Online Marketing Chronicle

If you have a website then you already know the importance of traffic. Traffic is to Internet marketing as location is to real estate. It's the only thing that really matters. If you cannot generate targeted visitors to your site, you will not make any sales.
Usually the owner or designer of the website is the person designated to drive traffic to the site. The chief ingredient in generating traffic is the search engine. Of coarse, you can use advertising, but it's going to cost you. Using the search engines to generate targeted (interested in your product) traffic is the least expensive method known.

Unfortunately, many website owners do not understand the importance of search engine visibility, which leads to traffic. They place more importance on producing a "pretty" website. Not that this is bad, but it is really secondary to search engine placement. Hopefully, the following list of common mistakes, made by many website owners, will help you generate more targeted traffic to your site…after all, isn't that what you want.

1. Not using keywords effectively.

This is probably one of the most critical area of site design. Choose the right keywords and potential customers will find your site. Use the wrong ones and your site will see little, if any, traffic.

2. Repeating the same keywords.

When you use the same keywords over and over again (called keyword stacking) the search engines may downgrade (or skip) the page or site.

3. Robbing pages from other websites.

How many times have you heard or read that "this is the Internet and it's ok" to steal icons and text from websites to use on your site. Don't do it. Its one thing to learn from others who have been there and another to outright copy their work. The search engines are very smart and usually detect page duplication. They may even prevent you from ever being listed by them.

4. Using keywords that are not related to your website.

Many unethical website owners try to gain search engine visibility by using keywords that have nothing at all to do with their website. They place unrelated keywords in a page (such as "sex", the name of a known celebrity, the hot search topic of the day, etc.) inside a meta tag for a page. The keyword doesn't have anything to do with the page topic. However, since the keyword is popular, they think this will boost their visibility. This technique is considered spam by the search engines and may cause the page (or sometimes the whole site) to be removed from the search engine listing.

5. Keyword stuffing.

Somewhat like keyword stacking listed above, this means to assign multiple keywords to the description of a graphic or layer that appears on your website by using the "alt=" HTML parameter. If the search engines find that this text does not really describe the graphic or layer it will be considered spam.

6. Relying on hidden text.

You might be inclined to think that if you cannot see it, it doesn't hurt. Wrong…. Do not try to hide your keywords or keyword phrases by making them invisible. For example, some unethical designers my set the keywords to the same color as the background of the web page; thereby, making it invisible.

7. Relying on tiny text.

This is another version of the item above (relying on hidden text). Do not try to hide your keywords or keyword phrases by making them tiny. Setting the text size of the keywords so small that it can barely be seen does this.

8. Assuming all search engines are the same.

Many people assume that each search engine plays by the same rules. This is not so. Each has their own rule base and is subject to change anytime they so desire. Make it a point to learn what each major search engine requires for high visibility.

9. Using free web hosting.

Do not use free web hosting if you are really serious about increasing site traffic via search engine visibility. Many times the search engines will eliminate content from these free hosts.

10. Forgetting to check for missing web page elements.

Make sure to check every page in your website for completeness, like missing links, graphics, etc. There are sites on the web that will do this for free.

This is just a few of the methods and techniques that you should avoid. Do not give in to the temptation that these methods will work for you. They will do more harm than good for your website.

Not only will you spend weeks of wasted effort, you may have your site banned from the search engines forever. Invest a little time to learn the proper techniques for increasing search engine visibility and your net traffic will increase.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the method and enhancement of a web site in such a way to make it search engine friendly, and to increase the number and quality of visitors by utilizing keywords and phrases. If you aspire to have a small business website, you must understand what Search Engine Optimization is before you start designing your website.

Keywords are the words or phrases that an Internet user types in when making a search in a search engine. These terms and phrases are compared against the search engines indexed records. Other characteristics like keyword density, back links and other elements of the algorithms that the main search engines keep confidential are combined into the measurement, and the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is arranged depending on the results of the specifications.

The website developer or content provider must be knowledgeable about the various types of search engines determined by the sort of data desired. There are three fundamental sorts of search engines: spiders, programs that index data depending on what the spider discovers, as the web pages are "crawled", human input indexing, and a mixture of the two.

There are also all-purpose search engines that search blogs, forums and websites for particular content and subject matter (Google, Facebook, Ask.Com, Yahoo, etc.), in addition, there are engines that search maps and merchandise prices (MapQuest, PriceGrabber, etc). Modifying the site based on the distinct search engine technology as a rule will return superior ranking results. This is what SEO is.

SEO ought not to be the only tool utilized to push visitors to the website. Although Search Engine Optimization is essentially no cost, banners, back linking, and Pay Per Click methods could produce superior results since they guide a more targeted client to your website.

Since you can now define the term Search Engine Optimization, you can start creating a valuable website for your business.

You can design your own website using the easiest website builder on the planet. Weblolo.com offers a website builder that helps you to achieve professional looking results even if you have no computer programming, html, or graphic design knowledge. Try out the absolutely FREE trial today – no credit card necessary!

The use of descriptive anchor text for your website’s internal links can help significantly with keyword targeting your individual web pages.  The reasoning behind this is simple, the links anchor text, even internal website links, will weigh as an internal link to the web page, building relevancy for the page linked to for the keywords used in the anchor text.

For example, if you have a web page about “red striped ferret mating habits”, you might use a link that looks like:

“Finding out about ferret mating habits can. . . “

This not only gives a solid descriptor to your website visitor of what the page is about, it can help increase that page’s relevancy for “ferret mating habits”.

It’s important to note, though, that just as it’s important to alternate the anchor text for incoming links to your website from 3^rd party websites, it’s important to alternate the text for links within your websites internal link structure as well.  Using the exact same keyword focused anchor text on multiple can be considered spam by some search engines, and that practice should be avoided.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) website builder packages such as Weblolo.com make it easy for a first time web builder to create a SEO compliant site.  If you are inexperienced in website design and HTML coding, Weblolo.com will save you time and money when you build your own website.

If you are a little more experienced in web design, the loss of some design flexibility may be frustrating, but the search engine optimization function will more than make up for it. If you are an experienced designer and SEO savvy then these packages are probably not for you. However, most people are not accomplished web developers–even those with a little experience may appreciate having an easier time of developing a website.

Another way that an SEO Website Builder can benefit your business is that it drives more customers to your site. By making a list of your primary and secondary keywords you can use the proper keywords, meta tags, and page names on your page content.

An SEO Website Builder can also benefit your business by generating business leads. Most people do not buy on the first, or even second visit, so having an email capture program or a login option with a user name and password on your landing page can help you follow up site visits with an email reminder or a phone follow up to set up a face to face meeting.

As you can see, there are many ways that an SEO Website Builder can benefit your business. Whether your goal is to streamline your web building process, or simply to optimize your profit margins, an SEO Website builder may well be the solution to meet all your needs.

Online, one of the most significant keys to success is getting website traffic. The more visitors you have, the better your sales and profits. Presumably you have a niche and you know your keywords, and regularly conduct keyword research to stay on top of what’s popular. Based on those assumptions here are five quick and easy tips to get website traffic fast!

Tip #1 Make sure you’re actually tagging your keywords.

Do you spend a lot of time optimizing your content and then neglect to tag them on your webpage? Tags are where search engines look and if there are no tags they’ll pass right by your web pages. Here’s a quick brief on tags.

There are a number of tag types including,

* Title tags. Title tags are quite possibly the most important place to situate your keywords. Here’s what they look like – Primary keyword phrase here.

Your title tag is where you place your primary keyword or keyword phrase. The sentence will describe your business in less than 90 characters.

* Header Tags.  Header tags are next in order of importance to search engines.  They’re ranked in order of importance and look like this -
<h1>Primary and/or Secondary keywords here</h1>
The “1” designates this header as the most important header on the page.

* Meta Tags. Meta tags provide the small descriptive text found underneath the title tag on the search engine results page. Like title tags these should be kept brief, informative and up to date.

* Alt Tags. Alt tags are used to provide a text description of a graphic. Each graphic on your site should have a description and an alt tag.

Tip #2 Add content to your site daily

Content is essential for traffic and a top search engine ranking. Content is what search engine spiders look for and index – without it there’s nothing to index or rank. Give visitors and search engines a reason to visit and index your site. Make a commitment to provide daily, optimized content and your traffic will soar.

Tip #3 Procure valuable and relevant incoming links

The more websites which link to your webpages the more valuable search engines perceive you to be, though not all links are created equal. Search engines give more leverage to links from sites which are popular and credible and from sites which are relevant to your website topic.

There are different types of links.

- A direct link looks like a basic website address, for example, www.yourwebsite.com

- A text link occurs when the webpage address is embedded in the text. Readers simply click on the link and are redirected to a new website page.

- If the link is to an internal web page, for example an article published on a website, rather than the home page, it is called a “deep link.”

You can encourage linking to your website by:

* Adding content to your site.
* Submitting to article directories.
* Publishing press releases.
* Blogging and participating in social networking forums, chat rooms and social networking sites.

Tip #4 Be Social!

Now more than ever before, internet marketing is about building a community. Whether you offer a forum on your website or you participate in social networking sites, social networking is a valuable traffic generating tactic. Sites like Facebook and Twitter can be powerful tools for generating links and traffic to your site – create a profile and then post comments, links to your site and ideas which generate conversation.

Get involved – many chat rooms and forums are industry specific, find those which cater to your industry, and begin participating. Speak to and connect with a highly targeted audience.

Tip #5 Advertise for more exposure and traffic

Advertising, when handled strategically, can be used to promote your content and products or services. PPC advertising is often the tool of choice because you control the advertising budget on a daily basis and have the tools to test and track your advertising efforts. Once you’ve honed your PPC ads the return on investment can be phenomenal in terms of traffic and purchases.

For maximum results, create a traffic and SEO strategy. Outline your plan and your goals and then take the necessary action. Take advantage of these five traffic and search engine tips to boost your business.

Internet marketing optimization, also known as search engine optimization (SEO) is the method search engines use to improve website traffic using keywords and phrases searchers use most often.

Search engines use factors when they rank their findings, such as meta tags, meta keywords, backlinks and relevant keywords found in the text. The higher your site ranks in the search engine results, the higher the probability that customers will be driven to your site. The overuse of keywords (more than 2%-3%) can result in a negative effect, causing the search engine to reject your site for “spamdexing”.

Internet marketing optimization can help your business in several ways, the first being that it drives more customers to your site. One of the other ways it can help your business is by generating business leads. Providing a short survey or questionnaire on your landing page will result in leads that can be followed up with a call or visit.

Another benefit to your business is the backlink. One of the factors considered in the ranking of your site is the number of sites that are linked to it. The more links to your site, the more important the search engine spiders will consider your site. Some SEO companies have abused this method by using “link farms,” resulting in the search engine rejecting the results and ignoring the site. Make sure your links are legitimate and pertinent to your product or service.

These are just a few ways that internet marketing optimization can help your business. While none of these methods will guarantee that you will see an increase in business contacts, any or all of them should result in positive changes to how you do business on the internet.

by Michael Fleischner

Website content is more than just words on an html page. Content is comprised of all the elements users see and interact with when visiting your website. This includes more than simply words on a web site. Quality content includes words on a page as well as pictures, images, audio, and video. Content may also include RSS feeds, tag clouds and other elements like social media and forums.

By creating targeted content that is optimally designed websites can create a compelling reason for browsers to visit their web pages often. When thinking about the development of your content, it doesn’t matter where it comes from as long as it is well written and engages your audience.

Unique Article Wizard

When websites contain powerful content, they experience a significant number of benefits both short and long term. Quality content not only engages browsers but provides search engine optimization that results in higher rankings and organic traffic. If you want a steady flow of traffic to your website, focus on quality content. Continue reading »

When I first started out in this business, we had to guess at the keywords that people might use to search for any give topic, product, or service. More recently, excellent keyword tools have been developed that enable you to find the actual keywords that people are using in their various searches. If you haven’t tried these tools, you may be surprised to find out that the terms you think people are using are just not there!

I suggest that you try the free keyword tools before buying a product, so that you can determine which one works best for you and you are most comfortable with.

Personally, I use Wordtracker.com, exclusively. It has helped me find those niche keywords that I would never have thought of before. I highly recommend viewing the free video tutorials first. They will teach you how to use the product to gain the very best results.

Look for those keyword phrases/terms that have the most searches with the least amount of competition, and you’ll be astounded at the results!  You can drive highly targeted traffic to your website if you use the right keywords.

Here are our top keyword research tools:

• WordTracker.com
• Google Adwords Keyword Selection Tool
• Google Search Based Keyword Tool
• SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
• Keyword Elite