9. If possible, use the keywords in your domain name. Try different arrangements of the keywords to come up with an available domain name that you can register.
10. If you are using php or asp or any other web programming language for your dynamic website, make your url search engine friendly using url rewrite techniques. Search the phrase url rewrite in Google to know more about url rewrite.
Keep in mind these simple rules every time you want to launch a website. Spending a few days upfront in the preparation of your site will pay off in the long run with better search engine rankings.
http://www.articleclone.com/aid60258/10-Quick-Rules-For-Better-Search-Engine-Ranking.html
1. Find keywords (or key phrases) relevant to your website. Go to the overture keyword selector tool (type key phrase overture inventory in Google) and check the popularity of the keywords you want to use. Avoid highly popular keywords. Highly popular keywords are very competitive and the least popular keywords are search engine traffic starved.
Select a dozen keywords and key phrases from the middle of the list. This is a very important exercise and you should spend at least a couple of hours, if not more, researching different keywords. While you are researching your keywords, check your competitors by doing a search in a couple of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc., using those keywords. Keep a record of your competitors' urls and other information because you don't want to waste your time doing the same search again in the near future.
2. Use the keywords you selected into the meta tags of your home page. Meta tags are located in the head section of a web page. Go to one of your competitor's website and select View and then Source from your web browser's menu to view the html source of the web page. You will see the meta elements.
The two important meta tags are keywords and description meta tags. Don't leave them blank. You can list your keywords, separated by comma, in the keywords meta tag. Construct a catchy description using your keywords for the description meta tag.
3. Use the keywords in your title tag. The text you use in the title tag appears in the title bar of the web browser. The title tag should be less than 64 characters long. Again, the key is to use a meaningful title using the keywords. Don't just make a laundry list of your keywords for the title tag.
The title tag and your meta description may end up in many search engine listings. So, spend sometime to make these two elements interesting, meaningful, and relevant to your site.
4. Use the keywords in top heading (h1) tags of your page. Use one keyword (or a key phrase) for each h1 tag. Use these h1 tags for the headings of your contents.
5. In the home page content, use bold, using the strong html element, to highlight some of your keywords.
6. Italicize some of the keywords in your page.
7. Use the keywords in alt tags of images. You should always use the alt tag for all images.
8. Encourage others to use the keywords for text anchors when they link back to your site. Better yet, publish your own short link text with keyword anchors, bold and italicized key phrases and give it away for link exchanges.
9. If possible, use the keywords in your domain name. Try different arrangements of the keywords to come up with an available domain name that you can register.
10. If you are using php or asp or any other web programming language for your dynamic website, make your url search engine friendly using url rewrite techniques. Search the phrase url rewrite in Google to know more about url rewrite.
Keep in mind these simple rules every time you want to launch a website. Spending a few days upfront in the preparation of your site will pay off in the long run with better search engine rankings.
http://www.articleclone.com/aid60258/10-Quick-Rules-For-Better-Search-Engine-Ranking.html
10 Copywriting Tips for SEO and PPC
This article provides helpful information for any copywriter trying to adjust to working with an SEO/SEM agency.
1. Write for your audience first, then search engines.
Crossing brand communication and sales driven goals with manipulating search engine algorithms is not a process which involves any comprimise. Firstly write from a sales perspective, then tweak your copy until it meets keyword density requirements.
2. Write as much as possible!
When writing for search engines the more content you have on your website the better. That is as long as it ties in tightly with your websites theme and purpose. Through having more content on your webpages you open up opportunities for people to come across your website through long-tail search terms.
3. Select keywords based on 4 factors.
Selecting keywords is a job that may be left to a copywriter or a search marketer. Should you be asked to select keywords, then you should consider the balance of these 4 factors in deciding which words are best to go after.
Optimization of competitors.
Volume of search queries.
The intent of traffic (how targetted the traffic is).
Net profit per visitor.
It is often far more helpful to gauge these factors if your client has embarked on a PPC campaign and has data to share. If you are not fortunate enough to be able to view this information, then much of it can be reached by assumption.
4. Building an Internal Linking Architecture
Although you may not be directly responsible for all navigation and architectural issues, you are within content. Understand the power of anchor text, and how it should be used to help search engines understand the purpose of a given page. Consider altering anchor text with derivatives such as 'word', 'words" and always avoid any anchor text reading 'click here' or 'read more'.
5. Titles, Titles, Titles
When writing information based copy rather than sales copy, titles can evoke response, be used as anchor text from external links and can help engage readers. Choose a title that evokes intrigue and that is also relevant, however avoid writing an article to suit a title.
6. Short Paragraphs, Bolded Words
Using short paragraphs and bolded words allow for skim readers to skim your article and this also allows people to digest the information they are looking for whilst missing out what they are not. Sub-headings also have their place in helping to reach this goal.
7. PPC ad copy
Although click through rates do not lie over a large sample, it is also the case that following certain strategies can help you to attain you to increase click through rate. Ensure that you include the main keyword within the title, so that it is bolded and even consider doing this within the description.
8. Use split testing to your advantage
If your client is performing split-testing then ensure that you use this to your advantage. Opt for two approaches that are different at first, then go onto use split-testing to tweak your copy for better conversions. Always explain to your clients the role that their graphic designer has in this process, and ensure that you do not allow your perceptions to mask what works best.
9. Keyword Density
As long as a keyword appears in the body text this appears to be enough for a top spot on any search engine for that phrase. What is more important, is ensuring that related keywords appear on that page so that the theme of your web page can be easily identified.
10. Content is not King
Links are king and content is his army. Without links you can forget about ranking well for competitive phrases in the organic SERPs. Ensure your client knows it from the outset.
http://www.articleclone.com/aid52562/10-Copywriting-Tips-for-SEO-and-PPC.html
1. Write for your audience first, then search engines.
Crossing brand communication and sales driven goals with manipulating search engine algorithms is not a process which involves any comprimise. Firstly write from a sales perspective, then tweak your copy until it meets keyword density requirements.
2. Write as much as possible!
When writing for search engines the more content you have on your website the better. That is as long as it ties in tightly with your websites theme and purpose. Through having more content on your webpages you open up opportunities for people to come across your website through long-tail search terms.
3. Select keywords based on 4 factors.
Selecting keywords is a job that may be left to a copywriter or a search marketer. Should you be asked to select keywords, then you should consider the balance of these 4 factors in deciding which words are best to go after.
Optimization of competitors.
Volume of search queries.
The intent of traffic (how targetted the traffic is).
Net profit per visitor.
It is often far more helpful to gauge these factors if your client has embarked on a PPC campaign and has data to share. If you are not fortunate enough to be able to view this information, then much of it can be reached by assumption.
4. Building an Internal Linking Architecture
Although you may not be directly responsible for all navigation and architectural issues, you are within content. Understand the power of anchor text, and how it should be used to help search engines understand the purpose of a given page. Consider altering anchor text with derivatives such as 'word', 'words" and always avoid any anchor text reading 'click here' or 'read more'.
5. Titles, Titles, Titles
When writing information based copy rather than sales copy, titles can evoke response, be used as anchor text from external links and can help engage readers. Choose a title that evokes intrigue and that is also relevant, however avoid writing an article to suit a title.
6. Short Paragraphs, Bolded Words
Using short paragraphs and bolded words allow for skim readers to skim your article and this also allows people to digest the information they are looking for whilst missing out what they are not. Sub-headings also have their place in helping to reach this goal.
7. PPC ad copy
Although click through rates do not lie over a large sample, it is also the case that following certain strategies can help you to attain you to increase click through rate. Ensure that you include the main keyword within the title, so that it is bolded and even consider doing this within the description.
8. Use split testing to your advantage
If your client is performing split-testing then ensure that you use this to your advantage. Opt for two approaches that are different at first, then go onto use split-testing to tweak your copy for better conversions. Always explain to your clients the role that their graphic designer has in this process, and ensure that you do not allow your perceptions to mask what works best.
9. Keyword Density
As long as a keyword appears in the body text this appears to be enough for a top spot on any search engine for that phrase. What is more important, is ensuring that related keywords appear on that page so that the theme of your web page can be easily identified.
10. Content is not King
Links are king and content is his army. Without links you can forget about ranking well for competitive phrases in the organic SERPs. Ensure your client knows it from the outset.
http://www.articleclone.com/aid52562/10-Copywriting-Tips-for-SEO-and-PPC.html
(SEO) Will Make The Difference to Your Success!
SEO - is the latest in techniques used by web masters for making the overall layout, structure, and keyword patterning of your website relevant to search engines and web directories where the site has been submitted. This technique, readily available by professionals in any quality SEO company or firm, allows search engines and directories, both human indexed, and spider indexed, to properly categorize and rank your site to be found when a user makes a search.
SEO teaches the different search engines and web directories which keywords are most relevant to your website, so that they will obtain high ranking when someone makes a search for that exact keyword. Search engine ranking is very important because the majority of internet users will only look at the first sites listed whenever they do a search. Therefore, even if your page is listed 12th with Google for a given keyword, it may never be seen by web users, because they simply don’t scroll that far down the list.
For this reason, it’s very important that you incorporate proper SEO strategies into your website. This may involve hiring an SEO firm or an SEO company for their different services.
Among the most common SEO services are articles. These are articles written with interesting or informative content, but which have been structured specifically around a specific keyword. Therefore, if your company sells widgets, you might want to include an article on your website that uses the word “widgets company” throughout its paragraphs.
To come up with your keywords, try to think about the different ways that you’d search for your own website. Think about your services, your products, the information that you provide, and the type of customer you’ll want to attract. You can either make your own list, or use a computer program that is designed for coming up with the different words that will work the best for you. If you hire an SEO company, they will likely have that sort of program available. It allows you to simply give an idea, such as “widgets”, and it will come up with all of the relevant search words that people use, and will tell you how many other sites already come up in search engines when that word or group of words is used.
There is a trick to writing a proper SEO based article. Although it may seem as though you can simply write a regular article and plug in your keyword, there are actually some other things that you need to consider. For example, if you use the keyword too frequently, many search engines will not recognize it as SEO, but will instead see it as SPAM. Similarly, if you use the word too infrequently, the search engine will not recognize the keyword as being relevant at all.
This is where experts seem to disagree. While some believe that the keyword should be used once within the title of the article, and up to ten times throughout the rest of the text, others believe that it should only be used three more times, and a subheading is required.
In fact, there are many different techniques that work very well for proper SEO, but it is a matter of knowing what you’re doing, and being consistent about it. For this reason, it’s not a bad idea to hire either a freelance SEO writer, an SEO company, or a firm. This will ensure that you have the best odds at achieving those coveted top search engine ranks.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure that SEO is a part of your website…unless, that is, you don’t want to encourage any visitors at all!
http://www.articleclone.com/aid2549/(SEO)-Will-Make-The-Difference-to-Your-Success-.html
SEO teaches the different search engines and web directories which keywords are most relevant to your website, so that they will obtain high ranking when someone makes a search for that exact keyword. Search engine ranking is very important because the majority of internet users will only look at the first sites listed whenever they do a search. Therefore, even if your page is listed 12th with Google for a given keyword, it may never be seen by web users, because they simply don’t scroll that far down the list.
For this reason, it’s very important that you incorporate proper SEO strategies into your website. This may involve hiring an SEO firm or an SEO company for their different services.
Among the most common SEO services are articles. These are articles written with interesting or informative content, but which have been structured specifically around a specific keyword. Therefore, if your company sells widgets, you might want to include an article on your website that uses the word “widgets company” throughout its paragraphs.
To come up with your keywords, try to think about the different ways that you’d search for your own website. Think about your services, your products, the information that you provide, and the type of customer you’ll want to attract. You can either make your own list, or use a computer program that is designed for coming up with the different words that will work the best for you. If you hire an SEO company, they will likely have that sort of program available. It allows you to simply give an idea, such as “widgets”, and it will come up with all of the relevant search words that people use, and will tell you how many other sites already come up in search engines when that word or group of words is used.
There is a trick to writing a proper SEO based article. Although it may seem as though you can simply write a regular article and plug in your keyword, there are actually some other things that you need to consider. For example, if you use the keyword too frequently, many search engines will not recognize it as SEO, but will instead see it as SPAM. Similarly, if you use the word too infrequently, the search engine will not recognize the keyword as being relevant at all.
This is where experts seem to disagree. While some believe that the keyword should be used once within the title of the article, and up to ten times throughout the rest of the text, others believe that it should only be used three more times, and a subheading is required.
In fact, there are many different techniques that work very well for proper SEO, but it is a matter of knowing what you’re doing, and being consistent about it. For this reason, it’s not a bad idea to hire either a freelance SEO writer, an SEO company, or a firm. This will ensure that you have the best odds at achieving those coveted top search engine ranks.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure that SEO is a part of your website…unless, that is, you don’t want to encourage any visitors at all!
http://www.articleclone.com/aid2549/(SEO)-Will-Make-The-Difference-to-Your-Success-.html
"Know Thy Enemy" and Then Thrash Them at Their Own Game
Much as I would love to say that your success solely depends on how you build your business, I cannot. You see, much like in real life, you will need to compete to attain success. In Internet marketing, you will have to compete against the greatest and most innovative competition anywhere online.
The fact that Internet Marketing is so competitive is the reason for the massive growth in niche marketing where the competition is less fierce. In such a competitive market and even in the smaller markets you need to adopt a particular strategy to make sure you stand a good chance of getting your message seen at all by interested prospects.
The trick? You must beat your competition at their own game, of course. And the only way to do that is to "know thy enemy".
There are a number of ways to do this and resources to make your job a lot easier. Time is the most valuable commodity you have and if there is a way to save time by investing a little cash then I suggest you do this.
Run a search of your more popular keywords in any search engine. The results will reveal the number of websites targeting your market. Each and everyone of them is your competition. The ones at the top 10 in the first page of the results should be your targets. Your goal is to topple them from their position.
And you WILL be able to accomplish this by first knowing what they're doing right.
Try to visit their website and observe the way of how they do things. How are their keywords positioned? How are their pages designed? How is their content laid out? How is their information presented?
At the top of your browser click "view" then "source" this will show you the inner html workings of the page you are on. Have a look at the alt tags in the page, are they laden with keyword phrases?
What keywords are your competitors targeting in the meta tags?
One of the most important things you need to know about your competition is which, and how many websites are linking to them. I use Brad Callen's SEO Elite to find out this info.
With this info in hand your task then would be to get the same linkbacks and more. It is unlikely that the top rankings in your determined keyword phrase are all linking to the same websites. So take the top 10, find out all their link partners and beat their link popularity by swapping links with a greater number.
Especially target those link partners with high Google ranking. The aforementioned tool will give you all the required info. Google rankings of 0 PR should be ignored.
The golden rule in beating your competition is by copying what works for them and improving on the same.
Retain what works and discard what doesn't.
I hope you found this article helpful.
http://www.articleclone.com/aid20994/-Know-Thy-Enemy-and-Then-Thrash-Them-at-Their-Own-Game.html
The fact that Internet Marketing is so competitive is the reason for the massive growth in niche marketing where the competition is less fierce. In such a competitive market and even in the smaller markets you need to adopt a particular strategy to make sure you stand a good chance of getting your message seen at all by interested prospects.
The trick? You must beat your competition at their own game, of course. And the only way to do that is to "know thy enemy".
There are a number of ways to do this and resources to make your job a lot easier. Time is the most valuable commodity you have and if there is a way to save time by investing a little cash then I suggest you do this.
Run a search of your more popular keywords in any search engine. The results will reveal the number of websites targeting your market. Each and everyone of them is your competition. The ones at the top 10 in the first page of the results should be your targets. Your goal is to topple them from their position.
And you WILL be able to accomplish this by first knowing what they're doing right.
Try to visit their website and observe the way of how they do things. How are their keywords positioned? How are their pages designed? How is their content laid out? How is their information presented?
At the top of your browser click "view" then "source" this will show you the inner html workings of the page you are on. Have a look at the alt tags in the page, are they laden with keyword phrases?
What keywords are your competitors targeting in the meta tags?
One of the most important things you need to know about your competition is which, and how many websites are linking to them. I use Brad Callen's SEO Elite to find out this info.
With this info in hand your task then would be to get the same linkbacks and more. It is unlikely that the top rankings in your determined keyword phrase are all linking to the same websites. So take the top 10, find out all their link partners and beat their link popularity by swapping links with a greater number.
Especially target those link partners with high Google ranking. The aforementioned tool will give you all the required info. Google rankings of 0 PR should be ignored.
The golden rule in beating your competition is by copying what works for them and improving on the same.
Retain what works and discard what doesn't.
I hope you found this article helpful.
http://www.articleclone.com/aid20994/-Know-Thy-Enemy-and-Then-Thrash-Them-at-Their-Own-Game.html
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