| Want
to drive more targeted traffic to your web site?
Want to do it for free?
If you answered "yes" you're in for
a treat. Use the search engine optimization and
ranking techniques in this article and you will
be well on your way to a front page listing in
the major search engines.
Up until now, you've been led to believe that
search engine optimization and search engine ranking
strategies were something better left to an expert.
But that's not true. Any serious marketer can
and should learn the simple search engine optimization
and ranking techniques that can get his site listed
on the first page of the search engines.
Before I begin I want to point out that search
engine optimization and ranking strategies fall
into two catagories. On page factors and off page
factors.
On page factors you have a lot of control over.
Things like content, good keywords, and the proper
use of anchor text.
Off page factors, like page rank, you'll have
less control over. But it's important that you
exercise as much control as you can over the off
page factors as well. These will be discussed
in another article.
To get your search engine optimization and ranking
strategies right you will need some tools. Some
free, some payed. But regardless, if you want
your site listed in the top ten results you need
these tools.
Search Engine Optimization and Ranking - Tools
of the Trade
To begin with, I'm not a big believer in throwing
money after unnecessary tools or ebooks. After
all, if you bought all the tools some gurus recommend
it could easily run into hundreds and even thousands
of dol lars . So rest assurred, what I recommend
are the bare essentials of what you will need
to get it right.
The first tool you need is free. At least for
now. It's the Overture Search Term Suggestion
Tool. You can find it at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
You will use this tool for your keyword research.
Let's say you plan to build a site on dog grooming.
Type dog grooming in the suggestion box, click
the arrow, and a list of related keywords come
up. It also tells you how many searches were conducted
on Overture and it's related sites for the past
month. This is valuable information as it tells
you which keywords are worth persuing and which
don't get enough searches to be worthwhile. You
will want to print out or create a file to store
these keywords on your computer because you're
not finished with them yet.
The next tool you need is Wordtracker. Although
it's not free, it is one of the most valuable
tools in your arsenal. This tool is not expensive
as you can order it for short time frames. Twenty
four hours usually runs about $7.00 U.S.
Wordtracker takes your keyword research to the
next level. F or instance:
find all keywords that bear any relation to
your business
tells you how popular the keywords really are
in multiple search engines
shows you your chance of making the top ten
shows you the number of times the keyword or
phrase has appeared in the data base
shows mispellings on searches that you can capitalize
on
shows the number of competing sites
prints out a complete list of selected keywords
with KEI analysis, count, hits in 24 hours, and
number of competing sites.
This valuable tool will save you countless hours
of trial and error trying to find the best keywords
and phrases to land you in the top ten.
I once built a site based solely on results
from the Overture suggestion tool. To my dismay
I had few visitors. When I checked the keywords
and phrases with Wordtracker, I found a completly
differnt story. Wordtracker showed much lower
figures for the keywords I was using from Overture.
When I revamped the site using Wordtrackers results
I found the search results to be much more accurate.
So use the Overture suggestion tool to get a
preliminary set of keywords, then, check them
with Wordtracker to identify the best keywords
and phrases to build your site around.
Build Your Site Around Search Engine Optimization
and Ranking Techniques
When I built my first site I used a cheap software
program I purchased from my local office supply
store. Needless to say, it was never listed in
the search engines. I had little control over
the appearance and more than likely it did what
it wanted, not what I wanted. So if you intend
to build a serious web site to get traffic and
make money, stay away from them. I currently use
NoteTab Pro. it's relatively easy to use and gives
you a lot of flexibility. Plus it's relatively
inexpensive.
If you are looking for a less expensive way
to go I recommend Notetab light. Download a free
copy here http://www.notetab.com. Although not
as flexible and easy to use as NoteTab Pro, it
will get the job done.
Search Engine Optimization and Ranking Power
Points
You've researched and selected your keywords
and phrases. Where do you use them for the best
search engine optimization and ranking?
Power Point #1.This is one of the best secrets
I can give you. Consider each page of your site
to be a doorway into your site. Therefore optimize
one keyword or keyword phrase for each page of
your site. Many people try to cram multiple keywords
into a page. This only confuses the search engines
and hurts your rankings.
Power Point#2. Keep your site keywords and pages
focused on a common theme. F or example: If you
have a site about dog grooming, Every page on
the site should relate to dog grooming. If you
were to ad a page about training your pet snake
it wouldn't fit the theme. So keep all your pages
tightly focused on the overall theme of your site.
Getting off theme will hurt your rankings.
Power Point #3.Content is king. Give the searh
engines what they want and they will give you
what you want. A good listing. What they want
are highly relevant sites for their search customers
with good, valuable content. Methods to trick
the search engines are abundant. But when they
catch up with you, you'll be penalized or worse,
possibly banned. You don't want that.
Power point #4. Sprinkle your secondary keywords
and phrases throughout your content. When you
researched your keywords you came up with a list
of primary words and phrases to optimize your
pages. You should also have an additional 50 -
100 keywords and phrases that I will call secondary
keywords. If you sprinkle these throughout your
page it will give you a big boost in the search
engines. You'll be amazed at how many visitors
you will recieve from these secondary keyword
searches.
Where To Use Your Primary Keywords To Get The
Most Impact F or Your Search Engine Optimization
and Ranking Efforts
Keyword placement, density and proximity are
the most important factors when it comes to on
page search engine optimization and ranking strategies.
Domain name: Although unproven, some search
engine optimization experts recommend your site
domain name be your primary keyword or phrase.
If I can get a domain with my primary keyword
fine. If not, i just try to get a good related
name. If you do get a domain with your primary
phrase, be sure to seperate the individual words
with hyphens. Some search engine optimization
experts are now saying that Google can read the
keywords even if they are not seperated. I prefer
to play it safe and use hyphens. F or example:
doggrooming.com would be dog-grooming.com. Done
this way the search engines can read the individual
words.
Page title. It's best to use your keyword or
phrase once in the title of your page. Try to
keep it short. Google uses a weighting factor
based on the number of words in the title. The
more words you use, the less weight each word
has. A word of caution here. Don't just use your
keyword phrase. Google will likely consider this
spamming and penalize you. Using the same keyword
more than once is worth testing, but many experts
believe it can hurt your rankings. Try to come
up with a good title as this is what your prospects
will see on the search engines.
The discription: Again, don't over use your
keyword in your discription. Once or twice is
enough. Some search engines will use your discription
in their listings so try to develop one that will
make the searcher want to click on it.
Heading tags: Header tags are the HTML tags
used to make text bigger. Typically they are used
for headlines and sub heads. Some search engines
use them to determine what a page is about. So
try to use your keyword or phrase in your header
tags.
Anchor text: This is the text used in a link.
When you are linking from one page on your site
to another make sure you use your keywords in
the link. A good example is your home page. Most
people simply put the link as "home."
Instead use website promotion strategies home.
Get the idea.
Body copy: Try to use your keyword as often
as you can in your body copy without sounding
repetitive or being obvious. If it doesn't sound
right, it's probably to much. Work it in wherever
it fits. There are no hard and fast rules when
it comes to keyword density. Most experts agree
that around 7% density is a good figure to shoot
for. Avoid continuously repeating the keyword
every two or three words. This is considered spamming.
Alt text: This is text used in place of images
for those with text only browsers. It also pops
up when you hold your mouse over an image. Because
search engine spiders can't read graphics, the
alt text tells the spiders what the graphic is.
So discribe the graphic but include your keyword.
URL's: When using URL's to link your pages together
be sure to use your keywords in the link. Just
as in the case of domain names, use hyphens to
seperate the words so the spiders can read them.
We've covered a lot in this article. I've given
you information that cost me a small fortune to
acquire. We covered the tools and editors you
will need to do the job right. I gave you power
points that most search engine optimization experts
don't want you to know. Then we looked at the
on page factors you can control to maximize your
search engine optimization and ranking efforts.
Keep in mind, this is only half of the equation.
There are still off page factors that have a major
impact on your search engine optimization strategies.
By Guy Ray
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