Friday, November 30, 2007
How to Increase Ranking and Website Traffic

Day after day marketing on the Internet is getting harder and harder. Search Engine Optimization is a huge business piece on the Internet. It is a cooperative effort between merchants and any website. For many years now, Search Engine Optimization has proved to be a cost-efficient, measurable method of delivering long-term results. Every day, people get interested in Search Engine Optimization and want to make money out of it.
You must be prepared to spend years developing a list, making contacts, testing various advertising methods, establishing a network of Sales representatives and/or distributors, and doing all the others jobs that go intobuilding a company (even longer to build a reputation). If you can make it through the first few years, you'll be well on your way to success.
The world is full of incredible possibilities. The Internet has expanded the ability to communicate with each other and with prospects, customers and suppliers. Selling by mail can be the easiest and least expensive method of selling your services or products.
You can convert your visitors into buyers. The following points are basic to any Website Traffic strategy:
1. First, you must decide WHAT you are going to sell or market; and you must believe in it;
2. Create a site with valuable content, products or services. Having a well designed and relevant web copy is crucial. This will help search engines easily index your web pages and rank them high.
3. Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and services.
4. Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target customers.
5. Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web page. Like Title, META tags, Headers, etc.
6. Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.
7. Include valuable content and free stuff on your website.
8. Creating fake domains and letting those domains point to your site is a trick thought to be effective for improving page ranking at Google. However Google claims that this is not true and they are able to spot duplicate domains and domain scams.
9. Don't look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like your real store to which your customers with the same seriousness.
10. Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks so you are perceived as an expert in your field.
11. Build a good links and resources page on your website. Linking strategy is not a trick as many get rich quick merchants would have you believe. Treat linking as one important aspect of your Search Engine Optimization strategy. Links for the sake of links have no value whatsoever. Indeed, they can damage your rankings. So forget about link farms and other such nonsense.
12. Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content, keywords, etc.
13. Make your customer visit easy and give them plenty of ways to remember you in the form of newsletters, free reports, reduction coupons etc.
14. When selling products online, use simple payment and shipment methods to make your customer's experience fast and easy.
15. Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and the keywords they used to find you.
16. Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.
17. Submit your web pages i.e. every web page and not just the home page, to the most popular search engines and directory services. Hire someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do not engage an automated submission service.
18. When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, but it is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no one visits.
19. Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.
20. Improving your website's link popularity is absolutely vital for improving the visibility of your website with regard to Search Engines. Your "link popularity" is simply a count of the number of web pages that are linked to you. You may want to know your link popularity for two reasons. The first is that your link popularity will improve your ranking on all crawler search engines. As discussed earlier, all crawler-based search engines have a component called the spider, which crawls from one webpage to another through links. Hence, more the websites linking to your website, the better are your chances of getting listed through a search engine. The second reason is that you might want to know which websites are linked to you and potentially referring traffic.
This combination of techniques is greater as a whole than the sum of the parts. While you can skip any small technique that is a part of the overall strategy, it will subtract from the edge you'd gain by employing all the tactics Choose the terms that you wish to include as the most productive search terms for your site, terms that you associate with the correct target visitors to your site. Put those in the search engines and find what pages rank near the top for them.
These top-ranking sites/pages would be on the top of your list, if you needed to plant links to your site on other pages.
Once you have found the top ranked pages/sites for your chosen search term(s), you should check what sites or pages link to that site. If you get links from any of these sites to your target pages, you may be able to dramatically improve your ranking on Google and other crawler based Search Engines.
Concentrate of giving the search engines what they really want - great content, well-organized, well-published and linked to other relevant material. Concentrate on that and you will be rewarded.
Copyright © Anne-Marie Ronsen
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included.
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included.
Anne-Marie RONSEN is the author of many wealth and self development books for women. Download FREE e-books and software from http://www.e-bestsellers.com/, http://www.plrbestsellers.com/ or http://www.universalpublishingltd.com/... You will learn about the best tips and recommendations to improve your health, weight and wealth. You'll also discover how you can get a top position that will mean loads of traffic, recognition and sales for your business
Free Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic

Google's ranking algorithm has never been consistent, recently, I discover that the frequency of content updating on blog and website is getting more useful in increasing Google ranking as it uses to be. I think it started about a month ago.
Free Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic
1) Comment on Blogs
Look for large traffic Blogs in your niche, visit them and leave your comments on their blogs posts. You may use blog search engine like www.blogsearchengine.com, www.google.com/blogsearch and www.searchengineblog.com to find blogs in your niche.
2) Submit Articles
Write articles that are related to your blog and submit them to popular article directories such as ezinearticles.com, Isnare.com, Articledashboard.com, Articlealley.com and goarticle.com. Quality articles may drive you a lot of free targeted traffic.
3) Participate in Community Forums
Use google to search for forums that are related to your blog. Look for forums that has over 10,000 members and read the rules of the forums to see whether you can promote your blogs and websites in your signature. Join forums that allow you to add a link to your blog in the signature and start participating in discussion. You can ask questions, answer other members questions and post your articles, ideas and thought in the forums.
4) Submit Your Blog to Directories
This isn't working to me but some bloggers claim that they gain a good amount of traffic from their listings in directories.
5) Post Often
You can lose traffic if you seldom update you blog, try to make it at least
5 Posts per week
This not only will maintain your traffic but possibly attract more readers.
6) Write about Blogging
Write helpful and quality articles related to blogging can attract other bloggers link to your articles and gain may be truckload of free traffic.
7) Post Breaking News
If your found a breaking news of your niche very earlier, post it to your blog. It may give your blog's traffic a boost.
8) Social Bookmarking
Bookmark you blog posts in the large social bookmarking sites like Netscape.com, Digg.com, Simply and Reddit.com.
9) Run a Contest
Start a contest on your blog. Think about the prizes that people really want. It will create a viral effect and bring in new visitors.
10) On-page Optimization
Make sure your blog's title tag and description tag contain your targeted keywords. When you have posted plenty of quality blog post and done a lot of blog promotion, don't be surprise to see your blog ranks top 10 in Google and get free search engine traffic daily.
It is obvious that Google has changed their ranking algorithm again and place more weight on content. So if your website have experienced a drop in Google and you think that you have not done anything wrong.
The frequency of content updating may be one of the main reasons. You may take a look at your competitors website to see whether they have started adding fresh content often. If yes, you may think about updating your site in on going basis as well. It will give you a better chance in re-gaining your Google ranking.
The Beginner's Guide to Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay per click (PPC) advertising programs have been widely used by companies, Internet marketers and webmasters to promote their online businesses and websites. When disscussing about ways of driving traffic or making money online through a website in forums, Many people will mention the use of PPC advertising.
So What exactly is PPC advertising?
Pay per click (PPC) is a method of advertising business through the use of keywords/phrases in the search engines. The advertisers only pay for each click that sends a visitor to his website. Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, 7search are some of the examples of PPC advertising programs. They offer top positions among the sponsored listings in their search engines for particular keywords/phrases of your choice. The idea for bidding is you have to bid on keywords/phrases related to your business. When someone enters a keyword your have bid and press 'search' in search engine, your paid listing or contextual ad will appear on the right hand side of the search result page. Futhermore, Google and Yahoo will also display your PPC ad in websites within their networks.
The higher your bid the higher your ad position and the more people will click your ad. If your bid is too low and many advertisers are bidding your keywords, your ad might show in second, third or lower in the search result page.
Now let's take a look at the pros and cons of PPC advertising:
Pros
1. You don't need to be a genius in computer and Internet to be able to run PPC ad campaign.
2. Immediate results are seen after several days of ad campaign started.
3. No need to optimize your website to conform to the SEO rules.
4. You can limit your advertising cost by setting a daily budget.
5. You only pay when someone clicks your PPC ad. It doesn't matter how many times your ad has been displayed.
Cons
1. Inability to pay for the fees next month would mean removal of your website on the paid listings.
2. Since you pay only when someone click your ad, At times visitors are just competitors or people playing pranks on search engines. This will increase your cost.
3. This advertising can only be used temporarily because it is difficult to handle in the long run.
4. Pay per click pricing can be expensive for long term, therefore, this should be stopped after an ad campaign.
You can easily drive targeted traffic to your website using PPC advertising. But PPC can be very costly if you don't know how to use them wisely. You will need to do keyword research and learn some PPC strategies to minimise your cost. Here's a link to download an e-book that teaches people how to manage Google AdWords PPC ad compaign to maximize your return on investment.
Resource Alan Liew is the webmaster of online4income.com which provides information, tips and ideas of how to make money online. You can also visit his blog to find out more ways to
Search Engine Optimization - Understanding the Intricacies of SEO

It is very important for an online entrepreneur to know about SEO.
Search engine optimization is a process of driving and improving web traffic to your particular page or URL. Through this internet marking strategy, more people will view and know about your web site and, thus, garner you more profit online.It is said that the term SEO or Search engine optimization was first used and noted in a spam email on July 26, 1997. It can also be refered to as search engine optimizer which are industries that carry out optimizing services to clients.
Below are more in depth information regarding SEO.
Definition
Search engine optimization is a practice of improving the different elements of a web site to increase the web traffic the site receives from various search engines. For all Internet users, the search engine is an important tool for them to find a site that they need. It is essential that these people will get a chance to see your web site and what it has to offer. It is a very competitive environment and those businesses who perform SEO will have the definite advantage.
How Search Engines Work
Search engines operate by using a "spider" method to crawl through the numerous pages of the web. After crawling, these databases are indexed and should give results in a matter of seconds. The search then gives the indexed database to the user, based on the words or terms given by the user. It then collects the frequency of the word's use and the occurence of such terms throughout the web. It will rank the page that has the most number of matches. The search engine then determines which page is the most relevant to the least relevant.
Keyword Based Research
This is a crucial process for search engine optimization. Here are some suggestions to optimize your website. First is to brainstorm regarding what words users will usually be typed on the search box and what would increase the possibiliy of increasing the rank of your web site. You will then survey or look at your consumer, to increase the number of phrases available for you to use. You can then search tools online offering searches most users do. You then can decide which terms can be utilized, based on your research. After selecting your keywords or keyword density, you can now make use of analytic software that can help you further filter your selection.
Optimization of Web SiteThere are several key components in optimizing your web site. Your site should be accessible everytime a consumer clicks on your URL. If your HTML link is broken, the page may not be found and tendency of the users to choose another site increases. Your web site should be functional, so make the link and pages accessible to the search engines. Don't block out applications and boxes.
You must also keep the file size of you web site below 150kb. This will enable the faster downloading and access of users to your site. It is also especially important that your server or web site is always open. It is vital that your URL and title tags are relevant and precise, to be able to keep the ranking high. With regard to terms, make the primary phrase prominent and relevant in your page. If you want your website to rank well, your site should be user-friendly. The design should reflect what your web site offers. It should be structurally pleasing and, at the same time, informative to the user. It should be easy for your customers to navigate to what they are trying to find. It should look professional and of high quality.
Links
Finally, a great link can help you increase web traffic. There are several ways to do this. People love lists. It makes them feel organized in this chaotic world. Incorporating a top 10 list will promote references and discussion. You can also cover industry events especially if you put interviews of famous people. It can be a good source of links. You can also add charts and animation. You can also give away gifts and prizes that can spur the interest of your consumer, and, thus, get links.
The process of search engine optimization may be hard and even tedious. The decision to do it yourself or hiring someone to do it for you is in your discretion. Whatever you choose, using these internet marketing schemes can help you promote your site and build a successful online business.
Resource Jeremy Gislason is a leading expert on membership sites, marketing and online business. For more Business Strategies, Tools and Information visit CMSInfusion.com
Website URL http://www.CMSInfusion.com
Do I have to be number one in Google to have a successful website?

Imagine what your business would be like if you were listed number one in Google when someone searched for your product or service. At no cost to you, you'd have hundreds or even thousands of highly targeted potential customers coming to your website every day. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. If you sell a quality product or service, your profit potential is unlimited.
I see people all the time bragging that their website is listed number one in Google for a specific search phrase. When I Google their specific keyword phrase, they do come up number one. Then I look at their traffic statistics and they are ranked over 2 million on alexa.com. That means hardly anyone visits their website. Then I check to see how many people actually search those keywords at inventory.overture.com. Maybe 10 or 20 people a month search for that combination of keywords. Does being number one in Google for an obscure search phrase help your business? I don't think so.
I'm not going to kid you, getting to number one in Google is no easy feat. And staying there can be a full time job if you're in a completive market. There are many tips and tricks I can teach you to raise your search engine ranking but I'll save that for another day. Today I want you to try a different perspective…
Can my website be successful without a high search engine ranking?
Absolutely! Finding your website through the search engines is just one way for potential customers to find you. There are many other ways to drive traffic to your website that are much easier than trying to be listed on the first page of the search engines. You can use a variety of online and offline tactics to attract visitors to your website.
But, before you start driving traffic to your website, make sure your website is ready for new visitors. You must give visitors a reason to stay at your website and come back again in the near future. Give them valuable information that is going to quickly solve their problem. Give them a reason to tell your friends about your website. Give them some incentive to sign up for your newsletter by giving them a free report that will help them solve a common problem they may be facing. For example, "How to…" or "The Top 10 Ways to…" are great beginnings to your free report.
But, before you start driving traffic to your website, make sure your website is ready for new visitors. You must give visitors a reason to stay at your website and come back again in the near future. Give them valuable information that is going to quickly solve their problem. Give them a reason to tell your friends about your website. Give them some incentive to sign up for your newsletter by giving them a free report that will help them solve a common problem they may be facing. For example, "How to…" or "The Top 10 Ways to…" are great beginnings to your free report.
Once your website is full of problem-solving information it's time start driving traffic. You should use a combination of both online and offline methods to get people to visit your website.
Offline traffic methods
1. Put your website URL on all of your collateral including your business card, stationary, brochures, your print advertising, your Yellow Pages ads, and anywhere else your business name appears. If you have a sign on your office building include your website URL.
2. On the back of your business card, offer a free report and include a website URL that leads the reader directly to a specific page on your website (a landing page) that describes how your free report will solve their problem. You can even have a series of free reports, each with a separate landing page that leads visitors to different promotional campaigns based on their search phrases. Always get the reader to give you at leas their name and email address when they are signing up for the free report. Also mention that as an added bonus, they will receive your newsletter free of charge just by signing up for your free report. This gives you permission to add them to your newsletter email list.
3. Publicize your website URL anywhere you can while maintaining a professional appearance. Don't compromise your integrity just to get your website URL advertised.
Online traffic methods
1. Add your website URL to your email signature. Also promote your free report or one of your products or services in your email signature but don't overdo it. Too much information in your email signature can do more harm than good.
2. Participate in newsgroups and forums where your potential clients look for solutions to their problems. Don't advertise your services, just post answers to their questions or problems. Include your website URL in your signature in the forum posting.
3. Buy ezine advertising. Find ezines that your potential clients subscribe to and purchase advertising. Create ads that talk about their problems and direct them to your website for answers. Direct them to your free report landing page and get their name and email address. The free report will build your credibility and open the door to potential future sales. Don't try to sell them your service right away without building some trust and credibility.
4. Purchase banner ads. Yes, banner ads really do work. Many experts have been saying banner ads are dead but they've taken on a new life. You can purchase very affordable, highly targeted banner ads that are only displayed to your target market. Use the same approach as with ezine advertising, direct them to your free report landing page to solve their problem.
5. Advertise on craigslist.org. There are many ways to advertise your product or service for free on craigslist. You have to be subtle with your advertising or they may block you posting if you violate their policies. Read their guidelines before posting your ads. If you're promoting a workshop, use the same approach of directing people to a landing page on your website for information.
6. Write articles that talk about a problem your clients are facing. Show them how to solve the problem and direct them to your website for more information. Post the article on your website as well as submitting it to article directories on the internet. Always include your bio and website URL at the end of the article with our copyrights. Encourage people to share and reproduce the articles with others as long as they don't change the content and leave your bio and contact information intact.
7. Set up your own blog and update it regularly. You can even post your articles in your blog if you don't feel comfortable writing about yourself. Register your blog with blog directories on the internet and always include your bio and website URL in each blog. Blogs are now getting picked up and reproduced like articles. The search engines love blogs with quality content.
8. Send press releases promoting your new product or service. You can send a press release easily at www.prweb.com and it will read by thousands of press people within minutes. You can send the press release for free or pay a fee to reach even more news services.
These are just a few ways to drive traffic to your website. As I try more methods I'll share my results with you so you don't waste time duplicating my efforts. It's important to use multiple methods of driving traffic to your website because you want to reach as many potential customers as possible. You won't know which methods work for your target market until you experiment and measure your results. Remember to thoroughly track your campaigns and measure your results.
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