Organic กNaturalก Search Engine Optimization versu

Organic กNaturalก Search Engine Optimization versus PayPerClick Search Engine Advertising

by: Matt Hockin

When you purchase visitors or ขclicksข from a search engine, this is called ขpayperclickข (PPC) search engine advertising (or PPCSE). PayPerClick Search Engine Advertising allows you to quickly get top search engine placement by ขbiddingข (paying) for keywords related to your product or service.

ขOrganicข or ขNaturalข search engine optimization (SEO) is accomplished by optimizing your web pages and by increasing your ขlink popularityข by acquiring or paying for links that point to your web site. This gives you high rankings at the Search Engines for your chosen search terms.

In this article, we will explore the strengths and weaknesses of both methods of search engine marketing.

ขNaturalข Search Engine Optimization

Today, there is a big myth that natural search engine optimization is inexpensive and easy. For example, if you wanted your web site to rank high for the keyword phrase ขlife insuranceข or ขdebt consolidationข you’re going to need to budget a minimum of $50,000100,000 a year!

Yet still, natural search engine optimization usually gives you a much higher return on investment than pay per click. This is true for two main reasons:

1. More searchers click the natural search engine results versus the pay per click ads, so you’ll get much more traffic for less.

2. One of the biggest factors to improving your rankings with natural search engine optimization is by boosting your ขLink Popularityข by acquiring or paying for links that point to your web site. These links give you lasting results by giving you top rankings and traffic from the search engines. Plus, the links themselves will provide a significant boost in long term traffic.

With that said, the biggest weakness of natural search engine optimization is the time required to generate links and ขtweakข your web pages and keywords to get those prized high rankings you so desire. It can literally take 3 months or more to finally enjoy the benefits of your search engine optimization campaign.

Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising

The biggest benefit of pay per click is the fact that it will provide you with an immediate boost of qualified visitors, lead and sales giving you fast results within just hours or days. In fact, a pay per click advertising program is your best option if you seek fast results and a good return on investment while you are waiting for your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program to กramp up.ก

Depending on your traffic goals, you can budget $100 or $100,000. PPCSEs also give you the added benefits of being able to quickly test your web site and track your conversion rates (leads, optins, and sales) and turning keywords (visitors) on and off easily.

So, as a short term strategy pay per click gives you the clear advantage over SEO. But, the disadvantage is the cost involved. Depending on the market demand for your keywords and clicks, your PPCSE campaign can generate tons of traffic and can cost hundreds, even thousands per day. With various optimization strategies you can lower your costs, but over the long term natural search engine optimization will give you a higher return on your marketing dollar.

In Conclusion

The golden rule in marketing is that you should constantly strive for maximum results and ROI for your budget. In other words, if your marketing is making you a profit even if it’s a thin profit it’s worth it. By this model, pay per click is worth doing, but overall pay per click will leave you with thinner margins.

The reason for conducting a natural search engine optimization campaign is to significantly increase your margins over the long term.

By Matt Hockin

Interactive Marketing, Inc.

http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com

About The Author

Matt Hockin is President of Interactive Marketing, Inc., a small business marketing consulting company and the editor of the Interactive Marketing newsletter, one of the Internet’s leading free small business marketing newsletters. Subscribe now at http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com.

This article was posted on November 08, 2004

by Matt Hockin

SEO Success: Step One is Good Web Design

SEO Success: Step One is Good Web Design

by: Chesa Keane

Creating a welldesigned website is the first step in your internet marketing strategy. Once the website has been created and optimized, there are further techniques to employ that will drive traffic to your website for successful, longterm results. You wouldn’t consider opening a retail store in a major shopping mall without signage and you shouldn’t consider having a nice looking website designed without expanding your web presence in order to be found on the internet. But unless the website is designed correctly to begin with, followon SEO efforts will have limited results at best. The following strategy overview is designed to bring about productive SEO results:

Create an attractive website that is complementary to your company image and provides your targeted audience with information about you, your company and your products and/or services.

Design a website that has a calltoaction in the form of a purchase or providing you a contact, subscription or other commitment from your visitor.

Create a successful marketing arm for your overall business promotion and marketing campaign to promote your business, products and/or services with the many followon strategies that drive traffic to your website.

Become competitive in your industry and marketplace by meeting or exceeding the industry marketing standards and attracting a qualified audience for your products and/or services based on a strong reputation.

Generate and maintain or grow internet traffic to your website resulting in a conversion of traffic into sales of your products and/or services by evolving as your market demands.

This search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is composed of several processes in three stages: 1) Good web design, 2) Attracting attention from search engines and directories, and 3) Creating longterm popularity on the internet. However, it all starts with good web design. Website design is the foundation and beginning of a successful internet marketing strategy. It is true that there are websites on the internet that are unattractive but somehow seem to work. If there are aspects of these websites that work, imagine how well they could do if they simply followed basic design implementation tactics that resulted in a good image as well as simply pushed information out to the viewer.

These basics are essential for Tier 1 success:

Good web design will complement and enhance the company image and offline marketing campaign products creating a corporate branding if done well.

Easy, logical navigation that leads the viewer deeper and deeper into the web of information provided by the website will keep the visitor on your site longer and give you more time to sell your products or services.

Attractive but quickloading graphics that are pleasing to the eye and meaningful to the website will guide the viewer along the route you decide is important for explaining what you offer.

Keyword usage that is search enginefriendly depends on how the keywords are utilized, the placement of the keywords, the frequency of the most important keywords and their relevance to the website.

Website coding that is lean, clean and without errors will keep the search engines happy and your viewer seeing exactly what you intended to offer.

Relevance of content to the theme of the site is essential. Be concise, to the point and focus on your goals. If you have multiple themes and offerings, consider multiple websites to address the different markets, then tie each website back to the others by linking.

Changing content that changes frequently and stays fresh keeps your viewer returning and prevents the search engines from treating your website as if it were stale news. A stale site will be ranked lower by the search engines.

Content is king itกs all about content, content, content. But how that content is presented is what makes the difference.

(c)2005 TAO Consultants, Inc. All rights reserved.

About The Author

Chesa Keane of TAO Consultants has been involved with the internet for 10 years through internet consulting, web development and search engine optimization. Go to www.computergoddess.com for a free Search Engine Optimization Checklist.

This article was posted on September 14

by Chesa Keane

Blogs: Why, Where and How

Blogs: Why, Where and How

by: Amitabh Shukla

So you have heard about the blogs or you are sure you are now going through one of the blog. You might have seen blogs in the search results and would not have noticed it. Yes blogs are now making news but still a large number of people consider them as online diaries or a political mouthpiece. What about the business blogs that is lately surfacing on the web sphere? Top companies like GMกs Fastlane blog is there to prove the point that blog works. The problem is that regular media is not accepting it as one of the most promising medium, which could be as powerful as the newspapers, or tv channels in the future. Thanks to RSS, blog contents could be read via email as and when it is published.

Now the point is that why you should opt for a blog if you have a fullfledged website. How a blog will raise the profile of your business or could enhance brand of your organization. Lets look at the broader picture of the business blogs and why Internet marketers are so interested in this.

Search engine is still a mystery to most and blogs are ranking well in search engines without going into intricacies of the search engine optimization. You have a small business and no budget to make your companyกs online presence. No problem, signup for a free blog account at blogger.com without any prior knowledge and you are ready to go. This is the power of blog, inexpensive, fast and simple with minimum efforts on optimization.

You just created a blog and posted your first article. You want to optimize your blog. Just submit it to blog directories, which are very friendly and accept the submission within few days. Just remember to post 23 articles per week to get the search engine spiders to your blog regularly. If you write quality articles then you have to just wait for a month or so and free backlinks will start pouring in.

Major things you should remember for your blog success are:

23 articles per week

Write on only one specific Industry of your interest

Concentrate on one keyword per posting

Remember pinging your RSS feeds to major blog search engines and feed directories

Give quality to your visitors

Once your blog is famous, signup for adsense and earn for the time you spend on bloggging.

About The Author

Amitabh Shukla

Personal blog for the author is at http://seoexpertindia.tblog.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 25

by Amitabh Shukla

Top Things You Must Realize When Searching

Top Things You Must Realize When Searching

by: Andrew Malek

For the uninitiated, searching for web pages can seem a slow, obscure process. Unless you have a highspeed Internet connection, web pages may seem to take days to load. And the searching itself – you have to admit it looks weird typing in bunches of plus signs, asterisks, parenthesis, and other funny symbols and operators to find what you want.

To help you in this process and show that you are not, I’ve compiled a top five list of things you must realize when searching the web for information. No pencils will fly, no drums will roll, but you just might learn something.

5. Search Engines Have to Make Money

Before you grumble over the growing number of advertisements and sponsored links that appear in search engine results page, remember that most search engines are free. You’re not paying anything for a very costly service. Thus, these sites have to earn income somehow to stay afloat (computing power and bandwidth isn’t cheap!) So, to put it bluntly… live with it.

(Yes, I know some types of advertising are much more obtrusive than others. Popup ads, dancing animations, and other larger advertisements may make it harder to use some search engines that support these types of ads. If you don’t like it, vote with your mouse clicks and move to another search engine).

4. Sites Go Down

Worse yet, you’ve entered in your perfect search query, looked at the results page, and the first site you see no longer exists!

The Internet changes all the time. Unfortunately, search engines and directories are not able to constantly query every site on the Internet to see if they are still online. Occasionally (in other words, probably frequently) you will find links to web sites that no longer exist. It is just a part of life. Especially with the dotcom bust, many web site owners can no longer afford to host free resources. If they could not convert their traffic to paying customers, they just took their sites down

So when you find a link that is dead, don’t pump your fist in anger … just go back to the results page and move along. Or, better yet, if you’re using a search engine that caches pages, such as Google, just look at the cached version of the now defunct pages and find the information contained therein. It’s like stepping through a time machine!

3. Your Web Browser Will Crash

On a related note, not only do web sites go down – but so may your web browser. Sometimes it will be due to visiting a multimediaintensive web site. Sometimes it will seem to happen for no reason. But it will happen, and when it does, don’t go blaming yourself saying that you did something wrong.

Web browsers, like just about any other type of computer software program available on the market, are not infallible. They can and usually do contain bugs. These may predictably rear their ugly heads when visiting sites containing a lot of multimedia and advanced interactive elements, or they may appear completely at random.

If your web browser crashes, do what I do. Just restart it. Don’t say you did something wrong. Don’t think that you must be so bad with computers that you crashed the Internet. Just restart your browser, and if you have to restart your computer to do so, then do it as well. Most likely the crash is not your fault.

2. The Internet Can Be Slow

No matter how fast your onramp to the Internet may be, there will be times where it seems to take forever to load a web page. This is just the nature of the beast.

As the Internet is a loosely connected network, if certain connections go down, computers may not always be able to route information via other networks. Thus access speed will suffer and your web browser will start to crawl. If this seems to be happening often, step away from the computer, go outside and take a nice, long walk (unless it’s 30 degrees below). You can run your search another time when the speed is back to normal.

And the #1 thing you must realize when searching…

1. The Best Result Just May Be On Page 10

Most people only look through the first page of search engine or directory results, usually the top ten listings. Others may visit the second page, but relatively very few people venture to the higher numbered pages.

This is a shame – sometimes the best results to a search engine query are not in the first ten listings as they may only contain links to commercially driven sites or sites run by web owners who know how to manipulate listings. In some cases web sites containing perfectly good information may not be listed in the top 10, 20, 50, or even top 100 results.

Obviously searching through the many pages and pages of resulting sites will take extra time, especially if you do not have a highspeed connection to the Internet. But, this time spent may well be worth it if you find some gems in the rough! So if you have the time, speed, and patience, browse through the deeper results pages. You never know what you may find!

And that’s it – my top five list of things you must realize when searching. This covers slow access time, results not on page 1, browser bugs, web sites popping up and down and changing management, and the need for sites to make money, causing advertisements to become more obtrusive. Gosh, that just makes you want to go out and search right now, doesn’t it? .

About The Author

This article was written by Andrew Malek, Internet Search Guru and author of Find Stuff On the Net, an ebook that can show even beginning computer users how to navigate the Internet without fear. Gain confidence using your web browser. Master search engines. And more! For further information and free snippets of the book, visit http://www.findstuffonthenet.com/

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 1, 2002

by Andrew Malek

Keywords are the ขKEYข to a Profitable Web Site

Keywords are the ขKEYข to a Profitable Web Site

by: Gail Kaufman

The only activity that should preface keyword research is the brainstorming you do to come up with list of potential themes for your web site. Think about things that you find interesting, are passionate about or that leverage your skills. Once this is done you are ready to find out which topic on your list will be the most profitable to pursue.

Keyword Research

Keyword Research will reveal answers to 3 critical questions:

1. Is there a demand for what your site offers? If not, you need to keep moving down your list until you find something that people are already looking for.

2. How are people searching for your topic? For example, if your theme is ขJapanese foodข how are people searching for information? Are they typing in ขJapanese recipesข, ขlow sodium miso soupข, ขhistory of Japanese foodข, ขJapanese food in NYCข, etc. This part of the search will allow you to build up good topics for your site pages and provide keywords that you will use to optimize your pages to become a search engine magnet.

3. How many sites will you be competing with – does demand outstrip supply or vice versa? Right now your job is to build huge lists of highdemand, lowcompetition keywords. Be thorough and exhaustive in looking for phrases that people might use to find your site.

You cannot cut corners at this stage of the process or your business will suffer. This can be slow, tedious work but fortunately there are some good tools to help you automate your keyword research and help find the most profitable keywords to build your content around. There are some good free tools to help you make light work of this including Search It! and Overture. More comprehensive tools that provide demand, supply and profitability data that help you find profitable niches include Brainstorm It! from Site Build It! and Wordtracker.

Keyword Optimization

You may have heard the terms ขsearch engine optimization (SEO)ข, ขkeyword optimizationข, ขpage optimizationข, etc. Basically, they all refer to the same thing – making sure your pages have the right amount of keywords, placed correctly, to effectively get your site ขspideredข or found by the search engines, such as Google.

Repeating keywords throughout a site is just as important as choosing the right keywords. If you use the keywords too often the search engines will ignore them; if you don’t use them enough the search engines will not find and index them properly.

The main keyword, in our example ขJapanese foodข, should be used as part of the domain name and in the title tag of the HTML code for the page. It should also be used in the heading of the page where you tell visitors what the page is about. Also, most SEO experts agree that it is best to put your keyword in the first and last sentences of your page.

As for the body copy, there are some good rulesofthumb that help you achieve the correct กkeyword densityก or keyword repetition. Many experts say you should use the 4% 7% rule (approx. 25 words in a 500 word document). However, don’t use a single keyword over and over or your copy will seem forced. Instead, weave in some variations of the keyword (e.g. plural forms, synonyms) to ensure your content flows well and makes sense! Simply filling up a site with your keywords will not fool the search engines; rather, it may be considered spamming and your site can get banned!

Many people say that content is king, but in fact, it’s content that is keyword rich that is king. It is absolutely critical to find your best keywords and use them in the right way to attract targeted traffic. It takes some time and practice but if you persevere your web site will be built on a strong foundation.

About The Author

Written by Gail Kaufman cofounder of http://www.websitedesigngenius.com

Visit her site for information, free valuable ebooks and practical tips on how to build an affordable and profitable web site with no technical skills.

This article was posted on August 24

by Gail Kaufman

Why Search Engine Traffic Should be Your Top Prior

Why Search Engine Traffic Should be Your Top Priority

by: Richard Zwicky

Most Internet marketing methods are risky and many will not have any affect on traffic to a web site. Some online marketers will sell you anything from banner impressions, to mass email campaigns (spam), to popup ads. All these marketing tools can work, but they are also extremely risky. Some people I know find popups and spam so annoying that they will never purchase anything from a business that uses them. These plans are probably not the best customer acquisition strategies, and more likely they are a total waste of money. So why would anyone bother risking money on marketing strategies that probably will not increase traffic to your website? Why not concentrate on what does work? The search engines.

Have you ever been contacted by online marketers who promise to deliver a ‘ton of trafficก to your websiteก ? I get these emails every day. Hereกs a quote from one I used to get 10 times a day (until I automatically filtered it to trash):

กHi I visited www.metamend.com, and noticed that you’re not listed on some search engines! I think we can offer you a service which can help you increase traffic and the number of visitors to your website.

I would like to introduce you to thispromotioncompany.com. We offer a unique technology that will submit your website to over 300,000 search engines and directories every month.

Youกll be surprised by the low cost, and by how effective this website promotion method can be.

To find out more about thispromotioncompany and the cost for submitting your website to over 300,000 search engines and directories, visit www.thispromotioncompany.com. (…)ก

Have you ever received one, and wondered why they were contacting you? First off, how did they find your web site? What search engines are they referring to? If they really could deliver on their promise, then they would have so much repeat, and word of mouth business, that they wouldn’t have time to be calling or emailing you. Lastly, how many people actually believe that there are 300,000 search engines?

While itกs true you need traffic from the search engines, you don’t need to use spam techniques to get it. You need real results, and not false hope.

Increase Web Site Traffic,.. Naturally

It is true that the best way to obtain lots of targeted traffic (customers) is to acquire it based on relevance, via the search engines. Various studies show that anywhere from 83% to 92% of first time visitors to a web site find it through the search engines. Thatกs an incredible statistic. If you are not acquiring those customers as a result of a relevant query, then they will be disappointed. They may be disappointed with the search result, but more likely, they will be disappointed with your web site.

In the online world thatกs your first impression. We all know how important a first impression is. You can never get a bad one back, and a good one will carry you a long way. You have to make sure that the search engines are sending you visitors that are looking for your products or services. If your web site matches their interests, they will remember it, and come back, even if they do not make a purchase on that visit. If they find it irrelevant, they may have subconsciously formed a negative opinion of your online business, through no fault of your own.

Search engines provide a continuous stream of targeted visitors to your website, and for the most part, itกs free of charge. Some engines do charge a listing fee, but most do not. The only thing the search engine asks is that each web site operator makes an effort to provide relevant and good information to web surfers for a particular search phrase. If a web site does so, the search engines will reward the site with increased good quality traffic.

Search engine traffic is a winwin situation for any online business. It doesn’t take much to improve on most web siteกs search engine traffic it just takes optimization. Did you know that as of January 1 2002, there were 160,000,000 domain hosts in use worldwide? Did you know that 88% of the web pages worldwide are not indexed by the largest search engines? 88% of web pages are not optimized. How can any business survive on the Internet if it is not optimized for the search engines, and thus can never be found? How can they exist if over 83% of first time visitors never find their web site? How much more money could a web site operator earn if they ensured their web site was even partially visible?

If you have an informative web site, the search engines want to send you lots of customers. Thatกs because the more web surfers find what they want, the more theyกll use a particular search engine and recommend it to their friends. The search engine also benefits, as it becomes known as a resource that gets its clients the searchers to their destinations quickly and efficiently. The more people recognize how well the engine works as a resource, the more it gets recommended, and used. As the popularity increases, so do the engineกs revenues from advertising.

What Does Your Web Site Need To Receive Traffic From The Search Engines?

Small web sites with only 1 or 2 pages set themselves up for failure, simply because they usually don’t have enough content of interest. There are of course exceptions, where the 1 or 2 pages are each as long as a book. But these are awfully frustrating to read, and no one will be satisfied with them. Most often 1 or 2 page sites are simply too short to provide any useful information, so the search engines don’t take them seriously. Among other factors, the search engines examine how deep a site is. The more meaningful content present, the more weighty the site is viewed as, and the more importance it is given.

If you are wondering about whether to bother, ask yourself this: Why does your company have a web site? What does the company do with it? Think about it. Most companies today have web sites, and most market the web sites to facilitate customer acquisition, to increase their customer base, and to improve customer retention rates.

There are a number of reasons for having web sites. Many companies use theirs to enhance their customer service. Using a web site as a marketing vehicle is a great way for a company ‘to put the word outก about products, services, or offerings.

Most importantly, remember that your web site is an online resource that your clients can use to find answers to frequently asked questions, กhow toก tips, and to educate themselves. When including content on a web site, always remember that the knowledge shared may be common to you, but itกs likely that you are an expert in the eyes of your clients. People visit your web site for your product or service, but also for information. If they find useful, relevant, information, they will keep coming back, and will likely make purchases. People like to buy from experts.

Instead of thinking of your web site as nothing more than an online billboard or business card, think of it as an online menu, that lets people get an idea of what it is you do, and how you do it. Develop a content rich website, optimize it, and let the search engines increase your website traffic, naturally. If you optimize each major web page within your site, you will increase the rankings in the search engine results and therefore receive targeted traffic for each of those pages.

Doing each of the above ensuring relevant content is present, and optimizing the pages will ensure that the search engines have what they need so they can do their work. It will also ensure that they can send you targeted traffic (customers), so that you can get that 83% of first time visitors your online business needs to survive.

About The Author

Richard Zwicky is a founder and the CEO of Metamend Software, www.metamend.com, a Victoria B.C. based firm whose cutting edge Search Engine Optimization software is recognized as the world leader in its field. Employing a staff of 10, the firmกs business comes from around the world, with clients from every continent. Most recently the company was recognized for their geolocational, or GIS, and phraseology and context search technologies.

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 20, 2003

by Richard Zwicky

The Mystery of the Magical Keyword Density Formula

The Mystery of the Magical Keyword Density Formula

by: Karon Thackston

Keyword density. When it comes to SEO copywriting, this has to be one of the most talked about subjects. Why? Because keywords are the very foundation of search engine copywriting. Without keywords we wouldn’t even have SEO copywriting. Because keywords (or more accurately, keyphrases) play such an important role in search engine copywriting, it might make sense that there are certain rules and regulations certain formulas that should be followed. It might make sense, but, I’m sorry to say, the mystery… the magic… is more like a myth.
I have a guess as to where these magic formulas come from. Someone brags to their friend that they got #1 ranking for a particular keyphrase. The friend studiously looks over the site and starts taking notes. ขHe used this phrase eight times in a 500word piece of copy. He put the keywords in here and there and over here, too. That means you have to put keyphrases in these places and reach a keyword density of 1.6% in order to get a #1 ranking.ข Not so! Let me explain why keyword density formulas don’t fly.
Copywriting Is One Piece of the Search Engine Optimization Formula
Copywriting, in my opinion and the opinions of respected search engine optimizers, is 1/3 of the puzzle; but there are other pieces to the puzzle, too. What about coding and linking? Those are two extremely important factors that also come into play.
*IF* copywriting were the sole factor, then maybe just maybe keyword density formulas might be a reality instead of a fable. But alas… it isn’t.
Keyword Density Formulas Are Unproven
Go to any search engine. Type in your primary keyphrase. Look at the results that fall into the number one through five slots. Do they all have the same keyword density? No. Some have higher levels, some have lower levels.
If keyword density formulas were carved in stone, every single site in the top 10 would have the same keyword saturation levels. But alas… they don’t.
All Keyphrases Aren’t Created Equal
Think about the competitiveness of the various keyphrases on the Internet. You have some like ขsearch engine marketingข that are exceptionally competitive. Then there are others like ขsushi restaurant in Charlotte, NCข that aren’t. You have to account for how many other sites you’ll be battling with when you write search engine copy.
Positioning of Keyphrases
In addition to the number of times a keyphrase is used, you need to pay attention to *where* your keyphrases are used. While it has not been proven to my knowledge, it is strongly suspected that keyphrases that have special formatting carry additional weight. By special formatting I mean bold, italics, in bulleted lists, in tags, etc. As I said, this has not been proven. Again, go to your favorite search engine and type in a keyphrase. If formatting and positioning were a carvedinstone rule, all the sites in the top 10 would be using these tactics. But alas… they aren’t.
Why the Myths?
I understand why people want formulas. Having hard and fast rules to follow means, if you apply the formula, you know you’ve done the job right and you can’t fail. The problem is there isn’t just one right way to create search engine copy. There are as many ways to write SEO copy as there are sites on the Web.
Am I holding back? Am I trying to protect my highly classified industry copywriting secrets? Not at all. In fact, go to my site at http://www.marketingwords.com. Visit the portfolio section. If I had a fiercely protected secret that I was holding out on, all the sites with SEO copy in my portfolio would have the same keyword density. But alas… they don’t.
What DOES Work?
So after I’ve dashed your dreams, the least I can do is give you some insight into how *I* write SEO copy. I don’t do any or all of these in any particular order. I don’t do them all every time I write. I am NOT saying that you should do all of these things every time you write.
1) If possible, I try to include keyphrase(s) in the headline and subheadlines. If it doesn’t make sense, if it sounds odd, I don’t include them.
2) When it flows, I include keyphrases roughly once or twice per paragraph. Do I count words? Do I run keyword density ratios? Never! I just eyeball the page to see if it looks right.
3) This I do EVERY time I write… I focus on natural language. If the copy sounds forced or stiff after including keyphrases, I scrap it and start over. Read your copy out loud. If it sounds stupid or redundant to you, it will sound stupid and redundant to your site visitor. Don’t compromise the flow of natural language for the sake of search engines. What good will number one rankings do if as soon as visitors get to your home page they click away because the copy is so awful? All the number one spots in the world won’t pay your grocery bill. You ultimately have to have sales and that means winning over your human visitors.
4) If possible, I try to include keyphrase(s) in bold, italic, bulleted lists, or in other text that is specially formatted. If it doesn’t make sense, if it looks funny or sounds odd, I don’t include them.
So that’s it. Are those feelings you had when you learned there wasn’t a Santa Claus or Easter Bunny coming back? Sorry. I truly am. But it’s for your own good. If you’re going to be an effective search engine copywriter, you have to learn the truth. Relying on myths will only hold you back. Now pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get moving on that next numberoneranking page.
by Karon Thackston © 2004

http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword

About The Author

Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to check out Karon’s latest ereport ขHow To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)ข at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.

This article was posted on July 12, 2004

by Karon Thackston

Free Marketing = Effective Marketing

Free Marketing = Effective Marketing

by: Brandon Milford

According to Google.com there are over three billion web pages online today. So what are you doing to separate yourself from the crowd? How are you targeting your customers? How much capital are you investing in marketing? Is it working?

I hear many business owners complaining about the inability to successfully drive targeted customers to their website. I listen as they tell me about purchasing email lists and buying advertising spaces on related websites. While these methods may work there are free and effective ways to drive targeted traffic to your site.

The first is the ever popular search engines. There are a number of ways to successfully optimize your website for the search engines and subsequently receive better rankings. Search engine optimization is an enormous topic and there have been many books written on the subject and businesses specializing in this service, but I will give you a few important pointers on optimizing your website. First, be sure to have a great deal of relevant content on your website that is no more than three levels deep (the search engine’s crawler does not typically search more than three levels down). This content can include articles, white papers, case studies etc. Second, be sure to have a large number of websites linking to yours. Trade links with other website owners and place their links in a ‘Resources’ section on your website. One of the important variables, among many, that Google will use in your ranking is the number of relevant websites that are linking to yours. So be sure the majority of incoming links to your website are from businesses that provide similar offerings. Third, be sure to include accompanying text links to all of your pages if your current page links are buried within images. This is important because the crawler cannot see images, but it can find text links.

The next way to drive free targeted traffic to your website is to include a link to your site and small ‘hook’ in your email signature. I’m surprised at how many business owners still do not do this. This hook will be one sentence that tells your audience what you do. This ขsmall adข of sorts will be on every email you send out. Example:

John Smith

President

ABC Company

ขProviding communications solutions in a technology driven worldข

Next, get involved with various online message boards/discussion forums that discuss topics that are relevant to your business and provide a link to your website in your signature. You’ll be surprised at its effectiveness. Be sure to participate in relevant discussion forums so that you can learn and contribute the most by participating in knowledgeable topics and at the same time receive targeted clicks. Do not spam any discussion forums, this is not effective and will kill all credibility in your business and your product/service.

The next way to receive free targeted traffic is similar to exchanging links, but even more effective. Seek out partnerships with companies that offer complimentary product offerings and agree to place a prominent link to their site if they will do the same for you. You can set up a ‘Partners’ section on your homepage and display the company’s logo, link, and information.

It is important that we not forget about marketing offline as well. If you are just starting and need customer referrals don’t be afraid to give away products/services for free or at least in exchange for another company’s services. For instance, let’s say that you design websites. Offer a lawyer a free website for their company if in return they will give you free legal advice for a limited time. Also, offer a limited number of businesses free products/services. After you have provided a few businesses with your products/services and they are happy ask them to write a testimonial for you and display this testimonial prominently on your website. Also, give them a few of your business cards and ask them to send any of their friends your way as well. You’ll be surprised at how many people will hear about your business via wordofmouth through satisfied customers.

I hope this condensed list of suggestions have helped you in formulating ideas on how to better market your website. Use your imagination and get creative in your marketing efforts. Get out there and tell the world about your website!

About The Author

Brandon Milford is the President of Pimil.com, a web solutions company based in Georgia, and the Marketing Director for Email Marketing Software Center, a website devoted to providing knowledge and product recommendations on permission based email marketing.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 02, 2004

by Brandon Milford

How To Get Number 1 Spot In Google, Every Time, Gu

How To Get Number 1 Spot In Google, Every Time, Guaranteed

by: Mike Cheney

Woaah! Wait a minute. Before I exclusively reveal these insider secrets can I ask you question? Well, actually, I want to ask you a series of questions.
Why do you want to get Number 1 in Google?
กBecause itกs good to be there isn’t it? It means my website is the best out there.ก
Well, no, it doesn’t. Why do you really want to be Number 1 in Google?
กWell, everyone wants to be Number 1 don’t they? If Iกm right at the top everyone will see my business and customers will come flooding to my website in their thousands.ก
They might. But it depends what you’re top for. Have you thought what you would like to be top for in Google?
กMy company, ABC Widgets Limited, comes top in Google when you type in กABC Widgets Limitedก. Thatกs pretty impressive isn’t it?ก
No, frankly, it is not. How many other websites do you think are competing for the phrase กABC Widgets Limitedก? There won’t be very many unless there are others out there who share your company name. Why is being top for your company name any use?
กBecause people looking for us on Google will find our websiteก.
Big deal. You need to be found by the thousands of people already out there looking for what you provide that don’t know your company name. They don’t know what you look like. They don’t know where you’re based. They don’t even know you exist! What sorts of search phrases do you think they will be typing in on Google?
กPhrases like กwidget suppliersก, กwidget sales onlineก and things like that?ก
Yes youกve got it! But are you listed Number 1 on Google for phrases like that?
กNo. We’re nowhere to be seen Mike. I think Iกve been patient enough with you though now answering your questions. Please will you reveal the secrets of getting Number 1 on Google?ก
No, I won’t.
กWhy not?!ก
3 Reasons Iกm Not Going To Reveal How To Get Number 1 Spot In Google, Every Time, Guaranteed
Reason 1 There Are No Insider Secrets
Getting a high listing on Google, or any other search engine, is a combination of hard work, having the right phrases on your website, having lots of great content on your website, having lots of other highlyranked websites linking to you and having your website built in the right way. There are no shortcuts, no magic bullets and no insidersecrets.
Reason 2 Getting Number 1 on Google Is The Tip Of The WebsiteMarketingIceberg
If you focus on getting Number 1 on Google and nothing else it will never happen. You need to focus on all the other elements I mentioned above and especially on developing reciprocal links with other relevant websites. Remember the top website marketing experts in the world (who do nothing else but market websites dayin, dayout) only attract around 15% of their website visitors from search engines. This is not because their websites don’t have a high ranking in the search engines (because they do and many of them will have that elusive Number 1 spot!) itกs because they attract so much more traffic from other places such as directories, associatesก websites, reciprocal links etc.
Reason 3 Itกs Too Dangerous
When you were a child how many times did you hear the following phrase?
กDon’t put all your eggs in one basketก
And yet day after day I hear people asking how they can get top on Google. There are websites dedicated to ‘the artก. People become obsessive about it and many derive their entire livelihood from visitors they get from Google searches. The result? When Google makes a big change to how they rank the websites in their index (which they did in November last year and to a lesser extent in January this year) many of these Googledependent businesses actually WENT UNDER. Thatกs right bankrupted because of an overnight change made by the powers that be at Google Towers.
So yes search engines, and Google in particular, should be an important part of your online marketing mix. But nothing more than that just one small part of the bigger whole. Especially with recent rumblings from the likes of Yahoo! and Microsoft, who are queuing up to topple Googleกs throne, you would be wise to set your sights on achieving a medium profile on hundreds of websites rather than a high profile on just one.
Mike Cheney

www.magnet4web.com

About The Author

You can get free access to lots more of my articles plus a FREE Special Report กHow To Turn Your Website Into A Customer Magnetก worth a value of £47 ($85) here: http://www.magnet4web.com/website_services/?page=freeguide

This article was posted on May 31, 2004

by Mike Cheney

Dealing With Search Engine Stress In A HomeBased

Dealing With Search Engine Stress In A HomeBased Business

by: Kirk Bannerman

As a member of several search engine optimization forums, I have recently noticed (especially since Yahoo recently decided to try their hand at competing with Google) that the stress level of many webmasters has gone way up. This applies not only to webmasters involved in Internetbased home businesses, but to webmasters in general.

Additionally, it seems that many people that are in the business of search engine optimization (SEO) are, with good reason, going completely bonkers. As Google came on the scene in 1998 and quickly dominated the search business, website optimization became largely a game of shooting at a single target, namely, pleasing Google…for all intents and purposes, Google became the ก800 pound gorillaก of the search engine business.

Since the advent of search engines (particularly Google) spawned the whole SEO business, I guess its only fair that the search engine industry can once again turn the SEO business on its ear, and it seems now to be sort of a cat and mouse (not desktop) relationship that can get really interesting as we move forward.

Not only are there now several viable players (most notably Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask Jeeves) in the search engine business, but they are all adopting different and frequently changing algorithms for determining the ranking positions for websites. The current game is that webmasters are trying to figure out how the various search engines perform the rankings and, on the flip side, the search engines are striving to be unpredictable to those webmasters and SEO firms.

For those people using websites to promote homebased businesses, it can be stressful constantly trying to determine กwhat the search engines wantก and agonizing over every downward fluctuation in rankings that their website may experience.

Looking forward in time, I think we can expect that rankings will fluctuate frequently and will not be at all consistent from one search engine to another. It will be quite common that for a particular search term a website might suffer a drop in position ranking for search engine กAก and an increase position ranking for search engine กBก at essentially the same point in time.

Rather than stressing out over every position ranking กwiggleก, a better approach might be to just focus on กwhat do visitors to my site want?ก. The search engines are striving to give their users a quality (relevant) search experience and if you are focused in giving visitors to your website what they are looking for, these paths will meet somewhere down the road.

You can save yourself alot of consternation by focusing upon the needs of the website visitors you are seeking to attract, rather than chasing the frequently changing ranking algorithms of several search engines. Focus on a single target instead of chasing several moving targets at the same time.

This article pertains to natural searches only, as paid search engine advertising is a completely different situation.

About The Author

Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and resides in California. For more details, visit his website at http://businessathome.us

This article was posted on April 29, 2004

by Kirk Bannerman

Marketing Your Website Inexpensively

Marketing Your Website Inexpensively

by: A.M. Wilmot

There are a number ways you can go about marketing your website, many of which are quite inexpensive. Effectively marketing your Home website is vital to your ultimate success. In fact, the key to growing a business, and particularly a new Home Business, is marketing. Once you have a domain name (which can be bought for as little as $7 these days) and a reliable host (as little as $5 a month for reasonable one), you can get going on promoting your business on the Net. This can be done for free in some cases if you are willing to spend the extra time on the project. If you are unwilling to do this, you can pay someone to optimize your site and promote it for you, which is generally cost effective.

It is possible, however to promote your business online with no marketing budget. The key is to market it aggressively, guerilla marketing style. This means using every free marketing resource at your disposal, such as free classifieds, newsgroups, search engine promotion, niche directories, freeforalls, blogs, email signature lines, message and bulletin boards and free mailing optin lists and ezines, to name just a few. Just don’t spam, whatever you do. There are many free resources throughout the web covering these free methods. You can sign up for their free newsletters or look for their websites using your favorite search engine. Speaking of search engines, most of the traffic on the internet still comes from the free engines such as Google, despite a recent influx of pay per click or pay per performance search engines such as Overture.

Offline methods includes distributing newsletters with your product or service and contact number listed inside, trade shows, brochures, flyers, stationary, advertising in either local or regional newspapers and/or กfree shoppersก, and passing out audio cassetes about your product or business to others who might be interested. The potential marketing techniques are almost limitless and it may be best to look to your กstarter kitก or starter guide as it will probably go into great detail about which offline marketing methods have been proven to work best in that particular product or line of business. The bottom line is, action always beats inaction, as you gain experience and create a synergy that push your Home Business to your goals.

About The Author

A.M Wilmot is a writer and researcher on a number of topics and has been marketing on the internet since 1996. For information on a quality home business go to http://www.homebusinesszone.com/

This article was posted on October 26, 2004

by A.M. Wilmot

A Successful Link Exchange

A Successful Link Exchange

by: Michael McLaughlin

Interested in boosting your link popularity, raising your Google PR, and improving the amount and quality of your traffic? Then discover the ancient secrets of a successful link exchange!

The practice of effective link exchanges has nearly been extinguished by the extensive amount of spam email. I plan to help webmasters who are interested in real effective and professional link exchanges reach there goal.

What is going to make you the most amount of sales if you are trying to sell fishing equipment? A link from an outdoor hobby website or a link from a bubble gum corporation? I think the answer is straightforward, the outdoor hobby website. The trick is to know your market and understand your customer. What age group would your customers be, and what other type of website would they look at if they were interested in your product?

Now, put yourself in your customer’s feet, what would you search for if you were interested in your product? Type that search phrase into a search engine now and look at what results come up. Disregard the competition and look at the other websites.

I suggest you rate these websites in your head on the following criteria: relevance, design, content, and navigation. I ordered them by how heavily you should consider them. I already discussed relevancy; because of course you want to bring customers to your website instead of clickhappy people.

You may be asking yourself what a website’s design has to do with a link exchange. Well over the years I have noticed one trend, which is that websites with a very nice design tend to prevail faster than others. Know one wants to visit a website and have to wince to read the text. Content on the other hand is what brings the readers. Content can substantially improve the quality of your website because the internet is about information and if you have what people are looking for they will find you! Not the other way around.

Content is king, how many times has that been said? And it still holds true, content is what get websites links back to them, which in turn raise a websites presence on the internet. So why not have a link from a content website, in opposition to just another website trying to sell something?

And of course a websites navigation must be search engine friendly, because you will prefer to have the location of your link to be indexed by search engines.

Basically you should try to pick your link partners by first eliminating the irrelevant links, and then choose a website that is search engine friendly and has the potential to grow! And remember look for quality websites not high PR websites.

One of the first signs of maturity in a person’s life is to be able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. For example you hit a car in the parking lot and don’t leave insurance information, you later feel bad because you know if that was your car that got hit you would be angry about it. Get the point? Good now apply that to writing emails; put yourself in your reader’s shoes.

Do you want to open another email that is titled ขlink exchangeข or would you perhaps prefer to read something a bit more refreshing and alluring entitled ขour partnershipข or ขlink opportunityข be creative but don’t stick with the old link exchange title that is highly overused.

The content of this email, however you entitled it should be very professional and businesslike. Use proper punctuation and complete sentences, also remember to compliment part of there website that is distinguishable so they identify that you actually visited it instead of simply finding there email address in cyberspace.

Don’t trust what mom says ขit’s what’s on the inside that counts.ข True content does help a website grow, but rarely do I trust a websites content if its design is pitiful. Remember be picky when choosing a link partner, personalize your letter, and be professional. As a final point do not partake in spam email!

About The Author

Written by: Michael McLaughlin at http://www.webmastershed.com – webmaster forum, for more articles by this author please visit: http://www.webmastershed.com/articles

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 27

by Michael McLaughlin