The Benefits of Organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

If you're going to sell any type of product or service online, you're eventually going to have to optimize your Web site for the Search Engines, in order to boost traffic and sales.

Many years ago, it was quite easy to draw effective traffic, as a good content-driven site, with good products, was enough to get a Web site ranked highly in the Search Engines. The competition has increased one thousand times over since then, with billions of Web sites existing online now, making for some very stiff competition in the area of Search Engine placement and rankings.

This increase in competition has given rise to many different styles, and many different methods of Web site optimization. Optimization is simply the method of making a Web site "Search Engine friendly", by using methods of enhancement that will increase rankings and placement by placing the Web site higher in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages).

Everything from software to increase rankings and placement, to Search Engine Management and Marketing Firms exist, with many online merchants becoming confused about what or "whom" to use and how to effectively use the various services to increase rankings and placement.

The real battle seems to exist between those that favor "Organic SEO" as opposed to those that prefer "Non-Organic SEO". The term organic itself is defined by Webster's Dictionary as: instrumental; acting as instruments of nature or of art to a certain destined function or end (Webster's: 1913: 3).

Organic SEO, also called Natural SEO, is the most time consuming, and the most tedious method of optimization for placement and rankings. However, it is prone to longevity of results, as it has a focus on content, meta-tag enhancement using proper descriptions, keyword enhanced copy within the appropriate specified densities of the Search Engines, and link exchanges. In addition, keyword dense reports, articles, and other content materials are usually added in a routine fashion to a site to maintain the densities necessary and increase rankings and placement.

Organic SEO, if done properly in a step-by-step approach, can literally promote increased traffic and rankings for years. It can also contain overall marketing costs, as the use of PPC (Pay Per Click), is not needed as much with this method. The main drawbacks with this type of SEO, however, are the length of time it takes to properly implement all the steps necessary, and the length of time it takes the Search Engines to thoroughly spider and index a site that has implemented Organic SEO.

Non-Organic SEO, also called Artificial SEO, can take many forms, and can use some Organic SEO coupled with other techniques. These techniques can include software generated keyword enhanced pages, some methods of re-directs, whereby traffic is shunted off from other sites, with their permissions, and software generated doorway pages and meta-tag descriptions. There are many different techniques that can be employed including rather controversial ones such as hidden text loaded with keywords, and tiny text.

Overall, Non-Organic SEO methods are quite popular, as it is a much quicker means to rankings and placement. Links might be purchased from "link farms" which are simply services that specialize in the promotion of links to others.

Although Non-Organic SEO can speed up rankings and placement initially, care needs to be given when using any of these methods. If keyword dense pages are automatically generated en masse, the Search Engines might view large sites, with large numbers of such pages as "Search Engine Spammers" and a risk of being banned does exist. In addition, pages may initially place very high, only to drop lower rather quickly, as the Search Engines still place a great emphasis on good content, which is not usually the focus of the Non-Organic type of SEO.

All in all, it really depends upon the overall purpose of a site, and the longevity of results desired by a Web master/site owner. It also depends upon how quickly results and sales are needed. For some seasonal sites, such as holiday-theme sites that only remain up for a few weeks or months, then the quicker method of Non-Organic SEO can be quite effective. On the other hand, if a Web master/site owner promotes a product or service to which they are committed for years, or perhaps a lifetime, then Organic SEO would definitely be the better choice of optimization method.

No matter which type of SEO methods are chosen or implemented, an ongoing campaign of optimization does need to exist, as the parameters that are used for the rankings and placement by the Search Engines, change frequently, and research into current methods needs to be done routinely.

As the old saying goes, "Different strokes for different folks", really applies to Search Engine Optimization and rankings and placement. The whole Search Engine Optimization process is really more art than science, and continues to change daily.

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Vishal P. Rao is the owner of Work at Home Forum, an online community of people who work from home.
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The Essentials of Organic SEO

Organic SEO is an ethically search engine optimization campaign that does not involve any paid placement program. Using organic SEO, you can bring in traffic to your website through three essential ways - well written content, solid linking structure and strategies, and interactivity among your visitors.

In organic SEO, there will be no paid search listings. You can use money perhaps to improve other aspects of your marketing program, such as website redesign and perhaps to get content (since you will most likely need the help of experienced content writers).

If you are just starting up a company or are still beginning to market your products or services online, organic SEO is your best option. Although it might take some time to feel its results, in time you will be able to feel the growth as you move closer to your SEO goals.

While using organic SEO techniques are free, there are a few things that need to be clarified. For instance, if you are thinking that heading the organic SEO route will bring your overwhelming success overnight, you are terribly wrong.

Some online marketers readily assume that a large SEO goal such as reaching the highest rank for a keyword on Google's SERPs can be achieved in a matter of days. The most that you can do in the fastest possible site is to promote an unknown website using fresh content within a month at the very least.

Feeding your website with fresh and unique content on a regular basis will improve slowly (but surely) your rank in the search engine results. You just have to make sure that your keywords are unique and are seamlessly placed in your content.

Although organic search engine optimization is very effective and is highly adaptable, it takes a lot of hard work to yield anything within a month. You have to remember that high rankings on SERPs take a longer time to accomplish given the constantly changing algorithms of search engines.

Naturally optimizing your website is a product of different efforts working together the moment an internet user looks for a particular topic. The user lands on your website directly from the SERPs page without paying anything for that exposure.

In reality, more internet users give a huge trust value to websites using natural search engine optimization techniques. Users appreciate sites that show up in SERPs more than sites who are not.

If you use organic SEO, you will be able to draw much more traffic compared to aggressive advertising. Having fresh, relevant content and organic optimization techniques will give your website overwhelming benefits.

Organic SEO lets you take advantage of the trust factor that users give you and your website. Users are keen to inorganic SEO and they immediately know that it is paid advertising, making it harder for them to trust such websites.

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Keyword Selection: A Key to Web Success

Keywords are the words search engine users enter into Google's search box. So, if you're looking for baby shower gifts you might type in "baby gifts" and start clicking on links found on page 1 of the search engine results pages (SERPs).

As a web-based business owner, the keywords you select define the topicality of your web site - the products and services you sell and where you sell them. Thanks to localized search, a small boutique on Main Street can target local shoppers and not unqualified prospects in Mozambique.

Your web site should employ a number of keywords because you never know what a search engine user will enter into Yahoo's search box. However, too many keywords, ambiguous keywords and keywords that don't make sense to a search engine spider (also called a bot) will often get a web site slammed, panned and even banned if the search engine "thinks" you're trying to mislead its users.

The objective of any search engine is to deliver the most relevant web sites, ranked according to their relevance. The most relevant site ranks at the top, with sites of decreasing relevance filling up page after page of SERPs. That's why most search engine users never get beyond page 2 or 3 in any SERPs.

If your site doesn't rank in the top tier of SERPs you won't see much organic traffic - visitors who found your site via a search using keywords as part of their query.

Selecting the Right Keywords for Your Web Site

The right keywords deliver more traffic because a link to your web site appears on page 1 of Ask, Bing, Google, Yahoo or any of the other 4,000 search engines crawling the web today. Here's why.

Think of a search engine as an elephantine file cabinet with literally millions of file folders stored in millions of drawers. This is the search engine index - its taxonomy, the way it sorts web sites, blogs and information associated with digital spaces. Your web site will be placed in one of those file folders based on the keywords you use in your HTML code (the code that actually produces the presentation layer of the web site) and the site skin itself.

If you're a certified financial planner, you want to make sure that "certified financial planner" and "CFA" appear in your HTML keyword tag and in the site text itself. Typically, search engine optimizers recommend a keyword density of 2%-3%, though some of these on-line marketers will go as high as 5% meaning that out of every 100 words of site text, five will be keywords.

An overload of keywords should be avoided. It's a practice called keyword stuffing, something search engines frown on.

Start by making a list of intuitive keywords - the keywords that you, the business owner, believe would be entered by search engine users looking for your goods or services. You, better than most, know what your prospects are looking for so start by making a list of 10 to 15 intuitive keywords.

Then do a little research on each one.

The Google Keyword Generator

Use it. It's one of the most valuable tools available to new web site owners:

• The Google Keyword Generator doesn't project results, it delivers actual search terms and phrases entered by Google users in the past 30 days.
• These are real users of the most popular search engine in the world.
• It indicates the number of searches conducted for each keyword or phrase.
• It will expand and refine your list of intuitive keywords.
• It's really simple to use and interpret the data.
• It's Google, for goodness sake.

Enter each of your intuitive keywords and phrases to determine how often these terms were used. Simple changes to your list will make a huge difference in the delivery of visitors to your website through organic search results.

Long-Tail Key Words

Long-tail keywords are typically keyword phrases. The disadvantage to using long-tails is that fewer search engine users enter these keyword phrases. The advantage is that those who DO enter these long-tails see your web site at the top of page one of SERPs.

Example: if you own a bicycle shop that specializes in high-end, Tour de France quality racing bikes, then using "bicycles" as a keyword won't deliver as much traffic as "high quality racing bicycles." Why? EVERY business related to bicycles will use "bicycles" as a search term so your little site may be buried deep in the SERPs, never to be seen be serious biking enthusiasts.

On the other hand, fewer search engine users will enter "high quality racing bicycles" into a search box, but if you use that long-tail, your web site will rank higher. And as a side benefit, you get more qualified buyers - buyers willing to spend a great deal of money on their hobby.

Add a couple of long-tail keywords to your list and track their performance. Your keyword list is always a work in progress with successful keywords added and poorly performing keywords - long-tails or otherwise - dropped.

Local Search Keywords

Local businesses - the ones that line Main Street in your town - are turning to the web more and more thanks to local search.

Local search enables small businesses to target local prospects. A bistro downtown can post that evening's specials for local diners to check out. Search engines offer the option of local search, but you'll help search engines by adding your town's address, including zip code.

If you type in "racing bicycles 78201" you'll see a list of bike shops in that part of San Antonio, Texas. You'll also see a map with "pushpins" providing addresses, telephone numbers and printable directions to the local shops that sell bicycles in zip code 78201.

Be sure to add the name of your community and state, as well. This information should appear as text so it can be read by spiders. If your bike shop's local search information appears in a graphic, it can't be read by search engine bots so it won't do you any good.

Display complete address and other contact information on every page of your site. It increases the likelihood of appear on the top SERPs during a local search and it provides quick information for site visitors who want to pick up the telephone to give you a telephone call.

Think of keywords as the means by which your web site is sorted in that gigantic index called a search engine, whether it's Yahoo, Bing, Google, Ask or any of the other general search engines we all use every day. Choose the right keywords and your site will be placed in the proper "file folder" of the search engine. Choose ambiguous keywords, or conflicting keywords, and search engine bots won't know where to file your site within its index.

With keywords, it's better to be clear than clever so keep it simple, constantly tweak your list, test new keywords against existing keywords and make it a good web business practice to constantly refine the keywords in your HTML code and on site.

Bots aren't bright so explain, exactly, what your web site is about to ensure you're properly indexed. It could well mean the difference between fast growth and business success and a web site with cob webs on the home page.

Which would you rather own?

Ms. Rosendahl has over 19 years experience in systems analysis, hosted applications, and management as well as 13 years experience in web hosting and Internet marketing. Ms. Rosendahl has a Bachelors from Houston Baptist University with a double major in Computer Information Systems and Business Management. Stephanie is the founder and CEO of website hosting firm - GreenHostIt.com green hosting.

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Effective Link Bait Ideas to Get Webmasters Linking To You Every Time

Being able to create link bait can take care of all of your problems. Link bait is content which is especially attractive to other webmasters, thus encouraging them to link to your from their sites (hence the term "bait").

While link bait is primarily associated with links which obviously build your site's presence in the SERPs, its effective for bringing in traffic and sometimes huge flows of traffic at that because if another webmaster feels that your content is good enough to link to then you can expect a good bit of their traffic will follow that link to your site.

Link Bait Ideas

Now I'll give you some link bait ideas which you can use to create your own content bait to encourage other webmasters to link to you.

Great Content - You knew this one was coming. It may sound like a cop out on my part, but creating great content is the classic form of link bait because other webmasters plain and simple want great content to share with their readers; so anything which is inherently unique, informative, entertaining, or some combination of all of these is the ideal bait.

Trending Topics - Trending topics/current events or anything topical make for great link bait examples because people are interested in things which other people are already talking about. If something is trending online, that means a lot of people are talking about it and already sharing information about it, so you're striking while the iron is hot in this case.

Contests - Contests and competitions are great ways to get people to buzz about your site. Create a contest related to your niche, name a sweet prize, then writing about it on other forums and blogs in your niche and anywhere else you can think of to get people talking and linking to you.

Controversial Content - Creating controversy always gets people talking, and online it gets people visiting your site and linking to you.

Case Studies - Case studies usually have interesting results which people want to learn about. At the very least it will peak some people's interests. I did a case study a few months ago on the best way to make money online in which I pitted 3 different forms of traffic (website traffic, social network traffic, email marketing traffic) against one another to see which earned me the most money on a new affiliate product which launched. I documented the results via video then wrote about it on a variety of marketing and money making blogs to get some great traffic.

Which traffic source won out? You'll have to click on this link for best way to make money online and watch the video yourself to find out - see how it works?

OR you can sign up for my free 10 Day Fast Track Training Course which is a completely free email/video based course designed to teach anyone how to make serious money through affiliate marketing. Check out this video to see how quick and easy it is to make money in affiliate marketing when the path is laid out clearly right in front of you without costing you a dime.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_M_Ventura

Does Link Exchange Still Work?

It used to be that if you wanted to get backlinks you could ask webmasters to give you links to your site and you would give them links from yours. This probably still works to a limited extent, but it is becoming more difficult for a number of reasons.

One of the problems with reciprocal links is that you will tend to be linking to sites which are at the same level as yours in the Search Engine Rankings Pages (SERPS) and as everyone is trying to climb the pages linking with lowly indexed pages will not help yours to climb. It is no longer the number of links that you have to your site which counts with Google and other search engines, but the quality of the links that your site has.

Because this is the case, few of the top ranking sites will actually want to link to your site. Why should they? If you have a superb site that those highly ranked sites would like to link to, then, of course there will be no problem. However, why would you want to ask for a reciprocal link if your site is so good? I guess you understand the problem. Top ranking sites don't need reciprocal links, only smaller sites lower down the SERPS think about such things.

Then of course, links have to be to sites within the same niche in order to be important in the Search Engine's scheme of things. Think about it, would you want to help your competitors rise in the rankings by giving them a link to your site on the understanding that they will link to yours?

As it would seem that reciprocal linking is no longer a valid option, unless you have been a member of a forum for some time and are well-respected in your own right, you will have to consider other ways of linking. If you have been a member of a forum for some time and people respect your views and opinions, and your site is new, then you could ask for links to your new site, and people might respond well to your request.

What you shouldn't do is try to link with sites by writing spammy comments which have little relevance to the contents you are "commenting" on simply in order to get a link. This simply irritates the site owners and your comment is deleted, so there is not much point in your wasting time and effort on such tasks.

Your best bet to get links to sites that are highly ranked is to answer some questions within your niche in the ask.com questions and answers pages, or the wikianswers pages, or Yahoo! or any other similar pages which have a lot of traffic.

Link your content with sites that are highly ranked and hope that this doesn't increase your bounce rate (when visitors don't stay on your site for even a second, but bounce out of it). If your site has good, informative and original content this will lower the risk of that happening.

So in answer to the question, "Does link exchange still work?" the answer has to be that although it might, it probably doesn't in the vast majority of cases. You have to be work harder these days to get good quality links to your site.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lynne_Evans

Basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Have you heard stories about legendary online entrepreneurs who hit it big after getting a #1 rank in several popular search engines? You probably wondered what it would take for you to achieve that elusive #1 spot in the search engine result pages (SERPs). Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a vital role in ensuring that your business gets the best possible search engine ranking, which can lead to increased sales for your online company.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search engine optimization is the process of modifying web page content and meta-information to improve the search engine ranking of the page. Meta-information includes certain HTML tags (title, heading, emphasized text, keyword and description meta-tags), as well as the internal (links between pages on the same site) and external (links between pages on different sites) link structure of a web site.

Impact of High Search Engine Rank on Sales

Internet market research estimates that between 70% and 90% of online shoppers use search engines to find a specific product or service. Let's examine factors that influence sales to see how effective search engine optimization can boost your revenues.

Three metrics are required to forecast online sales: the average ticket, the conversion rate, and the amount of web site traffic:

* The average ticket is the amount of money spent by a customer on a typical transaction. Computer and electronics stores have high average tickets (hundreds or thousands of dollars), while bookstores have low average tickets (tens of dollars).

* Web Site traffic is measured by the number of site visitors, typically expressed as the number of page views per month.

* Conversion rate is the number of sales divided by the number of page views per month, expressed as a percentage.

Let's look at an example. The Ultimate Taupe Widget (UTW) store has an average ticket of $25, a conversion rate of 2%, and gets 5,000 page views per month. The estimated monthly sales are $2,500 ($25 average ticket * 0.02 conversion rate expressed as a decimal * 5,000 page views per month). Achieving a high search engine rank will increase the number of page views, and therefore increase sales. In this example, if traffic doubles to 10,000 page views a month, UTW's monthly sales should (approximately) double as well (to $5,000).

Keep in mind that a high search engine rank will produce a measurable increase in traffic only if there is significant marketplace interest in taupe widgets and your web site appears in the first thirty search engine results.

However, search engine optimization is not going to produce measurable results if there is very little demand for taupe widgets. The #1 spot in search engine result pages is not particularly impressive if only two people search for "taupe widgets" each month.
Role of Keywords in Search Engine Optimization

Keywords are words or phrases users provide to search engines to locate information. Search engines examine page content to determine whether a specific page is relevant for a particular search word or phrase. Thus, effective keyword selection is one of the cornerstones of search engine optimization.

Each keyword is characterized by supply (number of search engine result pages) and demand (number of searches). The easiest way to improve search engine rank is to select keywords that have favorable supply-demand characteristics; that is, ones with a relatively high demand and a relatively low supply. It is much more difficult to improve the search engine position of a page on a high supply, competitive keyword.

Good keywords must be relevant to your product line, as well as your line of business. A #1 rank for "navy widgets" is worthless if you sell taupe widgets exclusively. A potential customer will find your page, quickly discover that you don't sell any navy widgets, and promptly go elsewhere. In effect, the conversion rate for irrelevant search engine hits is very close to zero.

Using Keywords Effectively

Choosing a set of target keywords is the first step in search engine optimization. The second step is using them in the body, title, headings, and meta-tags of a page.

Include the target keywords in the text of the page. Don't overdo it, though --- the keywords should fit smoothly into the surrounding text. Search engines use several techniques to detect excessive keyword density, or too many keywords stuffed into very little supporting text, and will reduce the rank accordingly. A page has too many keywords if they interfere with the general flow of the text on a page and appear to be glaringly out of place

The title tag should contain information that describes the page. Unless you operate a multi-national conglomerate that is already a household name, your company's name is not a descriptive title. Most search engines use the title tag as the first line of your listing in the search engine result pages. Strive to make your title tag say "click me" to a prospective customer. "Superior taupe widgets - 50% off every day" is a good page title, while "Ultimate Taupe Widgets, Inc." is not.

Incorporate keywords into the headings on the page, as well as into emphasized sections (bold or large text). Even though search engines are de-emphasizing descriptive meta-tags, include keywords in them nevertheless. The description meta-tag should have an accurate description of your page, and the keywords meta-tag should contain a set of keywords (separated by commas) that list key concepts mentioned on the page.

Understanding the basics of search engine optimization is an important first step in creating an optimized, well-positioned web site.

Biana Babinsky shows you how to drive thousands of targeted visitors to your web site in her Step by Step Search Engine Optimization Special Report. Learn more about the report at http://avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zseo

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Biana_Babinsky

Link Bait - Alive, Beguiling and Gratifying

What is link bait?

'Link bait' is the term invented by Nick Wilson in 2005 for techniques specifically designed to attract natural links to a webpage for search engine optimization (SEO). It includes a spectrum of possibilities including a complete article on a webpage, a list within an article, an image, a comment on a blog, a video, a quiz, a free program or an EBook. If you surf the net, you will have doubtless noticed the beguiling temptations that come your way clearly designed to encourage a link from you. Good bait has the potential to go viral as your masterpiece proliferates around the internet.

It has been argued that baiting strategies were in existence before it was given a name. Certainly, optimizers were aware that good quality content could attract links. In retrospect, the term was introduced at an opportune time. The importance of links was well known but optimisers were beginning to question the value of the once popular reciprocal linking and links that were not natural.

Link bait is unique and interesting content that other sites will naturally want to link to. The great bonus is that you do not have to ask or beg for the links but just set the bait and let it do its work.

Why is link bait important?

Off-page optimization (linking from other websites) has a greater influence on positioning on search engine results pages (SERPs) than the content of a webpage (on-page optimization). The search engines are judged by their ability to provide quality links for a search. Websites accumulating links from other websites voluntarily will be considered to have authority and their pages will move up the SERPs. Link baiting is an ethical means to lure those incoming links.

Why should webmasters or bloggers place a link to your website?

They do it for their benefit and not yours. The link will send their visitors and their link juice from their website to yours. The benefit for them is that if they have good outgoing links that are regularly updated, it will act as link bait for their website.

How to create effective link bait.

A great title that is keyword rich is the starting point for link bait. Deliver what you advertise in the title. There is a good chance that the title will be included in the anchor text within the acquired link adding to its benefit.

The five classic link baiting hooks are:

1. News - be the first to publish interesting news.

2. Controversy.

3. Attacks - this needs extreme care. There is a fine line between the acceptable and the unacceptable.

4. Resource -such as a video, complimentary EBook or quiz.

5. Humour - we all like a good laugh.

Link bait is not easy to produce and it takes considerable time and effort. You may spend more time producing a little link bait than on an entire article but the rewards are potentially greater. The bait must be recognized to be unique in your niche if it is to be effective so that it is challenging and great fun to produce. Content that informs, inspires, educates or entertains has the best chance of attracting those coveted links. It must have value for the targeted audience.

Link bait needs to hook readers instantly, and that means finding a format that grabs their attention. Formatting, such as the inclusion of technical terms, will depend on the targeted audience. Lists and guides are always good options because knowledge is highly sought after, but other factors such as humour, controversy or contradiction of widely held opinions will also help to give your content a vital edge.

Think about your niche and provide quality information in a succinct way. If you have a good article, consider creating a numbered list of bullet points at the top of the article. Numbered lists make great link bait. The title of the list may be picked up by the search engines, particularly if it can be included in the page title or Meta Description tag. Searchers are looking for a list of solutions to a problem. You can expand on the list in the subsequent text.

If you have expertise in your niche you may find a list of ways you assisted a client that could interest others. Success is likely if you can ignite emotion, whether it be astonishment or laughter. Get people fired up about something and the ball will start rolling.

A great deal of SEO is trial and error. What works in one situation may not be effective in another. It may have worked last year but not this year.

There is a difference between viral marketing and link bait. The objective of the former is exposure and branding whereas for link baiting it is links!

Link baiting has officially been with us for six years and will become more popular. The search engines are producing increasingly sophisticated means to find, eliminate and on occasion penalize unnatural links. Google's Panda update, introduced in 2011, is one example.

Some have argued that link bait is bad for the Web claiming that it lowers quality, increases web volume and makes it more difficult to find useful information and that it is getting near completion of its life-cycle. The author takes the view that great effort is essential so that it enhances the web and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Finally, creating great link bait that brings in those precious links is incredibly gratifying.

David Viniker MD FRCOG has 30 years experience with computer applications for medical education and he has applied the principles of evidence based practice to SEO: He is a doctor trained to practice evidence based medicine. David has published compelling and easily verifiable evidence that HomePage PageRank is the top factor in the Google positioning algorithm and that Google provides a boosting adjustment to HomePages that are competing for a keyword. He has developed a new, essential keyword tool - http://www.KeywordSEOPro.com which calculates keyword difficulty based on HomePage PageRank. Visit his website for further details. His website http://www.firstwebsitedesign.com provides valuable information for beginners and intermediates in website design and search engine optimization.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Viniker

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Primer

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are all the rage nowadays. Rather than waste money mailing or phoning traditional advertising out to people who probably have no immediate interest in your products or services, SEO/SEM allow businesses to present ads only to people who are more-likely on the verge of buying from them or a competitor right then. Would you rather pay for every instance of your print ad being displayed in every copy of some newspaper sold, or would you rather target your ad only to people who just performed a Web search for exactly what you sell? Even if each search engine impression cost orders of magnitude more than each recipient of the print ad, the return could easily be sufficient to make it wildly worth the cost... and better still, if you can follow some basic instructions, it might not even cost you anything!

Generally, people want to search for Websites, reviews, comparisons, and other information before they search for specific vendors and practitioners. If a search engine only showed sponsored advertising, it would be of less value to searchers, meaning that fewer people would use it, so fewer advertisers would pay to advertise there. This business model produces a downward spiral that is simply unviable. Instead, search engines show both paid advertising and "organic" search results. When Google's Web crawlers find and parse a dentist's Website, for instance, they find clues on it that it's related to dentistry. They may also find localization information, such as an address or telephone area code. Later, when someone in that area searches for dentists, Google may show this dentist's listing in the organic search results along with the paid advertisers. This impression cost the dentist nothing!

How, then, can businesses get themselves more free, organic listing impressions? This is what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) addresses, and while it may require an investment of time, effort, or capital to implement, the specific cost per impression (CPI) or cost per click (CPC) are nil. In short, the more sweat equity you're willing to put in, the lower your cash cost of implementation will be.

Before you come to imagine that SEO is simply a checklist of things you have to do to get your Website to the top of the organic search results forever, let me point out that you're not the only one working towards this goal; your competitors are, too. In an unrelated analogy, college graduates used to have no trouble getting jobs, but this prompted more people to get their sheepskins today than there are jobs for college graduates, so many are unemployed while others continue on to a graduate school, which will eventually make that distinction less scarce, too. Similarly, the distinction of being top-ranked on organic search is a moving target which requires a continuous effort on your part to keep improving your ranking as compared to your competitors.

Surely, you've heard the old adage that banks only lend you money when you don't need it. Well, it's similar with organic search rankings. If you search for "shipping," you're much more likely to find UPS and FedEx in your search results than some small local courier. Why? Google has nothing against small local couriers, but they want to provide the best possible results to the greatest number of end-users so those end-users will keep coming back, rather than jump ship to Bing or Yahoo. There's a higher probability that UPS or FedEx would be able to handle any end-user's shipping needs than would some small local courier.

Basically, you need to make your Website appear to be a large and well-regarded resource in your field in order to get search engines to present it as such. How? You need more referrals, more traffic, and more conversions. I hate to call them "tricks," but there are some things of which you should be aware that will help you improve your ranking.

One "trick" is to specialize; instead of trying to be everything to everyone, try to be the best at something specific. That small local courier in my last example has no chance of beating out UPS head-to-head, worldwide, but they may be the best delivery service in the City of White Plains, NY. They may come on call, and make same-day pickups and deliveries at reasonable rates. They may offer packing services and shipping supplies at the time of pickup, so you could just hand them flowers, your grandmother's heirloom glass vase, a card, and an address, and leave the rest to them. For that courier to try to become top-ranked in global "shipping" searches would be futile, but if it focuses on winning in searches around "White Plains, NY," for "same-day delivery" or "packing and shipping," it has a much better chance of becoming top-ranked.

Again, I sense you thinking, "How?" Well, the most obvious answer is that the courier's Website should emphasize that it specializes in such, um, specialties. (Note to self: get thesaurus.) The content of their Website should discuss the courier's strengths in White Plains, NYin same-day deliveryand in packing and shipping. The titles of the related pages should include the words White Plains, NY, same-day delivery, and packing and shipping. Headings on those pages should include White Plains, NY, same-day delivery, and packing and shipping. Metadata descriptions on those pages should include White Plains, NY, same-day delivery, and packing and shipping. Metadata key words for those pages should include the words White Plains, NY, same-day delivery, and packing and shipping. Lest you think I needed a thesaurus for those last five sentences, too, let me clearly state that you want to achieve exactly the repetitiveness I presented. The content, titles, headings, descriptions, and key words should present a clear, unified, unambiguous, unmistakable representation of the Web page.

Another "trick" is to cultivate inbound links. For the uninitiated, the idea is that when other Websites link to yours, search engines treat it as a testimonial for your Website, and it improves your Website's ranking in organic search results. The ranking of the referring Website is taken into account, so testimonials from Microsoft.com or WSJ.com are more valuable than ones from smaller Websites, but any ranking points are better than none, so ask friends, clients, and suppliers if they would do a link-exchange with you. Rather than dilute your Webpage content, you'll probably want to put their links on a "links" or "resources" page other than your main page, but keep in mind that it will get less traffic than your main page, and that they're going to want to do the same thing to you, too. Also, the best way to implement this is to have your desired search keywords serve as your link, so this, for example:

For the best value in Westchester small business IT support, contact Maverick Solutions IT, Inc.

is less preferable than this:

For the best value in Westchester small business IT support, contact Maverick Solutions IT, Inc.

Other ways to generate more inbound links are to blog, tweet, wall post, answer newsgroup questions, or publish articles. Having articles published with "about the author" links or making newsgroup posts with links in your signature block are obvious ways to generate inbound links - especially if they're highly-trafficked, well-regarded, widely-read articles (like this one). However, even blog entries on your own Website may be retweeted on Twitter, shared on Facebook, or syndicated on sites looking for content. We use Google Alerts to monitor any online mention of our company, and find that many of our blog entries and articles have turned up in the strangest of places... but they all count as free, inbound links! Even just creating Linked-in and Facebook pages for your business are good ways to pick up a few more search engine ranking points, and they give you more ways to showcase yourself to your prospects.

Many a small business will just link to its main home page, but if you create individual landing pages and think of them as separate campaigns, you can optimize each of those titles, headings, descriptions, key words, and content, individually. For example:

• MaverickSolutions.biz is our business' main page
• MaverickSolutions.biz/solutions_sec.htm is a sub-page for when we promote our security & surveillance systems
• MaverickSolutions.biz/schools.htm is a sub-page for when we're marketing ourselves to schools
• MaverickSolutions.biz/promo/ is a landing page we established for a Free PC Tune-Up campaign we ran a few months back (Yes, you're welcome to take us up on it if you're in the New York Metro Area.)
• You can even link to individual blog articles you may have published on particular topics, such as MaverickSolutions.biz/blog/2010/how-did-i-get-a-virus-and-how-do-i-get-rid-of-it/

Once you've started to generate some momentum in your Website ranking, you can begin to focus some effort on more ranking optimization. If you and a friend promote each other on your own small business' Websites, since each of you has a low ranking score, the benefit for each of you is low. However, if you could get links from bigger companies, they would be more valuable. One way to do this is to partner with larger companies; we are a Microsoft partner company, so we are listed on their partner directory and have a link from there. Another way is to be involved in high-profile projects; we have worked as a subject matter expert (SME) for the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), and have had links from them. An easy way is to join local business networking groups and get links from their Webpages to yours; we joined our local BNI chapter. There are even "tricks" to get reporters to quote you as an expert in articles they're writing in your field, and they'll frequently provide links, too. When these articles are syndicated on dozens or hundreds of secondary online publications, you can get some terrific exposure.

By reading this article, you've already taken the first steps. You've separated yourself from the throngs of people who don't care, don't know, and don't want to know. You've demonstrated that you're willing to learn and to take action to improve your search engine ranking. You can do more independent researching and reading to find more practical information about SEO, but if at some point you hit a roadblock or need more help, Maverick Solutions is just a click away, ready to advise and assist you with SEO or any other small business technology consulting and support. We've helped moving companies, real estate agents, mortgage bankers, title companies, business coaches, contractors, and attorneys with their SEO, and we'd be happy to help you, too.

About the Author:

Brian Blum is the founder, president, and chief consultant at Maverick Solutions IT, Inc. Maverick Solutions helps schools, NFPs, and SO/HOs get more value from their technology budgets. Visit our Website to learn about the services we offer, or read our blog, Maverick Ramblings, for assorted tips, tricks, and information of technology interest.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Blum

Directory Site Submissions - Posting Your Links to Directories

Directory submission is one of the most significant things you can do when you're link building. Directories want to offer a service. If they are good at listing, they get traffic. Lots of websites try to get listed on unpaid directories without becoming relevant. This may definitely create directory distribution hard. Your directory submission must be completed when your website is totally functional and all set for viewing. You should have finished constructing the basic principles of your website before you submit your URL for acceptance.

With search engines increasingly becoming more crucial of spam generated website traffic, it is very important to create your page rank naturally and organically. This means using only white hat tools to optimize targeted traffic. One of the extremely rated tools in this organic traffic generation is directory submission. It indicates having your site link posted on online directories that may subsequently convert clicks to visitors on your website. There are numerous ways of achieving this, with professional companies and SEO experts providing this service or manual link submission. These directory submission tools are compared below:

Automated Directory Submission: This tool, as the name suggests, is a software program directed way of posting your link to the directories. It is a black hat listed tool and is not a recommended way of building link popularity, with many directories blocking such tools. Directory submissions done automatically are believed spam and if discovered will be flagged with the possibility of your website getting blocked by search engines. It also encounters the chance of posting links in the wrong categories in the directories rendering the submission less effective. If this link popularity tool should be used, it ought to be used minimally and follow up checks should be done.

Manual link submission: This involves publishing your site link manually without the use of any automation tool. A time consuming, labour intensive and costly method of constructing your traffic, it is among the most reliable tools as it is easy to track performance of the links. It is also the top most directory submission white hat tool and you can be sure search engines will not flag you. It's an organic means of building traffic. The flip side of this linking tool as mentioned is that it is labour intensity. Nevertheless it decreases the likelihood of publishing the link in the wrong category which might lead to the link being removed by the directory owners. Manual link submission is the most recommended tool, the work involved is notwithstanding.

In conclusion, link building through directory submission is one of the most effective SEO tools. If utilized correctly, it can provide highly rated organic traffic to your site. The question is whether not to use such a tool, but how to use it. As discussed, the two main ways are. First is to outsource to freelance professionals, SEO companies. The advantage with this is having people who are solely dedicated to get this done and they give some level of guarantee in their experience. The second is by doing it yourself, in contrast to getting a professional, SEO Company. This can be a more cost effective method of doing this with efficiency guaranteed as you'll be able to follow your links. Directory submissions will increase your website visibility. In return that will increase your website traffic. It also generates backlinks to your website. The more backlinks you have the higher up you'll be ranked in the major search engines.

To any one who is interested to learn a lot more with regards to the directory site submission, an up and coming business process outsourcing market which can most certainly help quick start your small business and enable you to save lots of dollars, then get access to virtual assistants. You'll like it!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joan_Geyser

Is HomePage PageRank Important In SEO?

High HomePage PageRank (HPR) does not ensure high positioning of webpages competing for a keyword but if a website does not have sufficient HPR for that keyword, it will have no chance of top page positioning on Google.

Keyword Difficulty and Keyword Difficulty Programs

Keyword difficulty is an indication of the strength of competing websites for a keyword.

There are a number of keyword difficulty programs. With one recent exception, the scoring systems have been unspecified with no means to identify the competitive strength of a website competing for a keyword. Before entering any competition, it is advisable to know your strength relative to that of your opponents.

As search engine optimisation (SEO) involves a competition for keywords, optimizers need means to identify keyword difficulty and a credible way to determine the competitive strength of a website that might wish to compete for that keyword. High quality SEO is the scientific application of search engine approved methods to increase targeted traffic to a website.

The Crucial Interim Step for SEO Success.

The majority of SEO and keyword related programs imply that any website can successfully compete for any chosen keyword and they suggest a two step process:

• Choose your keywords
• Optimise your webpages for all those keywords.

The author takes the view that there is a crucial interim step that has not been previously discussed in the literature. That interim step is the identification of those keywords that a website has even a chance of top page positioning on a search engine results page (SERP) and in particular the top Google SERP.

SEO involves time, effort and usually financial expense. If no attempt is made to focus SEO efforts on keywords that are within range for a website most of these efforts will be wasted chasing rainbows. There is no value in competing for keywords that are well out of range for a website having any chance of reaching the top SERP.

HomePage PageRank Keyword Difficulty (HPR-KD)

There is compelling, verifiable and published evidence that the top factor in the Google algorithm is HomePage PageRank. The second factor (G-Factor 2) is the boost to the effective HPR given to HomePages that are competing for a keyword. This boost increases the effective competitive strength of HomePages with HPR0-4 up to 5. There is no discernible increase for HomePages with HPR5 or above.

HPR-KD for a keyword is calculated by averaging the HPRs, including the G-Factor 2 adjustment, of the webpages on the top Google SERP. Guidelines are available indicating the minimum HPR required to have any chance of top page positioning on Google for a keyword depending on the HPR-KD. HomePages competing for a keyword have a better chance of succeeding than internal webpages because of the G-Factor 2. The guidelines, therefore, include two columns for minimum required HPR - one for HomePages and one for internal webpages. Internal pages on a newly indexed website will not reach the top Google SERP for any useful keywords as their associated HPR is 0.

The vast majority of small to medium sized business websites have HPRs of 3 or less which significantly limits those keywords in range for top positioning on Google. Those with HPR 2 or less may be able to compete for keywords with low HPR-KD with their HomePages, because of the second Google factor.

Whereas, we know that a newly indexed website has an HPR close to 0.0, we cannot at first sight look at more mature and successful websites with the same degree of accuracy.

An HPR of 4 requires about 2,500 average value links from other websites whereas an HPR5 requires 75,000 such links. We will see both as PR4 as we are not privileged to the decimal information known to Google. There is a large difference in the competitive strength of a website with an HPR of 4.01, as known to Google, and another with HPR 4.99.

Enormous insight is provided on a website's authority, as Google sees it, when there is a change in HPR following a PageRank update. One of my websites recently moved from HPR3 to HPR4 and another dropped from HPR4 to HPR3. Neither suddenly changed positioning in Google's SERPS for the keywords being monitored. The changes in HPR of both websites show that they have HPRs in the region 3.9-4.0 and this allows new avenues for future research.

HPR-KD in SEO Practice

When choosing keywords for the theme of a webpage, care must be taken to determine if the website has what it takes to achieve top page positioning on search engines. This will depend on:

· Whether it is the HomePage or an internal page.

· The HPR of the website.

· The HPR-KD of the keyword for the relevant Google domain (Google.com; Google.co.uk etc).

Targeting keywords that are in range allows a website to be found and potentially acquire natural links. In addition, if the website has high quality content that is well presented, Google Panda will pick this up by favorable user signals and could well gradually elevate the webpages up the SERPs. Whilst it may seem tempting to target keywords that have higher search volumes, if they are out of range for the website, top positioning will not be achieved and the website's authority development will be unnecessarily slow.

It is unlikely that a small or medium sized business website will ever acquire HPR5 or higher, Websites with HPR5 or more are in the privileged position to be able to compete successfully for relatively high keyword difficulty keywords. Good luck to them.

David Viniker MD FRCOG is a doctor trained to practice evidence based medicine. He has applied the principles of evidence based practice to SEO. David believes that HomePage PageRank (HPR) is the top factor in the Google positioning algorithm and that Google provides a boosting adjustment to the HPR of HomePages that are competing for a keyword (G-Factor 2). He has developed a new, essential keyword tool - http://www.KeywordSEOPro.com which calculates keyword difficulty for a long list of keywords based on average HomePage PageRank (HPR-KD) of the URLs on the top Google search engine results page (SERP) for each keyword, including the G-Factor 2 boost. Guidelines have been produced indicating the minimum HPR required for a website to have a chance to achieve top page positioning for both HomePages and internal webpages depending on the HPR-KD of the keywords. His website http://www.firstwebsitedesign.com provides valuable information for beginners and intermediates in website design.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Viniker