Thursday, December 18, 2008

Basic SEO Strategies for Newbies

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process getting your website ready to be found in organic web searches. Organic searches, refers to web searches that appear naturally as the result of a search for a particular keyword or phrase, rather than appearing in the sponsored links (pay-per-click advertising) section of a search page.

Here are the 11 strategies that you can regularly implement on your sites for better SEO positioning:

1.Page title tags: This refers to the page information that you see in the blue bar of your browser in the upper left-hand corner when you visit a website. For best SEO, use your top 2 keywords in your title tag. The best way to do that is separated with a bar, as illustrated in this example: Internet Marketing | Web Marketing.

2. Domain name: as much as possible, use one primary keyword in your domain name. You will have a slight edge over your competition by doing so. If you already have a domain that you have used for some time, include a keyword in the name of files for your website pages. Example: http://www.yoursite.com/internet-marketing.htm if your keyword is Internet marketing.

3. Meta tags: These are descriptions on a web page that are not seen by most visitors except when looking at the page source code in their browser. While the keyword and description metatags used to be the primary way that search engines indexed sites, that is no longer the case. However, you shouldn't ignore them entirely, as it is still worthwhile to include them as a part of your page description. For optimal SEO, your meta description and keyword tags should be no more than 150 characters each.

4. Header tags: Header tags are the HTML code that indicate a headline, like H1, H2 and H3 and show up as bolded headlines in your page content. The first 3 header tags are the only ones you need to be concerned about, and the primary header tag, H1, is the most important. Use your primary keyword once in the H1 tag, 2-3 times in your H2 tags, and multiple times in your H3 tags.

5.Alt image tag: The alt tag typically describes an image in a floating text window when you put your mouse over the image if the image isn't able to be displayed. The best use of any tag is to use your keywords in your image descriptions.

6. Content formatting: Search engines pay attention to formatted content, as in when text is bolded, italicized, and underlined. Make sure that you are bolding your keywords in the content of your website.

7. Keyword density: Keyword density refers to the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase appears on a web page. Rather than trying to focus on the number of times a keyword appears in the content of your page, aim for a more natural density by keeping your keyword phrases in mind as you write the copy for your page. Optimally, keyword density should be between 2% - 7%. There are a number of keyword density checkers available online to assist you with determining the keyword density of a page.

8. Anchor text: Anchor text refer to links on a page that connect your visitor to other pages. So, rather than telling someone to "click here" in the content of your page, include a keyword in your anchor text, as in "click here for dog training tips."

9. Inbound links: Reciprocal link exchange (you link to my site and I'll link to yours) used to be a great way to attract the attention of search engines to your site. Now, search engines pay attention only to the quality and popularity of the site providing you with an inbound link that is not a reciprocal link. One of the best ways to get quality inbound links back to your site is to submít articles to high traffic article directoríes and submit press releases to paid press release services.

A second way to gain high quality inbound links is by listíng your site in search engine-friendly directoríes in which humans review the listings. Google and other search engines place more credibility in the directories in which the listings are reviewed by real people than they do other kinds of directories. Consequently, these links are weighted more heavily and favorably in the inbound link evaluation process.

10. New content: Content is still king, so one way to improve your page rank for a search term is to write high quality articles containing one or two of your keywords in the title and posting those regularly (weekly is best) to your site. Search engines are always seeking good, fresh, content, so your goal should be to make your site into an information-rich resource for your industry.

11. Site maps: There are sitemaps that help a visitor navigate a site, and sitemaps that are expressly designed for the search engines. The two are not the same. To enhance your site, submit an xml sitemap to Google Webmaster Central and Yahoo Site Explorer. Use XML Sitemaps to build search engine-friendly sitemaps on your sites. You can refer to my previous post on how to make an XML sitemap.

Search engine optimization strategy is not as difficult as it appears. Take some time to do some keyword research for your site, and then spend another 15 minutes a day employing a few of these strategies until you have a well-optimized site. Why pay for visitors through pay-per-click advertising if you don't have to?

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Proper Website Submission To Search Engines

If you have a business website then the best advertising and marketing is done by submitting your website to a search engines.

It is still the best option for promotion.No amount of press releases, newspaper or radio ads, banner ads, spam emails or newsletters will achieve the same results, although it may be effective in a small proportion.

Automatic submission of your website to hundreds of search engines are a bad thing to do so beware of SEO companies providing such services. The best way to submit your website for search engine ranking and inclusion is to do it yourself or to hire an expert to do it manually, by contacting the search engine companies and directories.

Researching or referrals from other companies that have had great success with an SEO company is always the safest way to ensure that your website is going to be in genuinely good hands. There are so many SEO services on the internet trying to make a quick buck by any means necessary.

Business dealings with the wrong types of people can be very hard if you're not careful in considering and researching where you decide to go in finding your marketing partners for life.

Before website submission to search engines, it is best to ensure that your websites are thoroughly designed, having professional quality using the right keywords, good graphics and pictures and appropriate, relevant content. Don't submit websites that are incomplete.

While submitting to search engine, make sure to provide information about your website, keywords and any other information that may be pertinent, including the name and contact information of your business.

New and fresh website in the early stages are always going to come with many great challenges. But once you have overcome those challenges and beaten the odds, you will most likely be able to repeat this pattern over and over if you wanted to do so.

You could also decide to become a consultant and help others to become better with their dealings online. They could learn from your mistakes and discoveries just as you had with your wonderful guide.

Mere submissions alone to search engines will not guarantee that your site would be immediately listed and the ranking will be at the very top. Because there are thousands of new websites coming up every day and it may take quite some time before they take up your site for review by human editors.

One important factor to remember while submitting your website is to include a site map of your website which makes the crawling easy for the web robots. Search engines like Google hardly consider submissions without sitemaps.

You will need to do everything that you can think of to make the robot's job in crawling your website as easy as it can possibly be from your end. It can also be referred to as optimizing your website to just flow very smoothly without hardly any interruption at all from the search engine programs that hit all kinds of dead ends and errors as people place businesses online.

You will hear from many users online that you should stay as far away as you can get from these automatic submission companies. This is very much the case in most of what you may stumble onto online.

There are a few good, solid and dependable SEO companies that you can find by knowing the right people and being associated with a good network of business minded people.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Hitting Top 3 Spots on MSN

MSN is the simplest search engine to dominate rankings on. Below is one amazingly simple formula to hit the top three spots nine out of ten times of MSN Search Engine.

Here's the formula, step by step:

Step 1: Target just one keyword per Website (don't worry it's just a one page Website anyway.) And don't even bother with long tail keywords. Go for the ones that are impossible on Google. This formula nails them on MSN.

Step 1a: If you want to see exactly how much traffic potential each keyword has on MSN you can use their keyword tool at https://adcenter.microsoft.com/Research/KeywordResearcher.aspx. But unfortunately you need to be an AdCenter member to access it. But on the plus side, it only costs five dollars to join up. Clicking the above link will redirect you to the signup page if you are not a member.

Step 1b: If you don't want to bother you can just use Google's free keyword tool at as a max estimate and do a little guesstimating as to what MSN's searches for the same keyword might be. There is no hard and fast rule but I find that dividing Google's search volume by a number between four and seven is usually close to MSN's numbers.

Step 2: Register a new domain name that is as close as possible to your keyword. Use hyphens as much as you like. If your keyword is a single word there is a 99.9 percent chance it is taken as a domain name so add a hyphen between each letter or add a double hyphen between two words. Be original.

Step 2a: Do not bother with any domains that do not end in .com, .net, or .org. Those are the ones MSN likes best (the original big three TLD's.)

Step 3: Build a one page Website as follows...

Step 3a: Put your title at the top of the page and use your keyword once. Don't bother with H1 and H2 tags. Just bold, underline or italicize it.

Step 3b: Write 250 to 350 words, broken out into three or more paragraphs. Use your keyword once in each paragraph (no more than four uses on the page.)

Step 3c: Use at least two instances of your keyword as anchor text linking back to the same (home) page.

Step 3d: Use as many images as you like but make sure at least one third of your text is above the first image. And if you find 350 words is not enough to say all you want, make images of your offer text and post those on the page as well. Just keep the actual text (search engine readable) to 350 words or less and have no more than four mentions of your keyword.

Step 3e: Limit your outbound links to one that leaves the site. This should go to your main offer page, payment processor, etc. All other links should simply link back to the same page. By the way, if you need to post a privacy policy or disclaímer, create an image of it and post it as an image if possible to cut down on page text.

Step 4: Use your Title and Description META tags. MSN still likes them. Here's how...

Step 4a: Make your title tag in two parts with a separator between. First is the keyword. Then place a separator like a pipe (above enter key) or colon. Then add a few words that complement the keyword. Try not to go over seven words in the title.

Step 4b: Make your description up to 250 characters long (or longer if you wish but anything beyond 250 will likely not count.) Use your keyword within the first five words of your description if possible and do not use it more than twice at most.

Step 5: Get links from other Web sites. This is important! GPR or Google PageRank does not matter at all and neither does the site theme matching yours. Just get plenty of links. Here's how I did it before buying a software tool...

Step 5a: Submít your site to as many directories as possible. DMOZ.org and Yahoo.com are the largest.

Step 5b: Do relevant blog and user group postings with a link back to your site.

Step 5c: Write and submit articles. The resource box from a single article can bring in dozens or even hundreds of links. It's easiest to use an article submission service like SubmitYourArticle.us or another with similar advanced distribution features.

Step 6: Consider investing in a software tool. I spent $167 for SE0elite.com and it does all I need and more. Of course, there are dozens of choices out there so shop around.

That’s it. Don’t forget to come back here to post your success.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Building A Better Business Website

A look of a website can make or break your business. First impressions always count. Here are ten tips to building a better business website.

1. Colour - A black background is not recommended. It's hard on the eyes. I don't know how many people have problems reading white or coloured text on a black background and with that said, don't go neon pink or glaring orange either. Generally black text on white background is best. Ideally you can choose two colours, but make sure they match and use it consistently on all your pages to maintain fluidity and continuity.

For example: Reds and oranges which stimulates appetite works well on a food site while warm pastel colours matches a baby site.

2. Layout - Don't cram everything into one page. Cluttered websites overwhelms the visitors. Keep it clean, crisp and concise. I had a CMS style website before and although it looked organized because there were three columns, there were also a lot of text. Navigation wasn't as plain as day and it overloaded the senses. Take these three words to heart, less is more.

3. Navigation - The more user-friendly the better and your visitors are bound to stay longer. You don't want your visitors to be jumping through hoops to find what they are looking for. Make shopping carts or payment buttons visible and easily accessible. Everything should be just a click away. Make sure all your links are working. Finding broken links becomes frustrating and annoying.

4. Proper spelling and grammar - There's nothing good about visiting a website to find loads of misspelled words and poor grammar. It's unprofessional and you can bet your visitors will leave.

5. Speed - When it comes to website loading, no one likes to be kept waiting. They will definitely leave a site if it won't load properly. People's time is precious; don't make them wait.

6. Graphics - Be careful of using big flashy graphics or banners. Too many animated and too many big banners take away a site's credibility. It also slows down the loading time of your site considerably. Not everyone uses high speed Internet. Remember people don't wait around for slow loading sites.

7. Audio - If you like it and want it, change the default setting to give the visitor control if they want to hear audio or not. Make sure it's visibly accessible to the visitor. The last time I landed on a site, I couldn't find the button to disable the audio so I immediately X'ed out.

8. Pop-up anything - Although many people now have pop-up blockers, it may not be so much of a nuisance, but a pop-up of anything is intrusive, unwanted and annoying. Adding a form to your page in a highly visible spot is much more effective and non-intrusive.

9. Content - Informative, resourceful content will keep a visitor coming back. No one wants to visit a site that hasn't been updated in a long time. You can add a small graphic or a simple text in red with the word "NEW" or a "What's New?" page to inform your visitors you have made updates.

10. AdSense ads - Too many AdSense ads on any page looks scammy and it downgrades the quality of your site. If you can handle honest opinions, have someone critique your website. It really all comes down to personal preference and you will never be able to please everyone and that's okay.

The main goal is building a functioning, well laid out website that is successful and prosperous to you for many years to come.